Somehow, Jayma Mays manages to give her inherently odd character a heart so completely grounded and down to earth that each new layer of peculiarity makes her seem more like an “everywoman” and less like an irritating weirdo. Mays captures Ms. Pillsbury’s oddities with a precise sense of understatement. Understatement might be an odd word to associate with the perpetually over the top “Glee,” but it is the heart of why the show, and Mays, make it work.
It’s not Mays’ perfect timing, nor her comically soulful looks with Matthew Morrison, that drags viewers into her often broad and kooky plot lines and makes them feel like they’ve been in her shoes. Mays is all about the little moments between the jokes. Quiet moments in between things when she’s just feeling the moment, but she’s feeling it so completely, so sincerely, that you can’t help but feel it, too. Those are the moments when Emma Pillsbury seems like someone you know. Someone like you.
Those tiny moments of just meaning it so hard that the whole world is going to feel what you feel, whether they like it or not, are what we’ve come to learn from this week’s Comediva of the Week. As comediennes, writers, directors or just human beings, the ability to feel with enough intensity and purity to share those feelings is key to producing the holy grail of comedy — genuine, heartfelt laughter.
And it’s not just Ms. Pillsbury that Mays brings her core of authenticity to in comedy. She’s carried it with her through a baker’s dozen of notable guest roles on everything from “House” to “How I Met Your Mother” to “Entourage” and through a host of movies that haven’t given her enough room to shine (we’ll just pretend Paul Blart: Mall Cop didn’t happen, shall we?).
Smurfs, her latest big screen adventure, did surprisingly well this weekend and I give all the credit to the combination of Jayma and Neil Patrick Harris, another actor gifted with an uncanny knack for authenticity in even the most inauthentic situations. If anyone can make people who are more than four feet tall care about little blue animated dudes running around Manhattan, it’s these two.
Jayma (with cupcakes!) on Ugly Betty“Glee” is coming back soon, whether you like it or not (Gleek or non-Gleek, we don’t judge here at Comediva). But I think we can all agree with Jayma that we’re excited to see Ms. Pillsbury face up to some of her challenges.
“Well, as far as my character goes, I love the fact that at the end of last season she finally admitted that she had a problem, and she started taking medication for it,” Jayma told MTV.
She continued, “I’m obviously not an expert on that stuff, but from what I do know, sometimes that medicine does help people and sometimes it doesn’t work as well, so I’m really interested in seeing where they take that character and that choice.”
It will be great to see Mays get the chance to tackle this new character challenge, but I have faith that this comediva can handle whatever direction the show decides to take her character, and take us along for the ride!
