WEBVTT - Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman Take it Slow in Work and in Love 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:02.800 This is Alec Baldwin, and you were listening to Here's 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:06.880 the Thing. A couple of weeks ago, we were at 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:10.760 the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. I was joined 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:14.720 by Megan Mollally and Nick Offerman. Malally is best known 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:17.759 for her role as Karen Walker on Will and Grace. 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:21.720 Offerman's big break was playing the role of Ron Swanson 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:25.320 on Parks and Recreation, but they also have a life 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:29.319 together off screen. They have been married since two thousand three, 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:32.640 and as Playboy Magazine wrote a couple of years ago, 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:36.400 their comic chemistry is akin to that of a hyper 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:41.520 sexualized Jerry Stiller and Anne Mira. Thank you both for coming, 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:45.960 Thanks for having us. Let me begin by asking that 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:48.760 the two of you also. I'm gonna start with Nick 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:51.680 because we've gotta go one at a time here, and 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:55.600 that is that. What was the comedy d n A 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:57.680 and your family when you were growing up? Did you 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:00.760 come from a family of like rip snorton comedy people. 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:04.440 I wouldn't say rip snorting, but there is a powerful 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:08.080 sense of humor in my family. They're hardworking and humble. 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:11.959 Their farmers and school teachers and nurses and librarians. Sorry, 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:16.400 and um, and so there's a real I think it's 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:20.160 the farmer ethos where you have to work. You can't 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:23.640 be too funny or too dramatic. You just keep working. 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:27.160 But you know all of your year's work might be 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:31.240 wiped out by locusts or storms, so you have to 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:33.440 have a dry sense of humor of like, well, I 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:38.120 guess we're eating our shoes this year. And I picked 0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:41.800 up on that. And were you the funny one in 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:46.120 your family? Well, that might be over egging the pudding, 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:52.360 but I uh, I was definitely the showman performer. Yeah. 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:55.520 You mentioned in an interview where you said, like you're hardworking, 0:01:55.960 --> 0:01:58.960 kind of tough, no nonsense family. They viewed you as 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:01.920 like the woofs of the family business. I'm the city 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:06.480 when I walk in the door, it says that I'm 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:13.519 the Milo of my family. Perhaps. And you you that 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:16.840 you were born in l A but you grew up 0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:20.800 in Oklahoma. Yeah, how did that happen? How did that happen? Well, 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:25.560 my father was a contract player with Paramount in the fifties, 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:28.720 and so they lived in Los Angeles for a long 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:32.079 time and I was born here and then when uh, 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:34.680 and then they moved back to Oklahoma when I was six, 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:37.959 and I had a little bag packed by the door 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:41.000 of that whole time I was in Oklahoma, just waiting 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:43.919 to come back to Los Angeles. Although I had a 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:48.160 great upbringing, but I just I knew better. Did he 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:50.200 feel like he didn't want to ring. Did he feel 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:51.640 like he didn't want to raise his kids in l A? 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:54.680 That's why he went back to Oklahoma to have a Uh. Yeah, 0:02:54.720 --> 0:02:57.239 his parents had lived in Newport Beach and they both 0:02:57.240 --> 0:02:59.640 passed away in the same year, and he just didn't 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:02.519 want to be here anymore. And he was very bitter 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:06.519 about the entertainment industry. And he had grown up in 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:08.720 Oklahoma City and my mom had grown up in Tulsa, 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:11.360 so he just wanted to get back there. But can 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:16.680 you imagine that being bitter about the entertainment industry. I 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:18.919 wouldn't know what that's like. Yeah, I think he wanted 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:22.400 to be the big fish, you know, and he wanted 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:25.240 to make it. He really wanted to make it, but 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:29.680 it was really busy drinking alcohol, so it really cut 0:03:29.720 --> 0:03:34.160 into the acting time. Yeah, he was very busy drinking 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:36.880 alcohol and having sex with women who weren't my mother, 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:40.000 So it really took a bite out of the Some 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:46.640 people are able to juggle those persons. Yeah, but he 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:56.960 was more specialist. Yeah. So did he did he act 0:03:57.120 --> 0:03:59.840 in Oklahoma? Did he revive his careerty become like the 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:03.280 he did Tony Randall of Oklahoma with gaily people? With 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:07.760 his theatrical my father was. He wore an ascot and 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:11.880 at one point had a yeah in Oklaoma City in 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:16.480 like this early sixties, and had at one point bought 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:21.760 a fant rolls Roy Roy's Phantom three, uh Gray you 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:26.159 know what you know extravaganza and he would drive that around, 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:30.000 tuning in ascot. So the fact that he was not 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:33.000 way to bang a lot of women and what was that? 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:36.400 He just had a very he was like a gay guy, 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:43.640 you know. He just had like a very fantastical presentation. Yeah. Yeah, 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:46.000 my parents had a lot that I learned to sing 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:48.240 because my parents had a lot of Barbera Streis and 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:50.440 Judy Garland records. And I was like, we're my parents 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:55.840 to gay men. What what's happening now? What he did 0:04:55.880 --> 0:04:57.800 he perform in Like I read that he performed at 0:04:57.839 --> 0:04:59.800 Dinner Theater there. He was kind of the only p 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:02.320 something that I knew growing up who had this really 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:07.719 you know, kind of um met a sense of humor 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:12.560 and so I yeah, he could crack my mom and 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:15.680 I for sure, but we were all so scared of him. 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:21.000 That was a good combo. Well, know what your families? 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:23.200 Are your parents both alive at all? Or now? My 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:29.440 mom is my mom's ninety five? Yeah, she's she's she's 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:32.080 an Oklahoma city in the same house that I grew 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:36.000 up in. Did she get the roles? She know that 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:39.360 had to be sold? I think. But my my dad 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:41.360 never really had like a real job, but he had 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:44.920 money from the family, had some oil money from way 0:05:44.920 --> 0:05:48.080 back when, so he kind of drifted along on that. 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:50.919 But the roles was temporary. Was your dad around to 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:54.279 meet him? Do they know each other? No? Unfortunately my 0:05:54.400 --> 0:06:00.640 dad passed away. But I is totally completely different? Is 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:03.719 he and Nick? Are? I do think that there's some 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:12.200 crossover because both gay? Um, there's that and wait can 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:25.080 they yeah, ton, it's coming out? Okay? Speaking of gay? 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:28.000 Can I mention what you said backstage? Backstage, Megan was 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:30.240 staring at my balls when I was sitting down. Can 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:32.760 you see the hole? You see the hole in my past? 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:34.640 I split my pants? Can you see. Okay, I'm gonna 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:38.200 put the paper, I'm gonna put my notes here. I'll 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:41.640 read the trousers has been invented that will contain the 0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:52.280 testicles of like bald one, they will not be reined in, 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:57.480 they will not be rained in. Nick has taken a 0:06:57.560 --> 0:07:02.440 rather festive handkerchief out of his pocket and wraps around 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:05.400 his neck in the form of an ascot, So it's 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:09.840 more of a crava. So the Offerman's. So the Offerman's 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:12.600 and the and the uh and the Malawley's never met, 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:15.960 I mean where you got the two families got together well, 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:18.520 and that would have been an interesting thing. Yeah, Megan's 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:23.200 mom came to Minuka, and the families have visited each other. 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:28.840 Uh and and Megan's mom had a wonderful gentleman companion, Mr. 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:32.680 Nat Smith, and they traveled all over together with them. 0:07:32.800 --> 0:07:36.360 And so they came to our little town of Manuka 0:07:36.560 --> 0:07:43.320 for holiday dinners. And then we came to Oklahoma as well. Minuka, Manuka, Manuka, Minuka. 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:48.239 So I'm gonna assume that Manuka people even coming there 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:52.000 from Oklahomas. I mean, Oklahoma City is paris compared to Minuka, 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:56.000 I'm assuming, and so never even went Chicago is less 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:58.560 than an hour away, and they never even when it 0:07:58.600 --> 0:08:04.680 was like going to Morocco, it felt like we were 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:08.280 in Mayberry Um. When I finally got to Chicago, I 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:13.280 felt like I had traveled from the fifties to present day. 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:18.040 You you went to Champagne or Banna. I did to 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:21.120 study what I'm proud fighting a line. I to study theaters. 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:25.960 They yeah, they have actually a quite reputable theater conservatory. 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:28.480 And that's what you wanted from when you were when 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:30.320 you were young, you knew you wanted to study acting. 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:33.920 I was really ignorant. I I knew that I wanted 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:36.679 to perform, and I only is about a junior in 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:38.839 high school. I found out that you could get paid 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:42.040 to do plays in Chicago. Like I had heard of Broadway, 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:46.760 and I had heard of London, but I certainly didn't 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:50.720 think I could get there from Manuka. I was ignorant. 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:53.600 I didn't do the math that that you watch. You know, 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:57.720 my dad and I loved watching Jackie Gleason and John 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:03.160 Wayne movies, and I never did the math of impersonating like, oh, 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:06.520 I can learn to talk like Reverend Jim mcnatowski on 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:10.600 taxi and then somebody will give me, you know. Instead, 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:15.640 I just was like, hey, you guys crazy. You would 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:20.800 have a breakdancing team with his cousin Ryan whatever they 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:24.800 talk and flip flop flip flop was Ryan because he 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:28.320 did the gymnastics and the popping locker here was TikTok 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:34.880 fuking crazy guilty, So you realize you wanted to We 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:37.480 did plays at my high school and it just plays 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:39.400 in high school. Yeah, I did. How many people were 0:09:39.400 --> 0:09:42.959 in your high school? Like eleven people total? About eight 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:45.040 hundred like you did? Good? Oh, and nine other people 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:49.560 were in the audience. We did um, we did you know, 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:52.959 the crampy plays that high schools do. We also did musicals, 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:56.240 and so it was a revelation to discover that you 0:09:56.280 --> 0:10:02.439 could perform theater professionally in as close as Chicago, and 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:05.880 that these kids were studying that to do this at 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:09.720 the University of Illinois and I saw I that was 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:13.520 my first audition, and it was I didn't even know 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:16.359 what a monologue was like. For one of my monologues, 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:22.760 I performed a scene of dialogue, played both parts. Yeah, Louis, 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:27.640 what what exactly like doing both parts? What scene was that? 0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:29.720 What scene did you do to both parts. It was 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:38.920 a scene from the place steam Bath once again scene 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:45.880 from the Plague Glory Hole. And yeah, the professors were 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:47.840 you could have done Boys in the Band and played 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:53.680 all the parts from but they you know, I honestly think, um, 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:58.240 they took uh sixteen students a year in this conservatory. 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:01.000 And I was very affle deck and I think that 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:03.240 you know, they do a lot of Shakespeare and big 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:05.280 check off plays, and so you need a couple of 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:10.280 guys to like carry the coffin or the carry the 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:15.080 samovar on stage. He was an altar boy. Also, I 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:17.599 was no, wait, what sports did you play? It was 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:22.320 Central Illinois, so basketball, baseball, and football, but football was 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:26.280 my best sports. Would you play position? Defensive back? Either 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:33.000 cornerback or what they called monster back? That was good 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:37.839 at at tackling people? Um, but people. It was a 0:11:37.880 --> 0:11:41.600 little weird, But I had, um, I don't know, I 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:44.880 had the respect of the team, so they they kind 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:48.840 of thought I was fruity, But I think I was 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:54.760 tough enough at sports that they were liked. Saturday Afternoon, 0:11:55.640 --> 0:11:58.160 I was in the swing choir. You were gay until 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:03.280 the kickoff? Were you a superstar athlete there in Oklahoma 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:07.680 and Oklahoma City. Uh now I was. I wasn't a 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:11.360 ballet company, though I was a serious ballet dancer for 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:13.240 many years, and I was in a company for five 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:17.760 years and studied at New York City Ballet's School School 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:22.960 of American Ballet UM. But no, I, on the other hand, 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:25.640 basically came out of the womb in a top hat 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:31.840 and tapshi. I was developing my skills from birth, Yeah, 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:37.199 I was. I was literally like in my room trying 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:42.920 to perfect every possible performing skill imaginable from the age 0:12:42.920 --> 0:12:46.360 of four. Um. Yeah, I don't know why it's I 0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:48.880 think it's weird that those kind of things happened. I 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:53.880 think that when kids have a certain predilection, predilection for 0:12:54.080 --> 0:12:58.559 a career. I mean I know so many people who 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:01.120 who had that. Yeah, when I was a kid, that 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:03.720 we would always torment my mother because like when I 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:06.320 was a little you know that programming on TV was 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:09.480 like old Warner Brothers, gangster films, or like the Bowery Boys. 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.080 I don't know if people who remember the Bowery Boys, 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:14.880 like my whole childhood, we just like shovel that on 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:16.280 my mother all the time. She'd be like, are you 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:18.720 boys gonna finish those potatoes. We're like, we're not gonna 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:24.000 eat the potatoes. See who's asking? See why don't you 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:27.240 know damn potatoes? Get out of here. See my mother 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:31.600 will be like, oh God, oh God, what's happening. What 0:13:31.679 --> 0:13:35.120 did you watch? I liked the weird stuff like Mary Hartman, 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:39.120 Mary Hartman, And yeah, that's the fact that they even 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:41.520 aired that in Oklahoma City kind of blows my mind 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:43.720 when I think about smoke pot and watched Mary Hartman 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:46.760 Mary Hartan. I was it was. I was too young, 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:51.079 but I had words. Don't bullshit us? Yeah, no, when 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:53.440 it first started, I was. I didn't ever smoke pot 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:57.160 till I was seventeen. I don't think I watched Mary Hartman. Mary. 0:13:57.200 --> 0:13:58.760 I used just to blow a big fat one out 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:02.880 the window before Mary had I love that show my mom. 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:05.040 My mom used to watch it with me. She totally 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:07.319 got it. My mom encouraged me in a lot of ways, 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:09.840 and I knew every song on the radio and all 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:12.360 that kind of stuff. And my mom always, you know, 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:16.440 she gave me ballet lessons and encouraged me to be creative. 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:20.520 Did you smoke a lot of weed there in Minuka? No? 0:14:20.760 --> 0:14:25.240 In fact, no, it was very conservative and the uh 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:31.640 like the six known pot smokers, were completely alienated, like 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:35.920 they this this was the eighties, and they like they 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:41.240 announced their devotion to to marijuana with long hair and 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:47.200 like rat concert t shirts. It wasn't even something you considered, 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:50.520 like there was such a taint on it. And then 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:58.080 I got to theater school and and my best friend Joe, 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:02.520 it took him at the time time, there's a longside tangent. 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:05.200 I was pretending to be a born again Christian so 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:11.960 that I could sleep with this particular young lady, And 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:14.360 so I had to kind of work out of that 0:15:15.800 --> 0:15:19.400 to save face. They would they would they were he was, 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:23.320 they were both born again supposedly, and then he would 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:26.320 like get her to like have sex with them, and 0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:28.320 then they would both cry and like get down their 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:31.360 knees and repent and ask her forgiveness, and then the 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:33.520 same thing the next night, and just on and on 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:39.240 every single night, every night born again. She was born 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:45.920 again and again and again highly recommended. And when did 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:47.600 you decide you're going to go to to become like 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:49.320 a pro. You got a college and what happened when 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:51.640 you've done with college? Well, there was a group of us. Uh, 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:54.120 you know, and I was really bad at acting like 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:57.920 I was so ignorant. Um that I was trying way 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:02.120 too hard in a nutshell was my problem. And uh. 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:04.680 And so all through college I wasn't really getting cast. 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:08.720 But I endeared myself to this group of of great 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:12.440 artists because I could build scenery and I could choreograph 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:17.120 sword fights. Became a a big sword fighter and um. 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:22.360 And so we formed a theater company called the Defiant 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:28.880 Theater and moved on Moss to Chicago. What's up? That 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:30.520 was kind of the thing, was like, let's make a 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:33.160 go of it in Chicago, which is probably the greatest 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:38.640 theater city in the country. Um. For that reason, it's 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:41.640 you can. You can. You can make a go of 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:44.920 it with a storefront theater in a more affordable way 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:48.680 and your audience there. There's no ulterior motive, there's no Broadway, 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:54.160 there's no TV business. It's if you're doing Beckett in Chicago, 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:56.360 it's because you really want to do theater. Why do 0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:58.440 you think that is? To explain to people who don't 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:03.280 know and count me among them, why is uh, Chicago 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:05.760 such a fertile ground for theater? I don't know. I 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:09.919 think it's a combination of not being uh, you know, 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:13.679 New York, in l A, our places where if you 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:19.240 if you have a scrap, yeah that's the full of dogs. 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:21.920 If you if you have just a spark of talent 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:24.800 or cuteness, in those cities, people are like, hey, we can, 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:26.680 we can make a lot of money with you quickly. 0:17:27.119 --> 0:17:30.280 In Chicago, you don't have that ulterior motive, Like the 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:33.560 top paid theater performers there are not doing that great, 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:36.159 so it's not it's for passion and you're not chasing 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:39.120 fame and fortune. And you also just have that Midwestern 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:42.720 work ethic. Um, Chicago theater is a lot closer to 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:47.320 farming than the coastal. I did a lot of theater 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:51.440 in Chicago also, but before Nick and because I'm older, 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:56.919 she wents to Northwestern. Ye, and then I did theater 0:17:56.960 --> 0:18:00.159 there for like six years. And um that's where I 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:04.479 learned everything. Because I didn't study acting at Northwestern, so 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:09.239 um mostly English and art history and UM. But I 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:12.680 did a lot of theater while I was in school. 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:16.520 It was right when steppin Wolf was really hitting. I 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:20.440 got cast in a professional show while I was still 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:24.000 in school at Northwestern, and Um, I was just starting 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:28.760 my junior year and I had gone back to school 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:30.320 for two weeks and I was doing eight shows a 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:33.440 week at you know, and um, I went in to 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:35.440 talk to the dean and I said, this is really hard, 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:39.320 and she said drop out. I said, all right, don't 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:42.920 mind if I do, and so I did. And then 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:47.000 I got some calls. When I was doing Chicago Theater 0:18:47.119 --> 0:18:52.520 for some reason, I I tested for the lead in 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:57.159 Risky Business spoiler alert. I didn't get it, um, but 0:18:57.280 --> 0:18:59.520 I was flown out here for two weeks. It was 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:02.359 a really big deal and for me at the time. 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:06.000 And uh then I had a lot of agents, like 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:09.439 you know, big agents, Hollywood agents calling me in my 0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:12.959 little apartment in Chicago, and I was flown out for 0:19:13.080 --> 0:19:16.240 like two or three other movies didn't get them. And 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:23.240 then I moved out here finally in six six yeah, 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:26.040 five six, I don't know. And so I already so 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:28.400 I had an agent right away, so it made it easier. 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:31.560 I always was able to support I was very lucky. 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:34.879 I was always able to support myself. I never had, 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:39.440 you know, a civy job, you know, which is kind 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:41.560 of bad and kind of good. What's the first thing 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:43.200 you did, they really clicked for you, where you really 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:47.639 started to get you on that path where you you 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:49.639 know you're gonna work. I mean, I remember exactly. I 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:51.720 did this movie called She's Having a Baby with Kevin 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:55.040 Bacon years ago, no place, but I just mentioned it 0:19:55.040 --> 0:19:57.199 because there were these two women who were the casting agents. 0:19:57.200 --> 0:19:58.960 And once I got cast in that movie and I 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:02.720 was on their radar, everything changed after that. Well, I 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:05.320 was lucky if I worked, you know, I was able 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:07.680 to work here and there, and I got a pilot. 0:20:08.280 --> 0:20:10.879 Most pilot seasons, I got a pilot or I you know, 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:14.240 do episodic, but I never got any shows that really 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:17.920 hit for more than thirteen episodes. But then I got 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:21.960 cast in a Broadway revival of Greece. And I was 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:24.000 doing Greece and somebody said, oh, they're going to do 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:26.360 a revival of How to Succeed in Business without really 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:29.160 trying with Matthew Broadwert, and you're perfect for the female lead. 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:31.719 And I didn't know the show at all, and I 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:33.960 rented the movie and it took me like three days 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:35.520 to watch it. I thought it was kind of boring, 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:38.000 and anyway, I ended up auditioning for it and I 0:20:38.040 --> 0:20:41.560 got it, and then we started before we went to Broadway, 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:43.720 we did it out here in Lajoya and there was 0:20:43.760 --> 0:20:46.760 this guy who we still know, who worked for the 0:20:46.800 --> 0:20:49.360 Hollywood Reporter at the time, and he wrote this review 0:20:49.640 --> 0:20:52.879 and most of the review was about me, which was crazy. 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:55.080 And that really was the thing that kind of that 0:20:55.160 --> 0:20:58.520 was my first really big break. Yeah, and what about 0:20:58.560 --> 0:21:01.040 you when you you came out here? When I did 0:21:01.080 --> 0:21:04.680 about four years in Chicago with my company, and things 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:08.480 started to go well. I became better at acting, started 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:13.320 getting you know, good roles, and I had a year 0:21:13.359 --> 0:21:17.800 in where the whole year I had just the best 0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:20.680 possible shows. I felt like it was my dream year. 0:21:21.520 --> 0:21:24.040 And I had a tooth. I had a hole in 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:26.159 one of my molders that I could fit a pepper 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:32.159 corn in, which was convenient um on long hikes. But 0:21:33.480 --> 0:21:36.199 it dawned on me I was twenty six. I was like, 0:21:36.240 --> 0:21:39.120 I'm at some point I'm gonna need to like see 0:21:39.119 --> 0:21:42.959 a dentist. And I've heard about the like SAG medical 0:21:43.040 --> 0:21:45.760 insurance and things like this, and so I had a 0:21:45.760 --> 0:21:48.360 couple of little jobs out here that brought me out. 0:21:48.440 --> 0:21:51.840 It was very dubious. I mean, I was playing a 0:21:51.880 --> 0:21:57.400 bad guy in a weird cartoon thing on Nickelodeon. The 0:21:57.440 --> 0:22:01.280 producers were like, we can fly you out, but it's 0:22:01.359 --> 0:22:09.119 you know, it's on you Go Airlines and it's a subcoach. Um. 0:22:09.160 --> 0:22:13.560 I landed at L A X and I coming from Chicago. 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:16.600 I just thought I would take the C T A 0:22:18.640 --> 0:22:22.280 to Hollywood, and I ended up finding a bus. I 0:22:22.359 --> 0:22:26.320 knew that Sunset turned into Caesar Chavez, so I took 0:22:26.320 --> 0:22:29.040 a bus to down to like right here, and then 0:22:29.119 --> 0:22:35.080 walked to the Sunset Gower and I was like, man, 0:22:35.119 --> 0:22:37.920 I isn't it crazy? The ship? We didn't we had 0:22:37.920 --> 0:22:40.720 no money. How we survived and you love it? And 0:22:41.040 --> 0:22:42.880 I loved it and I didn't love it at all. 0:22:44.720 --> 0:22:47.960 I couldn't wait to make money. And when did things 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:51.120 When did things change for you? And did you want 0:22:51.160 --> 0:22:53.680 them to? Because you sound like somebody who you're you 0:22:53.920 --> 0:22:55.960 weren't maybe quite sure that was the goal was to 0:22:56.040 --> 0:22:58.200 make it or was it? Well? I wanted yeah, I 0:22:58.240 --> 0:23:01.600 always wanted to be, you know, to perform good writing. 0:23:01.680 --> 0:23:03.760 I mean that's what kind of like. I really thought 0:23:03.800 --> 0:23:07.159 I was gonna be a theater guy and I and 0:23:07.200 --> 0:23:12.439 I became one. But it uh there's there was something lacking, 0:23:12.520 --> 0:23:15.719 Like all my friends in my theater company didn't have 0:23:16.560 --> 0:23:19.440 They sort of lost their fire and they all dropped 0:23:19.440 --> 0:23:23.520 away and got jobs and had kids, and so I was. 0:23:23.680 --> 0:23:26.280 I was trying to find my place, and and I 0:23:26.320 --> 0:23:28.919 moved here, and I was kind of lost for a 0:23:28.960 --> 0:23:32.000 couple of years, and I finally said, I don't know 0:23:32.040 --> 0:23:35.000 what the funk I'm doing. I I, uh don't understand 0:23:35.000 --> 0:23:37.080 this business. I don't like it. I quit going to 0:23:37.200 --> 0:23:42.240 like commercial auditions and instead committed those hours to carpentry work. 0:23:43.200 --> 0:23:46.280 And finally I said, I just need to do a play. Uh, 0:23:46.720 --> 0:23:50.000 that's that's what I do. And I told everybody I 0:23:50.080 --> 0:23:53.720 knew and some friends again. Casting directors say, say, are 0:23:53.720 --> 0:23:56.280 the reason we're all sitting here. I mean, these two 0:23:56.320 --> 0:23:59.719 great ladies that championed me said hey, our friends are 0:23:59.720 --> 0:24:02.800 doing a play. And Megan was the lead in the 0:24:02.880 --> 0:24:06.199 play and it saved my life. I mean that. And 0:24:06.200 --> 0:24:09.160 that's where you met. Yeah, that's where we was. Yeah, 0:24:09.200 --> 0:24:12.160 I was in two thousand and it was a theater 0:24:12.280 --> 0:24:17.119 company on the East Side, and he was sleeping on 0:24:17.119 --> 0:24:23.080 a couch in someone's basement. Quite a catch. I've been 0:24:23.080 --> 0:24:31.600 looking for somebody just like him ahead a yeah, a 0:24:31.600 --> 0:24:34.959 pair of gold overalls that he he wrote all of 0:24:35.000 --> 0:24:38.120 his notes on, like people's phone numbers and stuff because 0:24:38.160 --> 0:24:45.840 apparently no paper. So I'll watch out. Come on over 0:24:45.880 --> 0:24:47.840 to my place and take a shower. You smell like 0:24:47.920 --> 0:24:50.000 you could use one. Didn't have a bathroom, Now have 0:24:50.040 --> 0:24:53.399 a bathroom. But what was the play? You had a 0:24:53.440 --> 0:24:57.879 pail chuck Me's the Berlin Circle? What was it about? 0:24:57.920 --> 0:25:01.400