‘Night Court’ – ‘Abracadabra Alaka-Dan’ Post-mortem Interview with Mo Collins

NIGHT COURT -- "Abracadabra Alaka-Dan" Episode 311 -- Pictured: Mo Collins as Starla -- (Photo by: Nicole Weingart/NBC)

It is absolutely safe to say that Mo Collins is a comedy legend. For her work on Mad TV was downright revolutionary, and she has continued to grow that work through various feature film and television roles Recently, she played Starla on this week’s episode of Night Court, and we here at NTG had the distinct honor of sitting down with Mo to discuss all things Starla and comedy.
 
John Betancourt: Obviously, you are nothing short of a comedy legend, and it’s been such a huge part of your career. I’d like to start by getting to know what is about comedy that continues to energize you.
 
Mo Collins: Oh gosh, it's like therapy for me. It's my BFF. You know? It's helped me through everything. It's helped me. Comedy is my survival tool. You know it really is, like, I use it in hard times. I use it in other people's hard times to try and help them. Yeah, comedy is very, very important to me, and I grew up in a funny family. I mean, I don't know if they knew they were funny, but, you know, we were silly. You know, my family was silly, and, like, my mother had a very sharp, you know, wit, and so I was around it. It's a place of comfort for me. It’s also a sign of intelligence, John, so, I can’t help it. (Laughter from Mo and John.)
 
John Betancourt: Makes you “Mo the Magnificent”. I’m also curious, how you managed to come aboard as Starla on Night Court?
Mo Collins: They called me. Isn't that nice?
 
John Betancourt: It absolutely is.
 
Mo Collins: They took a look at that role and said, “That's got Mo Collins’ name on it, doesn't it?” And they called me, which is so nice in this business. Let me just tell you to get that call. And that's so great, because, you know, this is a business of trying all the time, so to just get that call was absolutely delightful.
 
John Betancourt: Now, you’ve done it all acting wise, and that’s important to this next question because every single guest star on Night Court has been deeply fleshed out and real in many ways, despite the zany stuff they do. And I’m curious how you, and your experience, helped to flesh out Starla.
 
Mo Collins: I love this question. Um, it's very important for me, and always has been, even in some of the craziest characters that I've played, I really have to ground them. It's very important to me to keep them grounded. And that means that I need them to really feel and see the moments that they're in, to just be there in the moment with them and embody that. That's very important to me, to ground my crazy people. But I mean, if you think about it, you know, and you go about in the world, and you consider the people in the world, and you look and you go, “That person just seems so crazy.” And then you kind of consider them for a bit, and you go, “No, they're grounded in themselves in a way that is very unique.” And that's really what it is, that's character building, it’s just considering the person on the page, the script, consider them as a human being and how they really feel and react and respond. And it's just important to me to keep my crazy grounded.
 
John Betancourt: Well that certainly worked since you know who she is and what she’s about in the story. Now, this is also a rare opportunity to talk to someone that has helped to shape modern comedy, and helped to shape the modern multi-cam and I’m very curious how you prepare for that kind of work since you know it all so well.
 
Mo Collins: Yeah, I gotta tell you, John, I had not done multi cam in like, a decade. So, to be honest, it wasn't exactly like riding a bike. It wasn't, which stunned me and scared me, like my first take in front of the live audience. And it wasn't the audience that scared me. It's this. It's that working in single cam so much over the past two decades, you know you have to with multi cam, you gotta know the scene memorized top to bottom, which I always memorize my scenes, you know? But this is, it's more theater, right? Like doing a play where you don't get to stop and go, “Oh, let me start again,” right? It's different. You're playing the scene, and that really struck me in the first, the first scene that I did, and I was a little uncomfortable, because I'm like, “Oh, my God. Mo, have you… what have you lost a couple steps here?” But then I got back into it. I was like, “No, you know what you're doing. Mo, you know what you're doing.” But that first one was, I was scared. I was nervous, you know, I'm like, “Oh my gosh,” you start to think, like, “Do I know my lines?” Like you're right in the middle of the scene. But then I was right back to it, yeah, but it took a minute, and it's like, “Oh my gosh,” it's been so long since I'd done it that there was… there were nerves, John, there were nerves.
 
John Betancourt: That’s amazing, we’d never know that, and I appreciate that. I think everyone always assumes, me included, you just go out there and it clicks. But as a follow up to that, I do have to ask, what was it that finally allows for everything to come together for you.
 
Mo Collins: I remembered who I am.
 
John Betancourt: I love that. And obviously, I can hear the joy in your voice in talking about the experience, and there’s a real devilish delight that shows on screen in your performance. So, what did you enjoy the most about playing Starla?
 
Mo Collins: I love a good, broken woman. (Laughter) I mean, I do. Not even just broken, but like she's multifaceted and I enjoy that, like she has highs, she has lows. And that's depth to me. You know, as seemingly, this woman that doesn't have depth. She does. We all do. You know, so it was fun to be -- it's always so fun to be inside of somebody that, by outward appearances, is so outlandish, but to them… just hold like the seriousness of them inside. I like holding on to my characters like that. If that makes any sense to you at all, I tend to hold my characters very dear to my heart. I love them. I've even… and this is going to sound, well, nerdy. I've written letters to my characters. You know?
 
John Betancourt: Nerdy is perfect and that does make sense, and that’s amazing. Gives them real meaning. So, the last question I have for you today, is a simple, and nerdy one… did you get to keep that awesome cape? Because the ‘Starla’ on the back was too cool.
 
Mo Collins: I know! That cape! When that came out, I was like, “No way!” And no, I did not get to keep I didn't keep it. But I look forward to people dressing like that as Halloween
 
John Betancourt: There you go. Get a line out, and an authentic replica for you.
 
Mo Collins: Exactly, it'd be a great costume.
 
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.