The Beat got to have an exclusive one on one with one of the stars of SYFY’s animated series, Wild Life. Part of SYFY’s late-night animated block TZGZ, Wild Life is a zombie apocalypse comedy about zoo animals who go on lots of adventures. We chatted with Natalie Palamides (The Powerpuff Girls) about her similarities to her sloth character “Viv,” how she came on board, and what we can expect from this week’s Vivtastic episode and so much more!
On her favorite Viv one-liners and sayings, Natalie Palamides told us: “My favorite part of Viv is that she calls things as she sees them, she’s not afraid to speak her mind, and she just says whatever is at the top of her dome. I appreciate her brutal honesty and paraphrasing one of my favorite lines that comes to mind she’s told one lady, ‘It’s not my fault your kid’s a f*cking loser!’ Viv says what’s on everybody’s mind, you know, but they’re too polite to say it. She has a good heart but she doesn’t have any qualms about saying what’s up.”
On who Viv likes the most out of all the other zoo animals and who her go-to person is, Palamides shared: “I don’t know, Viv is kind of like every person for themselves type character. She doesn’t have a go-to person because people come to her when they need somebody who’s going to be vicious. But I think the thing that Viv is attracted to most is anything that’s a thrill. She’s part of the crew but I think that’s because they seek her out to utilize her vicious energy as a tool to assist with whatever they’re trying to take down or accomplish, they use her as a weapon.”
On the Viv centered episode coming up, Palamides said: “I think people will have a lot of fun watching the Viv centered episode because she’s kind of got some action hero, Nick Cage vibes going on. She’s busting up this seedy operation with this media figurehead and that’s all I can say.”
On how she got involved in this project, Palamides told us: “I only read for Viv but I think the creators had me in mind for her specifically because they had seen some of my comedy shows. I’ve also worked with this producer before, Alex Plapinger (Drifters), and I think maybe they had my voice in mind for Viv. Plus, Viv and I have a lot of similar qualities like we are thrill-seekers and have a bad gauge for danger. In a theatrical sense, whenever I’m performing I like to put myself in challenging or precarious situations on stage. I get a bit of an adrenaline rush from doing that and I think Viv has the same type of spirit, so maybe that’s why they chose me.”
On what character she identifies with the most, Palamides shared: “I guess Glenn because he’s kind of insecure and always questioning himself. Glenn represents the other side of myself that people don’t see. On stage and in my comedy act, I’m the thrill-seeker but behind the scenes, I’m constantly questioning myself and have a bit of self-doubt, and working on having more courage. So definitely Glenn because I need to boost my confidence up now and then and I can relate to that aspect of him.”
On her favorite episode, Palamides said: “The one that I remember reading that blew my mind was the book club episode. I’m like these guys are genius. Wild Life is about subverting our expectations of all these different animals and what you want them to be. The creator and producers are not afraid to go for absurdity and they have some really fun characters. The entire concept of the show is so unique and original! People talk about post-apocalyptic shows all the time but not from the perspective of animals, the whole thing’s kind of genius. Everyone involved is creative and I’m honored to be a part of this project. It’s a cartoon that I like to watch because we’re allowed to swear, the sense of humor is just absurd and bizarre and it goes to places that I think other cartoons would be afraid to go.”
Luckily, we don’t have to wait too long for Natalie Palamides and the Vivtastic episode, check out a sneak peek below of this Saturday’s brand-new Wild Life episode “The Shows Get Cancelled” airing only on SYFY!
