Comedy Star Ellie Kemper Wants You to Put Down Your Phone This Holiday Season

November 19, 2019

Actress Ellie Kemper discusses HP's new "Get Real" campaign and the importance of quality time with family over screen time. She also takes a guess at which of her iconic characters said which comedic lines.


Nora Ali: Welcome back to Cheddar Business, everyone.

Nora Ali: The official start to

Nora Ali: the holiday season is right around the corner,

Nora Ali: which means many Americans are planning their trips home.

Nora Ali: One comedy star is encouraging families to put

Nora Ali: down the phones and spend quality time together.

Nora Ali: Joining us now is actress Ellie Kemper.

Nora Ali: Ellie, we're so excited to have you here with us today.

Nora Ali: It looks like you have some arts and

Nora Ali: crafts in front of you.

Nora Ali: Why is putting down your technology,

Nora Ali: though, something that you're passionate about?

Ellie Kemper: Well, thank you so much for having me,

Ellie Kemper: first of all, and second of all, yes,

Ellie Kemper: I partnered with HP on their campaign, Get Real,

Ellie Kemper: and it's all about putting down your phones and

Ellie Kemper: creating principal activities that

Ellie Kemper: you can do together as a family with friends.

Ellie Kemper: For example, I have designed with the help of HP

Ellie Kemper: these snowflake stencils that

Ellie Kemper: you can decorate with your family,

Ellie Kemper: with your kids, with your nephews

Ellie Kemper: and nieces. Anyone can do it.

Ellie Kemper: I am no expert crafts person by any means,

Ellie Kemper: and even I can do it and it's just nice to be

Ellie Kemper: able to look at one another

Ellie Kemper: and be present in the same room,

Ellie Kemper: and feel like you have come together,

Ellie Kemper: because that's really the only time of

Ellie Kemper: year that you can all be together as a family,

Ellie Kemper: and it's important to put on your phones.

Kristen Scholer: Ellie, are these practices that

Kristen Scholer: you've tried before, right?

Kristen Scholer: Trying less screen time,

Kristen Scholer: even though it's challenging to points?

Ellie Kemper: It can be challenging because I think that

Ellie Kemper: your kids can easily become hypnotized by a phone.

Ellie Kemper: But that is not always the answer

Ellie Kemper: because it might make them quiet,

Ellie Kemper: but I don't know what it's doing to their brains.

Ellie Kemper: My husband also gets hypnotized when he's

Ellie Kemper: on the phone and I'm like, "Put down the phone.

Ellie Kemper: Talk to me". Um, I just think it's really valuable.

Ellie Kemper: It can be challenging because

Ellie Kemper: it's- it might be easier to look at a phone,

Ellie Kemper: but it's so much fun.

Ellie Kemper: One of my favorite activities as a kid was

Ellie Kemper: just playing games with my family,

Ellie Kemper: yes, that may sound dorky,

Ellie Kemper: but it's true and that's what I'm looking forward to over

Ellie Kemper: the holidays is bringing my nephews,

Ellie Kemper: and nieces and my own kids into the fold and-

Ellie Kemper: and playing games together as a family and charades,

Ellie Kemper: you know, Mad Libs, all that stuff.

Nora Ali: Its old school kind of fun, Ellie,

Nora Ali: but it's not

Nora Ali: just the mindless scrolling of social media, though.

Nora Ali: We try to check

Nora Ali: our work emails and

Nora Ali: try to check in on what's going on at work.

Nora Ali: Do you have advice for us to kind of just let go

Nora Ali: of that work mindset during the holidays?

Ellie Kemper: I know that's really tricky because

Ellie Kemper: sometimes you have to answer an e-mail,

Ellie Kemper: you know, or you have to address an issue,

Ellie Kemper: but I think that as much as you can,

Ellie Kemper: if you try to prioritize and

Ellie Kemper: make the distinction between what is necessary to do,

Ellie Kemper: and what isn't necessary you really have to follow that.

Ellie Kemper: Because if you can't be available 24/7, you just can't.

Ellie Kemper: It's just not healthy. So I think it's

Ellie Kemper: just prioritizing things in your brain.

Kristen Scholer: Ellie, our viewers know you from

Kristen Scholer: some big hits here at The Office,

Kristen Scholer: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Bridesmaids.

Kristen Scholer: What's in the pipeline for you?

Ellie Kemper: Oh my gosh.

Ellie Kemper: I had a baby a couple months ago,

Ellie Kemper: and that is what is in pipeline right

Ellie Kemper: now for me, taking care of that child.

Ellie Kemper: So I'm not sure what's next.

Ellie Kemper: I'm excited to see, you know, what comes next.

Ellie Kemper: But right now, it's day by day.

Ellie Kemper: I'm in survival mode, [LAUGHTER].

Kristen Scholer: You look rested.

Nora Ali: You look amazing, congrats [NOISE].

Nora Ali: Is there anything that you want to

Nora Ali: do that you maybe haven't done before?

Nora Ali: Maybe go outside of comedy,

Nora Ali: do something dramatic, be a superhero.

Nora Ali: What are your hopes and dreams for what's next, Ellie?

Ellie Kemper: I would- I would love to

Ellie Kemper: be a superhero, first and foremost,

Ellie Kemper: so my kids will have some respect for me,

Ellie Kemper: um, but also, yeah,

Ellie Kemper: I would love to do a drama.

Ellie Kemper: I've done mostly comedy

Ellie Kemper: like primarily comedy up until this point.

Ellie Kemper: But I think it's always nice to try

Ellie Kemper: new things and challenge yourself.

Kristen Scholer: Okay. So we've got a game for you,

Kristen Scholer: Ellie, this is a fun one.

Kristen Scholer: It's called Who said this line.

Kristen Scholer: We're going to show you a quote,

Kristen Scholer: and then you'll guess which character

Kristen Scholer: you played actually said it.

Kristen Scholer: So let's cue up the first full screen here.

Kristen Scholer: At the first quote is this, Ellie.

Kristen Scholer: "Every word out of your mouth is like

Kristen Scholer: the squawk of an ugly pelican" [LAUGHTER].

Kristen Scholer: Your character and your show.

Ellie Kemper: I, I think that that's Becca from Bridesmaids?

Kristen Scholer: Guess again, Ellie, [OVERLAPPING].

Ellie Kemper: Okay. Is it Kimmy from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt?

Nora Ali: It's Erin from The Office.

Ellie Kemper: What?

Nora Ali: We thought these were going to be easy. I guess

Nora Ali: these characters are fairly.

Kristen Scholer: They are hard.

Ellie Kemper: No, did you see me cringing when you announce a game?

Ellie Kemper: I was like, I'm going to suffer through this.

Nora Ali: Oh my Gosh, yeah.

Ellie Kemper: It was- it was my last.

Ellie Kemper: Okay, all right. It's so long ago.

Kristen Scholer: Yeah, two more chances.

Nora Ali: Okay, so we have two more quotes for you.

Nora Ali: Erin from The Office has so many

Nora Ali: one-liners we don't blame you.

Nora Ali: Okay, next up, here's the quote Ellie,

Nora Ali: "I'm like a biscotti.

Nora Ali: People act like I'm this sweet cookie,

Nora Ali: but I'm really this super hard thing

Nora Ali: that nobody knows what I

Nora Ali: am or why I am" Who was that?

Ellie Kemper: I love that one. I know that that was

Ellie Kemper: Kimmy Schmidt from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

Nora Ali: Yeah.

Ellie Kemper: [OVERLAPPING] What is the deal with biscotti?

Ellie Kemper: [LAUGHTER] I know [OVERLAPPING].

Nora Ali: They are too crunchy. They're too hard.

Kristen Scholer: That was good one. [OVERLAPPING].

Ellie Kemper: They're not quite sweet, I hate them [LAUGHTER]

Kristen Scholer: All right, that was good. Ellie, last

Kristen Scholer: one here. This is the quote.

Kristen Scholer: "You smell like pine needles and you

Kristen Scholer: have the face like sunshine".

Kristen Scholer: Character, and guess it.

Ellie Kemper: That is- that is Becca from Bridesmaids.

Ellie Kemper: Not in the process of elimination.

Ellie Kemper: But I do know that one I- I faltered on the first one,

Ellie Kemper: but I got those second two down cold.

Kristen Scholer: You got it. Finishing strong.

Nora Ali: Is there a most memora- memorable character for

Nora Ali: you that you really connected with in your past?

Ellie Kemper: I really- I love

Ellie Kemper: all three characters that we just discussed.

Ellie Kemper: Um, I feel like, uh, you know,

Ellie Kemper: once I had to play a Veterinarian's assistant on an

Ellie Kemper: industrial for how to be a veterinarian

Ellie Kemper: and I was really disgruntled

Ellie Kemper: and I really loved [LAUGHTER] playing

Ellie Kemper: that part because I got to channel some rage.

Ellie Kemper: That was fifteen years ago. Really good.

Nora Ali: Amazing stuff. Well, Ellie,

Nora Ali: thank you so much for your time and for giving

Nora Ali: us those tips for the holidays.

Nora Ali: That is actress Ellie Kemper. Thanks again, Ellie.

Kristen Scholer: Thank you.

Ellie Kemper: Thank you very much for having me.

Ellie Kemper: Email's get real.

Kristen Scholer: All right, we got it.

Nora Ali: Thank you.