-Our next guest is a talented writer and actress
who stars in "Rutherford Falls" on Peacock.
All episodes of the second season premiere
Thursday, June 16th.
Let's take a look.
-I'm not drinking all this. This is like a kiddie pool.
-There's all kinds of life hacks to help you optimize --
cold showers, random sprints, calibrating chews per bite.
I'll send you some articles.
-The last thing I need is
homework telling me how to do more homework.
I need a real support staff.
I'm doing the work of three people.
-The revamp drained us.
We should be cutting budgets, not expanding them.
But I might have something that could solve your problems.
-Is it the water?
-The water, yes.
-Mm-hmm.
-Please welcome to the show Jana Schmieding, everybody!
[ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪
Hi, Jana! I'm so happy you're here.
-Oh, my gosh. I am so happy to be here.
This is wild. -This is very exciting.
What do you have? -I have a gift for you.
-Oh, my God. That's so nice.
-I consulted your friend and my E.P. of
"Rutherford Falls," Mike Schur.
-Mike Schur, who created this show and many others.
-Yes, many others.
And he said you were a Boston Red Sox fan,
so I beaded you --
-You beaded me a hat! Look at that! It's gorgeous!
Are you -- Now, is beading -- [ Cheers and applause ]
Is beading something that you often do?
And did you take to it right away?
It looks gorgeous. -Ugh, it looks so dang good.
-So dang good. Look at that. -God!
Yes, I am an avid beader.
I have been beading since I was 8 years old.
It is a traditional art form that the lot of native people
do, and I am --
-Were you good at it right away as an 8-year-old?
-No! -Okay.
-I don't even think I'm that good at it now.
-Oh. Well, then I don't want this.
-Yeah. It's trash.
-So, "Rutherford Falls" is a show that has
not only native representation in the writer's room,
but on camera.
And I think what's unique about it is,
it represents native people in a modern setting,
because I feel like, more often than not,
when we see native people on screen, it's about the past.
-Yes, we, as a people, are often trapped by the industry
in the past and are depicted, through sort of a white lens,
as existing in the past.
And it's actually -- Like, the statistics are pretty staggering
about what America knows about native people,
about indigenous populations.
I think it's something like 80% of people
don't know that native people still exist.
That's the -- Yeah, it's wild. It's bad.
-What happens -- Do you find that there is
sort of a uniform reaction
when you tell people that you are native?
-Yeah, well, a lot of people like to say, "Me too.
So am I."
-I'm sorry. And this is white people?
-Yeah. -Oh, no.
-Uh-huh. Uh-huh. A lot of white people.
I'm not going to take a poll in here,
but I bet half of you believe you're Cherokee.
-Is Cherokee the go-to for white people who --
-It is.
I don't -- I feel so bad for the Cherokee Nation.
They have a lot of, you know,
sort of self-identifying members of their tribal nation.
-The other amazing thing is,
you were hired as a writer on this show first, yes?
And then you were cast as the lead in this show.
And the co-lead with Ed Helms, I should say.
And, also, I read that this was going to be it for you.
You were about to hang it up and leave L.A.
-Oh, yeah.
I moved to L.A. from New York in the attempt to
write for television,
and all of my samples, my writing samples,
centered around a native woman protagonist,
and it wasn't getting anywhere.
I mean, I was applying for all of the fellowships,
sending my script to Austin Film Festival,
being like, "Oh, this is getting in, baby!"
I was so confident and didn't get a single bite.
And so by 2019, late 2019, I was really frustrated.
I was starting to, like, internalize the messaging
that I was getting that either I'm not a good writer
or people aren't interested in native women in comedy.
And I was like, "If I don't get staffed, you know,
in early 2020, I'm throwing in the towel, man!
I'm packing it up."
And I was planning to just move back to Oregon with my parents
and -- I don't know -- work at a bar?
-Wow!
Well, this worked out fantastic. -It really did.
-It should be noted that on your way,
like a lot of people on your journey
to try to make it in this business,
you were in New York for a while and you were
trying to make it in comedy and also teaching in the Bronx.
What kind of teacher were you?
-I was a humanities teacher in middle school and high school.
-Alright. -Yeah.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Did your students know their teacher
was trying to have a career in comedy at the time?
-Well, yes.
I kind of kept it private for the most part
while I was a teacher,
but in the last year, I was sort of like, "Whatever, man.
I'm trying to be a star, guys."
-Well, I'm very glad that it worked out
and that maybe you weren't the best teacher,
but I think they will see you as a message...
-It's so true.
-...that anybody can be what they dream to be.
-That's right. I wasn't the best teacher.
-Well, obviously, you have found the path
that is best suited to you.
And thank you so much for being here.
It's such a delight. And thank you for the hat!
-Thank you for having me! Thank you!
-You guys, that's Jana Schmieding.
All episodes of the second season of "Rutherford Falls"
with her and Ed Helms premiere Thursday, June 16th.
We'll be right back.