Monotone Martha Kelly of Euphoria Is Not a Sociopath, but Her Character Sure Is

Spoiler Alert: This interview contains spoilers for Euphoria Season 3.

Prolific comedian and actress Martha Kelly got her start on Austin stages nearly three decades ago when she auditioned for the US Comedy Arts Festival and became one of 12 finalists. Soon after, she was named “the Funniest Person in Austin.” In the years that followed, she became a fixture at local venues such as Cap City Comedy Club and The Velveeta Room. Kelly, who spent portions of her childhood in Dallas, moved in and out of Austin in the first two decades of the century. Her life completely changed in 2016, when Zach Galifianakis approached her about appearing on his FX comedy series Baskets. By 2019, she had left Texas for good, and soon her deadpan delivery became one of the most recognizable performances on screen.

With her soft-spoken, uniform vocal tone, Kelly can apply her signature monotone to a multitude of roles, with Euphoria’s Laurie among her most memorable. 

Season 3 of Euphoria picks up five years after the events of Season 2, when Laurie gave Rue (Zendaya) a suitcase filled with $10,000 worth of drugs for her to sell. Five years later, Rue failed to return a profit and now owes Laurie over $43 million in interest. To pay off her debt, Laurie recruits Rue as a drug mule, forcing her to transport drugs by body packing (concealing the drugs by swallowing cellophane-wrapped packets before regurgitating or expelling them) across the Mexican border. Laurie eventually exchanges Rue to Alamo Brown (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), a pimp, arms dealer and strip club owner. But Alamo and Laurie’s relationship is marred when the kingpin calls Alamo a “pig”, setting off a snowball of antics, beginning with Alamo sending a wild pig to Laurie’s home.

In the season’s most recent episode — “The Ballad of Paladin,” which aired Sunday, April 26 — Laurie returns the favor by setting a wild pig free in Alamo’s strip club. To retaliate, Alamo sends Rue and his right-hand man, Bishop (Darrell Britt-Gibson), to stage a fraudulent drug pickup at Laurie’s home, while the real directive is to poison Laurie’s beloved pet parrot, Paladin.

We caught up with Kelly via Zoom shortly before the season’s premiere in early April. She is equally as shaken up by Laurie’s lack of empathy and human emotion as viewers are.

Was there anything that surprised you about Laurie’s background?

Her reactions to her cousins and their white supremacy. She just seems annoyed and dismissive of it, which I guess I don’t find surprising, because I think that she’s on either Xanax or opiates, or perhaps even quaaludes. Nobody knows, but she’s on something. So I think she’s just like ,‘Stop being dramatic and saying racist things.’ Her attitude is not a moral objection, but more like, ‘They’re just too much.’

What were some of the biggest challenges about returning to set after four years?

I actually didn’t find it challenging. When I found out I was going to be in Season 3, and before I started shooting, I was afraid it was going to be psychologically difficult because Laurie is such a heavy character, and the Season 2 scenes were quite heavy and uncomfortable. But from day one of shooting Season 3, it was just really fun. Even though there have been some heartbreaking losses from people on the show, like Angus Cloud and Eric Dane, everybody seemed to be closer. So the vibes on set were really good from day one. It was actually easier and more fun than Season 2.

You have a soft-spoken voice, which is a hallmark of your craft. What do you think it is that makes Laurie so terrifying? 

I think the fact that she is a mild-mannered sociopath. In real life, I think people like that are the most dangerous, because they catch people off guard. I’ve seen a couple of true crime documentaries — and  I don’t watch a lot of true crime, it’s very upsetting — but I’ve seen some documentaries, and [I’ve learned] the people who do the most damage are not the ones who come blustering in bullying everybody, but the people who disarm you with a low-key energy and even a bit of vulnerability. They really do a number on people. They really hurt people in ways that reverberate even after they’ve left that person’s life.

In the first three episodes that we’ve seen so far, what scenes were the most daunting to film?

The scene with Maple, the giant pig. After the first take, I got scared and ran out of the shot. Then I found out she’s quite a gentle soul, and then it was fun. But the first take of that, [creator and showrunner] Sam Levinson said: ‘She’s gonna walk towards you, and there’s not gonna be anything in between you.’

I was like, ‘That giant, unpredictable animal is gonna walk right at me?,’ but it turns out she’s very predictable, a very professional actor and has a very sweet personality. That was daunting, and then it was a lot of fun.

A lot of the material is very heavy. In between takes, how did you decompress?

Just with the other cast being so fun and nice. Between takes, everybody, including Zendaya, is just joking around and making light-hearted small talk. The first day that I worked with Toby Wallace, James Landry Hébert and Daeg N. Farch was the first day I shot Season 3. They were so nice and funny that it put me at ease, and then I couldn’t wait to shoot the rest of the season.

When Laurie is trying to get Rue back from Alamo, she says, “Well, I do miss her.” Laurie has also given Rue a place to stay while she does her runs. Do you believe that Laurie genuinely cares for Rue?

Sadly, I don’t think Laurie is capable of really caring about anyone except for Paladin, her bird. I think that’s the deceptive part of her and people like her, who I was referring to earlier. They can do nice things for you, but at the same time, she’s giving her a place to stay while forcing her to be this brutally hazardous drug mule. I didn’t even know what drug mules did. [When] Rue says, ‘That’s how I became a drug mule,’ I was thinking that she’s probably running drugs in her car, hidden or something. And then finding out what they actually do, and Laurie’s forcing her to do that: It could kill her. It’s disgusting. It makes her sick. It’s physically brutal and dangerous. I wouldn’t want anyone to think Laurie cares about Rue. That’s not caring.

Sam Levinson has said that faith is the foundation of this season. And now we’ve seen that Rue has betrayed Laurie three times. First with the suitcase, second when she works with Alamo and now she inadvertently gave Bishop the keys to kill Paladin. What can you tease about Laurie’s reaction to Rue’s betrayal?

I can say without spoiling anything and, or surprising anyone, it’s understated. I think Laurie probably thinks she cares about Rue, but she’s not capable of caring about people. But her reaction to the betrayal, I think that she’s hurt, but she’s no longer really capable of planning out any great revenge on anybody. I think she probably thinks about it. Yeah, she’s hurt, but it’s sort of like, how dare you be hurt by being betrayed by Rue, who you’ve been victimizing since she was a kid?

What are some of your fondest memories of living in Texas?

I lived there starting in January of 2000, and then on and off for a few years at a time. The last time was 2019. I miss all of the restaurants and venues that were open before COVID. Austin is different from a lot of Texas. But I spent a lot of time in the Dallas area growing up, because my mom was from Northeast Texas. I love the way that everything is over-air-conditioned in the summer, and then you come outside, and it’s like being wrapped in a warm, soft blanket. The summer nights of Texas, I love. And I love that there are a lot of warm people who would give you the shirt off their back.