Edi Patterson

Episode notes

(Photo by Ryan Green/HBO)

The Righteous Gemstones just kicked off its second season on HBO, and that’s good news.

It’s a comedy about this family, the Gemstones. They’re pastors and owners of a massive megachurch with hundreds of thousands of followers. The family centers around Dr. Eli Gemstone, the patriarch, who’s been preaching on TV for decades; he’s played by John Goodman. But the show itself centers around Eli’s kids: their power struggles, their scheming, their scandals, their hamfisted attempts to curry favor with their father.

It’s sort of like Succession, if Succession was set in the South and created by Danny McBride. (Maybe because it is created by Danny McBride.)

McBride stars as Jesse, the oldest son. He’s a boorish, overconfident dummy who constantly finds himself in over his head. So, pretty much every Danny McBride character ever. There’s Kelvin, the cool, young one who pretty much exclusively wears Affliction t-shirts, ripped jeans and patterned sport coats. He’s played by Adam Devine.

And there’s Judy, played by Edi Patterson. On a show that is absolutely stacked with comedic heavyweights – Goodman, McBride, even Walton Goggins – Judy Gemstone stands out. She’s got this kind of manic energy: she alternates between total confidence in everything she does to massive insecurity. She doesn’t have much filter and a very, very short temper – in the first season, Judy demolishes both a vending machine and an SUV.

We’ll talk about Edi’s own church experience, improvising – and “Misbehavin,'” the Christian country tune from season 1 she sang on and co-wrote.

This interview originally aired in October of 2019.