‘Gilmore Girls’: Amy Sherman-Palladino Banned Improv, but 1 Special Guest Required It
Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino was notoriously picky about the show’s scripts. The stars were never allowed to ad-lib, and they had to get the fast-talk timing of their lines just right. However, there’s one Gilmore Girls guest star who became the exception to the no-improv rule: Norman Mailer. Here’s why the famous author got to go off-script, and how he ended up on Gilmore Girls in the first place.
‘Gilmore Girls’ actors were never allowed to improv
Gilmore Girls is famous for its pop culture references and rapid-fire dialogue. Many of the jokes also feel very natural, which is why some fans have wondered if any of the actors improvised their best moments. But the truth is that every single line came from the writer’s room, and the stars had to be word-perfect every time.
In a 2020 interview with Vulture, Sean Gunn, who played Kirk Gleason, reflected on the experience of working under such strict rules.
“I should note there was no improvising at all. There isn’t a single syllable that has ever been improvised by anyone on Gilmore Girls. Literally. Every syllable was verbatim. If you said ‘didn’t’ and the script said ‘did not,’ we’d have to do it again. I say that from experience,” Gunn said.
Except that’s not entirely true — just ask Norman Mailer.
Guest star Norman Mailer needed to improvise his lines
Mailer, famous for his novels like The Executioner’s Song and Armies of the Night, appeared as himself in Gilmore Girls Season 5 Episode 6, “Norman Mailer, I’m Pregnant!” He and a journalist (played by his son, Stephen Mailer) sat down for lunch interviews at the Dragonfly Inn. However, they never ordered anything but iced tea, which angered chef Sookie St. James (Melissa McCarthy).
After having a meltdown at Mailer, Sookie realized that she was so emotional because she was pregnant. She immediately ran out of the kitchen and shouted the episode’s titular lines: “Norman Mailer, I’m pregnant!”
Throughout the episode, fans heard bits of Mailer’s interview. He shared his thoughts on compliments and being one of “the best living American writers.” Interestingly, his dialogue didn’t quite fit the fast-talking nature of Gilmore Girls. That’s because he refused to follow a script.
“I told them I couldn’t memorize any lines; it had to be improvisation,” Mailer told New York Magazine in 2004. “The hard part was having to repeat things over and over.”
In another interview with Entertainment Weekly, Mailer said he did improv for “95%” of his lines on Gilmore Girls.
How did Norman Mailer end up on ‘Gilmore Girls’?
Despite Gilmore Girls’ emphasis on literature, many fans can likely agree that Norman Mailer’s cameo was a little out of the ordinary. That’s especially true when considering the fact that he said he hated sitcoms. So, what on earth convinced him to join Gilmore Girls? Apparently, he refused to guest star at first. However, one of the writers was friends with Mailer’s son, and Norman Mailer agreed to make a cameo alongside Stephen.
“I was just looking forward to working with my son,” he told the Los Angeles Times.
In the same interview, Sherman-Palladino agreed the cameo was “so bizarre” but also “pretty cool.” She and the writers really wanted the legendary figure on set, and they got him. Gilmore Girls wanted his cameo so badly that they even let Mailer get away with improv.
Gilmore Girls is now streaming on Netflix.
