Vanessa Bayer first burst into our living rooms when she was cast on Saturday Night Live in 2010. After two years as a featured player, she was bumped up to full cast member for the remainder of her time until 2017. She was known for doing many characters and even snagged an Emmy nomination for her final season on the show. Since leaving SNL, she has popped up in such hit films as Trainwreck, The Polka King, and Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. She has also had guest roles on TV comedies such as The Mindy Project, Portlandia, Will & Grace, What We Do in the Shadows, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
In 2022, Bayer guest-starred on Season 3 of Barry. In one of the best episodes of the season entitled “710N,” Bayer plays Morgan Dawn-Cherry, an executive of the streaming channel, BanShe. Sally (Sarah Goldberg) had her show premiere and quickly bomb on the streamer, but BanShe wanted to meet with her anyway regarding bringing her into the writer’s room on one of their hit shows. Sally along with her agent, Lindsay (Jessy Hodges) take the meeting despite Sarah’s skepticism. Bayer has about 2 minutes of screen time in which she and Hodges have one of the best non-verbal back and forths that has ever been on-screen. In an otherwise incredibly dark season of Barry, these two minutes gave hearty belly laughs that only Bayer could do. She showed off her comedy chops in a way that made the audience ache for a longer scene. (Or even some outtakes). Is this two-minute stroke of genius worth an Emmy nomination? Maybe not in a year of stiff competition, but it certainly deserves to be in the conversation.
Where she was robbed of the Emmy is for the Showtime dark comedy, I Love That For You, a show Bayer created, executive produced, and starred in. Vanessa stars as Joanna Gold whose life goal is to star on SVN, which is obviously a fictionalized version of QVC. Since she was a little girl Joanna has been obsessed with SVN and has wanted to be one of the on-air hosts. Her idol, SVN legend Jackie Stilton played by the incomparable Molly Shannon (who was also inexplicably snubbed for an Emmy nomination) is exactly who Joanna wants to be. Shannon and Bayer didn’t have any overlapping time on SNL, but the chemistry between the two is undeniable. Joanna is over the moon when she worms her way into an audition for an on-air host, and she quickly proves that she was meant for the job. However, her lack of experience comes through in her first week when she is immediately fired for messing up live on air. Out of desperation, she tells her boss and her new colleagues that she has cancer which enables her to keep her job. Now Joanna did have cancer when she was a child, but it’s long gone. So here we have a dilemma, is it okay to tell a lie if it gets you what you want? The obvious answer is no, but the show doesn’t let it be that simple. Bayer herself was a survivor of childhood cancer and admitted that she too used it to her advantage when she was a kid. If it got her out of homework or an extra ice cream cone, what’s the harm? However, in this show, she takes it to extremes to push the boundaries of how far you can take it when you lie to get what you want.
On paper, Joanna seems like a horrendous person. Despite the lie she told, she’s actually quite empathetic and big-hearted. She is surrounded by cutthroat showbiz personalities who get tired of her sweet and innocent act real quick. Her lie has an unintended effect in that it brings her closer to Jackie, her no-nonsense boss, Patricia (Jenifer Lewis), Patricia’s snarky assistant, Darcy (Matt Rogers), and even a love interest, Jordan (Paul James).
So why does Bayer deserve an Emmy? Joanna could easily be unlikeable in the wrong hands. Her intentions could be considered sinister. But Bayer not only makes her likable, but you’ll even find yourself understanding why she did what she did even if you don’t agree with it. It didn’t come from a place of viciousness, she used the only perceived tool in her toolkit to keep her dream job. An error in judgment, perhaps, but Joanna’s soul is so pure, it’s hard to look at it with disdain.
Bayer is also a master of the awkward. It’s hard to tell if she comes by it naturally or if she is just so darn believable as a socially awkward person who doesn’t know how to handle real-life situations. Having listened to her podcast How Did We Get Weird that she does with her brother Jonah Bayer, it doesn’t seem like she is an overly awkward person which makes her performance remarkable. Joanna continues to find herself in overly cringy moments when she tries desperately to play things cool and only winds up making it weird for everyone. And somehow, that makes her even more endearing.
But she’s more than just the quirky, awkward girl that is easy to laugh at. Bayer’s character also goes through a roller coaster of emotions throughout the season. On one hand, she has to pretend she is sick with cancer which involves her being humble and gracious, but on the other hand, she has to step up and fight back against her power-hungry colleagues who are looking for just about anything to prove she’s a fraud. All the while, there is a huge layer of empathy that she has for her boss who has been nothing but cruel to her, and for her friend Jackie who reveals she has a disorder of her own that no one knows about. Bayer’s Joanna is plagued by guilt every day because of her lie but is also finally living her dream. The internal conflict is always present on her face even if we, the audience, are the only ones who really know the struggle she has brought onto herself.
When Joanna’s secret is revealed, her torment shifts from guilt to shame. She is now at her dream job surrounded by people who hate and despise her. SVN’s celebrity guest star, Ryan Phillippe, can barely look at her as he is so filled with disgust. (Side note, when did Ryan Phillippe become hilarious?) Her shame morphs quickly into desperation to salvage her relationships with her coworkers and most importantly the good friends she accidentally made during her lie. Bayer runs the gamut of emotions during the season, and she does each effortlessly and without apology. Even with her abominable lie, you cannot help but root for her as she tries desperately to prove that she's worth it even if she lied her way into it. She is an absolute force of a performer and Sir Emmy may have snubbed her this year, but this is far from the last time she will be in the conversation.