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Louie Anderson has learned that in Hollywood, it's easy to be forgotten and hard to predict what will bring you back. 

"People didn't talk to me for 15 years, and I put a dress on and everyone wants to talk to me." 

The dress is for the role of Christine Baskets, inspired by Anderson's mother, in "Baskets," recently 

 for the fictional portrayal of his mother. She raised 11 children, whose ages ranged two decades apart, in a St. Paul housing project. 

His strategy for putting that past onto the screen: be natural.

"I try to forget the camera's there," Anderson said. "I think of myself in the kitchen, or wherever my mom and dad or we all were, I just think of it there. And what my mom might've been going through."

 — one in Shakopee Thursday night, plus two more in Maple Grove on Friday and Saturday.

He sat down with MPR News host Tom Weber for a wide-ranging, highly personal interview on "Baskets," his upbringing, body image and the death of his brother Tommy.

Use the audio player above to hear the whole conversation.

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Anderson stars in FX's "Baskets," which was just green-lighted for a third season. He sat down for a wide-ranging, personal interview with MPR News host Tom Weber while back in Minnesota for stand-up shows.

Louie Anderson's youth in St. Paul helped form an Emmy-winning character

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