By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Thursday, November 19 2015
Many fans of FX's "Archer" imagine Atlanta actress Amber Nash - who voices sturdy, foul-mouthed Pam Poovey - tapes her lines in the company of big-name actors Chris Parnell, Aisha Tyler and Jessica Walter.
The reality is quite different. During a recent voice-over session at Doppler Studios in Midtown, Nash is in a room by herself, the producers in a neighboring space. She reads her lines out of context from the script, like conveying one side of a strange cell phone conversation.
"I have a big wad of toilet paper stuck on my shoe!" she says.
"Sound more annoyed," producer Casey Willis suggests.
"Make it big ol' wad of toilet paper," adds fellow producer Matt Thompson.
"I have a big ol' wad of toilet paper stuck on my shoe!" she repeats with greater edge.
She then moves on to another line that would make more sense in context: "Ahhh! I hope I'm not allergic to clown blood!"
Perhaps it's just as well she's isolated. She's sick. She coughs and sips water between takes. (Most of the actors do their voice-over work in Los Angeles.)
Nash's character Pam started out as an ancillary character on the popular FX animated series back in 2010 when the spy spoof debuted. Her HR director character was originally described as "mousy."
"I think Pam has changed the most over time," said Thompson, a co-creator of the series. "She used to be so sweet. She's still sweet at her core, but over time, she has developed a 'come at me, bro' attitude and you will frequently find her driving plot lines. In the pilot, I think she had two lines. Now, she takes over scenes. This is all a testament to Amber's gifts as an actress."
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
While 38-year-old Nash acknowledges she is not part of a secret fight club like Pam, she does have a foul mouth and a bawdy streak that works well when she is working as an improv ensemble player for Dad's Garage, her home for 17 years.
"She is willing to do anything and everything for the sake of the joke," Thompson said. "And this thought lends itself well to playing Pam, who is also up for anything, almost hedonistic. Plus, Amber's cursing repertoire is on point. She has a way of putting dirty words together to bring new meaning or new laughs to it."
Indeed, in any given episode, Pam is apt to spout off multiple curse words without fail but also more benign signature exclamations such as "Whelp!" and "Sploosh!"
Nash is hoping to parlay this success into scripted on-camera roles. But she had auditioned for roles in Los Angeles and found the process frustrating. "People have never quite known what do do with me category wise," she said. "Is she a mom, a hoodlum, a lead, a character actress?"
So earlier this month, Dad's Garage released a ten-part web series "Hart of America" starring Nash in multiple roles.
It's a quirky mash-up of different genres, including sci-fi, romance and police procedurals. Nash plays the narrator, an edgy female cop, a Bigfoot lover and a dying grandmother. It features many of Dad's Garage's ensemble cast and cameos by improv experts Colin Mochrie and Fred Willard.
"We wanted to showcase her talents," said Dad's Garage artistic director Kevin Gillese, who joined the group in 2010 and married Nash in 2012. "This is a commercial for Amber."
Even with all the films and TV shows now shot in Atlanta, a vast majority of the acting talent is imported. "It's infuriating considering how much talent is here," Nash said.
Nash, as a child, never imagined a life in entertainment. She majored in biology, then psychology at Georgia State University.
But she was bored and discovered improv while serving drinks at the Marietta Dave & Busters around 1997. There, she met Tommy Futch, who was running a murder mystery show. He put her in the show and soon, she was taking improv classes at Whole World Theatre and joining Futch's improv group Laughing Matters. She then landed at Dad's - and never left.
"It was like the wild west" in those early days, Nash said. "It was all these crazy young guys who were always drunk or high. Women wouldn't stick around because it was difficult to deal with these dudes who didn't necessarily appreciate their style of humor."
Fortunately, Nash has built an unusually thick skin for juvenile nonsense.
Matt Horgan, who has been a Dad's Garage ensemble member since 1998 and plays a cop with a weak stomach in "Hart of America", called her "fearless. If guys didn't treat her right, she didn't take it. She carved out her place."
"She doesn't take any bull," Futch said. "She makes good decisions on stage." He even has an "Amber Nash rule." This means when people are promoted to the lead ensemble troupe at Dad's Garage as she was in 2004, they loosen up and become even better.
At a recent TheatreSports show featuring Nash, she brings the funny without seeming to try too hard. She got laughs, whether she was imitating Arnold Schwarzenegger or dancing to "Kiss From a Rose."
"My face hurt so much," said Thomas Hougham of Acworth, who played along on stage for a sketch. "She is on top of everything. She's brilliant."
And while she did get penalized for making a ribald "pie" joke, she was far cleaner than the guys.
"She is a good moral compass," said Lucky Yates, who has been a Dad's Garage ensemble improviser for 18-plus years and works with her on "Archer" as Dr. Krieger.
Nash was modest about her night's achievements: "It was a dumb, fun show."
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Starting in 2005, Nash spent six years as the Dad's Garage education director. She said she was probably tougher on the female performers. "I wanted them to be good enough," she said.
In 2006, Nash got to know Adult Swim producers Thompson and Adam Reed who liked her work at Dad's Garage and gave her a character on their show "Frisky Dingo." When the pair created "Archer" in 2010, they called her again to voice Pam's character. (The actual look of Pam is based on a completely different person.)
Pam has become one of the most popular characters on the show. She gets social media photos from people who have tattooed Pam on their arms and legs.
At ComicCon in San Diego this summer, a woman came up dressed as Fight Club Pam in a wife beater and bandaged-up fists at a panel discussion told her: “Thank you fore creating a character I can play where I don’t have to be fat Cinderella or a fat Princess Leia. I just get to be Pam!’ Everyone began applauding.”
'She's a sex positive character who does not conform to the Hollywood mold," added Gillese.
Nash has no plans to leave Atlanta. "I love this city. I love how cheap it is to live here. It's so artistically free here."
Here is a moment when Pam asks to be a field agent:
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
A little behind the scenes bit from season one:
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