Exclusive Interview: Alyssa Limperis Talks No Bad Days

Alyssa Limperis is one of Hollywood’s most exciting actresses and comedians. This summer, she released her highly-anticipated new special, No Bad Days.

The hour-long comedy special takes audiences through the stinging journey of loss while reminding you how wonderful each day can be. It offers an honest portrayal of grief and pain told through a lens of hope and laughter.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Alyssa about No Bad Days, honoring her father, and how the experience putting the special together allowed her to heal and grieve.

PC: How did you discover your passion for comedy and storytelling?
Alyssa: It’s no surprise that it’s attached to my dad. My dad and I watched a lot of comedy when I was growing up. He was a really funny guy. He was a sheet metal salesman, but he loved comedy. He loved making people laugh. He brought me up on The Three Stooges, The Honeymooners, I Love Lucy…lots of big physical comedy. We actually did some sketch comedy together. I was playing some wacky hairdresser and he was dodging my scissors as he was hopping out of the way. We were goofs together. That started my love for comedy.

It continued through high school. In college, I started doing improv. Once I got to the city, I did more stand-up and improv, but I don’t think the storytelling piece or this type of special happened until I lost my dad. I was like, “I have to talk about this. I have to say this out loud.” I wasn’t doing that type of comedy before, but then this colossal event happened. It became the only thing I could talk about. If I could use comedy tools for that, then that felt like a nice place to live for a bit.

PC: So sorry for your loss. You’ve had so much success throughout your career. When you look back, is there a particular moment that stands out to you?
Alyssa: Many do. I feel like the day that I was doing this special was one of them. I was back in New York, back in a place that I visited with my dad. I felt like my first big thing had to be something that my dad was a part of. I saw my name on street signs: Alyssa Limperis. My dad’s name was Limperis. I looked up to him and I was like, “Yeah, we’re doing this. The first thing I’m doing, we’re getting to do it together.” It feels very special for that reason. A lot of times when a big thing is happening, I’m like, “I wish my dad could see this,” or “I wish I could call him or tell him.” But with this special, it was almost like I never felt that way because he is here. It had an added level of special for me.

PC: Speaking of that special, can you tell us what fans can expect from No Bad Days?
Alyssa: It’s a show about grief and loss, so you should expect that we’re going to be talking about those themes. But what you might not expect is that at times it can feel like either a normal comedy special or a variety show. There are a lot of moving parts. I move a lot. It’s a joyful ride on a dark topic, and I like that contrast because I feel like that’s a lot of what grief and darkness is. The darkness is right next to the light. They’re switching off day by day, minute by minute. That’s what I hope to achieve with this special.

PC: This show is such an honest look at loss, grief, and pain told through hope and laughter. What was that process like coming up with the material that’s included in the show? How did that help you heal during this process?
Alyssa: At first, it was a rendition of exactly what had happened: “Here are my thoughts on what happened with my dad.” The first chapter was so cathartic. With the second chapter, I needed to look at myself, my life, and how grief impacted me. I don’t think I was ready.

The idea of being ready to let go of this special or let go of this experience…I was not ready to do that. I was holding onto this. So I think going through the process of doing the second rendition of this show and talking about my life without my dad and this grief allowed me to be in the space where I was like, “Now that I’ve looked at this and spent time with this, I am okay to move forward a bit.” I’m really grateful for that.

PC: You brought this personal story on the road and were able to share this moment with your closest loved ones and fans. What was it like getting to step back onto that stage after years of not being able to due to the ongoing pandemic?
Alyssa: That’s a great question. I heard that this was going to happen and I was like, “You have to get on the road.” It was like, “Great. I’m going to bring my best friend, May Wilkerson.” She’s incredibly funny. She directed the stage performance of this show and does stand-up. I was like, “You have to come with me.”

My agent booked a tour, and I got my itinerary for the first day. The first stop was at IU in Bloomington, Indiana. That was where my dad went to college. My agent had no idea that’s where he went. I was going back into the world after COVID—going on a stage doing this material that I hadn’t done in years and that was about this really intense moment in my life. But I was doing it with my best friend. I’m standing under these trees that my dad used to talk about because he loved the trees. I was like, “This is extremely cool. I feel very lucky.”

It kicked off the tour in a really great way. Any of the nerves or fears that I had vanished once I was on my dad’s campus. The business school folks took me on tours. He always wanted me to visit. It was this amazing thing that I was visiting my dad’s alma mater to talk about my dad.

PC: Streaming platforms like Peacock are going to make this special more accessible to a global audience. How did this partnership with the streaming service come about?
Alyssa: I feel very fortunate to work with Peacock. They were wonderful partners. They saw my vision and they gave me the freedom to explore and create within it. Mike DiCenzo was the executive on it. We met years ago in New York. He knew that I had done an earlier version of this show. He reached out to me during the pandemic and was like, “You have this special. I’m working at Peacock. I would love to chat.”

We chatted and we spitballed what it might look like if I revisited it. Then I chatted with Megan Denine and Katie Hockmeyer who became my incredible team at Peacock. All of us got together and made this. They were there every step of the way. I felt very lucky to work with people who saw my vision, believed in me, and let me go with it—but who also gave great notes and feedback as well. It was a great collaboration.

PC: There are so many different facets to your talent. This project finds you flexing your talent as an executive producer. Did anything surprise you about the overall experience? What’s been the biggest takeaway?
Alyssa: I would say the thing that surprised me the most was how many decisions executive producers make. I’m usually focused on one task as an actor or a comedian. As an EP, you touch everything. There were constant decisions that I had to make, and that was eye-opening but also really helpful because by the end I was able to more easily make decisions.

In the beginning, every decision felt so weighted. Then by the end, you’re like, ”This is just part of how it goes.” You learn the best way to do it because you have this incredible team who are really great at their job. You can say, “This is what I was thinking of.” Then they run with it because they’re experts at it. I felt so lucky to have such a great team. Lance Banks directed it. He brought on people he knew. I had a really strong group of people around me.

PC: What do you hope audiences take away after they see the special?
Alyssa: I hope that they’re able to connect with it. If they are, I hope that it makes them feel a little bit less alone. I hope they feel like they’re part of the community, even if we’re not in the same room. Because of COVID, we’ve all been separated. We’re talking right now from different rooms. Isolation is a bit harder these days. Grief is the ultimate isolation.

I feel loss is the ultimate. It’s the biggest feeling of “I am alone.” If people watch this and feel like, “I might be alone with my pain over this person, but I’m certainly not alone with the pain of grief or loss,” that would make me feel good. Also, I hope they get some of my dad’s messages because they were so meaningful to me. That has helped me in my life. You can have really awful experiences and dark times, but if you try hard enough, you can turn a really bad day into an okay one.

To keep up with Alyssa, follow her on Twitter and Instagram. Watch No Bad Days on Peacock today.