Taylor Misiak Has Become Well Versed in Denis Leary Lore

Last month, The New Yorker published Dexter Filkins’ exhaustive article on “The U.S. Military’s Recruiting Crisis.” It seems the titular failure to enlist new recruits in sufficient numbers has compromised our readiness to defend the country in the event of an actual war, never mind fulfill promises past administrations have made to the governments of other nations. 

Maybe that problem would be solved if troops could be posted at Stroopsdorf, the U.S. service base that provides the setting for Going Dutch. Stroopsdorf doesn’t have: strict requirements on fitness or hair length. Any apparent need to use a tower that’s been colonized by local wildlife. Guns. Stroopsdorf does have: bowling. Laundry. Cheeseworks. Silent discos. The best dining facility in the military. The highest morale in the army. If we ever find out they get U.S. TV channels via satellite, I might look into moving there myself. (Just kidding: yes, I know it’s fictional.)

One person at Stroopsdorf whose morale tends to be low is Col. Patrick Quinn (Denis Leary), since he’s been sent to this base, which has no combat-related operations, as a punishment for annoying his commanding officer. The Colonel’s arrival also hasn’t thrilled its acting commander: Capt. Maggie Quinn (Taylor Misiak), the Colonel’s estranged daughter. Spending more time with her father generally confirms Maggie’s decision, years earlier, to cut off contact with him (something the Colonel is too self-involved even to have noticed), but as the first season has gone on, we’ve seen moments of grudging respect between the pair, from Maggie’s realization that the Colonel’s suspicion of her CIA-agent boyfriend was well-founded to the Colonel’s pride at inflaming Maggie’s athletic aggression for a round of korfball against the locals. 

I talked to Misiak ahead of last night’s Season One finale about the introduction of Maggie’s mother Nina (Lisa Edelstein) along with the Colonel’s other two ex-wives who’ve become her best friends; what it’s been like shooting the show in Ireland; Maggie’s tentative romance with the Colonel’s XO, Maj. Abraham Shah (Danny Pudi); and much more.

Getting the chemistry right between the Quinns right must have been the most important part of casting the show. How did that process go?

We had several Zoom reads, first with myself and the showrunner, Joel Church-Cooper, and then I graduated to getting to read with the one and only Denis Leary, which you bet your bottom dollar was intimidating. But he was so present and really checked in on the Zooms, and was actually acting with me, and it felt right to me from the beginning. 

I learned later that Denis was a good advocate for me and really championed me after that process. It’s funny to think that our chemistry was tested through a Zoom, but it was, and fortunately once we got together, that magic was there in real life, too.

Had he known your work before?

I don’t believe so. I’m under the impression that he was introduced to Dave, the show that I was previously on, during our auditioning process. I know that one of our executive producers, Jack (Leary) had sort of highlighted that for him, but up until then, no, I think I was a nobody. 

You’re a comedy performer, of course, and presumably a comedy fan, but you were a baby when No Cure for Cancer came out. How much catching up did you have to do to get up to speed on Denis Leary?

Only a little bit, because my family are big fans. The “Asshole” song has played in my house before, but I definitely did a deep dive. In fact, one of my friends gave me a DVD of The Roast of Denis Leary that was on Comedy Central, and that was really delightful to watch. So I knew quite a bit, and now I certainly know a lot more about Leary lore.

They’re a little loosey-goosey on the show with things like regulation haircuts, but did you have to go through any lessons on how to play a soldier convincingly?

Yes. We had a military consultant that we worked with before shooting, and during the shoot we shot on a real military base in Gormanston in Ireland. There were definitely lessons learned in terms of how to be more authentic, but fortunately for us, the premise of the show is that our soldiers aren’t spectacularly talented at being in the army, and that gave the actors a lot of leeway to find what their strengths and weaknesses were as members of the military.

Yeah, I mean I did picture Dale Dye training you all to plate ravioli.

Yeah, exactly. And I’m like, “I know all about that.” I worked in a restaurant, so I can do all this commissary stuff. It was fun for us all to learn about the ranks, and the etiquette between the ranks, when they’re in the same office, when they’re outside. We learned a lot about uniforms, and that was important to a lot of us. But it was also, like I said, fortunate that we had that hall pass of getting to be goofballs as well.

Speaking of which: Stroopsdorf is known for bowling, cheese and laundry. Which of these pursuits would you be best at?

Bowling. I’m a decent bowler. This is one of my biggest secrets, but I’ll tell you, I’m not a big fan of cheese. Not a big cheese girl! And I do think that laundry is a strength of mine. I’ve been told that if you leave a sweater at my house and I return it to you, it comes back smelling better. But I’d like to tell you that my strength is bowling because that’s cooler and I believe that to probably be true.

Can you fold a fitted sheet?

No. What do I look like, Superman? I feel like I’ve watched a video of Antoni from Queer Eye folding a fitted sheet, and I thought, “Got it.” And then the second I saw a fitted sheet my mind was blank. What magic was that?

Back to your uniforms: that has to be a bonus for you, not to worry too much about getting shoved into really girly costumes.

Yes. We find fun opportunities to get the characters off-base. I have a couple moments where we get to see Maggie in more Maggie clothes — street clothes, if you will — and those were fun, but I’ve always fantasized about having a role with a uniform, whether that be in the military or a doctor or a cop. It gives you a lot of spirit and stature and specificity when you’re working on a part with a uniform like that.

I was definitely convinced by your performance in the korfball episode that Maggie is intensely competitive. How hard was it for you to tap into that energy?

Oh, that’s big Taylor energy right there. My husband and I nearly broke up during a faux Survivor backyard challenge. I get pretty intense. There’s a lot about Maggie that I relate with and that was a fun part to tap into. I love that it highlighted what I think is really funny about the show and specific about the relationship between the Colonel and Maggie — that our parents bring out different parts of us.

The relationship between Maggie and Shah has progressed so subtly. What was your reaction when you saw there was going to be hand-holding?

It’s so funny that you ask that because Danny and I really love our respective characters and are very excited by the idea of their relationship and their romance growing. We very much wanted it to feel like it was going at an authentic, believable, slow pace. We think both of these characters would be very careful with this romance, and I’ve learned since shooting and now watching the show that we shoot more than we need. So there were a couple of other romantic moments that are on the cutting-room floor.

I distinctly remember getting the hand-holding scene and both of us feeling excited to do it, but also a little apprehensive to make sure it doesn’t feel like too much. Watching it back, I feel that our producers have really nailed in the edit a very nice slow burn that I know Danny and I are both happy with.

Going Dutch is one of three new sitcoms this year that are about estranged fathers and daughters, along with Shifting Gears and Clean Slate, so it seems like this is something that’s in the zeitgeist. Do you hear from people that Going Dutch strikes a chord for them personally in terms of their relationship with their own family?

Yes. It’s a fun show that presents itself as a workplace comedy, which it certainly is, but then has this unexpected gut punch of this really relatable family relationship at its core.

I’ve talked to a lot of my friends about it, how it’s made them reflect upon their relationships with their parents and vice versa. It’s been fun talking to the fathers and mothers on the show who make it, and I know that our creator and showrunner, Joel Church-Cooper is an amazing dad and really infuses a lot of his feelings and his true love of fatherhood into the show. It adds a lot of, I think, special specificity to it. 

It’s so interesting that there are these other shows unpacking this kind of relationship too, because I remember reading the material and thinking it was wonderfully unique. I really am often auditioning for girlfriends and wives, and to play a lead of a two-hander that’s a father-daughter pairing meant a lot to me. It felt very different. I do think we’re not painting with broad strokes with Maggie and the Colonel. There is a really, really remarkable and specific special relationship between those two that helps people relate to it more.

You and Denis and the writers find so much funny in this relationship, but you do also get those moments when the reality comes through. How do the two of you prepare for scenes like that?

Denis and I do rehearse, but he has a wonderful approach to rehearsing where he doesn’t want to do it too much. And sometimes that makes a Type A actor like me a bit anxious, but it’s proven to be a perfect approach. The two of us built a really close relationship while shooting the show that started to really infuse into our characters, and by the time we shot the finale, the final scene between Maggie and the Colonel is so heartfelt and really deep and shows parts of Maggie that we certainly haven’t seen all season. That felt raw and real just because of the connection that Denis and I had been building while creating this world over the previous three months. So I’m glad that that was all there for the taking, and we didn’t have to force it, because the environment that Denis created on set let things be very organic and accessible and I was never too worried that we wouldn’t get there

Even when it’s played for laughs. I do appreciate how determined Maggie is to teach Patrick about the ways Dutch culture is different from America’s, but still valid. How important are those scenes for you to include in a story like this?

They’re really important because I’ve certainly been there with my parents or different family members — I think a lot of people have with various people in their life — and I love that we’re doing it in this specific world and situation in The Netherlands so that it doesn’t feel too like “woke daughter teaching Boomer dad what not to do.” She’s really enlightening him about a new place and a new culture and wants him to understand it. She knows it’ll make him happier and make him feel better, and she prides herself on having an open mind that’s led her to having a happier lifestyle living there. So I really love that they’re included. They often poke fun at American culture while celebrating this European culture — that’s most evident in “Trial of Jan.” That’s one of my favorite episodes, because you might assume that it’s making more fun of them when it’s, in fact, making much more fun of us.

When a whole production descends on a place like you all have in Ireland, I have to think it’s sort of like going to camp. Do the cast and crew hang out together in off hours?

It is camp-like. It was such a beautiful, spectacular place, and the people are so welcoming. The crew would tell us what to do on the weekends and show us historical sites and take us to the Guinness factory and show us how to go sea-swim. That was a big activity for the cast and it was just such a delight to watch myself and Danny and Laci (Mosley, who plays MSgt. Dana Conway( and Hal (Cumpston, who plays Corp. Elias Papadakis) screaming at the top of our lungs while we’re jumping into what we think is icy, freezing-cold water amongst just dozens and dozens of perfectly calm, serene Irish people floating in the water. It was an extreme for us and just an average morning for them. But you aren’t going to catch me doing that in the United States, let me tell you. It was a very “when in Rome” experience, and it felt so fun to hold hands with Hal Cumpston while I jumped into The Forty Foot. So yeah, it was definitely giving camp in the best way.

You’re so close to The Netherlands when you’re shooting in Ireland. Have you gone to visit since you’ve been making the show?

I was one of the only actors who couldn’t. I didn’t have enough days off. I actually got married during the show, so my days off were only dedicated to going back to America for my wedding. If we are fortunate enough to have a Season Two, I want to take a trip to the Netherlands first. Laci went right after we wrapped, and she said it was just such a delight to go, “We have that!,” meaning in our fake Amsterdam. So I’d definitely like to take a little research work trip there just to sink my teeth deeper into it for sure.

You and Danny Pudi have both starred in shows about video games: he’s in Mythic Quest, and you were in Players. Which of you would win head to head? Call of Duty, Tetris, whatever the vibe is.

Oh, Danny, by far. I’m completely illiterate when it comes to playing video games, and he would definitely destroy me. That being said, if we were to play a card game like poker, I think I could give Danny Pudi a run for his money.