Lisa Gilroy Is TV’s Comedy Secret Weapon
If you aren’t familiar with Lisa Gilroy, yes you are. The actress and comedian is literally everywhere these days, from your favorite TV shows—The Studio, Shrinking, the most recent season of The Paper, and Brothers, to name a few—to notable podcasts, comedy talk shows like Very Important People, and even an interview with Tom Cruise. What you need to know is Gilroy is truly a delight to watch and absolutely bonkers in the most fantastic way possible. Whether she’s playing an overly sexual HR person, Matthew McConaughey’s no-nonsense campaign manager, or a large furry yellow demon, Gilroy commits fully to the bit, creating some of the funniest characters on TV today.
Hailing from Alberta, Canada, Gilroy, 37, first made a name for herself where most rising comedians these days do: on TikTok. While putting in the live improv work with The Groundlings and Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles, her pandemic-era sketch videos about high school archetypes and menstruation were going viral. She quickly earned a dedicated following and, later, major TV and streaming roles.
Like her comedy icons Kristen Wiig, Jim Carrey, and Molly Shannon, Gilroy’s sweet spot lies in the absurd, which might be why we can’t get enough of her. Everything she touches turns to comedy gold.
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What is your earliest memory of making people laugh?
I was a classic child maniac, and I did the things I think most child maniacs probably do. I did a lot of making up musicals and flopping around on the carpet, quoting Austin Powers and Oliver Twist, stuff like that. Maybe it was just the pure exertion of energy that would make people laugh.
I also remember playing an innkeeper in my seventh-grade drama class production of something called The Godmother? It might have been a parody of The Godfather but for kids. I don’t remember there being any horse heads or car-bomb stuff, but there was a scene where I was vaguely threatened by some mafia members, and I got a lot of laughs from the adults in the room. I didn’t understand any of the jokes in the script or why they were funny, but I was like, “Uh-oh, this feels amazing.” I also got to slam one of those free-standing prop doors really hard, and that was a thrill. I won a drama award that year, which really shocked me because my drama teacher was always sending me out into the hall to reflect on my “listening problems.”
Is there a comedic performance that had a significant impact on you early on?
So many. Every weird and rude thing Sarah did in The Sarah Silverman Program meant everything to me. Kristen Wiig shoving chips in her mouth on SNL. Jim Carrey going insane in the courtroom in Liar Liar. Molly Shannon in Superstar. It was amazing to see adults being celebrated for being insane at a time when I was getting in trouble for being insane at the dinner table.
You have been on an incredible TV run with appearances in The Studio, Shrinking, The Paper, and now Brothers. Talk to me about your project-picking philosophy.
Picking?! I feel less like I’ve been picking and more like I’m winning little lotteries all the time. I’ve been very, very lucky. I’m trying to develop a sense of “picking” and not just say yes to everything and chase everything because I feel like I’m a dog in a butterfly sanctuary. I’m overstimulated. There are so many cool things to try to jump for.
Someone told me about the three Ps to think about when you’re making choices: profit, prestige, and personal gain. … The choice you make should have two out of three of those Ps. For the first 10 years of my life, the profit P didn’t exist, and everything was prestigious and personal to me—every improv show, every commercial audition, every podcast. I have to be careful because you can get too busy and burn out that way, but well, what do I know? I’m kind of bad at it!
In the show Brothers, you play a campaign manager hired by Matthew McConaughey’s character, who is running for governor. Did you have any inspirations for this role?
I’m famously not that professional of a person, so sometimes, it’s hard for me to play a woman in a professional way because I’ve never really had a job that wasn’t in the service industry or doing improv for free. But I love high-status comedy characters. Jane Lynch in pretty much anything—The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Glee—she plays these boss characters that are criminally insane, but she says everything with such confidence that you don’t really clock how inappropriate they are until she’s left the scene and the damage is done. I love her so much. Otherwise, Lee Eisenberg, the showrunner, and I worked together on Jury Duty, and he loves improv, so he just let me go hog wild, which I really relished and am so grateful for.
What is it like going toe-to-toe with Matthew McConaughey?
[It’s] like living in a simulation. Have you ever heard that story where someone is driving under a bridge and sees graffiti that says “Wake up” and they keep seeing stuff like that, and then they realize they’re in a coma and their brain is trying to tell them to wake up by incorporating messages into the dream state? How scary is that? Anyways, I spent a lot of time on that set looking for signs I was in a coma.
Matthew is a real, talented actor—a literal Oscar-winning actor. Being near an Oscar winner is just not an experience I ever thought I’d have. I was shocked by how he could process and respond to anything I said in a way that made it seem normal and real and grounded. He turns everything into the truth; it’s so cool. And he was fun to do riddles with. I told him this riddle, and he was allowed to ask yes-or-no questions to solve it. It’s a good riddle because it’s historically accurate and is also a bit of trivia: “Why didn’t Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin high-five on the moon?” Matthew was guessing gravity stuff and astronaut clothes stuff, which is what I thought at first too. But it’s actually because the high five hadn’t been invented yet. It wasn’t invented until the ’70s. Isn’t that cool? I guess I thought he’d get it quicker because he was in Interstellar, but it took him a regular amount of time to figure it out.
If you had a potential Hollywood sister, who would it be?
People tell me I look like Kristen Bell, Nikki Glaser, and Alix Earle, which fills me with glee. My strong-jawed sisters with—I’ll just speak for myself here—kind of crossed eyes?
If we’re going off vibe, though, Mae Martin is like my weird little brother. We share a lot of the same sensibility and love making stuff together. Meg Stalter, I think, is truly having a blast and making such weird and wonderful things. It would be an honor to be sisters with her.
My real-life sister is Miranda, and if I needed a Hollywood version of her for a biopic, I’d have to cast Jessica Rabbit because there’s just no one cooler or hotter than her.
What has been your favorite celeb interview you’ve done?
A million lifetimes ago, I was an off-camera red carpet reporter at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal, and I got to interview Jim Carrey. I remember he said his life felt like a magic carpet ride, and I said, “You’re a magic carpet ride,” and of course, I don’t know why I said that. Why did I say that? I just meant, like, you’re so magical to me.
You get to play with a lot of different fashion styles through your various characters. How would you describe your personal relationship to fashion?
Picking character clothes has become so fun and special and important to me. I did a million commercials where I played “completely neutral woman” and wore the same light-beige cardigan for seven years. So now that I’m getting to play these fun, real, specific characters, it’s so fun to make the look.
I, historically, have had much less fun when it comes to dressing myself. I used to truly hate getting dressed. If I got invited to something, my goal with my clothes was always to become invisible to the naked eye. … At a wedding, if I could find a dress that would make me look like “wedding guest,” I would buy it. Or at an award show, I’ve only ever wanted to pass for “award-show attendee.” I desperately did not want to stand out. I only got my ears pierced two years ago, for the love of god. But now, in my 30s, I finally understand what it is to have fun with clothes. I think that comes from growing up. I used to think if I wore something brave—which, to me, was like a pair of heels or a crop top—that everyone would go, “Well, well, well, if it isn’t little Miss Silly Little Fashion Magoo, trying on a fresh look from Milan and tromping around in wonder world.” But [it] turns out that doesn’t happen, and no one cares except your friends, who will scream and tell you you look hot.
Is there a character you’ve played who you most identify with in terms of their style?
Lately, I’ve played a sexually active nerd for The Paper, a bitchy political Barbie for Brothers, and a half bug/half exterminator monster thing for Twisted Metal. Sexually active nerd is definitely my sweet spot. The HR character I play on The Paper, that character was such a laugh to put together looks for. I wanted her to look like she was trying to be sexy but kind of always missing the mark. I can heavily relate.
I am personally a big fan of Very Important People. Do you have a favorite character you’ve done for that show?
Thank you! Spencer is a character I played on that show. He is a big yellow monster guy from hell. I love him because I loved getting to have little fangs and a pig nose. I felt so at home in that. But all the characters I’ve done there are my favorite because that’s the best kind of one-and-done work to do. I like making disposable things, characters you do once and throw away. Keep the stakes low and the fun high.
What is something that’s really making you laugh right now?
Two British shows: Such Brave Girls and Taskmaster. British humor is a little like Canadian humor. It feels like home to me. Also, I kind of loathe to say this, but I recently rewatched the Jackass movies, and damn, are those guys putting their bodies on the line for comedy. I don’t normally like men in comedies, but these movies really make me laugh. Men really shine when they’re hurting their penises.
When you think about the next couple of years, what’s a dream project for you?
I want to do some weird unscripted stuff and play some strange characters—turn into a puppet, go insane, make a sketch show.
Catch Gilroy in new episodes of Brothers, now streaming on Apple TV.
Photographers: Phil Chester and Sara Byrne
Stylist: Layna Vancauteren
Hairstylist: Amber Rose
Makeup Artist: Aimée Twist
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