Vanessa Bayer On Joanna’s Selling Superpowers for Showtime’s ‘I Love That For You’

Almost immediately in my phone conversation with Vanessa Bayer, we agreed that the jewelry on QVC was mesmerizing.

“I mean, the jewelry was always it,” Bayer admitted, excitedly. “Jewelry on a velvet background with manicured nails and rings and bracelets on. I know exactly what you mean. Home shopping is really comforting.”

There is something personal about your personal experience with home shopping. Sometimes you find yourself watching it alone or late at night, and Bayer and I couldn’t be the only ones who binged it at a young age before binging shows was even a thing.

In I Love That For You, Bayer stars as Joanna Gold, a slightly awkward, earnest young woman who reaches her dreams as a host of SVN, the Special Value Network. On her first day on the job, Joanna messes up so badly that she lies that her child leukemia has returned in order to keep her job. Since Joanna watched so many hours watching SVN, she always knew that she could do the job justice.

“I think Joanna knew in her heart that she could do this. I’m not sure if I’d say that she’s surprised by it, but she definitely is delighted by it. She knew she always had it in herself, and she is just so thrilled to be experiencing this level of success.”

The key to I Love That For You‘s success is how the show doesn’t look down on the world of home shopping, and it’s clear how much Bayer loves it. There could’ve been Suzanne Somers jokes or it could be kitschy, but they really make SVN a chic, sexy place to work–much like the aspirational quality that hosts bring to their on-camera personas.

“That’s something unique to the show. I did watch it a lot of it when I was growing up. I had a real love for it, and I didn’t want us to ever look down on home shopping. Some people have a really broad idea of what it is, and what I really tried to do was be very thoughtful about the products and the way we sell things. We want them to be really funny, of course, but we had the best people finding products for us. They were such geniuses. There was a lot of us making sure we were staying true to the world and not making fun of it.”

“We really want a lot of comedy to come from the situations and the characters’ relationships and not necessarily the place itself,” Bayer added.

Because Joanna (and Bayer) spent so much time consuming the atmosphere and environment of home shopping, it was easy for her to her to do well from the very beginning. When the camera is on Joanna, Bayer slips into a confident, knowledgeable persona that Bayer believes is authentic to her character’s dreams of being part of the network.

“From watching so much home shopping when she was a sick kid, she has picked up their language, and that comes from my own experience. It’s almost like learning a different language. I think the hosts speak in this confident, mesmerizing way. I think she’s just learned it, and she’s mimicking what she’s heard. When she’s tasked to make it her own, it’s her challenge to give it her spin. When she is fire her at the end of the first episode, she makes the quick decision that she is overcoming cancer. Her spin is something she naturally had as a kid and it’s always earned her praise and attention. It’s a fucked up thing, but it’s this overarching love of how these people would talk to her through the television. For me, when I used to watch it, I learned that language. I got to be on QVC last week for an entire hour recently, and I told them about that. I don’t know if it’s a regional thing, but I would always pronounce ‘jewelry’ with three syllables, and they would say it as two syllables as if there is a ‘u’ in it. Or they would say they would buy things for their ‘jewelry collection’ that is so specific to home shopping.”

Bayer lovingly referred to Joanna’s performing persona as a strength.

“It almost feels like Joanna’s superpower. She watched so much home shopping and she got so much out of it that she understands the person who is watching and the person who is selling. When you are on all sides of it, it makes her a better host. She gets how these hosts are friends with their audiences. Joanna sees the full picture.”

One of the funniest aspects of Bayer’s performance is how the weirdest things tumble out of Joanna’s mouth. Since she struggled with cancer for so long, she probably missed out on formative experiences with kids her own age. As an adult, the awkwardness is like a freight train that no one can tear their eyes from. Bayer has mastered the art of the awkward.

“It’s sort of this way of talking that is natural to me. When I was on SNL, Jeremy [Beiler] and I started writing these sketches where I played a weatherwoman who talked like that. If I wasn’t more composed right now, I might be talking to you like that. It’s an exaggerated way of how people don’t know how to end a conversation which is to just trail off. Instead of trailing off…you just kept saying random things or decided to not go for the silence by filling it in with words that don’t make sense. Those weird words fill that silence better than the silence, in my character’s mind. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but I think I get a kick out of seeing how they will react. It’s not about making them uncomfortable, but it comes very easy to me”

There is one person Bayer would try to make laugh on set, though: Jenifer Lewis.

“I would try to make Jenifer [Lewis] laugh though. Working with her is so great because of how opposite we are. From the moment we met, it was instant love, because we love and respect each other’s personalities on and off camera. Jenifer is such a powerhouse, so coming to her as this meek, little person who can’t figure out their words is hilarious to me.”

I Love That For You will finish its first season on Showtime on June 19.