Julie Brown

Sometimes absurd, sometimes outrageous, always off-the-wall, "Strip Mall" is the latest brainchild of that hilarious redhead, Julie Brown.\nNo, not "Downtown" Julie Brown, though both of them worked at MTV for a time. This is the Julie Brown who hosted "Just Say Julie" from 1989 to 1992 and starred in both "Clueless" and "Earth Girls Are Easy." But even her father has mistakenly referred to her as 'Downtown.'\n"I've kind of let it go," Brown says.\nNow, alongside Charlie Coffey, Brown has created a new comedy based in the San Fernando Valley. The story of ex-child star Tammi Tyler, "Strip Mall" scores its laughs through Tyler's misadventures as she tries to claw her way back to the top. Brown describes the show as a comic soap opera with a bunch of Hollywood wannabes. The show is shot outside a real strip mall.\nShe bases the show on the classic, outrageous soap opera "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman." This dark soap opera idea and her own experiences have contributed to making "Strip Mall" the show it is.\nWhile most networks and movies might consider "Strip Mall" a little too edgy, Brown feels at home on Comedy Central. The people there have supported Brown's work. On one episode, the crew attempts to find the humor in cannibalism.\n"The fact that it's Comedy Central, we have the license to go far," Brown says. "Sometimes we go too far."\nThe costuming is just one example of the show's wild nature. Brown finds the idea of women dressing too young really fun, and her character Tammi is always trying to get noticed. Brown claims she doesn't dress like that normally.\nBrown says it was during the editing process of the first season when she realized the outlandishness of the show. She says she just sat there shocked.\n"Oh, you're shocked now," her co-workers told her. Brown likes how the show has turned out but doesn't plan on getting more outrageous. \nBrown has a lot more responsibility now that she is in charge of "Strip Mall." The experience has been fun for Brown, and she enjoys the freedom and power that go along with being in the creator's corner.\n"There's always someone in charge that really annoys the shit out of you," Brown says. But now, that person isn't there, and Brown is at the top.\nBrown is juggling a lot with "Strip Mall." Along with being the co-creator, she is also the co-writer and star. Among them all, she likes acting the most. She feels like more of a child when acting.\n"You have to use less of your brain," Brown says. \nBrown didn't have to do any research for "Strip Mall." Having a dad that worked at NBC, Brown has always been connected with the Hollywood aura. \n"I've lived around this environment," she says. \nThe schedule for "Strip Mall" can become hectic. The crew is producing 10 episodes between September and March. They move fast, and different episodes are shot at the same time. Brown says the middle is the hardest and most chaotic part.\n"We'll all kind of have breakdowns," she says.\nWith all the work "Strip Mall" requires, Brown has had little time for anything else. \n"It's been totally 'Strip Mall' for a while," Brown says. On top of that, she's juggling being a mom.\nBrown still has fond memories of her MTV days. While she never considers herself a VJ like "Downtown," she had fun hosting "Just Say Julie" But, she says, she only ended up on MTV because she had an album.\nLike Comedy Central, MTV let Brown be outrageous, but budgeting was always a problem. Even when she had the No. 1-rated show on MTV, she says the network wouldn't rent her a police uniform for an episode.\nOne of her most repulsive moments included an appearance by Gene Simmons from the band Kiss, whom she called lecherous and disgusting.\nBrown says she knows a lot of comedians and comic actors that seem pissed off and angry. She says that pain can lead someone to want to be funny. Her humor came out of a childhood in Catholic school. \n"It was so obsessive and hideous that I felt I had to be funny to make it not be so awful," she says.\nBut Brown tries not to cling to the pain like other actors.\n"I try to let it go or channel it into my work," Brown says.