Emmy-nominated duo Nahnatchka Khan and Sally Bradford McKenna are teaming up to bring an acclaimed Australian comedy to American audiences with Laid. After getting her start writing on the likes of Pepper Ann and Malcolm in the Middle, Khan became a breakout creative force with Fresh Off the Boat, having gone on to also create Young Rock and direct the hit rom-com Always Be My Maybe and horror-comedy Totally Killer. McKenna first found success working on Will & Grace as a writer and story editor before going on to work on everything from The Goldbergs to Ghosted.
Laid also marks a reunion for Khan and McKenna, who previously worked together on Khan's first created show Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23, led by Krysten Ritter. Their new show serves as an American adaptation of the Australian comedy of the same name, revolving around Ruby, a party planner in her 30s who has struggled to find success in the world of romance, sleeping with various people, but not finding a partner. When everyone she's had sex with starts dying in bizarre ways, and in the order she slept with them, Ruby must race to find out why before the body count climbs higher.
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Oscar-nominated Everything Everywhere All at Once vet Stephanie Hsu leads the ensemble Laid cast as Ruby alongside The Decameron's Zosia Mamet, Good Trouble's Tommy Martinez, Andre Hyland, Elizabeth Bowen, Olivia Holt as Merci, Ryan Pinkston, David Denman and Susan Berger. Holding a 96% "Certified Fresh" approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and also featuring a star-studded guest roster with everyone from Barbie's Alexandra Shipp to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' Simu Liu, the show is a darkly hilarious winner for Peacock.
In anticipation of the show's release, ScreenRant interviewed creators Nahnatchka Khan and Sally Bradford McKenna to discuss Laid, why they were motivated to adapt the Australian comedy for American audiences, why Hsu was the perfect choice to lead the show as Ruby, and why Liu, Shipp and the other major guest stars are more than just cameos in the show.
Khan & McKenna Loved The "Awkward Humor" Of The Australian Original
"...it was a really fun challenge, in terms of updating it and making it feel modern."
ScreenRant: Nahnatchka, it's great to see you again, Sally, it's great to meet you and to chat about Laid. I watched the first seven episodes the other day and was laughing from start to finish, I adore this show already. I would, first and foremost, love to hear what it was like translating the original show, the Australian comedy, into one that feels very American in its rhythm and everything else?
Nahnatchka Khan: Yeah. I mean, we really appreciated the awkward humor of the Australian version, which they did incredibly well. But I think taking that, bringing that into our show, but also then giving Ruby this sense of entitlement and lack of awareness of who she is and her place in the world felt very relevant to us, and felt very modern and current —
Sally Bradford McKenna: And American. [Chuckles]
Nahnatchka Khan: And American! Yeah, listen, we don't really know. So, I think that was a really fun challenge, in terms of updating it and making it feel modern.
Sally Bradford McKenna: We loved the premise, just from the beginning, just hearing what the show was about. We were like, "Yes, we're doing this." The original is so good, I think we kept everything we loved about it. We did start kind of letting our version go a different way, but there's so much of the original series, especially in the pilot. It's such a great pilot, and I feel like we kind of stuck very closely to it there.
Landing Hsu To Both Star & EP Was "So Lucky" In Khan & McKenna's Eyes
You mentioned Ruby, and I'd love to hear about finding Stephanie to play her, because she feels so perfectly suited for this role.
Nahnatchka Khan: That was so lucky on our end, because we were fans of hers, obviously, from Everything Everywhere and from Maisel. And when we were all talking about who could play Ruby, she was the name that everybody was like, "She would be amazing." Because as great as Stephanie has been, I haven't seen her in a role like this, and that can always go one of two ways with actors. Either they don't want to do something like this, or they just haven't had the opportunity.
And lucky for us, Stephanie was into it, and she read the script and wanted to sit down, and she came on as our lead, but also as an exec producer on the show. So, she was really involved, came into the writers room and read every piece of material, and was really helpful to us in crafting Ruby and that singular point of view of this woman, who is very charming and lovable, relatable, but also a little bit narcissistic, in the way that she is flawed when you meet her and embracing all the elements. Not wanting to go too far in either direction. She's just so fun and amazing to work with.
Sally Bradford McKenna: One thing we knew about Ruby is that she's going to be a flawed character. Even from the original, we knew this was gonna be kind of a messy character who's wanting stuff and looking for things and wondering what's wrong with her. We knew we needed a very likable actress to pull that off. So Stephanie, obviously, can do the comedy, she can do the drama, and she kind of helped inform the character too. I feel like we had one version of who Ruby was before she came on, and then it just kept evolving with her help.
Nahnatchka Khan: And Grant, you know, because you've seen a bunch of the episodes, she makes some bad decisions, some real bad choices. We wanted the character to go there, and we needed somebody like Stephanie to lead us there.
Laid's Guest Stars All Have Important Parts To Play In The Show
"...they come in, and they come in with a purpose..."
I love, too, the guest stars that you have in this show, especially Simu Liu, every time I see him, I love it. So what was it like building out that roster from Michael Angorano to Simu to everybody else that you have in this show?
Sally Bradford McKenna: It's a dream show to cast. From the beginning, we're like, "We're gonna have this sex timeline of all these fun guys and girls." And it's not just making cameos, they don't feel like cameos. It feels like fun casting that we get to meet all these great people. Michael Angorano is amazing. We Zoomed with him, and we were immediately like, "This is him. This is Richie." It was one of our favorite characters going into it.
And when we met with him, we were like, "He's got to do this." And then the guest cast, the people who kind of come in quickly. I think on day one, we had like a wish list, "Who are our favorite people we want to work with?" I know John Early was first, so he went right in. We also knew we wanted a celebrity on the timeline, so we just made him that. Kate Berlant, Chloe Fineman, Simu, we just got so lucky with getting the best people to come in and have fun.
Nahnatchka Khan: And all these people are great actors. So, they come in, and they come in with a purpose, like Alexandra Shipp. They all affect Ruby in a meaningful way. They're not just a random taxi driver or something that you just pop through a scene and have as a joke, you know? So, it was fun for them, it was fun for us to kind of populate it in a way that felt unexpected, like the show. You're like, "Oh, my God, there's so-and-so!"
About Laid
A woman finds out her former lovers are dying in unusual ways and must go back through her sex timeline to confront her past in order to move forward – “Laid” is a f---ed up rom-com where the answer to “why can’t I find love, is there something wrong with me?” is a resounding “Yes. There is. The problem is definitely you.”
Stay tuned for our other Laid interviews:
Laid is now available to stream in full on Peacock.
Source: ScreenRant Plus
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A woman discovers that her former lovers are dying under unusual circumstances. As she navigates her past relationships, she must confront her history in order to move forward, delving into a journey of self-reflection and resolution.
Release Date
December 19, 2024
Cast
Stephanie Hsu
, Zosia Mamet
, Michael Angarano
, Tommy Martinez
Character(s)
Ruby Yao
, AJ
, Richie
, Isaac
Seasons
1
English (US) ·