Megan Mullally & Stephanie Hunt Can't Believe Nancy & Beth Became A Thing

“Punk vaudeville” is about as concise a description you’ll get of Nancy & Beth from the sum of its parts, Hollywood talent Megan Mullally of Will & Grace fame and indie-rocker Stephanie Hunt.

The duo is in New York rehearsing for an upcoming show when they answer the phone in the back of car. Despite performing together since 2012, the duo are yet to find the perfect way to sum up the experience that is Nancy & Beth.

“Now, you can't compare this band to any other band,” Mullally enthuses. “Sometimes we call it our travelling tent show, sometimes we call it punk vaudeville. It's different from anything else. And it's a band, not a show. I mean, it is a show, it's a performance, but it's very much a band.”

While they’re still touring 2017’s Nancy & Beth LP, which will bring them to Australia for a run of headline shows in June, they are quick to reveal they’ve completed production on a follow-up.

“It kind of surpassed our wildest expectations, I think is the first thing I would say,” Mullally offers, with an affirmative “Mmm-hmm” from Hunt.

“We're really excited about it,” Mullally adds, but they’re not releasing it until 2020, “because we're using this touring season to build up a little bit more…because we think it's so strong”.

Mullally was last slated to visit Australia with her husband, Parks And Recreation’s Nick Offerman, in 2016, but had to withdraw last minute due to filming commitments alongside Bryan Cranston and James Franco in Why Him?.

“Ohhh, that is why,” Mullally says. “Yeah, I was shooting a movie. I've been telling the other journalists that I was sick, but in fact I was shooting that movie. Oops,” she laughs.

It’s no coincidence that Offerman’s upcoming Australian stand-up dates are around Nancy & Beth’s tour. “We had our tour together and he said, ‘Well, why don’t I do some dates over there too?’ I was like, ‘Great! Bring home the bacon,’” Mullally tells. “We planned the entire tour so we're never playing on the same night.”

Live clips of Nancy & Beth in action are mesmerising, with Mullally choreographing intriguing dance moves to a mix of genres, all layered with captivating harmonies. 

“I think it's a compelling dynamic for audiences to see Stephanie and I together," she says. "You kind of think, ‘Huh, what's that all about?’”

“It's a little confusing and intriguing,” Hunt adds.

With a 30-year age gap between the two and a mixed setlist (Gucci Mane, Rufus Wainwright and Doris Day, just to name a few), Mullally notes there’s “a timelessness factor to the whole thing”.

“It's kind of like time doesn't exist, almost like your time travelling through all of the songs… We like to move, we dress the same and we dance the same, so it's like the same, but different.

“It's totally impromptu, it's not scripted in any way, but it's not like any other band that I'm aware of.”

Hunt is an established talent in her own right, founding The Ghost Songs with The Black Angels' Alex Maas and Christian Bland, and starring in Friday Night Lights, Californication and more. Yet she approaches Nancy & Beth differently to other projects she’s been involved with in the past.

“Sometimes when you're singing your own songs and performing them there's a certain amount of ego that comes into it that I'm not a huge fan of, or the songs are slightly melancholic, which is great, but as a performer, it's not always fun to sing,” Hunt explains.

“Not that we don't do sad songs in Nancy & Beth, but sad songs that you've written about yourself can feel a little bit masochistic at times.

“So, it's really nice to be able to celebrate all these genres from all these different eras and there's not really any other place that you can do that except for Nancy & Beth on the stage and you have to be either Megan or I, so it's pretty small ratio of probability and it's really an honour to be able to do it.”

It’s certainly not a project they thought would take them to venues such as Sydney Opera House, which Mullally describes as a real honour. “I feel like the audiences in Australia are really suited for this band, I really do,” she says. “I feel like people are going to respond so well to what we do.”

Hunt adds: “We look at each other and think ‘What?’ almost every day that it's actually a thing because we didn't really set out with ambitions.”

That easygoing formation and progression are what Mullally attributes in part to their success.

“We didn't have ulterior motives,” she says. “We're doing it for just the pure joy of doing it. I think that's what translates to the audience.

“It's very celebratory, but it's very pure. It's like two little girls playing, and I think that the audience picks up on that almost immediately and that's why they're so on board.”