Actress and singer Ana Ortiz is no stranger to comedy. Whether it was her vivacious role on Ugly Betty, her recurring role on HBO’s Hung, or her time spent on the sarcastic comedy-drama Devious Maids, she’s got comedic chops and timing turning it on when it’s called upon. She’s now joined additional comedic voices Ron Funches (@midnight, Undateable), Matt Jones (Reno 911!, Community, Key & Peele), and Rachel Crow (The Office) for the new Dreamworks animated series Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh.
During our time spent with the lovey Ortiz, we discussed what it’s like to be the reigning “Queen of the Thighs”, how challenging comedy can be, her love for the Beastie Boys, working with Ron Funches, and if her actual kids are friends with any actual aliens. Here is The Laugh Button interview with big-time comedy fan Ana Ortiz.
So, Ana, first things first – I’m honored to be talking to the Queen of the Thighs here!
Thanks! Thanks, yeah I’m having so much fun working on this animated series. I’ve never done anything like it before. It’s like a completely different vessel. But my sweet, sweet character Lucy is a bit of a goofball and kind of always doing her own thing, as it were, and she decides she’s gonna be like a… she’s gonna go viral with a thigh video. It goes viral, but not in the way that I think she was hoping.
Did you think you’d ever go viral because of your thighs? Is that something you set out to do? I mean, I don’t know if most people want to focus there in particular… I go for the kneecaps, but I think I have great kneecaps.
I’ve heard that about you. Yeah, no I think that… I never wanted any of my body parts to go viral so… yeah I had to think outside the box, as it were on this one.
You play Tip’s mom on this new series, Home: Adventures with Tip and Oh, that’s coming to Netflix. And that’s not a stretch for you because you’re a mother yourself. And in today’s day and age everything is documented, everybody wants this viral video, we’re all doing things like this and I feel like that’s how parents connect with their kids now. I don’t know how old your kids are, I don’t know if they’re in that realm yet where you’re putting the iPad in front of them so you can have a quiet dinner, you know what it’s like from this perspective, a mother’s perspective?
Yeah, I mean, I’ve definitely… listen, I’m not going to lie, there have definitely been moments. In fact, case in point right now, I’m talking to you so I put on a little Netflix action and they’re, you know, they’re right there. And, I mean, it’s difficult! My kids are little, 7 and 4, so it’s pretty easy to get them narcoticized with TV. Sometimes I have to be a little bit careful with it, for sure. I want them to listen to the music that I listen to growing up. I’m like, “Oh, you’ve got to listen to the Beastie Boys, you’re gonna love this.” It’s super fun, and they like it, but they want to watch videos, they can’t just sort of listen to the music. “Listen to the song” but they’re like, “I want to see the video!” And it’s like ‘ugh, okay…’ Well, it’s one way for you to get interested in it, I guess.
So at what age do you show them “Fight for Your Right to Party,” then? Because it’s s pretty intense.
I know!
For a kid, right?
Not gonna lie, I have already showed them “Fight for Your Right,” they really dig it. Is that wrong?
Absolutely not.
I’m like Lucy, I’m just trying to be cool mom and it just backfires.
Now, you do sing in the show, like with this bit we’re talking about, the Queen of the Thighs. And that’s something you’ve done in your childhood, in your life and I’m assuming you’re still singing in the shower. Do you have a go-to song that you’re tearing up these days?
In the shower? It depends on the day. I mean, you know, I’ve been listening to Adele’s new record, so in the shower it’s really fun to sing but it’s a tragedy because I sound terrible compared to her. And let’s see, what else is good… I mean, the thing is I’m stuck in kid’s zones, fully in kid zone and all they want to hear is Justin Bieber’s “Love Yourself,” and I want to throw myself off a bridge. And my daughter likes “Cake by the Ocean,” which makes me want to tear my ears off. But then there’s some good ones too, like – keep in mind that I’m a mom, and I’ve got kids – so we were listening to the Demi Lovato song “Confident” and that’s kind of my thing. Oh, also Meghan Trainor has a song called “No.” That’s where I’m at, man, that’s where I’m at.
Yeah, that’s a far stretch from the Beastie Boys, no doubt about it.
I’m trying! I’m trying!
Just reflect on those times you were listening to the Beastie Boys and your parents were like “what is this, I want to rip my head off, I don’t get it.” So… it’s just payback! It’s karma, right? It’s karma.
100%.
I also wanted to ask you this question because nowadays everything is videotaped, right? You want to document every moment of every second of everyday of your child’s life. But growing up for people like you and myself, that wasn’t a thing. So is there a memory or a moment in your life that you wish you could go back and see on video?
That is such a good question! I actually have a lot… we would go to Puerto Rico every summer – my sister, my brother, and I. And, listen, it was the 70’s and early 80’s so our parents, they weren’t like helicopter parents at all. Literally, they would open the door in the morning and be like, “See ya later!” and give us, you know, five bucks each and we would come home for dinner. So I would’ve loved, any of those times with just the three of us roaming the beaches of Puerto Rico by ourselves and we were little! If I was 6, my sister was 5, my brother was 7… I mean, we were just little kids! Like these vagabonds, running around – and in Puerto Rico they have a lot of stray dogs and we would just hang out with these crazy stray dogs and hang out on the beach. I don’t even know what we did all day. And we would just harass people. I think I even remember us trying to act like we were begging for money at one point. I don’t know, I would just love to have somebody tape one of those days. Any one of those summer days of the three of us wandering by ourselves in Puerto Rico would’ve been pretty good.
Ah, Puerto Rico in the 70’s and the 80’s too, I would love to just see that. My wife and I, same thing; we take a pilgrimage every year to Puerto Rico at least once, I promised her that since she was born and raised down there and it’s my second home. I got married down there, I love it so much, and to think back to that time period where you could basically eat for free. You could just climb a tree and get a coconut or some plantains. Five bucks could go a long way back then, right?
It did go a long way; it did go a long way. It did, and that’s what I’m saying. I know that looking back on it as a mom; I’m a little bit horrified. But, then again, I feel like our children kind of miss out because they don’t have that kind of freedom. Although, my brother, when he gave a toast to my daughter when she turned two, he said “May your childhood not be as Darwinian as ours.”
Hey, that’s just how we thinned out the crowd naturally, right?
Exactly! I think George Carlin has a huge bit about that, actually.
Exactly. I’m so happy you brought up comedy because everybody involved in the show that you’re a part of now has a foot in comedy whether it’s Ron Funches, Matt Jones, etc. You’re obviously a massive comedy fan, and I think it’s pretty cool that – it seems like everything is rooted in comedy now, and that’s just where everything is coming from these days, right?
Well, I’ll tell you, the thing about comedy, and I can’t put myself in the same league as those guys because they’re so beyond funny, but I had a casting director once tell me when I told her I didn’t know why I kept getting cast in comedies, she said, “ah, well you’re from New York, New Yorkers are funny.” And that just sort of stuck with me, so I was glad to have it but I think if you can do comedy, you can do pretty much anything else. I don’t think the same holds true, like, if you’re really, really wonderful at drama, that doesn’t mean you’re going to be sort of a natural for comedy, but I think the opposite does hold true. So many of my friends who are comedians, and who I only have seen as funny when they do actually do a different kind of a job where they have to be a little bit more serious, there’s something so sort of potent and full to their acting. There’s like an extra layer that I think you don’t have if you can only sort of do drama, do you know what I mean?
Absolutely.
And I don’t think we get too serious, because we are doing an animated show, but I’ve always gravitated towards more of a person with a funny sensibility who can also do drama. And this cartoon, I’m telling you – when I was in a room acting with Funches, it was literally impossible for me to get a take the right way because I was just laughing so hard. He’s so funny and he’s just so much fun to work with. But it took me a while to get over it because he made me laugh so much. It’s hard with those guys, they’re just unbelievably, naturally, right-off-the-cuff funny.
Your kid here in this cartoon is friends with an alien. Do you think your actual kids are friends with anybody that’s potentially an alien? When you’re doing these play dates, are you not sure about some of these kids Ana?
(laughs) Yeah, yes I definitely think there are some kids that are from another dimension that I’m not in tune to. I have to say, the kids… I’m lucky, my kids are really nice and they tend to be friends with other really nice kids, but I think more so than the kids being aliens, I think maybe some of the parents are. You don’t get a choice in the matter, you sort of have to befriend the parents of whoever your kids have befriended, and sometimes that can be a problem.
It’s like marrying into another family again and again and again, right?
I know. The whole kid thing is a little alien to me, I’m not gonna lie. So yeah, there’s always that element there. Even with my own maniacs.
Well we’ll just call them “Steve.” We’ll put them in the “Steve” category. That way we don’t call anybody out. Alright Ana, congratulations on the new show and looking forward, as always, to all the other projects you’re a part of.
Thank you!
Be sure to check out Dreamworks: Home Adventures with Tip & OH premiering on Netflix July 29th.
