Kate Godfrey chatted about her time on Nickelodeon’s All That revival and leading the network’s new sitcom, Warped!
You may recognise Kate Godfrey from Nickelodeon’s recent All That revival. However, she’s now leading a new sitcom Warped!, also on Nickelodeon. The new show was created by Kevin Kopelow and Heath Seifert, also known for their work on the original All That and Disney Channel’s Austin and Ally, among others.
Read on below for Kate’s full interview with Courageous Nerd. Or, check out the video on our YouTube channel, linked below.
You appeared on the All That revival and now lead your own show, Warped! How have you found working for Nickelodeon and the differences between the shows?
Kate Godfrey: Working on All That versus working on Warped! has been completely different. On All That, there were 8 main cast members. You’re not in everything every week, you have your ‘buddy’. You guys switch doing these characters. It was so fun. I love sketch comedy so much and being on All That was truly such a learning, wonderful experience for me.
Warped! is just… Anton Starkman and I, we’re on set. Sometimes we never leave except for lunch breaks. I love it, it’s my passion in life. It’s a lot, compared to All That, for sure. I was like, “Woah, this is crazy.”
Nickelodeon has produced a long line of hit shows – the original All That, Kenan and Kel, iCarly and Victorious to name a few. Did you have a ‘Nickelodeon idol’ you looked up to when you were younger?
Kate Godfrey: When I was really little, I was a Dora fanatic. I cut my bangs to look like Dora. At one point, I only knew Spanish because my nanny only spoke Spanish. My mom couldn’t communicate with me because I was only speaking Spanish.
When I got a little older, it was definitely more like iCarly or Victorious. You know, the classic staple shows.
As for Warped! – what’s it about? How would you describe the show’s premise and the creative team behind it?
Kate Godfrey: Warped! is Nickelodeon’s new sitcom. It is about a comic-book store and follows Milo, Ruby, Darby and Hurley throughout their adventures in the nerd life. It’s very funny!
From an acting perspective, how different is it playing one character versus several from All That sketches?
Kate Godfrey: I like to think of Ruby as a mixture of all my All That characters. She rambles a lot, like TMI Tammy. The second episode she was almost, like, drunk, I want to say. [Like] ‘Brie, Back From The Dentist.’ She’s very much a mixture of my All That characters. That’s kind of what Kevin, Kevin and Heath [Kay, Kopelow and Seifert, Executive Producers] explained to me.
It’s been weird, having only one character. I love that I can literally make any choice as Ruby and still be in character. She’s so fun and sporadic.
Speaking of ‘Ruby’ would you say she’s similar to other roles you’ve played or even to yourself?
Kate Godfrey: I made a Pinterest board when I first heard about Ruby. I basically pinned everything I thought would be Ruby-esque. Phoebe from Friends was on it, just a lot of clothes that reminded me of her. Hairstyles and animals, even. She’s definitely a mix of everything I wanted her to be and everything Kevin & Heath made her be.
Having done an improv series first and then scripted, do you have as much creative freedom? Or, do you stick to what’s written for each episode of Warped!?
Kate Godfrey: One thing I really love about Kevin, Kevin and Heath is that they really let me have freedom in what I and all the other kids say. If I think something’s funny, I’ll just do it. They’ve made this really safe environment to where I don’t really care if it’s not funny. They’ll be like, “Let’s not do that.” I’ll be like, “Okay, cool.”
I’m constantly doing things and hoping for the best. I’d say there’s a lot of improv, I improv a lot. I want to stick to the script because we want to tell a linear story. But, I think we all add funny little things that we think could be funny.
Where can people find you on social media?
Kate Godfrey: Yes, my Instagram is @kategodfrey. That’s pretty much the thing I’m most active on.
In a wider sense, what do you hope to accomplish with the rest of 2022?
Kate Godfrey: Yeah, I hope to do some movies coming up, that’d be fun. I just want to work more on sitcoms and movies. Possibly add some drama, which strays very far from the comedy when working on it. Yeah, we’ll see.
