Best of 2022 - Pt. 1

Off the Beat. Now. I have to tell you all, this blows my mind. Week after week I have gotten to talk to some of the most incredible people from some of my absolute favorite film and TV shows, and you all, you're out there listening, You have made this all possible. I cannot I truly could not be more grateful for each and every one of you for coming on this journey with me. I am having a blast. I hope you continue to have a blast as well.

So my special gift to you, we put together a couple of best of episodes for Off the Beat, featuring just a very small sampling of the hilarious, emotional, and inspirational, if I do say so myself. Interviews that I've put on this year, this is by no means a comprehensive list. There are some truly fan seking tastic guests you're not going to be hearing from. But tis the season for reflection,

for looking back and looking forward. So we're going to do just that, starting with some of my very first guests, and one in particular who I had happened to cross paths with on a boat, well maybe more of a booze cruise while filming The Office. So here he is, my good friend Rob Wriggle, with the story of what

it was like to play the iconic Captain Jack. Of course, I can't not mention Captain Jack uh your role of The Office coming out to film what was, without a doubt, the most difficult film we that we had in ten years. There's no question, There's no question. Working from seven pm to like seven am out on the water, it was. It was Were you aware of the Office when you got that job? Was so I was. I was very aware of the BBC version while I was on snl Uh.

You know, we're on the writers are on seventeen and the studios down on eight and on sixteen. They have a casting directors and stuff. I actually auditioned for Michael Scott. I knew this, and I auditioned for Dwight and Keckner's

role I forget his name, Packer. They made the right choice, obviously, but I was fresh in their minds because I think I did the episode that I did the Booze Cruise before I got the Daily that gap between sn L and when I got the Daily Show, that's when I got the office role, which I was so happy to get and so on, and for me it was super cool because one I love the show is your Guy. As his second season, I think the show's a hit. Everybody knows and everybody's loving it, and I was one

of them. I was like more and more and I get to be part of it, which was great. But I'm still so green as an actor and as a performer. Being on cameras still may be nervous. I'm nervous as hell. And when we got out on the water, remember when we floated out? Okay, Between between setups, normally everybody goes back to the trailer. They go back to crafty kind of everybody separates against their space. There was nowhere to

go on that boat. When they say, okay, we're setting up for it, moving on, it's time for a new shot, they'd go to set up. We all just go sit on the dance floor or sit in those boots and hang out, yeah, those booths, And I remember thinking this

is awesome. I just remember enjoying the hell out of it, and not even dawning on me that we were dust till dawn, um and it was draining, and I think, if I'm not mistaken, Correll was shooting Evan Almighty and he would literally leave, we pull back to the to the dock. He would get out, get into sedan and drive to film all day. And I remember thinking, when's this guy getting his sleep? This is insane. And yet his performance on the boat, and I'm sure his performance

in the movie fantastic, but it was totally fun. One thing about that episode that bumps me out to this day. Okay, for whatever reason, I don't know, maybe it was the Devil, maybe evil demon angel, somebody would not let me get the words Wall and Paul Pack out of my mouth. I couldn't say it. I couldn't say it. We're supposed to be on Lake Waldon Paul Pack. I can say it now as if it's nothing. I can say it

with ease. That night I maybe got it out once or twice correctly, and the rest I just couldn't do it. And I remember they were looking at me and they were baffled. They were absolutely baffled, like what is this guy has a major malfunction? How do you can you not say? Waldon Paul Pack? And I can't explain it. It's just one of those moments where you're like, I'm so sorry. I wanted to die. I wanted to go crawl. I wanted to dive off that boat they died. Well,

first of all, everyone has been there. I have not thought about that in fifteen years, and you and I see each other, I don't know, ten times a year at various things. I have not ever once I thought of that moment until right now. And the second you said it, I was like, oh, that's right. He couldn't say it. I couldn't say it. I couldn't say it right. And I know it was so simple, and they were literally they were looking at me. Go wall in, Paul Pack. I go, well, it's just wall and well, while Papa

pack while play Pop. I mean really there was some synapsis in my brain that would not connected. And you know, you know Brian as an actor. To Drive Home, I said every line perfectly, I said every word perfectly. I mean, I couldn't have been more spot on the drive Home. Oh that's so funny. That is Oh that is amazing. Do you get recognized? Do people yelled Captain Jack at you every now and then? Yes, yes they do. I was probably no joke, probably heavier, so I looked a

little different then. Interesting that episode, by the way, it was was shared with me or reminded by Kevin Riley actually, who was the head of NBC at the time, that he would call about the ratings after every night, and obviously the Office became a big show for him and he kind of staked his reputation on it. And after Booze Cruise, the Office didn't just retain the number from my Name is Earl, which came before, but actually beat it in the ratings. And he said, he said, I

may have cried. It was like that kind of moment for him. Like that episode so significantly the only thing that brought other than not being will say well in Paul pack, which still haunts me. I mean, I still feel so bad about that. I was bummed out because I knew that once my episode was over, you wouldn't see Captain Jack again. And I was like, and they're not going to bring me back as some other character, because I just wanted to be reoccurring on on the Office,

just because it's such an iconic, legendary show. But I won't be greedy. I was very grateful for the opportunity to to be Captain Jack. Well, look, I mean during that time and just setting the Office aside, you were really on had the opportunity to appear on every great show during that time with you know, all due respect to the ones you weren't on, but I mean Arrested Development and thirty Rock and Modern Family and just amazing all of the shows that that that you were on

during that time and obviously recurred on a lot of them. Yeah, I was very happy about that, very blessed. But the Office is definitely special. Well, yes it is for me to yes the great Lake wall Empow Pack or Lake wallym p pack, And that is what we call in the business. A transition to my next guest, who was actually my very first guest on this podcast. She had her own special audition story that was not haunted, but perhaps helped by a certain kind of energy. Here she

is with the story, Alison Hannighan. Everyone. I remember my manager calling me before I read the script and he's like, Okay, we're sending you the script. You're either going to love it or hate it. Nobody like that's just how it's going. People can't stand it or they love it. So I loved it. And he was saying, take a look at you know, whatever role because all the rules were open, and see which one you like. Oh. I think it

was actually between my yeah, exactly, Heather and Michelle. And I was like, no, I love Michelle and just immediately like wanted to do that part. And so I went. I went to the audition. It was casting. It was just me and the casting director, and he told me, um, no, she can't be that quirky, like take out all the you know, all the quirk just take that away and because we want, you know, we want these two to be together or whatever. And I was like, oh, okay,

I mean it's written in question form. Every line has a question mark at the end of the sentence and so I was like, oh, all right, well that's weird because that's definitely not how I pictured it. So I did it again, just super boring, and he was like, Okay, great, I'm going to bring you back for the directors and that's that's great. And I got on the phone to

my manager. I was like, they said that they're gonna bring me back for the directors, but honestly, I don't want to go because if he wants me to do it like that, I just that's that's not going to be funny. And so so they were like, yeah, yeah, okay, well let's just see if you get the call back and talk to us then. And so I did, and the call that they took me, my managers took me to lunch right before maybe to butter me up to

go to the Cabby. I don't know why, but we were at lunch and I had like seven iced teas or something ridiculous, and then I sat in traffic all my way to the callback, and I had to pee, like I've never had to pee before, and I just remember kind of then you have to go through it's on the backload of universal and drying to find the bungle, I was going to wet my pants, and so I was like, well, I don't want to be late. I'll

sign in and then run to the bathroom. So I did that, and I'm like, I went to the bathroom washing my hands, and the assistant comes in to the bathroom and says, okay, we're ready for you, Like, oh, all right, So I never come the bathroom. Yeah, well yeah, I mean yes, well thank god I wasn't in the stall still, so I dry my hands, but I never

had time to settle down. I still had that I'm going to wet my pants energy, and so I just went in and I never even decided if I was going to do it boring or the way I wanted to do it, And because I had that like hyper p energy, I just did it the way I wanted to do it, and I got the job. There you go. I'm sure the casting director appreciates me telling that story, but I think that that shows a boldness from you,

whether it was intentional or not. Right, so like it was just about the P or whatever, But if you read the script this morning, that you would say if it was just about the PA, it was just about the PA, just about Alison to Hannigan's peak. No, but I mean like there are times you read something and you see it clearly and it sounds like you did.

There were multiple role was available for your choosing at least audition, and you saw a character and you saw the role and they said, well, no, they want it like this. Well that's not you know, well that's not what I wanted to do. I really like, I had so much fun just being weird and like talking in question form. It was so much fun. And then like no, no, no, be just lose the quirk and and just like you know, we want them to root for them to be together.

I'm like, what, but that didn't I didn't see it that way, and I'm so not normally like that either. I'm very much like, okay, what do you want? I'm your puppet, you know. So I guess that was just no, this is how I would want to play it. It also helped that I was on Buffy and it wasn't like I have to get this part, you know. It was like, hey, that'd be great. It's a small part in this movie I thought was really funny. But it wasn't like, oh, this is going to change your life.

You know, you didn't know that at the time, so the stakes weren't that high, and I had a job to go back to, so that gave me a confidence that I didn't normally have. And I know, and you know that because people always say act like you don't care about the job, but it's you can't. Well, you have to truly not care. You have to truly not

care exactly well. And I'm so grateful that I had a crappy agent for Buffy because they weren't able to give me the script, so I only had the sides, and had I read the script, I would have completely lost my mind and I wouldn't have There's no way I could have gotten it because I would would have wanted it so desperately. So I'm I'm really glad that when I got the script, I was like, I want the lottery that you did, Allison, that you did. But you're not the only one who had a less than

ideal audition end up changing your life. Here's my next guest, my old friend Eric stone Street, with what could only be described as an aggressive casting experience, the producer in Chicago that had helped me get my SAG card by doing three backgrounds. She's like, when I was moving, she said, Oh, I have a friend that is a casting associate for somebody in l A. And I'll give you her name. That was the only professional name I came to town with.

And she was nice enough to accept my head shot and she's like, yeah, we'll call you in, you know, if something comes up, we'll give you a call. And she called me in. And it took me, you know, maybe four or five times of going in for I can't think of his name, biggest producer in town, TV wise, Big Bang Theory Lori, Chuck Lori, Yeah, Chuck Lori. It took me like four or five times going in and getting called back. And finally I got a little part

on Darman Gregg and that was really the beginning. But I didn't, you know, know anybody. But again, it all comes down to people just being nice and like giving you a shot. Right. I think for me, a big lesson you learn is how important just like the number of jobs you get, regardless of what they are. Right. So there's like commercials and there's this show and that show, and you start to build a career. I know you did a lot of commercials. I hear over a hundred

commercials you did after arriving at Los Angeles. Well, I did a national campaign in Chicago for the n c A where I played this character named Joe Football, where I was painted red and blue. And then that helped me get a commercial agent in l A. And then I was lucky enough one day to meet a guy named Joe Picka, and Joe Picka is a legendary commercial

director in Los Angeles. And I went in and I auditioned for an American Express Tiger Woods commercial where the balls traveling all over the world and I was just a guy on a T box somewhere in the ball lands and I smashed the ball. So I go into this audition and when before I went in, my agent called me and was like, you're auditioning for Joe Pita. Like okay, what what what does that mean? She's like, you don't know who Joe Pitka is. I'm like, no, what do I need to do right now? Do I

need to pull over? What's happening? He's like no, he's very intimidating, he's very scary, you know, he's very loyal. Just be cool, becom, don't poke the bear I'm like, what the hell. So I go in and I auditioned for this Tiger Woods commercial where it's like, I don't even think I have lines. He just was like looking me up and down at my body and maybe you have to go swing the golf like a golf club

or something. And I'm standing there and he's just staring at me, like literally like a lion about to pounce on a pound of meat. He goes, where you from? And I said, I'm from Kansas City. It was Kansas City. I said, yeah, where are you from? He goes Pittsburgh. I said Pittsburgh. He goes, yeah, you got a problem with Pittsburgh And I said, well, no, but it seems like you have a problem with Kansas City. He's kind of have a problem with Kansas City. Why do you

think I have a problem with Kansas City? And I said, well, because I said where I was from, and you were like judgemental about it. Because I wasn't judgmental about He goes, what's your problem? And I go, well, I don't have a problem. And I'm like, oh my god, it's happening. Like she warned me that this could happen. And I'm just I'm engaged. Now I'm in an argument with the

guy who like is maybe hiring me. So he's like, get the funk out of here, and like literally said it like that, and I'm like I leave, and I'm like I call her and I said, well, I guess I screwed that moment up. I guess I didn't heed your warning. She's like, what happened? I said, well, we got into an argument about where I was from. Like she's like, what did you do? What did you do?

He said, I didn't do anything. I just answered his question. Well, long story short, like a day later, she calls me and she's like, you are not going to believe this. And I said what she said, you are not getting that American Express commercial and I said, well, yeah, clearly. She goes, but Joe Pitka had his casting director callback and say he can't wait to work with you on something. And I was like so confused. And then a month later I get a phone call. It says, show up

in the Long Beach Harbor. You're in an IBM commercial with Joe Picca And that was the beginning of our our run. Wow, incredible, unbelievable. How many did you end up doing with him. This is gonna sound so ridiculous what I'm about to say, but it's like a couple of campaigns, but it was like almost sixty and he would just call and listen. I have talked about him when I've been asked, you know, for comments about acting and things like that. I just had dinner with him

a month ago here in Los Angeles. And he doesn't like to hear this because he's this guy. You know, he's Polish from Pittsburgh. He's stubborn, and he's bullheaded, and he's you know, he is he him. But I'm like, Joe, you have to acknowledge my appreciation and my thankfulness to you, because you taught me so much about like working under pressure. You taught me so much about like being prepared you saw me, taught me so much about being patient and

like confident in your abilities and like you. But more than anything, you gave me the ability to go into these theatrical auditions with the confidence that I had somebody outside of this room it's going to hire me for something, and like you don't know what that means to an actor to know that, like I'm not walking in with desperation on my brow. It's like fuck you, Like, no, I'm serious. You need to know that you mean a tremendous amount of my career and that I wouldn't be

where I ended up being without you. And that's all I'm going to say about it. That's amazing. Yeah. Good, he's a good guy. I just figured out a stick man. I mean, he he is tough, but he just appreciated that I in that room, that first moment that I gaged him, and that I wasn't like whimpering, And that was his test. His test was like, well, can you work with me on set when there's ten hours of time we've wasted and we've got to get the shot in one minute? Can you be that person? And that's

what he kind of puts people through. My next guest found herself with an incredible opportunity to take a leading role on what would eventually become a true cult classic, Freaks and Geeks. But if the stars had aligned differently, she would have listened to all of the people telling her to pass. I'm happy to say that she had her own motivations, because otherwise she may not have been so busy these last few decades. Okay, that was bad. That was That was bad. I'm blaming that on the writers.

Here she is busy phillips everyone. I went to pick up I think Colin at the airport and Linda was also there picking up her roommate actually, and she had just gotten the part and she knew that they had they wanted me for Kim Kelly. And she was like, dude, can you believe it. I'm I got freaks and geeks. I'm gonna do it. You gotta be Kim Kelly. And I was like, I know, I was just talking. I just it's so exciting, Like I just my agents were feeling like I don't know. And she's like, no, no, no,

do this show. You gotta do this with me. It'll be so much fun. We'll have so much fun. And I honestly, in that moment, I was like, yeah, of course I'm sucking doing it. Like why would I not do I already know this girl who's rad and like I want to be best friends with anyway, why would I not do this? And so I called my manager, Lorraine, and I was like, I really want to do this, and she's like, I'm gonna call Judge. I'm gonna find

out what the deal is. And then she called me back and she was like, you know, Judd is really insistent that they want to make this character a series regular if the show gets picked up. I think you should just do it. I think it's brilliant. And so because of like Lorraine my manager at the time, and Linda CARDLINI, I was like, I had no idea what I was doing. Who knows what anything is? You know, They're like Judd Apataw from Sick in the Head. I'm like,

I don't know what the funk that is? Like, had you read the script? Yeah, I did not understand it at all. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I totally, Brian totally. I was like, don't get it. I don't get what the tone of this is. I was so confused by it. And then I remember they cut together. We had a pretty long shoot for the pilot. I mean, it's a period piece and it's involved and those were the those were the olden days of how Hollywood where they really spent a ton of money and

like they were shooting on film, you know. And after we wrapped the pilot that evening in the cafeteria of the school, we were shooting at they rolled out like a little a V cart and they had cut together the editors had just put together like a tiny little mishmash of the show for all of us to see what we've been working on, which, honestly, also in retrospect, is so special because so yeah, I mean, if your show doesn't get picked up, the crew literally never sees

the show. I mean, I don't know about you. I've done pilots that I still haven't seen, right right, I mean I've done shows that I've never seen. But that's a different issue. That is a different issue, I would say. But anyway, it was so special. And I remember watching this thing that they put together and they had the come sail away song, you know, like chriscendoing, and I got full chill, and I was like, this is what

we've been doing. Oh my god, this is real. Like my mind I'm gonna start crying, but like my little brain was blown, like this is what I've wanted to do since I was a baby. And there I am, and I don't even look like me and I don't sound like me, and it's real. Yeah, that was that. Wow. Were you aware at that moment that the show was special or doing something new, or did your little brain

not comprehend that at the at the time. I mean, that whole experience is so has had so many different incarnations of what it was and what it is and what it continues to be. So it's funny, you know, like we had such an amazing time while we were doing it, and the freedom that Judd and Paul and Leslie Gladder, like all of our directors, they gave such a gift that we were all way too inexperienced and young to understand at the in the moment, I think,

but we all enjoyed it very much. I mean, I don't remember, aside from like my personality conflict with Franco, Like, I don't remember ever having like a complaint about anything having to do with it. Late nights were super fun. Early mornings were super fun. We would hang out, We would go to Swingers and get food at midnight after we wrapped like together, we would go to Birds on Franklin where Seagull convinced me that the Scientology building had a Tower of terror ride inside of it, and I

believed him for like ten minutes. I really thought it was true, and South was like, come on, it's not true. And I was like, I don't know. It looks like it has one of those es in it, you know, like a drum. I was like, what, we don't know. Um, so it's really fun, you know. And I think and when the show was over and it became clear like that it was going to be over over, I wasn't ready for it to be and I wanted it to continue.

I was really really sad and really disheartened, and and and I did feel in that moment already like but we made something so good. Why is this hat? Why is this fair? I mean, and again that's the best lesson you can learn as an actor. It's like, actually doesn't matter, babe. Paul said it was ahead of its time a little bit. I mean in terms of the cringe comedy. I mean, you know, Judd's now made a

career out of very similar toned things. It launched so many careers and and really pioneered a new way of doing television that is, uh, you know, I think a lot of shows, including The Office, Oh A great debt of gratitude to um. Yeah, I remember feeling that it was ahead of its time, Like I said, like I read it and didn't understand it. You know, I didn't understand tonally what it was supposed to be. It wasn't until I actually saw it that I was like, oh shit,

this is awesome. And I think it's really a testament to how the people in charge treated us with so much respect. And we were kids and maybe at moments didn't deserve it, but they really treated us like experts in our field and real collaborators in making this thing. And it changes everything when you get to work with

people who respect you. Yeah, I've been on both sides of that like line, where I've worked for people who just definitely don't respect me, and I'm there to like service what they want to be done or how they want it said. And I have no joke heard actors like that I was working with being referenced as talking props. Yeah, that's a bummer, you know, that really takes the fun

out of it. But like for me to go from doing really fun, creative theater programs and then getting to be a part of a show, a network television show, were these adults in charge And by the way, that is the funniest thing to me, which is that I thought that Judd and Leslie were literally fifty years old. Leslie is like three years older than We're like essentially

the same age exactly. But she was like they were like married, they had a baby, they were like old people, and and then like cut to five years later, We're like hanging out with each other in Hawaii and I'm like, wait, what's happening? They say, oh my god, Oh my god. Is right? That is hilarious busy speaking of working with people when they're young and then running into them again

as adults. One of my next guests started out with a pretty surprising role on the Office and then he went on to be on a tiny little show called Glee with his friend Jenna. Here they are Kevin McHale and Jenna Uskowitz. Kevin, I actually met you before, Jenna. You were a very significant guest star on the Office and you were seventeen ish years of age. How was that experience for you the delivery boy? I believe it

was your title pizza delivery boy from Alfredo's. What was that experience like for you and how much experience did you have at that time in film and television? It sounds like not a lot, not a lot. It was I think my second guest star thing ever. The other one was Zoe one on one on Nickelodeon. And yeah, it was a really really big thing for me. The audition process was unlike anything I've ever experienced, where the callbacks we were in the room with Steve and he

came in and read with us. You know, Steve Correll. I just say, Steve Um, I was dying. I was so terrified. Really were you? Were you a fan of the show. Oh, yeah I was, And I was a fan of the the UK version, like I was all about it. And Alison Jones, the casting director, is probably the only reason why I've had any sort of career because she, when no one else did, kept giving me

chances on everything. So I got really close and super bad she and then she just you know, as if you get on TV and you become semi recognizable, you get to skip a couple rounds of auditioning and you just get brought into the later rounds. I didn't have any reason to get brought into automatically too later rounds

for things. She just started doing that for me because somehow she believed in me, and it I really took that to heart and made me feel better when I would go into these rooms that she would bring me into. But yeah, I went in an auditioned with Steve and got it and I screamed and was freaking out. And then all of you were just so so awful, no so nice, because I mean I was. I was so

intimidated obviously coming in there. It's like, these are these professional adults and they're all talented and funny, and I felt like, you know, severe case of imposter syndrome, and everyone went out of their way to make me feel comfortable, to make me feel like I deserve to be there, every one of you, and um, it was just really really great. And also what a great gig you guys had, because I mean, Jenna, those sets were pre lit, like, oh my god, the way they could set up something

so quickly. They were on their own, they had their own stage. Oh god, it was the dream so you ruined it for anything else because I feel like you also gotten still. Oh, I get recognized so often from that one episode, and it's it's absolutely I don't know how you go anywhere because I was in one episode and you still do. I can't, by the way, but you still do. Oh. Yeah. Yeah, that's a lot crazy because I went back and looked at those pictures and you do look quite different. I mean you are older,

let's be clear. So am I. I guess that's how time works. I'll explain it to you later. Wow, well that is very very interesting. Yeah I would I don't know that I would have thought that with with everything that's coming after. Still, so you guys just say the least you have a very diverse training and backgrounds. Talk to me about Gale. How did the opportunities come up for both of you? Um? Were these just auditions first off? Yeah? Regular? Okay?

And what did you have to do? Obviously? Did you have to dance as well as sing as well as ack? You did not know And they realized that was probably a mistake later on, how to bring in some people who could dance, like nobody can dance, not one, not even everybody can sing that No. I was in the Spring.

I was in Spring Awakening at the time, and it was the same casting director Jim Carnahan in New York who cast Spring Awakening was also casting the New York side of Glee, and so we had it was all a buzz in the theater and they were like, Oh, there's this new musical theater TV show that's coming out, and everybody got brought in for it because the pilot also was like some of these characters like Argentina were pretty non specific, and so I went in and m

everybody went in and we didn't have to sing for our first audition because they were like, I guess you're on Broadway. I guess you can sing. So I didn't have to sing in my first call. Um, I just went on PA and just read, just read lines like any other show. Yeah. Yeah, And literally Tina's only line was a stutter and she said, uh, and that's it. That was my entire audition, first audition. God, that's all you did. They didn't give you anything else. No, I

haven't stopped. That's it. That was it. Wow. I'm not going to say any bad but that they got to be more creative than that. This is poor people, Okay, Yeah, I mean literally, by a weird stutter on one day, your entire life could be changed. Sliding Doors. Check out the movie So Kevin, what about you? Well, now you're in a boy band. That's right. Does that mean that they knew that you could sing or did you have to sing? They sure did not know. I could say,

so we had to sing, you'd prepare a song. I read the script before. I remember I brought two friends with me. I was like, Oh, this show shoots in New York. I don't know why I thought that. Um, yeah, I don't know why. I had it probably mixed up with something else. And I went in an audition and

it wasn't an audition room. It was in Robert Rick, who casted its like in his office, and I just sat on the other side of the desk from him, and it was one of those places where the walls are really thin, so you can hear what everybody is doing. Is this what you're talking about? Yeah, Oh my god,

those walls are really thin there, and so so awkward. Yeah, it's just awkward on a good day when there's no singing, singing, And that's how I felt, because I one have terrible nerves auditioning, hate auditioning, and then having to sing, Like the first thing to like go when you get nervous is your voice. That vocal cords just freeze up and then you can hear what everybody's doing. It's just so embarrassing. Mortifying. So I went in there. I sang let it be.

I've never heard of it, Let it be. It's a new song. The artists. I intentionally only prepared like a verse and a chorus because the song is so slow, so I was like, I'm not going to bore them to death. Let me just do this. Then I get to the end of the chorus and Robert goes like, keep going, keep crying. I'm like, I'm a fake fan. I don't know the second verson this, and so I

don't know what I did. I think I sort of stumbled through saying singing this verse verse again and then went into the course again because I knew that um and then I did the scenes, and then immediately, which also never happens, He's like, okay, so when you come back and started talking about the next audition, I was like, what's nice? Okay, great? And then I went back two days later to Ryan's office at Paramount, and it was

it went from being at Robert's desk too a boardroom. Basically, it was a full table of fifteen people, right, you know, in this gigantic room. Brad Ellis, who ended up being on the show and playing the piano he was there. We went early to practice our songs with him, and I prepared two songs this time, ended up still doing Let It Be and yeah, it was a full creaz.

I learned the words. I was prepared this time, Yeah, I and again I was So it wasn't that I just I don't think I was good at playing the character. I was just so nervous that that's what already became. Because I did the song, the nerves were already and then I literally ran out of the room and that was it. Like I think Ian Brennan, who was runing the creators of the show, later he told me he was like, yeah, we knew from that immediately we wanted you, but I had to wait seven weeks a test because

they hadn't found anybody else yet. Oh my god. Wow. All right, folks, my next guest comes from one of my absolute all time favorite shows, as you know, The Sopranos, so I of course very excited to have her on. But before we go into her interview, I want you to consider this incredibly difficult dilemma. If you were being offered a roll on The Sopranos, but your grandma was making chicken cutlets that weren't quite ready. Would you go to your audition or would you wait for the food?

I guess that you'll just have to wait and see what she chose. Here's Drea de Matrio on what it was like rolling up for her audition. I wore no makeup, with my hair in a bun and pull back, slip back, because they say, just be a blank canvas for them, and I said sure, and I show up like that, and now they want me to play the saucy you

know what, would be a queen's girl. And I was like, Jesus Christ, I know how to do that, but I'm not prepared because I don't have the hair or the makeup and I can't put on that accent without it. And I didn't get the part. I put an audition from Michael's girlfriend and I couldn't. I didn't get the part, but he liked me, and he made me read for every other side character. I read for the Russian girls,

I read forum Oh god, I can't remember. There were like four roles that I read for in that script and I got none of them. And then they finally called my agent at that time and said, she seems like a snooty Connecticut girl. Would she be okay playing um the hostess in the restaurant who turns down Lorraine Brocko And I was like, you have me learning brock all either. And I couldn't say my lines because I was so nervous. I was with Karen, Karen for fucking

good fells. I couldn't saying my lines at all. I was dying. It was hurt. It was she and Jim, and I didn't know Jim, and nobody knew Jim yet really um, so I didn't care about him, but I definitely cared about her. And I couldn't say any of my lines. And then a year later they would call me back to play Michael's girlfriend again, his date, just a date, Like, why are they calling me back? I messed up? So I don't think they knew that I was the same girl. I also they knew they did.

I don't even know. I don't know if I ever even asked that question. But according to Eileen, one of the producers, I got the part as his girl as a day player role in another day player part on the show because of the way I said the word out. I had one line it was out, and she said, I turned it into a ten syllable word because I had my mom told me to say it that way.

I was at a home's house when they Yeah. I was at my mom's house when they called UM to come in the second time, and I said, hey, mom's I show. It's that Sopranos show that I told you about. But I had given her the pilot to reach so straight. This is gold. She's like, this is the most unbelievable script I've ever read in TV. It read like one of her scripts. Um and I looked at her and I said, yeah, I'll probably never get made. She said,

probably not too good. And that was And then a year later they called me at their house and said, hey, can you come in for an audition? I said, no, I can't. Actually I'm in Queen's And they said, that's funny, were away. Can you be here in a half hour? And I was like, Oh. Go to my mom and I go, how quick are those chicken cutlets? Can be tough? My grand cutlets. My grandmother goes, make a chicken cutlets sandwich.

Just get in the car and go. My mother goes, I'm gonna get your name plate and diamonds out of the safe. You need to wear it because I had this Andrea in diamonds on a rope chain from my confirmation. She goes, you're gonna wear that. You go tease your hair, go put makeup on and talk like Silavanna my neighbor. And I was like, Okay, let's go. And then I went with my parents in the car. They were waiting

for me. In the car, I ran into Silver Cup Studios, which was in Queen's and I think my audition and I came back out and I my chicken cutlets sandwich and then I got I got the part and it

was just for one line. Though, you know, I still have my checks from from those, my five hundred dollar checks from my first day player role, sitting on my remember sitting in my honey Wagon and a lot of people don't know the honeywagon is, but honeywagon is a trailer you see where all the trailers are part that have the tiniest little rooms ever, so you know, like the main actors are not in the honeyway, they're little toilets.

There are rooms with toilets with a pillow on the toilet so you can sit on your toilet while you're waiting to be called up. That's a honey wayon. So I would be sitting on my in my honeywagon, sitting on the toilet every time I got a script because they kept bringing me back, which I thought was super cool.

I remember being a craft services David Chase coming over with me and he goes, you know, people in the editing room really think that you're a couple with Michael And I said really, and he's like, yeah, you guys have really great chemistry. And I looked at him. I was like, must be the eyebrows, because you have a

big eyebrows, you know. Um. By episode twelve, man, I'm sitting on my toilet, sitting on my toilet in the honeywagon, and I was in twelve scenes and I lost my ship and I ran to a pay phone because that's all we had. And I ran into a pay phone with my script and I called my mom collect and I said, mow, you'll well it twelve fucking scenes. God, that was the see that that episode of music industry stuff, and that was it. I was on my way to

becoming series regular. And I always tell people like, I never would have gotten that part if they were auditioning for a series regular because you know they were Mirrort, Robino versus Tommy Debbie Mays are all those girls would have been the perfect actors for those roles, you know what I mean. So I got really fucking lucky that

you did, Drea. And speaking of getting really lucky, my next guest just happened to audition for what would become one of, if not the biggest improv groups in the country, launching him into a beautiful career. Here he is to tell you all about it. Rob Cordry, you get back to New York. Now at this point you're a serious Shakespearean actor, and then you get involved with what was at the time this little improv group you seeb upright Citizens Brigade. How did you How did you discover this group?

And why, as a serious actor did you did you pursue wanting to do stuff with them? That's a good question. Uh, you know, I first of all, I mean, I realized that one thing I wasn't doing well, the one thing I wasn't taught in college it was just seemed to be a crapshoot, was auditioning. And so I learned how to audition by I taught myself by just going out over and over and over again, and I, you know,

got my ten thousand. I was auditioning for everything in backstage, and one of them just happened to be a sketch group. You know, I I'd be a performance artist in Berlin right now if if it worked out a different way. I just happened to be a sketch group. And then then that when I got into the sort of comedy scene and or at least got a view of it, because we were pretty outside this sketch group. The UCB were just starting to gain prominence, they were just starting

to teach classes, they were starting their takeover. I believe they had taught one class of students and I and I thought I was under the impression that it was Andy Richter's sketch group. Okay, so I went and saw an ascat, which is there was their weekly show, and uh, Handy Richter happened to be performing. So I don't know when I stopped believing it was this, but um, you know,

then I got in. I got into a class at the very It's the only thing I've gotten in on the ground floor of you know, when they were that the four original u CB guys are still teaching classes in a five story walk up ballet studio and in Manhattan, and I just stuck away that I I loved it. I was terrified of it, you know, improv. Improv still terrifies me to this day. I was doing it for the that the skill, to to learn this skill, to be comfortable, for confidence, and for like you know, and

also for the community. I made a lot of great friends there and we then branched out and did other things. As you know, yeah, you you you said it terrifies you do you There's no there's no lines, Brian, you gotta you gotta make them up. Yes, and that's terrifying. It's stupid. Shakespeare's got all planned out for you, right, you just follow the map and you're gonna get and you're gonna get there, that's right. Yeah, you know, it's it's interesting. So I have, by the way, zero improv training.

And it sounds like much like you. I stayed on the serious theater tracked longer. But I you know, so I was doing comedy, I was doing dramatic role I was doing different stuff. I never did improv. I never Yeah, I never studied it. I didn't take the classes, and I don't know if that maybe for me is why I don't find it as challenging somehow. Oh, yes, that is exactly why, because you don't you haven't been in a position where you've had to think about it too much.

Right now, I feel like because people are saying like, Okay, we're gonna you know, we're gonna improv I don't have

I don't. I'm like, okay, now that's fine. I also want to set it's a little bit more different, right because it's really just like you're just trying to find thing and and also you sometimes go in with a couple of things, You've got a couple of ideas which you would never do and try to act like you know me, come on by everybody knows you're like, oh, I'm gonna improvise this, and I'm going to improvise that.

But even like going in, you just that's kind of easy, like just because you're just playing the scene that that is written. Actually that's a different version. Yes, Actually that's a really good point because because it's it is for me and I do you know, I'm not going to say I write a book on my character or you know, have a fully developed history or whatever. But I begin

to understand who that character is. And once you know, if you're given a situation which is improv but along with that, given a character who has these certain characteristic it all begins to fill in much. Do you know what the scene is about? You've already memorized the lines the actual scene, so you know what the scene is about. You know what the game is. So basically you're just you're just subbing in things or or adding jokes that

the writers might have missed. Ya. You're just trying to make it a little bit better, you know, And usually no, it's not as good. But sometimes when when you start working with those guys. You also created your own sketch comedy group, the Naked Babies, you spent a couple of years with Third Rail Comedy. I mean, at this point, do you feel like and that's kind of a weird question, but do you feel like your your career your focus

is now fully changed to this? Yes? Yeah, um, I still had there is still this part of me that wanted that. Well, maybe I'll go back to the theater someday, but but I'm doing comedy now. This is I have found what I do best. I have I have once again lucked into this sort of Uh, I found the end of the maze. But you know, nowadays, like I was always, I always still harbored a dream that I would be on Broadway someday. Now that it's maybe even a possibility, I could probably, you know, if I made

myself you know it really worked at it. But I don't, boy, oh boy, I would dread that. It's so hard. Who's got time for Broadway? It's like it's so much work, It's so much work. It's it's you know, And that was what it was for me. I mean, the the eight shows a week, you have off on Monday. Nobody has Monday off? Like what do you you know that the life is is very is very difficult. Oh my god. Two thousand one, you got what you hoped would be

your first big break. This is what I was told a commercial with Karen top What do you remember about that? I don't know. It was definitely my first big on you know, television network commercial, and so by break, I guess it was a break in terms of just cash, Like this thing was going to go out there and I was going to be able to quit my one of my day jobs and and live as an actor,

actually be an actor and make money at it. So I did this and it was a care and yeah I did this a T T commercial in which and then about a month later, nine eleven happened. So it ran for about a week. Nine eleven happened, and they pulled the commercial because in the commercial, Carrot Top hijacks a tour bus in New York. Yeah, so that went away. Wow, that is quite the coincidence, Rob, But glad to see you made it back. Okay, By the way, I am

still trying to find that Carrot Top commercial. My final guest for the day also spent his early days with a mic in hand. Well maybe it was a hair brush or a bottle or a broom head. I don't know. It's all the same thing. Right. Let's just say he made lip sinking cool long before TikTok. Here's Kevin Pollock with the unconventional way that he got his start in comedy. You started doing stand up at age ten? Well sure, um, first for family and then eventually at school. Yeah, it

was just lip syncing a comedy album at ten. That was the act. Okay, was lips what what comedy album? Well, if only he had put in the liner notes of his comedy album that he would go on to be the most prolific serial rapist from show business in history, maybe I wouldn't have chosen that one. But that wasn't in the liner notes. So it was Bill Cosby's first album. Interesting, yeah, yeah, okay, fair enough. What was it that attracted you to it?

Performing in that way? Oh? Um? My mom brought home his first album, and I watched my parents laugh uncontrollably listening to the stories coming from the stereo hi fi, which back then was a seven ft wide piece of furniture. Compare that to the tiny devices we use now. Did you hold in your pocket, right, yeah? Or just shoven your ears? But watching my folks laughing uncontrollably like that, it was the first and it was as off putting or awkward as watching them openly weep. I mean it

really was strange. Not that they never laughed, it just they never laughed at someone talking from the stereo. So when no one was around, I just listened to it a lot more because I wanted to be that person telling the stories making my parents laugh. Right. I think that was the obsession, and then I would race home after school and listen to it and eventually standing in front of the stereo pretending I was the one telling the stories, not knowing that a lip sinking was a thing.

So I wasn't trying the lip sing. Uh, Nor did I think I was inventing lip sinking. I didn't even know the term. I was just playing. I was. There was no interactive games. We had just invented fire. This was a while ago, Brian. So there I was, and my mother came home and quote unquote caught me. And I used that term because it was as if I was as embarrassed as if she caught me doing something else. So then she laughed, pointed at me, and said, you're

doing that for the zookers at Passover. So my first live show was on the white painted out fireplace shelving in front of the fireplace, stood on that and performed for twenty relatives that pass over and crushed Brian. I just killed well. And I went on to do it at school and other functions. But you know, it was a ten year old, precocious Jewish kid lip syncing this

hilarious comedy bed. I didn't write the material. I didn't even perform it, really I but you know, I cleared my throat at the same moment he does on the album, and those little things from a ten year old forget it. So I just killed. I killed constantly, and I did that act, I'm gonna say, for another five years. At every function at school, be it a folk festival, of father daughter, dinner, dance, you know, whatever the events were,

there's Kevin and the no and the arc routine. I mean, I was mesmerized by all the many albums of the day, and when friends would gather, I would be quoting the album. And then I realized, I guess I need my own material, and uh, but I was. I was a natural and doing impersonations. And then that became the cornerstone of what I would call an act at seven Sea is when I performed professionally in a nightclub. Did you did you inherently feel the comedy in the rhythms or in the

you felt it? Yeah? And you and then no, any our car tune in particular is just Noah talking to God because Noah's confused about how to build the art, and it's as g rated as comedy gets. And then once I I think dialed into the story. I I organically or involuntarily picked up the comedy rhythms. So I learned timing timing from this Jedi master through osmosis, and then I think the impersonations was just a natural thing.

But also it taught me how to act. I learned acting nuances from the nuances that I went on to create while doing an impersonation. We talked to me a little bit about that meaning different people's timing depending on who you were imitating. You started to assimilate all of that. Yeah, I mean I I learned from from watching actors and then impersonating them, so I would implement what I thought

were gestures and nuance and line readings because I was speaking. Finally, then I learned to act on the set of movies. I I never attended an acting class. I'm not proud of that. Never studied at university. In fact, I graduated from San Jose State University in nine months. My friends called a dropping out, but I was done. I was done, and you you finished finished, But there was no ceremony. I didn't need a little hat with a tassel. I was done, all right, folks. With that we're done too.

I hope you've enjoyed today's look back at some of the phenomenal guests we've gotten to hear from this last year, and more importantly, I hope you all have an absolutely perfect and magical holiday. I'm gonna be back next week with the second of my best of episodes, but until then, I'll be enjoying some nag maybe sitting around the Christmas tree I'm gonna tune and roasting chestnuts. I don't know, but I hope you get to spend some time with

your loved ones this holiday season. Happy Holidays to you and yours. Off the Beat is hosted an executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Lang Lee. Our senior producer is Diego Tapia. Our producers are Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris, and Emily Carr. Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary, and our intern is Sammy Cats. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak, performed by the one and only Creed Bretton