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you actually like, to get it on the air, people seem genuinely to like it, and then you get [an Emmy]—I just thought, Oh, my God. This is too much. MA: Bridesmaids has become a classic comedy. When you were filming it, did you have any idea that it was going to be such a sensation? MM: I don't think you can ever anticipate that. I do remember that every day when I came home, I would talk to Ben about it, and I would say, "It's just so funny." It was the kind of stuff where you were really dying laughing every day. And it was the first thing [I'd done] where I thought, that's my humor.... The movie was one of the funniest things I had seen that I found relatable to my humor as a woman, and I thought, I buy all of these people. I'm not rolling my eyes, thinking, No one would ever say that. I just thought, I buy all of that. MA: What was your reaction to being nominated for an Oscar for it? delightful ways. I mean, I have a lot less free time—I'm busier than I ever thought physically and mentally possible—but I have opportunities now that I had only dreamed of. And now it's a daily delight of writing with my husband—we're shooting our first movie that we've written this coming summer, and we're writing another one, and we're producing shows; it's kind of amazing. It really created the opportunity for people to ask me, "Well, what do you have to say? If you've got to say something, what is it?" And now there are actually places where we have the opportunity to do that. It's pretty mind-blowing. MA: Identity Thief is your first major starring role in a motion picture—you're carrying the movie with Jason Bateman. MM: I'm crazy about Jason; he was as smart and funny as I'd always hoped he'd be. It was so hot— we were filming in Atlanta—but it was so fun. I'm the bad guy]. I beat Jason up. I took cheap shots at him. I kept suggesting ideas: "What if I punch him? What if I punch him in the throat?" And Seth [Gordon, the director] goes, "Great!" It was kind of amazing to play a jerk. MA: You've become a mother twice in the past few years. What has motherhood been like for you? MM: It's extreme everything. It's extremely tiring. It's extremely overwhelming in a good way. It's everything you hear when this crazy creature shows up, and I just can't imagine or quite remember what it was like prior to that. The chaos, the noise, and the nuttiness, it just somehow makes it all better. I've done away with sleep; I tell myself I don't need it because you just don't sleep when you have two kids. But they're so funny. The bigger they get, the weirder and the funnier they get, and their true personalities come out. They surprise me every day. There's nothing quite like it. McCarthy chats with fellow comedian Jimmy Fallon on his talk show following her 2011 Oscar nomination. McCarthy with Ryan Reynolds at the premiere of their film The Nines in 2007. MM: I was walking through the house because our baby [Georgette] was up, and I saw Ben sitting in front of the TV [as they were] announcing the nominations. They said my name, and I didn't get what had happened; it was more than I could take in. It wasn't until Octavia [Spencer], who is a dear friend of ours, was nominated that I went, "Oh, my God. That's really the Oscar nominations," and Ben was just staring at me, and he was like, "Honey, what else just happened?" It just took a minute to connect the dots. And then, I went completely nuts. It just was mind-blowing. The whole process of the Oscars is mind-blowing. It shook my whole life. MA: It's taken your career to a different level. How has your life changed since then? MM: It is quite a bit different in a lot of pretty good about not breaking, but I tell you what, Bateman can get me. He kind of crushed me. Other than destroying a lot of takes by just blatantly laughing, it was kind of a dream job. There were fistfights and hitting him with a car. I thought there would be a stuntman, and they said, "No, if you want, you can just drive your car into his car and hit him." I was like, "Who else gets to do that?" I love doing my own stunts, so other than constantly hurting myself, it was really, really fun. MA: You're playing a pretty unlikable character. MM: It was really fun. I mean, I'm destroying their lives; I'm an identity thief. The fun of it was trying to figure out what's redeemable in that person—how does she justify it? She doesn't start and end anywhere near the same place. It was fun [to be MA: What does your family think of your success? MM: I'm really close to my family—they're great, and I'm lucky that way. My dad is completely nuts, and he's [basically] wearing a sandwich board with the Mike & Molly poster on it. He's very proud and very verbal, and I apologize to anyone who he accosts. My mom says it takes him 14 seconds to randomly bring it up. Someone stops him and asks for directions, and somehow he answers, "Have you ever watched Mike & Molly?" I think they have to be just wildly relieved that I'm okay and making a living doing this crazy thing. They were always so supportive, but I could just see in their eyes that they were like, Acting? You? They're so sweet, but I think they're just thrilled that I get to do exactly what I want and that I can keep my lights turned on. MA MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 078-081_MA_FEAT_CS_Winter13.indd 81 81 1/2/13 12:46 PM