'cause I don't have the time, but the last time
I cried tears of joy, it's because of today's guest
because they starred in and cowrote
my new favorite movie.
It is Hulu's hit movie called "Happiest Season."
I am so excited...
to talk to Mary Holland today. Let's do it.
Also sunglasses inside. That's a choice.
Let's go!
Oh, my God, Mary, I'm so excited to talk to you!
- Yay, I'm so excited!
- My arc of becoming obsessed with you is quite steep.
I have to just-- I'm just gonna put
all my cards on the table. - Oh.
- I am obsessed with "Happiest Season."
We'll talk about all the things related to that,
but I feel like you have so much going on this year.
This is your year.
- 2020 has been such an interesting year
for so many reasons.
- Because you got married.
- I did get married. That's right.
- During a pandemic, so how did this happen?
Did you get to have your big wedding?
- No. No, we did not.
We had to shift plans
as I'm sure so many people have had to do this year.
We decided to get married right here right at home
in our carport, which is, you know, a dream venue.
- Hold on one second.
I don't know if I'm a stupid person,
which is possible. What is a carport?
- It's like a garage, but it's not enclosed.
It's kind of like a-- it's a carport.
- So if I understand correctly, a carport is a carport.
- That's exactly it. Now you've got it.
- So it's a roof.
- Yes, it's basically a roof, yes.
- I just want to take a crew poll.
Can you yell out loud yes or no if you knew what a carport was
on the count of one, two, three?
One, two, three. - Yes.
- Yes. - No.
- Apparently I'm the idiot.
Okay, so sorry for not knowing--
okay, so you're in a carport. You get married.
- Yes, we're in a carport. - Is your family there?
- No, they're not. Well, they are there.
They're joining over Zoom, so we had some iPhones set up,
and we had our family and loved ones on the Zoom,
and then we got married, yeah,
and it was very exciting, very special.
- How was it for your family though?
Did they also get dressed up?
Like, I'm always wondering, if you're attending
a Zoom wedding, are you also dressing up?
Like, are you shaving your legs?
Are you doing the whole thing?
- Right. I would never expect anyone
to shave their legs.
I mean, even if they came to the wedding in person,
I would never expect that of anybody.
We got married on Halloween, and we sort of left it open
to our guests whether they wanted to dress up,
or if they wanted to wear a Halloween costume,
they were welcome to do that.
And most people chose Halloween costume,
which was a real joy for us. - Wait.
I love you.
You're telling me that, for your wedding,
guests were dressed in Halloween costumes?
- Yes, my sister was dressed as Morticia Addams,
and my father was dressed up
as Kevin Costner's character
from the show "Yellowstone," so...
- [laughs]
- He had, like, a mustache and a cowboy hat,
and it even--
he was so in character that-- at the end of the ceremony,
we left the Zoom floor open for anybody to give toasts
if they wanted to,
and my father didn't give a toast.
Kevin Costner gave a toast and talked about
how he was so sad that my dad couldn't be here
for his daughter's wedding. - [laughs]
- We really gave our guests creative freedom
because it was on a Zoom. [chuckles]
And I wonder-- I don't think Kevin Costner
would have shown up to my wedding
if it was in person.
- The silver linings.
Congratulations so much on your carport...
- Exactly.
- Idiots, carport. - Thank you.
- It's an open garage with a roof.
- Nice. - Get on the same page, people!
On your wedding. [chuckles]
But let's talk about "Happiest Season."
It broke records on Hulu.
It is been talked about on the interwebs
by everyone and their mothers.
You wrote it with Clea DuVall.
What was that experience like?
Why did you want to tell this story?
Tell me all the things about it.
- Yeah, Clea and I met working on "Veep,"
and she had the idea for "Happiest Season,"
and, you know, it's a story that's really personal to her
and inspired by her experiences,
and so I thought the story was so beautiful,
and I learned so much from writing with Clea.
- And I genuinely-- when I say this,
I mean it with every ounce of my body.
I'm not just being talk show host
that's gonna say, "Hey, welcome to the show.
I like your stuff."
Genuinely, watching the film, I was like,
"I relate to this so much 'cause I've had
a similar experience, you know."
Being a full-fledged adult and having this part
of your life be very confusing I related to so much,
and so it just pulled all of my heartstrings...
- Yeah. - And I laughed, and I cried.
I'm gonna put my own money into the marketing
of this movie so everyone sees it
because I believe in it so much.
- [laughs]
- We have a clip from the film that I would like to show.
- That's so nice.
- Check out this clip from "Happiest Season."
- Where's Dad? - He's on a call.
- Okay, well, you'll need-- - Harper!
- Oh, no, oh! - Oh, oh, Jane.
Oh, I have asked you not to do that.
- I know. I didn't listen.
Oh. - Oh.
- Yay.
- I didn't think you'd be here, but here you are.
- I didn't want to wait... - Oh, what's this?
- One more second to see my little sis.
Oh, I was changing the air filters.
- Sticky. - Thank you, Jane.
- Yeah, hi, you must be Abby. - Yeah, nice to meet you.
- You too.
Um...
I'm so sorry about your parents.
- Oh, no.
- It happened a long time ago.
- You're so brave. - Oh.
- You don't need to be. - Jane.
- Mom, can you just-- - Okay, that's enough, Jane.
Jane, too much.
- The nuances of your character--
I'm obsessed.
She's awkward in social settings.
She doesn't pick up social cues always.
Did you know exactly what your character
was going to sound like just from looking at the page
or did you kind of have to become here,
step onto the set and kind of figure out that voice then?
- We knew that I was going to play her
in the writing process.
I told Clea that I wanted to play that part.
I definitely felt like she was
just kind of there with me all along.
It was such a blast being in her shoes
during the shooting of this.
- I mean, it was a blast watching it as well.
And that's just a subtle flex of, like,
I was writing,
wrote the character for myself.
I said I wanted to play the character,
so then naturally I did play the char--
I'm sitting here like, "Is that how that works?
"Is that what I should be do--
is that how I should be doing life?"
- I mean, listen, I'm as surprised as you are.
It really--
You know, Clea was so generous with me
in letting me play that part
and then writing that with me.
It was, yeah, so lucky.
- Okay, now for the real questions--
the basic questions,
the questions I really want to ask you,
which is you were on a set-- fabulous set.
What did you steal from the set?
- Okay, well... - [laughs]
- Now, listen, I didn't steal this...
- Mm-hmm.
- But I did request to have it
shipped across the country to me.
Jane--I don't know if you caught it in the--
when she does her book signing,
there is a full-size cardboard cutout of Jane,
and so I asked Theresa to please, you know,
put any and all money towards shipping that to me safely.
I have a life-size cardboard cutout of myself,
but, listen, you're not gonna be surprised to know
that it's actually my second one.
I have two life-size cardboard cutouts.
My husband actually once took a cardboard cutout--
one of those cardboard cutouts,
and I didn't know this, but he put it in my bathroom,
and so I went--
when I went to use the bathroom,
I was scared by myself. - [laughs]
- And I had a real existential crisis
where I was like, "Is that me? Who am I?
What is reality?"
- And the fact that your husband did that
just proves that you married the right guy
because that's gold right there.
- I think so too.
- I mentioned the movie had people on the internet
talking so much, and a huge debate sparked,
you know, of which-- who we're gonna ship.
- Right.
- And that was-- should Kristen's character
be with Mackenzie Davis or with Aubrey Plaza?
Which way, because there's points in the film
where you're like, "Oh, my God, this could go either way."
So did this end how you wanted it to end,
or do you low-key wish it went the other way?
Spill the tea.
- No, it absolutely ended how I wanted it to end.
- Okay.
- It was so important to both Clea and I
that Abby and Harper have a happy ending
and that, you know, you get to see
Harper's character understand herself
and, like, reveal her authentic self
to her family, so it definitely ended
how I wanted it to end, but I really appreciate
the debate that's happening.
It's so cool to see people really invested
in these characters and this story.
- Yeah, maybe, I don't know.
Christmas present, you could write, like, a fanfic
where you're like, "In an alternate universe,
maybe Kristen would--" you know?
I don't know. Just gonna plant that seed.
- [chuckles] Good.