Rachel Bloom

A wild conversation with the creator and star of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, the smartest, sexiest show on The CW Network.

- David Hochman

Q1: More than six studios turned you and your co-creator down before the CW picked up your show, and now it’s returning for another season as a critical and viral hit. Do you get recognised more now than before?

BLOOM: Either I don’t look the same on TV or people are just polite. When I do meet someone who recognises me, it means they watch the show, which, from an executive-producer standpoint — that’s what I care about. I’m like, Oh good, you’re watching the show! What demographic are you?

Q2: You wrote nearly 50 original songs on topics ranging from anal waxing to how weird a stranger’s balls smell — and all of it on network TV, not streaming or cable. How do you get away with that?

BLOOM: You can get away with saying all kinds of dark shit if you turn it into a bouncy musical number. When you’re doing comedy, music is your straight man. “The Sexy Getting Ready Song” is all about the brutal things women do to look hot and get in touch with their feminine side. My character, Rebecca, sings, “I’m gonna make this night one you’ll never forget” as she’s waxing hair off her ass. The chorus chimes in with “Ass blood”, and you see blood on camera. There’s no sub-text with songs. You just let it rip.

Q3: You shot an earlier version of Crazy Ex- Girlfriend as a pilot for Showtime that never aired. How much edgier was that?

BLOOM: It was mostly what we have on the CW. There was only one scene we had to re-shoot. Instead of a make out scene, there was a hand-job scene, which I hope to release.

Q4: How much do you have to hold back?