Mary Birdsong, best known for her portrayal of Deputy Kimball in Reno 911!, has been making fans laugh for years (whether they wanted to or not, she's that good). Along with starring alongside George Clooney in the new film The Descendants, she also starred in the fan favorite film Adventureland. A list of ways to connect with her via social media are included at the bottom of the interview and you can also stay up-to-date with her new project The Spirit Seeker, an upcoming 20 minute short, at the project's kickstarter page.

TH: Nowadays it seems every person in the entertainment industry must have their own website, Twitter account, Facebook account, and any other medium that may help them connect to their audience. Do you think that the increase in social media is a blessing for the entertainment industry or more of a curse that just has to be put up with?

MB: It's definitely a blessing, but a mixed blessing. It provides artists and entertainers with a number of new & different mediums in which they can express themselves, find their audience, and promote themselves, regardless of whether they have a studio behind them or an agent, etc. That said, I find myself getting really nostalgic for that time in my childhood when the only options were three TV networks and PBS. And they all SHUT DOWN after a certain hour at night. Can you imagine? The advent of more and more platforms gives artists more and more opportunities, but it also makes it that much more difficult to cut through the cast of thousands that the stars of social media have become. It reminds me of a substitute teacher in a junior high class with every single student shouting out questions all at once and her holding her hands up and saying "Whoa, whoa, whoa... one at a time. What?" When I created my own website years ago it was considered EONS ahead of its time:

a) Because hardly any actors took it upon themselves to have their own websites back then, so just having one was novel, no matter how basic, and...

b) Because it wasn't 100% static like most sites were then-I could actually update it myself with news and stuff. I was particularly proud of the fact that I added a game page where you could play strip poker with a Mary Birdsong paper doll. If you were a really good poker player you could actually get me down to my underwear. But they were big ole granny panties, so it was a real letdown.

Anyway, when I designed that site (with David Tristman, who I believe also designed Todd Barry's site) my peers were all like "You have your own website? Wow!" These days I keep adding on more and more accounts with more and more sites where I can post and blog and comment and tweet and ping and poke-- the hope being that one of those posts will get someone's attention. But in reality, it starts to have the opposite effect. I could post the words "I AM HAVING A STROKE. PLEASE HELP!" and my peers would read it and say "Oh my God! Mary's having a stroke! We have to do someth-- Hey, look! Justin Bieber just tweeted about tying his shoes!" I definitely can get in the zone sometimes and really find myself absolutely loving the whole world of blogging and social networking. But I'm afraid it's numbing us all a bit. We're all walking around like that friend who says "I love you" too much, you know? "I love you" used to really mean something. It was special. Intimate. Vulnerable. Now? Those words have lost a lot of their power because they're tossed off every 5 seconds and are doing the job that used to be done by "Okay, later!" When it's said all the time? You don't hear it anymore.

TH: Fans looking to get a free headshot from you are directed to "Throws Like A Girl Inc." How did you come up with your company's name and does this mean we won't be seeing you throw out the first pitch at next year's Dodgers game?

MB: Ha ha ha. What a nice thing for you to notice. Originally my corporation was named "Birdsong Inc." I shudder when I think of how lame that name was for a corp. The only thing less inventive than that would've been "BoringCorp Inc.", but I was under a deadline to get the lawyers a name so they could file all the paperwork necessary. Then years later (I can't remember why) I had to renew it or something, so I wanted to do it right this time. I gave it more thought this time. And I just liked the idea of embracing an insult traditionally directed at females and reclaiming it. It's sort of like me having my own personal "Nigger, Inc." company, but the girl version. I said it first, so YOU can't. I like the idea of women owning the way they approach things, even if their "way" is considered weaker or inferior by some standards. Maybe it comes from being a woman in a male-dominated branch of show-biz, but I think I've spent a lot of my life trying to prove that I could be just as _____ as a guy. And I'm tired of doing that. I mean, sure... I can stuff just like a guy does. But why would I want to? That's the way he does it. Awesome. So let him do it. I'd rather do it like I do it. I'd rather throw the ball like what I am- a girl. A 40-year-old girl.

And to answer your question, I'd love to throw the first pitch at a Dodgers game someday, but not until they move back to Brooklyn. I'm still a little peeved that they left. (I still consider myself a Jersey Girl, which is just a hop, skip and a jump from being a New Yorker, even though I live most of the year in L.A. now.)

TH: You recently returned your iPad and were worried that Apple fans would call you an "iWitch." Like yourself, we're huge Mac fans, and our first instinct was to say "iHate your decision," but your explanation on your website was too darn nice to harbor any feelings of ire. So if you were given the opportunity to take the helm as Apple's new CEO, what new "i" product would you create?

MB: Without a doubt... the iDate. I'm not sure yet what the iDate would be exactly; what its functions would be. But I figure if women like me had access to the kind of mind-blowing technology that's packed into iPhones and iPads, and could apply it to the hellatiously haphazard ordeal of internet dating, I'd be married by now. And my iHusband would be making me an iCake to celebrate that he gets to iBlank w/me every night.

TH: Provided the world of Harry Potter and Reno 911! collided, would Deputy Cherisha Kimball be spotted with Dumbledor picketing against Prop 8 in West Hollywood, CA?

MB: Absolutely. Who is "Dumbledor?"

Let's move on...

TH: Your role as Francy is the film Adventureland was a bit more serious than some of your other acting parts. Did you enjoy the change of pace from doing comedy and can you see yourself continuing to do dramatic roles in the future?

MB: Oh sure. And the nice thing is that I don't really see much of a distinction between comedic and "dramatic" parts. To me it's pretty much all the same. I mean, I don't wake up in the morning and say "I'm gonna have a hilarious day today, no matter what." And I sure don't say "I'm gonna have a very serious, pseudo-tragic day today, no matter what happens." I just spend my day responding to shit as it comes my way. In real time. My policy toward acting is that it's kind of a given that everyone I play is trying to have a great day. Even if they're failing miserably, pretty much everyone is going to want to feel like they're looking cute, and that they matter a lot to someone. They'd probably like to have more money, and more control. The only thing to me that can trip you up with the whole comedy vs. drama thing is SIZE. In other words, how broooooaaaaad is the tone of the film/show? How heightened is the style? Those are things I try to zero in on-mostly just trying to fulfill the director's vision as closely as I can. I find the Carol Burnett scene where she comes down the stairs as Scarlett O'Hara wearing curtains to be hilariously funny. I also find Christopher Guest's films to be equally hilarious, but those two acting styles are verrrry different in size. Carol's vibe is sort of "operatic" in size, and Guest's is more like a minuet that you have to strain a bit to hear, but so worth the effort. I guess I just follow the "when in Rome" school of acting. It comes from years of being a people-pleasing sycophant.

The role I did in Alexander Payne's new film (The Descendants, starring George Clooney, which comes out November 15th) is not a comedic role at all. I was stunned when my agent told me I'd gotten the part. There are definitely a lot of funny moments in the film, but the film is not trying to be funny. The humor grows out of the characters' passions and struggles. The situation my character is in is actually quite tragic, and serious. I had to break down into tears about 35 times in one day of shooting-over and over and over again. And that was the very first day of the film's shoot. I'd just met the legendary George Clooney for the first time in my life the day before at a quick rehearsal, as well as the legendary director Alexander Payne, and there I was on set the next day and George Clooney is standing there yelling at me (in character of course), and I'm supposed to just go with it and break down and cry. But you do it. It was amazingly fun and rewarding and challenging all at the same time. After about the 15th take I started getting worried because I was running out of awful, sad things I could think about to make myself cry. I started really reaching. "Hmmm.... What if my mailman got shot right in front of me? And he hadn't delivered that package I was waiting for yet?" Nope. Nothin'. The emotional well had run dry. "Oh! I got it. What if the grocery store ran out of Kashi Toasted Berry Crisp Crumble?" "Annnnnd, ACTION!" "Wanh hanh hanh!" Waterworks. Niagara Falls. Bawling. I'm THAT good.

TH: Of all the characters that you've portrayed throughout your acting career, which one has been your favorite?

MB: Judy Garland, hands down. (If I may plug my Judy Garland show for a sec, the DVD of that solo show, which I also wrote, and performed at the HBO Aspen Comedy Festival, is now available on Ebay. You can find the link on my website. It's called Judy Speaks! I'll also be touring the show through Canada as well as some US theaters in 2013.) My other favorite character is my own creation - the 99 Cent Whore. I love her.

TH: In the film Buried you're credited under the name Mary Songbird. Was that a mistake or do you like to change your name occasionally to keep fans on their toes?

MB: Ha ha ha. Oh, you have no idea. When I was a kid we'd get mail addressed to the Bridsnogs, the Songbirds, the Birdnests, and on and on... A funny side note about Buried is that I played an automated 411 operator voice in that film, so I didn't actually APPEAR in the film on camera, but technically I still had a nice little scene "mano a Hermana" with hunky Ryan Reynolds. But I did my lines in a recoding session at a studio long after Ryan Reynolds shot all of that footage in the coffin. The director was there and he was really cool and we all got to joking around in-between takes. So for shits and giggles I decided to record a take where Ryan asks me for a number which he actually does quite desperately, in the film. But instead of saying the lines in my script, I decided that the operator should have a bit of a woody for Ryan. So I started trying to pick him up in one of the takes. I asked him (in her very robotic voice) what he was wearing, and told him he sounded like he was probably very handsome, and that he should take me out to dinner, and gave him various options of what number to press on his cell phone depending on where he wanted to take me to eat ("for Italian, press 2. For sushi, press 3," etc.)

That prick never... even... called me back.

Just kidding. He totes texts me all the time.

TH: We've heard that you can do an impression of Janis Joplin, do you go for the authentic impression of her or do you go the comedic route and have her overdose at the end?

MB: I try to stay away from the overdose thing, unless the crowd sucks, in which case I have her overdose in like the first 90 seconds.

TH: When we spoke to you a few years ago you were busy with your band 99 Cent Whore. Since then the economy has really tanked so has there been any discussion to change the band's name to 75 Cent Whore (it'd make for easier change)?

MB: No way!!!! The 99 Cent Whore does not compromise and she does not cut back and she DOES NOT accept government bailouts. She does, however, welcome and encourage the entire "Occupy Wall Street" movement to occupy her any day. Oh, and incidentally, that band is now a screenplay. I'm really excited about it - the 99 Cent Whore (with any luck) will someday be on a big screen near you in her very own indie-rock indie-movie musical.

TH: As you may recall, we end all interviews with word association. So we say "wombat" and you say...

MB: UterusPigeon.

Connect with Mary via: Twitter - Facebook (Mary's) - Facebook (Throws Like a Girl) - IMDB - Mary's website - 99 Cent Whoe website - Tumblr - Production Company's Website (Throws Like a Girl) - Blog - T-shirt Store - Linkedin