Playing the young, carefree foil of the cast of ABC’s Cougar Town is an effortless undertaking for comedic actress, Busy Philipps. Known for rubber faced mugging and bubble headed quips, Philipps’s Cougar Town character, Laurie Keller, offers the punch lines to Jules Cobb’s (played by Courteney Cox) serious musings about life as a single career mom and divorcee.

Thirty minutes into my interview with Busy Philipps, our professional roles of journalist and actress were swiftly evaporated and we simply became two working moms when Philipps’s 3 year old daughter, Birdie, entered the room. Philipps’s daughter was excitedly talking to her mother about an upcoming play date scheduled for that evening. My conversation with Busy drifted from television sitcoms and Hollywood wrangling to swapping stories about our toddlers’ pre-school curriculums, and balancing career and parenting before getting back to the task at hand: discussing the third season of her sitcom, Cougar Town.

I find it delicious when something unexpected happens that forces people to temporarily fall “out of character.” Those are always life’s best moments as far as I’m concerned, and Busy Philipps seems brilliant at creating spontaneous moments, both onscreen and off. It’s what sets her apart as an actress; it’s her own unique brand of talent. Busy’s willingness to abandon vanity and fully embody each of her characters’ physicality onscreen is what grabbed the attention of everyone from Judd Apatow to the Wayans brothers, and eventually Cougar Town co-creator, Bill Lawrence (Scrubs, Spin City).

Read the complete interview over at PR.com

Busy Philipps won’t be waking up Thursday morning with visions of Golden Globe nominations for herself or her fellow Cougar Town cast members dancing in her head. “That’s not going to happen now. No one’s seen the show this season,” says Philipps, lamenting the fact that ABC has not only failed to find a spot for the hilarious ensemble comedy on its 2012 schedule, but also reduced its Season 3 episode order from 22 to 15.

Philipps says the Cougar Town cast has already shot 10 of those episodes, and that the show’s writers may have to cut back a storyline focusing on a new love interest for Laurie. “The writers have amazing stuff planned out for this season, and now they’re going to have to condense,” she says. “I feel bad for them. I feel bad for everyone. It’s a bummer. It sucks.”

The good news, though, says Philipps, is that Season 3 contains “some of the funniest work we’ve done since the beginning of the show. I’ve seen a couple of the episodes. The one Courteney [Cox] directed came out incredible.”

Plus, teases Philipps, there’s a new addition to the cast with major breakout potential: Briga Heelan, who’s been cast as the very young woman Grayson (unwittingly) impregnated years ago. “[Briga] is threateningly funny. She’s so good! She’s going to be a huge star,” Philipps predicts. “You heard it from me first.”

What’s more, while Laurie will indeed embark on a new romance with a military man who’s stuck in the Middle East — read more about how that relationship will work in this week’s Ask Ausiello! – the show will also address her burgeoning romantic feelings with Travis. “There’s a really good episode toward the beginning of the season where the two of us discuss our relationship a little bit,” Philipps explains. “It’s funny and sweet.”

TVLine.com

Cougar Town star Busy Philipps is getting set for a fun festive season with hubby Marc Silverstein and their 3-year-old daughter Birdie. The mom-of-one opened up to Celebrity Baby Scoop about enjoying a low-key Christmas at home.

Christmas is at home this year,” Busy said. “We have a big tree and I always make a few different kinds of cookies. Decorating sugar cookies is always one of the most fun events. Birdie will have some friends over and we let them go crazy with the sprinkles and frosting.”

Earlier this year, the 32-year-old actress also opened up to Celebrity Baby Scoop about her “sweet” daughter.

“Every day there’s something new and fantastic that happens!,” Busy said. “My daughter is very cuddly and sweet and has gotten to the point where throughout the day she’ll throw her arms around me and say, ‘I love you mommy, you’re the best,’ which is really sweet and makes me feel so lucky that I have a cuddly kid because not all kids are really cuddly. She’s a really sweet, thoughtful kid.”

Obviously we’re fans of “Cougar Town” around here (seriously, if you’re not watching it yet you should be). And my love for supporting actress Busy Philipps dates back to her role as bad-girl Kim on the greatest sitcom ever canceled, “Freaks and Geeks.” The real Busy is a devoted mom, whose phone conversation with me is peppered with asides to her 3-year-old daughter, Birdie, of the “Oh, what pretty glitter!” variety. In fact, I would have further explored that “faking an orgasm” question if Birdie (cuuuute name!) hadn’t literally ended the interview by yanking the phone out of her mother’s hand. Don’t worry, I’d already asked her about making out with James Franco.

I’m really excited to be talking to you especially because your co-star is a columnist for us.

Busy: It’s so funny because Courteney [Cox] had mentioned at some point something about Jane Pratt and I was like, “Not Jane Pratt from Sassy and Jane Magazine” and she gave me this look and was like “Yeah, THAT Jane Pratt.” I was like, she was only my idol! She was responsible for every fashion decision I made from 12 to 19 to whenever Jane magazine disappeared.

Before I got on with you, I shouted out to some readers to ask if they had any questions for you. Somebody wanted to know “What did James Franco’s mouth taste like?”

Busy: God, I don’t even remember, but I’m sure I tasted like cigarettes, which is gross. I LOVED making out with James; it was super fun. Also we were kids, and I don’t think we understood the idea of movie kissing yet, so we were just full on French kissing. Especially if you are on TV, you don’t really have to do super duper frenching and you kind of just get away with open mouth, no tongue kissing. Especially when you become an adult and people are married and they have kids, you don’t want it to be weird.

But I remember not knowing that that was something you needed to talk about, so we would just make out. We weren’t really into each other. We really didn’t like each other at the time, but we have since become friends.

They also wanted to know about Josh Jackson.

I’ve made out with a lot of cute guys! Kissing Josh Jackson, those were some fond memories. I’m sure him and his girlfriend appreciate me saying that. I’m sure my husband enjoys that, too. Him and I are friends now. But it’s part of the business, its what we do.

I made out with Josh Radnor because I did one episode of “How I Met Your Mother” and we saw him at the Muppets premiere the other day, and my husband and Josh are really good friends. I was introducing the three-year-old to Josh and said, “This is one of daddy’s friends, Josh” and he said “We are friends, too. And I said, “Yeah, and we totally made out on TV,” not even noticing that my three year old was right there. Poor thing.

What is the grossest thing in your purse?

Busy: Well, let’s look…there’s a “smooth move” tea bag. That’s a little gross, but its practical. Usually there’s a little piece of gum in a tiny wrap of paper. Today it’s very typical, mostly crayons and stuff. Oh, here’s a little piece of popcorn!

That’s a mom purse. Jane actually told me that you made an amazing cake for your daughter’s birthday? [She was showing my and Courteney's daughters pictures of the cake when we were all on the Cougartown set and both girls were just so enamored of her/her character -- she has some sparkly thing going on that kids just LOVE. ]

Busy: Oh yeah, I’m a bit of a cake artist. It’s my favorite thing in the world. This year I made a Rapunzel tower cake. It was three feet tall. It was pretty spectacular.

My mom did cakes. When she was first married to my dad, he was in the Navy and he was stationed for many months at a time and they had moved to Hawaii. I think she was just lonely, so she started taking a cake decorating class and she was really good at it, and she shared that world with me and my sister, too. She always made really great cakes for us growing up.

In my early 20s, I started doing creative narrative cakes, and around age 20 or 21 I got into stand-up cakes. Once I started doing that, it was just all trial and error. And then a couple of years ago, all these cake shows got very popular and then I got so many tips from watching them.

I only do like two or three a year. I could never do it as a business. I always get weirdly insulted when people are like, “You should do that as a business!” because then I feel like they are saying my acting isn’t good.

Have you ever made a dirty cake?

Busy: Yeah , I made a boob cake, for our first AD on Cougar Town for his birthday. Of course it was the day that my executive producer and his wife brought their three young children.

Oh no! But they’ve seen boobs probably.

Busy: Yeah, but not in cake form. I was a little mortified, I have to say.

What pills do you take every day?

Busy: Well I take my Chinese herbs that I get from my acupuncturist for general well being and health. Which Josh Hopkins, from the show, refers to as my phen phen. And then I take my birth control pills. And my antidepressants, you know.

Oh, I hear you girl. What is the closest you have ever come to being arrested?

Busy: Well, this is super embarrassing but it was the 90s, so I think I’m excused. I was at a rave in the desert when I was 17, I think that was the closest I have ever come. I’m not sure why I didn’t get arrested, except they gave us Breathalyzer tests and none of us had been drinking.

What’s the weirdest thing you do when you are alone?

Busy: I’m never alone anymore since having a child! When I was younger, I used to practice late night interviews with myself which is really embarrassing and is a fairly good insight into me. Just weird stories that I thought I could tell. It was always Letterman or Conan, it was never Carson or Leno.

I am from Arizona, but I went to college in Los Angeles, and because I didn’t have a ton of money in college I would drive home for holidays which is for like six hours, generally alone. Pretending I was on TV or the movies and I would be doing interviews in the car to David Letterman.

Have you ever faked an orgasm?

Busy: Uh yeah, I mean is there anyone that hasn’t?

Some people say they haven’t.

Busy: Really? I think they are lying.

Or people say, “I have but I wouldn’t now.”

Busy: What?!

Would you?

Busy: Yeah!! I’m married.

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Cougar Town star Busy Philipps has a serious issue with her BFF allegiances on Dancing With the Stars.

Who does she support: Good friend David Arquette, the ex of her Cougar Town co-star Courteney Cox? Or Chaz Bono, whose real-life partner Jennifer Elia is also very good friends with Philipps?

Cox sure seems to be keeping track of Philipps’ voting as the two have ventured to watch the ABC show together.

“Courteney said to me, ‘Are you better friends with Jen than you are with me? Maybe you should be voting for David more,’ ” Philipps says with a laugh. “I was like, ‘All right, Courteney, take it easy.’ ”

Sounds like a good episode of Cougar Town! Fortunately, Philipps told USA TODAY at Starz’s 15th annual Hollywood Film Awards Gala last night that she has a Solomon-like solution to the problem.

“I just vote for the max for both of them, I just split it down the middle,” she says. “Sorry.”

One thing is for sure: Philipps will never find herself on the stage, despite having a powerful performing gene. “Never,” she says. “I would be too terrified. I do a live stage show in front of 125 people. This is an audience of millions and millions. I would need a truckload of beta blockers.”

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When it comes to motherhood, Busy Philipps certainly knows how she does it: The actress has learned it’s all about rolling with the punches.

“Becoming a mom allowed me to just relax in a way I never had before,” the I Don’t Know How She Does It star, 32, tells Parenting.

“I used to care a lot about what I looked like in public or what people thought of me. I care at least 40 percent less now.”

The sudden change behind Philipps’ perspective on life came following the birth of her now 3-year-old daughter Birdie Leigh.

“I want Bird to see her mom as a woman who is confident and real; not someone who’s always trying too hard,” she says.

“I still like to dress up and get fancy from time to time, but it’s okay to be sweaty and without makeup at the grocery store … The bigger part, to me, is being Birdie’s mom, Marc [Silverstein's] wife, and how I’ve worked very hard to grow the past 10 or so years.”

Working hard is something Philipps knows all too well; She admits her downfall is often her inability to resist favor requests from friends.

“I think learning to say no is very important, however I have not mastered that yet,” she says. “I, in fact, feel like I say yes to everything — making cakes for other kids’ birthdays, doing improv shows at midnight, stranger’s podcast … the list goes on.”

However, the number one spot on her to-do list is one pastime Philipps can’t get enough of: Spending time with Birdie.

“Birdie is always my first priority and I cherish the time we spend together … I try to schedule work things around that,” she shares. “You know, like, ‘Yes, I’ll do your podcast, but only after 8 p.m.’”

But when the juggling act gets to be too much for the Cougar Town star to handle, Philipps relies on a good dose of laughter to tackle the challenges.

“I think that very early on I realized that if I couldn’t come at this parenting thing with humor, I would not only lose my mind, but probably my marriage as well,” she notes.

“I took great comfort in something I read in a Dr. Sears book which basically said to remember that the difficult moments will pass, and then at some point, you’ll long for the days when your child wanted nothing but to be held by you or rocked to sleep or breastfed for 10 hours straight.”

Until that day comes, however, Philipps is making it a point to savor each second with her family.

“The fact is, maybe because I’m lucky enough to have a job that affords me the luxury of sometimes being a stay-at-home mom and sometimes working full time, I’m able to appreciate both sides so completely,” she says.

“This early childhood time is so fleeting and before you know it, you’ve got some huge person living with you. I think the chances of liking your kids as they grow into adults, and I mean really liking, not loving, has a lot to do with this early time in their lives.”

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Busy Philipps has revealed that she would love Taye Diggs to guest star on Cougar Town.

Laurie, Philipps’s character in the ABC comedy, is a big fan of the Private Practice star and the actress explained that she would enjoy working with him.

“I would love Taye Diggs [to come on the show],” she told E! Online. “I would love it. I love that my character is obsessed with him.”

Philipps continued: “I keep trying to pitch it. I’m like, ‘Look, he’s on an ABC show – he can do a couple episodes!’ And the joke could be that my character has always loved Taye Diggs and this could just be a random guy that looks a lot like Taye Diggs.”

Diggs said last year that he is a “fan of the show” and “would love” to have a cameo at some point.

Susan Blakely and Sarah Chalke recently signed up for roles in Cougar Town, which returns in midseason on ABC.

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