Bryant reflects on her time on the NBC sketch series while promoting the Netflix series 'Human Resources.'
After making her debut as a featured player in 2012, during season 38 of Saturday Night Live, Aidy Bryant has gone on to earn three Emmy nominations and become a cast favorite during her 10 years on the sketch series. “I’m super, super proud,” Bryant tells ET’s Will Marfuggi while promoting her new role as a love bug named Emmy on the Big Mouth spinoff Human Resources.
“I think it’s a really good group,” Bryant continues. “And to think these COVID years have played a part in it. Like, ‘God, it feels kinda nice to hold onto each other and stick to the routine [even] if it’s changing all the time.’”
She adds, “It’s definitely where I’ve grown up.”
That said, there’s been plenty of speculation the last few seasons over just how much longer Bryant as well as other mainstays, like Cecily Strong, Kate McKinnon and Kenan Thompson, will remain on the series. All four of them also have starring roles in other projects, with Bryant earning an Emmy nomination for her performance as Annie on the Hulu series Shrill, which she also created and executive produced.
When asked if she’s thought about closing out this chapter of her life, Bryant says, “I truly am taking it one minute at a time.”
“I’m just kind of going to see where I feel at the end of the season,” she continues, referring to season 47. “And right now we’re still in the middle of it, so I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.”
In the meantime, fans can hear Bryant lend her voice to Human Resources alongside stars Hugh Jackman as an addiction angel, Randall Park as a logic rock and Rosie Perez as an ambition gremlin while Brandon Kyle Goodman, Maya Rudolph, Nick Kroll and others reprise their creatures first established on Big Mouth.
While the original Netflix animated comedy is very much centered on kids going through puberty relying heavily on various creatures to help them navigate the ups and downs of new and unexpected emotions and experiences, Human Resources is told from the perspective of the creatures as they are tasked with helping humans at all stages of their lives.
“[We] see our characters deal with people who are much older or much younger and see the different life experiences and how they react and respond to those as well,” Goodman, who voices Walter the love bug, previously told ET.
At the center of Human Resources is Bryant’s slacker love bug suddenly tasked with taking over a woman's life as she’s about to give birth, forcing her to grow into her own potential as a mentor.
When it came to writing Emmy, showrunner Kelly Galuska says, “She was a really hard character to create because she’s a bit of a mess and it would be easy for a character like that to be annoying or someone who we didn’t want to be around.”
But when Bryant was cast as the love bug, things finally came together. “I personally feel we got about halfway there with our character and then Aidy coming on board just knocked her out of the park,” Galuska continues. “Like, she just brings this warmth and this joy to the performance. Even though Emmy is a totally hapless character, you just love her and root for her immediately. So, I think that’s a good example of one [where] the cast elevated a character in a major way.”
“I think that’s very true because the way into this new show really – in the first episode especially – is really around this character of Emmy,” says Nick Kroll, who co-created the spinoff in addition to reprising his role as Maury the Hormone Monster.
He adds, “The thing is, we have such an insanely talented cast that not only can handle the jokes, but they also are such good literal actors, [they can] emotionally ground it.”
And given how Rudolph has earned two Emmys for her vocal work as Connie the Hormone Monstress, Bryant could be one of the ones to breakthrough on the spinoff.
Human Resources debuts Friday, March 18 on Netflix.
Reporting by Will Marfuggi and Stacy Lambe
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