Maura Tierney on The Affair, NewsRadio, and being fired from Growing Pains

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http://www.avclub.com/article/maura-...red-gro-210942

NewsRadio (1995-1999)—“Lisa Miller”

MT: That was great. The thing about that show is, I auditioned for NewsRadio in New York, and two days later I got a call saying, “The casting director accidentally erased your entire audition.” I was like, “Are you ****ing kidding?” And I had to go back and redo it, but it was right after Thanksgiving, and I remember it was when they were lighting the tree at Rockefeller Center—the casting office was near there—and there were just massive amounts of people. I was just so frustrated that I had to deal with that to go back and do it again. But then, after that, they flew me out, so maybe it was, like, this blessing my first audition got erased. They so did not know who they were going to cast for that role. I flew in, went directly to the network test, got hired, and started rehearsing the same day! [Snaps fingers.] It was just like that. But we gelled right away. It was a blast.

AVC: It’s fortunate for them that you did gel right away, given the quick turnaround.

MT: Yeah, right! But there was no one over 30 on that show—except for Phil [Hartman], who acted like he was 15 years old. [Laughs.] But none of the writers or the other actors were over 30. It was so much fun.

AVC: Do you have a definitive Phil Hartman story?

MT: Um. [Long pause.] I don’t know. I do remember one thing he said to me. Joe Rogan was being so ****ing mean to me one day—and mostly we were all friends, but Joe could be a weirdo—and I was sort of upset about it, so I was just sitting over in the corner. And Phil came over and put his arm around me, and he said, “You know, I just want to tell you you’re loved.” Isn’t that really nice? I know you expected me to tell some wacky story about Phil, but he was like that, too. He just put his arm around me and said that. He was so sweet. He was a really nice man.

AVC: Do you have a favorite Lisa storyline or episode?

MT: Yeah, I loved… [Starts to laugh.] Okay, well, first of all, I loved the space episode. That was ****ing hilarious. All of those weird, bizarre concept shows that we’d do at the end of the seasons, like the Titanic, were great. But I also love the episode where Lisa wants Dave to tell her his sex fantasy, and he won’t tell her. And it’s just so funny at the end of the episode when he says something like, “I want to be with a space prostitute.” I don’t know, that episode was just really fun. She’s trying to work with him—but he’s just such a nerd!