Were there an Emmy category for perking up viewers when they’re down, Ellie Kemper would already have a couple for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Not that the 2016 — and hopefully 2017 — nominee would ever take all the credit for the Netflix comedy’s feel-good quality. Rather, she notes that, while so much of the TV landscape is dark, snarky or both, “this show takes a break from all of that. [Even] visually, it’s very bright. [And though] it doesn’t shy away from the idea that life sucks… at the core of the show is sort of a message of hope.”

In the last of the TVLine Podcasts dedicated to a Who’s Who of our Dream Emmy contenders — taped, as you’ll hear, the day Kimmy’s third season dropped — the effervescent actress reveals to Editor-in-Chief Michael Ausiello which scene she found especially “cathartic” to shoot in the wake of the presidential election, why she hid in an H&M before her first meeting with series co-creator Tina Fey and whether we should cross our fingers for a Season 4 guest appearance by Lisa Kudrow.

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