Edi Patterson Explains Why Judy Is the Most Gangster of ‘The Righteous Gemstones’
The Righteous Gemstones wouldn’t gel without Judy. The middle sibling and only sister among three adult heirs to a televangelist empire in the brash, ungodly HBO series — played by the comedic wonder Edi Patterson, also a writer on the show — Judy Gemstone is a chaotic hinge for her dysfunctional family. Stifled by an evangelical patriarchy that automatically makes her brothers more important, she’s prone to awkward outbursts and bullying her own submissive fiancé (now husband), BJ, played by Tim Baltz.
The start of Season Three found Judy finally taking center stage in the family business thanks to a hidden musical talent inherited from her dearly departed momma, Aimee-Leigh (Jennifer Nettles). It should have been a triumph for the overlooked daughter of John Goodman‘s semi-retired Eli Gemstone. But among the trappings of this decadent megachurch, pride goeth before the fall, and Judy proves herself as sinful as any, or almost: she winds up trying to conceal a sexless affair — kissing only — with her touring guitarist, who threatens to expose her to the innocent BJ when she tries to break things off.
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It’s a delight to see Patterson ratchet Judy’s neurotic fury up to 11 as she clumsily juggles her mistakes and responsibilities while trying keeping her marriage intact, and the performance reconfirms what we’ve known since the beginning: no one else could have done this role justice. Here, Patterson talks about raising the dramatic stakes, telling John Goodman to slap her, the infectious chemistry with her on-screen love interest, and whether any of the Gemstones will see the kingdom of heaven.
Editor’s Note: This interview was conducted before the actor’s strike.
So you were recently at a bookstore that my girlfriend manages. She said she didn’t recognize you right away because your hair was normal.
I’m always shocked when someone does. I’m like, Oh, wow.
What is it like to wear that hair? Does that really get you in character?
When we were starting, I was like, I think Judy’s hair is really, really curly. And the second we put it on, I feel like, not me anymore. And I feel great. [Series creator] Danny [McBride] was into it, hair team, and yeah, we found a cool thing. Something about the way it bounces and the way the curls move. I wouldn’t say I’m a super-graceful person. I’m fairly athletic. But I’m not one of those people who’s got a ton of balance, physical grace. And so something about the hair helps me dial in the awkwardness even more. That’s innate in me anyway, and I just turn up the volume on it.
Season Three marks a major turning point for Judy. She’s been craving the spotlight for a while, and now that she’s got it, she’s turning out to be every bit as bad as the boys. Was it fun to finally have that on-screen affair?
It was really, really exciting. It kept kept popping up as like, Oh, that’s the one. That’s what you have to go with, because it felt real. I’m thinking of whatever that word is, when you have a bug bite or a wound and it’s almost scary to touch it. With Judy, we go as far as we go with anyone, because I think Judy is a gangster, possibly the most gangster of the whole group.
You walk a very fine line to bring her to life. She’s hilarious, because she’s so out-of-control and awkward, as you said, but we also need the emotional weight of her simmering resentments, the way she feels sidelined and undervalued. How do you make her both ridiculous and sympathetic?
I constantly think of her as real and saying true things that a person would say. Human beings are just many, many, many layers of awesome and fucked up and confused and stunted and entitled (and sometimes not) and sometimes regretful. I just remember that it’s all in the mix for her, and it’s all true.
Speaking of real: Fans are always talking about the chemistry between you and Tim Baltz, who plays BJ. In fact, I just saw a tweet where someone compared every scene you have to Kobe and Shaq playing together on the Lakers — a video of them just dunking over and over.
Oh my god, I didn’t see that!
What’s the secret sauce there?
The secret sauce is that I have so much legitimate affection for that dude. He is so deeply funny — in real life — just effortlessly hilarious. And really nice, dude. I really liked him, I really liked his wife, and it creates an awesome trust. I find him so deeply endearing and hilarious, and I love it when he passes me that ball so I can dunk it.
Does his likability make it hard to be mean to him?
Totally. I mean, that’s why when we started talking about Judy’s no-sex affair, it was so exciting and tender and scary. Because there is a true and deep love with Judy and BJ. And to think about putting that in a mason jar and shaking it up on purpose… felt really scary. Because I love BJ so much. And because I like [Baltz] so much. But, like, that wound thing again — that’s how we knew we had to go toward it.
You have some background with the improv theater the Groundlings, and improv plays an important part in the show, which might surprise some people. Do you have a favorite ad lib so far?
It’s so in the mix, and that’s so my background. The scripts are really good. And I’m not being a dick because I’m also one of the writers, but the scripts are really good and really tight. Usually there’s time to play around with it. But the cool thing is that no one improvising is trying to say funny jokes, or just flexing, like, I’m improvising now. Everyone’s just in character. And they’re just saying what their character would say, or reacting how their character would react.
One from this season that I liked is when [Uncle] Baby Billy is pitching us Baby Billy’s Bible Bonkers. We’re in that conference room. And he and Aunt Tiffany leave. And I improvised telling her that I love her as she leaves. And she says it back. I really like the truth of that because in Season Two, they actually bonded and got kind of close. I wanted to honor that in a small way. And then, dude, there’s always so much improvising at our church lunches, and it becomes an absolute blast. They’re all saying the stuff about Prince Eric marrying BJ and I — that was improvised, Jesse saying, “You got married at Disney World and you didn’t even get a legacy character to marry you!” Me saying “Fuck Mickey!” All that came in the moment. It’s a fun roller coaster ride because no one’s just going, No, it’s my turn to say funny lines.
I don’t know how John Goodman keeps a straight face in those scenes when you’re all just going at it.
In the very first episode, after the boys get slapped? I [added], “Slap me too, daddy, I’m a Gemstone too.” That really cracked [Goodman] up. Of course, we do it a bunch more times. But he was glad to be ready for that, it was so, Whoa. He’s gotten really good, too, at every now and then throwing something in there. He’s a natural with it.
The fifth episode this season was a flashback to the year 2000, when the Gemstone siblings are still kids. We learned a lot about the relationship between Judy and Jesse. We also found out that Judy’s own parents thought of her as a mental case. Is it a challenge to bring all this background into the present character?
It feels organic, because it ended up being things we’ve talked about all along the way. From the jump, we talked about how at some point in her life, Judy was very into shoplifting. I never knew that we would end up putting that in a flashback episode. But it just felt right here. Everything informs everything — how we want to show the origin of those unhealed things inside of her, things that make her stunted and kind of broken, fighting through it. You see this was something she struggled with or, man, her parents made jokes about her. I don’t think they really think she’s full mental case. They’re laughing about that as they say it. But she definitely drives them bonkers.
I was sort of choked up watching Jesse take revenge on Judy’s bully as a kid.
That trips me up, too. I love it. It’s just exactly right. What we keep trying to hammer in the show is that [the siblings] will come for each other. But don’t be an outside person coming for one of us, because you will regret it.
Those kids are incredible matches for you all as adults. It’s uncanny. What is it like to share that role with a child actor?
You don’t know what it’s going to be until they do it. The second I saw her — Emma Shannon — I thought, oh my god, I fell in instant love with her. She’s so beautiful and has a vibe that’s layered and interesting. Less like kid actors now and more like, kid actor from Eighties or Nineties movies. Something very cool, a slight darkness in what she’s doing. She’s awesome.
This new season is premiering after the series finale of another HBO hit, Succession. I’ve often seen Gemstones referred to by fans as “Southern Succession.” Do you think the shows have a kinship?
I have to admit this: I’ve never seen one episode. I am gonna watch it. Everyone I know watched it and loves it. I know I’m gonna love it. So, I’ll take it! Whatever people are saying, we’ll take it.
You might not want to keep up with something if you’re writing in the same thematic area — the kids squabbling over the empire.
Ultimately, our show’s not totally about the notion of succession. It’s this structure where there’s a patriarch, and there’s three kids. But it’s more the dynamics of the family and what they’ve got going on personally. And right now the three of them are running it together, in theory.
The show demonstrates this remarkable balance between mocking religion and sometimes finding grace and wisdom in it. Have you ever discussed this with a devout Christian or evangelical? What do they say?
I grew up very Christian — most of the most of the writers did as well. Church at least every Sunday, and some on Wednesdays also. We never come at it making fun of belief, or religion. We wanted to highlight these people in this world, which is so focused on making money, and so focused on growth and expansion. There’s an inherent hypocrisy in the whole megachurch, televangelist thing. Let’s take a look at this family rather than jab religion. And let’s not call believers “dumb.” The people that I talk to, even in just DMs, who grew up super religious, or are still, they dig it. Some maybe initially avoid it because they think it’s going to make fun of religion or belief. But anyone who has given it a chance knows it’s about flawed people who happen to be in this world. And then it’s fun for them because they know that world. “Oh man, growing up I knew a Judy Gemstone,” or “Man, the weirdo who ran our youth group was so much like Kelvin.”
How do you view Judy’s narrative arc, big picture?
The coolest thing has been to approach her as a layered and hopefully funny and emotional and kind of sad character. And it just so happens that Judy is a woman. No one ever thinks of like, How do we write this [as] a woman? We just go balls-out. We let her be wild. The key with her is continuously knowing that in this situation, she would probably not have a filter, she would get something slightly wrong about it, and she would let it rip.
It always seems like she’s saying the first very first thing that came into her head.
The filter is not there a lot. I think she literally has to go into her brain to pick up a screen. It’s stored in a shed somewhere. And she has to go through the hurt of saying, “I fucked up, let me go get that screen and put it on. Now I’ll be more good.”
Is Judy — or are any of the Gemstones — getting into heaven?
Oh, my god. Yeah. I think I honestly think they all are. I think everyone is.
Total forgiveness.
Because they don’t totally know that what they’re doing is bad. They really think they’re chosen. It’s part of being born into extreme opulence and extreme entitlement. Their brains are weird.
Hard not to feel blessed.
They just feel blessed. OK, they die, they’re at the gate. And someone would point it all out, whatever angel, would say, “You know, this was pretty messed up,” give them the list. And they would all be like, “Ohhhhh!“
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