Cat Cohen Is Hunting For a Hollywood Mentor: “I Need an Older Woman Who Has Seen Things”

Cat Cohen's new special Come For Me features a blend of comedy and cabaret on topics both broad (using your astrological signs to excuse your personality flaws) and hyperpersonal (what happened when she and her boyfriend made a sex tape). During one segment that hits both notes, she discusses the specific way she is mean to herself in her head. "I got a comment recently. It was just a nice photo, and someone commented underneath '30 pounds overweight,'" she says. "I was like, did I write this? Did I take an Ambien and tweet at myself the way I talk to myself all fucking day?"

Since Cohen taped the special, which debuts on the Veeps platform on Oct. 17, she has appeared in four episodes of the newest season of Only Murders in the Building (as one half of the directorial team The Brothers Sisters). She'll also release her debut album Overdressed on Nov. 14. Which, of course, begs the eternal question: Does success solve all of your self-esteem problems?

"I've been so hard on myself for so long that I don't even know a different way to be," Cohen says with a laugh while Zooming in during a weekend trip to upstate New York. "I feel like I'm just beginning to wake up to the option of not being that way. I always believed, 'OK, if I'm not going to be the pretty one, then I have to be the most achieving at everything I do.' I have to release that at some point, but I haven't yet."

Cohen's latest special follows her 2022 Netflix hour The Twist..? She's Gorgeous, which the comedian says serves as sort of a spiritual predecessor to her more recent material. "As simple as it sounds, the first one was about my 20s, and this one is very much turning 30 and being like, 'Fuck, this isn't cute,'" she explains. "It's not cute anymore to be a mess. Why don't I have a house? And I want more money, and I guess I should get married." Here, Cohen talks to The Hollywood Reporter about searching for inspiration and what she's manifesting next.

Do you feel connected to this material, or does it reflect a past version of yourself?

I shot this special in June, and anything I was writing up until that point I put into the special. It feels reflective of, basically, what I'm going through now. When I did my first special, on Netflix, it kept getting pushed back because of COVID. We were supposed to tape it in 2020, and it came out in 2022. Every few months I'd get a call telling me they're pushing it further. So, by the time it came out, it was really like, who is that person? It felt like an outdated version of myself.

Sometimes it feels like half of society really pushed their lives forward during the pandemic, and the rest of us came out of that period like, wait — weren't we all putting our lives on pause? Why does everyone have a house now?

One hundred percent. I also remember thinking I need to wait a long time after this to get married because all those COVID weddings were sad as fuck. I do think it would've been good to get a dog, that's my one regret. I could have gotten a puppy, and then by now I would have a well-trained, gorgeous companion by my side.

If you think about who you were during that first special, to now — turning 30 and going through the pandemic in between — how has your outlook on your career and your relationship with your work changed?

On a basic level, some of the songs on this are songs I wrote by myself on a guitar in this house where I am right now, which I wouldn't have done if I'd been in the city without a pandemic. It came out of me having hours on end to play around with chords. But I would say, during those years, I was trying so hard to hang onto momentum. I was working my ass off, doing Zoom shows and trying to make shit happen when I would have been fine no matter what. Maybe it's just part of getting older, but I wish I'd just let go. It's like, "Girl, you need to breathe and be present." I do think that period changed my entire personality. But the main message is that I learned you can't control everything, so just focus on what you can and then try and have fun.

You share a lot of personal stuff in your comedy, whether it's very innermost thoughts or talking about sex. Do you think specifically about a limit to what you're willing to share?

It's really just the fact of what I've been through that I can find funny. Sometimes I'm going through something, and it will be five years before it occurs to me to make it material, before I find the humor. Things generally become funnier as time goes on. Being in a relationship now, I take things on a joke-by-joke basis. Every now and then I'll just check in and ask, "Is it OK if I say that?" But he had seen me perform before we got together, so he knew what he was in for. I also have a rule that anyone that I talk about in my comedy, I want to make them look good and make me look like the idiot.

Have your family and friends been watching your role on Only Murders in the Building ?

People are excited that I lifted Martin Short into the air. But I actually just got a text from my aunt after she watched the show. She goes, "Girl, there are some big stars in this show. Well Done. Hashtag Meryl Streep." So that's the latest from my fam.

Can you talk about your move into television roles? Did you always want to be an actor, or did it come out of the progression of being a performer?

Doesn't everyone want to be on TV? [Laughs.] Growing up as a little musical theater kid, I always wanted to be. Seeing yourself on camera is a different beast that I don't think I'll ever get used to, though. I'm always like, how is that me? But I'm also numb to it, and I don't judge myself anymore because I'm just happy to be on television. It's so cool that I get to do it sometimes and hopefully will do it more. I am manifesting booking a massive sitcom in the new year.

Will we ever see you in a TV writers room?

I feel pressure that I should want to be in a writers room. I've written some scripts, but it's not my number one passion so I just think there are people who want it more, and I'd rather focus on other things. It's embarrassing to look at yourself in the mirror and be like: You want to be a performer. It'd be much easier if I didn't.

How does reality line up with what you dreamt about as a kid?

I had no idea what to expect on set, and my first job ever was one line on that show, Difficult People. I remember I accidentally locked myself in my trailer. I was like, "What even is a trailer? Why am I in this little room?" I learned that I should just watch the professionals on set, to just try and copy someone who looks like they know what they're doing.

Who was that person for you on Only Murders in the Building ?

I was so lucky because I got to chat with and work with Molly Shannon. I've admired her my whole life. She made us feel so comfortable and at ease. She's the queen. Luckily by the time I did this show, I'd been on enough sets that I knew how to behave, but I was still very nervous in front of those legends. I lost all my personality and sense of self.

Do they act like mentors on set?

I actually really want to put out there that I'm looking for a mentor. I would love an established woman in Hollywood to give me guidance. I need help. I need perspective. If anyone wants to do it for camaraderie or the good of the human spirit I would love that. Do you know anyone? I need an older woman who has seen things.

What about Molly Shannon?

She's still in her prime. I need someone who is retired and could answer the phone at any time.

Did you see that Kathy Bates is going to retire after Matlock?

I should reach out. Hey Kathy, it's me... Cathy.

I have to imagine she has a lot of wisdom to share.

Absolutely. There's also such a thing as too much wisdom. I'm like, what you went through is so scary, I don't want to do it.

Has there been one role or tour that helped you feel confident your career was going in the right direction?

When I first started doing the cabaret songs in my standup in 2017, it felt like I was onto something exciting and that I needed to follow that path. And when I won the [best newcomer] award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival [in 2019], that was the thing I was most proud of. Americans don't even really know or care about that award, but it was my biggest accomplishment. It felt like my years of crafting who I was as a performer were recognized.

Do you plan to write another book?

Yes. Well, I don't know. I want to do a book of essays, but maybe another collection of poems will come sooner. I feel like I need to live a little more before I write essays.