By Michael Buckley
02 Sep 2006

Are there going to be any features with exercise, cooking and designs? "Unfortunately, I'm not really big with exercise and cooking [laughs], but there is a design-and-style element. I'm kind of an amateur interior decorator. And the show is partnered with two magazines: Lucky and Domino." Megan and 'Ellen,' notes Mullally, "are back-to-back in a lot of the major markets. We [she and DeGeneres] shot a couple of promos last week."

Her first TV-series role was as the daughter in the 1986-87 sitcom, "The Ellen Burstyn Show," on which her grandmother was played by Elaine Stritch. Might Stritch be a guest on the show? "Oh, yeah! I adore Elaine. We've maintained a friendship over the years. I can't think of anyone I admire more in terms of knocking them dead. And Rob Bowman [Stritch's accompanist] is so good." (By the way, Elaine Stritch: At Home at the Carlyle Again, Sept. 12-Nov. 4, is the star's brand new cabaret show.)

Following the Burstyn show were two short-lived series: Mullally played a retirement-home aide in 1991's "My Life and Times" (set in 2035, with Tom Irwin having flashbacks about 20th-century life and Helen Hunt as his senile wife), and she was a nurse in a summer 1992 drama, "Rachel Gunn, RN," in which Christine Ebersole had the title role.

Broadway afforded Mullally happier days: as Marty in Grease! (singing "Freddy, My Love") and as Rosemary in How to Succeed ("Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm"). "If I wasn't doing the talk show," notes Mullally, "I'd definitely be trying to do some theatre." However, a tight TV-promotion schedule doesn't allow time to reminisce about her stage experiences.

An only child, the Los Angeles native is the daughter of an actor and a model, Carter and Martha Mullally, and she attended Northwestern University. Her first marriage (1992-96) ended in divorce, and since September 2003, she's been Mrs. Nick Offerman.

Mullally has business in New York during Labor Day week, and arrives a day early to attend the closing performance (Sept. 3) of Meryl Streep's Mother Courage at Central Park's (outdoor) Delacorte Theatre. Asks Mullally, "What's the [Manhattan] weather like?"

Her "Will & Grace" colleagues will be guests on the show. "Debra [Messing] is already booked. We figure ladies first. She's booked for the second or third week." Does Mullally have a dream guest? "We have great guests lined up, but the first week there's somebody particular, who's one of my idols — but I'm not allowed to say who." Here's wishing that, as a talk-show host, Megan Mullally's future has more Emmys in store.

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Michael Buckley also writes for TheaterMania.