GET CALLED FOR JURY DUTY WITH TRISHA.

Ok, so getting called for jury duty is a pain in the a*s. (You should still go though.) But watching Jury Duty is not. The latest sitcom follows the inner workings of a trial through the eyes of Ronald Gladden, a project manager based in San Diego. The catch? He’s completely unaware that his summons was not official, and that everyone in the courtroom aside from him is an actor.

One of those actors is Trisha LaFache (she/her), who is also a writer, director, and real-life lawyer playing a lawyer—talk about multi-tasking! She and the rest of the cast have taken the internet by storm, getting praises (and a few raised eyebrows) from critics and fans alike.

You truly just have to see it for yourself. But before you do, Trisha tells us what it was like executing pre-planned scenes, improvising lines, and one of her weirder cases that really did happen.

We heard that you wrote your own lines for the show, but was anything improvised?
The writers spent months in pre-production creating the show. All of the storylines, relationships, and the journey they wanted for our hero, who ended up being the glorious Ronald Gladden, to take. When we arrived for the first day of rehearsal, they already had an idea of what they wanted the case to be so we began collaborating on what that would look like when it was presented in court. Then, I had to do my job and present the plaintiff’s side of the case. All of the interaction with any of the jurors and with my co-counsel and the judge was improvised. I loved improvising with Rashida Olayiwola who plays bailiff Nikki, Evan Williams who plays Shaun Sanders, and Alan Barinholtz who plays the judge. We actually did a lot of fun stuff in court that was not able to make the final cut.

Improvising can be kinda scary. Did anything make you break a sweat?
The thing that made me sweat the most was when Ronald was very interested in the amount of money that we were asking for intentional infliction of emotional distress. When I was working on my closing, I was playing with the numbers and I was thinking, “I know he thinks this is a super high number,” so when I said the number in court—I said it wrong. Freudian slip? Definitely did not intend to. When I was done the judge said, “Counsel, let me see you in my chambers,” and when we walked in, director Jake Szymanski told me very lovingly that I said the wrong thing. Typical perfectionist, my first response was, “No, I didn’t.” And they all assured me that I did. Ultimately, we decided that I would go out and correct myself. But I was beating myself up badly. In retrospect, when I went out there and told the jury I misspoke, I saw Ronald’s reaction out of the corner of my eye. He was extremely satisfied that he was correct in the number he had in his head. And I thought, “Wow, he is so on it, he’s an amazing foreman.” No one else cared, in the least. But he did. And seeing his reaction was awesome. So, sometimes mistakes are not as bad as you think!

Do you have a fave moment from the show?
I think my favorite moment is when James Marsden and I banter about whether serving as a juror at the Cannes Film Festival counts as being a juror. Side note: I’m 99.9% sure James was never a juror at the Cannes Film Festival. But maybe they’ll ask him now?

You and the cast essentially had to fake till you make it so Ronald wouldn’t figure out what was going on. Have you ever had to use that aphorism IRL?
First, great use of the word aphorism right into IRL. Second, no! And if I did, I would not tell you [laughing].

You play a prosecutor, but you’re actually a federal criminal defense attorney. Have you experienced a weirder case than the one in the show?
Weirder? Absolutely not. I have had a ton of unusual cases because they all have some component of “and this part you are never going to believe.” I once had a client who was arrested for heroin possession who had a prosthetic limb. Allegedly the heroin was stuffed in the limb so the government was holding it. I was trying to get the prosthetic back because it was difficult for him to get around the jail without it. I got into a pretty heated exchange with the U.S. Attorney on the case who didn’t want to give it back, arguing that it was a piece of evidence and I remember yelling, “But Roger, it’s his leg!”

Jury Duty is being called one of the best binge-worthy comedies of this year. What other shows are you watching right now?
I recently binged Beef which was excellent, and what I love about it is it’s so well done across the board and also keeps my road rage in check. It’s a cautionary tale, especially for those living and driving in Los Angeles. Whenever I want to act out I think, “Ok, Beef.”