Megan’s musings 

“Most things that come out of celebrities’ mouths are, well, you know,” said Megan Mullally, trying to explain the nature of fame and the famous and how completely bizarre it all is.

The actress and singer also has stories about fans who identify her only with characters she has played and others who have strange requests.

“I had this one woman who wanted me to sign her boob, and I had to explain to her that it wasn’t appropriate. She seemed really upset by that,” she said.

In another odd tale, a few years ago, she was frequently asked about being an arm-wrestling champion.

She soon discovered the source:

movie and celebrity website Internet Movie Database (IMDb) listed that “fact” on her profile. (Her nonexistent arm-wrestling feats no longer appear on the site.)

“You could always tell the interviewer who had looked me up right before an interview; they would ask me about that. One day, I got curious and looked myself up,” she said.

“You can’t believe everything you read on the Internet.”

No place like home 

Mullally, a graduate of Casady High School, talked about how people she had never met identified her as Karen Walker — her character from television show Will & Grace — so completely that they simply call her that.

That’s not a bad thing, she said. She also has nothing negative to say about her fans or her fame. She still gets called Karen, but she’s too graceful to pretend to notice.

What she does notice is how beautiful downtown Oklahoma City has become and how different it is now than it was when she was younger.

Like others who have grown up here, she is proud of the progress of her hometown has made.

“I
was staying in the Colcord (Hotel) one year, and we literally watched
the Devon tower get built. It was amazing to see,” she said.

What she may love most about the growth is that this place continues to have a small-town feel as it becomes a world-class city.

“We stay with a few friends that I have known since high school, so it’s really like home,” she said of her frequent visits.

Mullally is married to Nick Offerman of TV’s Parks and Recreation.

“My
husband has really come to love OKC because of the people; he loves the
small-town vibe,” she said. “He grew up in a small Midwestern farming
town, [and] OKC makes him feel right at home.”

She
comes to town to see her mom, usually stays with friends rather than in
hotels and has several favorite area restaurants like The Metro Wine
Bar and Cafe 501.

“We’ve been going to The Metro forever. It’s a place where we always feel like we’re visiting old friends,” she said.

A homecoming 

Mullally’s current project is part band, part comedy duo and is called Nancy & Beth, which she performs with fellow entertainer Stephanie Hunt (Friday Night Lights).

The
duo is coming Feb. 19 and 20 to the Plaza Theatre,1727 NW 16th St. The
first show sold out in 45 minutes, and a second show quickly followed.

The performance is a homecoming of sorts in more ways than one.

Mullally’s first gig was at age 12 in a Lyric Theatre production of Fiddler on the Roof. She played Shprintze, who she described as “one of the younger sisters that nobody ever talks about.”

For her to bring her newest show to the Plaza is, in her words, “perfect.”

Mullally was in Austin, Texas, about two years ago filming Somebody Up There Likes Me with Hunt, and the two got to talking and found that they had a lot in common.

“We both like vintage clothes and music,” she said.

Hunt played the ukulele, which Mullally has since learned how to play, and they both sing.

“When
we started singing together, we could tell immediately that we had
something. People often say that they can’t tell whose voice is whose,”
she said.

As for the show’s R-rating, Mullally said it is “an adult show” with “a huge spectrum of stuff that’s very highenergy.”

The adult nature is both in subject matter and approach.

The
women cover everything from tunes by the Boswell Sisters to a
surprisingly soulful cover of Riskay’s “Let Me Smell Yo Dick” — “an
audience favorite, for sure,” said Mullally.

The
duo has been touring extensively since forming the group, bringing its
blend of rock, American roots music, dance and humor to sold-out
audiences.

“We just recently choreographed new material,” she said. “The audience loves to dance along with us, and that’s a lot of fun.”