Mary Steenburgen & Ted Danson on Teaming Up for ‘Mr. Mayor’

Love is a many splintered thing on the April 26 episode of Mr. Mayor, “Murder in the Old West,” when Ted Danson’s L.A. Mayor Neil Bremer brings a new lady friend to Jayden’s (Bobby Moynihan) frontier-themed murder-mystery party, only to lose her attention to the host!

Granted, it’s impossible not to love Moynihan, but the gag really earns its giggles from the fact that Neil’s wayward date is being played by Danson’s real-life wife, the absolutely delightful Mary Steenburgen (Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist). And since they are one of our favorite couples ever, of course we wanted to talk to them about sharing the screen and being the best costars in life.

Mary, obviously you and Ted have done a ton of things together, but how was it working together on this show and getting to play characters who didn’t know each other at all?

Mary Steenburgen: Well, mostly I felt like I worked with Bobby Moynihan really. I drop Neil really quickly and just kind of smooched with Bobby, so that was fun. [Laughs] No, I’m a huge fan of the show. I did a bit on 30 Rock and I fell in love then with [co-EPs] Robert Carlock and Tina Fey‘s writing. So I’d already been that way as a viewer. But just as an actor, it’s so much fun. It’s so fast and hilarious and everything is so original. The writing…no one writes the way Robert and Tina write and I love that about them. So I was very excited to do it. I’m a fan of this show and a fan of theirs and to some degree, a fan of Ted’s. [Laughs]

Ron Batzdorff/NBC

So what is it like when you walk onto the set of a “Ted Danson show”?

Steenburgen: [Laughs] Well, that’s kind of the story of my life. The walking in the front door, right? He is such a really sweet soul and loves his job so much and loves the people in our world…our crews and the people that we work with. The biggest thing for me going on one of his sets is that I have to prepare myself because every single person on this set needs to come up and express their love for him to me. And I get it! Because if you roll them all up together times a gillion, that is how much I love him. So I totally get it. But it is hilarious because they need to tell me, so I just prepare myself for it.

Ted Danson: In all fairness, the same thing happens when I walk onto a Mary Steenburgen show or set. We both are kind of cut from the same cloth. We love crews. We love to go to work. We love our fellow actors. We love good writing. So you know, how we interact with people around us is very, very similar. We’re happy. We’re happy campers.

Steenburgen: We really are.

Ron Batzdorff/NBC

Ted, did you tell the cast and crew that Mary was coming on? Like “All right now, my wife is coming, do not embarrass me”?

Danson: I should have, I really should have.

What happened!?

Danson: You know what, it’s so funny. You’d think there are gonna be lots of hijinks, but everybody’s so focused on living up to Tina and Robert’s writing that…I mean, we have fun, but it’s not hijinks. It’s like, “Let’s do what we have to do to make this scene work and how do we do this better?” I’m always embarrassed when I don’t have funny stories from the set. [Laughs]

Steenburgen: Ted and I, we constantly try to think of stories that we haven’t told each other. And occasionally I may make up a story or two just so I have something to report. [Laughs] But what was cool about being on set was that I’d heard so much about each of these actors from him, you know? And I had met them all, but now it feels like—even if it was just for a few days—I have my own experience with them. With the exception of Holly Hunter, who I’ve done several films with, including a film years ago that I produced that she was in with me. I just love Holly. We played cousins in Miss Firecracker and so that was just very dear to see Holly. She’s so fricking funny, we just watched the finale…have you seen the last episode?

Oh yes. The debate outfit?

Steenburgen: Oh God! [Laughs] I mean, if Holly wanted to look like a Barbie doll? It’s insane how gorgeous she looked in that way? I happened to prefer her as she is, you know, as Arpi is normally, but oh my God, those legs.

It’s also such a reminder of how much work goes into being a woman in public.

Steenburgen: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Tell me about it.

Danson: I constantly thank Mary for being the girl…I couldn’t do all that. Guys are so lucky.

We have like three pairs of shoes that we can pick from. It’s not that difficult.

Danson: Wow. Fancy you…three pairs! [Laughs]

Ron Batzdorff/NBC

So Mary, do you think that we could see your character come back if the show is renewed? Because I feel like a Jayden relationship would be a very interesting storyline.

Steenburgen: Oh it would be…

Danson: She’s definitely coming back. [Laughs]

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And now that Mr. Mayor‘s season is wrapped, what do you guys have planned for your summer vacation?

Danson: Well, my job is easy. I’m gonna hang around Mary in Rome while she shoots a film for two and a half months.

Steenburgen: I’m doing Book Club 2 with Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Diane Keaton. We’re about to fly to Rome together and we’re trading restaurant lists and making plans. They are three women that I adore and I’ve already worked with and know how much fun we have together. So that’s pretty exciting.

And Ted, you just get to hang out and hear from the crew how much they love Mary!

Danson: I do, indeed.

Mr. Mayor, Tuesdays, 8:30/7:30c, NBC