The Jester Interview: Celeste Thorson (continued)

J: Are there things you picked up on from roles you had in different sitcoms that you brought to this, as far as the comedy of it?

CT: I do love ensemble comedy and hadn’t really seen anything out there that was this physical or physically choreographed. That was a challenge because so many of the great sitcoms I loved have been a living room-type set – Seinfeld, Friends and these great ensembles. This project was so physically demanding that it added another level of a challenge for us that I couldn’t have expected when I was forming it in my mind, thinking it’s going to be so fun and easy. As much I would have loved it to be like Seinfeld or Friends, it ended up taking on a life of its own. That was a really interesting process.

J: Can comedy be as dangerous as some of the Destination X stunts that you’ve done?

CT: I love doing adventurous things and I’m a little bit of an adrenaline-seeker and risk-taker. I love exploring nature and having really fun adventures and thrills. I think comedy is really thrilling too and might be a little scarier on an emotional [level]. But this particular series was definitely prone to injury. We had a couple little things on set, nothing crazy. Everyone’s bound to stub their toes sometime. That was about the extent of it.

J: More injuries or less [than the stunt shows]?

CT: Definitely less. It got progressively better as we went along. A lot of the actors, when we first started, were so stiff, that it was funny to watch them – like Mo, the ladies man, he would try to bend over – and he was just at a right angle. You couldn’t do anything with him, but by the end of the season, he got a lot more flexible so it was really funny to see the characters and the actors get more comfortable doing yoga. I think that helps prevent injuries. We brought in an amazing yoga teacher who’s a real guru, named Dashama Konah Gordon. She can do some really incredible things – puts herself into pretzels, does this crazy scorpion move. That was so much fun to watch and a jaw-dropping experience to see her pull out all her advanced poses that I don’t think any of us would have tried anything close to that. So that prevents a lot of injuries right there.

One of our demo students started doing yoga when we started doing Yogaphiles and went on to do her teacher training and become a yoga teacher. So it has been a bit of a transformative experience for a couple people, and hopefully promotes yoga as a fitness lifestyle.

J: Will there be another series after this run?

CT: We are in talks with a couple people about doing a second season and there’s interest in turning the follow-up into a small indie film, which would be a lot of fun. I don’t want to ruin the season finale but it definitely lends itself to another season.