When I read @Mathieas McNaughton’s article on @TheWebFiles covering the Vampire Mob Premiere, he referenced Marcia Wallace as a “comedy legend,” and he was right, she is. And I am damn lucky to have worked with her!
Like millions of other people, “The Bob Newhart Show” (below) was the first place I saw Marcia Wallace and, like millions of other people, she always made me laugh. Millions of others know Marcia from 162 episodes as the voice of Edna Krabappel, which she was on Emmy award for, on “The Simpsons.”
George Carlin described comedy as not just being about timing, but being about the music of language and how each word plays.
That’s what Marcia does with dialogue, she instantly finds the music in it - she knows funny.
You’ve got cast member of “The Bob Newhart Show” and “The Simpsons” on your resume, you’re a comedy legend.
When I was writing Vampire Mob, she was who I imagined playing Annie’s mother, Virginia Jones. There was something about writing words and imagining how they would be said, or to use the music analogy, played by Marcia that made it flow so much easier.
I had acted with Marcia in a pilot presentation at The Improv many moons ago and we crossed paths through mutual friends a few times since. When I was close to being done with the season one script, I didn’t have any contact information for Marcia. One of those mutual friends got me in touch with her and I had that experience I had read about, the one where a director pitches to an actor who is out of their league - that was me!
Marcia loved the idea!
Thank the deity of your choice!
When I was sitting in my basement as a kid, watching Marcia on TV on “The Bob Newhart Show” or “Match Game,” I never thought that actor who is making me laugh right now is going to act in something I will make, because that seemed impossible, then.
Regardless of anything, having had Marcia Wallace be a part of this experience of making VMob, that made it seem all the more amazing.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/683/the-bob-newhart-show-the-crash-of-29-years-old
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