In her role as Virginia Chase, Martha Plimpton is hilarious in Raising Hope. PCM had a chance to speak with both Martha and producer Greg Garcia about the show!

Martha let me ask you, as an accomplished actress, what excites you about playing a character like Virginia?

M. Plimpton Gosh, well I appreciate the compliment and first of all. Second of all, I don't know. I like to have fun and Virginia's really fun. I mean, Greg's written some really characters. It's not something I've ever done before. I've never done a television series where I was like a regular before. I figured if I was going to do something like that I'd want to do it with people I really liked who seem really smart and kind and funny and sweet. So it kind of all worked out perfectly.

Greg for you, how did you know that Martha would be a perfect fit for the role?

G. Garcia Well, I've just always been a fan of Martha's. She's a great actress and I just felt like she could definitely do this. I think that one of the things that Virginia has as a character is some balls and the things I watch Martha in, I just always feel that there's some balls there.

Have you had any mishaps while filming the show?

M. Plimpton I can't think of any mishaps really. I don't know Greg can you think of mishaps?

G. Garcia Yes, you're going to have that with the twins or any other various cast members because of our catering, but no, it's been a delight. That's what they say and usually that's a fair thing to say. You tend to spend a lot of time waiting for the babies to be in the right mood to just sit still. So far, we've been very lucky with that that our babies have really grown attached to the cast. So there's no separation anxiety there when they have to just leave their parents for a little bit and be with our cast. I think that they kind of consider the cast their family at this point, which is nice for everybody. Hopefully as we go forward, we're now going to be quickly getting to the terrible two stages of our babies showing in Season 2, so we'll just see what happens. Hopefully, our luck continues.

Do you think you will be going on to the toddler stage and watching Hope grow up as the seasons go on?

G. Garcia Yes, that's the plan. That's the plan right now is that we would stick with the Hope that everybody has met and fallen in love with and we'll stick with her and we'll watch our family raise her.

M. Plimpton Hence the title, of course.

On Raising Hope, there seems to be a certain disregard for political correctness in the humor. I was wondering what are the lines that you like to cross and what are those lines that you don't think you'll ever be crossing with the show?

G. Garcia Gosh, it's a good question but it's a tough one to answer because the lines are blurry and constantly moving. You just sit in that writers room and you hear jokes and you decide kind of on the spot, is that something we want to do? I mean, the general rule is if it makes everybody laugh we do it. There's been very few occasions where the network says we don't want you doing this joke, but they have their certain buzzwords and certain topics that they always want to stay away from, no matter what. So you kind of know what you can and can't put in a joke. Like, you can say pecker but you can't say Jesus Christ. There are all these rules, but I think the answer to that question is that you just kind of have to go with your gut and see what makes you laugh. Occasional you're going to offend some people, but hopefully, you're making more people laugh than you're offending.

Martha, I was going to ask you since your time on the show from the beginning until now, what has been the most surprising thing for you?

M. Plimpton Oh my gosh. That's a good one. A lot of things have been surprising. I had never done a TV show where I was like on the show every week like a regular. I think part of that was I was afraid that I'd get bored, like I've never played the same character for a year before, ever. I haven't ever one time been bored at all. I can't say I'm surprised by this necessarily, because I knew what I was getting into and I knew Greg. I was a fan of his and I know how good our writers are. So I can't say it's necessarily a surprise. I guess it's more of a sort of a happy relief. I don't know. I don't know how else to describe it. Yes, I'm always happy to go to work every day. It's not really surprising it's just sort of more pleasant.

You've been referred to as one of the hardest working actors in the business. What keeps you working so hard and what is the appeal that you've got that you think means the parts that keep coming at you?

M. Plimpton Well, thank you for the compliment. Why I keep working so hard? Well there are a number of reasons for that. Number one, I really like working. I really love it. It's what I do for a living and I've got to make a living. I've got to keep at it. I like to try new things. I like to go new places and I like to work with new people. That's sort of the definition of my job. As an actor, you just go where the work is, right.

I guess, maybe part of the reason why I'm fortunate enough to get to keep working, I'm hoping, is because maybe people like working with me because I like what I do for a living and I want to have a good time. I want to have fun doing it and it's important to me. It's important to me if I'm having a good time than I feel like the work is better. The quality of it is better and my level of interest is higher. So maybe that's why.

I feel like, obviously, it's a little bit of both. You have to really keep at it and keep focused on moving forward as an actor and a performer. You can't get stuck in ruts or allow other people to stick you in ruts. You have to keep challenging yourself. Then, hopefully, the pleasure that you take in that leads to other people going, "Hey, she seems like fun to work with I want to work with that," maybe.

You said something that you think that you would really like to try your hand at. You said that you haven't done a long running character like this before. Is there anything kind of in the back of your mind that you've never been given a chance to do that you'd like to?

M. Plimpton You know what's funny is I very rarely think about things like that. I almost never have a plan for myself or think about some-I'm not ambitious in that way. Like I don't see someone else do something and go, "Man, I could really kill that. Man, I could do that way better." I've never actually had that thought. Things tend to come when they are meant to come. I know that sounds kind of like spiritual and cheesy, but I think things come when they're meant to come. If you try to push it or you if you try to overly strategize as an actor I think you stop having a good time and you start white knuckling life a little more and I don't like to do that.

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