“I think people probably don’t realize that Captain Janeway actually came from a huge and wildly eccentric Irish family,” explained Kate Mulgrew. “My language was one of demented humor long before it was one of sober intensity. Humor is where I live.”
Though she’ll forever have a place in our hearts thanks to that iconic role as Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager, Kate is now playing a wildly different woman in charge: the eyepatch-wearing Kove on Adult Swim’s late-night procedural spoof NTSF: SD: SUV (which stands for National Terrorism Strike Force: San Diego: Sport Utility Vehicle, if you were wondering). After our highly amusing chat last year, I jumped at the opportunity to catch up with Kate recently to ask her what else could possibly happen to Kove in the show’s second season.
For one, in tonight’s (technically tomorrow morning’s) episode entitled “Lights, Camera, Assassination,” Kove starts a podcast. “I drink martinis and I have people on,” Kate said. “I interview people about what they think and how they feel, and everyone I interview is more insane than the next person.”
As if that’s not odd enough for the person in charge of a hugely important anti-terrorism organization, “I had this scene where Kove goes undercover as a camper,” she added. “They gave me little shorts, a big jacket and a hunting rifle, and I had a Southern accent because I thought that would deter the murderer. It makes no sense.” Sense or no, she’s laughing just talking about it.
What was Kate’s favorite moment from the new season? “It could sound a little self-aggrandizing, but I’ll say it anyway,” she told me. “They wrote a monologue for me that builds in intensity and speed, so it’s like breathing a fireball, and it’s all about nothing. I remember thinking, ‘Can I do this?’ and we did it and it was great. It was really challenging.”
NTSF: SD: SUV is a crazy show to watch, and Kate assured me that it is a hilarious place off-camera as well. “We’re lucky we get through the day’s work, the laughter is so unbearable,” she confided. “Tears are just streaming down my cheeks all the time. It’s absurd. And then you put Rob Riggle in there doing his nonsense, or whoever the guest star is…they’re all so brilliant.” Season two has so far boasted the likes of Alan Tudyk, Diedrich Bader and Alison Brie.
In addition to her role on the show, Kate has had a productive year working on a variety of other projects. “I did a lot of Warehouse 13, and I did a wonderful movie called Drawing Home, and I hope that will be released next year,” she explained. “It’s been very busy. I’m going to do a play in New York, which is a play I’ve been attracted to for two and a half years.”
And then, perhaps, she’ll come back to NTSF: SD: SUV and get the shootout she’s hoping for. “I think we need a shootout,” she decided, suggesting something not unlike the ludicrous ones that were a regular part of Police Squad! in 1982. “I’d like to go undercover with Trent. I have to run the office, so usually I have to stay back.” Yet that hasn’t stopped Kate from still being a force to be reckoned with, albeit now a much more hilarious one.
NTSF: SD: SUV airs Fridays at 12:15 AM on Adult Swim.
Clacked by Brittany Frederick 
on Aug 30, 2012 @ 13:00 EST5EDT
