Aidy Bryant served as the executive producer, co-creator, star and writer of Hulu’s web series entitled ‘Shrill’. Besides, Bryant has been a hilarious and silly addition to ‘Saturday Night Live’ on NBC. So, it is safe to say that Bryant has been wearing many hats over the last few years. Bryant likes being goofy on NBC’s comedy showcase. As for Bryant, the dumber the showcase is, the better it would be for the audience.
Bryant has been appreciated for her turns in Shrill and Saturday Night Live and has got Emmy Award nominations in multiple categories for those performances. Regarding her part in NBC’s show, she stated that she gets to write her stupid little idea and that it is up to the NBC folks to choose or discard it.
Featuring Bryant as Annie Easton, Shrill is based on Lindy West’s recent book about a woman who chooses to be non-apologetic about her existence. The web series follows Easton’s life as the character navigates her life in Oregon’s Portland city, enduring casual cruelty. It is so different from Saturday Night Live.
Bryant said that season one of Shrill is about Easton realizing that a situation has been exerted on her and does not come from within her. In the next two seasons, Easton makes the effort to unlearn a bias and speak up for herself. Bryant stated that it is basically complicated to live one’s whole life differently due to how one felt about themselves. Whenever she appears to gain some equilibrium, Easton runs the risk of sabotaging it, like people who grow up without realizing whom they should trust tends to do.
The third season of Shrill goes to a state where Easton has not gone previously, whether the effect is good or bad. At the newspaper company where Easton writes, she indirectly seeks an assignment that exposes separatists with white supremacy to demonstrate her skills. However, she ends up being so involved in the process that it becomes too complex for her to handle.
As for Bryant, Easton feels that while she is going undercover, she goes through a weak or spineless person’s journey that demonstrates the level of misguidedness in it. Easton feels that she nailed those supremacists but ultimately brings herself into favor with them. On a date with Cameron Britton’s Will, a man whom Easton has not seen before, she shows poor behavior with an element of self-loathing. In another sequence, she runs into Cameron Britton’s character and attempts to make amends for her behavior to him. Bryant likes this part of the story more than the ones in the other seasons. As for the character, trying to right a wrong comes from a place of self-realization.
Bryant did not recognize how big a moment of self-realization it is for Easton until she talked to her co-creators about how society views an individual dating a fat person. In the eyes of society, it would serve as evidence of one’s qualities. In a vulnerable moment, Easton tells Will that she has concerns about how other people would view it.
Bryant is proud of her performance in the main role of the show. Bryant stated that Eason and Will’s conversation started like a traditional comedic setup in which the date seems awkward. Later, it develops into a more complicated situation that leads to a conversation with a strangely romantic apology, which launches a beautiful relationship.
Lolly Adefope’s character Fran, Easton’s bestie and roommate, is the one who stays with her right through her difficult situations. When Fran and Easton face the possibility of fresh love in the third season, they react fearfully to the change coming with it. About the two characters, Bryant said that Fran holds on to Easton and vice versa, like they do on every occasion, and it keeps others out in some cases. Bryant regards Adefope as her quick-witted scene partner and her other half who likes to improvise. As for Bryant, Adefope is the first actor in her life with whom she likes to do emotional scenes and comedy scenes equally.
Before finishing Shrill, Bryant worked on Saturday Night Live as the schedules of the series and SNL overlapped. Therefore, the actor submitted a piece shot for Saturday Night Live Weekend Update when working for the series in Portland.
Hulu suddenly canceled the web series after its third season was filmed and was yet to be edited. This form of cancelation contributed to a hurried attempt from its makers to produce a satisfying finale for Shrill with existing footage. Bryant regarded the cancelation as a case of pulling the rug from under one’s feet. Nevertheless, it let the makers of the series give it a realistic conclusion that seems truer to its protagonists.
The last scene brings Fran and Easton together, exploring how the characters might escape from their latest messy situation. The scene is as hopeful and wry a moment as the characters that feature in it. As for Bryant, it is an indirect way of telling the audience that the characters would keep trying their level best.
