Melissa McCarthy gets candid. She has spoken about the sexism she faced during the early phase of her career. The actress also reflected on the creative experience that shaped her as an artist.
In a recent interview with Variety, McCarthy shared, “My very first stuff in New York was stand-up. I did all the free cheap rooms where you got a minute and a half, and you worked your way up to two and a half minutes and so on.”
Recalling her experience facing sexism in the industry, the actress continued, “But then I didn’t like those rooms anymore — I just found them really misogynistic. There was literally a guy in every room saying, “Show me your tits.” To the point where I was like, “Is it the same guy? The same lonely guy?” He’s not going to stop.”
The Bridesmaids star added, “The only way to make him stop is to eviscerate him. I was like, “I’m here to try to make people laugh, and now the only way I win is if I actually embarrass you. I see I’ve done that and now you’re quiet. So now I feel terrible.””
How the Groundlings opened a new chapter in Melissa McCarthy’s career
McCarthy went on to share the events that led her to join The Groundlings, an iconic improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school in Los Angeles, where she met her husband Ben Falcone.
“And then I moved to L.A., and my sister sent me a little magazine story about the Groundlings,” McCarthy said. “I was like, “Oh, there must be amazing theater in L.A.!” because I’d never been here when I moved here. When I was doing stand-up, I didn’t really know how to write, so a lot of it was improvised. I also had a thing of like, “You’re not a writer unless you’ve been trained to write.””
The Oscar-nominated actress then recalled how her experience at The Groundlings helped hone her writing skills. “I had such a weird, I didn’t go to college — I’m not a writer. Groundlings literally taught me to be like, “OK: You are writing, you are doing this,”” she shared.
Meanwhile, fans are looking forward to seeing the 56-year-old, who is best known for her comedic work, venture into drama. The actress will star in the upcoming true crime miniseries The Murder of JonBenét Ramsey as Patsy Ramsey, the mother of six-year-old JonBenét.
Originally reported on ComingSoon.
