Actress Melissa McCarthy and Actor Ben Falcone Talk Netflix Series ‘God’s Favorite Idiot’

(L to R) Ben Falcone and Melissa McCarthy in ‘God’s Favorite Idiot,’ which premieres June 15th on Netflix.

Premiering June 15th on Netflix is the new workplace comedy series ‘God’s Favorite Idiot,’ which was created by Ben Falcone (‘The Boss’).

In the series Falcone plays Clark, an average office worker who is chosen by God to be his messenger and prevent the Apocalypse. Falcone’s real-life wife, Melissa McCarthy (‘Bridesmaids’), plays Clark’s girlfriend Amily, while Kevin Dunn (‘Transformers’) plays Clark’s father, and Leslie Bibb (‘Iron Man’) plays Satan.

Moviefone recently had the opportunity to speak with Ben Falcone and Melissa McCarthy about their work on ‘God’s Favorite Idiot’

You can read the full interview below or watch a video of the interview by clicking on the player above.

Moviefone: To begin with, Ben can you talk about your original pitch for this series?

Ben Falcone: I did have to pitch this to a studio. I think I said something like, this is a show about what would happen if a really unassuming person who you'd never expect is the person that God chooses to help save the world.

MF: Melissa, why do you think God selected Clark to save the world?

Melissa McCarthy: I mean, certainly it's part of what made me love it so much. I'm like, I don't think it's the big, loud, perfect looking person, perfect job, perfect this, perfect that. I think it's really like, who's the kindest? Who would you actually trust to do the right thing in any given moment? And to me, it is Clark.

I also think with so much craziness and negativity, where everyone's like, "I'm right," and "My ways are better than yours," in a comedic way to be able to say, "What if we're all right, and what if we're all wrong? What if we were just kind?" It's so simple when you look at it like that. I think that really speaks to how Ben goes through life. He's the kindest person I know.

(L to R) Melissa McCarthy as Amily Luck, Ben Falcone as Clark Thompson in 'God’s Favorite Idiot.' Photo: Vince Valitutti/Netflix © 2022.

MF: Melissa, how would you describe Amily?

MM: What do you always say?

BF: The mosquito in the battleship.

MM: Yeah. That's how I often describe our marriage. I think you need the steady, not boring at all, but just steady. Like we need that. Then you need somebody else who maybe does get in there and mix it up a little bit and says, "What are we doing? Let's do something."

Somehow those two together, it really is a bit of our marriage, but there's something to that like: two steadies can't really do it, two people doing this is too much. As an audience member, and as an actress, I love to play characters that are flawed, because aren't we all? They don't do the right things. It's not some storybook perfect person, which I don't know any of, but you find yourself still rooting for them.

To me that's why we love our friends, or who we date, or who we marry. It's not because they're "perfect." That would be so boring. I don't know anyone who is perfect. But I always think we all fall in love with quirks, and ticks, and how weird people are.

(L to R) Ben Falcone as Clark Thompson, Melissa McCarthy as Amily Luck in 'God’s Favorite Idiot.' Photo: Vince Valitutti/Netflix © 2022.

MF: Finally, Ben when you are creating a project for you and Melissa, do you go over your ideas at home while you are in the writing process?

BF: Sure. I mean, yes to all of it. I think first when we get home, we try to hang out with the kids because they find all of this incredibly boring. Then usually Melissa will start looking at the next day's work, and she'll start pitching bits. I'll be like, "Oh, that's great." We'll try to come up with more bits and then we'll call the props department, and be like, "We need a giant …"

MM: “Can you get a giant kangaroo for tomorrow?"

BF: So, we're always kind of shooting that stuff around because it's really fun for us.

MM: Our professional job is doing something that we would do for free, and that we love so much, which I always feel like, "Oh my God, how did we possibly get this lucky?" So, when we come home, it doesn't feel like talking about work. To us, it's more like: something that Usman Ally did that was so funny that we're still talking about it, or Ana Scotney said this one thing that made the whole scene go in a different direction that we loved.

It's so fun, and we're so kind of excited about it that you just end up still talking about it on the drive home, and when we get home. If that's my job and I still love it from sun up to sun down, then I have no complaints in the world.

‘God’s Favorite Idiot' premieres on Netflix June 15th.

(L to R) Ben Falcone as Clark Thompson, Melissa McCarthy as Amily Luck, Usman Ally as Mohsin Raza, Ana Scotney as Wendy, Chris Sandiford as Tom in 'God’s Favorite Idiot.' Photo: Vince Valitutti/Netflix © 2022.