Jane Lynch Loves Being the ‘Weakest Link’ Host and Not a Contestant

Growing up, Jane Lynch used to pretend to be sick so she could stay home from school and watch game shows like “Tattletales,” “Password” and her favorite, “Match Game.”

As an adult, she had the good luck of her guilty pleasure became something of a vocation. For seven years, she was the host of NBC’s “Hollywood Game Night.” And since 2020, she has hosted “Weakest Link,” a remake of the British series overseen, terrifyingly, by Anne Robinson. Season 3 is now streaming on Peacock.

“I love the game, I love trivia, I love that I’m not playing it,” said Lynch, who instilled her own brand of fear as the cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester in “Glee.”

“I could do it forever,” she added in a video interview from Manhattan, where she was filming Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building,” before talking about the neighborhood rambles, cultural outings and do-it-yourself projects by which she and her spouse, Jennifer Cheyne, try to live magnificently in Montecito, Calif.

These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

1

Long Walks Close to Home

One of the things that Jennifer and I said when we moved here is we want to be close to Coast Village Road, which is the main drag. It has all the restaurants and cute little shops. I walk up and down the neighborhood streets, and then I stop for a cup of coffee, and then I continue walking and I’m at the ocean, and then I just walk back.

2

About That Coffee

The Montesano Market & Deli has really good, strong Italian coffee. I know all the regulars that come there. It’s a wonderful thing to go where everyone knows your name and you know theirs.