Maya Rudolph is in her dressing room on the sixth floor of 30 Rock, just a few steps away from Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show studio. She spent seven years here, ending in 2007, as a cast member of Saturday Night Live. And being in her old stomping grounds is bittersweet.
“I love being back here. I never wanted to leave. It’s kind of comforting,” she says.
That’s a good thing, given that Monday’s Maya Rudolph Show (NBC, 10 ET/PT) reunites her with SNL producer Lorne Michaels and former cast members. “I’m just so incredibly linked to this city. I lived here when I was single and young and pre-kids, and all that comes alive for me when I’m here.”
The one-night special, taped last month in Los Angeles, features Andy Samberg, Kristen Bell, Fred Armisen and Sean Hayes. Singer Janelle Monae performs.
Bell appears in several skits, including one that pays homage to her blockbuster animated hit, Frozen. She and Rudolph became friends through Bell’s husband, Dax Shepard (Parenthood). He shot 2006’s Idiocracy with Rudolph and introduced her to the wonders of Hooters’ chicken sandwiches and the Olga’s Greek Cuisine chain.
As for Samberg, “Andy and I became eating buddies at SNL. You eat at weird times of the day,” she says. “We’re codependent by nature. It’s important to sit down and eat.”
Rudolph, 41, worked with a team of writers to create the skits on her special, among them a bit about famous parents who voice the Garmin GPS navigation service. “I needed to do what I liked doing, workwise, and do what feels right and natural to me. It gets everything else feeling healthy. It (stinks) to be away from your kids, but when you’re working on something that makes you feel good and nourished, that’s good for your kids too.”
Her four kids, ages 9 months to 8 years, with her longtime partner, director Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia, The Master), are back home in Los Angeles. And Rudolph is relishing a little time for herself, a break from singing the theme songs from Frozen and The Lego Movie to her brood.
“This is a luxury,” she says. Would she move back? “I hope to at some point. You gotta really make it here. It’s a grind. I grew up in Los Angeles with a backyard and a pool, and it has been really (nice) to see my kids enjoying their tire swing and running around naked. I would love to live here again, no question.”
Rudolph hopes that in success, her comedy special will air on a more regular basis, every few weeks or months, and she hopes to record a comedy album like those of Samberg’s The Lonely Island. And should that not pan out, she comes up with an idea that most moms who can’t quite get rid of that belly pudge would appreciate: “Don’t forget your girdle for running to your taxi. We should create it, a taxi girdle, so it looks like an undershirt.”