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DETROIT - So America's favorite boozy socialite floozy wants to talk.
Yes, we know. While she happily inhabited the colorful sitcom life of campy Karen Walker on "Will & Grace" for eight seasons, Megan Mullally was beloved for her bodacious alter ego's twisted wit and blissfully randy repartee.
But it's not Karen who wants to chat up America on a daily basis.
It's Mullally herself, who is switching show business gears this fall to join the daytime talk show carnival with "The Megan Mullally Show." The nationally syndicated gabfest premieres Sept. 18.
"I've just been trying to prepare myself mentally for the drastic change in the intensity of the work," says Mullally. "It's so consuming because it's a talk show. As opposed to being an actor, where you just have to learn your lines, come in and stand there and try to be funny."
During her Emmy Award-winning tour of irreverent chucklehead duty on NBC, Mullally and co stars Debra Messing, Eric McCormack and Sean Hayes counted their easy-workday blessings.
"We only worked like three hours a day on `Will & Grace,' so yeah, it's a little bit different," says Mullally, offering a momentary spritz of sardonic Karen Walker during a stop in Detroit this summer to promote the new daytime conversational gig.
Compared to the relaxing non-grind of a hit sitcom, Mullally acknowledges that being the star of her own talk show will require a whole different approach.
"This is every person I meet, everything I see on television, everywhere I go," she says. "Everything is a potential segment for the talk show. So you kind of never stop thinking about it."
Like the down-to-earth, more lighthearted daytime talk shows hosted by Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell, "The Megan Mullally Show" will be a mix of talk and variety, featuring celebrities, real people, music and comedy.
"I'm basically stealing my things from all the talk shows I've liked over the years," jokes Mullally, citing everyone from David Letterman and Johnny Carson to Merv Griffin and Dinah Shore as influences. "For example, the way Letterman uses all his crew and staff . I like the backstage stuff.
"We're also going to do a lot of field pieces," she adds. "We're going to have correspondents, a la Jon Stewart, although not political. So we'll have people out around the country all the time, which is great."
There's also a pretty fair chance that Mullally, 47, a seasoned stage actress who has appeared in Broadway revivals of "Grease" and "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," occasionally will share her musical flair with the daytime audience.
That may even include an appearance with her band Supreme Music Program, a cabaret and concert combo that allows Mullally to keep in touch with her inner chanteuse.
"It's my favorite thing. It's the least commercial band in the history of music," she says. "We do all covers ... pop, rock, blues, jazz, country, you name it. We even do some crazy classical stuff, some art songs."
Memorably, Mullally's crackers Karen and Hayes' wacky Jack shared a tender musical moment on the "Will & Grace" series finale as they sang a duet of the old Nat King Cole standard "Unforgettable."
Also unforgettable has been the rapid transition from a prime time sitcom to a daytime talk show. But it's helped Mullally recover from the emotional break up of "Will & Grace" after an eight-year run. Within days of filming the series finale last spring, the show's familiar apartment sets had been taken down.
"It was brutal. I had personally prepared myself for the worst, and it exceeded my wildest expectations," says Mullally. "It was so sad. It was kind of like going to high school and college with the same group of people for eight years. And not only all graduating at the same time, but then they burn the school down."
Now Mullally is about to occupy a whole new TV schoolhouse.
But while giddily acerbic Karen always loved to have the last word, Mullally has figured out that being a good listener who doesn't make cheap wisecracks is what a quality talk show host is all about.
And when she was seeking tips and advice from various famous talk show hosts, including Jay Leno and Rosie O'Donnell, she found a kindred spirit in Conan O'Brien.
"He and I are both self-described people pleasers," observes Mullally. "He's real good to his guests. He'll always take the hit.
"You know how some people make jokes at the expense of others. I don't anticipate going down that road. My nature is to try and make everybody happy."
Making jokes at the expense of others? Karen Walker was a naughty dynamo of such sarcastic darts.
But for the new, ready-for-daytime Megan Mullally, making nice is just doing what comes naturally.
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MEGAN MULLALLY
Boomer Sooner: Though she was born in La La Land, 47-year-old Megan Mullally grew up in Oklahoma before heading off to Northwestern University to pursue her acting bliss.
What's her flirty, fun sign? Scorpio.
MOTOR CITY CONNECTION: Made her TV series debut at age 27 opposite Ellen Burstyn and Elaine Stritch on "The Ellen Burstyn Show" (ABC, 1986-87), where she played Burstyn's divorced daughter.
"They're both great," says Mullally, who has remained in touch with both actresses.
"Ellen is more like, you know, growing her own vegetables. She's very earthy and spiritual.
"And Elaine's telling stories about Noel Coward and Marlon Brando and being sensational. So they're really polar opposites. But I'm crazy about both of them."
Google me: On the Internet, you'll find Megan's Web site world at www.meganmullally.net.
Boozy floozy forever: Anxieties about being stuck in a perpetual Karen Walker typecasting straitjacket? No way. Mullally is totally devoted to her absolutely fabulous "Will & Grace" alter ego.
"I have said that I would play Karen Walker until I fell over dead in my Manolo Blahnik pumps. And I mean it. I don't have that thing like, Oh, I don't wanna be Gilligan.' OrI don't want to be Urkel.'
"I don't care. It doesn't bother me. To me, she's a great character and was so much fun to play."
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(c) 2006, Detroit Free Press. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service.
