A down-to-earth actress, who wants to be taken seriously in her craft, takes a gamble on “The Man Show.”
By Amy Sorkin/Special to the Malibu Times
Nicole Pulliam had been modeling and acting for a few years before she was offered a role as one of the nine female series regulars on Comedy Central’s somewhat controversial “The Man Show.” A nice girl originally from Columbus, Ohio, Pulliam had to seriously consider the idea of accepting a job whose character name would read as “Juggy” on her resume.
“I’d be lying to you if I said I wasn’t concerned,” admits the down-to-earth Malibu resident.
After all, the Juggy role entailed wearing revealing outfits while dancing and acting in various skits on television that would be seen throughout America. Listed on the Internet Movie Datebase, Inc. at www.imdb.com, under genre, two plot keywords for the show are “breasts” and “buxom.”
“I asked myself, are people going to take me seriously after this? Am I still going to get serious acting auditions?”
But the role started off on a try-it-out basis as opposed to being a contract deal, which made her more open to giving it a shot.
First she met with the producers of the show and its hosts, Adam Corolla and Jimmy Kimmel, who told her that if there was anything she didn’t feel comfortable with to just let them know.
“So I knew going into it I’d have the freedom to say what I wanted,” Pulliam shares. “And once I started doing it I had so much fun I couldn’t imagine not doing it.”
Thinking it would be silly to pass up the chance to get paid for doing something so enjoyable, after four shows Pulliam signed a contract and jumped on board for the long haul.
Anyone who’s ever watched “The Man Show,” as sexist as it may first appear, (hopefully) understands that the root of its comedy is poking fun at men and their “manly” ways. The self-deprecating humor of the two hosts only drives home this point. Although many feminists would cringe (to say the least) at the idea of a Juggy, the key for Pulliam was not to take it all so seriously.
“The show is men making fun of themselves. I think if I was on the show for 10 years then I would’ve had a problem. But I knew it wasn’t going to be forever. To me it’s just comedy, and if the audience laughs I’m happy.”
Michelle Patten, a Malibu resident who now finds the show very entertaining, was skeptical of it at the beginning.
“When I first heard reviews and comments about it, I did think it would probably be degrading to women, but when I saw it I thought it was great. The only part I thought was a little degrading was the trampoline part.”
(Patten is referring to a segment where the Juggies jump on trampolines and show off their “agility.”)
Mike Mirliss, a journalism major at Pepperdine, thinks that most people catch on to the self-deprecating tone of the show.
“I think it is degrading to women, but I think most people get the point that they aren’t really degrading women,” he shares. Then he adds, “But if I were a woman I wouldn’t want to be on that show.”
Although the format and content of the show make blatant ogling over the Juggies a little more acceptable for audience members than it would be for most men in real life situations, Pulliam asserts that this was never a problem for her.
“You know what you’re getting yourself into when you take the job,” she offers, adding that Corolla, Kimmel and the crew assured her that if a viewer ever did anything that made her feel uncomfortable they would get kicked out.
“And they were actually always really cool,” she says of the guys who came to the tapings. “Like little teenage kids who were afraid to talk to us. They just wanted to take pictures with us and get autographs.”
Although new episodes of “The Man Show” are still airing, it has stopped taping so Pulliam is back out on auditions. The show, however, has only appeared to have a positive effect on her acting career. She’s been working nonstop ever since it ended, and the roles she’s been auditioning for are nothing like her Juggy one.
“Casting directors see that it’s an improv show, that you can work in comedy and have experience working in front of a live audience,” Pulliam explains. “The more experience you have, obviously the more jobs you’re going to get. And the experience of being a series regular on a show, even though it was a small show, is always a plus.”
Soon Pulliam will be seen in “The Kingston High,” in which she plays a somewhat conservative, insecure high school girl who is “very far from being a sex symbol,” coming out in DVD in March. She will also appear in the UPN sitcom “Half and Half” in spring and in Disney’s “Holes,” with Sigourney Weaver and Jon Voight, opening in April. You can also find her currently featured in several print campaigns.
“The Man Show” is gearing up again, this time with new hosts.
So would Pulliam do it again?
“It was really fun for three years,” she shares. “But I wouldn’t do it again because I want to move on. My goal is for the roles I get to keep getting better and better.”