Stephanie Hsu stars in the new Peacock comedy Laid.
The original series, which premieres Thursday, follows Hsu’s Ruby, a professional party planner whose former lovers are dying in the order she was with them. The unconventional rom-com series was also executive produced by the Everything Everywhere All At Once Oscar nominee, who told ABC Audio it’s rare to read a script you actually think is funny.
Laid was “making me laugh out loud out on my couch,” Hsu said. “It really felt that the infrastructure of this roller coaster was really there for us to get to kind of throw our weight into.”
Zosia Mamet co-stars as Ruby’s best friend and roommate, AJ. She said one of the best parts of making the series was getting to know Hsu.
“We both approach our work in a very, very similar way, and we kind of come to the table ready to play,” Mamet said. “I think it just really felt every day like such a joy because it was pretty effortless working together and getting to explore that dynamic of female friendship … it just felt so incredibly rich and fulfilling.”
Ruby is a complex character, and Hsu said she enjoyed the challenge of creating her.
“People would be like, ‘Ruby’s such a narcissist, Ruby’s so crazy, da-da-da-da-da.’ And I’m like, OK, but I have to be in her shoes for however many weeks, so I have to figure out a way to love her,” Hsu said.
In the end, the answer was to keep returning to the question at the heart of the show.
“I really did want to co-create a story … that kind of asked this question that I feel a lot of my friends ask, which is like, ‘How do you know when you know?'” Hsu said. “What is love, and how do you find it in this day and age?”
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