\n<\/p>\n
Sometimes Maya Rudolph<\/a> will watch a movie and marvel at how miserable an actor looks. \u201cThey\u2019re covered in fake blood and broken glass, and they\u2019re crying the whole time,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t know how people do that for work! That looks so hard and stressful.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd how do you get all of that glass off your skin?\u201d her friend and former colleague Kristen Wiig<\/a> said.<\/p>\n \u201cListen,\u201d Rudolph said, \u201cglass seems tough.\u201d<\/p>\n This was on an afternoon in late March, and Wiig and Rudolph, who specialize in lighter, glass-free fare, were perched high over New York in the penthouse suite of a luxury hotel with a zillion-dollar view \u2014 rooftops, rivers, the Statue of Liberty in the distance. They were dressed in natural fabrics and neutrals, a far and elegant cry from the demented spandex and polyester they so often wore during their years on \u201cSaturday Night Live.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Acquaintances since their early days in the comedy scene (they met at a bridal shower hosted by Melissa McCarthy), they were both members of the famed comedy troupe the Groundlings before they found their separate ways up the 30 Rock elevator to \u201cS.N.L.\u201d And they have wound in and out of each other\u2019s lives and careers ever since: as co-stars in \u201cBridesmaids\u201d<\/a> (Wiig was also a writer of the movie); popping back into \u201cS.N.L.\u201d<\/a> together; jointly presenting an Oscar<\/a>. Now they are both leading Apple TV+ shows, each a comedy of wealth and status.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In \u201cPalm Royale,\u201d<\/a> which premiered on March 20, Wiig stars as Maxine, a frenzied social climber in 1960s Palm Beach. In \u201cLoot,\u201d<\/a> which returns for its second season on Wednesday, Rudolph plays Molly, a divorc\u00e9e with a multibillion dollar settlement.<\/p>\n During a brisk chat, they discussed laughter, likability and what \u201cBridesmaids\u201d taught the world. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.<\/p>\n How did you each end up at \u201cS.N.L.\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n KRISTEN WIIG <\/strong>Both of us through the Groundlings at different times. I started at \u201cS.N.L.\u201d in 2005.<\/p>\n MAYA RUDOLPH <\/strong>I know, because that\u2019s when I had Pearl [Rudolph\u2019s first child]. I remember seeing you, and I was like, Who\u2019s that? My thought was, I want to go have fun with her! I said the words, \u201cI want to go back and play with her.\u201d<\/p>\n During your \u201cS.N.L.\u201d years, were there particular kinds of characters that you gravitated toward?<\/strong><\/p>\n RUDOLPH<\/strong> I always wanted to be the wife or the girlfriend, but I never was. I was the wacky neighbor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Maybe I\u2019m thinking of your impressions, but I remember you playing high-status types, the Beyonc\u00e9s, the Oprahs. And Kristen, I recall you playing a lot of lunatic outsiders.<\/strong><\/p>\n WIIG <\/strong>Yeah. I don\u2019t know what that says about me, but it was fun to play the person you don\u2019t really want at the dinner party, the person you stare at.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n What made you decide to leave?<\/strong><\/p>\n RUDOLPH <\/strong>I thought motherhood was me leaving, and then I couldn\u2019t leave. I would watch the show from home and my friends were on it, and I would be very upset. I felt like I died and was watching my life. I wasn\u2019t ready to leave when I left. I kind of left twice, I said goodbye, and I was like, Oh, I\u2019m back for one more.<\/p>\n WIIG <\/strong>I knew when it was time to leave. That place thrives on you not totally knowing your place. I always said the moment I feel totally comfortable, here\u2019s the moment I have to go.<\/p>\n Once you left, did you have any anxiety about what your career would look like after?<\/strong><\/p>\n RUDOLPH <\/strong>It was less about what it was going to look like and more about, this was all I\u2019ve ever wanted. So now what? But I was always going to be an actor that did everything. I was surprised when people said, like, \u201cWow, I didn\u2019t know you wanted to do drama.\u201d I was like, Oh, you didn\u2019t know I was human and experienced human emotions?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n WIIG <\/strong>I wouldn\u2019t say I worried. That\u2019s not because there was any confidence there. I just went day by day. Because so much of your career, what you\u2019re asked to do, is out of your hands. So it was like, I can\u2019t freak out about this. I have no control.<\/p>\n RUDOLPH <\/strong>Were you still at \u201cS.N.L.\u201d when we did \u201cBridesmaids\u201d?<\/p>\n WIIG <\/strong>Yeah, that was my sixth year.<\/p>\n Remember the discourse around that movie? Remember people seeming so surprised that women were funny?<\/strong><\/p>\n RUDOLPH <\/strong>Wasn\u2019t that delightful?<\/p>\n WIIG <\/strong>Some people even went so far as to say that it worked because we were women acting like men, but we weren\u2019t acting like men. Women swear, women get drunk.<\/p>\n RUDOLPH<\/strong> Do you think we taught people that women can poop?<\/p>\n WIIG <\/strong>I hope so.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n