Amy Sedaris and writer-director Paul Dinelo of the film "Strangers with Candy" (Hans Gutknecht / Staff Photographer)

Constructing a comedy in Blank verse
Sedaris, Dinello and Colbert revisit a 'Stranger' world

L.A. Daily News
By Evan Henerson
Original Article

For Amy Sedaris, slipping back into the skin of Jerri Blank, the none-too-lovable "ex-convict junkie whore" of "Strangers With Candy," was akin to putting on a well-worn pair of shoes.

A very foul-smelling well-worn pair of shoes, that is.

"It felt great, and it wasn't too difficult," says Amy Sedaris, Jerri's co-creator and portrayer for two years on the Comedy Central series that ran from 1999 to 2001. A film adaptation of "Strangers With Candy" opened in select L.A. theaters Friday.

"I had a new fatty suit made for myself," continues Sedaris, the sister of writer David Sedaris. "I had stitches in my mouth at the beginning that made it a little difficult for my face to stretch. Like Paul (Dinello) says, she's like a rash. You never know when she's going to disappear."

Or reappear. Where Sedaris goes, writing partners and former Second City alums Dinello and Stephen Colbert are sure to follow. And a Jerri Blank incarnation is never far behind.

That's deliberate, says Sedaris, who considers the Blank character

"I use her as my actress, and I give her different backgrounds," she says. "You know how people talk about how versatile an actress who has that look is? But how versatile can you be? How versatile can Barbra Streisand be with that face?"

It was a Blank-ish character in the trio's "Strangers" follow-up project — the novel and live performance "Wigfield" — that got producers Lorena David and Mark Roberts thinking about a movie. The writing partners had been amassing a bunch of unusable "Wigfield" dialogue which, they soon realized, could only be right for the original Jerri Blank. So Dinello suggested a "Strangers With Candy" adaptation.

Roberts agreed, and Jerri, Chuck Noblet, Tammi Littlenut, Principal Blackman and the rest of the gang were back. After a financial hiccup or two.

"Mark said, I have these silent partners who will give you money, ..." says Dinello.

"So silent that they didn't have money," interjects Sedaris.

"... so silent that I never heard from them again," returns Dinello. "But, at the time, he said they had the money, so you write the movie and we'll do it. Then they backed out and Worldwide Pants stepped up."

In the big-screen "Strangers," 47-year-old Jerri returns home from prison, only to find her father (played by Dan Hedaya) in a coma. Determined to make good, she re-enrolls in high school and tries to rally a group of campus misfits to win the statewide science fair.

Given that Jerri's impulses are nowhere near as pure as her motives, and that the character sprang from the minds of Sedaris, Dinello and Colbert, warm, heartfelt resolutions and important life lessons are not on the menu.

The inspiration for "Strangers" came from a pair of sources. First is "The Trip Back," a 1970 documentary about a reformed junkie, prostitute and convict who traveled to high schools to lecture students about the errors of her ways. Sedaris, Dinello and Colbert also poured through countless TV after-school specials with their eyes trained for elements to satirize.

Marathon tube sessions with "Angel Dusted" and "The Best Little Girl in the World" may sound like water torture, but Dinello — joining Sedaris for an interview before a recent taping of "The Late, Late Show With Craig Ferguson" — says the programs were positively addictive.

"They're like candy," he says. "They're so ineptly made with complete disregard for structure. They're so deliciously insulting in the way they try to create this normal family, heap this horrible problem on them and solve it.

" You got high and killed your brother!' " says Sedaris.

"Drugs, gambling, anorexia. There's a cult one," adds Dinello.

"They always had a secret room," says Sedaris. "We wanted Jerri to have a secret room."

The three co-writers — with Dinello handling the directing chores — reprise their roles from the series: Colbert as the hard-assed science teacher Chuck Noblet and Dinello playing gay art teacher Geoffrey Jellineck. Stepping in for cameo duty are Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Allison Janney and British thespian Sir Ian Holm, who signed on at the urging of his 19 year-old son.

"I didn't know any knights," Dinello says of Holm. "Now I know one."

The easy interplay between Sedaris and Dinello (third member Colbert, with "The Colbert Report" duties back east, is absent) is the product of a nearly 20-year friendship. Hired at Second City on the same day in August 1987, Sedaris, Dinello and Colbert have written sketch comedy together, co-created "Exit 57," toured with Second City and collaborated on "Wigfield."

"The truth is, almost every project we did, we were trying to find a way to hang out together," says Dinello. "So we'll continue to do that."

But not immediately with any more "Strangers." Jerri Blank's adventures have come to an end, at least for the time being, says Sedaris who — despite pleas for further Jerri reappearances — has shed that skin. Literally.

"I gave my fatty suit away to (David) Letterman, since he produced the movie," says Sedaris. "It's like giving someone a pair of dirty underpants because I can't wash it. Here!'"

Adds Dinello: "It's the perfect gift."

---
Evan Henerson, (818) 713-3651 evan.henerson@dailynews.com

Be sure to check out the fantastic images that accompanied this interview in the images section!