Postcard From Hollywood

[May 16th, 2007]

It's an early spring morning on the Los Angeles set of FX's wickedly black comedy It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and I'm watching Danny DeVito crawl through a fake airshaft. And he's using the F-word. A lot.

You can't, in fact, use the F-word on basic cable, so they must go again. And then again, as the director of this episode, Fred Savage (yes, little Kevin Arnold from The Wonder Years), keeps giggling and ruining the take.

Tigard native Kaitlin Olson says this is pretty much a typical Sunny day. Waiting, watching and laughing. "Actually, I only have one scene to shoot today, so I'm psyched," the 1997 UO theater grad says between sips of her venti coffee, her round, blue anime eyes glowing. "I have an audition today for a rom-com starting Katherine Heigl. But I think I'm going to blow it off. Let's go out to lunch instead!"

Really, who could blame the tall blonde for wanting an afternoon off? Besides madly shooting the third season of Sunny, Olson, a Groundlings Theater-trained comedienne, has also been a semi-regular on the first season of The Riches. That's her playing Minnie Driver's manic, one-armed neighbor on the show, which centers on a family of gypsy identity thieves stealing the American Dream. She'll also pop up again later this year as Cheryl's squeaky sister on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

"It's been totally crazy lately," she says as we find a lunch spot, parking her charmingly dinged-up Honda Civic near the beach in Marina del Rey. (She says she's saving up for a Prius.) "But I will never complain about being too busy. Never."

"What's it like for you to visit Portland now that you're a star?" I ask, air-quoting the last word.

"I love going home," she says. "I had a blast at my high-school reunion a few years ago. My childhood nemesis was there, which was OK because I looked hot. Besides, all the guys were staring at me anyway."

It's hard to accurately represent Olson's razor-sharp, self-deprecating wit in print, but I can vouch for every word of it. And locals should keep track of her rising star: A triple threat in the looks, smarts and comedic-timing department, this girl will be on the big screen faster than you can say Talladega Nights 2.

"Ooh, I'd love to work with Will Ferrell someday," she says dreamily. "I'd also really like to make out with Mark Wahlberg at some point. We'll see."

We push off and she chauffeurs us back to my purple mess of a rental car at the studio.

"Thanks for hanging out with me today. It was fun!" she says, giving me a hug.

You know what? In a town of air-kissing phonies, I think the girl actually means it.