Here's What's Helping Ellie Kemper Laugh Through Quarantine

From Woman's Day

Ellie Kemper, who has been living in her hometown of St. Louis with her husband and two sons during quarantine, is known for making people laugh. Between her roles on shows including The Office and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and her often hilarious TV interviews, she has a knack for bringing levity into people's lives. And now, as the world struggles through the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Kemper has had to work to find a little levity for herself, too.

Like the countless people who are sure to be marathon watching The Office and dancing along to Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt's intro music during quarantine, Kemper has relied on the re-watchability of her favorite shows to find a way to laugh while sheltering in place. Lately, Kemper has been enjoying Amy Schumer Learns to Cook, a British sitcom called Friday Night Dinner, and The Larry Sanders Show, which "is always guaranteed to make me laugh," she tells Woman's Day.

Of course, Kemper is also leaning on her family during quarantine, and enjoying the moments when the screens are turned off and the only form of entertainment is each other. In fact, Kemper says ending the day with a family dinner has become a new family tradition. "It’s nice to sit around the table and enjoy time together without screens or other distractions," she explains. "We can usually last a good 18 minutes before my 9-month-old starts throwing food at my face, but it’s a pretty enjoyable 18 minutes up until that point."

As Kemper waits, along with the rest of the country, to see how the rest of the pandemic will shake out, she's hopeful that she'll be able to return to making other people laugh soon. "We were in the middle of filming a remake of Home Alone in Montreal right when everything began to shut down, and production had to take a pause," she says. "Hopefully, we will be able to get back to it because it was really funny."

While so many people in the U.S. and around the world wait for the day when we can get back to focusing on the funny, Kemper reminds us all that, sometimes, finding a way to laugh through the difficult times can be as simple as re-visiting our favorite TV characters — the ones who took each day 10 seconds at a time, because as Kimmy says, "I can do anything for 10 seconds."

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