Russian Doll star Natasha Lyonne has addressed her critics… in the best way possible.
Lyonne, 43, rose to fame in such films as Slums of Beverly Hills and American Pie. She experienced well-publicized drug and alcohol problems in the early 2000s before seeking treatment.
Her career rebounded in 2013 with a recurring role on Orange Is the New Black, for which she scored an Emmy nomination. She co-created and starred in Russian Doll to wide acclaim in 2019, and snagged another Emmy nomination for her performance.
The actress sat down with Vanity Fair to promote the new season of the show, which lands on Netflix April 20. Lyonne, known for her larger-than-life personality, Jewish accent, husky voice, and, on Russian Doll, her penchant for rhyming, reviewed a number of impressions as part of her interview.
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In short, she didn’t hold back. She also had us in stitches.
On Amy Pohler’s impression of her: “Terrible. I don’t even know who–I think she was doing an impression of Tweety Bird. I’m very offended.”
Lyonne then watched a clip of comic Chloe Fineman waving a cigarette around and talking about smoking cocaine.
“She did great,” Lyonne said. “I do like that she talks about the cigarette being laced with cocaine. It’s funny when people do that, know what I mean? It’s a little extra kick. One time that happened to me with PCP… I would say avoid PCP if you can.”
Next up: Tiktoker Anna Rudegeair, who did a bit about Lyonne’s smoking habit, and how she encourages other people to avoid smoking when possible.
“She was great,” Lyonne noted. “She also had a New York accent, which, again, I’m not sure where that’s coming from. Would you do Joe Pesci with a New York accent? You wouldn’t. That would be disrespectful.”
Related: The queerest things coming to Netflix in April 2022
Comic Edison Montenegro performed a bit of Lyonne-style rhyming for the actress, much to her delight.
“This guy is good at rhyming,” she noted. “A lot of my talk is based on mashing words: would you put an elephant on a bicycle? That kind of thing. Words… you grab ’em from the sky, you string them together.”
“I appreciate that this man has found the answer to life’s questions,” she added.
Have a look at the entire video, and see oh-so-many of the reasons we have fallen in love with Ms. Lyonne. Russian Doll Season 2 hits Netflix April 20.
