Claudia O’Doherty on Women in Comedy and Cringe-Worthy Dates
Claudia O’Doherty considers herself to be one of the luckiest women in comedy. After the 33-year-old Australian actress and comedian caught the attention of Amy Schumer, she landed an acting role in Trainwreck and a writing gig for Inside Amy Schumer.
“It was very shocking,” recalls O’Doherty. “I had just walked out of an audition for a crummy show, and she messaged me on Twitter saying she liked my guest appearance on the podcast series Comedy Bang Bang. The next day I was invited to a table reading for Trainwreck. Everything changed really quickly.”
Following Trainwreck—which Judd Apatow directed and Schumer wrote and starred in—O’Doherty landed the role of Bertie in Apatow’s Netflix series Love. The show, which launched its second season on March 10, explores male and female perspectives on dating. O’Doherty plays the lovable, upbeat roommate to Mickey, who is played by Gillian Jacobs. “In real life, I think I’m a very cruel and judgmental person,” she laughs. “Probably more like Mickey, though not a drug addict.”
Like Bertie, however, O’Doherty does have at least one cringe-worthy post-date moment. “It was barely a date,” she recalls of the “milkshake date” she went on years ago with a musician in London and quickly cut short. She was so shocked to receive a text from him about how great the date was that she “very expressively” reacted to the message.
“I was shaking my head and shaking my fist in the air,” she says. “Then I realized he was behind me, so he would have seen me.” Unlike Bertie, O’Doherty says she has had plenty of good fortune in her life. “I’ve been really lucky,” she says. “For women in comedy, there are definitely fewer parts, so that makes it harder…but I’ve had a particularly lucky set of events.”
