VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Carol Kane Reflects On ‘Dinner With Parents,’ Her Favorite Comedy Roles

Comedy icon Carol Kane reflected on her experience on her new TV show Dinner With The Parents in her new uInterview. 

Kane gained recognition as an actress in the 1975 film Hester Street, for which she received an Academy Award nomination for best actress. In the 1970s and ’80s, she appeared in acclaimed films like Dog Day Afternoon and Annie Hall. In the early 1980s, she also appeared on the television series Taxi, acting as a comedic actress for the first time.

Dinner With The Parents is a single-camera comedy series about two 20-something brothers and their awkwardly hilarious weekly dinners at their parents’ house.

“I just think the family dynamic is so fun and so crazy, not any crazier than most families probably, but we just get to play so much, and this character is fantastic, and I got to wear such great clothes,” Kane told uInterview founder Erik Meers. 

Kane remembered one of the scenes as her biggest challenge while filming. “I think the most challenging probably is when I get swallowed up and stuck in my chair when it’s supposed to be my relaxing chair,” she recalled. “I get completely stuck in it, so it’s a really fun physical thing to do. All those physical things are really fun, but they’re a challenge to put together.”

Kane reflected on her process as a comedic actor. “The most important thing ever is always on the page,” she mused. “It’s always the writing. If the writing isn’t funny, it’s not funny. James Brooks, who was one of the creators of Taxi, told me way back, ‘You do not try and be funny. If we wrote it funny, it would be funny.’ It’s bad once you start begging and trying to be funny.”

She continued, “You always have to be vigilant. Don’t be dog-paddling to try and get people to think you’re funny because people don’t like begging. It’s a discipline really, to not try too hard if it’s on the page, it should be funny when you speak it.”

Kane reflected on her favorite role of her long career. “They’re all part of me, and I’m part of all of them. Maybe since Taxi was my first comedy,” she said. “I was always a dramatic actress, so because it was my first, maybe that is what I relate to the most.”

The first episode of Dinner With The Parents will start streaming on April 18 on Freevee.