Cheryl Tunt

Cheryl Tunt debuted in Archer first episode, "Mole Hunt", as the incompetent secretary of Malory Archer (Jessica Walter). Cheryl's early storylines focus on her attempts to sabotage Cyril Figgis' (Chris Parnell) relationship with Lana Kane (Aisha Tyler), whom she greatly despises. Cyril, emasculated by Lana and increasingly suspicious of her relationship with Sterling Archer (H. Jon Benjamin), agrees to have sex with Cheryl. Paranoid that Lana may discover his infidelity, he distances himself from Cheryl afterward, much to her dismay. Cheryl threatens to tell Lana of their affair to force him into continuing it, although in a conversation with Pam Poovey (Amber Nash), she reveals her true intentions were to make Sterling jealous. Cheryl nonetheless reveals the affair to her, adding more tension to their rivalry. As heiress to the Tunt family railroad fortune, Cheryl is subjected to numerous threats and kidnappings. She and her brother Cecil (Eugene Mirman) inherit US$1 billion in trust funds after the death of their parents; the fortune is split evenly amongst each party, and Cheryl's net worth balloons tenfold. This results in an attempted kidnapping, which ultimately fails when the robbers mistake Pam for Cheryl. Cheryl is introduced as an emotionally fragile woman who craves Sterling's affection. The character becomes an increasingly maniacal and unstable personality in Archer evolution. Greer recalled in an interview, "It was really fun to see her evolve and I think [Reed] and I always had fun recording together. I'm so thankful that it got so crazy and turned so upside down, and how nuts this character is. It's so fun." and she is often sexually aroused from being choked. "insane", and "empty-headed". Throughout Archer early seasons, the character creates a number of aliases as part of one of the comedy's longtime running gags. My interpretation is that she isn’t trying to keep the secret. That she doesn’t care. She changed her last name to avoid getting kidnapped, but really, if anyone figured it out and asked her, she’d just probably be like “Yeah, shut up!” or whatever. I feel like everyone at ISIS is so self-involved and so concerned with furthering their own agenda that it would never occur to them to think that anyone else has anything else going on. and Charlotte Vandertunt, heiress to the Vandertunt media empire. ==Development==

Judy Greer provides the voice of Cheryl Tunt. Greer came to the Archer producers' attention for her work in Glenn Martin, DDS, and she joined the show because of her desire to break into voice acting, after previous attempts had failed. She and casting director Linda Lamontagne, whom she worked with in Glenn Martin, DDS, consulted with the producers in Los Angeles for the role: "She was kind of relentless with them, saying 'Use her, use her.' I read for many different roles and then finally they cast me." Prior to Greer's casting, Cheryl was expected to be merely a supporting character for Archer, part of a running gag where Sterling impregnates Malory's secretaries. ==Reception==

Cheryl's characterization and Greer's voice work has been well received by the media. HitFix's Alan Sepinwall called Cheryl his favorite character on the show. Likewise, Ian MacDonald of TV Overmind said the writers "found a great way to expand on ISIS' most emotionally unstable employees"; Alongside fellow cast members Jessica Walter and H. Jon Benjamin, Greer was a candidate for an Annie Award in the category of Voice Acting in a Television Production—the award was given to Jeff Bennett for his work in the Nickelodeon television series The Penguins of Madagascar. ==References==