Saturday, May 25, 2019
By Guy D'Astolfo
Emily Pendergast is fresh off a stint on HBO’s “Veep,” and ready to step into a new character.
The Canfield native – formerly Emily Sulenski – played the role of Beth Ryan, the “enthusiastically ignorant” wife of presidential candidate Sen. Jonah Ryan, on the seventh and final season of “
Veep.”
The acclaimed sitcom, which skewered politicians at the highest levels, aired its final show earlier this month.
Pendergast, of Los Angeles, is going to auditions now. “I’m trying to hit the ground running with this ‘Veep’ momentum,” she said in a recent phone interview.
Like every character on the show, Beth Ryan has a healthy degree of despicable self-absorption.
“‘Enthusiastically ignorant’ is the best description of my character,” said Pendergast. “She loves her husband so much and is just a terrible person. But she has nothing but support for him. She’s a strong reflection of his mom.”
Pendergast auditioned for the role in April 2018 and filming took place between August and December.
The role started off small but grew and became recurring.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who has won seven Emmy Awards with “Veep,” was at Pendergast’s audition and riffed with her in her tryout.
“She couldn’t have been nicer, and what a legend,” said Pendergast of the series’ star.
The show is known for its rapid and sharp-tongued banter that mirrors the ego-driven world of high-stakes politics.
But achieving that level of effortless interaction takes work.
“We have table reads to get it on its feet and then rehearsals in full costume before cameras,” said Pendergast. “Then there are edits to the script. After a scene is shot, they add lines, and they are so funny, so sometimes they’re kept in.”
Before her work with “Veep,” Pendergast appeared in Judd Apatow’s 2017 Netflix show “Love.” She also did TV commercials for Boost Mobile and voiced a character on the animated Adult Swim series “Mike Tyson Mysteries.”
At the root of Pendergast’s penchant for comedy is her background as a member of the Groundlings, the Los Angeles-based improv and sketch comedy troupe that has produced many “Saturday Night Live” cast members.
Her path to the Groundlings was not a direct one, but seemed to be guided by instinct.
While growing up, Pendergast always loved “Saturday Night Live.” She would make one-woman videos of herself re-enacting sketches by Dana Carvey and Adam Sandler.
But at the time, making theater a career was not in her crosshairs.
In high school, Pendergast was a four-year letter winner in soccer and was also in the chorale. She was not heavily into theater, although she went to all of the school productions and occasionally had small roles in them.
It was an improvisational theater class she took as a freshman at Canfield High that stayed on her backburner.
After graduating from Canfield High School (2005), she went to Ohio University.
She changed her major a few times in college, eventually earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology, although she never felt fulfilled by the field.
It was a trip to California to visit her sister while
Pendergast was still in college that showed her the direction she would later take.
“We did a studio tour, and I was just blown away,” she recalled. “I was wide-eyed, and it was always inside me that I wanted to do that. I said, ‘Even if I fail, I am going to try it.’”
After graduating from OU in 2009, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue her dream.
“I got a job waitressing and started taking classes with the Groundlings, who have always been my idols,” said Pendergast.
“They tell you on the first day of classes that fewer than 1 percent make it to the main company.”
Undaunted, she managed to work her way up to the top level.
A main company member for two years now, Pendergast performs at the Groundlings theater every weekend. “We write all of our own material and create characters,” she said, recalling that improv class she took in high school as her spark.
She currently teaches improv at the troupe’s comedy school.
“They are a magical band of weirdos, so fearless,” said Pendergast of the Groundlings, whose alumni include former and current “SNL” cast members Kristen Wiig, Will Ferrell, Melissa McCarthy, Phil Hartman, Chris Kattan, Will Forte, Wendy McClendon.
For now, Pendergast is seeking new TV and film roles, with an eye on becoming a “Saturday Night LIve” cast member herself some day.
“I got invited to showcase for ‘SNL’ three times,” she said. “You get five minutes to do characters and impressions before the producers. Last year, they flew me out to New York to test. That’s the final stage, and the 8-year-old inside of me was going bonkers. It felt so surreal to get to that moment.
“I didn’t get hired but it was a cool experience to make [‘SNL’ producer] Lorne Michaels and the talented writers laugh.”