Beth Hall on Mad Men and the CBS comedy, Mom
Things didn’t look good for Beth Hall. After finishing working on Mad Men (more about that later), she was offered a part on what was then a new CBS comedy called Mom, starring Allison Janney and Anna Faris.
It was only one line, but the casting director said it might turn into a recurring role. So Hall played Janice. She stood up in an AA meeting to say who she was, but kept getting cut off.
That was appropriate because just a half an hour before official showtime on a Friday, Hall was told that Janice was being cut.
“They told me, ‘It’s not you. It has nothing to do with you. We’ll have you back,’” recalls Hall. But she didn’t expect to go back.
Fast forward 10 episodes later. True to their word, they called Hall back in to read for the part of Wendy. This time, everything clicked.
“Chuck Lorre liked it, and Wendy turned into a series regular,” says Hall. “It was just amazing how it came about. If I hadn’t gotten cut out as Janice, who knows, maybe that would have been the end.”
Luckily for Hall, it wasn’t. She’s played Wendy ever since.
“She’s a ‘people-pleaser,’ and she just wants to fit in,” says Hall. Is Hall anything like Wendy, who tends to burst into tears, well, a lot? “I’m definitely not completely different. I think she comes out with some things that I probably wouldn’t say. But I’ve been in the situation where you want to feel like you fit in, so I try to please people. So I think we have some similarities, which is probably why I enjoy playing her so much,” explains Hall. “I probably burst into tears more than she does. People ask me, ‘Is it hard to cry in a scene?’ I say, ‘Basically, I’m on the verge of tears constantly, so it’s very easy for me.”
Actually, Hall is hilarious and comes from a funny family. Her father was even a stand-up comedian for a time and appeared on The Garry Moore Show. Since she was five years old, Hall has wanted to be an actress. Hall grew up one of three children and quips that she’s the funny one. “I had a boyfriend once tell me, ‘Life is just one big straight line to you, isn’t it?’ I don’t think it was a compliment,” she quips. “You can’t just set me up and expect me not to say something.”
Playing Wendy on Mom is exciting for Hall, as it’s her first time as a series regular on a TV sitcom. You may remember her on the AMC hit drama Mad Men. She played Caroline, who the secretary for Roger Sterling (played by John Slattery) at Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Pryce. “I’ve always done comedy. Even on Mad Men, I was pretty much comic relief on that show.”
Hall loves her role on Mom because she loves making people laugh. “Comedy is really all about timing, and I love when the timing of something comes together, and it just hits the mark,” says Hall. “You can just feel it. You just know when the timing is right.”
Tune in for the season finale of Mom tonight, May 19, on CBS, at 9 p.m./8 p.m. central.
