The secret Jane Lynch interview you haven’t read | ‘Hollywood Game Night’
| January 20, 2014 at 3:21 PM ESTBeing such an avid advocate of getting everyone with a TV (or even just a screen of some sort) to join in and watch NBC’s newest game series, ‘Hollywood Game Night’, it was beyond a pleasure to get to grill (I mean, SPEAK TO) host, Jane Lynch.
If nothing else, I hope this article convinces you to buy all the episodes on iTunes. You WILL fall in love with it. Photo: NBC
You might know Jane Lynch as the cheerleading/principal/foe/friend Sue Sylvester on FOX’s (…dwindling) smash Glee. You could also know her from other TV like ‘Party On’ (a brilliant, but canceled, Starz series), ‘Two and a Half Men’, and ‘Neighbors from Hell.’ Then there’s also her film career, which is so long I’m just going to direct you to her http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0528331/IMDB page, so you can wonder how you never saw a movie called ‘The Lady with 700 Cats.’ (This might also be a good time to give yourself a reality check to make sure you aren’t becoming one of those ladies.)
This conference call was so uncrowded, that it was essentially just Lynch and one other outlet (besides Small Screen Scoop) on the phone. Everyone else was at the TCA’s – where Lynch would later talk. But for that moment, it was just us. Me: the uberfan who didn’t think she’d get so much time, and Lynch: who is very nice but admittedly seemed tired. What we had in common was that we both love ‘Hollywod Game Night,’ and want to promote the hell out of it.
Surprisingly, even though she’s a singer and a star of ‘Glee’, Lynch said she wouldn’t be that good at the musical games on the show.
Something to pay attention to is why Lynch was picked to host the series. Though she claims she was just lucky, as she explained that she’s often a dinner party host, and is very concerned with making sure she’s planned it well and everyone is having fun…it makes sense that she’d be tapped as the host out of all the other possibilities. For as fun as she is, she’s also a natural leader and caretaker.
And that just makes me love her even more.
What is the process for deciding which new games to include, and does it involve science?
Does it involve science? (Laughs.) You know, there is a crack team, there’s a crack team of game creators that we have on staff at Hollywood Game Night, and they’re also writers and producers. And they’re always coming up with new games. And so the ones that you’re going to see that are new, ‘Four Letter Words’ being one of them, and several other, have gone through a rigorous testing process and then finally approved by NBC, and then I think trademarked as well. And we have several new games. But I am not responsible for the new games. I do not have that kind of creativity.
You’re the captain of the ship, and can’t get as crazy as the rest of those couch gangs. Do you like being the steadfast observer of the craziness, or do you just bide your time until you can join in?
Well you know, I mean it’s a very natural role for me so I don’t have to do that much thinking. I love hosting parties and I love creating environments for people to have fun and to be themselves. And then, you know it’s just very natural for me to find a way to partake. So I don’t walk away feeling at all ignored or cheated out of anything. I have a great time.
What are your game nights like?
I don’t have game nights. Sean Hayes has the game nights and he’s usually the host at his house, and he of course is the creator of this series. So it was very nice of him to cede that control and give it to me for the television version. I don’t have game nights at my house, I do a lot of dinner parties. And…you know, putting together a list is the big thing, try and get the right people there. And the same thing, I try to create an environment where people are going to have fun.
And why do you think Sean picked you out of all his – he has so many amazing friends. But he said, “I see something in Jane where she should host this?”?
I don’t know. I don’t know, I just feel really lucky.
How would you do as a contestant on the show?
I think I would do quite well; at least I think so. And a lot of people think they will do well and then they fall apart. But I think I would do quite well. I’m a pretty competitive person and you’d want me on your team. You do not want to play against me. However there are some games that I’m not as good at… the music (games.)
And what’s your best game? What’s your strong suit?
I love ‘Celebrity’, I love that we play that as the final round of every game. I’m very good at that. I also love – we have some brand new games, we have one called ‘Four Letter Word’ and we put blindfolds on the contestants and they’re holding big foam letters, so right there you’ve got (some fun.) And they have to work with each other and spell a four letter word. So they have to figure out what letter they’re holding and where it falls in the word and they have to spell that word. And that’s a lot of fun.
When does Hollywood Game Night return? 2014
Monday Jan 20th at 8pm – with two back to back episodes. New episodes will then air January 27th, and on February 3rd.
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