Interview: Nicole Parker
She may have made millions laugh spoofing Grammy Award-winning recording artists and parodying all-singing ingénues with characters like “Disney Girl,” but MADtv alum Nicole Parker has a confession: she’s a lifelong musical theater junkie and doesn’t care who knows it. Not that the news is any surprise to Broadway fans, since the actress is currently hitting the New York stage as leading lady Elphaba in Wicked. But even the most devout fans might not be aware that the funny girl, best known for her six seasons on the sketch comedy series MADtv, has some serious acting chops, with roles ranging from Shakespeare to opera and back again. For Parker, who made her Broadway debut in 2006’s Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, being back on the stage in a larger-than-life part is no joke—she’s vigilant over the phone about speaking softly to keep those pipes in tip-top shape. Nevertheless, Parker is happy to riff on the need for “Elphaba therapy,” the joys of impersonating Britney Spears and the craziest thing she’s ever done for a laugh.
So what’s it been like “Defying Gravity” so far?
It’s definitely out of body! I’ve watched it so many times wondering what it would feel like, but once I get up there I’m actually concentrating so hard on making sure I’m singing well, holding the broom correctly, that the skirt is covering everything—by the time its over and the lights go down I’m like, “Oh, right! I was just up in the sky!” Everyone’s telling me that as the months go on it’ll become routine, but for now it’s definitely one of the craziest things I’ve ever done.
And you were actually sick when you made your Elphaba debut, correct?
Oh, yes. I had to fly back to the West Coast and finish filming for a part I’m playing in [film director] Judd Apatow’s Funny People, shoot until about 4am, get back to the airport at 8am and then fly back to New York, and I picked up some sort of sinus infection. I didn’t want to admit it, because then I’d have to accept I was sick! But my ears were clogged, I was going to acupuncture, massage, shamans—OK, not the shamans—but was doing everything with the amazing team of healers you have around you when you’re doing this show. It’s all about the power of the mind. I’m learning that with Elphaba your mind has to be as strong as your voice or body, because if you let the fear or doubt in it can be just as detrimental as talking too much or not taking care of your body. She’s an exercise for the brain—you need a little Elphaba therapy to survive! But it was very interesting to sing that music with a stuffed up head, because I know the other Elphabas have done it and I was always like, “How do they do it?” Now I at least know it’s possible. Not preferable, but possible.
I did a lot of Shakespeare in college and played roles that might surprise people who [know me from MADtv]: Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Maria in The Sound of Music—I actually did that one in a little theater in the middle of Colorado with Carey Anderson from Avenue Q and Elizabeth Stanley from Crybaby, so the three of us have fond memories of that—and Juliet in a fractured, musical version of Romeo and Juliet at Second City in Chicago. That one was crazy—it was all about the Friar being on trial for giving two teenagers drugs, which made me happy, because I just like doing funny stuff.
Most people associate you with MADtv, but you did a lot of theater before this.
Improv, comedy, musical theater... were you always wired for performing?
I’ve been told many times by my family that I used to give performances at age three that they would all have to sit through, which involved wearing different costumes and singing various, probably made-up songs. I was absolutely the kid with Broadway records in my room, from 42nd Street to Fiddler on the Roof. It’s embarrassing! I used to listen to the overtures and put on makeup and pretend I was getting ready to go onstage. I just assumed the overture was the music everyone got ready to—you know, two and a half minutes of getting ready and then you can do a whole show. In my head that made sense as a kid.
That’s adorable.
Ha! Well, I’m sure my family was a little worried watching me act out entire shows in my room. I know they were thinking, “God, I hope this show business thing works out.” I actually started performing as a kid with South Coast Repertory Theater, so honestly I haven’t done anything but perform since I was about six years old. I followed it all the way to Indiana University for music.
I joined a comedy group once I got to Indiana. It got serious when I ended up heading to Amsterdam for two years with a comedy company founded in Chicago. It was a lot like Second City, only in Amsterdam, and we traveled all around Europe. We did a lot of musical improv, so I was still singing constantly. Once that was over I headed straight to New York City to pursue musical theater, but a few friends from that company ended up getting me the job at MADtv, so I was off to L.A. Singing actually ended up giving me an edge [on the show]—I could do impersonations of singers, perform fake music videos and things that maybe a straight-up comedian couldn’t.
How did you make the jump to comedy?
What was trekking around Amsterdam doing comedy like?
Um, the craziest thing ever? Well, maybe not as crazy as painting yourself green and belting your face off while flying in the air. But it’s up there. We would do traveling shows as well, and I remember singing improv while playing guitar on a speed train from Frankfurt to Amsterdam for about 20 German businessmen who couldn’t understand a word I was saying. Those sort of things prepare you for anything. It was good preparation for Wicked, I can say that. The funny thing is, musical theater is huge in Holland. It’s so big that Amsterdam is going to have a production of Wicked soon. I have a friend who keeps telling me to learn the language so I can be a “musical theater superstar” over there—I always tell him, “I don’t want to sing ‘As Long As He Needs Me’ in Dutch. I’ve heard it. It isn’t pretty!” Dutch is really hard to sing. And I don’t even know how the German Elphaba does it. Have you ever heard “No Good Deed” in German? Wow. No one messes with that German Elphaba, let me tell you. She’s hardcore!
How was your time in wild the world of MADtv?
It was just incredible. It was a great environment to learn and mess up, because MADtv is an underdog show—there’s more freedom there, less pressure, because we weren’t Saturday Night Live. We’ve always been known as the scrappier sketch show that got away with certain things because of the edge it had. And, like I said, music really played into it. Instantly I was doing Britney Spears music video parodies, singing Celine Dion—that stuff was so fun because it actually was like starring in a music video! The tricky thing was that we couldn’t sing the real songs because we couldn’t afford the rights to them. So I’d have to learn how to sing a not-song, a tune that’s like the song but isn’t really the song. And somehow make sure it was funny. Not always easy!
What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done to get a laugh?
Oh, I can definitely answer that! On MADtv I did a parody of singer James Blunt’s song “You’re Beautiful”—you know, the music video where he’s shirtless in the snow? He’s a great artist and everything, but I found that video to be so silly and self-indulgent because it’s all [the camera filming] him, so I wanted to do a parody called “I’M Beautiful.” Because he’s shirtless and I’d be playing a man, I needed a prosthetic man’s chest to go over my own, so I go to ask the [MADtv team] and they freaked out. “No, it’d be too weird. Besides, a girl without her shirt on the show?” And I start arguing, “Well you just put a guy in man-boobs for a Grey’s Anatomy sketch last week!” This was my serious argument. They eventually agreed, but we didn’t have much of a budget to create a chest for me, so we had to use something we already had—which was a chest piece designed for a guy to play [rapper] LL Cool J two years earlier. It had a six pack! We had to paint it white, then tape up all my lady-parts until I couldn’t breathe, then painstakingly glue this thing onto my body for over two hours. I almost passed out! I remember being like, “What am I doing?! Oh well, anything for a laugh.”
Oh, yeah. They did an amazing job. I walked around freaking out the crew members for an hour. We played the actual sketch in front of a live audience, and their reaction was huge. As the camera panned back on me, I could see their faces as they were going, “Wait… is she? Or isn’t she? Is that a… what?!” It was great. But as it happened I thought, “I think I’ve crossed some border.” After you’ve literally played a shirtless man, going green [as Elphaba] is the only next logical step.
Was it worth it?
Have you met any of the people you’ve impersonated?
The only one was [comedian and Life on the D-List star] Kathy Griffin, which she was delighted about. My impersonation was another sign to her that she was getting off the “D-List.” Although, when we met at the Billboard Music Awards and she asked me to be on her show I was thrilled. Then, when the episode aired and I came onscreen, it just said: “Nicole Parker—Kathy Griffin impersonator” underneath me. As if they found me in Vegas and all I do is just impersonate Kathy Griffin! [Laughs.] I guess that wouldn’t be so terrible, but I was like, “Hey! I do other things, too!”
Of all the people you have worked with, who were you most excited to meet?
There’s so many, and I know he’s going to give me a hard time about this and say I’m lying, but honestly, Martin Short for Fame Becomes Me. That show was the biggest moment for me, and all the gentlemen involved—Martin, Alan Zweibel, Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman—were people whose work I’ve always wanted to do. Just going in for that audition I was reminded of it. I thought, “These people understand the craziness that IS me!” Martin had a huge impact on me during that show. I was flying back and forth [from Los Angeles to New York City] between the show and MADtv, leaving the city after the Sunday matinee, taping MADtv for a few days, then arriving back in New York on Wednesday mornings to do the matinee. It was insane! But Martin was always supportive, just going, “You’re going to do this and it’s going to be fine.” Now on the hard days as Elphaba, I still hear him in my head. And we spoofed Wicked in his show, so I guess this is the karma.
I always hoped to come back to Broadway but I wasn’t sure that it would happen, or that it would be in one of the biggest musicals ever in terms of its following and production value. But it was no secret I wanted to come back to Broadway, especially at MADtv. I’d try to sing in every one of my sketches [on the show]. They’d be like, “We get it. You want to do musical theater. Enough with the singing!”
Did you ever see yourself as a leading lady in a Broadway musical of this scale back then?
What’s harder: comedy or musical theater?
I think it requires two very different muscles. Musical theater and singing require more discipline. With comedy I could stay up late, go out to dinner and talk loudly, and still do a sketch the next day without worrying about my voice. You don’t need to warm-up your vocal chords before jokes! In that sense the discipline and lifestyle add another layer to what you’re doing. Wicked is a 24-hour-a-day job, because you wake up and go, “I need to be Elphaba today. Drink your tea! Did you take your medicine? How’s your voice? Do your stretching!” With comedy, your whole day becomes, “Oh, I hope they laugh. Oh, I hope they laugh. OH, I HOPE THEY LAUGH!” The good thing about theater is knowing what the lines are already; you don’t have to make them up, which is a relief. They’re both tricky but I love both. And I do use both in Wicked, since the show runs the gamut—it’s a nice balance after running around glued into a man’s chest!
