TVLine Podcast: Dream Emmy Nominee Ellie Kemper Salutes Kimmy Schmidt's 'Message of Hope' for These Dark Days

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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