Dating can be hard, but not for Fran Drescher’s Angelica. The actress dropped by Mr. Mayor on the Tuesday, March 29, episode, playing a famed TV commercial star who has a one-night stand with Ted Danson’s Neil Bremer — and it didn’t end well.
“I love that the character was so out there and zany and sexy and wanting to live a life her way. She was a lot of fun. She had a lot of energy. She was interested in getting laid and not having any strings attached. And you don’t always see women my age written that way,” Drescher, 64, exclusively told Us Weekly of her stint on the NBC comedy. “I’m lucky. I tend to get more of those parts, but for the most part, I found it to be an extremely well-written, fun guest role on a really well-written and fun sitcom.”
Unfortunately for Neil, he was looking for stability when he meets Angelica — who was unapologetically in her “trampage” stage. Although they hit it off — even despite Neil’s awkward text exchanges — she quickly moved on with another man, played by Peter Gallagher.
“When I got divorced, I really was like the animal let out of the zoo,” the Nanny alum explained, telling Us she could “totally” relate to Angelica’s antics. “I was doing it in the backs of limos! That was when they were stretches with the privacy screen. And I was really having a great time.”
Although it was just a guest-starring role, Drescher would be open to returning. And, who knows, maybe Angelica would be settled down by then.
“If they asked me, I would love to be invited back. In the episode, we’re kind of on different pages in the book of life. I’m trying to have fun because I’m newly divorced and he was looking for maybe something more meaningful,” she told Us. “But, you know, the trampage stage of post-divorce is short-lived. After a while I think that most women want something a little deeper. And so perhaps if I came back, I would come back as a changed woman who remembered him as being someone that was on a different page in the book of life at one time, but maybe not so much now.”
For Drescher, just getting to work alongside Danson, 74, was a treat. “He is great. I’ve loved him since Cheers. It was my pleasure to be able to do this episode of Mr. Mayor. It was very smartly written, very contemporary in its references and language and all of that I’m very attracted to,” she said. “He’s a very thoughtful, very considerate, very giving [actor]. We’re very contrasting. He’s kind of lower energy and I’m more high energy, as was my character. So I think that that made us kind of a match made in heaven, really, because opposites attract. And as we are was how we are onscreen and how our characters were written.”
Working with creator Tina Fey wasn’t bad either. “I always wanted to work with Tina. I think she’s an absolute genius,” she told Us. “I love everything that she puts her name to.”
Mr. Mayor airs Tuesdays on NBC at 8:30 p.m. ET.
