MONDO EXTRAS

Okay, wait, I have to have a cigarette.

That's not a Marlboro Light, is it?

No, it's a Camel Ultra Light.

Noted.

I haven't smoked long but I'm already getting tired of it.

How was it finding out that Popular had been cancelled? What was that like?

At the beginning of May, Michael Robbins, one of the producers, called me. [pause] God bless the man, but he's not the person you want to hear bad news from. I mean, I love him, but he's like your older brother who can't...

Break it to you with any finesse whatsoever?

Yeah. So he was like, "I just got a phone call," and I already knew what it was.

Like when they call you into personnel first thing in the morning and you just know you're being fired.

Yeah. So he was like, "We're done." But you know, we had no idea. I mean, we knew we were on the bubble but every other sign was a go. Ryan had next season storyboarded out, and up until that point, it seemed like they were going to have us back. That's why there was a cliffhanger ending.

So I hung up the phone with him and I was in shock. I was by myself, and the first thing I thought was, "Oh great, there goes my regular paycheck." And then I started to really think about stuff and I was like, "Wow, I'm not going to be able to do scenes with Grossman anymore," and that's when I started feeling some of the sadness. And of course I started worrying if I'd ever work again. Melissa was like, "Here's a shot of tequila." [laughs]

A couple of days later, I started thinking, okay, our run is done and I was really blessed to work for so long with so many smart, creative, talented people on such an intelligent show. I mean, while the show was going on, I loved getting up in the morning because I had such a great job -- except for those months where I had to cry in every episode. Most people who work in TV read their weekly scripts and are like, "My life is a joke!" but it wasn't like that working on Popular. We would get our scripts hot off the presses and guffaw our way through the read-through. I was so stoked to come to work.

But I really believe that there is a higher power and everything happens for a reason and this wasn't meant to continue, but I know that everything I need will be provided. It was a great launching pad, a great starting point, but God has something better for us.

Like a show with you and Grossman.

Okay, can we talk about that? That would be pure heaven.