We talked about evil with the most evil man on Evil

polygon.com:

Michael Emerson loves to laugh. He does it frequently, when he makes an observation that is interesting to him, as if a pleasant or provocative thought is his favorite kind of amusement. It’s only really fucking creepy because he just happens to have built a career out of playing some of the most affecting TV villains of the last 20 years.

This is only amplified by Emerson’s current role as Dr. Leland Townsend on the Paramount Plus series Evil. Initially a manipulative forensic psychologist, Leland is eventually revealed to be in the employ of what seems to be literal demons, and in the latest season, committed to bringing about the birth of the Antichrist. For the viewer, Leland is perhaps some of the most fun you can have watching a bad guy on TV, and that, according to Emerson, is very much by design.

Recently, Emerson got on a call with Polygon to discuss the delight of playing such a delectable villain, the nature of evil, and the many substances he’s been doused in while working for demons. He also laughed a lot. I tried not to hold it against him.

Polygon: You have a (Antichrist?) baby to take care of this season, which adds another layer to this role’s rich tradition of covering you in substances.

Michael Emerson: It is a messy part to play.

What’s the messiest thing you’ve done so far?

That moment where I’m working at the computer and the baby’s in the bassinet and projectile vomits from off screen on me. That pea soup, which is what it was, it came out of an air cannon and some of it went deep into my right ear. So it was days before I actually went to one of those street corner walk-in med clinics and said “Could you look in my ear? Because I’m afraid I’ve got something in there that may be, you know, fermenting.”

That also sets up one of my favorite recurring Leland bits, where something that starts as a gag, like the baby annoying Leland, is solved in a very sinister way.

And then one thing leading to another. Once he realizes that Kristen’s voice