*Season 2 of the hit NBC comedy “Trial & Error” is back and “wild and crazier” than last season, comedian/actress Sherri Shepard tells EUR/Electronic Urban Report.
Shepherd plays the hilarious Anne Flatch, an assistant and head researcher for the defense team who is plagued with all sorts of ailments, weird quirks and health issues; such as facial blindness, dyslexia and alien hand syndrome. She also talks when she’s sleeping, walks backward and “faints when she sees beautiful artwork,” Sherri revealed when we spoke with her last year ahead of the S1 premiere starring John Lithgow.
This time around, Shepherd says “Anne has more disorders,” noting that the writers “really love writing for me and finding new disorders for me. But now you’re going to be introduced to my daughter and the family life that Anne has. She’s still very trusting,” she explained. “I think Anne is the heart and soul of the show. She’s excited about this job. She’s more confident in her job now ‘cause they defended and got off the murderer (in season one) and now they have another one. So I like the fact that they have given her a lot more confidence. And it gets wilder and wackier. I was thinking it couldn’t get any crazier but it does.”
“Trial & Error” returned for a second season last week with a new chapter, “Lady, Killer,” centering on murder suspect and social maven Lavinia Peck-Foster (Kristin Chenoweth).
“Everybody is such a professional and they’re very committed to their character and they’re very specific and strategic about what they do which really makes me be specific and strategic about Anne Flatch,” said Shepherd of her co-stars.
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Anne Flatch, ladies and gentlemen. #TrialAndError pic.twitter.com/bZZzRhWF09
— Trial & Error: BABY BOARD! (@trialanderror) March 15, 2017
Talk about how the cast pushes the envelope this season in terms of comedy.
Sherri: I didn’t know if they’d be able to do it. I didn’t know if they’d be able to top John Lithgow and how they could actually top the writing from the first season and they actually did with Kristin Chenoweth. She’s just a joy and the scenes really push the realm of imagination. But they still took a lot of parts of different murder/crime mysteries. We would get these scripts and I’d go, “This is crazy! This is so wild.” And it worked! We’d get notes from NBC all the time saying how much they love the show.
How much of your own comedy and personality were you allowed to embed in Anne this season?
Sherri: Anne is infused with a lot of Sherri’s personality that I don’t put out there as much when I turn it on and get funny. It’s more of the personality that people see who know me very well. They would tell you, “Sherri is very sweet. Sherri is joyful. Sherri comes in and hugs and kisses everybody. Sherri puts together the karaoke parties.”
I love Anne because she’s so different from anything that I’ve ever played. She doesn’t go for the joke. It’s just a very truthful moment for her. She has a lot of disorders but she finds the joy in life, and that’s Sherri. It’s written so beautifully (that) I don’t have to go too much out of the realm of what they give me.
There’s a clip that they’re going around showing of me in the press of my best friend the cop, Steven Boyer, stuck in a maze and it’s almost like the redrum Jack Nicholson scene (“The Shining”). He’s stuck in a maze and he won’t come out and I say to him in a high voice, “I’m going to talk to you the way I talk to my daughter. Get yo black ass up and let’s go home!” When I read that… what did I have to do? I ain’t have to do nothing ‘cause it was written so yummy. That’s probably one of the funniest scenes in the show. It was written so brilliantly that I didn’t have to do anything to it. I love a project like that; where the writing is so yummy. What you come and put on it is just butter.
Was it challenging for Kristin to join this incredible cast that was already clicking?
Sherri: When we found out that they were trying to get Kristin Chenoweth, we were all excited. She was very tentative. We had to email and DM her and say, “We know we’re not supposed to be talking to you during this negotiation process but please come on board.” She was scared because she was saying, “How on earth am I going to follow John Lithgow? I watched the entire season and he is brilliant. What the heck and I going to do?” She was very tentative to sign on and I think it took all of us going, “We will welcome you with loving arms ‘cause we’re so excited.” It has to be the right star to come in and make this craziness work and her first day she was very nervous (but) she was willing to go there and it worked. If she don’t get nominated for an Emmy for this, I don’t know what’s wrong with the Academy.
So, just like last season, was the cast kept in the dark about whodunit until the very end?
Sherri: Absolutely. We never knew what was going on until we got that script. And there were so many twists and so many turns with Lavinia and we so enjoyed doing the scenes every week. I loved doing “Trial & Error” It never got old for me.
“Trial & Error” airs Thursday at 9/8c on NBC.
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