Since the debut of Netflix’s GLOW back in June, we’ve talked to so many people involved in the production of the show, from stars Alison Brie, Betty Gilpin and Marc Maron to key cast members like Britt Baron and Jackie Tohn. Hell, we even talked to Alex Riley.
Recently we had a chance to add to that list and sit down with one of the brightest new faces (and most universally beloved characters on the show) Britney Young, aka “Carmen Wade,” aka Machu Picchu, the Peruvian Fortress. Sitting in a restaurant with her was like sitting at a table with the sun. She just emits a positive, powerful energy that makes you want to talk to her about powerbombs and high cross-bodies for as long as possible.
We discussed her role on the show, her unconventional path to streaming television stardom, a little bit of Japanese women’s pro wrestling and even Lucha Underground. Be sure to watch GLOW if you haven’t, and if you have, it’s been long enough. Watch it again.
UPROXX: So, you’ve been popping up everywhere lately.
Britney Young: It’s weird. I’m very appreciative and like … Until people say, “No, we don’t want her,” I’m gonna say, “Yes, I want to come.” But it’s so surreal, especially because being an assistant for so long and having to set up interviews and meetings for my bosses, now I think about it, and I think my first one I ever had for myself, I panicked because I was like, “Oh my God, who do I need to tell, ‘Five minutes until this phone call?’ Who?”
And I was like, “No, no. I’m the one taking the phone call.” I don’t need to alert any boss or tell them, “Please get in your car and start driving ’cause I’m gonna patch you through.” So that was a very roundabout moment, but it’s fun.
Is there anything you’re getting tired of talking about yet?
No. I mean, people are kind of asking the same things, but they’re all asking them in different ways, which I really appreciate.
And then I always appreciate the random like, “What’s your perfect day?” I like those things ’cause it’s like, “Oh, I actually have to sit there and think about it,” and then there’s always that, like I’m that person that reads things and I’m like, “Yes, great question,” you know?
Okay. I’ll try to come up with some really good ones.
Yeah. If not, we might as well just stop.
Bye! This has been a great interview.
I’ll get my food to go.
Take it easy. GLOW available on Netflix right now.
Yeah, no. What’s the reaction to the show been like?
It’s been really positive, and the things that people are reacting to are the meaty stuff, but then also the fun stuff. A lot of people are saying … specifically Carmen-wise, like, “Oh, we really enjoyed your panic attack. We really enjoyed the moment with your dad.” That moment, universally, is like —
The best moment in the whole season.
Yeah, people are like, “Yeah, I teared up and I was there.”
I was like, “Oh my god, I’m crying.” It was an amazing moment. But I think a lot of people too are like Sam’s, the reveal that Justine is his daughter. Or just people quoting stuff. ‘Cause I like to quote movies a lot or reference things and I love that people are starting to do that with our show.
But yeah, I’ve only seen good things about it and then the negative things I’ve seen about it are like … In my mind, they’re not negative. They’re things that we can work on. It’s not like someone’s like, “I need you to shoot this completely in black and white or else I’m not coming back next season.” It’s not stuff like that.
It’s literally like, “I wanted more of this,” or, “Here’s a question that I didn’t understand.” So I think that’s good that people are really, again, it’s making them feel some type of way.
Yeah, I think that’s really my only complaint of the show is that there are so many good characters on there and there’s really no time to devote anything to it, so I guess that’s good for future seasons.
Oh, yeah. And I think that … I love that we’re still all there. It’s not like other huge ensemble shows where it’s like you don’t see a character for like 10 episodes.
You haven’t been Game-of-Thrones’d.
Yeah. Yeah, you’re like, “Oh, I forgot this character’s here.”
We’re always all there, it’s just we’re more like real life. Not everyone’s gonna talk in a conversation between 15 people. That just doesn’t happen in real life. So to have people kind of just sitting there and just being part of the scene and part of the conversation is what feels real to me.
And that’s sort of like a Jenji trademark, is introducing a bunch of characters and then by the third or fourth season, the primary characters are barely on the show.
Yeah, yeah, like it blends in to just being like, “Oh yeah, the Orange is the New Black girls.” Like the GLOW girls.
And I mean, since you’re sort of ersatz Mount Fiji. Mount Fiji’s the star of the original G.L.O.W., so season 3 or 4, the show’s about you, right? It has to be, right?
I don’t know. I’m curious to see how much we will really … We’re inspired by G.L.O.W. and specifically the G.L.O.W. documentary, so I’m curious to see how much that they will try to keep in mind, ’cause I feel like the first season was really like, “Oh, yeah! I remember that from the documentary,” or that makes sense, but I’m curious to see in the continuing seasons, if we get it, how closely we’ll try to continue to be inspired by events that they went through. ‘Cause you never know.
Arthie could be, Beirut the Bomber could be the, you know, I would be glad ’cause I love all these characters, but I am very interested to see how truthful or honest? I don’t even know the right word. Like, are we gonna veer off or continue down that path?
I guess that’s the benefit of the characters being a lot like the real G.L.O.W. girls, but not being them.
Yeah, we have the liberty to bring in new things like the Sam twist or the anxiety, you know. All that stuff. Or Melrose staying out and partying ’til whenever.
Right. Or drug robots.
Exactly. Ugh, that robot. It’s been a hit.
I want to meet that robot. I gotta get a photo with that robot.
Well ’cause it’s funny because when we first saw it we’re like, “Oh, this doesn’t work. This doesn’t move.” No. It works, it moves.
It does everything it can do and they had it at our premiere party just robo-ing around. Just walking around, people taking pictures with it.
Like a sentient being.
Yeah. Like, “Hey!” No drugs in the robot at the party though.
That’s okay. Should have tried to put mints in it. So, how’d you get involved in the show?You were doing production stuff before, right?
Yes. Alright, long story short, it’s a long story.
Give me the shortest longest version.
So I saw an article on Deadline that Netflix was doing the show and that Jenji was involved, and I was like, “Oh, that sounds really cool. I wonder if there’s a part for me.” Usually when I see stuff that I’m interested in, I’ll try to be like, “Hey, manager, agent, keep your eye out,” and I didn’t do that this time around. I saw it and then work got busy, life got busy. So a couple days later, I got the audition and I was freaking out like, how did this happen? Stars aligned.
But yeah, we had to prepare three scenes and a rap. Two scenes and a rap? Two scenes and a rap and they sent us a video from the original series of the girls rapping. It took me down a YouTube rabbit hole of watching any video of theirs I could and I spent hours doing that, not even focusing on the audition. I went in the next day and I auditioned. I’m not trying to be humble, I’m not trying to be cliché. I thought I bombed. I had fun in there with our casting director, but I thought I did a really bad job. Called my agent immediately afterwards and was like, “Sorry Mike! Boat sailed. We’ll get the next one.”
What did you do so bad?
I just … I think I wanted it so much that I got nervous and made choices that were so in the moment that I didn’t really think if they were the choices I wanted to make. I think I got thrown off a little bit because I hadn’t fully realized at the time what the Machu Picchu persona was going to be. So I kinda came out and I was like, weird lowered voice, like, “I’m Machu Picchu.”
It almost had like, you know the scene in the pilot where Alison and I do the like, “You stole!” That’s kinda how it came out. It was like, “I’m Machu Picchu.” Like the worst acting in the lowest registered voice I could do, so I think that threw me for a loop a little bit.
I kinda wish we could go back through the whole first season and just have you act that way.
No, no. No, we don’t need to.
But Jenn Euston was fantastic, our casting director. Worked with me, got me to a place we were both happy with, and then we just talked for a while. So it was like the longest audition I’ve ever had, which also threw me. ‘Cause it’s almost like, if you go in there and it’s too quick, you didn’t do so well. If it’s too long, you might not have done so well. You need to find that sweet spot.
So I was very shocked when I got a call back for the next day. Went in, did everything the same, thought that time I nailed it. I was like, “Yes! Nailed it!” Even though none of them laughed. It was Jenji, our executive producer Tara Herrmann, and then our co-creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, and none of them laughed. They didn’t even smirk. I got one direction, but still, I felt very confident in it? And then I found out from the girls they were straight-faced for everybody’s audition, so I was like, “Oh, thank God.”
But yeah, I was really confident and then got really thrown off ’cause I didn’t hear for like a month. Or three or four weeks. And finally they’re like, “Hey, we need you to come in and do a stunt audition,” and I was like, “Okay.”
So I went into the stunt audition with Chavo Guerrero Jr. and then our stunt coordinator Shauna Duggins and Shauna was up for it. She’s like, “You’re not on our insurance, we can’t have you doing too many things,” and I was like, “So what are we gonna do?” And she was like, “Oh, let’s just do some forward rolls.” So we did forward rolls and threw a couple punches and I jumped.
Are you a good roller?
Well, I was a cheerleader.
Oh, nice!
So I thought in my head I could do forward rolls and then Shauna was like, “That’s not safe, what you’re doing.” ‘Cause I go and put my head down and just roll on my head. You’re supposed to actually push off and have space between your head and the floor. Whatever.
That dangerous cheerleader aesthetic.
Yeah, whatever. But yeah, I jumped off a little ledge. She was telling me, “This is done, we’re good.” And in my head, I was like, “Do not leave this room without picking up one of these people. You can do it, you’re a cheerleader, you can do it.”
So I looked at Shauna and I was like, “Shauna. Jump.” And she was like, “No, you’re not on insurance!” And I was like, “I got it, just jump.” And she’s like, “Alright,” and she ran at me and I caught her and it was easy peasy and she was like, “Wow, this is really good. I feel secure.” And I was like “Great.”
And then Chavo … Chavo’s and my relationship is like … we like to egg each other on. We always are sarcastic, we’re always making fun of each other. He’s a Cowboys fan, I’m a Giants fan. Every text we send, to this day, is like, “Oh, I miss your face Chavo! Go Giants.” We just love egging each other on, that’s how we are. And he was just like “Hey, do you think you could do me?” Trying to be all cocky and I was like, “Let’s try!” Trying to be cocky as well. And he ran at me and I caught him. I mean, it wasn’t as easy, but I caught him. And he’s like, “Okay, even I feel sturdy,” and I was like, “Yes!”
And I walked out of there and I was like, “I think that put the nail in the coffin.” Well not the coffin, ’cause it’s excitement. Scratch that! Don’t need that.
Nail in the open coffin.
Nail in the open coffin at my celebratory life, no. I think that’s what got it for me was carrying them. And then I found out that Monday that I had gotten the role and we were starting training the following Monday.
That was not long story short, that was the long version.
Catching a Guerrero is pretty awesome.
Yeah. Well, the funny thing at the time, I didn’t know who Chavo was. I didn’t know the significance in the wrestling world. So when I found that out, I was like, “Whoa.” Especially with Carmen being from a wrestling dynasty herself, I was like, “I need to pick this man’s brain.” He helped me with so many things. Yeah, I’m really glad that he was there.
So I know I’ve read a few interviews you’ve done where you’ve talked about not being a wrestling fan when you were younger, but getting into it.
I’m honest. People are like, “I can’t believe you said that,” and I’m like, “Well, what am I supposed to say?”
What I wanted to ask you about is I read one time you mentioned that you had been watching Lucha Underground.
Oh my god, I got so into Lucha.
Who’s your favorite guy in Lucha Underground? Or person on Lucha Underground? Is it Pentagón?
It’s not. I’m huge into The Mack. We actually saw, a couple of us girls went down to an exhibition because Johnny Mundo, John Hennigan, who plays Salty was in it. And then Marty Elias is our ring technician. So we went down and watched it and that was the first time I had seen The Mack in person and I was like, “This guy is doing flips and spins and I want to do that.” And of course I’m not gonna do that, but —
You’re a cheerleader, you can do flips and spins.
Not like he can, he’s more agile than I am. But yeah, so we saw that. And then also, interestingly enough at the same match, but I didn’t get into him until watching Lucha, Angélico. When he jumped off that tower, oh my god. And Marty’s in the ring too and Marty’s just like, “What?!” So I texted Marty and was like, “Was this for real?” And he was like, “I had no idea he was doing that.” And I was like, “Oh my god. Ugh.”
How far are you into Lucha? Are you caught up?
I’m not caught up. I think it just came out, like the second half of their last season? I haven’t watched that part. But up until then, I was caught up.
I think that people who come to wrestling come to it in their own time. Wrestling’s a lot like counseling and therapy, honestly, where you have to be receptive to it to get something out of it. ‘Cause if you come into wrestling and you’re told to like it, you’re not gonna like it.
Yeah, and I think I just … didn’t understand the purpose of it.
I’m not sure I understand the point of all of it.
Yeah, like why do I want to see people hurting each other and making each other have pain? And then when I actually got into starting to wrestle and showing that it’s really a performance art, it’s not just a sport, it’s like a performance piece. That’s how I almost think about cheerleading where it’s like you have to create so many things within your performance like visuals and crowd interaction, and that’s exactly what you have to do with wrestling. You gotta get the crowd into it, you have to tell a story. So I think that’s what made me start loving it and then realizing that like, “Oh, I can actually do this and do some things well,” but I just got excited about it and just wanted to keep wrestling.
The good thing is that you actually get the best patch of the season ’cause you get to wrestle Awesome Kong.
Oh my god. So Chavo, when we found that out, ’cause I think we trained for a month for that fight. All of us girls separated and it was only two at a time. When I heard about it, Chavo pulls me, Chavo and Shauna pull me aside and they’re like, “Hey, we just wanted to let you know you’re gonna be going up against Kia, and at the production meeting the sentence they used was, ‘We want to unleash Kia.'” And I was like, “Okay, I’m up for it.”
And then Liz and Carly pulled me aside and they were like, “We asked who would be able to handle this and Chavo was like, ‘Brit,’ and then we wanted to unleash her.” And I was like, “Alright, we got it.”
But when we first started choreographing it, Kia, holy cow, she and Chavo brought me into that process and was like, “What story do you want to tell? What do you think you’re good at? What moves do you want to do?” I was so excited to do The Stunner because it’s a call-back to the second episode where I do The Butt Bomb. And I was like, “That’s so smart,” and even Kia was like, “Whoa, callback!” Using acting terms and I was like, “Yes! We’ve taught her well.”
And I get to powerbomb her, which is her signature move. She’s like, “I’ve only ever been powerbombed by four women,” and I was like, “Yes! Number five!” And we did it in one take and I don’t ever want to do it again. It was terrifying. Terrifying.
Why?
Well, so I go up there. I get underneath her legs. ‘Cause I don’t think, until that point, I’d ever taken her to the mat. I think I’d always taken her to the canvas, or to a mat, not to the canvas, excuse me. And so I went and did it and when she hit, the look on her face looked like I hurt her and I wasn’t in the moment of where I’m like, “Oh, cameras are on us, she’s trying to sell it.” I’m like, “I literally just broke my friend’s back. What the hell.”
I get on to cover her, I win, I go up and do the cheering. Immediately when they called cut, I raced over to her and was like, “Kia! Are you okay? Are you okay?” And she’s like, “We could go again. I just landed on a bed of feathers.” She was so proud of how I did that it kinda snapped me back into it, but it was terrifying. I think I blacked out a minute. In between her legs, just blacked out and next thing I know, she’s on the floor in pain.
I don’t want to do it again.
You actually get to work with more actors and wrestlers, I think, than anybody on the show, don’t you?
Yeah.
‘Cause you’re in the ring with Johnny Mundo in the first episode. Your brothers on the show are played by Tyrus and Carlito, and then you get to wrestle Kong. What’s it like to work with so many wrestlers? You’re officially like a real wrestler now, right?
They were so much fun.
You got more experience than a lot of actual independent wrestlers.
I know. They taught me a lot. Especially Carlito and Tyrus. They taught me a lot about wrestler etiquette. Especially in the scene where Goliath comes in and Tyrus was like, “If this were real, you would not be talking over the ropes to him. You would get down on one knee and you would come down to his level. That’s a show of respect especially for a veteran wrestler.” And I was like, “That makes so much sense,” and we talked about it. We didn’t end up using it ’cause we wanted to set up the dynamic of her disobeying her father, but just little things like that I never would have known had they not been there.
So how’d you end up growing up in Alaska? By way of Japan, right?
Yeah. My mom grew up there, and then my dad went up there after college, and they got together, and then my mom went to go study abroad in Tokyo, and he followed her, and they stayed for 16 years and had three kids. And then interestingly enough, I’ve gotten yelled at ’cause my mom reads every interview. I got yelled at by her ’cause I was telling the story wrong. I thought they moved back to the states because we went to a private school and it’s expensive. So I thought they moved over here for public school, but what they actually moved over was that they realized a lot of kids who were graduating from the school we went to would go to school or would go to college in the states, but then wouldn’t be able to acclimate, so they would move back to Tokyo. My parents wanted us to have lived in both places so that we could make the choice of where we wanted to live instead of moving back because we just wanted something familiar. So there you go, Mom.
I’m glad that we’re clearing the record. It’s a shame that you didn’t get into wrestling when you were younger if you lived in Japan where the best wrestling is. You saw the Black Lotus Clan in Lucha Underground, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Kia and I actually watched a lot of videos, we watched Aja Kong, who Kia has gone up a lot against in Japan, and wow. Wow. Those girls are frickin’ athletic. it’s intense. Man. Get it, girl.
Maybe that’s where Machu Picchu’s going if she doesn’t go the Mount Fiji route.
That is one thing I’m actually curious [about]. I don’t know how the reception of the show is over in Japan. I’ve seen a lot of UK, Brazil. Peru, obviously, a lot of people have been contacting me. But I haven’t heard about Japan at all.
Yeah, are you like a folk-hero in Peru now? You’re a Peruvian fortress, strong and proud.
So many people are just like, “Are you coming to Peru?” And I’m like, “Probably as a personal trip. I don’t know with the show.” Or have so many people be like, “Are you Peruvian?”
“No.”
“Okay. We’re done. We’re done with this.”
But I do really, my brother and I, before even getting the role were talking about hiking Machu Picchu, but like …
That’s your ultimate trip now, right?
I know, but I don’t think I can, I’d have to train for that.
You gotta bring the little hat.
Yeah. Be totally disrespectful to the ruins.
So you got into production. I know I read that you wanted to be Raven-Symoné at one point. Did you want to act and do things? ‘Cause you have a spectacular resume so far, I mean, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is amazing.
That was always my goal when I was younger.
You’re always beating people up.
Yeah, I am always beating people up. Got to keep my job [as an assistant] on Crazy Ex though.
Yeah, I wanted to be an actor. Really, really gravitated towards Raven and Shirley Temple, but then when I started getting older … The thing that really got me into the production side of things is that one day I was home sick and my dad had his movie collection separated by rating. The higher the rating, so G-rated movies were on the bottom shelf and then PG and R on the top. I was home alone sick and I climbed up there and grabbed whatever movies I could and they’re not even R, one is R, but pulled two movies down and a movie falls in slow motion onto the couch. Two VHS tapes bounce. One of them was Working Girl. The other one was Raiders of the Lost Ark. And I watched Raiders and just had so many questions like, “How are they traveling in one day? How does Harrison Ford know what to say? How do the cameras know exactly where to be?” Just kind of very naïve, first glance, movie questions, and that kind of sparked my interest in how films are made and how they come about being.
And as I grew up, I still wanted to act, but teenage stuff got in the way like boys and school and sports, so I stopped acting, went to college, and kinda just realized, “What do I want to study?” And wanted to do film, so I went to USC film school, graduated from there, and came out with $60,000 worth of student loans. I got scared. Straight up was scared to go into acting ’cause it’s not a stable job. I just didn’t think I could pay off my loans by waiting tables, so I was like, “What can I do to still stay in this business?” ‘Cause I do want to produce eventually. I’d love to have my own production company. So I was like, “I’ll go into correction,” and stars aligned that a movie from Universal was going up to Anchorage and I put in my resume and they hired me. My UPM was like, “I strictly hired you because you had a degree in film. That was it.” And I was like, “Okay, cool.”
I guess I did a good job. And then just started working freelance. Yeah, I’ve gotten to work on some pretty cool stuff and in a bunch of different positions, so I know a lot about how production works and it makes you appreciate being an actor ’cause you know exactly how hard the crew is working and what everyone’s spending their time on and how it all comes together, so I enjoy it.
When you get your own production company, can you call it Machu Pictures?
Zing!
Sorry, it’s terrible.
It comes back around on you, it comes back around.
It’s pretty good, honestly. It’s one of those things where right now you’re gonna go home and be like, “That was pretty dorky,” and then two years from now you’re gonna be like, “Machu Pictures.”
A Machu Pictures production. But put it on the record, [or] you’re not getting any money.
You’ve worked on a lot of stuff. I saw you worked on Sarah Silverman’s pilot back in the day.
Yeah. That was a lot of fun.
And now everyone who you worked with loves your show.
That was a very surreal moment, because I was the post-PA on her pilot and she would come in and work with our editors to put the cut out ’cause she’s the writer, she’s the creator, it’s her show. And she was so sweet. The conversations we would have, she would just talk, talk, talk, talk, talk and it was like just talking to a normal person and I really appreciated that. Especially when it could have been an awkward situation of like, “Here’s your lunch and your coffee. Oh, crap. I forgot the sauce.”
“Oh, go back and get it.” It’s one of those weird kind of hierarchy things where you think people aren’t gonna be nice to you and she was just the sweetest thing. So when I saw that she was watching it and enjoying it, I was like, “Oh my god,” and then I was like, “Ooh!”
I don’t know, ’cause I can’t choose. Because I’ve learned so much on every single show. I was a different position in most shows. I’ve been an accounting clerk, I was a PA, I was post-PA, I was a showrunner’s assistant, I was just a regular line producer’s assistant, I was APOC.
You know how to do everything.
Yeah, I want to produce, so it helps to know exactly what each spot does and I think that it’s helped me a lot too ’cause all the girls would always come to me and be like, “Britney, you know everyone on the crew. What is this person’s name again?” And I did, because that’s just like my MO. I’ve had to deal with all these people as an assistant or working in production, so I just get used to having to know everyone’s name.
That’s pretty badass.
Yeah. Things are popping up in my head and I’m like, “Oh, no. But then this one. Oh, but then this one.”
What was your response to the G.L.O.W. documentary?
I cried.
I mean especially since Fiji is the saddest part. And the bad part about it.
I cried, but it was one of those things where I was like, “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe that this stuff happened and that they had to go through this just to get what they want.” It’s such an interesting story, ’cause yeah, they were on TV, they were famous, what they were striving for, but as wrestlers. I think that Ali’s line in the pilot is, “Are you hiring actors to play wrestlers? Or are we the wrestlers?” I think that’s one thing that they had to go through where it was like, “Oh no, I’m actually an actress. I can act.”
But yeah, I own that documentary ’cause Michael Hitchcock, one of the producers over at Crazy Ex, gave it to me as a going away gift. And I was like, “You’re so sweet, I’ve been trying to find this!” It’s so good.
Did you end up watching a lot of Fiji?
I did. I watched a lot of her, and Matilda the Hun, and Big Bad Mama, obviously ’cause they’re the bigger girls, but the matches I really liked, I really loved- I really loved Tina and Ashley. I loved Hollywood and Vine. The Twisted Metal Sisters, oh my gosh. Even when they were the housewives, they cracked me up. There’s just so many good things on that show. And I’m also glad, I think one thing that kind of freaked me out at first, hearing that my wresting persona was Machu Picchu, again, I’m not Peruvian. I’m not South American. I freaked out a little bit. But then watching the show and seeing it made me feel a lot better to be like, “Okay. I hope people understand that I’m not trying to say I am this ethnicity or say I am part of this culture. I’m trying to speak to the culture of feeding into these stereotypes.” So that was a kind of mental switch I had to do pretty early on.
Do you remember your rap?
I don’t. I don’t and it’s because they gave us the option. They wrote us a rap and they were like, “You guys can either use this or if you want to rewrite it, you can go rewrite it.”
So I remember rewriting mine and I talked a lot about Machu Picchu being a temple whose foundation is so strong because of her fans and she’s better than puny Fortune Cookie and all these things. And I remember I did it and I was like, “Yeah, I feel really good about that,” and when I looked for it in the call-back, they were like, “Hey, can you also prepare the rap we originally wrote,” and I freaked out. And then Jen was like, “Oh, you can just read it off the paper if you need to,” and I was like, “Oh, thank god.” ‘Cause I’m not a rapper, clearly.
I was gonna say maybe you got a hype flow.
No. I’m surprised a lot of people hadn’t asked us, “What do we wish we were a part of in the show?” And that’s the scene I wish I was in. I was so sad when I wasn’t in the rap in the scene and me and Chris were coming in from the parking lot. I was like, “Oh no.” But they did great and I got to watch it, which was so much fun.
I assume season 2, you’ll get to rap a lot.
I hope so.
And you’ll also, if you do follow Mount Fiji, you’ll get to wear Carmen Miranda fruit on your head.
She’s so great at Carmen Miranda. Chica-chica-chica. Like, “Hey, Justin!” She’s so good!
What do you want next season?
A Lumberjacksons and Machu Picchu showdown in the backyard. I don’t care how they put it together. I just know, if I want to fly, it’s gonna be with those guys. Let’s be real.
You gonna do a flying crossbody to Tyrus?
Yeah. And it was funny because when we were shooting the scene where I take Ruth and Debbie, Betty and Debbie, Ruth and Debbie to see them, me and Chavo, I was like, “Chavo, can I try?” And he’s like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tyrus will do it,” but we never had a moment where we could do it. And I was like, “Oh, it’s okay. I’ll do it next time.” But I really want to try it.
So if you went to a local wrestling show and they were like, “Hey, we need you to get in the ring and have a match,” could you have a match?
No.
You couldn’t?
I wouldn’t do it, strictly out of respect. I love wrestling, but these people train for years. Their whole life is wrestling. They’re passion is so strong in that and my passions lie elsewhere. I never want to come out there and be like, “Oh, no. I can do it. I’m a wrestler,” ’cause again, I’m an actor who plays her.
But if they asked me to come in be like, “Do you want to announce the match?” Hell yeah! I think that sounds like so much fun, being the commentator and announcer. If anybody wants to invite me to their matches, I would love to come watch ’cause I do like the sport, I just don’t want to embarrass myself and get up there and not know what I’m doing.
We freaked out so much in the fifth episode when we go to the [American Legion Hall in Reseda] and watch. And me, Betty, and Jackie could not get our lines out because we were freaking out. ‘Cause it was the first time we had seen, beyond Chavo and Kia, a real match in person and we were freaking out.
Maybe Chavo can get you guys on the next season of Lucha.
I told him. I was like, “Chavo, we want to come and watch.” I don’t know when they’re starting up the next one. When [The Mack] walked out with his pick in his hair and his little panties and was so bad —
The most uncomfortable-looking panties.
But then he’s like, amazing. But I can’t even remember one where he did … I don’t know what it’s called but he did a corkscrew in the air and I was done. I was like, “What? I’m done. This is my hero.” He was so good. But when we went to the match, we got way too into it and turned on Johnny.
As you should.
We love him. He was so great to us, we had a good time. He comes in, he turned, or his group came in, his little posse. What are they called?
World Wide Underground. They’re my favorites.
So Taya came in, and Jack Evans. And I was yelling at him. I was like, “Why don’t you just fight, Jack?” Oh, we got into it.He’s so fun. But they came in and they turned on Marty and they kicked Marty out of the ring and Marty was out and all I remember was Kate Nash was there. Like in her accent like, “Come on, Marty! Get up, Marty! Come on, Marty!” And we’re just like screaming at Johnny being like, “You were our friend! You betrayed us!”
And he was just looking at us like, “Sorry, girls.” Playing to us, which was great. But we were really upset that we felt betrayed. Like our friend had hurt another one of our friends and we weren’t having it and then Marty got up and looks at us and hops back in the ring and just kicks everyone’s ass. And afterwards, we were like, “Marty, why didn’t you tell us?” He was like, “I knew you guys would like that.”
They obviously planned it before the show but he didn’t want to tell us because he wanted it to be real.
Yeah, you guys gotta do a live GLOW show one of these days. Would you have a panic attack and not be able to wrestle?
I wouldn’t have a panic attack, however I just, again, I just don’t want to act like I could sustain. ‘Cause again, that’s another thing Kia was telling me ’cause our match in the finale and then the tag-team reveal, or betrayal match with the other girls, those are the only ones you see start to finish. But, I think me and Kia’s was a minute forty-five. We had huge breaks in between shooting it again and we’d only do bits and pieces here and there for camera angles. So it’s like, I don’t think I could really do a five for six minute, or even 20-minute match sometimes.
So I’d be that person, I’m just like, “Nope, I’m not tagging in, I’m good. You got it. We’re fine, we’ll lose the belts.”
