Speaker 1: Your earliest dream was to be a clown. Is that correct.
Speaker 1: That's where it all started. Yeah, I wanted to be
Speaker 1: a clown in the circus. After I went to the
Speaker 1: circus and it was explained to me that clowns were
Speaker 1: just normal people with makeup on. Oh you didn't know
Speaker 1: that at first. Yeah, you know. I thought that's just
Speaker 1: how those people looked. So I was like, hold on
Speaker 1: just a second. You're telling me I can look like that.
Speaker 1: They're like, yeah, yeah, just makeup on. Okay, Well that's
Speaker 1: what I want to do. My name is Eric stone Street.
Speaker 1: I played Cameron Tucker on Modern Family, and I am
Speaker 1: a Chiefs fan. Hello everybody, it's a new day. It's
Speaker 1: a new Tuesday, which means a new episode of Off
Speaker 1: the Beat. I'm your host, Brian Baumgartner. I am so
Speaker 1: excited to share with you today. This is the reason
Speaker 1: that we're doing Off the Beat conversations like today, my guest,
Speaker 1: you just heard the one and only Eric stone Street. Now,
Speaker 1: I've known Eric for a long time and I know
Speaker 1: that he had a bit of an unconventional start in
Speaker 1: show biz. Well I'm not sure if performing at parties
Speaker 1: quite counts as jobiz, but it certainly was the road
Speaker 1: that led him to where he is today. You probably
Speaker 1: know him as Cam from Modern Family, half of the
Speaker 1: iconic duo that was Mitch and Cam, a couple that
Speaker 1: would pave the way for same sex couples on primetime television.
Speaker 1: He's one Emmy's He's made appearances on everything from America's
Speaker 1: Got Talent to C s I to even a weird
Speaker 1: Al Yankovic music video. Now like me, he is a
Speaker 1: huge sports fan. Yes, and he's done his fair share
Speaker 1: of voice acting. And oh yeah, I almost forgot. He
Speaker 1: could have been Kevin Malone on the Office. So there's that.
Speaker 1: Let's just dive right in. Please welcome my friend and
Speaker 1: yours America's sweetheart, Eric stone Street. Bubble and Squeak. I
Speaker 1: love it, Bubble and Squeak on Bubble and Squeaker Cookie
Speaker 1: at every month left over from the NAT before. What
Speaker 1: is happening? Wi, Brie, Brian? How are you good? How's
Speaker 1: it going? You know? I almost wore my packers hat.
Speaker 1: I was wondering if you would have the Chiefs thing rolling?
Speaker 1: I know, I mean what I heard so much? It does?
Speaker 1: It does? I mean, especially after you guys won, what
Speaker 1: might be the greatest game in the history of the NFL. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was the greatest game. Is there any good feelings
Speaker 1: about that or is it just still no? It makes
Speaker 1: it worse, like because none of it matters. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's the great thing about the sport we love so much, right,
Speaker 1: it only matters what you do in this game. It's
Speaker 1: like it's just immediately erased from meaning anything means zero. Now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well listen, I want to get back, go back into
Speaker 1: your history. But the first thing I feel like we
Speaker 1: need to talk about because I think we have never
Speaker 1: discussed this specifically, but you we're up for the role
Speaker 1: of Kevin Malone in the office. And I don't know
Speaker 1: if you've ever heard this story, but when Steve left
Speaker 1: the show, Alison Jones came to me and said, you know,
Speaker 1: I was looking for like momentum. Alison Jones throws nothing away.
Speaker 1: She keeps every document, every casting sign in sheet, every
Speaker 1: note ever written. I'd love to see some of my notes,
Speaker 1: like from maybe my Curb your Enthusiasm audition. But she said,
Speaker 1: I didn't really find that much for Steve, but I
Speaker 1: found this for you. So this is, you know, seven
Speaker 1: years into our run. This is circa and she hands
Speaker 1: me up a sheet of paper and it says, Kevin Malone,
Speaker 1: Brian Baumgartner, Eric stone Street and Jorge Garcia. What and
Speaker 1: this was the final three for Kevin Malone. We were
Speaker 1: the three? Did you know that you were that close?
Speaker 1: Or is this a surprise to you know? Not a surprise,
Speaker 1: but what's so cool about this? And you're right that
Speaker 1: we've always known this little bit of Hollywood trivia. I
Speaker 1: have perspective on it from my end because I was
Speaker 1: friends with Angela Kinsey and Warren lieberste from my improv
Speaker 1: Olympic days. Well, when I came in and read like
Speaker 1: I'm sure you did. It started with me reading for
Speaker 1: you know, the Steve Carell part, like that's was my
Speaker 1: just go in and meet Allison Jones and read and
Speaker 1: then she called back and said, well, you're not right
Speaker 1: for that, but come in for this other part. So
Speaker 1: then I went in and I read for your part,
Speaker 1: and I called Warren and you know, I knew his
Speaker 1: brother had something to do with the show, and his
Speaker 1: brother in law, you know, had created the show with
Speaker 1: the old Marin version. Mike, Dude, I'm testing for the
Speaker 1: show and he's like, yeah, you're you're in the top three,
Speaker 1: Like there's three tapes that they're looking at, and I
Speaker 1: don't know what time of year it was, this is
Speaker 1: your story, so you would have better references than I would,
Speaker 1: because I quickly tried to have to forget about this moment.
Speaker 1: But for whatever reason, whether it was a football game,
Speaker 1: a baseball game, or whatever, I was over at Paul
Speaker 1: Deieberstein's house and I saw your picture. I saw your
Speaker 1: picture at his house, really, and I yeah, like the
Speaker 1: decision hadn't been made yet, and so I knew who
Speaker 1: you were and I saw your picture and tapes, and
Speaker 1: I just wanted to be like, be like nose over
Speaker 1: there and be like, what's there any of that? What's
Speaker 1: you know? Like, what's any of this? Say? Like is
Speaker 1: there anything written down yet? Is it decided? But then
Speaker 1: it wasn't long after that that you know, you got
Speaker 1: it and and I didn't get it. But yeah, what
Speaker 1: a great what a great moment. But it's also great
Speaker 1: for everyone who wants to be an actor and in
Speaker 1: our business to understand that you know, you got the
Speaker 1: part because you deserved the part. It was your part.
Speaker 1: They just didn't know it was your part yet. And
Speaker 1: it wasn't my part and it wasn't my time. And
Speaker 1: then a couple of years later, then another audition rolls
Speaker 1: around for Modern Family and that turned out to be
Speaker 1: my part, and Hey obviously had his part. He found
Speaker 1: his part. So it's pretty cool little Hollywood intersection for us,
Speaker 1: it is. And I think the other thing that is
Speaker 1: so cool about it was, you know, we were three
Speaker 1: guys not well known at all at that point, um,
Speaker 1: but everybody ended up getting their part. As you said,
Speaker 1: everybody ended up. You know, it's not like who was
Speaker 1: that guy? Has anybody ever heard from him before? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Everybody did. Yeah, really really neat And you know, you
Speaker 1: you were the best, Like we as fans of TV
Speaker 1: and fans of things like you, you watched TV shows
Speaker 1: and think like, well, nobody else could have done that.
Speaker 1: And my version of that character certainly wasn't your version.
Speaker 1: Your version wasn't mine. And you know I went to
Speaker 1: the right person. Now here we are, here we are, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you could be talking to me right now. I guess
Speaker 1: I will disagree with you about Alison Jones not throwing
Speaker 1: anything away though, because she threw me away a lot
Speaker 1: of times out of those but she kept the mementos
Speaker 1: of throwing you away. Yeah, she it and she I
Speaker 1: know you've talked to her and talked about her many times,
Speaker 1: but I just want to reiterate she's the greatest, the best.
Speaker 1: And here's a great Allison Jones story for you. So
Speaker 1: when I came from Chicago, I had an acting teacher
Speaker 1: in Chicago named Glenn Haynes. And when I moved out here,
Speaker 1: Allison was nice enough to you know, she came to
Speaker 1: prop Olympic and I got a one line part on
Speaker 1: um Michael J. Fox's TV show that he was the
Speaker 1: mayor assistant. Well, all of a sudden, I get called
Speaker 1: from my agent and said, hey, you've got to You're
Speaker 1: gonna work on Spin City this week. I'm like, I've
Speaker 1: never even auditioned for Spin City and she's like, yeah, well,
Speaker 1: Alison Jones saw you in an improv show and there's
Speaker 1: one line of a photographer and she's just giving you
Speaker 1: the part. And I'm like, that's awesome. So I go in,
Speaker 1: I do the part whatever, and then this is you know,
Speaker 1: we're talking here. So then Allison would call me in
Speaker 1: for different things over the years, never got anything. Then
Speaker 1: got you know, close with with the office and we'll
Speaker 1: hear from her every once while. Ever got anything. Well,
Speaker 1: Glenn Hayes, this acting teacher. I happened to run into
Speaker 1: him in Los Angeles. He was out here. I said,
Speaker 1: what's going on? He's like, Oh, I'm out here doing
Speaker 1: some classes and I'm I'm actually living, um stay with
Speaker 1: Alison Jones. I'm like, this is before Modern Family. I said,
Speaker 1: would you do me a favor? Like, would you ask
Speaker 1: Alison Jones honestly? Like, what's what her assessment of me is?
Speaker 1: You know, I never know because I'm this insecure actor
Speaker 1: like all of us that she keeps calling me in
Speaker 1: but I'm not booking anything, And so he asked her.
Speaker 1: He called me the next night and he said, Alison
Speaker 1: Jones said, you are a series regular waiting to happen.
Speaker 1: And you know what, whether it was true or not,
Speaker 1: it was so gracious of her to give me that
Speaker 1: moment of confidence. She knew. The basis of my question
Speaker 1: was I'm not feeling great about myself right now, like
Speaker 1: I'm not I have traction, but I'm not really I'm
Speaker 1: not really making it. And Alison's response was whether she
Speaker 1: believed it or not, which I think she's an honest person,
Speaker 1: and I value her opinion. She said, you're a series
Speaker 1: regular waiting to happen, and that just lifted me so
Speaker 1: much and made me feel so good. And that's what
Speaker 1: a casting director can do to you in addition to
Speaker 1: helping you get hired on jobs. Yeah, that's that's an
Speaker 1: amazing story. And also the first part of your story
Speaker 1: about Spin City. I mean, she is the hardest working
Speaker 1: casting director in Hollywood, and she is out there all
Speaker 1: the time. And the fact that she goes and sees
Speaker 1: an improv show and sees you and it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: that guy needs to work, that guy needs let's throw
Speaker 1: him something. No, I mean let's throw him something because
Speaker 1: he he's got it. And yeah, she's she's the best. Um. So,
Speaker 1: before your audition for the office, we're gonna get back
Speaker 1: to some of those other things. Apparently every funny person
Speaker 1: in Hollywood working today grew up in or around Kansas City, Missouri.
Speaker 1: You know, I've talked Keckner, Wriggle, all of these guys.
Speaker 1: You're in Kansas City. Your earliest dream was to be
Speaker 1: a clown, Is that correct? That's where it all started. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I wanted to be a clown. In the circus. After
Speaker 1: I went to the circus and it was explained to
Speaker 1: me that clowns were just normal people with makeup on.
Speaker 1: Oh you didn't know that at first, Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1: I I thought that's just how those people looked. So
Speaker 1: I was like, hold on just a second, you're telling
Speaker 1: me I can look like that, Like, yeah, just makeup on. Okay,
Speaker 1: Well that's what I want to do. How old are you? Oh?
Speaker 1: I was like eight when that epiphany happened. And then
Speaker 1: at my Grandma's making me clown costumes, and I'm going,
Speaker 1: you know, in four h and I'm taking makeup classes
Speaker 1: with shrine clowns. And you know, I always give my
Speaker 1: dad so much credit, you know, and my mom too,
Speaker 1: but my dad more importantly because here he's you know,
Speaker 1: I'm in Kansas, I have pigs and cows, I'm playing football,
Speaker 1: taking karate, put on my mom's wig and makeups, you know,
Speaker 1: things like that. So I know at some point he's like,
Speaker 1: what's going on? Uh, And he didn't yield. He just
Speaker 1: he's just like, this is my son, and I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna you know, they encouraged me so much to just
Speaker 1: follow any and all my dreams and interests. I wanted
Speaker 1: to play the drums. I had a snare drum. I
Speaker 1: was in karate, I had a karate I wanted to
Speaker 1: be a clown. I had a red nose, you know, whatever,
Speaker 1: whatever it was. So I'm thankful that they allowed me
Speaker 1: just to do that. And you went then to k
Speaker 1: s U Kansas State, and yeah, and you when did
Speaker 1: you decide that this was something that you wanted to do?
Speaker 1: That was it? Was there a moment? Was it a
Speaker 1: gradual progression to say, oh no, I want to be
Speaker 1: an actor? M hm? So I had a high school
Speaker 1: girlfriend that broke my heart, broke broke up with me,
Speaker 1: and she stayed behind. That's okay, so anyway, she stayed behind.
Speaker 1: I went on to Kansas State. I did a year
Speaker 1: of track and field. I threw the shop putting discus
Speaker 1: until I found out that sixteen pounds is a lot.
Speaker 1: Every of the twelve pounds and I'm like, I can't
Speaker 1: throw this thing. This is too heavy, this is this
Speaker 1: is this is really heavy, guys. So I went to UH.
Speaker 1: I went to Kansas State, left my track and field
Speaker 1: dreams behind and we ended up ending our relationship. And
Speaker 1: my best friend then Paul, who I met is still
Speaker 1: my best friend, Paul. Now he saw that I was
Speaker 1: bombed and down and you know, melancholy, and he's like,
Speaker 1: you know, you you always want to be a clown.
Speaker 1: I know it's not clowning, but why don't you audition
Speaker 1: for a play? Have you ever thought about doing it?
Speaker 1: I'm like no, He's like, well, I did forensics and
Speaker 1: plays in high school. All audition, if you will. So
Speaker 1: we both went up to the theater department. It was
Speaker 1: to fraternity guys in audition for Hamlet and pray Lude
Speaker 1: to a Kiss to plays. He got cast as Bernardo
Speaker 1: and Hamlet, and I got cast as Uncle Fred in
Speaker 1: pray Lude to a Kiss. Smallest part ned Baby played
Speaker 1: at the movie. So I did that. I had a
Speaker 1: few lines, and I loved it. Man. I loved writing
Speaker 1: my little notes on my pages. And I loved all
Speaker 1: the people. I mean, you're talking about this not that
Speaker 1: I was a farm kid, but I certainly was mostly
Speaker 1: farm kid. But now I'm I'm in the theater department
Speaker 1: with all these people with piercings and tattoos and having
Speaker 1: these crazy parties that I knew nothing about, that we're
Speaker 1: going on on campus. I'm like I love this, like
Speaker 1: it's a pass for me on a lot of it.
Speaker 1: But wow, this is really interesting. Uh. And you know,
Speaker 1: met some of my closest friends still that worked for
Speaker 1: Blue Man Group in New York and have you know
Speaker 1: forever I always called Tim my first GID guy I
Speaker 1: ever met tim O Miller Tim, and so I loved it.
Speaker 1: And then people made the mistake of telling me they
Speaker 1: thought I was good, and I made the mistake of
Speaker 1: believing that people in Manhattan, Kansas knew what good was.
Speaker 1: And then I was like, well, Ship, I guess I'm
Speaker 1: going to give this a try. So I kept auditioning
Speaker 1: for plays and got bigger parts in the plays, and
Speaker 1: then I think it was after my first lead that
Speaker 1: I decided, well, I'm gonna go for this, and that
Speaker 1: was it. Yeah, at that point, there's probably not a
Speaker 1: whole lot of outside of college in Manhattan, Kansas opportunities.
Speaker 1: You eventually go to Chicago. So was that the decision, like,
Speaker 1: you're gonna leave school, You're gonna graduate from school and
Speaker 1: go to Chicago and try to pursue this. How did
Speaker 1: you make that path? Yeah? I basically stayed in school
Speaker 1: an extra year and learned kind of the business just
Speaker 1: and did another play, got a little more experience, and
Speaker 1: then always knew Chicago would be where I went because
Speaker 1: of the improv stuff and Second City, and so I
Speaker 1: moved there just to kind of figure out, like if
Speaker 1: I could hang with people that maybe had gone to
Speaker 1: DePaul or Loyola or acting schools, and just to see
Speaker 1: like where I ranked, you know, and if I was good. Again.
Speaker 1: It was really me testing out to see if you know,
Speaker 1: my professor in Manhattan, Kansas knew what good was. I
Speaker 1: didn't know. So I needed to go figure that out.
Speaker 1: In Chicago seemed like a safe place to kind of
Speaker 1: land first, So I went there, and of course, you know,
Speaker 1: ended up being around some of the people that we
Speaker 1: now rely on for a lot of our humor in
Speaker 1: the world. The Tina Phase, the Rachel Dredges, the Keckner's,
Speaker 1: the Brian Stacks, Pat Finns, you know, tons of improvisers
Speaker 1: and actors that are just really truly funny people. They
Speaker 1: had all kind of moved on, but I got to
Speaker 1: see them performed. Tina Fe was my level two teacher
Speaker 1: at the Second City Conservatory program, and so I just
Speaker 1: started taking classes and assessed that for my experience. I
Speaker 1: was doing okay and then said it in my mind
Speaker 1: that I'm going to move to l A. I'm going
Speaker 1: to give this a run here in Chicago, and then
Speaker 1: moved to Los Angeles because my friends Paul, that guy
Speaker 1: talked about he had moved out here and was pursuing
Speaker 1: a writing career. So I was like, well, my best
Speaker 1: friends in l A. I don't really have any close
Speaker 1: friends in Chicago, So well that direction right. How long
Speaker 1: were you in Chicago? Two years? One year in eleven months?
Speaker 1: And the reason I decided to leave Brian was because
Speaker 1: here I had put all my eggs in the set
Speaker 1: Can City basket. I'm like, I'm gonna be on the
Speaker 1: main stage a second city someday, Like that's a goal.
Speaker 1: There was always one of our body types on the
Speaker 1: main stage, the Chris Farley's and Ratio Sands and John Candy's.
Speaker 1: There always was a heavy set dude. So I thought, well,
Speaker 1: I have a decent chance. Well, then I did my
Speaker 1: Level five conservatory program and at the end of it,
Speaker 1: I asked my teacher, John Hildreth, was Kelly Leonard here
Speaker 1: where the producers a Second City? Did they see me perform?
Speaker 1: And He's like no, Like, wait a minute, so no,
Speaker 1: nobody that makes decisions on like casting was here and no,
Speaker 1: like no, I'm in the pipeline and they're like no.
Speaker 1: So then I realized I had just done that conservatory
Speaker 1: just to start over and go and audition again at
Speaker 1: some other point, and I'm like, screw this, I'm going
Speaker 1: to Los Angeles. So you had a friend? Did that
Speaker 1: make that transition fairly easy coming to Los Angeles? Socially?
Speaker 1: At least socially for sure? You know, UH had no
Speaker 1: real traction other than one name of a casting director
Speaker 1: who you've run into. I'm sure. Her name was Julian O'Neill,
Speaker 1: and she worked with Nicky Valco Casting and the producer
Speaker 1: in Chicago that had helped me get my SAG card
Speaker 1: by doing three backgrounds. She's like, when I was moving,
Speaker 1: she said, Oh, I have a friend that is a
Speaker 1: casting associate for somebody in l A. And I'll give
Speaker 1: you her name. That was the only professional name I
Speaker 1: came to town with. And she was nice enough to
Speaker 1: accept my head shot and she's like, yeah, we'll call
Speaker 1: you in. You know, something comes up, we'll give you
Speaker 1: a call. And she called me in and it took me,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe four or five times of going in
Speaker 1: for I can't think of his name, biggest producer in town,
Speaker 1: TV wise, big bank, Theory Lori, Chuck Lori, Yeah, Chuck Lori.
Speaker 1: It took me like four or five times going in
Speaker 1: and getting called back. And finally I got a little
Speaker 1: part on Darman Greg and that was really the beginning.
Speaker 1: But I didn't, you know, know anybody. But again it
Speaker 1: all comes down to people just being nice and like
Speaker 1: giving me a shot, right. I think for me, a
Speaker 1: big lesson you learn is how important just like the
Speaker 1: number of jobs you get, regardless of what they are. Right.
Speaker 1: So there's like commercials and there's this show and that show,
Speaker 1: and you start to build a career. I know you
Speaker 1: did a lot of commercials. I hear over a hundred
Speaker 1: commercials you did. After arriving in Los Angeles. Well, I
Speaker 1: did a national campaign in Chicago for the n c
Speaker 1: A where I played this character named Joe Football, where
Speaker 1: I was painted red and blue. And then that helped
Speaker 1: me get a commercial agent in l A. And then
Speaker 1: I was lucky enough one day to meet a guy
Speaker 1: named Joe Picka. And Joe Picka is a legendary commercial
Speaker 1: director unless Angelists, and I went in and I auditioned
Speaker 1: for an American Express Tiger Woods commercial where the balls
Speaker 1: traveling all over the world and I was just a
Speaker 1: guy on a tea box somewhere and the ball lands
Speaker 1: and I smashed the ball. So I go into this
Speaker 1: audition and when before I went in, my agent called
Speaker 1: me and was like, you're auditioning for Joe pa Like, okay,
Speaker 1: what what does that mean. She's like, you don't know
Speaker 1: who Joe Pitka is. I'm like, no, what do I
Speaker 1: need to be right now? Do I need to pull over?
Speaker 1: What's happening? She's like no, he's very intimidating. He's very scary,
Speaker 1: you know, he's very loyal. Just be cool, becom, don't
Speaker 1: poke the bear. I'm like, what the hell? So I
Speaker 1: go in and I auditioned for this Tiger Woods commercial
Speaker 1: where it's like, I don't even think I have lines.
Speaker 1: He just was like looking me up and down at
Speaker 1: my body and maybe a swing the golf like a
Speaker 1: golf club or something. And I'm standing there and he's
Speaker 1: just staring at me, like literally like a lion about
Speaker 1: to pounce on a pound of meat. He goes worried from,
Speaker 1: and I said, um, from Kansas City. It was Kansas City.
Speaker 1: I said, yeah, where are you from? And he goes Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1: I said Pittsburgh. He goes, yeah, you got a problem
Speaker 1: with Pittsburgh And I said, well, no, but it seems
Speaker 1: like you have a problem with Kansas City. He's kind
Speaker 1: of have a problem with Kansas City. Why do you
Speaker 1: think I have a problem with Kansas City? And I said,
Speaker 1: well because I said where I was from, and you
Speaker 1: were like judgemental about it. Yes, I wasn't judgemental about
Speaker 1: He goes, what's your problem? And I go, well, I
Speaker 1: don't have a problem. And I'm like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: it's happening. Like she warned me that this could happen,
Speaker 1: and I've just been I'm engaged. Now I'm in an
Speaker 1: argument with the guy who like is maybe hiring me.
Speaker 1: So he's like, get the funk out of here, and
Speaker 1: like literally said it like that, and like I leave,
Speaker 1: and I'm like I call her and I said, well,
Speaker 1: I guess I screwed that moment up. I guess I
Speaker 1: didn't heed your warning. She's like, what happened? I said, Well,
Speaker 1: we got into an argument about where I was from like,
Speaker 1: She's like, what did you do? What did you do?
Speaker 1: I said, I didn't do anything. I just answered his question. Well,
Speaker 1: long story short, like a day later, she calls me
Speaker 1: and she's like, you are not going to believe this.
Speaker 1: And I said what she said, you are not getting
Speaker 1: that American Express commercial? And I said, well, yeah, clearly.
Speaker 1: She goes, but Joe Pitca had his casting director callback
Speaker 1: and say he can't wait to work with you on something.
Speaker 1: And I was like so confused. And then a month
Speaker 1: later I get a phone call. It says, show up
Speaker 1: in the Long Peach Harbor. You're in an IBM commercial
Speaker 1: with Joe Picca. And that was the beginning of our
Speaker 1: our run. Wow, incredible, unbelievable. How many did you end
Speaker 1: up doing with him? This is gonna sound so ridiculous
Speaker 1: what I'm about to say, but it's like a couple
Speaker 1: of campaigns, but it was like almost sixty and he
Speaker 1: would just call and listen. I have talked about him
Speaker 1: when I've been asked, you know, for comments about acting
Speaker 1: and things like that. I just had dinner with him
Speaker 1: a month ago here in Los Angeles. And he doesn't
Speaker 1: like to hear this because he's this guy. You know,
Speaker 1: he's Polish from pitts Burg. He's stubborn and he's bullheaded,
Speaker 1: and he's you know, he is he him. But I'm like, Joe,
Speaker 1: you have to acknowledge my appreciation and my thankfulness to you,
Speaker 1: because you taught me so much about like working under pressure.
Speaker 1: You taught me so much about like being prepared you
Speaker 1: saw me, taught me so much about being patient and
Speaker 1: like confident in your abilities and like you. But more
Speaker 1: than anything, you gave me the ability to go into
Speaker 1: these theatrical auditions with the confidence that I had somebody
Speaker 1: outside of this room it's going to hire me for something,
Speaker 1: And like you don't know what that means to an
Speaker 1: actor to know that, Like I'm not walking in with
Speaker 1: desperation on my brow. It's like fuck you, Like no,
Speaker 1: I'm serious. You need to know that you mean a
Speaker 1: tremendous amount of my career and that I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: where I ended up being without you. And that's all
Speaker 1: I'm going to say about it. That's amazing. Yeah. Good,
Speaker 1: He's a good guy. I just figured out his stick man.
Speaker 1: I mean, he he is tough, but he just appreciated
Speaker 1: that I in that room that first moment that I
Speaker 1: engaged him and that I wasn't like whimpering, and that
Speaker 1: was his test. His test was like, well, can you
Speaker 1: work with me on set when there's ten hours of
Speaker 1: time we've wasted and we've got to get the shot
Speaker 1: in one minute? Can you be that person? And that's
Speaker 1: what he kind of puts people through. It's another thing
Speaker 1: you don't hear so much about in terms of in
Speaker 1: terms of other things you could be thankful to him for.
Speaker 1: But just you know, you can be at Second City.
Speaker 1: You can I mean, hell, you can be at SNL.
Speaker 1: You can be on live stage in front of a thousand,
Speaker 1: two thousand people. There's something different about the camera and
Speaker 1: shooting in front of the camera that's not a live setting,
Speaker 1: and just the process of going through that, as you
Speaker 1: said sixty times or a hundred times or however many times,
Speaker 1: it was having that onset experience. I know it sounds stupid,
Speaker 1: but just like hitting your mark, showing up knowing what
Speaker 1: you're supposed to do, what your ultimate job is, and
Speaker 1: then also being pliable enough to change and adjust in
Speaker 1: the moment. It sounds so simple, but unless you actually
Speaker 1: do it in stakes that matter. A tremendous amount to people,
Speaker 1: meaning they're paying a bunch of money for this shoot
Speaker 1: to happen. It doesn't ever feel the same way, and
Speaker 1: that's got to be an amazing gift. Well it is,
Speaker 1: And let me tell you that is why directors have
Speaker 1: people they hire over and over again, because you know,
Speaker 1: as you know as well as I know, everybody is
Speaker 1: scared of someone in this business. So Joe is being
Speaker 1: hired to shoot a commercial and create a commercial that
Speaker 1: needs to be good, right or he doesn't get hired again. Well,
Speaker 1: how does he go about making sure he makes a
Speaker 1: good commercial? Well, he hires people he can really I
Speaker 1: on and count on and that no, aren't going to
Speaker 1: waste a bunch of time. And like that's just it
Speaker 1: is the practice and experience of being in front of
Speaker 1: the camera and like you said, hitting a mark and
Speaker 1: having the confidence to hit a mark and knowing your lines.
Speaker 1: I just remember showing up on like the first set
Speaker 1: of a TV show being nervous as hell, but also
Speaker 1: knowing that I had been through it and knew what
Speaker 1: my job was and knew to be prepared. And that
Speaker 1: was because of that experience. Yeah, that's that's awesome. So
Speaker 1: at this point, you you have this confidence and you
Speaker 1: start booking small roles on things, you start becoming a
Speaker 1: working actor. Obviously almost famous comes to mind through my research.
Speaker 1: I understand you auditioned for Lester Banks, which you didn't get.
Speaker 1: But the legend is Cameron Crowe said you needed to
Speaker 1: be in the movie. He need it Happen World movie. Yeah, Gail,
Speaker 1: another casting director. You know, as actors that are listening,
Speaker 1: we always wanna kind of pit ourselves against casting directors
Speaker 1: sometimes and think of most gatekeepers. And I'm not going
Speaker 1: to tell you that doesn't exist, because I think that
Speaker 1: does exist. But the really great casting directors, which is
Speaker 1: so true in all of our business, the really good, good,
Speaker 1: great people at their jobs are not that the confident
Speaker 1: people in their abilities. They're not what you think of
Speaker 1: as the worst of the worst. It's kind of like
Speaker 1: when I hate to use this analogy because it sounds
Speaker 1: so fancy, but it's just one that works. You like
Speaker 1: when you're in first class sometimes and most everyone in
Speaker 1: first class is really nice to everyone and accommodating and helpful,
Speaker 1: and then some a hole gets on and is mean
Speaker 1: to the flight attendant and can't believe they don't have
Speaker 1: ranch dressing when he clearly ordered ranch dressing. If you
Speaker 1: look at that person's ticket, you will probably see that
Speaker 1: they themselves aren't paying for that ticket or they got upgraded.
Speaker 1: They're playing the role of what they think a person
Speaker 1: in first class acts like Snootye and Nobody. That's not
Speaker 1: to say there aren't a holes that are in first class.
Speaker 1: For the most part, the confidence of being someplace and
Speaker 1: in your abilities doesn't always translate to what people think
Speaker 1: it is right. Actors are the same way. The really
Speaker 1: good actors and the really good confident people aren't punching
Speaker 1: down at people. Casting directors that are really good at
Speaker 1: their job and confident in their job and work for
Speaker 1: big people, they're not punching down at people. They're helpful.
Speaker 1: They want you to succeed. They hope you're the next
Speaker 1: Marlon Brando when you walk into the room, right, because
Speaker 1: that means their days over. They just found the part. Anyway.
Speaker 1: My point on Gail Levin, the casting director for Almost Famous,
Speaker 1: she called me in and she again she said, honey,
Speaker 1: you're not going to get this part of Lester Banks,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, god, No. I had the episode of
Speaker 1: Dharmaine Greg on my resume at that one. She said,
Speaker 1: but you're really really good, like you did a really
Speaker 1: good job with this, and I said, well, thank you,
Speaker 1: and she said I think Cameron should meet you and
Speaker 1: I said okay, And so I leave that audition. I
Speaker 1: called my parents. That's back when I would call my
Speaker 1: parents and tell them news before they started hounding me
Speaker 1: constantly about well, have you heard anything? Have you heard anything?
Speaker 1: You get? Oh? Are we this? We have the same
Speaker 1: parents that is, oh my god, have you heard anything
Speaker 1: that audition that you did three weeks ago that you
Speaker 1: mistakenly told them you had. You wish you had never
Speaker 1: told them you had that audition, but now they're asking
Speaker 1: you about it, and of course I didn't get it.
Speaker 1: Have you heard anything? Did you? Now? I know you
Speaker 1: had that callback to have you heard like? Yeah, the
Speaker 1: answers no. Marshall Bell. Marshall Bell, great character actor that
Speaker 1: I worked with with Joe Pitka. He's the one that
Speaker 1: taught me that Hollywood as the fastest yes and the slowest.
Speaker 1: Now and I told my parents that, I'm like, if
Speaker 1: I haven't heard anything, The answer is no, like I
Speaker 1: would tell you if I got the McDonald's commercial. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So Gail I call home and I say, well, she
Speaker 1: told me she wants me to meet the director and
Speaker 1: Cameron Crows like a legendary director. We'll see if it happens.
Speaker 1: And then she called a couple of weeks later and
Speaker 1: was like, can you come in and meet Cameron? And
Speaker 1: so I did, and this is again talking about the
Speaker 1: best act in a different way. He's just so nice
Speaker 1: and so accommodating. He's like, hey, so do you mind
Speaker 1: if I follow follow you around in the room with
Speaker 1: my cam quarter And I'm like, uh, for these four
Speaker 1: lines and he's like yeah, yeah, yeah, And I said sure,
Speaker 1: So I read my four lines and he's just like
Speaker 1: moving the camera all around me like a like it's
Speaker 1: on some kind of jib and he's like, yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: now show me one like like do jealous? Like do
Speaker 1: really jealous? Do angry? Do sad? Do do like you've
Speaker 1: been up all night? Like he had to run through
Speaker 1: all these emotions. And I leave there so artistically, creatively fulfilled,
Speaker 1: because it didn't matter then if I got the job.
Speaker 1: I just went through the most incredible work session with
Speaker 1: Cameron Crowe and I learned so much and I left
Speaker 1: and they called and they were like, yeah, you're gonna
Speaker 1: do this part in the movie, and I said okay,
Speaker 1: And that really kind of helped helped me get started.
Speaker 1: Like that did that was a major help for my
Speaker 1: career Almost Famous? Yeah, Well, because again, like I said,
Speaker 1: and as you know, everyone needs somebody else's opinion. And
Speaker 1: so now when I walk into a room, it's not
Speaker 1: just Chuck Laurie's opinion that I was good enough to
Speaker 1: be on an episode of Darmaine Greg It's Cameron Crow's
Speaker 1: opinion that I'm good enough to be in one of
Speaker 1: his movies. And we know small parts in feature films
Speaker 1: are very hard to get auditions for and very hard
Speaker 1: to book. And so now when I walk into an
Speaker 1: audition for cs I for a recurring role, my intro
Speaker 1: is this Sarah stone Street who's just an almost famous
Speaker 1: and he's so funny in the movie. Like, it just
Speaker 1: changes the perspective for everyone, for you in that moment.
Speaker 1: So I always say that Almost Famous changed the landscape
Speaker 1: for me, not because it's like I made all this
Speaker 1: money or something like that. It was just that now
Speaker 1: someone could say point to Cameron Crow and DreamWorks and
Speaker 1: Steven Spielberg and say, well, he's good enough to be
Speaker 1: in their movie, right right? How many episodes of I
Speaker 1: Did You Do? Did A fifteen? Or sixteen? Yeah or
Speaker 1: something like that. Were you ever on that one? Did one? Did?
Speaker 1: What did you put? Did you play killer? I was
Speaker 1: a furry? Oh my god, I remember that. Remember that episode.
Speaker 1: I don't know that you were. I definitely didn't have
Speaker 1: any scenes with you, but I don't know. I think
Speaker 1: I might have been hold on, well, you're rolling the camera,
Speaker 1: but they people won't be able to see this. But
Speaker 1: I do have something to show you and loathing fur
Speaker 1: and loathing was the name of it. Dude, Brian, I
Speaker 1: think I was in that episode. I was in the lab. Probably. Look,
Speaker 1: here's this is for you. I could send you is
Speaker 1: I had my own trading card, Ronny nice. Look at that.
Speaker 1: That is amazing. They did not give me that. Have
Speaker 1: somebody find out if I that's Kevin Bacon were in
Speaker 1: one one episode of TV show together. That's great. So
Speaker 1: I want to talk to you a little bit, obviously
Speaker 1: about modern family. I'm gonna tell you a story that
Speaker 1: I know I haven't told you. Also, but in two
Speaker 1: thousand and ten and eleven and twelve, that's fine, But
Speaker 1: you were nominated for the Best Supporting Actor the Emmys,
Speaker 1: and this is the time the office was getting nominated
Speaker 1: and we were all there and I was sitting next
Speaker 1: to Angela Ckenzie and I you know, I met you,
Speaker 1: We spent some time together. I know that you worked
Speaker 1: with Angela, as you mentioned earlier, quite a bit at
Speaker 1: improv Olympic. She loved you, and I didn't know you
Speaker 1: that well. I took a little bit of a different path,
Speaker 1: more through the theater route, but I envisioned us as
Speaker 1: a as having sort of a similar journey. And I
Speaker 1: remember sitting there in the audience and I was sitting
Speaker 1: next to Angela and we were like, this is bizarre,
Speaker 1: but we were like essentially holding hands when they were
Speaker 1: announcing you. And when you won, I cried and Angela
Speaker 1: cried hard tears. Angela cried hard tears. I cried, maybe
Speaker 1: because she was crying, but I think that that's just
Speaker 1: me not owning up to it. It was something about you,
Speaker 1: your work. Your work was so good. So there was that,
Speaker 1: but it was also like, well, to quote Kevin Malone,
Speaker 1: I guess it's just nice to win one. It felt
Speaker 1: like you winning was like winning for me in a
Speaker 1: weird way. I don't even know how or like, not
Speaker 1: just me, but like all of us who are sort
Speaker 1: of in the ensemble cast of the office. That it was.
Speaker 1: It was just like a validation of like someone who
Speaker 1: works hard in Hollywood has a career, builds a career
Speaker 1: and keeps working at Improv Olympic, trying to get better
Speaker 1: and doing commercials and doing these little roles. It just
Speaker 1: felt like a victory for all of us. So that's
Speaker 1: a true it's a true story. I don't I don't
Speaker 1: think i've ever because it's a weird thing to say,
Speaker 1: Like we weren't like brothers, are like best friends, but
Speaker 1: somehow you're winning. That was that was a thing for me.
Speaker 1: That is so nice that that means a lot. I
Speaker 1: mean it means a lot because what you're describing you
Speaker 1: felt is exactly how I felt, right I I felt
Speaker 1: that way like I was nominated for all of us
Speaker 1: and I won for all of us, because you know,
Speaker 1: a year before that, I didn't know what I was
Speaker 1: doing on a Thursday, I joke. But we were shooting
Speaker 1: the pilot a modern family, and everybody we're getting to
Speaker 1: kind of know each other. Everyone had something to do,
Speaker 1: like Rico was gonna he was shooting an episode of
Speaker 1: Some and c I S the next week. Julie was
Speaker 1: in second position on a pilot. Tyberrelle was in second
Speaker 1: position on a pilot. Jesse was going to do a
Speaker 1: Broadway musical. If it didn't go Ed was just rich
Speaker 1: and he didn't care. He was going to go home
Speaker 1: and put a pot roast in a crock pot and
Speaker 1: drink a bottle of thousand dollar wine like it wasn't
Speaker 1: a big deal to him. Sophia had a deal at ABC.
Speaker 1: Everybody had. My point is everybody had something in the
Speaker 1: in the hopper. And it's not like I was this
Speaker 1: down and out actor. I don't want to portray that.
Speaker 1: But I didn't have anything lined up because I got
Speaker 1: this audition, and I wasn't going on every pilot audition
Speaker 1: at that point. I was going on a lot. But
Speaker 1: here I got it. And then a year later, I'm
Speaker 1: nominated for an Emmy and I'm up on stage with
Speaker 1: the late great Betty White handing me my Emmy, and
Speaker 1: look out, I see John Goodman in the crowd and
Speaker 1: I completely blank out, Like I just blank out. And
Speaker 1: so for you to say that that's how you felt.
Speaker 1: Helps me feel exactly how I felt at that time,
Speaker 1: which was this journeyman who was just like everybody else. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean literally just like everyone else. And now I'm
Speaker 1: in a tuxedo in front of a bunch of fancy
Speaker 1: people winning a trophy. That's what it felt like, and
Speaker 1: that's what it was. So thank you. That's very meaningful
Speaker 1: and very nice of you to say. It just takes
Speaker 1: me back, man, it just takes me back. So I'm
Speaker 1: I'm happy to hear that story. What a year. Here's
Speaker 1: a good one for you. There's a good one for you, Brian.
Speaker 1: When I walked off stage the night before the party,
Speaker 1: Tina Fey asked me if I had a speech ready,
Speaker 1: and I said, I really haven't written anything down. And
Speaker 1: she's like, look at me, write something down, just write
Speaker 1: some bullet points down. I said, okay. So I went
Speaker 1: home and I put a little trip sheet in my
Speaker 1: hand out the size of my palm, and I wrote
Speaker 1: some bullet points down. Parents, Steve and Chris co workers,
Speaker 1: just things like that, and they say my name, and
Speaker 1: I get up, and if you watch the video, you
Speaker 1: see me take it out of my jacket pocket and
Speaker 1: then I proceed to never look at it again. I
Speaker 1: just blanked out, but I said what I wanted to say,
Speaker 1: and I went off stage. And the person that greets
Speaker 1: me when I walk off stage as I'm handing back
Speaker 1: the fake Emmy that they give you is John Lithgow.
Speaker 1: John Lithgow, who I admire respect a doors, one of
Speaker 1: the greatest American actors ever, looks at me and he goes,
Speaker 1: that was a great speech. And I looked at him
Speaker 1: and I said, John, I'm going to trust that it
Speaker 1: was because I have no memory of it. But if
Speaker 1: you say so, I believe it. And that was that
Speaker 1: was it. That's so awesome. Oh I love that. I
Speaker 1: love that. Couldn't happen to a better guy. Um. The
Speaker 1: show unlike The Office, it, I mean, it comes out
Speaker 1: of the gate just enormous. How is that for you?
Speaker 1: That experience of you're doing guest stars, you're doing commercials,
Speaker 1: you're working at Improv Olympic, you're doing all these things.
Speaker 1: What is that for you that it just you're suddenly
Speaker 1: you're on a show and it's like the number one
Speaker 1: show on TV. Yeah, I mean, and it it happened
Speaker 1: that fast shoot the pilot you wait, it gets picked
Speaker 1: up and then we start production. The first my first
Speaker 1: day of work on the show, the series, not the pilot,
Speaker 1: but the series. My first day of work, I show up.
Speaker 1: In the first scene I shoot is the scene of
Speaker 1: me charging across the parking lot with trash can above
Speaker 1: my head, screaming I'm gonna break the window. So here
Speaker 1: I am on my first like of I don't know
Speaker 1: what it means to be on a show on a
Speaker 1: daily basis, you know, And now I'm there, I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm in it. And that's where the pick of stuff
Speaker 1: comes back to play. It's like, I better just get
Speaker 1: this job done. Like they've given me this job, so
Speaker 1: they clearly have confidence in me. I better find the
Speaker 1: confidence in myself to know that, like, well, I'm here
Speaker 1: because I'm supposed to be, and I better start acting
Speaker 1: like it. So it was quite a shock to have
Speaker 1: a place to go to work. I mean, you remember that,
Speaker 1: You remember pulling up to your sound stage and thinking, like,
Speaker 1: I have a place to go after For me, it
Speaker 1: was it was eleven years and then two in Chicago,
Speaker 1: thirteen years, thirteen years of never knowing where I was
Speaker 1: going to be day to day or week to week,
Speaker 1: and now I had a place to go. I I
Speaker 1: just remember thinking, like, I bet I can drive a
Speaker 1: golf cart on a studio a lot. I'll bet if somebody,
Speaker 1: if I asked somebody, I'll bet I could drive this
Speaker 1: golf cart around here, and thinking that was the greatest
Speaker 1: thing I've ever heard of. That's the thing. Ever, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's amazing. You were on Where Where were you? I
Speaker 1: wish we would have been on Warner Brothers like a paramount.
Speaker 1: They're just such iconic lots. I mean, twenty is fine,
Speaker 1: but it's not Warner Brothers. It's not universal where you
Speaker 1: have all this interaction with these people that the that
Speaker 1: are just happened to be there. There's nothing better than
Speaker 1: being on set and walking to set and then a
Speaker 1: tour walked by from you know, Illinois, and being like,
Speaker 1: holy cow, there's one of those actor folks getting, you know,
Speaker 1: like and you'd be like, Hi, welcome to Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's what you want to do, right. I Mean,
Speaker 1: it's just so fun because I remember coming to l
Speaker 1: A and going on on a four eight trip to
Speaker 1: the Ross Shafer Show and Chuck Norris was a guest,
Speaker 1: and I got to ask Chuck Norris a question from
Speaker 1: the audience and like, I'm like, I'm never forgetting this
Speaker 1: in my life. And so I always just thought it
Speaker 1: was so cool to see, you know, just your folks
Speaker 1: from the Midwest on a studio tour and then be
Speaker 1: able to go home and say, and yeah, there he was.
Speaker 1: He was walking, he had bandies all over his face.
Speaker 1: He was just he's just like you and me. Everybody.
Speaker 1: I think everybody who's ever been here has some story
Speaker 1: like that. Mine was, Chuck Norris is pretty good. Mine was.
Speaker 1: I was doing a tour on the Universal lot and
Speaker 1: I saw Kit the night Rider Car. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: that was it. That was That was my star siding
Speaker 1: was Kit the night Rider Car. I don't know what
Speaker 1: that means. It's it's pretty good. God. You and Jesse
Speaker 1: played the first committed queer relationship on a major network
Speaker 1: prime time television show. Yeah. Were you aware of that
Speaker 1: in advance? Like where were you thinking, like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is a first or did that come later like when
Speaker 1: you were cast, when you were going through the casting
Speaker 1: process or whatever. Yeah, not not the first thing i'd
Speaker 1: or not the aspect of us being the first, that
Speaker 1: wasn't on my mind at all because I didn't. I
Speaker 1: don't think I knew that. I didn't realize that, but
Speaker 1: you know, more than anything, I just wanted the part,
Speaker 1: and like I felt like my life perspective as an
Speaker 1: actor as a person could enhance and help people get
Speaker 1: over fears of gay people. Like I just thought, like,
Speaker 1: this is a good opportunity for this pig rays and
Speaker 1: farm guy cow steer tipping, you know, dude, to be
Speaker 1: like I'm so confident in myself and also so not
Speaker 1: concerned with anyone thinking that I would be gay like
Speaker 1: to play this part, and that I thought that I
Speaker 1: could be any I could be a really good ally,
Speaker 1: like I thought, and I just thought my life experiences
Speaker 1: to that character would be making really diverse, like with
Speaker 1: the drumming, the clowning, the farming, football and all that.
Speaker 1: It's like that would just make this character hopefully a
Speaker 1: very well rounded gay man, not just a gay man. Right,
Speaker 1: So that's what I was fighting for from the beginning,
Speaker 1: is just like I just want this part. I just
Speaker 1: feel like I can do this part. And then the
Speaker 1: idea that we were first and cultural touchstones for people
Speaker 1: just added to the meaningfulness of it, Like it just
Speaker 1: made it even better and more fun and more important
Speaker 1: for myself, but also but for the gay community, which
Speaker 1: was great. Were you embraced by the LGBTQ community. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: Jesse and I were at all the different functions in
Speaker 1: the beginning of Trevor projects, the human Rights campaign all that.
Speaker 1: I think it was great. You know, I just wanted
Speaker 1: to create a character people liked and loved and thought
Speaker 1: that was my uncle, or that's my aunt, or that's
Speaker 1: my brother in law. I just didn't want I just
Speaker 1: didn't want anyone to see one thing right. I wanted
Speaker 1: him to be able to and that that was would
Speaker 1: always mean the most to me is when I would
Speaker 1: be out and they would say, oh my god, your
Speaker 1: character reminds me so much of my cousin, like, oh,
Speaker 1: what's his name? It's like, oh, no, her name, Or
Speaker 1: they would say, your character reminds me so much of
Speaker 1: my uncle. Well what's his name? Well he's not he's
Speaker 1: not even gay. Like, I just didn't want to be defined.
Speaker 1: I want him to be a confident gay man, but
Speaker 1: I didn't want the fact that Caim was gay to
Speaker 1: be what defined him. Right, and Steve and Chris were
Speaker 1: the same way. Yeah, it's amazing to me obviously talked
Speaker 1: to Rain Wilson a lot. His character is sort of
Speaker 1: the most easily identifiable in this way, but like a
Speaker 1: character full of dichotomy, right, So like Dwight Shrut drives
Speaker 1: a trans am, listens to heavy metal, but is into
Speaker 1: dungeons and dragons, and as the sheriff's you know, deputy,
Speaker 1: you know, all of these things that don't go together,
Speaker 1: yet when they go to that's reality that actually brings
Speaker 1: a greater reality. And I think that your character a
Speaker 1: lot of the same things can be said. Taking what
Speaker 1: someone would expect and you know, pig farming football, playing
Speaker 1: from Kansas. How much of your life was put into
Speaker 1: the character? I mean how much did did you influence
Speaker 1: how that character was written? Eventually, well, quite a bit
Speaker 1: from the beginning we when I got the part. In
Speaker 1: between getting the part in the pilot and then the
Speaker 1: pilot and shooting the series, they talked to us a lot.
Speaker 1: I have a very vivid day of the day that
Speaker 1: Michael Jackson passed away. I, along with my dad, was
Speaker 1: the twentieth Century Fox having a meeting with the writers
Speaker 1: and giving them examples of my my raising, my rearing childhood,
Speaker 1: and they're just all right, and all this down and
Speaker 1: you know a lot of it. But they had written
Speaker 1: it's so hard because they had written this character and
Speaker 1: they said, the more paternal of the two, the more enthusiastic.
Speaker 1: Those were the words they used. But then they said,
Speaker 1: but not over the top. Well yet they wrote in
Speaker 1: the pilot a scene where I introduce our baby with
Speaker 1: a spotlight to the lion king theme. So as an actor,
Speaker 1: you know that, Well that's a pitfall, right, How do
Speaker 1: I build a character that is it over the top,
Speaker 1: yet that's where we're headed to that moment? So how
Speaker 1: do you have those stepping stones in place in an
Speaker 1: arc that's not too over the top but yet leads
Speaker 1: to a way over the top place. So that was
Speaker 1: what was hard about the character. Well, that's why I
Speaker 1: ended up kind of in the world of opposites, you know,
Speaker 1: playing sort of a character inspired by my mom cut
Speaker 1: with my physicality being six ft one pounds, and then
Speaker 1: hutting that with avoid a soft voice and a soft
Speaker 1: approach and the jewel tones of the clothes and the hair.
Speaker 1: All that. I thought, well, those all kind of work
Speaker 1: in opposite together, and maybe that would work. That will
Speaker 1: be the pathway there. So that's that's how that happened.
Speaker 1: But it's always this balance of delivering these crazy lines,
Speaker 1: these word gymnastics, these crazy scenarios, but yet maintaining a
Speaker 1: sense of believability. Well, the way I did that was
Speaker 1: I used my mom as a guide post, because my
Speaker 1: mom is not a character, She's a fun, loving character.
Speaker 1: So I thought, well, I'll always just take it up
Speaker 1: to how my mom would say it, and if I
Speaker 1: just leave it at that, then I know it's still
Speaker 1: in the world of believability. Yeah, congratulations on all than
Speaker 1: you eleven years. What is the thing that you think
Speaker 1: about the most now that you don't necessarily have a
Speaker 1: place to go quite in the same way that you
Speaker 1: did for those eleven years, what's the thing you think
Speaker 1: about the most? You know, a smell, the feeling of
Speaker 1: a sound stage at six thirty seven o'clock in the morning,
Speaker 1: the construction, the paint, the noises, the sound stage coming
Speaker 1: alive with the hundreds and some men and women that
Speaker 1: come to work and bring everything. The smell of craft
Speaker 1: service and catering, the coffee bruin and the makeup trailer,
Speaker 1: like all the stuff around it. Because that's what as
Speaker 1: an actor you fantasize about of like being on a set.
Speaker 1: That's all we ever wanted was just that set experience.
Speaker 1: Like you said, the experience is what builds your career.
Speaker 1: And then here we are our own place to go
Speaker 1: with relationships. I know the first name of the grip,
Speaker 1: I know the first name of the painter, I know
Speaker 1: the first name of the best boy, and we're all
Speaker 1: kind of working together to bring this thing. So honestly,
Speaker 1: what I think of is just the composition of an
Speaker 1: all right, take a step back and look at that
Speaker 1: sound stage in think of everything that goes into making
Speaker 1: that tick in that day. That's what I miss. You know,
Speaker 1: I always joke, but I'm very serious that I cry
Speaker 1: at parades because I love a parade because I know
Speaker 1: and think about all the conversations that went in to
Speaker 1: getting everybody at that starting line, the dance studio, fire trucks,
Speaker 1: the shriner's, the phone calls the night before of like
Speaker 1: my costumes ripped, I don't know what I'm gonna wear it, Tommy,
Speaker 1: It's gonna be fine. You're gonna still show up at
Speaker 1: eight o'clock, and everybody taking it so seriously, Well, that's
Speaker 1: Hollywood every day. Everyone has over and over conversations about
Speaker 1: making sure Brian's suit is the way it's supposed to be,
Speaker 1: and somebody sets it there and you know what, I
Speaker 1: have insuls in my shoe and you know what, we've
Speaker 1: missplaced Derek's insults from last time. Somebody has to go
Speaker 1: get those insults. Like all, So what I think about
Speaker 1: is the production of it all, the company of making
Speaker 1: it all happen, and how it's so fun to be
Speaker 1: a part of that. Amen, congratulations on everything. Domino Masters.
Speaker 1: Now you're a hosts Domino Masters, you're a host. Now.
Speaker 1: I'm so happy for all of your success, truly, and
Speaker 1: I know maybe we maybe we got to go to
Speaker 1: a game together at some point. This year was the
Speaker 1: year you could have come to the Packers game in
Speaker 1: Kansas City. You know that game didn't carry the same
Speaker 1: enthusiasm because they're not playing or just because yeah, because
Speaker 1: I was thinking about it, I've never been. I need
Speaker 1: to come. Now let me ask you this. Will you
Speaker 1: have two teams next year you root for if there
Speaker 1: is a split? Uh yeah, yeah, because you're going to
Speaker 1: root for the player, yeah, and you're going to root
Speaker 1: for the team. Yeah. Now, if it was actually wait,
Speaker 1: a minute. Actually, wait a minute, Wait a minute, wait
Speaker 1: a minute, was that like a fancy catch? I don't
Speaker 1: know that there will will be two teams. Let me
Speaker 1: say that very clearly. Yes, we'll see what happens. But
Speaker 1: what if it was a far situation, would you all
Speaker 1: of a sudden route for Aaron to do well? And
Speaker 1: not that he's going to Minnesota, but like Chicago, Minnesota.
Speaker 1: Listen between us and anyone listening, I just I really,
Speaker 1: I really don't want him to go to the Niners.
Speaker 1: That would be that would be the one that would
Speaker 1: be the hardest. And you know what for him, No, well, listen,
Speaker 1: I don't know that he would go to the Niners
Speaker 1: because what's made part of what's made Aaron so great
Speaker 1: is the chip on his shoulder that he's had that
Speaker 1: they did the Niners didn't take him, Like why would
Speaker 1: he give him that satisfaction now? Right? Like I would
Speaker 1: think the player with the edge that he has that
Speaker 1: I assume he has that people say he has. It's like, hey,
Speaker 1: we could have had a love affair for the last
Speaker 1: twelve years, Like you guys chose not to have that
Speaker 1: love affair with me. Why am I going to now
Speaker 1: come give you a little bit of my Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: love no ask you know selfishly. I want him in
Speaker 1: the A f C. West. I'll take him in Denver. Interesting,
Speaker 1: do you want him there? His hair do matches Denver?
Speaker 1: Now he's kind of a gren old guy looking like dude,
Speaker 1: looks like he's got his tevas on driving his subar u.
Speaker 1: How good was the cornuroy suit? Oh my god? Can
Speaker 1: you imagine imagine the friction you and I would have
Speaker 1: in that corduroy suit. You and I'm working in that
Speaker 1: corduroy suit. It would just be what it would get.
Speaker 1: It would get worn down quicker, that's for sure. It
Speaker 1: we'd have some tiger bomb in action. Thank you, my Fred. Yeah, good, good,
Speaker 1: good chat. We'll get to a game together though. Let's
Speaker 1: do it. Eric, thank you so much for stopping by.
Speaker 1: I am so excited to see where your career takes
Speaker 1: you next. Where the dominoes fall, if you will. That's it.
Speaker 1: That's our episode. Everyone follow us on Instagram at Off
Speaker 1: the Beat and let us know what you thought of
Speaker 1: today's episode. You'll find me here, same time and place
Speaker 1: next week, where we have another amazing guest, one that
Speaker 1: you may never want to captain your ship. We'll see
Speaker 1: you then. Off the Beat is hosted an executive produced
Speaker 1: by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Langley. Our
Speaker 1: producers are Diego Tapia, Liz Hayes, Emily Carr, and Hannah Harris.
Speaker 1: Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary Art. The theme
Speaker 1: song Bubble and Squeak performed by Hi Great Friend Creed Bratton,
Speaker 1: and the episode was mixed by Seth Olandscape