my own mary story is not so different…one year I ended up being the narrator (God).

 

“The first part I played was in the Nativity play at school. I auditioned for an angel and didn’t get it. I auditioned for Mary and didn’t get it. So I made up the character of the sheep who sat next to the baby Jesus. I wore a calico head thing that my mom made, and I bleated through the whole thing and got my first laugh. And that was it—I was hooked. That became a metaphor for my whole career: Every time I’ve thought, Oh, I should be Mary, I somehow go and find something offbeat and different.”