Vic Michaelis, known for their role on Dropout TV’s Very Important People, discovered an unexpected skill from their time on the show Ponies—a less-than-perfect grasp of the Russian language.

In an interview with DECIDER, Michaelis—who identifies with they/them pronouns—discussed their complex character, Cheryl Szymanski. Cheryl is the spouse of a CIA analyst stationed in Moscow and works at the US Embassy alongside Bea, played by Emilia Clarke, and Twila, portrayed by Haley Lu Richardson. As the first season unfolds, a major twist reveals Cheryl as the mole within the CIA, collaborating with the Russians. This is confirmed in a gripping finale scene where Cheryl is seen in a clandestine tunnel, sharing a kiss with a KGB officer and discussing, in Russian, plans to implant a loaded device within the Embassy premises.

While embodying the villain came naturally to Michaelis, tackling Russian dialogue was a different challenge altogether.

“I was so cocky. I was so confident,” Michaelis confessed to DECIDER. “I thought, ‘I’ve got six lines, this should be easy.’ But Fabian, our very patient and kind dialect coach, candidly told me I might be one of the least naturally gifted Russian speakers he’s encountered. Unless, of course, they need me for the next season of Heated Rivalry, in which case he jokingly said I was actually great and fantastic.”

Muse over how Michaelis discovered their character’s sinister twist while mid-flight across the Atlantic en route to filming, the current status of the cast regarding Season 2, and who among their Ponies co-stars they’d love to see join VIP in future episodes by reading DECIDER’s comprehensive interview with Michaelis.

I spoke with Nicholas yesterday, and I asked him about working with you and here’s the quote, “Vic Michaelis is a monster.” I’m going to allow you to respond to his claims.

VIC MICHAELIS: I think that explains it. I would say werewolf more than monster, it’s sort of like a full moon type situation for me. But, you know, if he wants to go with that, monster, then I feel okay about that.

Seriously, what was it like stepping into this cast, working with Haley, Emilia, Nicholas…

It was an absolute dream. Everybody is so unbelievably kind. We also had a lot of folks that would fly in from the UK, like Clare Hughes who played Eevi the nanny, and there really wasn’t anybody that wasn’t a great hang in the group. But my experience, in the filming of it, Ponies is sort of, from Sheryl’s perspective, a quaint family drama right until the end. Largely on set, it was me, Nick and Clare, sort of dealing with the inner family turmoil. And then it was so funny to watch the first episode and be like, “Oh, right, there’s car chases and bombs and fires,” and I’m not really a part of that until you get a little bit later on. The cast is incredible. Harriet Walter, I mean, I didn’t cross paths with her even one day and then seeing her performance on set, I was so jealous. I was seething with envy. 

With the Cheryl and Ray and Eevi stuff, I feel you’re one good TikTok edit away from this being like a Dick Van Dike laugh track situation.

Cheryl, I think, is vindicated in all of her decisions. It is one of those things where she is not making decisions that I would make, per se, but I can see how she got from A to B to C. 

Talk to me about how the show came to you and what interested you about Cheryl?

Maybe it’s because I’ve got a large background in improv, and I think when I’m thinking about characters, I often like thinking of comedic contrast and status. And for me, one of my absolute favorite things to play is characters that think that they are very high status but don’t actually have any power. A lot of the comedy comes from the space in between where they are and where they want to be or where they think they are. And I think Cheryl really falls into that category. She thinks and desperately wants to be more important than she is and it eats her up inside. She is in a very similar position to Bea and Twila, without the trust of Dane taking a chance on them. And Cheryl doesn’t have that opportunity, so she creates it for herself. 

Were you at all briefed on where Cheryl’s storyline would go?

I did not. I found out reading the scripts. I had a tight turnaround, it was essentially a week. I was on tour on the East Coast, I found out that I booked it, literally packed everything up, and moved to Hungary on a week’s notice. I am reading these scripts on the plane, literally over the ocean, and finding out who Cheryl was and what her deal was. It was a dream. It literally is a dream to get to play a fun, kind of like mean-funny bully character who’s got these really strong convictions. And then to get to be the villain at the end? It literally is a dream come true. And to get to the fun outfits. How often does that happen? 

I’m sure you’re also, like, flying over the Atlantic and downloading Duolingo, “Guess I have to learn a little Russian now.”

I was so cocky. I was so confident. I looked at my lines compared to — especially because Emilia waxes poetic in Russian, like she literally learned the entire language. I was watching interviews about Connor Storrie [learning Russian for Heated Rivalry], it was like a very similar situation with Emilia. She was doing full Russian classes in between her full days of work. And so I’m like, “I’ve got six lines, this is going to be totally fine.” Fabian, our wonderful, very patient, very kind dialect coach, admitted to me that I was maybe one of the least gifted natural Russian speakers that he had ever heard. Unless they want to cast me on next season in Heated Rivalry, in which case he said I was great and actually I was fantastic.  I’m not saying they have to, I’m saying if they wanted to, I actually was the best that they’d ever heard

Back to Ponies, after finding out the twist, how did you react? Was there nervousness about playing that angle?

I was thrilled. It’s really interesting, if you look at the groundwork of the script, David [Iverson] and Susanna [Fogel] are so brilliant, and that writing team, they have laid everything out for you from the very beginning. They literally spell out the whole plot, what the whole ethos of the show is going to be, which is that the women in this situation are deeply underestimated. And then if you go back and rewatch it knowing what’s going to happen, it’s like, “Oh, yeah, obviously Cheryl is the mole.” She’s going to the scene of the crime, she’s asking, “Who do you think the mole is?” And everybody’s like, “I don’t know, why are you asking us about this?” And she’s like, “No reason.” It’s just all laid out there; it’s beautiful.

We’re maybe getting into spoilery potential for Season 2, but have they kind of talked to you about the backstory of like, how Cheryl came to be this way? 

David talked a lot about the reason why people do work like this and one of the big reasons is ego. And I think for Cheryl, she is somebody who really believes that she can do more. I think she really thought that Ray was going to do this CIA thing for a little bit until he had just enough credits, just enough on his resumé, I guess, to be a senator. And then she was going to get to be Jackie O., and it just hasn’t panned out that way. The mediocrity is eating her alive because she is so deeply driven. I think it is empathetic, even though she does sort of kill someone at the end there.

But she’s a lovable villain, too. Perhaps this is just me being a VIP fan but I was like, “Am I supposed to hate Cheryl?” We all get to be a little bad, right?

The point of VIP was me priming people on me playing bad guys for the rest of time, and then people going, “Well, I don’t know, it’s kind of fun. It’s kind of okay.”

I know you traditionally only do comedians but do you think we might get to see any of your Ponies cast mates on Very Important People anytime soon?

Listen, if any of them want to do it, I’d have them in a heartbeat […] I don’t know, Nick, I think he should be on Very Important People or at the very least, behind the scenes. I think Haley would be great. I would love Paul [Chahidi] who was one of the men in the office, I also think would be awesome. He was in this very famous production of, I think it was Twelfth Night years ago that transferred to Broadway from the West End.

Conversely, somebody from Dropout who you think would fit into this world? I have an answer for this: Lisa Gilroy can do no wrong in my mind.

I love Lisa, she is so wonderful. And she’s Canadian too. She is just truly, one of my favorite people to perform with in the entire world. Would die to have her. We also just did a show at the Bell House in New York. Nick sang a song that was just like an improv show, and having Jeremy [Culhane] and Nick in the same room as each other, I was like, “They look kind of similar.” My pitch is that I think Jeremy should play either Nick’s brother or something like that.