Maya Rudolph talks new film 'The Way, Way Back', and Jerry Lewis’ stance on female comics

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Rudolph has made humor her business, and it’s a suit that fits well, even off-camera in her clever banter. Like Fey, she says she is not impressed with Jerry Lewis’ recurring stance that females can’t be funny, and doesn’t buy it.

“He’s going to love me,” she says. “What about Carol Burnett? Do you have his number? We should call him, and go, ‘What about Carol Burnett?’”

A look at The Way, Way Back

Nowadays, Rudolph can primarily be seen in the cinema, and has at least five films in motion including The Way, Way Back, out in theaters July 5.

In the movie, she portrays a 30-something single woman who works at a local water park, primarily because she’s smitten with the manager [Rockwell].

The two have a complicated romantic relationship, and serve what Rudolph describes as a “weigh station between adolescence and adulthood” for a 14-year-old boy [Liam James], who’s stuck with his dysfunctional family for the summer. Seeking a break from reality, the boy gravitates to the park and the newfound company as a chance to come into his own, amongst people who accept him.

“Without the responsibility of having their own children, and sort of taking this child into their fold, there was definitely a parenting thing,” Rudolph comments about her character’s relationship with the boy.

On the contrary, the actress says her own family vacations are pretty standard, or certainly not as “depressing” or rowdy as the household in this movie.

“You’re just like ‘Who needs to eat?’” she jokes. “You’re not doing upside down beer funneling with the kids…Maybe in 20 years.”

Life in the Rudolph clan

Given her eldest child is only 7-years-old, none of Rudolph’s kids have had the chance to experience their mother at her comedic finest, but she says they don’t think she’s cool anyway.

Nor will she push them to follow her direction.

“I’m more fascinated in what comes out naturally,” Rudolph explains. “It fascinates me when you see things in your children. Not just what you do for a living necessarily, but genetically, their personalities. I find that really fascinating. And I try not to touch it. I try not to mess with it because I want them to become who they’re going to be. But you can’t help it as parent. You’re in there all the time. “

Growing up in an interracial family and raising her own, Rudolph says she was surprised to hear about the recent controversy surrounding the Cheerios advertisement, which featured a mixed couple and their biracial daughter and caused outrage amongst some in the online community.

Rudolph blames the negative comments on enraged Internet clingers.

She comments, “Who’s writing that? You mean nerds. Angry nerds. I mean, I love nerds, but angry nerds is a whole different breed.”

Follow Courtney Garcia on Twitter at @courtgarcia