{"id":4148,"date":"2011-04-29T12:08:50","date_gmt":"2011-04-29T19:08:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/?p=4148"},"modified":"2021-02-03T09:49:52","modified_gmt":"2021-02-03T14:49:52","slug":"live-from-harpswell-%e2%80%a6the-barrymores-of-comedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/live-from-harpswell-%e2%80%a6the-barrymores-of-comedy\/","title":{"rendered":"Live! From Harpswell \u2026The Barrymores of Comedy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; width: 100%; height: 450px;\" src=\"\/\/e.issuu.com\/embed.html?d=may11_flipbook&amp;hideIssuuLogo=true&amp;pageNumber=36&amp;u=portlandmagazine\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>May 2011<\/p>\n<h2>Comedy clan Bob, Abby, and Chris Elliott navigate their careers from here.<\/h2>\n<p>Interview by Jeanee Dudley<\/p>\n<h3>Who knew Harpswell was the center of the comedy universe?<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-4151 size-full\" style=\"margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px;\" title=\"elliots\" src=\"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/elliots.jpg\" width=\"360\" height=\"248\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/elliots.jpg 360w, https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/elliots-300x206.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/>Three generations of the Elliott family have independently found the world\u2019s funnybone: <em>Saturday Night Live<\/em> star <strong>Abby Elliott<\/strong>, 23; her father, <strong>Chris Elliott<\/strong> (<em>Late Night With David Letterman<\/em>, <em>Cabin Boy<\/em>, <em>Get A Life, <\/em>and a starring role in Conan O\u2019Brien\u2019s brainchild series<em> Eagleheart, <\/em>just renewed for next year), 51; and her grandfather, <strong>Bob Elliott<\/strong>, 88, the dry wit of legendary radio duo \u201cBob and Ray.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>All three believe their summers in Maine provide the emotional touchstones that make them who they are today. Unknown to most of us\u2013even while we\u2019ve watched them in movies and on TV\u2013they\u2019ve been walking among us for decades, living in Harpswell homes two doors apart.<\/p>\n<p>Then there\u2019s the double-decker coincidence that both oceanfront getaways so dear to this trio don\u2019t just surround property formerly owned by Senator Margaret Chase Smith\u2013Chris and his family share the extraordinary privilege of living in Maggie Smith\u2019s first resort home.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Are you the Barrymores of comedy or are the Barrymores the Elliotts of drama?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bob: Haha, close. It didn\u2019t start off that way.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Perhaps\u2026the Carradines of comedy?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chris: Oooooh, I don\u2019t know. That might imply something we wouldn\u2019t want to imply about our family. Until Ben Stiller\u2019s kids start acting, I guess there isn\u2019t another three generations in comedy.<\/p>\n<p>Abby: I don\u2019t know about a direct comparison to the Carradines\u2013with less kung fu? Is comedy genetic?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Maybe it\u2019s something in the water.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bob: My mother and grandparents were born in Brooks, Maine, a small town near Belfast. I was born in Boston, and my parents would bring me up from there to visit. The older I got, the more time I got to spend here. My wife and I bought our house in Harpswell in 1961. We live here year-round now. I haven\u2019t been out of Maine in two years. If I ever thought of leaving, my car would just bring me back. My car knows the way.<\/p>\n<p>Abby: I\u2019ve been coming to Maine since I was born. My grandparents have had the house since the 1960s. I was like ten when my parents bought our house, but I\u2019ve been coming up since I can remember.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you have a nickname for your house?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bob: I wanted to call it Somersault. Of course I wanted to spell it one way, and my wife wanted to spell it another way. She wanted it to be two words: Summer Salt. We couldn\u2019t agree, so we just don\u2019t call it anything.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So\u2026you and Maine are<em> like this<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chris: I just feel like I belong. We\u2019ve been coming to Maine since I was a kid. I didn\u2019t go to camp, but my brother and sisters did. I stayed home and played around the ocean, even though I didn\u2019t learn to swim until I was nine. I had horrible allergies\u2013both me and my sister did\u2013and asthma, bad. We finally grew out of it, but I remember our eyes would itch so bad. We\u2019d put cotton swabs with witch hazel on our eyes when we went to bed.<\/p>\n<table border=\"0\" width=\"260\" cellpadding=\"6\" align=\"right\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<h3>Will The Real Abby Elliot Please Stand Up?<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Some celebrities portrayed by Abby on Saturday Night Live*<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Angelina Jolie<br \/>\nAnna Faris<br \/>\nAnne Hathaway<br \/>\nBrittany Murphy Brooke Hogan<br \/>\nChlo\u00eb Sevigny<br \/>\nChristina Aguilera<br \/>\nDonna Reed<br \/>\nHeather Menzies<br \/>\nJamie Lynn Spears<br \/>\nJessica McClure<br \/>\nJoan Cusack<br \/>\nk.d. lang<br \/>\nKaty Perry<br \/>\nKe$ha<br \/>\nKhloe Kardashian<br \/>\nKristin Cavallari<br \/>\nLaura Linney<br \/>\nLea Michele<br \/>\nLeah Remini<br \/>\nMaggie Gyllenhaal<br \/>\nMarie Osmond<br \/>\nMarilyn Monroe<br \/>\nMary Kay Letourneau<br \/>\nMelissa Etheridge<br \/>\nMeryl Streep<br \/>\nNancy Grace<br \/>\nRachel Federoff<br \/>\nRachel Maddow<br \/>\nSally Field<br \/>\nSara Haines<br \/>\nSarah McLachlan<br \/>\nShaun White<br \/>\nWynonna Judd<\/p>\n<p>*Wikipedia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>Good times. Tell us about your house, Chris.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I live two doors down from my dad now. We love it. I\u2019m not sure whether we could live here full time. It\u2019s kind of isolated. It\u2019s where we\u2019ll want to retire, though.<\/p>\n<p>Abby: When we bought it\u2013well, my parents bought it, look at me, talking like I\u2019m a property owner\u2013it seemed like it was just a cabin, Adirondack-style, really tiny, like being in a closet. Me and my sister Bridey\u2019s room was, seriously, like a closet with bunk beds! Then my dad, who\u2019s always dreamed of building a second floor, had an idea, and my mom was up for it. He built the upstairs, along with a widow\u2019s walk. That\u2019s my favorite spot. In the morning, I like to have some coffee and go up there. You can look out over the water. You can even go outside and walk around. It\u2019s nice at night, too. You can go up and look at the stars. It\u2019s really clear and beautiful. You don\u2019t have that in Manhattan.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Loving Harpswell is one thing. Living in Sen. Smith\u2019s home is another. How did this come about?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chris: Really, I guess it was in my early twenties, when I was on <em>Late Night with David Letterman<\/em>, that I decided I wanted to buy this house. Even earlier than that! The house was always abandoned\u2013there was never anybody there. I\u2019d climb over the rocks and play by myself by the house.<\/p>\n<p>Bob: Chris bought his house ten years ago, as part of the Margaret Chase Smith property.<\/p>\n<p>Chris: I brought my wife up here when we were dating and she fell in love with Maine and the house.<\/p>\n<p>This was actually the first house Margaret Chase Smith lived in. She loved this house. She actually showed it to us. She wasn\u2019t ready to sell it yet, but she said we\u2019d have a chance when she passed away. When she did, there was no way we could afford it because we\u2019d just bought our house in Connecticut.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Still, you could dream<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Chris: That summer, my wife and I rowed out in front of it and there were people toasting in the yard in front of the house. We should have bought it! Six months later, the owner was transferred to California for work. There was a for-sale sign out front, and we knew we had to buy it. We scrambled and put everything together that we had and bought it. It had a lot of history, but it was also very similar to the house I\u2019d grown up in\u2013same wood, same smell, very similar. It was like going back in time.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The myth of the repeatable moment. No wonder you sparkled in <em>Groundhog Day<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chris: It\u2019s more like <em>On Golden Pond<\/em>. The first thing we do when we come back here is say hello to the ocean.<\/p>\n<p>All these houses were developed by one person. They\u2019re similar, one-level ranch vacation homes, just built for the summer\u00a0 season.<\/p>\n<p>Abby: Actually, Margaret Chase Smith owned the house next to us, too. The other house was empty for a while, but all of her furniture was still there. I have a ton of cousins, and they\u2019d come up and we\u2019d all play in the yard. There were big windows, and we could look in and see her furniture. It was kind of like a haunted house for us. We\u2019d always say we could see things, try to freak each other out. We didn\u2019t really know then how cool it is to have that history now in the house and around this great place.<\/p>\n<p><strong>When you bought your house, Bob, Margaret Chase Smith was a big political star. As Maine\u2019s first female senator, she stared down Joe McCarthy and was the first woman nominated to be president of the United States. What was your take on her ?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I had great interest in Margaret Chase Smith and respect for her time in the political ring. She seemed like a very practical, enjoyable person. She wasn\u2019t here much. During that time, Ray and I were doing satire on the radio shows; we were the only ones doing McCarthy. There was a small group of fans\u2013they liked that stuff. I liked Margaret Chase Smith. I find I vote more on personality, and I pretty well went along with her views at the time.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What can you see from your porch?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bob: Our house was one of the original eight built in the late 1950s, on the point. The view is southwest, and we can see Halfway Rock, between here and Portland. We\u2019re in view of Ragged Island, the island Edna St. Vincent Millay owned.<\/p>\n<p>Chris: Our view is almost identical to my dad\u2019s. We can see Bailey Island, Ragged Island. We\u2019re slightly more south, so everything is just shifted a bit. Flash Island is in front of his place, so it\u2019s a bit to the right for us.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Not a bad view for inspiration. Where do you do your writing?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bob: My office is on the second floor, which we built after we accumulated too much stuff for the first floor. We\u2019re still unpacking boxes.<\/p>\n<p>My office has windows on both sides. The front goes to the road. The other side looks out to the open ocean. This house was built at a time when you could place a building much closer to the ocean than you can now.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How about you, Chris? A follow-up to 1989\u2019s<em> Daddy\u2019s Boy: A Son\u2019s Shocking Account of Life with a Famous Father<\/em>, where your dad wrote rebuttal chapters that took place right here in Harpswell?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Coincidentally, I <em>am<\/em> working on one. It\u2019s an unauthorized autobiography.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s hard to work here\u2013sense memories kick in. It\u2019s my place to chill out, relax. The Internet is dial-up, and there isn\u2019t cable TV. It depends on how much work I have to do. Any time I have free time we try to be here as much as possible.<\/p>\n<p>Abby: We\u2019re really disconnected, you know, no Internet and even the phone service is pretty bad. It\u2019s time away, even from my friends. It\u2019s time away from just everything. It\u2019s really nice. I don\u2019t check my phone, I\u2019m not constantly looking at the <em>Huffington Post<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Luckily, you can still see <em>Saturday Night Live <\/em>up here. Especially since all three of you have appeared on the show.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bob: When I can stay awake! I watched most of it last week. There was Elton John\u2013and they did a skit where he has three girls doing backup for him, and Abby was one of them. She got lots of screen time.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What else do you watch, Bob?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We pretty much just watch <em>Jeopardy<\/em>, and the one with Pat Sajak\u2013<em>Wheel of Fortune<\/em>. That runs into the talk shows; we watch them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What do you read when you\u2019re up here, Abby?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Other than scripts, I like chick lit, haha. If I read, it\u2019s magazines\u2013trashy ones. Well, I bring my kindle. Last time I was here I think I was reading <em>Love and Other Impossible Pursuits<\/em>. They\u2019re making that into a movie, I guess.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>When you think of Harpswell, you think of boats.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bob: We had boats the first few years, but whenever we came up they were always swamped or the engine wouldn\u2019t work. It would take two days to get the boat going\u2013it was too much time, so we haven\u2019t had them since.<\/p>\n<p>Abby: We have a motor boat, you know, this little thing with a big motor on the back of it, but I don\u2019t know how to use it. I really like kayaking because it\u2019s good exercise, and you can just be alone and enjoy yourself. Sometimes I kayak out to this little island and just park and go swimming. It\u2019s a tiny island, just a big rock with a sandy beach on one side. Sometimes we would go out there to have a picnic when I was younger.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Naturally, you all hate <em>homarus americanus<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chris: Lobster! Whenever we\u2019re up here, even if it\u2019s just for two days, it\u2019s something we have to do. We used to all go to River Meadows. They had an enclosed room in the back that looked out over everything. They\u2019re not open anymore\u2013I guess it\u2019s pretty much someone\u2019s house. Now there\u2019s so many of us, it\u2019s easier to do lobsters at the house.<\/p>\n<p>Abby: There\u2019s a wharf near our house, so we drive down there, it\u2019s only like a minute away. There\u2019s all this outdoor seating, and it\u2019s just open in the summer. We also go down to a place where the boats come in where they\u2019re hauling in their traps. So we pull them up and take them home, cook them in sea water, and have a feast.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What haunts appeal to the tourists in you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chris: Popham Beach, Reid State Park\u2013we love the beach. We love Cabot Mill Antiques and the flea market. We like to go to L.L. Bean at 3 a.m.<\/p>\n<p>Abby: I love Cook\u2019s Lobster House on Bailey Island. Fat Boy is great\u2013I like the fried clams, they\u2019re so yummy. We used to go to Steve\u2019s Lobster house when I was a kid, I don\u2019t know if they\u2019re still open, but that\u2019s on Orr\u2019s Island, or maybe Bailey.<\/p>\n<p>Portland is where I go to get my shopping fix. There are so many cute stores and little boutiques. And Freeport\u2013I like L.L. Bean. I\u2019m not super outdoorsy. Actually, I wouldn\u2019t describe myself as outdoorsy at all, but I like walking around in L.L. Bean and seeing everything. It feels like Maine\u2013it\u2019s the retail version of Maine.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>But <em>you\u2019re<\/em> outdoorsy, Chris. And handy! <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bob: Chris and I built the garage here at the house together 15-20 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Chris: We used to do a lot of building. We built a shed for a generator at my house. My dad is just that kind of guy, you know? He\u2019s a renaissance man. He can do anything. He just absorbs something and always knows how to do it. I pick something up every now and then, but it doesn\u2019t stick with me that way.<\/p>\n<p>Bob: We\u2019re lucky Bob, Jr. is here. He does the work I haven\u2019t been able to for a few years. I miss the work\u2013I love to build things.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is there a magic feeling that comes over you when you\u2019ve entered Maine?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bob: Maine to me is that first sign you see coming over the bridge in Portsmouth. Growing up, we\u2019d always look for that. We knew we were close to where we were going when we saw that sign. It took us a long time to get to Belfast from Boston back then. We could always count on a few flat tires. We\u2019d stop in Wells at a convenience store, maybe have a picnic.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Chris: As soon as you\u2019re over that bridge, you know you\u2019re here. We have a countdown as we get closer to the center of the river. It\u2019s kind of like\u2013<\/p>\n<p>Abby: A countdown to the way life should be.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Like Dorothy clicking her ruby slippers. When are you all most likely to be here?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chris: We\u2019ve had a lot of Thanksgivings up at my dad\u2019s house. As a kid, it was more frequent. We\u2019ve had a few Thanksgivings at my house, birthdays, Memorial Day, Labor Day\u2013July 4th is big. Dad likes to mark the summer holidays with cookouts. We have lots of family get-togethers in Brunswick\u2013my oldest sister lives there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Has Maine rubbed off onto your work?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chris: I think I\u2019ve done kind of a Mainer character here and there. As far as Maine influence, mostly I can just forget about business here, and just be myself. People are incredibly nice. I mean you go to Shaw\u2019s, everyone is smiling.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Are you sure that\u2019s a smile?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bob: My only measurement is people we meet. I guess the audience is pretty much the same. Ray and I did an appearance at Bowdoin in the 1960s. College fans were particularly taken with what we did. We get a lot of emails, and a lot of emails from Maine. When I go to Shaw\u2019s, someone\u2019ll come up to me and say they listened to me when I was in Boston, or later in New York. We did a lot of character humor. I found the Maine audience very progressive in many ways\u2013very familiar with the voice-of-the-people kind of humor. We were never big joke comedians.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Settle a bet for me. Between you and Ray, who was first banana and who was second banana?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ray was bigger than me, so he stood out more in pictures, but we worked really well together, no one tried to outdo the other.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So it\u2019s more like\u2026a banana split! What do you do when we\u2019re not looking? Lift a curtain on your secret life.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bob: When I can see a stretch without interruption, I paint\u2013as a hobby. I had a show at Bowdoin, and some watercolors in Brunswick.<\/p>\n<p>I never took formal lessons, except once when I was ten. When I was finishing high school I was wrapped up in radio, so I put art on the back burner.<\/p>\n<p>Then World War II came, and I spent three years in uniform, two overseas. I was in Patton\u2019s army. We went across France. I was in the supply corps, special service. We weren\u2019t in Battle of the Bulge, but we were the supply chain.<\/p>\n<p>After the war ended, I went back to work on the radio a week after I got back. I was one of our armed forces who didn\u2019t complain beyond the usual\u2013food and living conditions. As bad as the war was, for hundreds of thousands of men it was a great <em>school<\/em>. We obeyed orders.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So great you could find painting again, or let it find you. Or is it just you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chris paints. He\u2019s excellent. So is Bobby! I\u2019m very proud of all of them. My daughter Colony publishes children\u2019s books. My youngest, Amy, was with Yale Press, doing layouts and art. Shannon, in Brunswick, is very artistic. She has a studio, she\u2019s very inventive. Abby and Bridey don\u2019t paint.<\/p>\n<p>Now I\u2019ve got to mention all of them, haha. I have ten grandkids. Haley is a legal assistant. Aubrey works with Nickelodeon, with, eh, Mr. Squarepants. Bronwen is also with Nickelodeon, producer of a new show.<\/p>\n<p><strong>That\u2019s really a lot of show biz. How\u2019s it go? \u201cMy mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my sister thanks you, and I thank you!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I never tried to influence Chris. He knew how I was wrapped up in the business. He just sorta fell into it. He went to a theater program when he was 15 and it stuck.<\/p>\n<p>When Abby\u2019s up here, usually she\u2019s with friends or family. <em>SNL<\/em> takes up most of her time.<\/p>\n<p>We may have another show-biz member. Bridey is interested in theatrical and film work. She went to that school up in Rockport [Maine Media Workshops]. She wants to write and direct.<\/p>\n<p>Abby: She\u2019s getting into comedy through stand-up. We worked together a couple times, but I was pretty scared. I don\u2019t really like stand-up, I don\u2019t want to be up there and use my own voice\u2013I\u2019d rather be onstage as a character. Bridey\u2019s confident, though. She\u2019s really the funniest person I know.<\/p>\n<p><strong>It must have taken you full circle, Chris, to watch David Letterman interview Abby.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s very strange, as I\u2019m sure it was for my dad to see me. Now, you know, I see Abby walking down the same hallways in Rockefeller Center. I do get a weird feeling, but I\u2019m incredibly proud. Both of our daughters are incredibly independent. We never pushed them into the business. We just let them find it. If they love it, they stay in, if not, well that\u2019s just as good. They\u2019ve mapped out their own courses. It\u2019s great. They inherited my father\u2019s ability to create situations for themselves. I know it\u2019s a tough business for women. As a father, it\u2019s tough because I know what\u2019s out there. But so do they. They\u2019ve seen my career, and my dad\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>Abby: It was so exciting. Dave was so great with me. He told me he was nervous, and of course I was nervous, but it was really great. I talked to him a lot about my parents.<\/p>\n<p><strong>You weren\u2019t looking around nervously, expecting your father to pop up from under the seats?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Oh, no. That would have been embarrassing. I would have been like, \u201cDAAAAD, STOP. COME ON.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tell us something we don\u2019t know about your dad, Abby?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>He definitely has a serious side. He could be strict while we were growing up. He\u2019s a really great actor\u2013he\u2019s a deep person. He does a lot of comedy, but he could do great drama too\u2013a movie or a play.<\/p>\n<p><strong>As detached observers, what is the state of comedy in Maine?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chris: There really is <em>something<\/em>. It\u2019s hard to think of a state and say what makes you laugh about it. I guess it\u2019s funny to see people, I mean we know a lot of locals, some we\u2019re close to, and they have to deal with all these outsiders\u2013people who have never been to Maine before. I guess I couldn\u2019t tell you.<\/p>\n<p>Bob: There\u2019s that Bob Marley. He\u2019s very, very Maine oriented. Maine humor probably compares pretty well with a national audience.<\/p>\n<p>Chris: I know Maine has a good comedy scene\u2013and definitely Portland.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Abby, when you bring friends home, do they dare to crack a joke in front of these people? How young were you when you started to become aware of Chris\u2019s humor? And how does his style differ from Bob\u2019s?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I think at a young age, we figured out what he did. He\u2019s always been goofy. We had so much fun growing up, we\u2019re just goofy around the house\u2013it\u2019s always been encouraged. Papa [Bob] has always been really dry and funny. When we were teenagers, we really picked up on sarcasm and that kind of comedy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>We\u2019re proud to confer upon Bob the title of official Mainer. But we\u2019re still not sure about you, Chris. What\u2019s the longest you\u2019ve stayed up here?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>About a month or so. I lived here for awhile when we were doing work. It\u2019s back and forth. You know\u2013you\u2019re gone for two weeks and you come back maybe for a week.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tell us about your new movie <em>The High Road<\/em>, Abby.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s coming out soon. The premiere is in L.A. The improv makes it very real. Horatio Sanz from <em>SNL<\/em> is in it, along with a few [UC-Berkeley] theater actors from Upright Citizens Brigade who perform in New York and L.A. I took classes there and did a sketch show.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Not that you\u2019d necessarily want to use The Method to prep for \u201cMonica, pregnant girlfriend of pot dealer.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Um, we had a couple of sessions with the director and writer, where we pretty much just decided where the character came from. For a few weeks, we\u2019d come in and speak as the character, really delve into it. I\u2019ve done a lot of improv, but I\u2019ve never had to improvise a whole person before.<\/p>\n<p><strong>When will you buy your house on the Point, Abby? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d love to! It would be amazing if someday I\u2019m able to. It would be a great place to bring kids. It\u2019s always nice to come back, especially since me and Bridey have moved out. It\u2019s good when all four of us can be together, and then in Maine we\u2019re so close to Nanny and Papa. And then we have lots of cousins\u2013they live in the city, but they\u2019ll come up and bring their dogs, and we bring our dogs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>If Harpswell were a restaurant, what would it be like?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s an interesting question. It would have to be a seafood restaurant, a place where either you can go and sit and eat by yourself without feeling weird, or one where you could come in with a huge group and have a large, loud, family dinner.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s it take to make you, Bob, and Chris laugh at once? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Something silly that someone in our family does. More than any written joke or skit on TV, there are just times when, \u201c<em>Ahhhh<\/em>\u2013that\u2019s funny!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>We met you and fellow <em>SNL<\/em> cast member Fred Armisen in the Old Port. Cute couple.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Abby: I don\u2019t want to talk about that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>You\u2019ve always brought friends here\u2026to keep it real.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yeah, I always will, and I always have, growing up. They\u2019re excited. I always have plans to throw some big thing up here. Get all of my friends up for one big sleepover. <em>During a storm.<\/em> Oh, yeah.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.addthis.com\/bookmark.php?v=250&amp;pub=portmag\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"http:\/\/s7.addthis.com\/static\/btn\/lg-share-en.gif\" alt=\"Bookmark and Share\" width=\"125\" height=\"16\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/about\/contact-us\">send us your comments<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>May 2011<br \/>\nComedy clan Bob, Abby, and Chris Elliott navigate their careers from here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4148"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19922,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4148\/revisions\/19922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}