Natasha Rothwell says there’s a spiritual power to improv

A note from Wild Card host Rachel Martin: Anyone who has watched Season 1 of The White Lotus knows that Natasha Rothwell’s character Belinda is the heart and moral center of the show. She’s a massage therapist at a fancy resort who puts up with a lot of very privileged people. It’s shaping up to be the same in Season 3 as Belinda returns to the show.

This time, she gets to enjoy the luxuries of resort life herself in Thailand, where this season is set. And this time Belinda is at sort of a crossroads in her life. Putting herself first for a change. Her dreams. Prioritizing the life she wants. It’s hard not to draw a parallel between Belinda and the woman who plays her.

Because Natasha Rothwell is at her own kind of crossroads. She perfected the hilarious best friend role as Kelli in Issa Rae’s show Insecure and enjoyed some blockbuster buzz as Rachel in the Sonic the Hedgehog movies. My kid’s favorite. But she got to take center stage in her own show called How to Die Alone, which was about waking up to your own worth.

It was hilarious and heartfelt and it won an Independent Spirit Award for best ensemble cast in new scripted series, but was abruptly canceled after one season. She is no doubt managing that disappointment and at the same time soaking up all The White Lotus praise, and everyone who loves to watch her shine is anxious to see what she does next.

This Wild Card interview has been edited for length and clarity. Host Rachel Martin asks guests randomly selected questions from a deck of cards. Tap play above to listen to the full podcast, or read an excerpt below.

Question 1: What’s a piece of advice you are smart to ignore?

Natasha Rothwell: Don’t move to New York.

Rachel Martin: OK. Who told you to never move to New York?

Rothwell: I was in D.C. after I had graduated college at the University of Maryland. I lived in D.C. and I did improv and theater, and I’d always had ambitions to go to New York. One of my colleagues was just like, “Don’t do that.” They said, “You’re gonna go up there and you’re gonna be one of all of these people, and here [in Washington] you could do more.” Hindsight being what it is, I think he was just speaking his fears into my life.

Martin: That’s so often what happens.

Rothwell: So often. So, I was glad that I didn’t listen to that or allow it to affect my eventual trajectory.

Martin: When you landed in New York, place that experience for me. How old were you? Where were you living? How were you making a living?

Rothwell: Yeah, so it’s a little strange. After D.C., I went to Tokyo. I was teaching English and performing at the Tokyo Comedy Store as two part-time jobs to make a living.

It was super interesting, super unique and I did it because I didn’t want to show up to New York with an empty cup. I was pretty sheltered growing up and I was such a nerd in college. I want to choose this adventure. I did it for a year and it was from there that I went to New York. My little sister, who’s been a New Yorker now for over 20 years, was living there at the time, and there was a full-time teaching job that she helped me secure as a theater teacher. So, my entry point into New York was teaching.

Question 2: Do you take life as it comes or do you plan for all outcomes?

Rothwell: The best example of it is that I’m a chronic overpacker. It’s because I’m preparing for all eventualities.

In addition to my social anxiety, I have regular, plain-old generalized anxiety. And it necessitates that I prepare. Like, what if this happens? I need to make sure that we’re covered.

Martin: Give me an example. It’s not just clothes. It’s not like, “Oh, I’m going to need this wedge heel. And I also need a ballet slipper.”

Rothwell: I’m in my 40s. So, it’s like, well, if I have some gastrointestinal issues, I need to make sure I’m prepared for all of that. I got the Tums. I got the Imodium. Like what do I need?

Martin: Cause they’re definitely not going to have drugstores where you’re going.

Rothwell: Exactly. It’s so crazy. I’m planning as if it’s the end of the world wherever I’m going and I’m ready for it. When I was younger, in my friend group, I remember during field trips, they would call me “the mom” because, in my little fanny pack, I’d have everything — snacks, whatever, just in case. That kind of neurosis was definitely rewarded for a long, long time.

I’m a planner. I don’t like to be beholden to those plans when we’re talking about general life plans because life has gone in so many directions. I have flexibility when it comes to planning, but it’s nice for me to have a plan.

Martin: If you have a plan, and all of a sudden, something happens and torpedoes it, and you have to pivot, are you pretty good at that part?

Rothwell: I’m pretty good at pivoting, but it will throw me. My ADHD, it’s just like, this is the plan, this is what we’re doing and if that goes sideways, it will send me into emotional turmoil. But improv is in my DNA; it’s what I did for a living for a long time, so being able to pivot at a moment’s notice and with a bit of elegance? Yes, I do that all the time — but not without some internal frustration.

Question 3: Is there anything in your life that feels like praying?

Rothwell: It all comes back to art for me. If our definition of prayer is sort of communing with a higher power, that is my creative process. There are moments where, and this happened a lot on Insecure, I think, it’s related to improv.

You tap into something that’s bigger than you when you’re improvising and you’re in that pocket. We would do takes as written and then we would do takes that were improvised — I was kind of a hired hand for that. And I wouldn’t even remember having done those things because I was so in it, in the moment, in the character so it felt very much like I was able to channel the creative in that moment and commune with something bigger.

I don’t know. It’s cringe to say it because it’s just like, how does an eloquent dick joke equal praying? But sometimes, sometimes, sometimes girl, it does.