Kelli Ogmundson on the FOX Comedy ‘Animal Control’ and That Surprise Hook-Up [Interview]

Kelli Ogmundson says her eyes popped out of her head when she read the script for Animal Control Season 1 Episode 3, “Cougars and Kangaroos.” That episode ends with her character, Dolores, winding up in bed with Frank Shaw (Joel McHale).

I recently spoke with Ogmundson about the surprise hook-up between those two characters, why she thinks her character on Animal Control enjoys being the office killjoy, and what it was like working with some of the most adorable animals on set.

Considering how much disdain both characters seem to have for one another, Ogmundson was just as surprised as the viewers were to find out that Dolores and Frank would end up sleeping together at the end of the third episode.  

“You would never ever expect it, especially how hostile they are to each other in the workplace,” Ogmundson said. “However, I will say that they match each other’s energy pretty well. They are both very direct people and very, ‘I don’t give a care’ attitude, which does make sense in the end. But no, I didn’t even expect it until I read that last page and was like, ‘Wait, hold on now.'”

“Obviously, Frank was let down in that moment when he arrived to her apartment and it was not who he expected. There’s that, ‘Oh, I thought this was going to happen tonight,’ maybe on his account,” she explained.

“Then for her, I honestly think that Dolores is a lot more free sexually than you might think that she is because she’s so uptight. I think people are like, ‘I assumed she never is intimate with anybody. She probably has 12 cats.’ But the more you get to know her, you’re like, ‘Oh, maybe she is a real human.'”

Dolores is the receptionist at the Animal Control precinct, and she’s known as being the office killjoy.

Ogmundson said one reason playing this character is fun for her is because of the power Dolores holds in the office. “She is a lot more straightforward than how I am as a person, so it’s nice to feel that power. However, she is constantly told that she has no power.”
 
“I think she knows everybody’s secrets too. I think she’s maybe a little bit of an office gossip, and that holds a lot of power to it too,” she added.

“She’s been there a long time and she’s seen it all. And I think she’s just grown more and more exhausted as the days and years have gone by. Because there’s something about no longer having a filter or no longer accepting ridiculousness that she has.”

Ogmundson also called the set “joyous” and gushed about her castmates when asked if there was anyone who was known for making the actors break character. 

“It is a very, very funny cast. Amazing, lovely people. I always cracked with Michael [Rowland]. I always cracked with Joel [McHale]. I always cracked with Ravi [Patel]. I really got along well with Vella [Lovell] and Grace [Palmer]. They’re so funny and so talented.”

Ogmundson also spoke about the friendship we’ve seen developing between Dolores and Emily on the series.

“I love working with Vella. I think she’s incredible,” Ogmundson said. “I love those two characters finding a lovely little bond because they both are trying to take care of the office in different ways. Emily’s managing the people. I’m managing the office. There’s that little bit of high-strungness that they both have that I think is really, really great.”

Just because Ogmundson’s character isn’t one of the animal control officers on the show doesn’t mean she doesn’t get the chance to work with some fantastic animals, including several dogs.

“Because I’m not an animal control officer, I didn’t get to meet a lot of the more exotic animals. But I got to meet some of the sweetest dogs I’d ever met in my entire life — like this giant overgrown red retriever. She was so sweet. I think about her often,” Ogmundson laughed.

Her favorite day on set, though, is what she called “Kitten Day.”
 
“There was a day where we got to work with a whole bunch of kittens. That was my favorite day, and it was Vella’s favorite day. We called it Kitten Day. Somewhere on her phone, I hope she doesn’t use it as blackmail, is a video of us skipping alongside the truck, just going into set singing, ‘It’s Kitten Day!'”
 
“That’ll be episode five,” she added. “We’re talking a hefty amount of kittens, but a safe amount of kittens. I think there were nine kittens.”

With so many different types of animals on set, I was curious how much help there was behind the scenes, especially with some of the more exotic animals.
 
“There are animal wranglers and there were definitely people who came in with specific animals,” Ogmundson explained.

“We had people on set who were dealing with all of the domestic animals, all the kittens, all the cats, all the dogs, the iguana, the birds. But there were also people handling the kangaroos and the ostriches. They had people who were experts with those animals.”

As for what we can expect from the remainder of the season, Ogmundson hinted at several things we could look forward to, including “Way more animals, way more fun, more and more relationships that start to bud.”

“And then some very, very cool, excellent guest stars that are going to start popping up soon.”

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Animal Control airs Thursdays at 9/8c on FOX.

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