Fans of zany, obscure comedy in the 2000s already know who plays Peli Motto in The Mandalorian.
Peli, the ace mechanic occasionally hanging around with Din Djarin and Grogu throughout all three seasons of the Disney Plus hit (along with some crossover The Book of Boba Fett appearances), is played by comedic icon Amy Sedaris. While her look as Peli is a transformation from how Sedaris looks day-to-day — with her donning a short, light-colored curly mop for the role — she’s not one to shy away from a bit of costume for a role, as seen in her hit Strangers with Candy. So, if at first fans of Sedaris didn’t recognize her, it’s understandable, but that voice is unmistakable.
Sedaris has had quite a few breakout roles, and she even plays a part in some nonfiction novels written by her brother, but for the uninitiated, let’s take a little tour of Sedaris’s career leading up to becoming Peli Motto.
Biggest roles
Sedaris’ biggest breakthrough came in the Comedy Central classic Strangers with Candy, an underrated and possibly ahead-of-its-time comedy. Over the course of three short seasons, which ran over the span of just 18 months from April 1999 to October 2000, Sedaris portrayed Jerri Blank in a twist on the older-person-goes-back-to-school trope. Sedaris dons fake buck teeth as well as a slightly fat suit for the role that pokes major fun at after school specials of the ‘90s. The show was co-created by the one-and-only Stephen Colbert, and thanks to a swelling cult following they were able to land one last one-off made-for-TV movie in 2006.
“I like to make believe, play dress up and transform myself. I like playing misfits because I have more to work against. Pretty people get more opportunities than ugly people. I like that, it’s harder to work with. Then I like being able to take it all off. If I was hideous, I’d want to play the pretty girl,” Sedaris told the East Bay Times.
Then, her wonderful vocal chords came to life as she portrayed the voice and spirit of Princess Carolyn in the animated Netflix dark comedy (and we mean dark) hit BoJack Horseman, followed by a recurring role as Mimi Kanasis on another Netflix show with some fanfare, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
It’s Sedaris’s drawly, saturated voice that’s led to more roles, though, both on TV and in films, which is why she made for a perfect Peli Motto.
Being Peli Motto
Peli Motto is introduced to us in the fifth episode of The Mandalorian season one. Motto runs a mechanic shop called Hangar 3-5 — on Mos Eisley, along with plenty of droids and the help of Jawas — on the well-known planet of Tatooine.
Though Motto has only shown up in four episodes of The Mandalorian and another two appearances on The Book of Boba Fett, it’s a character that has played a huge role in moving the narrative forward – and in aiding Mando in some pretty big ways, to say nothing of the audience appeal the character has shown.
Really, even though Motto discovers Grogu (then still The Child, aka Baby Yoda) somewhat accidentally in that first appearance, she becomes the first person Mando trusts to watch over Grogu. Motto further secured his trust when another bounty hunter, Calican, came to try and collect Grogu and the impending bounty. The two of them were able to work together to take Calican out and she helped dispose of and hide the body for Mando.
It’s Motto who steers Mando in the direction of another supposed Mandalorian, who turns out to be just a marshal, Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant) – who has come into and is wearing Boba Fett’s old armor. In the very next episode, Motto again helps Mando out in gathering more information about other potential Mandalorians in exchange for the riveting transportation of Frog Lady.
In The Book of Boba Fett appearances, it’s Motto who helps procure a new, faster, spiffier ship for Mando — an N-1 Starfighter — to replace the Razor Crest. Then, in the finale, it’s none other than Motto who safely returns Grogu to Mando on Mos Espa. This coming after Grogu chooses to leave Luke Skywalker’s training and return to Din Djarin, and she is the one who safely reunites the duo. Sedaris has shown her penchant for stretching the range of her vocal capabilities by having to not only speak to aliens in other tongues, but to seem like she’s an expert in the fake languages, such as speaking frog or communicating with said Jawas.
“Favreau will always throw something at me, like I have to speak ‘Frog.’ And I’m like, ‘What does a frog sound like?’” Sedaris said in an interview with Empire Magazine. “And he’s like, ‘I don’t know,’ and he’ll walk away. And I’m like, ‘Oh my God.’ That happens to me every season. Like the Jawas, I have to start speaking to them. But that’s what makes it fun.”
And in the second episode of the current season of The Mandalorian, we were treated to Motto once more as Mando pays her a visit to try and find a new memory core for IG-11. Though she’s not able to help, because of the connection she’s built with Mando, she talks him into taking on a different droid, R5-D4, to go and explore Mandalore.
Becoming Peli Motto
Sedaris landed the role also in part by virtue of her previous work with The Mandalorian creator, Jon Favreau, who wrote the character with her in mind. Sedaris and Favreau worked together on the aforementioned movies Elf and Chef. Even before that, though, the two became well-acquainted while working at Chicago’s Second City improv theater in the 1980s.
Sedaris proved not just to Favreau, but to everyone involved, that she could carry the weight of an important character in an ultra-important (for Disney Plus) show.
New episodes of season three of The Mandalorian currently release on Disney Plus every Wednesday.