Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/419349
Hair by aviva Perea/StarworkS uSing PHyto; MakeuP by adaM breucHaud/tMg uSing Make uP For ever duo Mat Powder Foundation PHotograPHy aSSiStance by SuSanne kindt and SaraH renard; digital tecH: eric Macklin; video: nardeeP kHurMi T he kooky, slapsticky, often-raunchy humor of the show plays well with its live studio audiences, while bearing a resemblance to the antics of I Love Lucy. Caroline and Max get into a face-slapping contest, they escape out their apartment window to hide from the landlord, and they corner Martha Stewart in a public restroom with their business plan (cupcakes) and even a sample. "Some of the physical stuff we do is really hard," says Behrs. For instance, this season the girls get into what Behrs describes as a "dye war" at a factory with a pair of workers. "They think we're macking on their boyfriends, and then Caroline accidentally hits them with dye. I get thrown in a dryer. It took us almost 14 hours to shoot.... What we get to do hasn't really been done in front of a live audience since Laverne and Shirley or Lucy and Ethel." The show takes place in the present, but its laugh track and Alice-like uniforms give it a retro feel. Computers and iThings rarely figure in the plot lines. But in real life, Behrs is the quintessential millennial celeb, keeping her fans apprised of her slapstick battle bruises at WhoSay.com, regularly updating her Pinterest and Instagram accounts, and tweeting day and night. She even answers fan questions while, say, at an airport waiting for her f light. In addition to shooting 2 Broke Girls, Behrs is working on her latest film project, the one that brought her to that Brooklyn karaoke bar: Hello, My Name Is Doris, directed by Michael Showalter (Wet Hot American Summer), costarring Sally Field, and due in theaters this spring. Field plays a woman in a May-September romance with a younger coworker (played by Greenfield). "My character is the girlfriend," says Behrs. "She's grungy and super-sweet, and the older woman can't help but like her." Indeed, you can't help but like Behrs, even in the viral campy horror short The Argument, which Behrs shot with boyfriend Michael Gladis (of Mad Men), in which the two play-fight and, with the help of makeup and special effects, practically rip each other's faces off. "We had a great fight choreographer," says Behrs, adding that the two do nothing of the sort in their off line relationship. Behrs also has some history in common with her 2 Broke Girls character. When she was cast, she was juggling a job at the Geffen Playhouse, working as a nanny, bartending on the weekends, sharing a one-bedroom apartment, and barely paying the bills. "I was basically living the Max and Caroline life when I got cast," she says, "so that was the easy part." The challenge was figuring out her character's have-to-have-not perspective. "It was the time of the Bernie Madoff scandal, so I watched a lot of 60 Minutes – type shows on the family." Once she put on the pearls and heels, the character came together. On 2 Broke Girls, Caroline has run-ins with many celebrities—Lindsay Lohan, Andy Dick, Martha Stewart, and, this season, Kim Kardashian. This mirrors her experience at the Geffen, although then it was on another level altogether: Behrs got to be Joan Rivers's assistant (and have Rivers make her eggs) and worked with her idol Julie Andrews. "She told me I had perfect pitch and was so kind to me," Behrs says. "It was and still is one of the best days of my life!" So maybe she's been a little typecast. Behrs told an audience of students at her character's alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, "Know who you are, because that's how you will be cast at first. Then you can be Meryl Streep further down the road." Further down her own road, Behrs may get to stretch her talents into more dramatic roles or, who knows, maybe she'll go from attending the Country Music Awards to being one of its stars. Lately, Behrs has been traveling back and forth between LA and Nashville, where she's studying guitar and dabbling in songwriting (and of course shopping for cowboy boots—so far she has six pairs). "I've just begun the journey of songwriting, and still have a lot to learn. But what I love about writing country music is that you're able to tell a story, which is what you do as an actor as well," she says. "It's super exciting. I'm just trying to learn as much as I can." For now, Behrs is so busy with the series and film work that she just hopes to make it back to Vegas for the next awards. "If I can be there, I'm looking forward to seeing Shania and Britney and eating my face off!" V "I have a lot to learn and want to make sure I do It rIght. It's super excItIng."