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June Diane Raphael steals almost all of her scenes as Brianna in Grace and Frankie. Which would be an achievement on any show, but on a show where she’s playing opposite legends like Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda, it’s quite remarkable. Brianna is the quippy, acidic eldest daughter of Fonda and Martin Sheen’s characters, and the show could not ask for a better audience surrogate. An actress whose background is in the UCB sketch comedy universe, Raphael has been a welcome presence in countless films and TV shows, most prominently on parody series like NTSF:SD:SUV and on Burning Love as lovelorn bachelorette Julie Gristlewhite. She’s also killing it in the podcast realm, co-hosting the bad-movie podcast How Did This Get Made with Jason Mantzoukas and her husband Paul Scheer since 2010, and also appearing as a frequent, Countess-loving guest on the Real Housewives appreciation podcast Bitch Sesh. And if you think it was not a heroic feat to do more than simply spend an hour talking to her about the beehive outside Kyle Richards’ Beverly Hills boutique, you do not understand true heroism.
With Grace and Frankie‘s second season streaming on Netflix, Raphael talked to Decider about auditioning for Brianna mere weeks after giving birth to her son, why I Love Lucy and VHS tapes shaped her comedy outlook, and how network differs from Netflix.
Decider: How did you get involved with Grace and Frankie?
June Diane Raphael: I was sent the script and saw that Jane [Fonda] and Lily [Tomlin] were starring in it — Martin [Sheen] and Sam [Waterston] weren’t attached yet — but I couldn’t believe that they were doing a television show together. Of course I read it immediately, and I really loved the character of Brianna, and I connected to her right away. It was the first audition I went on [after having the baby], and it was insane. I was frazzled, but I was so excited to leave my home [laughs]. I mean, I think I was maybe three weeks out from giving birth. I was really in quite a state. It was that early. So I was just so excited to have something to leave the house for because I was kind of going crazy in my home. I went and I read the scene once, and that was it, and I was so proud of myself for putting clothes on [laughs]. That’s the level I was at at that time. I was like, “Wow, I have mascara on today. Today’s a win no matter what happens.” And then that was it, and like a week later I found out I got the part.
Brianna is a character who stands out from the cast in that it feels like she’s constantly the voice of reason, standing next to the whole situation and commenting on it and realizing what a strange situation everybody is in. Did you feel like you latched on to that?
Totally. I felt very much like this is probably how I would react. I don’t know, I just kind of connected to it. I probably wouldn’t say half the things that she does — I know I wouldn’t — but it was still refreshing to play a character who has no filter and is really not concerned with how she’s coming off and really not concerned with other people’s feelings. It’s just been really fun to play.
In season 2, Brianna’s storyline is very much involved with Frankie’s character, which we saw a little bit of in the first season, but we certainly see a lot more in season two.
I think their relationship is interesting because it’s this other-mother relationship; more of a friendship, really. And I think that’s really nice and unusual to have this aunt-like figure, who Brianna has fun with and can smoke pot with and in some ways is probably more of a confidant than her own mother, but it’s still that maternal relationship on some level. I don’t think we get to see that too often. It’s a cool, very specific relationship. I got so excited [for Brianna] to help Frankie and tell her that we’re accepting her lube and that I want to buy it for the company. The journey of it is that it’s very difficult to work with Frankie as a businesswoman. I think there’s some real funny stuff that lies there, but also it’s kind of painful because they’re so excited to do it, and it’s nothing but terrible at every turn. And I’ve had that in my life too, like “Oh, I really want to help this person that I love, and I want to include them in this process, and I’m going to really reach out,” and then it’s like, “Oh no, natural boundaries should have really been in place, probably not a great idea.”
I’m sure as somebody working in comedy, Lily Tomlin has to be quite a figure for you in terms of comedic history. What was it like being able to work with her and bounce off of her in those scenes?
Incredible. I mean just really a thrill. She’s so physical and, you know, in her body, and to see her perform was really just special for me. I remember seeing Big Business for the first time and seeing that scene with Lily Tomlin and Bette Midler popping out of the mirror in the bathroom, and it’s so funny and physical and both really big and totally grounded, and that’s something she does so well. She can play really big and broad, and yet it’s all coming from such a real place that it all works. The bigger the better. So that’s the type of comedy that I love to see. It’s been a dream come true. I wish I could come up with something better to say than that, but it truly is. To do scenes with her, it’s crazy and wonderful.
You’ve come from a place where you’ve done shows like Burning Love and NTSF, and these are broader, more parody-type shows. With Grace and Frankie, you get into something that’s more grounded. Do you approach those two types of things differently, or do you feel like your approach to your work is similar in both?
JDR: I think it’s similar. Even when playing Julie Gristlewhite in Burning Love, she’s an insane character, but I love her [laughs]. I love her. I think with both of them, I have love for the characters and respect for them even if they’re crazy or unlikable or whatever they are. I love Julie Gristlewhite, I feel like she’s pure and wants love. I can really connect to her. I think the difference is maybe I can get away a little bit more, with the Julie Gristlewhites of the world, with being a little bit bigger because it’s part of the tone of the world. And again, referencing Lily’s work, I grew up watching Lucille Ball do bigger comedic work, I think Melissa McCarthy’s doing it. I really love and find so much joy in that, and it’s really fun to be able to play in that state and not feel like you’re pulled back. So and I’m a big believer that if it’s honest it can be big, it can be clown work, and it’s still real. The playing field is just a little different, but I don’t think my approach is.
Because Grace and Frankie is a Netflix show, you knew you had a whole season, as opposed to, as you were saying, on network where you’re doing a pilot, and you don’t even know if you’re going to get to do a second episode. So I have to imagine that the environment on that Grace and Frankie set was lower on anxiety.
Yeah, definitely. Although I have to say, I think Grace and Frankie really found its groove as it went on in the first season, and the tone of it became super clear. I think the second season is even better about that. But I think there’s always something to be said for shooting a pilot and kind of figuring out some stuff. I think it’s amazing that Netflix has the faith in their creators and artists to order a whole series, I really do. It’s amazing. At the same time, I think it can be a challenge because you are walking into a series without any sort of room to experiment. But then on the other side, with network TV, you do your pilot and usually what happens is — and I can say this as someone who has written pilots and been in them — if a network doesn’t think something is totally working, they fire all the women. The women are the first to go.
Oh God [laughs]. That sounds like a great idea.
So yeah, I think there’s pluses and minuses to both to both templates. I think pilots can be really useful for a series and a chance to retool, but I also think it’s useful to say yeah, tell the whole story. Don’t worry about a pilot.
Working with Marta Kaufman on Grace and Frankie, obviously she had such success with Friends, and Friends was such an influential show. I know you mentioned Lucille Ball earlier, what were some of the other comedies that you grew up with that really inspired you or made a mark on you as you were younger?
Well definitely I Love Lucy. It’s so weird but I do feel like Lucille Ball is my biggest influence, because for whatever reason, I was always watching I Love Lucy. I don’t know if it was just in New York, but on weekdays over the summer, it was on every morning at 9am. So I would just eat breakfast to I Love Lucy every day. Definitely I think she’s been my biggest. I feel like I watched more films than television. Steve Martin’s movies were [influential] because he’s so physical. I really loved watching him. Paul makes fun of me, but the Steve Martin movie Mixed Nuts is one of my favorite movies. I loved Rita Hanks in that movie. That kind of goofiness is so funny to me. These were also the days where you just watched whatever VHS tapes you had. These are the movies we watched over and over and over. Another was What About Bob. I remember watching that movie with my parents and my mom laughing so hard that she wet her pants. Every time we’d watch the movie, my dad would have to bring a towel and just put it on the couch [laughs].
Do you have any sort of TV shows right now that you’re hooked on right at the moment?
JDR: I’m totally into The Americans. I’m in a crazy wormhole with that show. I’m loving it so much. I’m really loving Kerri Russell’s performance because I feel like [Elizabeth] is just so bad. There’s something so thrilling to me about seeing a really bad lady. I just watched a scene last night with her daughter not wanting to get into the swimming pool, and this tough-ass Russian lady throws her in. There’s something so refreshing to me about it. I think she’s just so committed to being a terrible person at that point, and I absolutely love it.
