Ayo Edebiri is about to be your new favorite pop star — yes, you read that correctly. In an interview with Bustle, I Love LA star and creator Rachel Sennott and her co-star Jordan Firstman opened up about working with the actor on their new HBO series, where Edebiri makes a surprise appearance as hilariously flamboyant pop star Mimi Rush.
Sennott, who is BFFs with Edebiri and starred with her in the 2023 comedy Bottoms, said her cameo came about because they couldn’t find time to catch up in real life. “Ayo and I were joking about like, if we want to hang out, we have to write each other,” she says. “We have to hire each other because she’s so busy.”
She already had the idea that Firstman’s character, Charlie, would style a “diva pop star that is super kooky,” who tries to obtain gossip for her, then gets fired for the same reason. She thought Edebiri would be perfect for the job. “It was the day after the Met Gala,” she recalls. “She Zooms me from her hotel room, it’s completely dark, and she’s like [tired voice], ‘What’s the idea? Let’s do it.’”
Edebiri took the idea and ballooned it, making Mimi Rush even wackier than Sennott had imagined. “She’s so funny, she improvs so much,” Sennott says. “She was like, ‘Can I have a mullet and a bedazzled vape and a British accent?’ And I was like, ‘Go off. Go off, girl.’ I love her so much as a friend and also to collaborate with ‘cause she brings so much to the table.”
Firstman, who has also known Edebiri for over a decade, appreciated the opportunity to spar with his friend onscreen, which introduced a new layer to his character. “It’s an interesting place for Charlie to go so early in the season, because you see him being a brash guy that’s taking no prisoners, and then the second he gets with this person that’s employing him, he cowers,” he says.
Hilariously, Firstman said he also cowered while filming in Edebiri’s presence, thanks to how well she embodied her pop star persona. “I think that dynamic was really felt on set, and Ayo was so scary as Mimi Rush, that I [was] stuttering more than I normally would,” he admits. “Those scenes were so fun to play, and she just looks so insane in the best way, too.”
