It's time for fresh air from w.h.y. Why in Philadelphia I'm Terry Gross with fresh air today Melissa McCarthy She stars in the new film can you ever forgive me as a biographer turned literary forger Well talk about growing up on a farm her early comedy act her breakout role in Bridesmaids and playing Trump's former press secretary Sean Spicer on Saturday Night Live she was initially skeptical she could look like him the really lovely special effects guy there just said Oh yeah as I could be hard at all like a half an hour which I thought oh I thought it might be harder to switch over to a. Man but it really was it also John Powers reviews the b.b.c. Series bodyguard which premiered in the u.k. In August and became one of the biggest hits of the decade it drops on Netflix Wednesday that's on Fresh Air. First news. Ly from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Lakshmi saying the tribe of ministration is preparing to end assistance to Guatemala Honduras and El Salvador countries from which thousands of people have fled in search of greater safety and paying work Trump says he's determined to block a migrant caravan from crossing into the u.s. Illegally the president has repeatedly warned of unauthorized immigrants who resort to gang and other violence in the United States those making the trek north include young and old families and individuals able bodied and wheelchair bound Mexico's president elect suggested yesterday that his country the u.s. And Canada work together to fund development in poor areas of southern Mexico and Central America where caravans are forming N.P.R.'s Mara Liasson reports on the political implications of the caravan as President Trump stops in Texas today for incumbent Republican Senator Ted Cruz this is the president's go to issue and he has really grasped onto the caravan He's even said that the caravan and Kavanaugh will be the 2 most important things about the midterms he's not only said without evidence that they're criminals he's even said that they're terrorists That's N.P.R.'s Mara Liasson Ashley Lopez of member station k.u.n.c. In Austin is covering Trump's visit to Texas were early voting is underway election officials say they're expecting a higher turnout than usual in the coming days Texas has been flooded with a lot of money in the past several weeks particularly for the closely watched Senate race between incumbent Ted Cruz and his Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke Danna Spain who lives in Austin says she always votes but this election feels particularly important so she voted 1st thing this morning there was no way I was not going to be here the minute the polls opened been telling people what if I get hit by a bus Monday afternoon and I didn't vote no way President Trump is holding a rally in Houston today and an effort to draw support for Cruz on the 1st day of voting for n.p.r. News I'm Ashley Lopez in Austin big tech is at the White House today N.P.R.'s Jasmine go. Reports companies including Google Amazon and i.b.m. Are considering the possibility of employees doing tours of duty with the government when it comes to technology the federal government lags behind and that hasn't been helped by a widening gap between left leaning Silicon Valley and the trumpet ministration this White House's Office of American innovation is trying to bridge that gap the office is tasked with making recommendations to the president on how to improve government operations and services the administration is trying to convince Silicon Valley leaders that their employees should take leaves time away from their jobs to perform civil service those workers would be asked to help modernize state and federal agencies Jasmine gars n.p.r. News New York had a last check on Wall Street the Dow is down 157 points or more than half a percent at 25287 this is n.p.r. News support for n.p.r. Comes from math Mazie I'm committed to changing lives through math by building math achievement problem solving and critical thinking skills for thousands of students every day in 900 franchise locations math Naisi I'm Guy com slash n.p.r. . From the w.b. Newsroom I'm a teacher by Dia State officials say 4 cases of a rare mysterious illness that can paralyze children have been confirmed in Ohio the Ohio Department of Health said Friday it has notified health care providers to be alert for and to report suspected cases of the neurological condition called acute flaccid my lightest or a.f.m. It's categorized by sudden asymmetric weakness in the arms or legs the cause is unknown the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed $62.00 cases across $22.00 states this year compared with $33.00 cases last year and it's investigating dozens more reports most of the confirmed cases nationally including those in Ohio involve children was reported cases occurred in Columbiana Cuyahoga Mercer and takeaway counties in August and September a civil rights group is asking an appeals court to overturn a ruling that bans homeless camps in Hamilton County the a.c.l.u. Of Ohio has sued on behalf of a church that wants to house homeless people on his private property in August ruling banned encampments from downtown Cincinnati at the Hamilton County prosecutor's request the common pleas court judge twice extended the ban on homeless camps we located just outside restricted areas almost people then moved on to private property and were again ordered to leave and American Civil Liberties Union attorney says the judge lacked the authority to enact the ban it prohibits encampments on sidewalks and public grounds but doesn't specifically exempt private property Marshall University says it's one of the recipients of funds from the Appalachian Regional Commission program to aid the economy in communities affected by the downturn in coal production Marshall is set to receive almost $1500000.00 for an employment program and will receive additional funding for the project from the Claude Worthington Benenden foundation the program aims to develop a regional system to offer drug training and placement assistance for people affected by the coal industry decline and opioid use in southern West Virginia West Virginia will get about 7600000 dollars of the 26500000 that the commission is awarding to 9 states to help struggling coal communities that's a look at your state or regional news at this hour from the w.b. Newsroom I'm a teach by idea. Amanda Shires joins us next now along with the war and. Byron Isaacs. This is a man to join me this weekend live performance on a. Saturday night at 8 right here on. This is Fresh Air I'm Terry Gross my guest Melissa McCarthy is known for her comic roles in movies like Bridesmaids and the heat and for her in person Asian of president trumps 1st press secretary Sean Spicer on Saturday Night Live Now she takes a different direction in the new film can you ever forgive me which is based on the 2008 memoir of the same name by Lee Israel Israel who died in 2014 had a moderately successful career writing biographies of people who had fallen out of the popular consciousness like actress to Lulu Bankhead and gossip columnist Dorothy Kohl gallon but after her biography of a stay Lauder flop she couldn't find a publisher for her next book about vaudeville star Fanny Brice finding herself broke unable to pay her rent or her cats vet bill Israel deployed her writing skills to forge letters by literary luminaries like Dorothy Parker Edna Ferber noël coward and the actress Louise Brooks and sold the letters to collectors reviewing the film in the New York Times a.o. Scott wrote Lee Israel may be the single most interesting movie character you will encounter this year let's start with a clip from the film in which Israel confides her secret to Jack hock a fellow alcoholic who scrapes by on charm wit and numerous scams and hustles Jack is played by Richard e. Grant each of these characters has an a Serb a sense of humor. Can you keep us. A new want to tell my friends that. Quite by accident I find myself in a rather. Criminal position I can't fathom what a criminal activity could possibly involving Septa Crevel Fresh Kills I mean embellish. Documents if. You forging checks out literary letters by Writers tricks not money is just. As if you're not understanding the world of an elite collectible literary artifacts Asbos know how thrilling to be forging pieces of paper they go where libraries I'm selling to come some she get easily and in a way I told you it's a well it's a waste of a secret I sure got out there got a rock and told the rock because I get a better response because if you told about this. Film without friends. Melissa McCarthy welcome to Fresh Air I love you in this new movie so congratulations on it this is a really different role for you you play somebody who is very funny in a caustic sarcastic bitter way but I wouldn't call it mostly a comedy and there isn't any physical comedy for in it and you're very known physical comedy so I know you start in St Vincent in a dramatic role but do you consider this movie a new direction for you. I think it's a it's a new direction for how I think most people are used to seeing me I was in New York for many many years doing dramatic plays so I'm quite comfortable and I was kind of think if you you know put all the all the things I've done together I may have even done more drama than comedy in its totality but as you realize I most people haven't seen a lot of that it was incredibly far off Broadway plays so you know the 13 people at each performance Don't don't have much impact so I skim through the memoir because you know the movie is based on a memoir by Lee Israel and. So I might have missed this but you don't really get a sense of who she is physically what she looks like and I don't think there's a lot of insights into her personality so where did you go for those insights and did you have a sense of what she looked like I know there's inner truth chillies personality there there is not a lot of her personal life to get to take a look at and also it's before everyone felt the need to document you know every single moment of their lives and I was lucky enough though that 2 of our producers David you are now had known her for 20 years he was you know had a very big part in kind of poking and prodding her to even write the memoir which he. It was said she was very difficult about again true to leaves kind of caustic prickly nature she didn't want to write about herself she didn't didn't like the idea of it and finally did which worked out well for her but and Carey and other producers knew her for 10 years so I really just kind of sat and listened to their stories and listened to you know how difficult yet to me always so witty and kind of fascinating she was so I got a lot of the characters from that and then the rest you know I kind of conjured in in created so it was something I thought was a very deep telling detail about Lea Israel's personality is that she had a 21 year old cat who was like infirm and. Addled and living under the bed and her apartment was infested with flies Yeah and she writes I found no connection between the flies and my cat's litter box although it should have been clear that she was doing what my grandma Lena used to call her business under my bed and her business was attracting flies I did not smell anything rather like those serial killers who garnished their flats with hacked off human parts but never seem bothered by or even aware of the stench and I can't help but wonder like how do you see in the film that the whole underneath her bad it's just covered Yeah with Cat Who and she's totally unaware of it but when someone else walks in the partment think they have to leave because it smells so much so you had to ask yourself right when you were playing her like how could she not have noticed Well how far into denial and there was such an inner I thought you know there was such an inner spiral for Lee in terms of. Just shutting down and pushing people away and and going in word and so much played I kind of there was there seemed to be such a struggle an interior struggle for her and so much kind of anger and frustration and it was at a point in her life where the one thing she could do which was right and she was a great writer she was being told she was obsolete and I think she was just no longer you know just as though in the same way that she was not flexible or capable enough of simply starting a new career or even getting a job and just dealing with people she she did not have that ability she could only do the one thing and they I think the more her life spiraled out the less she could you know see what was literally right there in front of her it's like you know I think there's a thing when people kind of just start to barricade the interior of themselves that they're you know you do truly become in denial of what's right in front of your face if you're just joining us my guest is Melissa McCarthy and she stars in the new movie can you ever forgive me so I want to ask you about something you did so well which is playing Sean Spicer on Saturday Night Live. President comes 1st press secretary who had a very oppositional relationship with the press so here's a yes here's a that he says alias here here's your 1st outing as Sean Spicer on Saturday Night Live. Was still began today by apologizing I'd be half of you know to me. How you have treated me in these last 2 weeks and that apology is none except. That I'm not here to be your buddy I'm here Swan guy I'm not and I'm here to take night was. Ok now I'm wondering why something shiny in front of you monkeys. Like you know President Trump announced his Supreme Court pick on the national t.v. Today when he entered the room the crowd greeted him with a stand doing all they say which lasted a full 15 minutes and you can check the tape on that everyone was smiling everybody was happy. That nano had a great she was. Never a single one of the women was not kill waiting left and right. And no more and no one was sad. Ok those are the facts for ever and are something else. Now part of the president's schedule for today at $345.00 to President well hosted out of course greeting of Finding Dory. The story of money for get full fish Ok everybody likes that that it's 6 pm he's going to abolish the national park system but during the. Good stuff. You create. This e-mail where you times I swear what do you think listening back to. I it's strange to hear back I forgot. Just kind of how truly absurd it was and yet kind of true to form so I was also rattling I always wanted to know whose idea was it for you to play spies or did they call you it's that descent into life folks call you and ask you to do it or did you suggest the idea to them No no I did not suggest it I would never ever have thought of that in a 1000000 years my friend Kent sublets one of the head writers at s n l that I know you know going back to the Groundlings Theater in Los Angeles he called and said Would you ever come in and do Spicer I wrote something that I think you can play and I was like what the the what I can't play him I don't I don't you in person Nations I'm not a man I don't know I have no interest it's not in my wheel house and he just kept saying you know I think you could do it I think you know just come it can I can I send it to you to read and I I think I said I don't think it's quite my thing and then I believe the next day I saw another rather you know insane press conference where I thought well this is weirder than anything I could actually do we can't even we can't even match it on s n l it's so absurd and I just thought. Ok I'm going to come in and read it and talk to you guys about it and you know I think in the real humbling blow is I thought well how long is it going to take like a kid can even get me to look like him and the really lovely special effects guy there just said oh yeah that's going to be hard at all it'll take like a half an hour which I thought oh I thought it might be harder to switch over to a. Man but it really was it and they got it down to like you know it one point we were doing it like do you know 15 minutes but I just thought I think I got the feel I started to think maybe maybe it's time to kind of hold hold the mirror up and see if anyone realizes how kind of ridiculous they're being so one of the things that you became famous for within that sketch is the moving podium which you kind of drive aggressively reporters and then there was like 11 sketch we actually drove it down it was a 5th Avenue in Manhattan we were all over Manhattan in that podium which was very surreal shooting at I think I pitched it at one point of you know do we go through kind of sail into the sunset and I think I just actually thought it would be fun to drive kind of a Segway podium around Manhattan and I didn't think they would ever let me do it I was Segway is that what it was on well it's kind of based on that some you know these incredible people built this whole rig so it was kind of a podium sitting on a Segway type of contraption but they built they built this whole thing and rigged it but it was weird they were just you know all up and down the streets there were all these people watching and then you could I'd look up into the building and just see you know hundreds of people kind of pressed against the glass and I thought this is the most surreal moment I'll probably ever have if you're just joining us my guest is Melissa McCarthy and she's now starring in the new movie can you ever forgive me so we'll be right back after a break this is Fresh Air. Across the country colleges are beginning to offer students nor can in case they need to reverse an opioid overdose. On the university provide. Everybody others question if it could encourage drug use that story plus the fallout from. This afternoon on All Things Considered from n.p.r. News. All things considered today from 4 until 7 and Public Media this is Fresh Air and if you're just joining us my guest is Melissa McCarthy She's starring in the new movie can you ever forgive me which is based on a memoir by Lee Israel who when she 1st started being unable to sell new book ideas decided to forge letters by literary greats and make money selling those forged letters as if they were originals so something else are very famous for is your role in Bridesmaids and the most famous or infamous scene when the bride in the bridesmaids get food poisoning as they're trying on like really expensive fancy bridal dress Yes And you know bridesmaids dresses and they get like super sick and of course there are new enough bathrooms so you end up sitting on the bathroom sink in your expensive gown that you're trying on and the whole scene is very intentionally gross and I'm wondering how you felt about that scene because part of the scene part of the point of the movie is that you know women could do gross out comedy just as men can and really wasn't the point of Ok and none of us felt that way about it and that scene was actually kind of Jack did into the film. Kind of late into the process and I think at 1st everyone bristled at it and thought we don't want to do this grow scene for the sake of gross it really isn't any of our humor we didn't find it funny because it did feel like for lack of a better way to determine football like a guy move and you remember us talking about it and they said what if the only thing that appeals to me does seem funny and kind of. The type of thing you watching go thank God it's not me I said if we just play the in the horror in the embarrassment of it. Because we had things like this do happen I said if it's less about gross for gross and more about oh my god I can't make the earth swallow me up and if you play I think how maybe more women would do it in terms of it was horrifying not we weren't going like yeah look at this we were all desperately even though we were friends with in the movie saying like. Just look somewhere else like we couldn't escape it and then I then I think we started to reconcile with the fact that like it could be funny for the sheer sake of being like What is the worst thing that could happen to you and and how do you kind of like just like a horror movie get through it is interesting to hear you say that because the 2nd half of my question was going to be Ok some women found it liberating that you know women can do gross out humor like men but then there's the question Do women want to establish their equality by doing gross out scenes and so you response is really interesting because you're saying that's that's not really what was intended but it wasn't intended it was really talked about because I'm I'm not one for bathroom humor or stuff like that I think sometimes there's that horrible and wonderful feeling you get where you're so embarrassed for the character and I think that's showing the character kind of going through such a vulnerable humiliation that we can all laugh at it because in some way we've all done it we've all fallen said the wrong thing had some. Shaming thing done and I think I think at least for myself that's that was the connection to that's a real human experience even if that particular action hasn't happened to most people Melissa McCarthy something else that you're famous for is insults insulting going to Whole not real life maybe in real life I wouldn't know I don't know you that later you know but but the most famous example of that is in This Is 40 and there's a feud between your teenage kid and Paul Rudd and Leslie man's teenage kid and this becomes a feud between the 3 parents and they're all called in to meet with the principal and the the other couple the Leslie Mann Paul Rudd couple have threatened you so you're all just kind of going at each other in the office so yes let's hear that scene it starts with you these people are liars He said that my son was an animal and then if I didn't keep him on a leash then he would hit him with his car did you say that that's that's ridiculous Who talks like that you do all right you know what you know what I said was that we need to keep an extra our on our kids because with all the technological advances they need to learn to use them responsibly no you know what he what he said to me was he told me what language Catherine Lang much what I mean how am I going to relay what these 2 not Balls said to me unless I say it can you please not talk like that Katherine Music Man is rehearsing next door sorry ma'am maybe if I looked more like this fake couple secured a bait commercial that's what you look like if you're a bait commercial couple none of this talk is productive I would like your rear up jack knife my legs and kick you both in the jaw with my bone and you're just really scaring me this is what happens when you corner a rat you corner me I will shoot through you I'll shoot through you. Ok And then as the credits roll at the end of this is 40. It's just you kind of improv ing insults in that scene and it just goes like on and on with more over the top insults is that something that you're famous for outside like in the real world being able to to do really funny and solve no I no I do not go around insulting people you hope ever. I don't know if it's a cathartic part of the work that you know you do something so kind of unlike yourself and maybe it's why I don't do it in life I get it all out on screen but yeah the 1st time I watched that back I kept saying I didn't say that I never say that the person was sitting with was said or watching you say it you said all of it and I I didn't remember saying most of it which made me feel slightly crazy and I was just trying to say every anything that came off the very top of my head I hadn't planned anything so you know maybe it was just that so much kind of free free word association that I didn't kind of log it into my memory had you improv insults before. Yes I have had. Incidentally have played a lot of kind of very assertive. Characters that you know I think in the heat. Especially part of part of the part of the character's d.n.a. Was just to literally say anything just to kind of kind tear people down and I think kind of try to stand her in her own authority so is a big part of that character. Of detective and that very aggressive detective. There is a fun to it I mean I would never want to do it in real life but it's part of the fun of getting to act you do these things that you would never do you're bolder you're hard sure you know you're you're just ripping insults at someone and there is a there is a fun to it because hopefully you know you don't do it in your real life my guest is Melissa McCarthy She stars in the new film can you ever forgive me we'll talk about growing up on a farm after a break and John Powers will review a new b.b.c. Series that drops on Netflix Wednesday I'm Terry Gross and this is Fresh Air and here's a song from the soundtrack of can you ever forgive me. Take . Going. There either. The new Bauer Family Foundation supports w.h.y. Wise fresh air and its commitment to sharing ideas and encouraging meaningful conversation support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from indeed used by over 3000000 businesses for hiring where employers can post jobs and use screener questions to build their shortlist of preferred candidates learn more it indeed dot com slash higher and from Sierra Nevada Brewing Company family owned operated and argued over since 1900 proud supporter of independent thought whether that's online over the air or in a bottle more it Sierra Nevada dot com Stanley McChrystal led u.s. And coalition forces in Afghanistan as a 4 star Army general he was considered an outstanding leader now he's fascinated by the nature of leadership that includes rethinking one of his former Idols Confederate General Robert e. Lee Stanley McChrystal on the myths and lessons of leaders next time on one egg. Mornings 10 till noon on Public Media. This is Fresh Air I'm Terry Gross back with Melissa McCarthy She costarred in Bridesmaids has starred in several films including the heat and now stars in the new film can you ever forgive me as a biographer turned literary forger it's based on a memoir by the Israel you grew up on a farm in Illinois and it's hard for me to think of you as a farm kid would you describe the farm. It was in Plainfield Illinois it was about 3 miles out of town it was a corn and soybean farm. At any given time we would have between you know 20 and 30 cats just on the outside what was it was that because you were you know people are sad because of my. Well probably probably both but really the main reason was that you know anytime someone had a litter of cats or couldn't get a cattle dop dead or illiterate dop did and they had nowhere else to go we would you know my mom and would take them in and she thought what's the difference where on a big farm it does help to keep myself from ever getting into the house and she's a you know a softie and we all like cats so they would stay outside they were you know it wasn't it wasn't like a horror movie where there's this in their living room but you know and people would put boxes of cats like in our driveway always thought it was kind of sad and terrible but we take them in as kids we love it I think I think it did definitely frighten parents of my friends the 1st time you know the 1st time I got taken home there was always a bit of a catch in my chest of like when they finally get down the gravel road and they pull into the driveway there are going to be 25 cats that rush out to the car in a very friendly way but it does seem like oh and this is this is how we'll all be killed and I just remember the 1st time parents were always like oh my God Oh my God I'm like it's fine I'll get out here. Just get out here and they're like well why do you have so many cannot see and you know like an 8 year old kid you're like well you know we just take them in it's not as weird as it looks Meanwhile you know they were just like Get out get out of a car what did you feed them you must have had a lot of cat food there's a lot of cat food there we make like big pitchers of food I remember using Chafer I've not thought about this. I believe these like carnation powdered milk and we'd like rip up bread and lots of cat food and make this kind of stew concoction and then go out on the back porch and you know and call all the cats and that's a lot of have to come running at one point you know of some of the cats were new or in a little more slightly feral my mom was very aware of making sure all the cats got pets so they got used to people and used to being around and she's really sweet so Sandy would always pet each cat while they were eating and make sure that they got used to like people touching them and at one point she was out there doing that and when she stood up she realized that one of the cats was a skunk. She had been chatting and petting this guy being like oh you'd like them is that a good dinner or and then she stood up in the light that she had been blocking with her body the light hit the skunk So yeah it was all were welcome I guess is the take away there I hope she didn't get sprayed by the skunk she didn't it just kept eating sheep you know it's probably the only time for sure it got pet by human Melissa McCarthy at what point did you start thinking about either acting or comedy which came 1st like acting or comedy but comedy I mean stand up. Standup came 1st and kind of suddenly and I moved to New York when I was 20 kind of out of the blue living in Boulder Colorado not sure exactly what I was doing or why I was even there I'd moved there with my sister and then just it was still kind of lingering and I had a friend come and see me say why are you in Boulder like you know I said I don't know I only want to be in New York so 3 days later I moved to New York City that night he found a place to do stand up the next and open mike night the next day because not because I'd necessarily talked about stand up but I think I kind of did a lot of telling stories and like to you know I found it fun to make people laugh and our 1st night he said you should do your We're going to do an open mike night tomorrow night and I said all right and I think because I was 20 and you just kind of think everything's not a big deal I think you know now I would be terrified but at 20 I just went Ok that seems fine we're not doing anything else and I went up on stage the 2nd night there was in New York and. I kind of thought Oh I think think this is what I'm going to do and I remember calling my parents saying I'm not going to go back to school I had planned on finishing up at f i t i hadn't finished school that's the fashion I wanted yes and I wanted to do women's clothing it's kind of all kind of ever thought about from you know my grandmother was a seamstress maybe that was imbedded in me but it was really my it's what I did and you know I really loved making clothes I loved watching other designers studying what they did I love the whole process I was always sketching and then I did stand up one night and I just thought I think I'm going to go this direction do you remember any of the material you did that 1st night. I do is strange I'm sure was terrible. Was it stand up New York for an open mike and I remember at 1st I hadn't written anything I just kind of got up on stage I didn't know that you were supposed to write I mean just oblivious oblivious to any any preparation or and I went up on stage and you know I had a big wig on and kind of a very eccentric you know I think it was like a silver metallic kind of trench coat dress and and I remember just starting to talk about being in New York and being so tall and wealthy and having everyone love you so much and I think it 1st it really threw people as you know it seemed so egotistical and narcissistic and I thought oh they're not liking this and they went harder and I kept complimenting myself more and more but in ways that these were not factual compliments I was saying everything I wasn't I had you know $0.13 I was not tall I was not fabulous and sought after in New York so I do remember that feeling of them realizing that I'm making fun of myself and not complimenting myself. And then when they started to laugh I just thought this is really fun this is really strange and fun and such a tightrope act of well they didn't like me a minute ago and now I think it's Ok And then then I could say anything because they knew it wasn't serious and I think I pulled somebody up on stage and talked about us being in gauged and he was clearly there with a date and that I didn't really know how to do jokes so I just kind of again I went out as a character I went on this Miss why I would never would have gone on as myself but through a character I could be more ridiculous and more bold and brazen and I would not go in just popped out on someone's lap and talk about how much they love me but as this character I could and I just felt a great freedom in that would you always dress the way you described Yeah I was always completely completely different I was always in a huge wig some very elaborate costume but almost club kiddy but not as alternative at that point I was living with. One of my still best friends Brian that would who now is a shoe designer but at the time he was at f i t So he was making all these different clothes so I would wear you know I would. Grab things that he was making for class and we would go out and go do stand up that night and I would throw on one of his like you know we're Lemay swing cape or some kind of scuba suit thing and it just seemed so fun it was also much more ridiculous and fun and I just thought why not what else you could to wear like a scuba dress out let's take a short break here and then we'll talk more if you're just joining us my guest is Melissa McCarthy and she stars in a new movie called Can you ever forgive me we'll be right back after this break this is Fresh Air. Health care is a problem that people in this district face every single day in New Jersey with fewer than 3 weeks until the midterms repealing Obamacare is a major issue in a hotly contested congressional race and the issue is leaving many voters on the fence if you decide that the house. I don't know I'm a little bit on the. I'm not on that one I'm not sure that's on the next Morning Edition from n.p.r. News. Day mornings at 5 am and public media. For n.p.r. Comes from this station and from Tyrone more than 500 tire models from 22 manufacturers and an online tool for finding tires based on vehicle needs budget and brand tire rack dot com helping drivers find deliver install and from t.i.a.a. T.i.a. Is committed to helping those who are driven by purpose reach their definition of success investing advice banking retirement learn more at a dot org This is Fresh Air Let's get back to my interview with Melissa McCarthy She stars in the new movie can you ever forgive me when we left off we were talking about her early stand up comedy career. So. Did you perform at gay clubs. I did duplex was one of my favorite places to perform I just loved it also because. You know the heckling wasn't there which is really why I stopped standby I didn't do it that long I think people think I did it longer and probably better than I did I didn't. When you went into a regular comedy club something that I really didn't like was there is this element there was always one so he's one guy always really did literally seem like do you just go club to club like are you actually the same guy because it was the always the kind of you know one you weren't even fully up on stage yet and there's always somebody like take your top off. And you're just like Why don't like what do you talk like Does that ever work for you has any woman ever been like Oh my God I wasn't thinking of it but you know what I'm going to take my top off like you just do every time or something in that vein and specially when you're starting out you have you know your 4 and a half minutes and the only way to stop someone from yelling and heckling is you have to really shut them down like truly shot and now not just like Ok buddy you know got it they're going to keep doing it and they're going to keep doing it so in order to actually make them be quiet you would have to kind of truly humiliate them not in a joking way because strangely just trying to indicate to them that like I don't want to do this and I want to have this back and forth with you and I'm not going to take my shirt off because I'm not insane so I felt I had to get so mean and so cutting and actually really make the person so much Barris that they stopped talking what was one of your favorite insults that you gave onstage in response to have less time. I don't think it was my favorite I think the more it worked the more I hated that. It usually would dissolve into some kind of thing about are you here with your girlfriend then or you're not how was your mom's basement you know I would always kind of go down that road like this so surprising like going to get a show of hands from women who who isn't crazy about this guy just asked me to take his shirt off like and I would do vote soon then talk about like wow you have no takers it would dissolve from there but afterwards and then. A selfish note I also thought out of 4 minutes I've taken 2 minutes doing something that makes me feel bad about myself no you feel terrible because you'd watch the person finally. B. Truly embarrassed enough to stop talking and then you're looking at this guy who even though I think he's a jerk should have been quiet to begin with now he actually feels bad like to his core and then I'm supposed to somehow transition to like so I was walking down Madison Avenue and you're just like how what's 1st of all there's no real good transition there and then now I've got 2 minutes left at the Oscars if you go over time they're going to play you a stage is there somebody if there was a comedy club owner like tapping his watch and saying times you know there's the light oh there is ever present not to ever not be he did light the 1st time I went up I didn't I didn't know what the light meant I wanted a flash is like Time's up yes and when that light flashes it is literally like Finish your sentence and get off stage you have 10 seconds before you know the stage explodes it is really a big deal it's a big deal to the owner or manager who's ever running the night it's also a huge deal to the other comics because you don't get to suddenly do 8 minutes if we all get 4 that's like oh my God it's a really big deal yeah you're stealing other people's time you're stealing it yeah you're taking it out of they're going to get less but the 1st time I did stand up right there was people actually laughed at something much my surprise and as they laughed he flashed the light from the booth and I thought it was kind of a nonverbal applause from the manager and I remember like yeah I thought I thought he was saying like Atta girl you know keep it up because I didn't know why he was it was the 1st time that I'd seen him flash a light and it happened right on the laugh. So then he continued flashing it which I thought he meant keep it up it's going great so I kept talking and the light kept flashing and I thought boy this guy really likes me he's really encouraging me and then I got off the I finally did get off the stage I can't remember if he came out and was like his arms were flailing or Finally I was just like I don't know us to say I've been up here for like 9 minutes and I came off and I just remembered him screaming at me in a hallway asking me what's the matter with me how dumb can I be and I was like I thought you were encouraging me which I think blew his mind that I was like so naive I was you know that I truly didn't know so you know one of the women who has taken on like producing and writing films and has that been an attempt to make sure that you can act in material that means something to you that you care about and give yourself good roles because you know I think it's often hard for women to get . Good roles. I think it is and I think you know I don't think a day goes by where I don't realize how lucky I am and I've never minded how much extra work I always thought I want to be a part of making these 3 dimensional flawed you know often challenging but to me really real women and I just thought so many things I read were kind of. I don't even know what in the in the breakdown you would describe them as pleasant I was like I don't know how to play pleasantly. Who cares there's nothing to sink your teeth into it's like the perfect clothes and they look really nice and they have a nice relationship in their houses I just thought oh my God Like who wants to watch that I don't want to play it now so I thought all the people I love and like are filled with. Quirks and eccentricities and isn't that why we always love or even dislike people take we're we're a bundle of all these different weirdnesses and so often I I felt that everything I read for a female character was really bland and often a bummer just kind of everyone's having fun and then in would come the woman to go like car all were saying well I thought oh my god how many times can I just randomly walk into a room and say the guy's name I'm like why doesn't she ever walk in and go like what's go what on this is fun like why is she always a bomb or I just could I didn't know how to play it I felt like I don't have the skill set to play this because I don't know why she's doing it. I'm wondering if you feel that you've been affected by the me too movement which you know I mean like Harvey Weinstein fell several actors their careers or at least temporarily and did because they were outed for assaulting or amassing criminal behavior yet to women so like as somebody who is both you know an actor or a writer producer has the kind of change in climate been meaningful for you can you feel the difference do you feel that women are being more empowered in Hollywood now. Every little inch I will take every centimeter forward I'll take I think the more we talk about it and the fact that it is becoming less acceptable you know I think I think the treatment of of women. Just can't be dismissed you can't treat half the population so poorly and have it be like you know boys there has to be repercussions and it's happening in all fields which is what I think is so important about me too it's it's branching out to everyone it's all women that need help that need money for representation it's saying that we're all in it together and I think the more we link up and relates there's strength in numbers. It can't be for the worse Well Melissa McCarthy I want to thank you so much for coming on our show I've greatly enjoyed it I love you in your new role in Kenya ever forgive me and let's continue the conversation some other time I would love to this is been just a dream I love this show so at thanks so much for having me on. Ever forgive me as a writer. After a break John Powers will review a new. Police body assigned to protect a woman politician who may be a terrorist. When the b.b.c. Show. In the u.k. Last August became one of the biggest hits of the. Series which drops on Netflix. Traumatized police. To look after an ambitious woman politician. A terrorist target our critic at large John Powers. Spy novel. One of the. Cars passed. He instantly begins wondering how that happened survival he thinks is an infinite capacity for suspicion that capacity gets put to the test in bodyguard a new b.b.c. Series created by Jed Mecurio who's known for his compelling shows about the dark side of public institutions unfolding over 6 episodes but a guard is decidedly not a remake of that old Kevin Costner Whitney Houston movie and you will wait in vain to hear someone belt out and I Will Always Love You. This is a high powered state of the art thriller about terrorism political chicanery and the perils of acting in good faith the series stars bittered mad the handsome Scottish actor best known as Rob Stark on Game of Thrones he's actually far better here playing Sergeant David bud and Afghanistan war vet with p.t.s.d. And a broken marriage who now works for the London police as a bodyguard for visiting dignitaries when we 1st meet this tightly wound loner he's just learned a terrorist plans to bomb the train he's writing a tense 20 minute opening that announces the show's intention to keep us permanently on the edge of our seats sojourn but handles the situation so deftly that his boss gives him what looks like a plum assignment he sent to protect Julia Montague played by Keeley Hawes the home secretary in the Conservative government who beneath her good looks possesses a spine of the purest Thatcherite steel the ruthless Julia intends to supplant her party's prime minister by whipping up fear of Islamic terrorism it's an approach that her bodyguard despises here the 2 talk after she's done a t.v. Interview pushing national security and defending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan . But fear that I'm telling the humanly said. In time. About the Middle East. And he say what people want to hear. About doing the right thing making the hard choices. This thing is Dave it's us Dave I don't want you to vote for me and you have attacked me. Rest assured love I'll do as required. What's required predicts truly tricky because someone really is trying to kill Julia Montague but who could it be Islamic militants renegade elements of the security apparatus the Conservative Party enemies before he even settled into the job sergeant but is dodging assassins bullets being ordered to spy on the woman he's protecting and discovering that he finds the home secretary kind of well hot one bodyguard aired in the u.k. a Couple of months ago it became a national obsession not only does the show offer more shocking twists than a tank full of electric eels but its hero is in many ways the male version of homeland's charismatic Carrie Mathison a devoted but psychologically fraying officer who susceptible to the allure is a manipulations of those he should know better than to get in tangled with he must find his way through a minefield of unreliable characters his ex soldier pal who is hell bent on vengeance the head of the London police forces anti-terrorist squad whose It war with m I 5 and the Conservative Party's nasty Chief Whip Well all of this makes the series gripping it doesn't make it serious like Homeland scandal house of cards and their spiritual godfather 24 buddy God taps into big issues like terrorism and government snooping but only to keep us guessing more concerned with being a good ride than exploring character or politics the show is awash in a timely cynicism. The paranoid through hours of the sixties and seventies 7 Days in May or 3 days of the Condor or All the President's Men were made for an audience that assumed a stable law abiding political system such thrillers took their sting from the cautionary suggestion that we didn't know what's really going on that the system was being threatened by conspirators rogue generals rogue spies even rogue presidents these days in both Britain and America countless millions on both left and right but leave that the state itself has gone rogue lawless conspiracy has come to seem so normal that seventy's paranoia now seems almost innocent without the ballast of a stable world to keep the action anchored anything becomes possible in today's shows Kevin Spacey shoving a reporter in front of a train and House of Cards a sleeper cell Marine murdering the vice president in his own office in homeland and so it is with bodyguard a finely tuned series whose delirious improbabilities reveal themselves like clockwork the show doesn't seek to alert us to the dangers of terrorism and government malfeasance by now we've had all the warnings we need instead buddy God reduces the things that scare us to shamelessly white knuckled entertainment with a neat resolution Don't worry it suggests it's just another thriller. John Powers writes about film. He reviewed the b.b.c. Series bodyguard which drops on Netflix. Tomorrow we'll talk about voting rights and voting restrictions My guess would be journalist Ari Berman author of Give us the ballot he says 24 states have implemented new restrictions disproportionately affecting minorities ranging from requiring voter I.D.'s to closing polling places also tell us about the 7 states where efforts are being made to expand voting rights. From this station and from Tire Rack offering a tire decision to help customers find tires that fit their car driving. With a network of more than 7000 independent installers Tire Rack dot com helping drivers find deliver install and from Subaru featuring the all new 3 row ascent with seating for up to 8 and a choice of 2nd row captains chairs love it's what makes a Subaru a Subaru learn more at Subaru dot com You are listening to member supported public media we have about a minute until 2 o'clock and then we'll bring you n.p.r. News regional news headlines and the 1st hour of here and now you can find our schedule of programming on our website w o r g we're w o u b f m Athens w o u c f m Cambridge w o u l f m Ironton w o u h f m Chillicothe a n w o u z f m Zanesville support comes from the Ohio University School of Music presenting how love palooza 11 fantastic beats and how to rhyme them a comedic concert of hollowing music.