Expect the unexpected when Megan Mullally performs Thursday at a benefit for The LGBT Community Center of the Desert.

Best known as the insufferable, unfiltered Karen Walker from TV’s “Will & Grace,” Mullally’s versatile career has taken her from Broadway and movies to the recording studio and back to the small screen. She co-stars in Adult Swim’s “Children’s Hospital” and has recurring roles in the comedies “Happy Endings” and “Parks and Recreation.”

The Palm Springs audience will see Mullally’s musical side when she takes the stage with Supreme Music Program, one of her two bands. They’ve performed together since 1999 and have recorded three albums. Mullally, who also appeared at this year’s Steve Chase Awards, describes their music as an eclectic celebration of songwriting.

“The original idea for the band was picking songs,” she said in a telephone interview with The Desert Sun. “Each song creates its own little universe. A lot of the songs are story songs. They’re from all over the place, every genre, every style of music. You name it, it’s in there.”

TDS: What do you hope people take away from the show?

MULLALLY: When this band is at its best, I think people really do have an experience. Rather than just sitting there and having a drink and kind of tapping your toes, I feel like we give people more of an emotional journey from song to song.

What would be the ultimate job in entertainment for you?

I like to do a lot of different things as long as they’re good projects with good people who are nice and have integrity. I’m still doing a lot of television. I’ve been doing more movies recently. In the last year I’ve done maybe five movies (“Smashed,” “Somebody Up There Likes Me,” “Gay Dude,” “G.B.F.” and “Toy’s House”).

When fans approach you what do they usually want to talk about?

I just did some piano-only concerts in Provincetown. A lot of people in Provincetown just want to talk to me about a variety of things but they always circle back to “Will & Grace.” I love it. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t have any of the opportunities I have.

For a time I was going to do “Karen: The Musical.” It was all going along swimmingly, then at the 11th hour persons who shall remain nameless withdrew the rights to “Karen.” But life goes on.

Tammy 2 is never too far away! The second ex-Mrs. Tammy Swanson, played by Megan Mullally, will pop up again in season 5 of NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. Would you be shocked to learn that this does not bode well for Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman), who is starting a romance with single mom Diane (guest star Lucy Lawless)? You would not.

“She does what she’s best at: trying to ruin Ron’s life,” executive producer Michael Schur tells EW of Tammy 2?s return, which was first reported by TVGuide.com. “It’s kind of the ultimate test of Ron’s relationship with Diane. And also the ultimate mission for Ron’s emotional guardian, Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler).”

Mullally, who stars on Childrens Hospital, is the real-life spouse of Offerman. Her guest spot is slated to air in late November.

Thanks to Deep Dream Designs we have this great new gallery theme

It’s a shame, really, that NBC never attempted a crossover episode between two of its most prized Thursday night Must-See TV properties: the New York-set, Emmy-winning series Friends and Will & Grace.

How cool would it have been to see Megan Mullally‘s boozy Karen Walker and Lisa Kudrow‘s flower child Phoebe Buffay chew some comedy scenery together? Aside from the fact that each long has been a superfan of the other — Mullally calls Kudrow “a genius,” while Kudrow says Mullally shows “a total commitment to character” — they each crafted such an indelibly standout supporting character that without them, their series’ powerhouse ensembles simply would have been off-balance.

For Kudrow, 49, whose calendar has been packed of late with creating and starring in Showtime’s Emmy-nominated Internet series-turned-hit show Web Therapy and producing the Emmy-nominated NBC genealogy reality series Who Do You Think You Are?, the buzz of her 1998 win for Friends remains a cloudy dream.

“My son was just a few months old, I was really tired, and no one else from Friends was there that night,” she says. “It was just me and my husband, and I remember thinking: ‘Wow, my son was born, and now this? It’s been a good year!’ ”

Mullally, 53, scored two supporting wins for Will & Grace and has parlayed her gold into a talk show in 2006 and dozens of comedy-series stints, from roles on Starz’s Party Down to NBC’s Parks and Recreation (alongside husband Nick Offerman) and ABC’s Happy Endings. She shares Kudrow’s sense of wonder about her first Emmy victory in 2000, a moment of shock so potent that a certain co-star had to snap her out of it. “Sean Hayes was sitting behind me and grabbed me in a full nelson,” says Mullally. “It was cool.”