My first mistake: Insinuating to Hannah Simone that her “New Girl” character, Cece, may have started out last season as just The Hot Friend, before very quickly becoming a valuable part of the show’s comedic ensemble.
In my mind, this was a double compliment. Lesson learned, though. Hannah Simone is sure that Cece was funny from the beginning and since she was a tremendously good sport and, I’d like to believe, only feigned offense, I’ll take her word for it.
That was probably my only real mistake in the conversation I had with Simone a couple weeks back, discussing Cece’s evolution and her increasingly pivotal relationship with Max Greenfield’s Schmidt.
Simone was battling laryngitis, but she did a terrific job of perking up for the conversation, especially when discussing her awe at getting to play opposite legendary Indian actress (and cookbook maven!) Madhur Jaffrey, who played Cece’s grandmother last season.
Check out the full interview above.
After its two-episode premiere last week, “New Girl” settles exclusively into its regular Tuesday 9 p.m. slot on October 2.