Andrea Savage
Interview By: Bruce Bluett
BruceBluett@TheCinemaSource.com
Once the Bravo network was bought out by NBC, there seems to have been a change in the relatively quiet cable network. After launching the hugely successful Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Bravo strengthened the lineup by adding their first sitcom, Significant Others. Amongst classics like Inside the Actor's Studio, Bravo put forth a truly revolutionary and groundbreaking sitcom. Significant Others has a format that would make any network exec hold their breath. The improvisational nature of the show demands that every cast member be sharp and edgy. Andrea Savage is just that. TheCinemaSource recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Andrea, and talking about her role in one of the hottest comedies on television.
'It's about four married couples that are all going to the same marriage counselor. That's how they are connected, but the couples don't know each other at all. It's four completely different story lines. You see them in therapy and you see them working on their lives, outside of the therapy,' Savage explains. 'It's like a comedic reality, were not coming from jokes were coming from real life relationships. All of the couples are in different stages. I play Chelsea and I'm married to a man named James and we are newly weds who don't know each other at all. We dated for a month and we've been married for three. Big information just keeps coming out, mostly about my checkered past. I had been married before and I have slept with two hundred men. He goes off the handle about it, and I'm free spirited. I'll do anything at anytime and he's a financial analyst'.
The gorgeous and witty Savage has a talent that shows through in every scene of the show. One of the most pleasing things to watch is her chemistry with her ever-present husband, James. Unfortunately, the audience only sees a very small portion of what actually gets filmed.
'They guy who plays my husband, Brian Palermo, is so wonderful that we've never had a bad day. If one of us is a little scatterbrained, the other one will pick up and carry them a little but. We have such a great chemistry that it's like we're not even working at all. We knew each other a little bit before from The Groundlings, and we have a similar style of improv. We can go for hours on end. We did a forty-minute take once, where they just kept the camera going. Unfortunately, they ended up not using any of it because the storyline changed and it wasn't applicable anymore.'
The ability to take the show in any direction is something that many actors/comedians envy. Savage admitted that if given the chance, many of them would have a field day.
'It's all improvised, you don't have to prepare at all. You don't have any idea what's going to happen so, you just go through hair and make-up and show up on the set. They'll give you a little outline of what's supposed to happen but it's really loosely improvised. It's not done as strictly as Curb Your Enthusiasm, where they have a strict spine that they work off of. With our show, they might have a springboard for us to work off of. But if we go in a different direction, they'll rework the rest of the show based on that direction. And if you improvise a character like I did in the pilot, I happened to mention that I had a friend named Cynthia'then in Episode 2, I had a best friend named Cynthia who was over at the house. One time I improvised that I had been married before, and in Episode 4 the ex-husband comes to visit. It's just like all of a sudden, your playing God by creating all of these people'.
The reviews for the show have been stellar so far, and Savage praises Bravo for its support and effort to get the show to the major network. But after all is said and done, no matter which channel Significant Others ends up on, Savage wont downplay her good fortune for landing her role as Chelsea.
'For a woman, a lot of times there aren't that many roles. You might play the dumb girlfriend, or the straight lead girl who doesn't get to be funny. In this scenario I get to be whatever I want to be'.
As 'checkered' as Chelsea's past is, so too is Savage's'in slightly less provocative ways, however. Before making her commitment to acting and comedy, Andrea Savage's life could have taken a much different route
'I went to Cornell, I was pre-law'and a couple hundred thousand dollars later, here I am!'
We never quite know what life is going to throw us. Likewise, we never know what we might see next on Significant Others, and the funny thing is'neither do they.
Check out www.bravotv.com/Significant_Others/ for a complete listing of all airtimes in your area.
