Casey Wilson, who played Penny Hartz on the cult-fave, cancelled-too-soon ABC sitcom, believes “there’s hope” for more Happy Endings in the future. “We did the one for charity, like a Zoom one, but there’s been so many talks and there’s genuine interest on the part of, I think, Sony and ABC and the cast. But everyone has kind of been in, it’s so boring to say, but at different studios and different contracts and stuff, so they have not figured it out yet,” Wilson exclusively tells Parade.com in a new interview. “But I think they will at some point. I really do. There’s hope.” Wilson is also helping the cause by pestering the show’s creator David Caspe—who also happens to be her husband!—about a Happy Endings reboot. “I’m always like, ‘Do it,’ and he’s like, ‘I want to but, you know, we [have] got to get everyone on board.’ But I know all the cast would do it,” the Bitch Sesh podcast host said. “Yeah, he needs to get his a*s in gear.” Happy Endings, about six friends living in Chicago, was cancelled in 2013 after three seasons. As for what Wilson misses the most? The people. “Obviously I married the creator, so I’m lucky enough to see him every second and especially every second this past year. But I miss Adam Pally, although I see him a lot, and I miss Damon Wayans [Jr.] and like just joking around with him on set. Elisha [Cuthbert], Eliza [Coupe], Zach [Knighton],” the former SNL cast member admitted. “I really miss all of them so much, and the writers were so hilarious. It was so much fun and we were young and we would go out after and we would just go drink all the time.” Since Happy Endings came to an end, Wilson has gone on to star in various projects, including NBC’s Marry Me, Showtime’s Black Monday and HBO’s Mrs. Fletcher. The actress’ latest role is opposite Paul Rudd in Apple TV+’s new dark comedy The Shrink Next Door, which premiered Nov. 12. Wilson plays Bonnie, the wife of Dr. Isaac “Ike” Herschkopf (Rudd) in the series that is based on the true story of Marty Markowitz (portrayed by Will Ferrell) and his manipulative psychiatrist. Continue reading to learn more about The Shrink Next Door, plus what Wilson had to say about her own experience in seeking help and working with Rudd and Ferrell…
Did you know that The Shrink Next Door was based on a true story before signing on to the project, or did you listen to the podcast?
I did. I listened to the podcast. My son was a baby and like waking up at all hours, and I remember just like trying to get him to go to sleep and listening to this horrifying tale. And I was truly obsessed with it. I was just like, this is the wildest thing I’ve ever heard of a therapist kind of abusing his relationship with his patient over 30 years. And then when I got the script to audition, I was so excited because I loved it so much.
How does your character in this dark comedy compare to other roles you’ve played?
You know, it’s quite different. I’ve done mostly comedy, mostly all comedy, and a good portion of it being kind of like broad comedy, which I love, but this is definitely a darker tone. It’s comedic, certainly, but it’s also true crime, and it’s definitely more grounded. And so I was calling upon my acting training from NYU. Well, more than my normal like pratfalls and voices… it was calling upon my serious technique.
Would you say that this role was more challenging since it is based on a real person?
Yes. It genuinely was more challenging for just that reason that it’s a real person and I wanted to be respectful because not really, hardly anything is known about her and so I was kind of going off Georgia Pritchett is our writer, and she’s kind of the number-two writer on Succession and on Veep. She’s incredible. And so kind of based on how she conceived of the character because it really is a character more in our version of a woman who is deeply in love with her husband, and I kind of considered her like his first, cult member’s too strong, but kind of mark in a way. I think she’s like obsessed with him, but also as time goes on sees the cracks of kind of the way in which he’s abusing boundaries with his patient and possibly with her and so that’s the story I was playing is kind of the one as told through Georgia, the writer.
In The Shrink Next Door, you’re playing the onscreen wife of the actor who’s now PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive, Paul Rudd.
What a dream. What an honor. What a privilege. [Laughs]
Did you congratulate Paul?
Of course! It’s so meaningful and it’s so thrilling, you know, for him to win that award of such stature. We would all rather that than a Nobel Prize, you know, in certain circles, so I’m proud of him. I think he deserves it. He’s worked hard for it. It’s wonderful.
There are so many comedic powerhouses on The Shrink Next Door. Who made you laugh the most?
Probably Paul. I spent the most time with Paul and so we had so many laughs. We like to make fun of like serious actors who take things super serious. But then part of me is like, well, they’re pretty good, should I take my craft more seriously? But we just had our laughs, and we spent a ton of time together. Will is hilarious. Kathryn [Hahn] I love so much. We had done this show Mrs. Fletcher for HBO together, but we didn’t have any scenes together, so I just saw her briefly in the makeup room, which was a devastation for me.
Aw. I was going to ask if anyone’s sense of humor surprised you, but if you just worked with Paul then I guess you weren’t really around too many of the other cast members…
Paul and Will’s sense of humor did not surprise me just because they’re, you know, it’s not too shabby to go to work. I’m being paid to hang out with people who are paid handsomely to be kind of, some of, if not the funniest people in America. Will’s also so kind and gentle and normal that it was a pleasure to work with him. He’s just the best of all time.
Sounds like a dream job.
It was! Amidst a pandemic, too. I’d been like so many people with my kids and just, you know, not complaining, but it’s been a hard year for everyone and I think to get to go in and it was kind of a scary time. It was like, right around Christmas. And we were there for about five months, right when L.A. was kind of considered the epicenter of the virus. So it wasn’t amazing, but it was also kind of a special experience in that everybody felt, I think, kind of protective and connected to each other. So at the very least, we’ll never forget it.
And I’m sure also having that human interaction again and being out in the world since you said you were at home with your kids.
I was skipping my way out of the house. I was like, “Later!” to my family. I was like, “I love ya. Have a good one guys. I’m out.”
Obviously not on the level of Marty [from The Shrink Next Door], but have you ever had a terrible experience with a next door neighbor?
Oh my gosh, I haven’t. I have a next door neighbor right now who’s very sweet, but she is a former federal prosecutor and I like to say she’s prosecuting our neighborhood now. But very nice. I’ll say on the other side of me, they’ve moved, but a very celeb couple that I was just always trying to catch a glimpse of that I never did. Never got much traction going.
Consider yourself blessed that you’ve never had an experience like Marty!
Not yet. No one’s forced me to be a maintenance person on my own house yet. I’m so susceptible to any suggestion or I mean, I will be in a cult soon if I’m not already. It will happen to me, so it’s just more a matter of when.
Your memoir, The Wreckage of My Presence: Essays, came out earlier this year. Why was now the right time to release it?
I’d been working on it for about three years and then the pandemic hit and it was like time to really buckle down and finish it. I’d sold it before. I turned 40 last year… I felt ready to tell a story involving my family and some grief and motherhood and friendship. But I also just wanted to make people laugh. I mean, ultimately, I hope it’s funny and that people get something out of it. So, it felt very much like the right time.
Did you learn anything about yourself in the writing process that perhaps you didn’t realize before?
I learned a lot. It’s not easy to just like be alone with, I sound so artsy which is annoying, but like to just sit and stare at a blank page. I learned I like to procrastinate for a good like seven hours and then write for one hour. But ultimately, it was really nice to do something just myself. There’s no one to blame if it doesn’t go well, but also you can kind of be really proud of it does and just to kind of put things out there and not to have that practice of thinking you know, this is my story and I hope it touches people or makes them laugh, but if they don’t like it, it’s kind of okay. It’s my story I’m putting out there and nobody has to love it, but just being okay with kind of a piece of yourself really going out there.
