Some actors you just can’t help but love. Here’s my brief history with one of them…

You catch the cute blonde girl making you laugh in a bit part of the B-story in an episode of Married With Children when you’re fifteen, and that’s all it takes. Every so often you’ll catch her in a few minutes of some other random show, a brief bit on Debra Messing’s first sitcom abortion, Ned and Stacey. A couple funny scenes in a Step By Step you happened to be watching because your plans fell through on a Friday night and you’re comforting yourself with a little quality mid-90’s TGIF. And after a time, having seen her do her thing on multiple occasions, you start to take real notice. You start looking out for them.

You shamefully stay up late one Saturday night to catch a David Schwimmer HBO movie that happens to have her in one scene (though in my defense, it was called Breast Men and I was sixteen). You happily sit through Jennifer Love Hewitt’s attempts at being a poor misunderstand prom queen in Can’t Hardly Wait because your girl pops up every fifteen minutes to make you smile (Seth Green as Special K certainly helps, too. “92%!”). You even reduce yourself to watching Kristie Alley’s network TV cry for help, Veronica’s Closet, on the off chance your girl pops up, cracks a smile and smacks Dan Cortese in the mouth (what, he had it coming!). The things you’ll do for actors you enjoy.

And then one day, a breakthrough. You flip to the FOX Network, grudgingly, and fall in love with Action, a foul, sloppy, one-camera comedic masterpiece starring the douchebag from Jerry Maguire (otherwise known as Jay Mohr). And better still, as you laugh your ass off at each passing episode, you’re rewarded with your girl showing up in a recurring role! So not only do you have a great new show to follow every week, but it stars an actress you’ve been digging on for some time. All is right with the world. For about five minutes, wherein you then remember that the show airs on the FOX Network and it promptly gets canceled. But for that brief shining moment, pop culture threw you a bone.

You girl shows up on even more shows shows (Monk, Las Vegas, as the legendary Pam Macy on That 70’s Show), and you continue to enjoy her work. You hope one day she’ll break big and you can stop checking the TV Guide for her name and just TiVo her weekly sitcom, but until then you’re content in knowing that every so often while you’re watching something awful (read Navy: NCIS), your girl will pop up and make everything just a bit more fun (and tolerable).

The actress, if you haven’t already guessed, is Jennifer Lyons. And like Vinessa Shaw and Monet Mazur, two other random, underutilized actresses I try to follow whenever possible, Jennifer Lyons is someone whose work I really enjoy. She’s got great timing, knows how to sell a joke, and unlike other girls in her type, she seems to be keenly aware of how to use her (crazy good) body to her comedic advantage. She always brings the goods in whatever she’s in (yes, even Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman. In fact, especially in Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman!), and I always look forward to her next guest starring role, or commercial (see below for her Bacardi and Cola spot).

So with that all said, imagine how stoked I was when she agreed to let me interview her for PopLoad. We recorded it last night, and it was excellent. Beyond being fun, funny, down to earth and strikingly hot, she’s also charming as hell. We talked about her start in the industry (two lines on an ep of 90210), her familial roots in entertainment (her Uncle was Roscoe in The Dukes of Hazzard), what it’s like to be a total hottie actress (and all that entails with regards to industry perceptions of your talent), and of course, about her experiences making Action. She was quite candid about working in Hollywood; in fact, I was surprised how loquacious she was about her profession. Most actors are somewhat reserved in interviews, but Jen was quick to respond and quite engaging about her craft. I may be a little biased because she flirted with me, but I’d have to say that it’s probably one of the best interviews I’ve ever done (right up there with Zabka).

So take a listen and enjoy my interview with the totally cool character actress (and my future gf), Jennifer Lyons.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE JAY INTERVIEW JENNIFER LYONS!

Bangarang!

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