Jane Lynch Came to Happy’s Place — and Nobody Was Ready

There are guest star episodes, and then there are episodes that stop the entire set in its tracks. Jane Lynch’s arrival on Happy’s Place as Gabby’s mother Val was the latter. I was on set as dialogue coach, and I’m telling you — the moment Jane walked onto that stage, the energy in the room went up ten levels. Five Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe, and a SAG Award will do that to a room.

The creative team — executive producers and creators Kevin and Julie Abbott, Michael Hanel, Pamela Fryman, and Mindy Schultheis — wrote Val as a two-faced charmer who wins over everyone in the tavern while being Gabby’s greatest source of complicated pain, and Jane played every contradiction with surgical precision. Kevin Abbott said he was “laughing his a-- off” from behind the camera, which tells you everything. Melissa Peterman, Reba McEntire, Belissa Escobedo, Pablo Castelblanco, Rex Linn, and Tokala Black Elk all rose to meet her — and Pablo Castelblanco said she was the only guest who made him actually break character during takes.

Melissa Peterman, who has Jane on her personal Mount Rushmore of comedy, told NBC Insider that Lynch “was everything I dreamed and wanted and thought she would be.” And she was. She absolutely was. I am so grateful I got to be in that room — coaching on episodes that already feel like some of the best work this extraordinary show has produced. What a legend. What a gift. 🌟