Role Recall: June Diane Raphael Revisits the Shows That Led to 'Grace and Frankie'

On a 1-10 scale of awkward mother/daughter interactions, Grace and Frankie star June Diane Raphael would rate her first meeting with her onscreen mother, Jane Fonda, as an 11. The UCB-trained comedienne and actress was only weeks removed from giving birth to her first child (with husband and fellow comic, Paul Scheer) when she and the rest of the Grace and Frankie cast — which, in addition to Fonda, includes such screen legends as Lily Tomlin, Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston — sat down for their first table read of the Netflix comedy about two lifelong frenemies, Grace (Fonda) and Frankie (Tomlin), whose husbands (Sheen and Waterston) take a big leap out of the closet by announcing they’re getting married.

“I was in my dressing room pumping [breast milk],” Raphael remembers. “I thought I had more time than I did, and there are so many parts of a pump to deal with. I was the last one to arrive, and that’s not the way you want to walk into a meeting with Jane Fonda!” Raphael is quick to add that Fonda, as well as the other actors, were entirely gracious about her being slightly more than fashionably late. But in the moment, their kindness didn’t immediately calm her nerves. “I broke out in a full body sweat. It was a case where I wanted to walk in with confidence, because I’m playing someone so uber-confident and self-assured. You don’t want to walk in with sweat pits down to your waistline.”

With one season of Grace and Frankie under her belt, the second set to premiere on Netflix on May 6 and the third currently being filmed, it’s safe to say that Raphael is well over those first meeting jitters. It helps that her character, Grace’s eldest daughter Brianna, doesn’t let anyone see her sweat. “I have the luxury playing someone that’s not intimidated by these people, so I can act that way even if I don’t feel that way.” The actress reveals Brianna spends a good chunk of Season 2 in Frankie’s company, helping the freewheeling hippie launch her own business, a development that will no doubt add some extra tension on top of her already stressful relationship with Grace. Off camera, Raphael describes Grace and Frankie as being anything but stressful. “It’s one of the best experiences of my life–my short, short life so far. I’m obviously 17.” We asked Raphael to revisit some of the other highlights from her sterling 17-year-career.

Players (Spike, 2010)
Created by founding UCB member (and current Veep star), Matt Walsh, this semi-improvised series took place in a wacky sports bar visited by a number of soon-to-be-famous guest stars including Rob Huebel and Ken Jeong. Raphael played one of the establishment’s waitresses, and credits UCB with paving the way for the opportunity.
One of the things UCB does so well is foster a wonderful community of people who care about each other. We all continue to hire each other, which is very cool. With Players, I replaced Jessica St. Clair, who appeared in the pilot but then had a conflict. So they were casting out of our community of women and the auditions were actually held at the UCB theater. I was onstage with the other cast members doing long-form improve scenes. At that point, I knew Matt as my teacher, so I held him up much like I held up Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. The process of getting hired for that show was very intimidating, but also thrilling.

NTSF:SD:SUV (Adult Swim, 2011-2013)
The spot-on CSI spoof to Childrens Hospital brilliant ER parody, NTSF was the brainchild of Raphael’s husband, Paul Scheer, who starred as the David Caruso-esque frontman of a crack crime task force, solving crimes and kicking butt. Scheer cast his spouse as Piper, a super-agent whose fighting prowess is matched only by her fashion sense. (In addition to their frequent television collaborations, she and Scheer also anchor the popular bad movie podcast, How Did This Get Made.)
Paul created Piper for me. I didn’t have to audition, thank god. I slept my way into basic cable! [Laughs] In the original minute-long promo video we made for Adult Swim, I played the Kate Mulgrew role. And then he quickly realized that the show was going to mostly star people our age, and he wanted someone like Kate who had experience and gravitas, and because I’m such a fresh young thing it didn’t make sense for me to play that role. Paul loved Alias, and Sydney Bristow is who we based Piper on. I didn’t start out loving shows like CSI. I can get into a legal procedural, but not so much in an action procedural. I can find myself in a Law & Order wormhole for days.

Burning Love (Yahoo Screen/E!, 2012-2013)
In real life, Scheer and Raphael are unapologetic fans of The Bachelor franchise. That made them ideally equipped to take part in Ken Marino’s Bachelor spoof, which tapped Raphael to play bachelorette Julie Gristlewhite in its second season. A nutcase of the highest order, Julie rejected suitor after suitor, all while pursuing the bad boy, Ryan Hansen’s Blaze, who didn’t care less about her.
Julie is one of my favorite roles — I adore her. Her obsession with Blaze was based on the season of The Bachelorette with Ashley Herbert. She was so head over heels for this guy, and he was giving these testimonials calling her ugly. He even left at one point, which is what Blaze does on Burning Love, saying he’s got to check his mail. I think the editors of The Bachelor should get Emmys. They are great at crafting story and finding comedy. They’re really the unsung heroes of this industry — the editors of The Bachelor.

The Muppets (ABC, 2015-2016)
As the fictional President of ABC, Lucy Royce, Raphael got to experience life as an executive, meddling in the creative process of Miss Piggy’s troubled talk show.
I had an amazing experience on The Muppets. I love those damn Muppets so much. I didn’t realize that the stages are raised for the human actors; they were about eight feet off the ground, and I have a little bit of vertigo so that was a challenge. When I got there, they told me that a couple crew members had fallen off that morning! But it’s unbelievable to see the muppets come to life. One minute there’s a Miss Piggy puppet on the wall, and then someone takes her and she’s alive. I had to be really harsh with Kermit during my scene, and to see that little frown and concerned Muppet face was very hard for me.

Lady Dynamite (Netflix, 2016)
Raphael is pulling double Netflix duty next month, appearing in a recurring role on stand-up star Maria Bramford’s self-aware mockumentary series. The supporting cast reads like a who’s who of comedy royalty, including Ana Gasteyer, Patton Oswalt and Sarah Silverman. All 13 episodes premiere on the streaming service on May 20.
I filmed four episodes of Lady Dynamite. I was such a huge fan of Maria’s before, but I didn’t know her personally, so I was excited when I got this call because I think she’s a true genius. I’m excited for people to see her show and thrilled to be a part of it. That show is just bananas. It’s rare for me to laugh out loud reading something, but I was on a plane when I got the first script and I was laughing like an insane person.

Season 2 of Grace and Frankie premieres May 6 on Netflix