Ebon Moss-Bachrach on Marnie’s Viral Video and Being Her Reluctant Bandmate

Ebon Moss-Bachrach==HBO's Doll & Em Screening Afterparty==Neuehouse, NYC== March 17, 2014
Photo: Clint Spaulding/? Patrick McMullan

On last week’s Girls, Marnie and her new bandmate Desi (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) succeeded in not totally embarrassing themselves at an open mike night. It was almost enough to make us forget about Marnie’s brief, disastrous turn as a viral video sensation — but not quite. At last night’s Peggy Siegal screening and after-party for the new HBO series Doll & Em, Moss-Bachrach was just as outspoken as his character (who described it as “a bummer” and “really uncomfortable”) when discussing Marnie’s mortifying Edie Brickell cover. “Oh my God, poor girl,” Moss-Bachrach told Vulture. “It made me feel like I wasn’t a bad actor once I actually saw the video. It is kind of alarming. I like when she ashes her e-cigarette, that was my favorite part of it.”

But what is it that would drive Desi to cast himself as Sonny to Marnie’s Cher (other than her impeccable Brian Williams–esque bone structure)? “I don’t think it made it into [the episode] in the end, but we shot a scene where he talks about how he’s been kicked out of, like, sixteen bands in New York. He just gets kicked out and kicked out,” confessed Moss-Bachrach. “She’s the last person who will actually, like, make music with him.”

Ebon Moss-Bachrach on Being Marnie’s Bandmate