Cheryl Hines is a fast talker. She’s no-nonsense. She’s funny, which in her case can’t be overstated. And she is sharp. Mostly, however, Cheryl Hines is a huge relief. In nearly all of her roles thus far—whether as Larry David’s wife on the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, or opposite Robin Williams in the movie RV, audiences hold their breath while her male counterparts teeter precariously between being funny and painful. In these often claustrophobic scenes, Hines is always the oxygen, allowing the audience small intakes of air to get us through until the end. Yet it would be unfair to strictly assign Hines to the role of comedic caretaker. Beneath her benevolent veneer is a devious side, which is what makes her humor all the more dangerous—we trust her and will follow her anywhere. Her improvised reactions on Curb Your Enthusiasm are nuanced to the point where she has invented an entire language consisting of various head-shakes, grimaces, smiles, and only one word—Larry. The fact that Larry means something new nearly each time it’s uttered by Hines is testament not only to her generosity as an improvisational performer—she gives her fellow actors a wide berth—but also to the fact that her comedy is efficient, expansive, and perfectly timed.

Cheryl Hines will appear in two upcoming films, Waitress and The Grand. And she will return for a sixth and final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. I had the pleasure of speaking with Cheryl by phone while she was on the set of Campus Ladies, a show she produces for the Oxygen Network.

—Carrie Brownstein

I. CAMPUS LADIES

CARRIE BROWNSTEIN: You’re going into the second season of Campus Ladies right now. Are you directing the entire season, or just the first couple of episodes?

CHERYL HINES: I’m just directing one of the episodes and I’m an executive producer on the show, so I directed an episode last year and now I’m doing one this year, depending on if we get to shoot more episodes this season. Then perhaps I’ll get to do another one. [Pauses] Well, I don’t know, it’ll be tricky because I’m shooting Curb Your Enthusiasm; it’s all in the scheduling of things.

CB: And was that your directorial debut, in terms of directing other people, when you did last year’s episode?

CH: It was, yes. I directed a sketch comedy show. [Laughs] It’s like the same thing.

CB: How was it working with a script? Did you just learn by watching other people direct you?

CH: Well, you know, Campus Ladies is shot the same way that ...