Ellie Kemper is smiling, but she’s furrowed-brow famous now. Thanks to Happiness for Beginners, the former Kimmy Schmidt has swapped her signature sunshine for cranky midlife reinvention, and you can almost hear the Netflix algorithm wheezing from the tonal whiplash.
“This was a departure for me, and I enjoyed it,” Kemper says, which is exactly what someone would say after trudging through Connecticut woods with a bunch of strangers and calling it acting. Her character, Helen, signs up for a group hike on the Appalachian Trail to get over a divorce, which sounds like a decent metaphor until you realize it’s also the actual plot.
“It was a sustained kind of crankiness,” she adds. “I generally don’t tap into that.” That sound you hear is Erin Hannon sobbing into a Michael Scott mug.
Kemper may not carry the character home with her, but she’s still dodging the stereotype she built a career on. “You know, Helen’s plan to be the best hiker is tested,” she says. “And she finds more than just herself in the wilderness.” She finds Bob Schneider needle drops. She finds camaraderie. She finds herself singing “40 Dogs” at full volume in a car like a teenager who just stole the keys to adulthood.
“I love being able to sing at the top of my lungs,” she gushes. “It’s such a freeing little activity.” Her go-to? “Shallow,” naturally. “I think I’m Lady Gaga in that moment.” Of course she is. We all are. It’s called coping.
She also runs — casually, not cultishly — and yes, Shallow might sneak into the playlist alongside Imagine Dragons, Tina Turner, Green Day, and Salt-N-Pepa. “My three-year-old thinks they’re saying ‘naughty old business’ instead of ‘none of your business,’” she says. “Which is… sweet?” Somewhere, a clean edit is shaking its head in shame.
But the real revelation is that Kemper is still navigating what happens after you’ve been the lead on a beloved sitcom. “You hope something good happens,” she says. “You can’t control how people are going to receive your work, so you focus on who you’re working with.” It’s less about fame now, more about good company — whether that’s a hiking group of oddball strangers or a Broadway cast. Yes, she did that too.
“I was terrified,” she confesses about her recent run in Peter Pan Goes Wrong. “I hoped something would happen so I wouldn’t have to do it. But I was proud I saw it through.” Broadway fears, meet Appalachian trauma.
She’s also podcasting now. Born to Love, her show with longtime friend Scott Eckert, is about exactly what the title says. “It’s an upbeat podcast,” she offers, in case anyone was worried it might spiral into True Appalachian Crime.
Through it all, Ellie Kemper continues to smile — even if she’s doing it while pretending not to. “Helen doesn’t look on the bright side,” she says, “and that was fun to play.” Because sometimes, you have to get lost in the woods to figure out if you’re actually still funny without the sparkle. Spoiler: she is. Even with a scowl.
Watch the interview above and then check out the trailer below.
