C.J.: Getting handsy with 'Tammy' movie

Lisa Martin Capozzi has a hand in Melissa McCarthy's soon to be released movie "Tammy," co-starring Susan Sarandon.

In fact, both of Capozzi's hands are in the movie. "A casting director I knew put out a notice that they were looking for a hand double for Melissa McCarthy," the Minnesota-born actor told me during a phone call Wednesday from Hawaii. "Ken [her husband of 18 years] quickly got out an iPhone, shot my hands. … I had never done hand double work before. It's pretty cushy. I wouldn't mind doing some more of that."

The movie trailer for "Tammy" looks to me like "Thelma & Louise" on a crime spree. "It totally is that," said Capozzi. "It's going to be out in July. I think it's going to be pretty funny."

Capozzi said her hands are similar to McCarthy's. "If you're a hand double for Melissa McCarthy it's important to have chunky hands. What was really funny is that they made me dress up in all her clothing she was wearing in these two scenes, even though they were just really shooting my hands. The other hand double was for Susan Sarandon. We're both in the car together on the road trip. I'm opening cans of beer because we're drinking and driving. … Then in the other scene I'm passed out and on a pillow and my arm is stretched out and I am holding a small package of Hostess mini-doughnuts.

"There were like 10 guys setting up this shot. It was hysterical. They had an iPad and I had to look at it and make sure my hand was in the exact position hers was in to get that close-up of me holding those doughnuts."

Capozzi didn't get to be on set with the stars. "It was shot on the East Coast and they were doing 'pick up shots' in L.A. and that's where I got cast."

Lisa and Ken moved from L.A. to Kauai in December. "We have a new agent in Oahu to send us out on auditions. But, in the meantime we both have jobs on Kauai. Ken is selling appliances at Home Depot and I'm working full time as a features/education reporter for the Garden Island newspaper. I feel like I've come full-circle since my years working at KTTC-TV [Rochester] as a reporter at the NBC affiliate from '82-85."

"At first I was just going to hang out on the beach and enjoy life, but I saw how expensive stuff is, had to get a job. The cost of a quart of milk is $6 to $7. … I was here a week and I called up the editor of the only paper on the island and said, 'Hey, are you looking for a writer? I need a job.' I went in and saw the editor the day after Christmas and he hired me."

Lisa Martin Capozzi is surprised by the tidbit Melissa McCarthy, star of CBS' "Mike & Molly," shared in the July issue of Redbook magazine about her problem with fashion designers.

Two Oscar seasons ago, McCarthy was rejected by multiple fashion designers. That spurred her to start her own plus-size dress line. "I thought Hollywood had started to change in the fashion world and was more open to us plus-size girlie girls," Capozzi said.

Attorney Ron Rosenbaum and his significant other, Pioneer Press staffer Lucy Quinlivan, are doing a new weekly podcast on the Tom Barnard Network.

"It's called 'Holding Court,'" Rosenbaum told me. "It's going to be political, legal, media reviews. You know me. I have opinions on everything. … Starts June 19, 3 p.m."

In other Tom Barnard news, on Wednesday he taped his first installment of "The ManUp TV Show" for My29 at Malone's in Maple Grove.

"The show is about the emasculation of males and about guys doing guy stuff, without apology," said TBN GM Sean Barnard. "In no way will it be degrading to women, just about guys being guys again."

My deadline couldn't accommodate the invitation Sean extended for me to watch and decide for myself.

C.J. can be reached at cj@startribune.com and seen on Fox 9's "Buzz." E-mailers, please state a subject; "Hello" does not count. Attachments are not opened.