The TV Chick

Glee is back in a couple of days and I’m very excited about it. It has been a season with some highs and a few lows (no pun intended) but no matter what, I still love the show. It is returning for a big Super Bowl episode where the Glee kids will tackle Thriller and Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” to name a few. There also might be a human canon involved. I tend to love big Super Bowl episodes. I remember when Friends had their big episode and leading up to it we had to guess who drank the diet coke. While there’s nothing like that here, there is a lot of hype regarding the episode. I recently had the chance to chat with Jane Lynch on a conference call about her role in the big episode, her upcoming memoir, and her favorite one liners. She even teased that Sue would be getting very depressed and might have to seek the company of New Directions.

Does Sue Sylvester get to be meaner than usual on Super Bowl Sunday?
She does. We’re doing an episode of Glee that is on steroids and lives large. Sue Sylvester is a little bored with her routine even though she has kids riding around on BMX bikes and jumping through fire in this one routine with Katy Perry’s “California Gurls.” She wants to top herself so she finds out there’s a human canon in town. She buys it and wants to shoot Brittany out of it. (laughs) And Figgins doesn’t allow it. And she has two hissy fits where she just tears two rooms apart. So it was definitely Sue Sylvester on the war path.

Is there anything about your character that still takes you by surprise?
Of course, the addition of having a sister with down’s syndrome took me completely by surprise. Carol Burnett coming on as my Nazi hunter mother took me surprise. And I was also very surprised that when I said my mother was a famous Nazi hunter that that was true. (laughs) I’m sure we’ll do an episode where an old war buddy of mine comes back and I’m sure that’s true too.

What is your favorite scheme that Sue has ever pulled?
I think when she forced Figgins to get the monkey flu. She turned a sneezing Lauren right into his face. Getting Figgins sick so I could become the principal.

And who was your first love?
My first love in my head was believe it or not, Ron Howard.

Does he know about that?
I don’t know. He will soon. I’m writing the book.

What can you tell us about your book and how it came about?
Basically how it came together is I’ve been making speeches at gay banquets, and not even just gay, people wanting to know more about me. And I started writing things down and I was telling a friend about it, who’s a writer, and she said “You know, there’s a book in there.” So I kind of sat down and looked at it and said “You know what, there is a book in there.” A little tidbit I can give you is I grew up basically with everything handed to me. Not my career, I worked for that. But I had a really good family and I was brought up with a lot of love. But still I chose time after time to suffer over so much. And that mental component of suffering is the thing that is a choice. And to this day, I still choose to maybe angst over something I really don’t have to. And kind of just let your life flow. I know it sounds new age-y and granola-y but it’s true. You really need to trust that you’re own path. Showing up is 90 percent.

Through the book writing process, have you learned anything about yourself looking back at your life?
Yeah, I did. In fact, that’s kind of how I came up with the title. I went through my scrapbook, I went through photographs, and as I’m telling these stories, I sat down with a tape recorder and I spoke all of this stuff. It’s a little more interesting than I thought it was. And I also learned how I make things much harder on myself than I needed to.

Can you talk about what else we might see for Sue and Glee coming up in the second half of the season?
We’ve done a couple more after the Super Bowl episode. So Sue suffers a devastating loss with her Cheerios after the Super Bowl episode, and she becomes very, very depressed. And she becomes dangerously depressed where she’s more violent than usual. (laughs) And they get her to join the Glee Club to lift her spirits, and they find through raising her voice in song it kind of lifts her, and she gets out of her depression. So I’m actually in the Glee Club for a while.

Does any of Sue’s antics ever seem to you to go too far?
Every script I read, I go “You’ve got to be kidding!” (laughs) And that’s why I’m glad I’m not writing the show. It always goes too far, it’s always ridiculous. All of the things I do, how mean I get and how everyone lets me get away with it. It all is ridiculous and I love it. But I’m glad I’m not writing it, because I would make it more realistic, and I would have given her altruistic motivations. It’s a good thing I’m not writing television. Let’s just put it that way.

Sue has a very evil side, but she also has a very soft side. What do you prefer playing?
I love when I get an equal dose. I like the variety. I like for Sue Sylvester to be firing on all cylinders. I don’t like to stick to one thing for too long. The writers make sure of that, which is great.

Besides Sue Sylvester, who is your favorite character on the show?
I’m loving Coach Beiste. I love how big her heart is. And I love how selfless she is and heroic.

What are your favorite Sue one-liners?
I love the monologue when I talk about the 1968 convention where Mayor Daley punched his own wife in the face. That was pretty fun. I like the one where I say “Musical theater doesn’t make you gay, it just makes you awful.”

And can you share what the Sue Sylvester shuffle is?
I don’t know! (laughs) I’m certainly not dancing in it. It’s nothing like the 1985 Bears. It probably has to do with the routine that I’m choreographing that has Brittany shot out of a human canon.

Glee has had such great guest stars. What has it been like working with these guest stars? Katie Couric is coming up right?
Yeah, she’s in the Super Bowl episode. Everyone that comes on set, they’re here because they love music and they love the idea of ushering these kids through some of the toughest years of their lives — hormonally and emotionally, with the power of music. Gwyneth Paltrow is back. She’s going to do a couple of episodes. She’s working with us this week, and she’s just the best. She’s here because she wants to dance and sing and put a good message out to the kids.

There are going to be a few new shows very similar to Glee coming on in the fall. One is about Broadway. Can you talk about that?
We are all too busy to worry about what others are doing. But it sounds like a good show and I’d watch it.

The big Glee Super Bowl episode airs Sunday night immediately following the game on FOX.