Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s Will Vought

Will Vought is a talented actor, comedian, and writer who’s delivering a performance to marvel at in the Emmy Award-winning series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Will joins the cast in the third season of the Amazon series as Major Buck Brillstein, an aspiring comedian who’s taking center stage. Pop Culturalist caught up with Will to chat about his career and the role, and there were plenty of laughs!

Career

PC: You’re an actor, comedian, and writer. How did you discover your passion for the arts? Is there one that you naturally gravitate towards?
Will: I don’t know if I discovered it. I just had an inkling or a desire to pursue that kind of line. I grew up an only child, so I had a lot of conversations with myself. I used to put on these little shows. I’d put some stuffed animals in the hallway and close the door. The stuffed animals were the standby line because obviously the show was sold out. [laughs] I was in very, very high demand.

As far as my development, I watched and listened to people that did their craft really well. I was drawn to Robin Williams; I was drawn to Jerry Seinfeld; I was drawn to Gary Shandling. I was drawn to comedians that made me laugh. Comedy is subjective by nature. Everybody gravitates towards different people. I gravitated towards some of those guys. I listened to their work, then I tried it out. When you’re a kid, you try them out on your friends or stuffed animals—whoever is around. [laughs] The material would get laughs. Then at some point, I wondered if I could come up with something that was mine and get somebody to laugh. I like to make people laugh. I like hearing laughter.

My parents took me to the theater when I was a kid. That was a very visceral experience for a lot of children who get taken to the theater. It’s such a great art form. It makes it very real for a kid. I was like, “Wait a minute. There are actual people that are doing it right in front of me on stage!” That was very exciting. I knew I wanted to do something that had to do with performance. I knew I loved comedy. Then it’s just a lot of practice—and failure. [laughs]

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Will: As a writer, David Mamet and Aaron Sorkin. I’ve worked with Bob and Michelle King. I think their writing is incredible. David E. Kelley’s writing is incredible. Obviously, Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino are incredible. I gravitate towards really great writing. I named a lot of dramatic work there, but we were just chatting about it before. The Office, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Silicon Valley: very smart written shows. I wasn’t a huge reader when I was growing up. [laughs] But I definitely read a lot more in college. I gravitated towards work that spoke to me, and those people wrote stories that either spoke to me, made me laugh, or made me think. One of the reasons why I love Seinfeld, who’s still working and touring every weekend, is because of the precision of the word and what you can do with words.

Any actor who’s been on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel—from Rachel to Levi, who guest-starred last season has talked about how everything is very meticulous. The words are like notes in a song. The notes are very carefully chosen and placed for a specific reason. Writers of that caliber want those notes played in that order.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

PC: Speaking of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, you joined the cast in its latest season. Tell us about your character and how helpful your comedic background was in preparing for this role.
Will: My character is Major Buck Brillstein. He’s the host emcee of the USO show that Midge Maisel is performing in. It kicks off her tour with Shy Baldwin. When we left Midge last season, Shy and her met each other at the telethon and she got this job. For an up-and-coming female comedian in the ’50s to get a gig opening up for a national act like Shy Baldwin, it’s a really big deal. There are a thousand people there. Major Buck is not a comedian. Major Buck is a major in the United States Army who has always wanted to be a comedian. His wife will tell you the same thing. The kids have heard the same jokes over and over to the point that they wish another family would come in and adopt them. He’s that kind of guy. He’s getting his chance to live out his dream. As we’ll see, he’ll get to do some sketch comedy and some drag.

Having been on stage as many times as I have as a comedian in a wide variety of venues, anything from the Hard Rock Casino in Atlantic City opening up for Wayne Brady in front of 1,800 people to the Improv in Arizona for 500 people or a little room in the West Village for twenty-five people, I’m comfortable in front of people. I knew there were going to be a lot of extras in the scene. I didn’t know that there were going to be almost a thousand extras for however long it took to film that scene! That helped a bit. Had I not had that experience, it probably would have been a bit more difficult. I felt comfortable on stage. Now you’re performing a character with other people’s words, you’re able to focus more on the scene and what the goal is. The drag scene was fun. I love creating characters. It’s the 1950s. He’s a major in the Army who’s dressing up as a girl in a double-D bra saying, “Hello. Who is it?” It’s a caricature of who a drag queen is. All the professional drag queens on RuPaul’s Drag Race are far better and more equipped than I. But it’s the ’50s, and you give it your best shot.

PC: Was there any pressure heading into this project given how iconic this show is?
Will: In the beginning, I knew that people watched the show. Although, I didn’t realize how big this show was until I had gotten the show and mentioned it to a few people. They flipped out. Then I started going down the Google rabbit hole, and then I started to feel pressure. [laughs] As I was reading more, you come across how many Emmys it’s been nominated for and that the lead actress has not one but two Emmys, not one but two Golden Globes. [laughs] There was a lot of pressure. However, once you get to work, you’re at work. We all have the same goal. The world’s been created. It’s the 1950s. Do you remember that scene in That Thing You Do where the character is like, “It’s important that you don’t stink today?” [laughs] I definitely had that in the back of my head.

PC: In a recent interview that you did, you said that this project was really unique in that when you received the script, it was close to the final product. Tell us about that process and how helpful that is for you as an actor.
Will: In television, it’s not uncommon for changes to be made constantly. Things are edited. Things are rewritten. Scenes are added. I think a lot of the cast has mentioned this at one point or another: the script that I was given was basically what we shot. I remember reading the episode and being able to see it. I was like, “Wow. This is so well written.” When you read a bad script, you know. [laughs] You’re like, “This is the first draft. Someone will punch this up.” But The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s script just sings like a great piece of music. In television, changes happen. Everyone has notes.

To keep up with Will, follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Catch Season 3 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon Prime today.

Photo Credit: Emily Assiran // Grooming: Laila Hayani // Styling: Natalia Zemliakova