Speaker 1: If you were to google these words Christopher Walking impersonation,
Speaker 1: search answers will come up. I drumroll, please a number
Speaker 1: one on that Google search. There you go. Now that
Speaker 1: in six dollars will buy me a coffee at Starbucks.
Speaker 1: So it's a it's an absolute worthless brag. It's just
Speaker 1: a fact. Hello there, Kevin Pollock here, how are you?
Speaker 1: Don't get up? I am so very excited to be
Speaker 1: here with you and Brian right now. Hello friends, it
Speaker 1: is me Brian Baumgartner, back with another episode of Off
Speaker 1: the Beat. Thank you for joining me. My guest today.
Speaker 1: As you just heard he is, well, he's a legend,
Speaker 1: Kevin Paula. You might know him as Hockney in The
Speaker 1: Iconic and one of my favorites The Usual Suspects or
Speaker 1: most recently Moista Maizel in The Marvelous Mrs Mazel. But
Speaker 1: today we're gonna go way back to Kevin's comedy roots
Speaker 1: in the great city of San Francisco. Are you aware
Speaker 1: that Kevin is one of the greatest improvisers and stand
Speaker 1: up comedians of all time? He started stand up at
Speaker 1: the age of ten, if you could believe that, and
Speaker 1: he kept working on his craft until he started his
Speaker 1: professional comedy career just right out of high school. And
Speaker 1: boy was it a career. Back in the seventies before
Speaker 1: many of you were alive, including myself obviously, Kevin worked
Speaker 1: alongside Robin Williams Dana Carvey, together becoming the kings of
Speaker 1: the Bay Area comedy scene. This led him to Hollywood
Speaker 1: and to talk about a career roles in Willow Casino,
Speaker 1: A few good men, grumpy old men, many many more.
Speaker 1: Today we're gonna get into Kevin's full story, from his
Speaker 1: best jokes as a child comedian to what the marvelous
Speaker 1: Mrs Mazel means to him as a stand up icon himself.
Speaker 1: This is a great episode for all you comedy nerds
Speaker 1: out there, myself included. So please, with my greatest of
Speaker 1: all pleasures, welcome Kevin Pollock. Bubble and Squeak. I love it,
Speaker 1: Bubble and Squeak, Bubble and Squeaker Cookie every month left
Speaker 1: over from the night before. What's up, Kevin? How are you? I?
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's funny in going back and re
Speaker 1: studying your amazing career. Uh. The thing that that popped
Speaker 1: out first, of course, was your love for poker, and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, yes, we have met at a
Speaker 1: couple poker tournaments back in the olden days, and I
Speaker 1: and I specifically remember this is gonna come up a
Speaker 1: few times. I just moved, okay, And so I found
Speaker 1: a gigantic crystal trophy at a poker tournament that you
Speaker 1: were at. So really, I'm leading off this conversation by
Speaker 1: saying I kicked your ass once. Did we ever play
Speaker 1: a hand together? No, I don't think I let somebody
Speaker 1: else take you out, So yeah, yeah, someone else did
Speaker 1: take me out. Um yeah, the charity, um, I assume
Speaker 1: that's what it was. Poker tournament, Those are um um,
Speaker 1: always fun to to give to a worthy cause and
Speaker 1: their horrible old poker. Yes, if you're a you know,
Speaker 1: serious poker player, just because there's wonderful, wonderful, generous people
Speaker 1: donating to the cause who invariably will say I don't
Speaker 1: really know how to play poker. I just wanted. And
Speaker 1: then that person is the most dangerous person, I would say,
Speaker 1: because they'll play every hand and you have no way
Speaker 1: to gauge whether it's a good or bad. How many
Speaker 1: times have you played the World Series of Poker seven
Speaker 1: and I've cashed twice? Which is not quite Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame batting average inductee, but close. Yeah. So that event
Speaker 1: that was for a seed at the World Series of Poker,
Speaker 1: which is what you won along with your Crystal trophy,
Speaker 1: which is what I want along with my Crystal trophy.
Speaker 1: And then of course I was I was shooting a
Speaker 1: television show and had to take a cash buy out,
Speaker 1: so I didn't I didn't actually make it, but my
Speaker 1: bucket list for sure. Um, well, I want to go
Speaker 1: back to your early days. First, you grew up in
Speaker 1: San Francisco, born into San Francisco, raised in an hour
Speaker 1: south in San Jose, and you started doing stand up
Speaker 1: at age ten? Well, sure, um, first for family and
Speaker 1: then eventually at school. Yeah, it was just lip syncing
Speaker 1: a comedy album at ten, that was the act. Okay,
Speaker 1: it was lips What what comedy album? Well, if only
Speaker 1: he had put in the liner notes of his comedy
Speaker 1: album that he would go on to be the most
Speaker 1: prolific serial rapist from show business in history, maybe I
Speaker 1: wouldn't have chosen that one. But that wasn't in the
Speaker 1: liner notes. So it was Bill Cosby's first album. Interesting, Yeah, yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: fair enough. What was it that attracted you to it.
Speaker 1: Performing in that way. Oh um, my mom brought home
Speaker 1: his first album, and I watched my parents laugh uncontrollably
Speaker 1: listening to the stories coming from the stereo Hi Fi,
Speaker 1: which back then was a seven ft wide piece of furniture.
Speaker 1: Compared that to the tiny devices we used now you
Speaker 1: hold in your pocket, right, yeah, or just shoven your ears.
Speaker 1: But watching my folks laughing uncontrollably like that, it was
Speaker 1: the first and it was as off putting or awkward
Speaker 1: as watching them openly weep. I mean, it really was strange.
Speaker 1: Not that they never laughed, it just they never laughed
Speaker 1: at someone talking from the stereo. So when no one
Speaker 1: was around, I just listened to it a lot more
Speaker 1: because I wanted to be that person telling the stories
Speaker 1: making my parents laugh, right, I think that was the obsession.
Speaker 1: And then I would race home after school and listen
Speaker 1: to it, and eventually standing in front of the stereo
Speaker 1: pretending I was the one telling the stories. Not knowing
Speaker 1: that a lip sinking was a thing, so I wasn't
Speaker 1: trying the lip sing, uh, Nor did I think I
Speaker 1: was inventing lip sinking. I didn't even know the term.
Speaker 1: I was just playing. I was. There was no interactive games.
Speaker 1: We had just invented fire. This was a while ago, Brian.
Speaker 1: So there I was, and my mother came home and
Speaker 1: quote unquote caught me. And I used that term because
Speaker 1: it was as if I was as embarrassed as if
Speaker 1: she caught me doing something else. So then she laughed,
Speaker 1: pointed at me and said, you're doing that for the
Speaker 1: zookers that pass over. So my first live show was
Speaker 1: on the white painted out fireplace shelving in front of
Speaker 1: the fireplace, stood on that and performed for twenty relatives
Speaker 1: that pass over and crushed Brian. I just killed well,
Speaker 1: and I went on to do it at school and
Speaker 1: other functions. But you know, it was a ten year old,
Speaker 1: precocious Jewish kid lip syncing this hilarious comedy bed. I
Speaker 1: didn't write the material. I didn't even perform it, really
Speaker 1: I but you know I cleared my throat at the
Speaker 1: same moment he does on the album, and those little
Speaker 1: things from a ten year old forget it. So I
Speaker 1: just killed. I killed constantly, and I did that act,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say, for another five years at every function
Speaker 1: at school, be at a folk festival of father daughter dinner, dance,
Speaker 1: you know, whatever the events were, There's Kevin and the
Speaker 1: no and the arc routine. I mean, I was mesmerized
Speaker 1: by all the comedy albums of the day, and when
Speaker 1: friends would gather, I would be quoting the album. And
Speaker 1: then I realized, I guess I need my own material.
Speaker 1: And uh, but I was. I was a natural and
Speaker 1: doing impersonations. And then that became the cornerstone of what
Speaker 1: I would call an act. At seven sevause, when I
Speaker 1: performed professionally in a nightclub, did you did you inherently
Speaker 1: feel the comedy in the rhythms or in the you
Speaker 1: felt it? Yeah? And you? And then no, any arcr
Speaker 1: tune in particular is just Noah talking to God because
Speaker 1: Noah's confused about how to build the art and it's
Speaker 1: as g rated as comedy gets. And then once I
Speaker 1: I think, dialed into the story, I organically or involuntarily
Speaker 1: picked up the comedy rhythms. So I learned timing timing
Speaker 1: from this Jedi master through osmosis, and then I think
Speaker 1: the impersonations was just a natural thing, but also it
Speaker 1: taught me how to act. I learned acting nuances from
Speaker 1: the nuances that I went on to create while doing
Speaker 1: an impersonation. We talked to me a little bit about that,
Speaker 1: meaning different people's timing depending on who you were imitating.
Speaker 1: You started to assimilate all of that. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: I I learned from from watching actors and then impersonating them.
Speaker 1: So I would implement what I thought were gestures and
Speaker 1: nuance and line readings because I was speaking. Finally, then
Speaker 1: I learned to act the set of movies. I never
Speaker 1: attended an acting class. I'm not proud of that. I
Speaker 1: never studied at university. In fact, I graduated from San
Speaker 1: Jose State University in nine months. My friends called a
Speaker 1: dropping out, but I was done. I was done, and
Speaker 1: you finished. There was no ceremony. I didn't need a
Speaker 1: little hat with a tassel. I was done. Also, I
Speaker 1: had started performing fairly regularly in in as a comedian.
Speaker 1: There were no comedy clubs in San Jose at that point,
Speaker 1: and I was only eighteen. At that point, I didn't
Speaker 1: have quite the courage to drive up to San Francisco,
Speaker 1: the hotbed of stand up comedy, and so I would
Speaker 1: open up for music acts in bars. And it might
Speaker 1: have been the toughest forging steel through fire. I could
Speaker 1: have chosen because these are little ship kicker bars and
Speaker 1: and the band. The bands are all doing cover music,
Speaker 1: and it's feel good music and hooting and holler and
Speaker 1: and when the band takes a break, that's the first
Speaker 1: opportunity that guys have to to buy drinks for women.
Speaker 1: Was the experience in the mid seventies, anyways. And the
Speaker 1: last thing they want is to look at the stage
Speaker 1: and see some little puts. Think who thinks he can
Speaker 1: do Peter Folks, Lieutenant Columbo, you know. And it was
Speaker 1: I Sometimes I would get the bartenders looking and laughing,
Speaker 1: but none of the audience. You know, it's a long
Speaker 1: time before I don't know. I don't even remember the
Speaker 1: moment when someone decided to listen and it turned everything around.
Speaker 1: But I do remember one arc of success within this
Speaker 1: myopic world. I was performing standard. This was in a
Speaker 1: restaurant where in the corner they would move a foretop
Speaker 1: and put up a microphone and the band would play,
Speaker 1: and then I would go on during their break and
Speaker 1: how people are eating. So that's a little better than
Speaker 1: guys trying to pick up. So I had their attention
Speaker 1: at least, and I did so well at that restaurant
Speaker 1: the Addict, Addict Attic above your House, not the Addict.
Speaker 1: Uh I did so well the Addict that eventually the
Speaker 1: band was playing during my break. Oh I know, right,
Speaker 1: So that was the arc of the and I could have,
Speaker 1: by the way, I could have just tapped out and said,
Speaker 1: this is it, this is what I'm a star here
Speaker 1: in Las Cattis, California. And then I eventually went up
Speaker 1: to San Jose, San Francisco, rather from Santose when I
Speaker 1: was twenty for the San Francisco International Stand Up Comedy Competition.
Speaker 1: When you were you did that. Yeah, I'm still living
Speaker 1: down at San Jose till I think I was twenty
Speaker 1: almost twenty two. Uh So I would go up to
Speaker 1: San Franco, do some shows and come back down. And
Speaker 1: I was a waiter at the Attic Antique. That's what
Speaker 1: it was called, the Antique, not the Attic and the
Speaker 1: Antique Antique in Las Gnas. If anyone wants to do
Speaker 1: a deep dive, it was the Antique. And so anyways
Speaker 1: I would go, Yeah, I was. I was a waiter
Speaker 1: and by the way, I crushed as a waiter, and
Speaker 1: the reason was I had these impersonations. So most wait
Speaker 1: staff will panic if they put down the plates, and
Speaker 1: one of the patrons says, I asked for rice, this
Speaker 1: is potato, you know, because that just means the cook
Speaker 1: screwed up, and they you know, you wrote it down correctly, right,
Speaker 1: And so I would just go right into Columba. Jeez,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry I did I said right, I said it
Speaker 1: plainly day right. There was face there he put potato
Speaker 1: on your plate. I'm so sorry. And my tip went
Speaker 1: through the roof because now I'm doing a table show, right,
Speaker 1: and no one could figure out why I was getting
Speaker 1: great tips. Well, what were what were your what were
Speaker 1: your goal go to impressions, your best impressions, the impressions
Speaker 1: you liked the most that would kill well, Peter Falk
Speaker 1: in the seventies because he was the reigning champ on television,
Speaker 1: you know, Colombo was it was all the rage, and
Speaker 1: then followed by I guess, you know, William Shatner and
Speaker 1: whoever the president was at the time, I guess Nixon.
Speaker 1: But also when I eventually started up in San Francisco,
Speaker 1: was around the same time as Dana Carvey, and so
Speaker 1: we you know, we both did voices and impressions, and
Speaker 1: you know, you you learned that you're not the only
Speaker 1: one who learned how to do say, in this example,
Speaker 1: Johnny Carson by watching uh Rich Little you Know someone
Speaker 1: and Danna became sort of the king of this. Someone
Speaker 1: has to create the key that opens the lock. And
Speaker 1: then it's there's a template that anyone who has a
Speaker 1: knack for this could follow. So we we would learn
Speaker 1: Nixon from David Fry's comedy album about Nixon. We would
Speaker 1: learn Douglas and Burt Lancaster from John Biner. So there
Speaker 1: were other impersonation experts on television. There was a show
Speaker 1: featuring all impression. It is called the Copycat. Anybody that
Speaker 1: you feel like you've found the key two, well, listen, Brian,
Speaker 1: you've claimed to have done research. But if you were
Speaker 1: to google these words Christopher Walking impersonation, thirty thousand search
Speaker 1: answers will come up. I drumroll please, and number one
Speaker 1: on that Google search. There you go. Now that in
Speaker 1: six dollars will buy me a coffee at Starbucks. So
Speaker 1: it's a it's an absolute worthless brag. It's just a fact. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I wasn't the first. I mean I saw Jay Moore
Speaker 1: dude on SNL and then he gave somebody else credit
Speaker 1: when I asked him, and you know, countless people have
Speaker 1: done it since, and I'm sure that there I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna say better because that's absurd as good, I'm sure,
Speaker 1: But to me, it was always about finding the nuance.
Speaker 1: It was never, um, what if Christopher walkin, we're a
Speaker 1: bus boy? It might go something like this. That felt
Speaker 1: real hacky to me right from the beginning, you know,
Speaker 1: so eventually, yeah, I would say Christopher walking. I might
Speaker 1: also be on the search on doing Jason Statham, Albert Brooks.
Speaker 1: I had Dave Crea on my live streaming internet video podcasts.
Speaker 1: I may have been one of the pioneers in the
Speaker 1: podcast world, you know. And Brian it's not a competition,
Speaker 1: um but I had Dave Creer on once and he
Speaker 1: did Bob Einstein, who was Albert Brooks's brother, So we
Speaker 1: did the two brothers talking to each other, and it's
Speaker 1: it's pretty pretty great. You're performing in San Francisco at
Speaker 1: this point, you and Dana Carvey, Robin Williams, to name
Speaker 1: just three. Were there any Were there any women in
Speaker 1: San Francisco that you were Paula pound Stone shortly there
Speaker 1: or after, not at that exact moment maybe, but shortly
Speaker 1: that Ellen DeGeneres did some time in San Francisco early on. Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: there are a lot. There were a lot of women
Speaker 1: actually carry snow good name a lot. Yeah. How often
Speaker 1: did you work with Robin Well? Um? By the time
Speaker 1: I moved to San Francisco, I guess would be about
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine, he had already I think done morean Mindy,
Speaker 1: but he was still spending all this time or the
Speaker 1: majority of it in San Francisco. So at that point
Speaker 1: he was already famous, and he was just unbelievably supportive
Speaker 1: to all the local acts who were doing well at
Speaker 1: the time. I remember years later when I did the
Speaker 1: movie Willow Willow Yes, Rick Overchon and I were the
Speaker 1: two Brownies, and we shot our scenes on a giant, big,
Speaker 1: largest blue screen facility in the world, and it was
Speaker 1: up by Lucas Ranch. You know. After we got and
Speaker 1: work and we would contact Robin and say, we're gonna
Speaker 1: be in the city doing a show, and the three
Speaker 1: of us would do improv together on stage, and which
Speaker 1: really most times resulted in me being upstage against the
Speaker 1: wall while the two of them were downstage crushing it,
Speaker 1: and I was just watching You're crushing the comedy club
Speaker 1: scene and doing incredibly well. Where was the decision to
Speaker 1: start auditioning for movies? And you get quite a few
Speaker 1: in the early eighties before willow Um. But was that
Speaker 1: wanting to try something different, or that just opportunities that
Speaker 1: presented itself, or was that a conscious decision to start
Speaker 1: focusing more on acting and film. Well, I'd always wanted
Speaker 1: to be an actor, even though I refused to take
Speaker 1: acting classes. I just had that, you know, I guess
Speaker 1: from doing the impersonations. I had convinced myself I could
Speaker 1: do it because to me, while I was doing those impressions,
Speaker 1: there weren't a lot of punch lines. I was getting
Speaker 1: jokes from behavioral performance, and so I was quite convinced.
Speaker 1: So in nineteen two, I had come in second place
Speaker 1: in the San Francisco International Stand Up Comedy Competition, which
Speaker 1: was a very big deal in San Francisco, not internationally.
Speaker 1: It just meant you could come and compete from other countries,
Speaker 1: which really was Canada. Um, And so coming in second
Speaker 1: meant I wasn't going to compete again. That was it.
Speaker 1: And then that's when I decided. Before the next competition,
Speaker 1: I would move to Los Angeles. And growing up in
Speaker 1: San Francisco, you know you're really trained to hate Los Angeles. Um,
Speaker 1: it's in our DNA, not just the sports rivalries. It's
Speaker 1: really a deep, deep, deep thing. And once I got
Speaker 1: to l A, I realized they don't even know we're there.
Speaker 1: You know, it's a one way thing. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: they keep sending out ships, they don't come back. They
Speaker 1: had no idea we were there. So I had met
Speaker 1: a few acts like Leno and Seinfeld and Shandling who
Speaker 1: had come through the punch line at San Francisco, and
Speaker 1: I had opened up for them, and they had said,
Speaker 1: when you got to l A, let me know and
Speaker 1: I'll introduce you to Bud Freeman and get you on
Speaker 1: at the improv. So when I got to l A
Speaker 1: and eighty three, I was instantly getting stage time, which
Speaker 1: was incredible, and I was then once I was there,
Speaker 1: everyone said you gotta audition, you gotta start audition, and
Speaker 1: you gotta start auditioning. And I didn't have an agent
Speaker 1: or manager. You would just hear about auditions and you
Speaker 1: could somehow sign up or whatever. And I went on
Speaker 1: a lot of auditions before Willow. Yeah, I didn't get
Speaker 1: the part. So many times it felt like I would
Speaker 1: enter the room to audition and they would say, how
Speaker 1: about anyone but you is going to get this? Well,
Speaker 1: it's you just said so many things that I well love.
Speaker 1: We're in a lot of ways, I think the opposite, right,
Speaker 1: Like for me, I was comedy wasn't even something that
Speaker 1: I did or focused on early on in my in
Speaker 1: my career. I mean, I was doing straight theater and
Speaker 1: most of it wasn't funny at all, right, But for me,
Speaker 1: it wasn't hold on. The material was not intended to
Speaker 1: you weren't even allowed to show if you could be funny, right,
Speaker 1: But it was about creating characters and behavior, and see,
Speaker 1: to me, I think the best comedy is about that. Obviously,
Speaker 1: great writers help so if they could write some funny
Speaker 1: situations or some great joke, that's helpful, But behavior is
Speaker 1: what really makes people laugh. I think. Yeah, of course
Speaker 1: I agree, And that's what I had studied in performances
Speaker 1: on TV and film, which was my school of acting.
Speaker 1: You know, I would lock onto somebody that I really
Speaker 1: liked and just study all the characteristics and timing. And
Speaker 1: for sure, I agree that behavior was was everything Willow.
Speaker 1: You've called it your your breakthrough role happens in Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, it didn't feel like acting.
Speaker 1: It felt like clowning, which was fun, and we were
Speaker 1: allowed to improvise and be silly, and it was incredibly fun.
Speaker 1: It was incredibly exciting to be in a high profile
Speaker 1: movie produced by George Lucas and directed by Ron Howard.
Speaker 1: When my dad drove up from San Jose to visit
Speaker 1: me on the set, when I introduced him with George Lucas,
Speaker 1: he shook George Lucas his hand and said, I really
Speaker 1: loved et. And George, who's not necessarily known for his
Speaker 1: sense of humor or being or being funny, he certainly
Speaker 1: has a sense of you, but he's rarely the funny one. Um.
Speaker 1: When my dad said that, George smiled and said me too, um,
Speaker 1: which a lot him off the hook pretty quick. So
Speaker 1: it was a big deal in that regard. I don't
Speaker 1: know that it led a single job, yeah, because again,
Speaker 1: it wasn't really an acting performance, and we weren't the
Speaker 1: stars of the movie, and it didn't propel us to
Speaker 1: anything other than more auditions. But I think everything I
Speaker 1: did between Willow and a Few Good Men in ninety
Speaker 1: while we shot at ninety one and came out ninety two.
Speaker 1: So those four years I did another six movies or so.
Speaker 1: Those are all auditions, and none of it was because
Speaker 1: anyone said I saw you and Willow and loved you.
Speaker 1: It was a great experience. And to this day, you know,
Speaker 1: people love that film so much that a new TV
Speaker 1: series has come to Disney plus the end of November. Yes, well,
Speaker 1: you do do a number of movies during that time.
Speaker 1: After Willow, you get a Few good Men, then grumpy
Speaker 1: old Men. It's all about men. I guess with you,
Speaker 1: and then one of my favorite you know you have
Speaker 1: like what's your favorite movie? I have another category called
Speaker 1: my favorite underappreciated movies. So right, like True Romance for
Speaker 1: me is on that list. I love True Romance. I
Speaker 1: think it's genius. Yeah, Tarantino script The Usual Suspects is
Speaker 1: also on that list. What it does in that moment
Speaker 1: is so transcendent and amazing and beautiful, and the movie
Speaker 1: is filled with beautiful performances. Talk to me a little bit.
Speaker 1: I hear that you met with singer, so not an
Speaker 1: audition movie. You met with singer and then you heard
Speaker 1: two other people were coming in, and you went in
Speaker 1: an audition. Is that yeah? After a fun Man came
Speaker 1: out of ninety two, I did across the goal line
Speaker 1: for every actor, going from auditioning to getting offers. And
Speaker 1: that was It's why I did forty movies in the nineties,
Speaker 1: because I came up in stand up comedy and when
Speaker 1: someone offers you a gig, the answer is yes. So
Speaker 1: in the nineties I was a girl who couldn't say no,
Speaker 1: and and six of those forty movies are really good.
Speaker 1: But so my vetting average is not that great. But
Speaker 1: uh so I was just getting offers and then you know,
Speaker 1: I would talk to my agent. He would He kept saying,
Speaker 1: You've got to read this script called The Usual Suspects.
Speaker 1: And I said, well, okay, who's directing it? He said,
Speaker 1: a young guy had never heard of him. Was it
Speaker 1: all right? Who's in it? Um? Nobody right now other
Speaker 1: than this other character actor named Kevin Spacey, who no
Speaker 1: one was green lighting Kevin Spacey movies. So that was
Speaker 1: a very little interest to me. Because when you have
Speaker 1: a small or sizeable stack of scripts that you and
Speaker 1: your agent are deciding which to do, all I care about.
Speaker 1: Are the components who wrote it, who's directing it, who's
Speaker 1: in it. You're as good as the company you keep.
Speaker 1: You want to raise the level of your tennis game,
Speaker 1: play with a better player all that. So when he
Speaker 1: says you've never heard of the director or the writer,
Speaker 1: they're both kids in their early twenties or mid twenties,
Speaker 1: and it starts Kevin Spacey. My reaction was, who, what
Speaker 1: are the other scripts that I should be reading? I mean,
Speaker 1: it's only funny in retrospect. At the time, it was
Speaker 1: just you know what, you did, what you said, But
Speaker 1: he just kept hammering me, just read it, just read it.
Speaker 1: So eventually I said, okay, I'll read it, and only
Speaker 1: to shut you up. Well am I reading this? And
Speaker 1: at page five I called him and said I'm in
Speaker 1: and he said, well, the director wants you. Let me
Speaker 1: call him and let him know that you're interested to
Speaker 1: see if there's any parts left, because I don't know
Speaker 1: where he's in the process. So he talked to the director,
Speaker 1: Brian Singer, and he called me back and he said,
Speaker 1: there two parts left. Brian would love you to do
Speaker 1: whichever one you want. And at the time it was
Speaker 1: Todd Hackney the character ended up playing, and it was Fenster,
Speaker 1: the character of the Pinzio del Toro ended up playing.
Speaker 1: And I said to my agent, well, I don't want
Speaker 1: to play Fenster because that character is only the spoiler alert.
Speaker 1: That character is only in the script to die so
Speaker 1: to tell the other suspects they can't run from Kaiser.
Speaker 1: So he has no moments, he has no scenes, he
Speaker 1: has no he's McManus's sidekick. And then Benetzel steals every
Speaker 1: scene he's in because he's brilliant. But so I said,
Speaker 1: I'll do Todd Hackney. And then the agent calls Brian
Speaker 1: calls me back and says what you quoted, which is
Speaker 1: Brian said, there, he has to see these two actors.
Speaker 1: He would love you to do Todd Hackney, but he's
Speaker 1: already agreed to see these two actors today and to
Speaker 1: not piss off agents and things. He has to see them.
Speaker 1: But the part is yours. That was the conversation. And
Speaker 1: I had finished reading the script by then, and I said, well,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna let one of these two actors come
Speaker 1: in and blow his mind and steal the part. Tell
Speaker 1: him I'm coming in today to audition. And my agent
Speaker 1: was like, no, no, no, no, no, no no, we
Speaker 1: are not breaking the precedent of you getting offers. Only
Speaker 1: you're not auditioning. And we argued around and round and round,
Speaker 1: because there's a whole thing about that once you get
Speaker 1: to that lofty purch you don't undermine it by auditioning.
Speaker 1: So I won the argument. I went in, I auditioned,
Speaker 1: I got the part end of story. What about the
Speaker 1: script did you respond to so so quickly? It's still
Speaker 1: the best script I've ever read. Years later. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: as great as the movie is, the script is even better,
Speaker 1: I would say, because you're envisioning in your own mind
Speaker 1: what is happening, and it's great at a job as
Speaker 1: Brian did in the movie, that script is just one
Speaker 1: of the greatest page turners. I mean, it won the
Speaker 1: Academy Awards, so I'm not an idiot for saying this.
Speaker 1: Now here's where things get tricky, Brian. The movie is
Speaker 1: filled with lines that were not in the screenplay that
Speaker 1: I improvised that helped win Chris mcquarie the Oscar and
Speaker 1: I tell that prick to put the trophy on my
Speaker 1: mantle one week out of the year. One he gets
Speaker 1: it fifty one weeks. I get it. One. Do you
Speaker 1: think that's too much to ask? I think that's I
Speaker 1: think that's very fair. I think that's very fair. Now
Speaker 1: do you want to guess? Or I could just tell
Speaker 1: you something. So there's so many So the police line up. Well,
Speaker 1: the very first time you see me in the movie,
Speaker 1: there's a montage of each one of us being collected
Speaker 1: by the police. And mine is my garage door opens,
Speaker 1: a half dozen cops flood in. I'm working on the
Speaker 1: side mirror with the screwdriver. I look at them through
Speaker 1: the side mirror. That's what was in the script, but
Speaker 1: in the movie I look at them in the side
Speaker 1: mirror and say, are you sure you're broad enough? Guys? Hilarious,
Speaker 1: hilarious and sets the tone, thank you very much for
Speaker 1: my character, and that the movie is going to have
Speaker 1: some humor. That's right, that's right, and it's in the movie.
Speaker 1: Chris macquarie last week a year Oscar winner at you,
Speaker 1: prick um. Yeah, and there's a bunch of others. I mean, wow,
Speaker 1: so you were you were as great as the script was,
Speaker 1: as page turnery as it was. Brian the director still
Speaker 1: had the wherewithal if we knew what we were doing.
Speaker 1: We because we could improvise. What makes a truly great improviser,
Speaker 1: which I know you are, is the ability to improvise,
Speaker 1: not for a joke alone, but that stays on story
Speaker 1: and on point. And that's where people get in trouble. Right, yes,
Speaker 1: are you allowed to swear on this? So Chris wrote
Speaker 1: the great in the Inn the interrogation. The interrogator, who
Speaker 1: is a young Chris mcquarie you never see his face, thankfully,
Speaker 1: says they're trying to figure out who robbed the truck.
Speaker 1: And he says, um, you know I can put you
Speaker 1: in Queens on the night of the robbery. And he
Speaker 1: wrote the line, oh really, I live in Queens, And
Speaker 1: then I added, you put that together yourself, Einstein, what
Speaker 1: you got a team of monkeys working around the clock
Speaker 1: on this. So again he just wrote, I live in Queens.
Speaker 1: That's it also funny, but not as funny. So I
Speaker 1: just kept talking in that moment. So it was that
Speaker 1: sort of thing where I and that's been true on
Speaker 1: everything until Mrs Masiel, where you sort of have to
Speaker 1: say every word exactly as in, which I'm fine with
Speaker 1: and a few good men was also from a place,
Speaker 1: so Rob Ryner was very very strict about not changing
Speaker 1: the dialogue. But yeah, I mean I I don't look
Speaker 1: to create problems for people by improvising, but if given
Speaker 1: the opportunity, you'll take it. Yeah. And also now, I've
Speaker 1: been a member of the Writer's Guild forever and I
Speaker 1: kind of know what I'm doing in terms of making
Speaker 1: some suggestion, right, But I'm very as a writer all
Speaker 1: these years. I'm also very very respectful to the writer.
Speaker 1: Now that I've directed a few times, I'm also very
Speaker 1: respectful to what the director's needs are. And you know,
Speaker 1: I use sort of sense. Is this a playground where
Speaker 1: I'm tethered or not? Right? Were you looking at that time?
Speaker 1: I mean being at this point, it's fair to say
Speaker 1: a legendary comedian, at least in the San Francisco and
Speaker 1: stand up circuit. Are you looking for something different? Is
Speaker 1: that a part of the conversation you're having with your
Speaker 1: agent as you're as you're mulling over offers. No, I
Speaker 1: had a secret notion of doing dramatic work, but because
Speaker 1: I had no training, I was very intimidated by it.
Speaker 1: I mean, I've done a few dramas before that. Ricochet
Speaker 1: with Denzel Washington. But that was an audition. You understand,
Speaker 1: as I'm sure you know, when you're first starting out
Speaker 1: your audition for everything that you're remotely right for, you
Speaker 1: don't have the conversation, well, I'm looking to do comedy.
Speaker 1: So after a few good Men, however, people discover you
Speaker 1: is how they know you. I'd been doing stand up
Speaker 1: for fifteen years. My second HBO special came out at
Speaker 1: the same time as a Few good Men, and it
Speaker 1: didn't matter. What mattered was that a few good Men
Speaker 1: made half a billion dollars in It was a juggernaut,
Speaker 1: and thankfully I was getting all these offers. Some of
Speaker 1: them were comedies like Grumpio Men, and some of them
Speaker 1: were were, you know, dramatic. I didn't feel worthy of
Speaker 1: seeking a dramatic career. My my real fantasy was born
Speaker 1: when I saw Michael Keaton in Night Shift. A lot
Speaker 1: of stand up comedians, because he had started as a
Speaker 1: stand up also, a lot of stand up comedians saw
Speaker 1: that performance because it was so all over the place
Speaker 1: and so great. In fact, I remember when I talked
Speaker 1: to Ron Howard, who Drew also directed Night Shift. He
Speaker 1: said Michael's performance was so all over the place. The
Speaker 1: first couple of weeks, the studio was calling him every
Speaker 1: day after seeing dailies and wanting to fire him because
Speaker 1: he was all over the place, and I didn't understand
Speaker 1: what he was doing. But to me, it was comedic gold.
Speaker 1: That's what the plan was. Do that. You know, Tom
Speaker 1: Hanks and Splash there were least great comic lead designs,
Speaker 1: but then after a few good men, it just shot
Speaker 1: on fifteen years of stand up and I was to
Speaker 1: this day having to remind people that I started in
Speaker 1: the stand up comedy. And then by the mid nineties,
Speaker 1: Casino and The Usual Suspects came out in the same year,
Speaker 1: and I was just I was just done being funny,
Speaker 1: to the point where years later when Bruce Willis and
Speaker 1: Matthew Parry we're going to start in this movie called
Speaker 1: The Whole nine Yards, and they they had talked over
Speaker 1: me being in it as this character Yanni goglact, this
Speaker 1: hit man, and they mentioned it to the director, Jonathan Lynn,
Speaker 1: British guy done my cousin Vinny and some great comedies,
Speaker 1: and and Jonathan Lynn's response was, yeah, well, I mean
Speaker 1: he's quite good, isn't He's I've seen a few good
Speaker 1: men have seen usual suspects. He's very talented, very diverse.
Speaker 1: But you know, Fellas, this is a comedy. That's a quote.
Speaker 1: That's a quote. And as the story goes, Bruce grabbed
Speaker 1: him firmly and said sternly, he's a comedian, that's what
Speaker 1: he does. Um. So that was an offer, maybe against
Speaker 1: Jonathan's wishes, but um. But then it ended up being
Speaker 1: this in incredibly great comedic opportunity within this kind of
Speaker 1: dramatic part that I was playing in that movie, because
Speaker 1: the director said, yes, under dress. But then when I
Speaker 1: was talking to him about the character, I had said, well,
Speaker 1: in the script, he's it's it makes reference to he
Speaker 1: was born in Hungary, but he was raised in Chicago,
Speaker 1: where the story takes place. And so do you want
Speaker 1: a Hungarian accent or do you want a Chicago accent?
Speaker 1: And he said, much to my consternation, do you think
Speaker 1: you could do both? And so I did, and uh,
Speaker 1: it was it was cheating because for Hungarian I just
Speaker 1: switched the vs and the ws. That was pretty lazy
Speaker 1: on the accent, and then that hard Chicago thing. You know,
Speaker 1: it's pretty hard to hit. So Yanni would say, my
Speaker 1: father was a great main a man of Wigan. Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: so so. But anyways, by the mid nineties, I was
Speaker 1: stamped dramatic actor and I don't know I was next
Speaker 1: Harvey Kitel. I wasn't the next Michael Keaton their tomics.
Speaker 1: Does that bother you? Well, it was frustrating at the time,
Speaker 1: but I was still getting offer, so it wasn't that frustrating.
Speaker 1: You know, don't cry for me, Argentina. Right again, there
Speaker 1: was no grand design. When people think any of us
Speaker 1: decided this, these extraordinary paths that we've taken, you know,
Speaker 1: they need to rethink the question. Yes, I think I
Speaker 1: asked because I was I was hopeful. I think in
Speaker 1: a way that that you had devised the plan, because
Speaker 1: I think for me, when I left the office that
Speaker 1: was I had the plan. It just didn't It didn't
Speaker 1: quite happen that way, right, I mean, it was like
Speaker 1: I'm going to return back and do you know dramatic roles,
Speaker 1: bad guy, like this is what I'm gonna do. And
Speaker 1: it was like no, no, no, you're not. No, that's
Speaker 1: not our plan for you, my friend. And again there's
Speaker 1: no it's not really as a way of a plaining
Speaker 1: at all, but it's more, just like wondering whether that
Speaker 1: was something that you had devised or thought about, but
Speaker 1: it sounds like it just happened. Well, here's a great
Speaker 1: irony and a few good men. I was so intimidated
Speaker 1: by all the great actors, and I remember going to J. T. Walsh,
Speaker 1: great character actor who plays Markinson and a few good men.
Speaker 1: Remember going to his trailer and confessing, I didn't have
Speaker 1: any formal training. I don't know what I'm doing, and
Speaker 1: this is the movie I'm found out on what do
Speaker 1: I do? And he basically said, I've been watching you
Speaker 1: and you're doing a technique of acting that actually people study.
Speaker 1: It's called less is more. And I said, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm underplaying everything because I don't want to get caught acting.
Speaker 1: He said, well, that's good. You should just do that,
Speaker 1: but you should know also there's a second half to
Speaker 1: that technique, less is more. Nothing is best. If you
Speaker 1: can do nothing in a scene, nothing and pull focus,
Speaker 1: you win. And so then I devoted my entire career
Speaker 1: to basically doing nothing. I mean, your career. We could
Speaker 1: we could talk all day, but you know, I do
Speaker 1: want to touch on Mrs Mazel, returning back clearly to
Speaker 1: your comedy roots. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, the marvelous Mrs Mazel.
Speaker 1: You know, I watched the pilot. Amy Sherman Palladino, Damn
Speaker 1: Paldino realized they hadn't cast any in laws in the
Speaker 1: pilot and they needed in laws, so they offered me
Speaker 1: this thing, and I do the thing and my better
Speaker 1: half together fifteen years now, but she watched my first
Speaker 1: performance in it in the first season and said, this
Speaker 1: was the part you were born to play, allowed, obnoxious jew,
Speaker 1: That's the part I was born to play. And how
Speaker 1: the funk? I've been throwing everything away from my entire career,
Speaker 1: under playing everything, and I'm finally a blow hard and
Speaker 1: everyone thinks this, Wow, this is a return to what
Speaker 1: you're supposed to be doing. This is who you are.
Speaker 1: Fuck me, Um, this was an offer. And did you
Speaker 1: read the pilot? Did you or you watch the pilot?
Speaker 1: I watched the pilot. Yeah. The Amazon did a thing then.
Speaker 1: I don't know about now, but they did a thing then.
Speaker 1: They just put their pilots up on the streaming platform
Speaker 1: and invite people to watch them, and based on the reaction,
Speaker 1: they would make their decisions, which is kind of amazing, right,
Speaker 1: And you responded to it, and so I responded, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, they picked up the pilot to
Speaker 1: two seasons. It's a crazy ass great pilot. Yes, and
Speaker 1: so yeah, it's pretty pretty no brainer. Plus they had
Speaker 1: the pedigree of Gilmo Girls and other things, and uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was a quick and easy yes. Yeah. Is it
Speaker 1: fun for you to be able to do more than nothing? Well, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: it's been incredible fun. Yeah, it's been extraordinary fun. It's
Speaker 1: been the greatest gig ever. I mean, you know, when
Speaker 1: you're in the pocket of a great television show that's
Speaker 1: an ensembled cast and you get to do um multitude
Speaker 1: of episodes and multitude of seasons and people love you.
Speaker 1: I know you guys, like a lot of historically successful sitcoms,
Speaker 1: I think, struggled in the first season maybe yeah, to
Speaker 1: find an audience. But in our case, it was insane.
Speaker 1: It was. And also we premiered I think a week
Speaker 1: before they announced the Golden Globes and we were nominated
Speaker 1: within a week and one. But yeah, it was weird
Speaker 1: to break through the zeitgeist immediately. And even then, five
Speaker 1: years ago there were at least five hundred scripted shows.
Speaker 1: Now I think there's seven undred, maybe eight hundred. It's bonkers,
Speaker 1: isn't a great Nellet you pass a billboard that says
Speaker 1: so and so the name of the show, and then
Speaker 1: it says season four premiere next week, and you think,
Speaker 1: I've never even heard of this fucking show. I never
Speaker 1: heard of this show. But some of them are like,
Speaker 1: oh I do. I'll see it. I'll be like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's or I'll see a trailer and I'll be like, oh,
Speaker 1: that sounds really interesting, and then I'll see that it's
Speaker 1: season four and I'm like, oh, yeah, I can't I
Speaker 1: can't invest I can't go backwards. Yeah, the point being,
Speaker 1: there's too much content. So the fact that we broke
Speaker 1: through the noise in the conversation to be what the
Speaker 1: show was right out of the cannon was historical and
Speaker 1: one of the many reasons it's been the greatest gig ever.
Speaker 1: And we're in the midst of shooting our fifth and
Speaker 1: final season right now. What what do you think the
Speaker 1: primary message is from the show? Do you think there's
Speaker 1: anything specific about the fact that the story takes place
Speaker 1: as a young woman in a world of stand up
Speaker 1: that has typically and very difficult for women. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean Amy Sherman. Palladino's father was a stand up comedian,
Speaker 1: so she grew up in that world. You know, he
Speaker 1: was on Playboy after Dark and he was he had
Speaker 1: made it to the middle, I think, and um, she
Speaker 1: was fascinated by that world her whole life. And also,
Speaker 1: you know, one of the greatest compliments I get about
Speaker 1: the show, the greatest to me in the sense that
Speaker 1: means the most to me, is from other stand up comedians,
Speaker 1: because we sort of hate shows about comedy and movies
Speaker 1: about stand up because they never get it right. Like
Speaker 1: I'm sure trauma surgeons looked at the are and said,
Speaker 1: this is horseshit, or any other dated reference I could
Speaker 1: think of. So, um, what I got calls from comedians saying,
Speaker 1: and to this day, I'll get a text out of
Speaker 1: the blue, like the last season when my character falls
Speaker 1: off his stool when his son tells him something. I
Speaker 1: used my stunt double actually from Usual Suspects, Max Daniel
Speaker 1: has been my stunt double ever since. But I my
Speaker 1: character just takes this dead fall right off of stool
Speaker 1: to the ground, And I got a text completely out
Speaker 1: of the blue from Paul Left Tompkins that said, and
Speaker 1: and it included a gift of me falling off the stool,
Speaker 1: and he just wrote how and sure enough they use
Speaker 1: CG I to put my face on Max. That was
Speaker 1: the answer. But anyways, um to hear from comedians who
Speaker 1: love this show. But I think it's because Rachel Brosenhan
Speaker 1: is just a great dramatic actress, and these great writers
Speaker 1: have written, you know, the type of stand up which
Speaker 1: is stream of consciousness, which didn't exist then. It barely
Speaker 1: exists now where someone would literally go on stage and
Speaker 1: just speak their mind. It's it's not really a thing.
Speaker 1: It's a thing for about five minutes. It's not a
Speaker 1: thing for a whole act. I remember Paul if Tompkins
Speaker 1: actually for a while would go on stage and improvise
Speaker 1: his entire act. And I think some people try it.
Speaker 1: It's just not the way to do stand up. It's
Speaker 1: too hard, especially you have to do an hour, which
Speaker 1: is a typical headline at least an hour. So she's
Speaker 1: written these great stream of conscious monologues that Rachel has.
Speaker 1: A dramatic actress is able to perform real authentically, not
Speaker 1: joking lee or jokey. She's not delivering punch lines very
Speaker 1: often Alex Borstein, a great comic who plays Susie has
Speaker 1: all the one liners. Really, so the show is pretty
Speaker 1: behavioral also. But yes, and I think that was one
Speaker 1: of the impactful things about the show is that this
Speaker 1: woman falls asked backwards onto a stage because she was
Speaker 1: drunk and her husband left her and she had been
Speaker 1: to this comedy place earlier, and magic happens. Yeah. From
Speaker 1: the very beginning, I was just always struck by that
Speaker 1: you found an environment where mostly no one can shut
Speaker 1: you up. You literally have the mic and you have
Speaker 1: the voice, and that she uses that to process what's
Speaker 1: going on inside of her and at the same time
Speaker 1: be funny with behavioral observations. I think that's for me,
Speaker 1: the real magic of it. Yeah, and I would add
Speaker 1: to great points, and I would add to your great points.
Speaker 1: It allows the writers to let the audience know what
Speaker 1: this central character is going through and thinking without her
Speaker 1: having to tell someone in her life. She's telling an
Speaker 1: audience that's right, it's exposition, that's right, that's right. We're
Speaker 1: getting we're getting to know her, We're getting to know
Speaker 1: how smart she is, We're getting to know how funny
Speaker 1: and clever she is without seeing her in quote unquote
Speaker 1: real life situation. You probably said it better. It's kind
Speaker 1: of genius in that regard, and I don't think I've
Speaker 1: thought those specific words before. It is, so thank you,
Speaker 1: You're welcome anything I can do to help um. Do
Speaker 1: you feel like it's time for it to be over? Well,
Speaker 1: for the very first day of shooting the series, I
Speaker 1: don't know about the pilot, but the series, so officially
Speaker 1: episode two, Amy would casually say, if we're lucky enough
Speaker 1: and successful enough to get more than one seed, more
Speaker 1: than two, because they picked it up to two seasons,
Speaker 1: just so you guys know, we see this as a
Speaker 1: five season show. We know where it's going, we know
Speaker 1: the arc, we know where we want it to go.
Speaker 1: If we're lucky enough to be allowed to do five,
Speaker 1: that'll be it. And she she just kept saying it,
Speaker 1: and every you know, we won Emmy's the first year,
Speaker 1: and we would check back in with her as we're
Speaker 1: shooting season two, so just five seasons, and she'd say, yep,
Speaker 1: just five season, and every year we would check in
Speaker 1: with her, yep, just five seasons. So it wasn't a surprise.
Speaker 1: It's certainly a bitter sweet it's kind of great to
Speaker 1: get out when the show is still really good. It
Speaker 1: sucks to end the greatest job you ever had, for sure,
Speaker 1: But I guess because she had warned us year after
Speaker 1: year after year. The lack of surprise takes away a
Speaker 1: lot of the negative experience. It's all just gratitude. It's
Speaker 1: kind of been gratitude every year. But it's his gratitude tour.
Speaker 1: Shooting the fifth season, we're in the last three of
Speaker 1: nine episodes. This is the best job you ever had.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it probably just because it's more, you know,
Speaker 1: there's a beat working with Casino on Casino, with Martin Scorsese.
Speaker 1: I mean, I've just been sick lucky in terms of
Speaker 1: the great directors, Rob Reiner, I mentioned Ron Howard, Barry Levinson. Yeah,
Speaker 1: extraordinary directors, and those were seminal experiences for sure. But
Speaker 1: the fact that this is five seasons over six years,
Speaker 1: it's just gone on so long that it just wins. Also,
Speaker 1: it's the most challenging and rewarding work I've done, maybe
Speaker 1: since a few Good Men, in terms of don't funk
Speaker 1: this up, you know, And also because Amy and Dan
Speaker 1: with like to shoot these eight page one ers, and
Speaker 1: you know, when you shoot a master of a page scene.
Speaker 1: You just can't wait to get the coverage. And when
Speaker 1: you know there's no coverage right and there's fourteen moving parts,
Speaker 1: you do not want to be the reason we're going again.
Speaker 1: And it creates a work in practice and rituals and
Speaker 1: environment for me that I just never had. That's awesome.
Speaker 1: I find that so fun. I love I love those
Speaker 1: and they do now. It's become a signature. So there's
Speaker 1: many of them in every episode. It seems. In fact,
Speaker 1: when we do a scene and it's not a wonder,
Speaker 1: it feels kind of weird, like we're wait, we're doing coverage?
Speaker 1: What the hell? Um? You like being a director? I do?
Speaker 1: I do because it it um calls on all the
Speaker 1: training from stand up and acting and writing. I was
Speaker 1: playing poker for one of these TV shows recently. Sitting
Speaker 1: next to me was Chris you Banks Jr. This brilliant
Speaker 1: British boxer, and we became friendly and we were texting
Speaker 1: afterwards and I ended up sharing with him something that
Speaker 1: I had thought but never articulated, and it was only
Speaker 1: based on his instant positive response that allows me to,
Speaker 1: I guess share it with you now, which is a
Speaker 1: comedian is like a fighter, a boxer, professional boxer. You've
Speaker 1: got people in your corner, you've got training that you
Speaker 1: can do constantly. But when you step in that ring
Speaker 1: or on that stage, you're not only by yourself. You
Speaker 1: are living or dying moment by moment based on your
Speaker 1: instincts and your training and your skills. And uh, that
Speaker 1: is not the case with acting, and that is not
Speaker 1: the case with writing. So those instincts are honed a
Speaker 1: piece of metal through fire into a sword. Because on
Speaker 1: a set, as the director, you you are in charge
Speaker 1: of everything. Everyone comes to you all day long with questions.
Speaker 1: In fact, I remember interviewing Jason Jason Rightman on the
Speaker 1: Chat show technically still available on YouTube, found episodes ten
Speaker 1: years no big deal. I remember interviewing him and he said, uh,
Speaker 1: he said, well, people are gonna come to you all
Speaker 1: day long with questions, whether you have an answer or not.
Speaker 1: You need to give an answer. It doesn't even need
Speaker 1: to be the right answer. But you could never say
Speaker 1: I don't know, what do you think. You can give
Speaker 1: your answer and then say what do you think? What
Speaker 1: do you think? But you have to have an answer
Speaker 1: because it's about leadership first and foremost but then empowering
Speaker 1: other people with their opinions is also important. But anyways,
Speaker 1: stand up and then writing and acting it all kind
Speaker 1: of fueled this idea and then a scoche of confidence
Speaker 1: that I might be able to do it, and then
Speaker 1: once you do it, you're just hooked for life. In
Speaker 1: addition to the the chat show that you have mentioned
Speaker 1: four episodes available on YouTube, you also have a very
Speaker 1: successful podcast, asked Alchemy this what what was the inspiration there?
Speaker 1: Just to make people laugh? I sunk around with your friends. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I live on the West Side of Los Angeles and
Speaker 1: there's a little theater in the the entrance to which
Speaker 1: is in the urine soaked alleyway between third and fourth
Speaker 1: Street in Santa Monica. It's called the West Side Comedy Theater.
Speaker 1: And uh, my better f Jamie and I had gone
Speaker 1: several times and we'd seen some very very funny improvisers,
Speaker 1: and she was writing for a sketch team there, and
Speaker 1: we just became friendly with a bunch of these folks.
Speaker 1: And so when I ended the chat show after ten years,
Speaker 1: I took some time off, and then I just got
Speaker 1: the itch to do another podcast, and so I realized,
Speaker 1: I know all these brilliant improvisers. What if I forced
Speaker 1: these brilliant improvisers to sit around a table with microphones
Speaker 1: in the studio theater of the mine, and we just
Speaker 1: improvised scenes based on the scene suggestions from the audience.
Speaker 1: And then when every time I asked, somebody great like
Speaker 1: Craig Gatkowski or Vanessa Raglan, Joe Agreer, Chris Alvarado, James
Speaker 1: Heeney and I think were the initial group and they
Speaker 1: leapt at the chance. And then I was ship, what
Speaker 1: have I done? Now? Now I got to do this,
Speaker 1: and we did. We did it for three years. We
Speaker 1: just halted it a few months back, but because it
Speaker 1: went to zoom through the way so many of these
Speaker 1: do during the pandemic, and that really lost a lot
Speaker 1: of the fun in terms of being live in a
Speaker 1: room improvising. You know, sure, aside from Mrs Maisel, favorite
Speaker 1: film and best film that you've done well, the most
Speaker 1: seminole and life changing started with avalon to Barry Levinson
Speaker 1: film because that was the first you know, he he
Speaker 1: had just come off all the awards on rain Man
Speaker 1: and he was given the Keys to the Kingdom and
Speaker 1: he wanted to do another small Baltimore set film. It
Speaker 1: was the third set in his hometown and so to
Speaker 1: be given one of the leads in that by the
Speaker 1: genius writer director who who just wanted me to be
Speaker 1: loose and natural, just be you, and I learned so
Speaker 1: much from him. And then also while the movie didn't
Speaker 1: wasn't a huge box office success, it got everyone's attention
Speaker 1: within the industry and it did bring me to the
Speaker 1: attention of a lot of people. So that was the
Speaker 1: first one, and then a few Good Men, and then
Speaker 1: Usual Suspects and Casinos, so those, you know, those were
Speaker 1: all just bananas, over the top, ridiculous, high profile. Usual
Speaker 1: Suspects premiered at the can Film Festival, so having that
Speaker 1: experience and also pulp fiction had won the Palm Door
Speaker 1: of the year before, so when we got there as
Speaker 1: the next American crime movie, we were it was like
Speaker 1: the Beatles landed. No one had even seen the film yet,
Speaker 1: but that's just how we were treated. It was really bizarre,
Speaker 1: surreal and exceptional and the the grumpio meta movie studying at
Speaker 1: the feet of Mount Rushmore, between Math and Lemon and
Speaker 1: Margaret and Burgess, Meredith and those people amazing. Yeah, if
Speaker 1: you can't tell I'm such a huge fan of not
Speaker 1: just the movie and shows you've been in, but of
Speaker 1: you great actor and guys. So thanks. I want you
Speaker 1: to know how much I appreciate you coming on today
Speaker 1: and and sharing some insight. Oh you're very welcome. Thanks
Speaker 1: for the invite, Happy to be here. Listen to the show,
Speaker 1: and let's let's play poker. At some point I would
Speaker 1: like I would like to are you a regular poker player?
Speaker 1: I am okay, Well, I host a weekly game, so
Speaker 1: do you. I'll tell you I used to play a lot,
Speaker 1: a lot. I got married and I had two habits
Speaker 1: graduate a long time, each poker and golf. So I
Speaker 1: sort of I haven't given up poker, but I don't
Speaker 1: play as much as I used to, but I would.
Speaker 1: There may be a scene would love to play. It
Speaker 1: may be a seat this week, so get me your information.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Kevin, Thank you so much, Kevin, Thank you
Speaker 1: so much for the chat. I loved hearing your story.
Speaker 1: By the way, make sure to save a seat for
Speaker 1: me at your next poker event. I will be awaiting
Speaker 1: your invitation. Listeners. I'll see you next week for another
Speaker 1: episode of Off the Beat. One of my favorite female
Speaker 1: comedians both she and I I think not. It's going
Speaker 1: to be a great one, mark my words. I will
Speaker 1: see you next week. Off the Beat is hosted an
Speaker 1: executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Langley.
Speaker 1: Our producers are Diego Tapia, Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris and
Speaker 1: Emily carr Are. Talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary, and
Speaker 1: our intern is Sammy Cats. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak,
Speaker 1: performed by my great friend Creed Bratton,