190 - Doug 'The Curse' Montoya Interview

Our series of interviews with the cast of 'The Curse' continues as we welcome Doug Montoya.

Doug portrays Jeff Robinson, the leader of an improv comedy group, who crosses paths with Nathan Fielder's character, Asher, dispatched to the group to refine his comic delivery for the Fliplanthropy TV series.

Join us as Doug shares his experiences in improv comedy and theatre in Albuquerque, his involvement in 'The Curse,' his experience on the recent a24 film 'Love Lies Bleeding,' the unfortunate news regarding WB's cancellation of 'Coyote vs. Acme,' a project he was part of, and much more!

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Welcome to the Nerd Party. Hello, and welcome to the A twenty four
project. Here in the Nerd PartyNetwork, my name is Lee Hutchinson and
Dallas King and I make our waythrough the A twenty four filmography and along
the way bring you interviews with thetalent involved in front of and behind the

(00:23):
camera. Before we turn our attentionto reviewing Civil War next week, our
series of interviews with the cast ofThe Curse continues as we welcome Doug Montoya.
Doug portrays Jeff Robinson, the leaderof an improv comedy group who crosses
paths with Nathan Fielder's character Asher,who's been dispatched to the group to refine
his comic delivery for the Flip LanthropyTV series Jonas As Doug shares his experience

(00:49):
in improv comedy and theater in Albuquerque, his involvement in The Curse, his
experiences on the recent A twenty fourfilm Love Lies Bleeding, the unfortunate news
regarding Warner Brother there's cancelation of Coyoteversus Acme, a project he was part
of a much more. Thanks somuch to Doug for joining me, and
I hope you too will enjoy thisinterview, can you kind of tell us

(01:18):
a bit about your journey into theworld of improv and theater. Let's see,
I've always had an infinity for theaterand movies and those type of things,
and I moved out to LA whenI was younger to seek out an
acting career, and throughout that processI fell upon improv. And this was

(01:44):
back like in i'd say nineteen eightyeight eighty nine. Fell into a group
of fellow actors who started doing improvand I just had so much fun doing
it. We became a house teamover at the Ice House Comedy Club in

(02:05):
Pasadena, and that's where I wasmostly based out there, did improv for
many, many years, and thenjust decided to take a break from just
the whole entertainment thing and raise thefamily, have a beautiful kid, and
moved out to Albuquerque, and slowlyI just started getting interested back in improv.

(02:30):
An improv theater opened and did someimprov there, and then it closed
just a few years after it wasopened. So I decided that I would
open up a venue so that wecould continue to do improv in Albuquerque.
Like, what is Albuquerque like towork in for comedy theater. Well,

(02:52):
the industry has really blown up overthe past I would say ten years.
Lots of filmmakers have latched onto thetax credits that Albuquere that New Mexico has,
and it's pretty they're pretty generous.Our governor at that time was very
forward thinking and began offering these taxcredits. Lots of movie company movies started

(03:17):
filming here, and to the extentthat Netflix has now has a studio here
in Albuquerque with probably four or fivesound stages, and they're just growing.
NBC Universal has moved here and they'vealso started building sound stages and so and

(03:38):
Albuquerque has become at least one ofthe top three places in America to make
movies in the country to make moviesyou see going into kind of similar veinted
place like Georgia, Like it wasa place no one really thought of that
was shooting there until kind of abya couple of decades, a decade or
so ago, and then now yousee Marvel, Disney, all those kind

(03:59):
of people seem to be making moviesout there. I think everyone's got very
familiar with that highway in Georgia rightnow. Yeah, yeah, And I
would I would say a lot ofthe credit has to go to Vince Gilligan
and the Breaking Bad series and thenthe Better Call Saul series. It really
put Albuquerque on the map. Theydeveloped such a great crew and really,

(04:26):
I mean, you know, everybody'slike a crack and meth and you know,
but really he never really portrayed Albuquerqueas an awful place, and he
really romanticized that, I think.And we have lots of Breaking Bad tours
here, lots of tours coming injust to go see the different locations in

(04:46):
the series, and Better Call Saultoo, So yeah, it's really blown
up. It's it's fantastic. Youyou mentioned it, like you co founded
like the Box performance space and it'sbecome a real hub for comedy improvent in
Albuquerque. You know, what inspiredyou to kind of create such a venue
and how have you found it beingable to like keep it going because you
know, obviously the past years there'sbeen things like COVID and the impact on

(05:10):
that. You know, how hardis that to keep something alive and flourishing.
It was difficult. During the COVIDyears, I had started directing a
couple of children's place because I wantedto have something to do with my son,
and so I was directed a coupleof plays, and at that point
I kind of felt like we neededa venue because theater venues were very expensive

(05:34):
to rent. So we we openedup our own venue and then we had
time in the evening. And sohaving an improv background and having lots of
friends that were doing improv, Iinvited them to, you know, take
the stage in the evening after wedid our children's performances. Now the stage

(05:55):
would maybe be you know, afairy forest or you know, colorful balloons
and those type of things, becausewe were doing a kids show, so
we were performing on these other littlestages. Fast forward, the children's theater
has grown so large that we justcan't do the shows. We couldn't do

(06:17):
the shows at the box anymore.But the improv had grown as well.
So we thought maybe we should justdisconnect the two and we'll just do improv,
focus on our training center, andwe'll just move our children's theater out
into larger venues. And so that'swhere we are now. There isn't there

(06:41):
isn't a lot of improv theaters exceptfor us. A couple of places we'll
try to open and we'll stay openfor maybe a year or so, but
we really are the premiere improv theaterin Albuquerque. I would probably even say
that the state of New Mexico.So you've had like quite a lot of
performers like Bob oden Kirk, KenMcDonald and so on. What's it like

(07:04):
to bring people like that through thedoors as well? It is strange because
you're thinking, like, what howdid I get to this place where this
incredible, these incredible comedians improvisers areperforming on the stage that we had built.

(07:24):
And when I say we, Imean I'm talking about my partner,
Christen Berg, who I couldn't havedone any of this without all of her
help and support. But we willlook at each other and we're like,
I don't get it. I'm confused, what is our life? We're just
we just talked to Bob oden Kirk. What But Bob is just an incredibly

(07:46):
generous, funny, intelligent comedian.So I So the story is that he
heard about the improv theater while shootingBetter Gosoul and so he's snuck in.
He came in, he just watchedthe show and left, and then like
later that week he contacted us andasked if we would allow him to come

(08:11):
and do improv with us, andso I think that was a testament to
our improvisers that he felt that theywere good enough for him to perform with.
And since then, he's done somany things for our children's theater.
He's had a number of fundraising eventswith ray Sehorn and Patrick Fabian, Jonathan

(08:33):
Banks, and it's been just incrediblethat he would donate his time, his
efforts to our to our children's theater. And one of the things that he's
that he said before, is likeit's some really good improv. It's probably
some of the finest improv in thecountry. And he and he knows improv.

(08:54):
He's from Chicago to Los Angeles.He knows, he knows what he's
talking about. So it's really quitean honor. You've touched on it,
like it's the kind of the cardboardkind of play house theater. Would that
be sort of your your kind ofchildren's sort of theater. Yeah, yes,
you've obviously kind of got you know, you wear a lot of hats
there as well, Like in additionto being the core artistic director, producer,

(09:16):
set designer, and so many more. Kind of what's been that experience,
like to be a bit of ajack of all trades for something like
that. Well, it's maddening sometimesI'm just always dropping balls and trying to
pick things up and you know,get things moving. And it's a lot
of hours, lots and lots ofhours, lots of frustration. But it's

(09:41):
worth it. Just the what Iget back from watching these children grow and
their confidence to grow and just theirtalent is just amazing. It's it's it's
it's quite rewarding to watch this happen. Fantastic And say yourself, You've appeared

(10:01):
in a range of film and TVover the years as well. For what
would you kind of recommend people seekif their first introduction to you was The
Curse As far as like my bodyof work, Yeah, well I've done
quite a few, like day Playersjobs, I've been on Roswell, I've

(10:22):
been a singing zombie and Daybreakers Let'ssee better call Saul. So those are
some of the things that you mightsee me and I've done. I've had
a few larger roles kind of aThere's a Hallmark type of movie called My

(10:43):
Best Friend's Waiting Planner that I hada really great part. But it landed
right in the middle of COVID,so it was such a large it was
like one of the biggest parts thatI that I've actually had landed. And
it was like a week long shootseveral scenes. And the director, you

(11:07):
know, because you gotta like rollwith the punches and try to figure things
out, he said, Okay,well maybe I'm gonna take a couple of
these scenes and I'll just have yoube on the telephone so we won't have
to put two people together in thiswhole COVID situation. So then I was
like, okay, cool. Sothey reduced it from a week to three
days. Then it went from threedays to two days, and then it

(11:28):
went to just one day, andall of my scenes were on telephone with
the other actors and we only hadone scene that we shot where we were
all together for one scene, butit was outside and those type of things.
So kudos to him for figuring outhow to roll with the punches.
But for me, I was like, well, okay, I just got

(11:48):
one day the usually it was supposedto be a whole week, but that
was that was good. What elsebesides that, I also wrote and directed
a film called Third Act, whichI'm really proud of It's still we're still
trying to figure out where it's goingto land. It's been through a few

(12:09):
film festivals and I was honored toreceive Best Screenplay at the Las Crusis International
Film Festival, and they want acouple of Best Pictures at some other theater
festivals. And it's a fun movieand at some point it's going to be
out there for people to watch.I'm which is not sure where nice I'll
look forward to that. So whendid you become first aware of the opportunity

(12:33):
to be part of the Curse,Because the role of Jeff Robinson, after
our brief conversation, already this isa character that's professional business, improv comic
seems incredibly tailor made to you.Did you become aware of the Curse or
did they become aware of you first? The first inkling that I had of

(12:56):
the Curse was and I auditioned forleave the Fernando role. I auditioned for
a few of those other roles beforeJeff Robertson. I auditioned for Fernando.
I think vic he was the onethat bought one of the first houses.
I think, so I auditioned forat least three other roles. And it

(13:22):
took some time because I think thatbecause I would would television the audition,
the film the audition, they'll filmand so I was like, well,
I guess I didn't get those.And then I got this. My agent
called and she goes, oh mygod, this is perfect, this is
this is it. So I gotan eight page set of sides that they

(13:48):
needed me to to do a selftape for and it was a lot.
It was, it was so much, and I was like, I got
it. I'm gonna, you know, memorize all these lines, eight pages
of dialogue. I could have justread it if I wanted to, but
I was like, no, I'mgoing to memorize this and try to do
the best that I can. Andmy agent, she's just such a she

(14:15):
is just such a great agent.Anybody represented by her is so fortunate.
She takes a real hands on approach. It's like she is just on the
border of managing and agents and beingan agent at the same time. And

(14:37):
she uh insisted that in my slate, because in our slate, a slate
is what you include is in additionto your audition. So your slate is
going to just be your name,your height, and during COVID, they're
like, where are you right nowat this moment? Are you in Albuquerque?
Right? And this was done locally. This is a local casting agent,

(14:58):
and so they were looking for peoplelocal because I think find a production
end, it's more cost effective becausethey don't have to fly anybody out,
they don't to put anybody up inrooms, they don't have to do for
deem and stuff like that. ButI also, I'm not really sure about
this, but they may also getadditional tax credits. Sometimes I don't think
that's exactly true, but that couldbe the case. Anyway, I got

(15:24):
the audition and she was insisting thatin my slate that She's like, you're
going to say this. My nameis Doug Montoya. I'm standing here in
my improv theater doing this audition rightnow. So I said, okay,
So I sent that along with myaudition. I was really I did have

(15:48):
a feeling. Not to sound tooboltiful, I said, I have a
feeling I might get a callback.I had just an inkling that I might
get a callback, And when Idid, I was just so prepared.
I was really prepared. And Ialso had heard I'm not sure exactly where
I heard it, but there waslike this because you know, it's a
small city, and everybody was talkingabout audition with the Curse, and they

(16:10):
were like wanted to be on theCurse, and they were talking about how
they it's really a very realistic kindof casting. They're looking for, like
real people, is what the getWhat was going around. So I also
understood that. So I got mycall back and the casting director, who

(16:32):
I besides my agent, I haveto I really have to credit this casting
director with me landing this role.Was that Jennifer Vendette was She was not
her Angelique mid Thunder. She wason the callback with me and she was
the local casting director here an Albuquerque. And I can still remember her coming

(16:56):
on the zoom for the callback andshe was and I've auditioned for so many
times, and I was just youknow, it's very busy to kind of
get things going, saying hey,Doug, how's it going great, thank
you, let's do great, greatjob, good luck and those kind of
things. But I just remember herlike looking at me in the camera saying,

(17:18):
Doug, they don't want actors.I was like, I got because
don't listen to me. They wantreal people. Okay, got it?
No acting. I was like,oh god, okay, got it.
And I had prepared myself to notdo any type of acting. I've been

(17:40):
on a few I've had a numberof commercials for like corporations and those type
of things, and they don't wantactors, they want real people. And
one of the questions was always asked, like what is your hobby and what
do you do in your free timeand these type of things, and it
ever really as an actor, likewell, I like movies, I like
being in plays, I like doingtheater, I like going that is,

(18:00):
like the conversations, like well,I just ruined that audition, like not
being a real person. So Ihad prepared myself for this, and I
was like to the point that Ihad decided that I would find like a
a fake hobby. So I wenton YouTube and I learned how to do
like fel teine and how to makethe like little felt animals, and I

(18:22):
would keep them by my computer,like, oh I do these little things.
I make these little things in myspare time. I love doing this.
It's very you know, zen andthose type of things. So I
was ready for that type of thing. So Nathan and Benny were on the
car on on on the on thezoom call there, and they said,

(18:48):
great, let's let's just get rightinto it. And I had decided that
I would just you know, tryto tone it reel down, tone it
down a lot, and did thefirst audition the first scene and it was
great. It was good, andfor them, I think that they were
still like, Okay, well that'sa little much. I could tell they're

(19:08):
like, oh, that was great, that was really good. Could you
just do it one more time andreally just throw it away? And I
had prepared mentally to do that.I was like, I'm going to really
throw it away, and I did. There was really a big difference between
my first audition and the second one, and so I think that really played

(19:34):
into my favor. I was like, I'm just gonna just be a teacher.
And they said that was great,good job, that was funny.
And so after that they were kindof talking to so do you so you're
in your theater right now, becauseI was in the theater that's usually where
I do my self tapes, andthey said, so have you ever had

(19:56):
awkward because the scene's so awkward it'sso awkward. It's really hard not to
like try to punch it in thoseawkward lines and just brilliant. It was
so funny, and and it wasyou know, it was really hard not
to like try to like be sillywith this with this dialogue. But they
were like, have you ever beenin an awkward situation like this where you

(20:18):
were cheat, you know, youwere doing classes, things got a little
weird. I was like, well, yeah, as a matter of fact,
I was doing an improv class fora bunch of fifth graders at a
school and I don't think they're goingto invite me back. And they said,
oh, what are you talking aboutthis? So I told him the
interaction that I had. I wastrying to talk to them about comedy and

(20:42):
how there's some mathematics to comedy.You know, there's comedy comes in threes
and those type of things, andI was trying to explain that comedy is
really tragic us time, and sothe teachers are taking in the conversation.
I'm the kids so so so basically, if something bad happens now, it

(21:03):
won't be funny right now, butwith some time, it might become funny.
So comedy plus tragedy equals time,and sometimes there's like you know,
you'll hear people say, oh,that's too soon, too soon, that
type of that type of thing happenssometimes. So that's not enough time that
happened in order for to be happening. Said so so that I gave an

(21:23):
example, I said, so letme give you an example. So knock
knock, and all the kids said, who's there? And I said,
nine to eleven. I can alreadysee the teacher like, oh no,
what is said? They're nine toeleven? Who? And I said,
oh, I thought you guys saidyou'd never forget that. Really they Ben,

(21:45):
Benny and Nathan laughed so hard thatthey both went out of the screen
laughing at that because it was awkward. I was like, you know,
it was, yeah, maybe they'renot going to complish any worry about classes
for that class. But that's anotherone. I think that maybe helped me

(22:06):
secure this role because definitely I'd alreadybeen in an awkward situation like this before.
So it's brilliant. SILVISI mentioned NathanFielder Matty Saftie. How kind of
familiar are you with their kind ofwork prior, especially Nathan who's comedy genius,
and yeah, I was not.I was not familiar with Nathan as

(22:30):
as like, I didn't put twoand two together because i'd already I'd already
watched Nathan for You and love itwas so funny, but I didn't put
that together. And then after Ithink it's my callback that I was like,
wait a minute, all that's ohman, I love that guy.
He's hilarious. And then the rehearsalwas like right around that time, I

(22:56):
was like, well, maybe Ishould watch a rehearsal to kindy an idea.
I think I already probably I thinki'd already booked the row at that
point, and I was just like, oh man, I am a part
of something that's going to be reallygreat. I'm so excited because rehearsal was
just so weird, right was it? Did you see the rehearsal ring?

(23:17):
I saw it. Yeah, Ireally enjoyed it. Like you could tell
almost at the beginning, it waslike there's this kind of pre COVID version
where it was like it was goingto be maybe kind of like episodic,
maybe similar to Nathan for You.Different sketches. Then they were like kind
of similar to your experience of like, oh, something horrible's happened in the
world, what do we do withinthe confines of one space and go with

(23:40):
that, Like you can see thetwo different versions of the rehearsal quite clearly,
I think, which is always quitefascinating me. Absolutely yeah, And
so I was just so excited tobe a part of this point. I
will say that when I got mysides over my booking, when I get

(24:02):
my call sheet, I was supposedto be an episode seven, in episode
ten, the final episode ten,and I was really super excited about that.
I was like, what, thisis a confrontation's happening in the very
last episode. I am definitely feelinggood that there might be a season two
and I might be asked back.I'm so excited about that. That's not

(24:26):
what happened. So so when whenit shifted, like on my IDB,
I noticed that it was like,wait a minute, now I'm not in.
But it never said that I wasn'tin episode ten. It still said
I was in episode ten. ButI think it was all part of the
bait and switch of people thinking thatwell, maybe you're gonna be the last

(24:48):
episode. But no, that didnot happen. Obviously, so I can
imagine it. Jeff's flowing in spaceand just like, oh hi, Asher,
let's come on, let's work onthat, Joe. We've got no
one around that's gonna be offended now, right, Yeah, So I just
thought it was brilliant though, justjust so bright. I couldn't figure out,
like, I don't see how Ifit in at this point. You've
already seen my scene. But againwe didn't even got to that last episode

(25:14):
when I was kind of trying tofigure things out, So, like,
how close to reality are these typeof rind circles because it does feel quite
believable and so on, just evenin terms of like the kind of the
jokes and the comedy, the peopleturning up, Like I can imagine obviously
you've hosted these many types of eventsover the years, so you've maybe encountered
you know, similar asheres there aswell, and like kind of who typically

(25:37):
attends these things and what are theylike? Yeah, So typically people will
take improv classes for many different reasons. One of them will be because they
want to be a comedian and theywant to be on stage. The other
one's going to be like, well, I need to like figure out how
I can, you know, workon my confidence and be more comfortable in
my skin kind of thing. Anothere is just it's just a social thing.

(26:00):
They want to be a part ofa social community like bowling or softball
or something like that. It's like, this is just kind of like my
community that I'm in. Some peopleare taking it because they have to,
because their company has said, hey, look you need to figure out how
you're gonna be able to improvise withclients and these type of things. So
you've got your lawyers, your doctors, your your car salesmen, these type

(26:22):
of things that take that are takingimprov to help them move up in their
in their career type of things.You get so many different people, and
then you do get some people thatthink that they're funny and don't recognize that
That is the thing that kills improvmore than anything is thinking that you're funny
or trying to be funny is justjust the worst. So and I would

(26:48):
say that I did have a bitof insight to what was happening with the
casting because a lot of the improvisersthat come in and out of the theater,
we're getting auditions for that for thosepeople all of them, and it
turned out that not one improviser got. Even my partner Kristen she got she

(27:11):
got an audition for it, andnobody was Nobody was cast because they didn't
want to the actors, but theywere tried it out to see what would
happen. It turned out that itlooks like they just really cast a bunch
of background actors who had never doneanything like that before. I think there
was one person that was like asag actor in the group, but everybody

(27:34):
else they were just background actors.And so I think that led and that
led to the realism of the sceneas well, because I was really in
a situation where I was teaching.They were learning something as we were going
through the scene with what I wastalking about, so it made everything really

(27:56):
easy flow. So well, yeah, so yeah, I've been in these
situations quite a bit. Yeah,we've We've learned from like our other Curse
guests, that they'd perhaps only hadlike their sides and perhaps wouldn't really know
the full picture of like the showand what was going on. And your
scenes in the Legion Hale are feellike in a literal kind of bubble to

(28:17):
extent where like they're their own littleindependent scenes, and like, you know,
were you aware of maybe what waskind of the larger picture or what
was going on with the show.Was it very much just like, Hey,
this could just be a little shortabout a guy that just goes to
comedy I prove and it goes terriblywrong. Mm hmm. I would say
that I was fortunate or maybe notfortunate, and then most because I'd already

(28:42):
auditioned for a few roles in forthe show, and I had helped other
people audition for other roles as well. My son auditioned for a few of
the roles. The kid that stolethe was did he steal the car?
Oh? Yeah, I remember.It was a really weird bit with the

(29:03):
car where it was in like thedesert or something. Yeah, with Benny
Safty and Benny SAFTI went and toldhim off in front of his mom.
So my son had auditioned for thatas well. So I had an idea
because I'd seen quite a few scenesoutside of the scene that I had,
so I did have more information thanmost people did. But if I had
it, yes, I would havejust had my sides and I would have

(29:26):
just jumped right into it. Butthey were really good at like keeping you
know, just giving you the informationthat you needed for the day. So
I just showed up, showed upon staff for the first scene in episode
four, and it was just justjoyful chaos and stress. It was just

(29:52):
awesome because they walked in. Iwalked in and like, hey, Doug,
We're glad to have you here.Nathan's like, this is great.
Can you do your favorite Can youjust maybe write some uh some improv lessons
or substand up lessons, improv lessons, some rules and those type of things
up on the dry board as we'redry eraseport as we're getting things going.
I was like, okay, justyou don't have any no, just whatever

(30:18):
whatever you want to put up there, just put it on up there.
And so wrote everything up, juststarted. I was like, well,
okay, I'm just going to juststart writing some rules. You know,
try not to be funny, uh, don't negate those kind of things that
we that we try to we tryto teach. I can't believe and remember
what some of them are. ButI did see some comments in a Reddit

(30:41):
feed that said that Asher had violatedall the rules that were on the board.
Oh, I have to go backand watch that. Yeah, I
was like, oh, that's funny. I didn't I didn't realize that,
like like it was planned like thoseplan What was funny is like, so
we're getting ready to start and Asher'slike not sure, I'm sorry, Nathan.
Nathan is like, oh, theseare great. You know what would

(31:03):
be better is if instead of thisword it was like business or something,
what if we just change it toa different word. So we erased it,
but it wasn't really a dry eraseboard. The stet decorator had taken
I don't know what it was,was it a dry race and made it
look like it was a dry eraseboard that had been used many times over,

(31:26):
so it's paint. There wasn't dryerase. So when we erased it
and erased the paint, so wewere like, oh no, So that
the set decorator had left and itwas like, oh now now it's so
obvious that this is not a dryerase board. So I kind of stepped
on and said, well, maybeif I just filled in the word and

(31:49):
made it look like the writing istaking up all this space here. So
so that was funny. That wasThat was a funny situation that happened there,
but again it was just like justwe're just going and it was it
was so nice and I knew thatI was coming back for another day,
so that was great. And didthat extend into the sort of scenes themselves,

(32:14):
like you know, like to makeit truly like feeling like like an
improvisation, Like I wonder almost isit like that curb your enthusiasm style approach
of like, right, we've gotthis guy with a micro penis, we
need you to get from a tokind of be of like that it's going
to be a really uncomfortable joke abouta micro penis that we're going to try
and work on here. Or isit one of those ones where it's just

(32:36):
like complete improvisation from from everyone.I would say that everything that you see
in the episodes is pretty much verbatimof the script. But there was a
lot of improv. There was Therewas quite a bit of improv that occurred,

(32:59):
but none of it. I don'tthink any of it translated into the
episode except for one scene that waslike the last scene after Asher had gotten
so pissed off at me for justbeing just the worst, just the worst,
and that scene we that I thinkthat was the only improvised scene that

(33:22):
made it into this series. Bennywas just just it was so much fun
because we did it straight from thescene. He was like, you know
what I told you, I didn'twant to do that, and I was
like, well, you know,maybe we can get you in a different
class next that kind of thing.So we did it for Beta. Then
Benny was coming and he's like,oh, you know, be funny,

(33:44):
tell him this instead. He wastalking to Nathan, tell him this instead.
And it just slowly got to thatscene that's in the series where he's
like, if you were funny,you'd have your own YouTube YouTube channel.
I don't think I heard him saythat on the day. I heard it
on the episode. I thought thatwas very funny, but I didn't hear

(34:06):
him at the moment because I was, you know, we were, you
know, improvising, and I justremember him being just way over the top
and I was like, dude,you just need to chill out. It
was one of the few moments theAsher really rages like so early on,
like you feel it's just fubbled offand it's just this poor guy that really
gets the brunt of it. Yeah, and that that that was probably one
of the last scenes. That's whenBenny was like, dude, really just

(34:29):
let him have it, just lethim just tell him all so bad because
the first one he was being verylike, you know, I didn't really
appreciate that that wasn't very cool,and he just left, Okay, fine,
I'll try it, those type ofthings. But then the very last
one he was just so over thetop and I was like, oh man,
dude, you gotta be so meanabout this, and you know that

(34:50):
kind of thing. But so thatwas that was improvised. But everything else,
and especially just that that longer scenewith the micro penis, that was
pretty much. That might have evenbeen the first take, I think.
I'm not I'm not sure, butit might have been probably one of the
very first takes. One of thethings also that I will tell friends and

(35:14):
I is that when we were shootingat that really long scene we're trying to
get and talk about his penis,we were just going it felt great.
And it was like an hour,maybe two hours into the filming that I
looked around and I recognized that therewere no cameras in the in the in

(35:35):
the space. Usually you know thatthe first time there was like cameras,
and they were like people. Therewere a couple of different cameras, and
I think they had like three camerasset up in different areas, and you
can see the video what they callvideo village where it was off to the
side of people were looking at thecameras and those types of things. But
after like a couple of hours,I kind of like settled in and I

(35:57):
looked around and I was like,wait, there are no care in this
room. How how are they gettingthis? And then I looked out through
the window and I could see,like through a little sliver that all the
cameras were on the outside of thebuilding, looking in through little cracks of
the windows. So I didn't Ididn't get it. And then once you
started watching watching the series' like,oh, this is that weird thing which

(36:22):
seems like somebody's being voyeuristic and lookingin on what's happening. We've heard that
from a few people, like they'rejust going around their scenes, and then
it's like where's the where's the camera? And it kind of just forces you
to act quite quite natural. AndI can imagine that lens so incredibly well
to these kind of you know,circles and discussions and stuff that you can
feel like it's a safe space tokind of talk about these things. Yeah,

(36:44):
it was, it was. Itwas brilliant. I thought I thought
it was brilliant. Yeah, asas Doug, did you feel a bit
sorry for Ashure, because like,I don't think his attempts were actually that
too bad, and especially as kindof like Penis joke and so not that
bad either, but seemed to reallybomb in the room. If like you
had Asher in your rooms, wouldyou find him kind of funny or just

(37:06):
a bit like I I think Iwould find him funny, I do,
as as Doug as an improvised asan improvising teacher or improv teacher, Oh
yeah I would, And god,I would be so offended by Jeff Robinson.
I would just I would just like, I don't understand how he got

(37:27):
off. He really kind of gotmaybe they gave him some crap, like
dude, can we move on?But it made it made Asher look like
he was the one that was theproblem, and you still didn't even feel
sorry for him even afterwards, andthat's was kind of sad. But no,
I would have definitely, yeah,I would have been I would have

(37:50):
been okay with Asher in my class, absolutely, and Jeff as well.
He seems kind of like it doesn'tmean badly. I get a pressioned I
feel like he's trying to help someon and like encourage someone. But you
know, sometimes other people have theirsensitivities. But I felt like Jeff was
coming from a good place, solike, you know, we've caught something
here, let's kind of work withit. Like he didn't take no for
an answer, but there was somea good teacher to the next day.

(38:13):
Yeah, no, no, Jef, he definitely just made some bad choices.
He's bad choice and couldn't figure outhow to get out of it.
But no, I don't think itcame from a place of being like mean
or or anything like that. Ithink he just was trying to like work
a joke. Here's like okay,now it's gonna Land, trust me,
trust me. And I feel likeone of the things with the problem was
like if you're trying to get peopleto like trust you with a joke and

(38:37):
maybe you like just move on,but I think it's almost impossible at that
point, Like no, Land watched, Let's try it this way. Don't
trust me. It don't work thisway. Trust You're like, no,
I don't know if I trust youanymore. It's not gonna be I feel
like there's a missing scene out therewhere he was like I told you about
my penis and confidence like you said, when did that come up? In
conversation? Like the two of yousare having a cup of coffee, like,

(38:58):
oh, how was your day?Oh I've got the small penis.
It makes it so hard to fregnatemy wife. Like I just I just
sit there watching those scenes, likewhen did that come up? Or how
could that fossibly come up? Right? As an actor, I thought,
oh, well that must That meansI'm gonna have another scene. I must.
I mean, there must be ascene where we're sitting around talking about
a small penis. But I thinkbecause it's Nathan Filder and he really knows

(39:22):
how to just get to the meatof the joke, it's like, we
don't need that, We're just gonnajust talk about it. So as we
were talking to a few friends,uh about the cast, about the about
the curse, not the cast thecurse, I was like, man,
how did they make that tiny littlepenis? Because it was just it was

(39:44):
looked so real. And then afriend of mine said, no, that
was a real penis. I waslike, I was like, no,
it was micro penis. Goes.Do you remember when there was a casting
call or looking for someone with atiny penis and they're gonna pay him eight
hundred dollars And I just remember like, oh, that's right. I remember

(40:06):
putting hypeas like, well, Ihave a really small penis and I wouldn't
mind having eight hundred dollars type ofthing. Is like, that's right.
It was right around the same time, so they look they were looking for
somebody that had a micro penis throughoutthe casting boards and those type of things
on Facebook. Do you think itwas something that was like the actual penis
on the day or do you thinkthey just like a sculpt of one or

(40:29):
something. I don't know what tothink now, because now I was like,
oh, yes, I do remember, because like it was like a
background acting board where they were lookingfor because every once in the you'll see
like we're looking for a stand andwe're looking for extras for this kind of
thing. And I do remember commentingsaying, you know, oh, hello,
haha, lol, I maybe Ican send you a picture of my

(40:52):
penis type of thing. Imagine thezoom calls for that one. Like Nathan
and Bannie were just staying on it, just going yeah, yeah, that
looks fine. Like have you gotlike a ruler and you can measure it
against right because it was real tiny. It was a little teeny tiny one.
Yeah, we've obviously spoke right.Jeff's got his pros and he's got
his cons. But one thing thatis really good as him as like as

(41:15):
teacher and the extent, is thathe's really good at picking up on like
the trends in comedy. And like, you know, there's that second scene
where there's kind of like there isthat time of people can be offended of
things or you know, people canmaybe be quite sensitive, maybe rightly or
wrongly. Like obviously you've been involvedin this kind of the comedy world for

(41:36):
so long. How have you seenit kind of evolve in the comedy the
comedic industry over the years, andyou know, sensitivity perhaps evolve And has
that been a challenge or is thisactually maybe a good thing To an extent,
I think I think it has becomea challenge. And I think like
even just as comedians and just generallike right now, I'm like, Okay,

(41:57):
well, let me make sure Isay the right thing because I don't
want to get canceled, right.And I do feel like people are more
sensitive, but I think that iswarranted because maybe we should be more sensitive

(42:17):
to what we're making fun of,where we're trying to make people, what
jokes we're trying to make people laughat. And I think that people have
really kind of gone over to apoint where they where they make fun of
themselves a lot now. And Ithink that's one of the things that in
the In the Curse we talked about, you know, making fun of yourself

(42:39):
self duprecation. It's so much easierbecause if you start making jokes about something
that you really shouldn't be making.It doesn't have anything to do with you,
but you're making jokes, then itseems like it's bullying. It does
seem like it's what we refer tonow as punching down. So there's a
lot that termino U is quite evidentnow in comedy. We always want to

(43:07):
we want to punch out, Wedon't want to punch down those type of
things, but it is I thinkpeople are very sensitive now and you really
have to think you have to bemore intelligent with your you're with your humor,
I think is where that goes.And that's that's one thing that we
find that we take a lot ofpride in is that, you know,

(43:28):
here at the box when we're doingimprov we really try to improvise at the
height of our intelligence. We trieddesperately not to just be just like,
you know, say something that isgoing to just be for the joke to
make people laugh, because it mightmight just not be appropriate. So yeah,
that'sinn. So what was your initialreaction upon watching The Curse for the

(43:52):
first time as it started end oflast year. Uh? Huh. I
was like, I don't I'm soconfused by this what is happening? It
was I was like, this isgoing to be difficult to watch. Like
those first couple of episodes, thatsex scene between Nathan and Emma Stone were

(44:14):
just so bavil to watch because it'sso early on in the episode, like,
just bring up again you just exposedthis micro penis going huh, this
is that? I Like, Ihad expectations, I expect it maybe weird
gen rebetding. This has thrown mea little bit for a loop here as
well. But I was like thinking, like, Okay, you know what.

(44:36):
I remember watching the first couple ofepisodes of Breaking Bad and saying I
can't do it. I can't dothis, and I gave up on it.
But then I came back and thenit's like just one of the best
series. I believe Breaking Bad andBetter Call Saul are some of the best
television series in history. But Iwas like feeling like, Okay, well,
I'm gonna stick with this. I'mgonna stick with it, especially until

(45:00):
I get to episode seven, becauseI got to stay at least till episode
seven, right, and it justbecame just this thing that was like I
don't get it, and I,after listening to a couple of interviews with
Benny Saftie, is like, Ithink that's what they wanted you to do.
They was, we're not going totell you how to feel about this,

(45:22):
and we're not gonna we're not gonnalike just spoon feed you this this
series. You're gonna have to decidewhat it is and how you feel about
it. It was I think oneof the very first things that just really
was so jarring was when they werein the woman's there were in some woman's
house. I think we even sawthis woman again, but they were having

(45:45):
an argument outside the window, andit looked just like probably my mom's house,
with like shampoo and and books andpencils up on the window ledge there,
and the woman was sitting on thecouch and the camera was like dolling
past her, and when it gotto like her, she looked right at
the camera. She looked right intothe camera, and then it just kept

(46:08):
going. I was like, whatwas that? Why did she look at
the camera? And it was sojarring. I was like, I don't
know what this is. And thenthat's when I started recognizing, like,
well, sometimes they're shooting in avery traditional scene, and then sometimes it's
like this voy like there's somebody watchingthe scene from the outside, like he's

(46:31):
dropping in on them. It's likethat scene in the car where there's like
an apps of the opens and it'sjust like the car's driving. You're like,
who's behind the car? Like whereare we going? And like it
doesn't necessarily lead anywhere, but itjust puts you in that immediate like on
edge. Yeah, and it's likeis this telling me something? So then
you have to like decide is therelike a spirit, is there a ghost?

(46:52):
Is there something that's an entity that'swatching them? And then when it's
not watching them, then maybe theghost isn't there that type of thing and
so, and then I applied itto my own scene. I was like,
well, I remember that during myscene there were no cameras in the
building. That was all through thewindow and looking through the sheer curtains and

(47:15):
those type of things, and you'relike, well, why is the entity
watching this scene? And why wasn'the watching it in episode four when we
were just talking about doing exercises andthose type of things. So it's just
slowly got to a point where itwas so like, I'm not sure what
is happening here? And it wasright around episode I would say eight and

(47:39):
nine that I was like, ohwhat now, You're just like in it.
And we were fortunate enough to geta screening of episode ten at a
theater so I didn't have to watchit on TV. So they invited us
to watch episode ten on a bigscreen, and man, that was perfect.

(48:00):
Especially. Yeah, it's like Ihave to say when he started to
fluid. I'm not sure exactly whenI said it, but I audibly said,
what is this show audibly, andI think maybe it was because there
was so many people around and Ifelt comfortable, Like I was like,

(48:21):
I don't I'm not sure what I'mwatching anymore. Why is he going to
out of space? I don't getit. So it was just I love
that ending, and I think oneof the things like I found it like
I love the work of like BennySafti and Nate Fielder, but I'm so
glad that was a weekly show,Like you know how you get these Netflix

(48:42):
where it just dumps all at onceand you're like I would have struggled to
watch one after the other, whereasI kind of liked that breathing space of
like I'm going to watch one.I don't really know where this is going.
I feel a bit uncomfortable. Ilove how it's provoking these really strong
feelings in me, and I'll seeagain next week when I've just had a
bit of a chance to bring becausethere's only so much of that intensity all
the time, and I've talken aboutit with people as well, where there's

(49:06):
like there's almost that character that's gotthe gun and you're like, when's the
gun going to go off? Something'sgoing to go off for the gun and
like everything feels like, oh,this scene's maybe about something or something bad
is going to happen. When's itgoing to happen? And it just keeps
you on that constant edge where it'slike it was just so nice to have
that breathing space between to really reflecton it and just enjoy being put in

(49:28):
that kind of position, which isjust it's so rare, especially when you're
watching something at home, Isn't itLike it's so easy to have your phone
or things like that watch it passively. That felt like you were being really
taken on a ride and journey,which I loved. Yeah, I mean
I like that. I like theway you approach that because I did.
I think it did give you sometime to take a breath and just be

(49:50):
like, Okay, all right now, I'm I'm ready to take you the
next episode. So yeah, Ido think that was something that was good
about it. Is it being releasedweekly for you as like a New Mexico
resident? What was it like foryou some of like the themes that were
being brought up and kind of thekind of representation. What was that like

(50:10):
for for you? I would saythat where I'm from Albuquerque. Albuquerque is
a you know, it's it's amidside city somewhere just around Denver La,
those type of things. It's notit was. It's not as rural as
Espanola, but on the outskirts ofAlbuquerque it does get a little more rule

(50:31):
as you go out. But Ithought it portrayed it really well. I
mean, that's that's a lot ofpeople uh around grew up in Espanola.
They're like, oh, yeah,that that was Espanola. That's that.
That was it. So and itwas interesting that they were building these real
modern houses in such, you know, a rural community, that those buildings

(50:55):
they just stuck out like swet ofthugs, like they didn't belong there.
They might have belonged here in Albuquerque. But yeah, I think I think
it portrayed Espanola very well. Iwonder if there'll be future tours of Espanola.
After the breaking bad the bare Coast, everyone's going around and visiting these
passive homes, legion halls, Jeanshows. Yeah, Espaniola is a little

(51:17):
further away from Albuquerque. I wasvery lucky that my scene didn't film in
Espanola. I filmed in Santa Fe, so it was just just a few
hours, just like an hour awayfrom Albuquerque, so that was that was
lucky for me. I was like, I'm the way Espaniola, so obviously
this was kind of a production byby A twenty four. Do you have

(51:39):
any sort of favorite A twenty fourfilms or shows? You know, I
really love a lot of their alot of their their shows. Their shows
are always so provocative, you know, the kind of show that you can
watch without like having them watched telephoneat the same time, type of thing.

(52:02):
I can't remember the first A twentyfour show that I watched. I
think Jake Jillenhole was in it.It was and I was like, what
is this movie? And it waslike one of the very first A twenty
four animes. Yeah, yes witha spider, Yes, with a spider.
I was like, this show isfascinating, and I was. As

(52:28):
an actor, sadly I was.I had a role in the latest A
twenty four film, that's The LoveLife's Bleeding, that was also film here
in Albuquerque, and I was cutfrom the movie. But I got such
a sweet email from the director RoseGlass, and I did not ever expect

(52:53):
to get an email from somebody saying, hey, you were you were really
good and sadly we had to cutyou from the film. Good luck you
know all your other endeavors. I'vejust been cut. I've never been.
I was like, this is I'malmost glad I got cut. I've never
I said a reply back. Thisis just the nicest email I've ever received.
Say, sorry you've been cut forthe movie. But we've definitely got

(53:16):
to dive into this, like tellus a little bit about your your role
and experience on Love Lies Bleeding likeit was recently got to see it as
the Glasgow Film Festival for like nights. I really loved it. Like I'm
a big rose Glass friend like SaintMaude. I don't know if you've seen
that one. I haven't known thefirst film, And yeah, the cast
was excellent. Can you tell usa little bit about your your experience and

(53:37):
rule in that. Yeah, Sothis was another movie film during COVID and
there was it was really rough.I feel like good. I mean,
kudos to these guys making movies duringCOVID. We were all masks. There's
COVID protocol, there's just like justit's just so hard to make a movie

(54:00):
with masks. And all that typeof stuff. But we were in the
Chinese restaurant and I guess there's likea film that I haven't seen it yet.
But the funny thing is is theywere moving really fast, and they
did a rehearsal, and uh,I think at some point, because they

(54:24):
were moving so quickly, the secondad, they had already their their thing.
He was managing me and so Ihear, Doug, you'll be here.
You you're going to enter from overhere and then you're and then you'll
exit through here kind of thing.And uh, basically I was just supposed
to come by and just be anawful person to these to this table,

(54:49):
and I said some you know,I was like you fucking dykes or something
like that as I walked by thetable. And then they're like what and
there it was supposed to be likejust just forget him, don't don't worry
about him, ignore it kind ofthing. So they were going through the
they were going through the rehearsal,and I think they must have forgotten that

(55:14):
I was supposed to come in andunleash his tirade on them. So I
had to step over a couple ofcables and work my way through some extras
and I walked up the table andI was like, you fucking dykes,
and I just started I walked offand they became so offended. Even Rose

(55:34):
Glass like, wait a minute,what the fuck? What happened? That
was so I was like, andthen they're like, oh, that's part
of the script. That's right.I forgot he's supposed to do that.
They're like, Doug, Doug,good job, that was good, good
job, Doug. Thank you.We'd forgotten that you were coming in to
do this part. We were justworking on this kind of thing. And
I think that, uh, Ithink that at that point, because everything

(55:58):
was focused on that conversation, thatsomehow my interjection kind of just got get
getting pushed back kind of thing.And I realized that at one point,
because one of the things they'll dois they'll do coverage of your line and
those type of things, and Iwas realizing. I was like, I'm
not sure they're getting any coverage ofme at this point. And then they
started getting coverage of like the sarachaand the soy sauce, and I thought,

(56:22):
Okay, I think I'm probably notgonna be I think I probably gonna
be cut in the scene. Iknow the exact scenior you're describing because it's
so early on in the film andso on and real kind of yeah kind
of point, this kind of inflectionpoint that's coming up. So I'd love
to have seen you in that one. I would have been definitely if I
haven't watched The Cars before it,I'd have been sat in the cinema and

(56:44):
just been like, I recognize thatguy. That's Jeff Robinson. God,
he's such a homophobe. Yeah,and it was you kind of like at
some point you're like, yeah,maybe I'm glad I didn't Maybe I didn't
make the cut. That's probably forthe best. So I do work with
kids, you know, and Ihave to always take that out of consideration
whenever I accept a role. Idid get an audition for that Netflix show.

(57:09):
Gosh, what was the name ofthat show? I can't remember.
It was like some raucous show thattook place in Las Vegas, and I
was supposed to be Beef. No, it wasn't Beef, but I was
supposed to be in a male stripclub and I was just being so obnoxious

(57:30):
and just handling these naked men,and I was like, oh, I
can't do this audition. I can'teven I can't even do this. That's
just no. The casting rectors like, well, okay, we get it.
Yeah, that's fine, you don'thave to do this audition. So
yeah, so I had to bevery careful. I know it was her
birth yesterday, so it feels offto ask, but what was it like

(57:52):
to work with like Kristen Sture,Like we're big fans of her on the
podcast, and she just seems she'sjust an incredible talent and like love I
was bleeding she was when you getthe chance to see it. I thought
she was a comic genius in thatfilm. Uh huh. I would just
have to agree with you. Shewas just a joy. Everybody in that

(58:12):
cast was so nice and friendly andthey were just welcoming even though we had
like you know, talk with masksand stuff like that. We kept getting
scolded here and there from the COVIDprotocol but yours but you ask God those
type of things. But they werethey were really It was really a joy

(58:34):
watching them work too. It wasit was really good. Yeah, and
you can kind of see it likewhen I watched that film, like I
was my first instruction to Katie O'Brienand like, you watch that and you
go, oh, she's got starpotential, Like she's going to go on
to big things. And I thinkI saw some news recently that she's just
been casting some some new or excitingproject. I can't remember what it was.

(58:55):
Maybe that wasn't she she wasn't theMandalorian. Yeah, she was in
Star Wars. Yeah, that muchi'd heard, and I heard her casting
was really unique that she like theywere putting up they couldn't find anyone for
that role. Someone put up onTwitter like we are looking for someone to

(59:15):
fill the rule and she tweets themgoing what about me? And one thing
led to another, which is amazing, and it was mission impossible eight.
That's what she's going to be now. So she's she's definitely on a career
trajectory. Yeah. They were alljust so nice, welcome. They had
a really really good chemistry, Kristenand Dave Franco and her Katie was very

(59:38):
welcoming. She was and she wasyou could tell. She was generally like
what do you do here? Youhear now you live in Albuquerque, what
what are the what's sort of doaround here? Those type of things,
and they were all very nice.Yeah, what's kind of next for for
yourself? What's on the horizon wecan look forward to? Maybe right now,

(59:58):
nothing except for my movie Third Act, which, like I said,
we're still trying to figure out ahome for that. I don't think I
have anything coming out. Sadly,I was in Coyote Versus Acme, which
is another Oh jeez, that wasa disgrace, absolutely sad, sad situation.

(01:00:22):
It was such a lovely project towork on. And so if Acme,
if Coyote versus Acme does come out, and then look for me there.
That was a fun That was avery fun set. I never worked
on something like that with the what'sthat been like to be in the world
of that, because it's been likea film that would have come out of

(01:00:44):
people would have enjoyed, but whatwas it like to be It's like a
film that was like for a lotof people, they've been pissed off before,
but that one was one where itwas like this has gone too far.
Like there was so much like goodbuzz about that film as well,
and it's not like you could kindof go, oh, it was probably
gonna be a bit rubbish. Anyway, what like with that one, it
was like people would have gone tosee that, people would have enjoyed it.

(01:01:07):
Finally, films, you know,things like that I've done so well
lately, Like I really felt foreveryone involved in that. Yeah, it
was a little heartbreaking because you know, I have been fortunate enough to work
on projects that I was a fanof first and foremost, Like I've become
a fan of the Purson Nathan Fielderand Emma Stone and Benny Staffy. I

(01:01:31):
am such a fan of Better CallSaul, and to have worked on that
project and to audition for as manytimes as I as I did, and
auditioning. I auditioned for Vince Gilligana couple of times, and he's just
so gracious and kind. But thisone was heartbreaking in that I remember when

(01:01:52):
I got my call sheet, Icried a little bit because I was on
a call sheet with Bugs Bunny andat tweet Bird and Porky Pig, and
I was like, is this real? Am I really on the same call
sheet as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. I can't forget Daffy Duck. But

(01:02:16):
and then it didn't come out,and I was like, oh, that
was gonna be such a great project. Was we did a zoom read through,
and everybody was so amazing just becausewe got to I got to you
don't rarely in a movie, youdon't get to do a whole read through
the of the film, but withthis one, they did. So we

(01:02:37):
all got together on a zoom calland we did an entire readthrough of the
film, and afterwards, I justremember feeling like, Wow, this is
gonna be good. This is gonnabe a funny movie, it's gonna be
touching. It's great. It wasa great movie. And then I had
a lot of friends. My sonwas also cast in the film, My

(01:02:58):
partner was also cast in the film, and so we were all excited about
going to the red carpet and seeingall of us on the big screen in
this movie that you know, ithas a it has a following, and
I don't know, I just feellike Looney Tunes. Warner has done so
much for Warner Brothers, just likeCornerstone of Warner Brothers, and like,

(01:03:19):
how can you just disregard just Imean not disregard, discard something that really
is a part of who you are. So I'm sorry to hear that and
stuff like, and it's just itsums up a lot of the problems with
the industry right now. Just Iwas glad to hear about that one.
And kind of finally, if peoplewanted to kind of keep up to date

(01:03:40):
with any sorry news or anything likethat, where's the best kind of places
to follow you? Doug? Well, I am sure that I have an
Instagram account and everything that I doas a box Doug and I spelled Doug
like dig Doug so dug so boxdug. I have an Instagram account,

(01:04:00):
I have Facebook account, and thenyou know, if anybody's ever in Albuquerque,
they want to come by the Box. We're around the corner of Second
Goal downtown Albuquerque. Accordner, BobOt and Kirk some of the best improv
in the country. So you wantto come out and check that out.
You you won't be disappointed. Youwill have a really great time. Well,

(01:04:25):
it's been an absolute pleasure to talkwith you, Doug and all that
sort of stuff. You were oneof the highlights of the show for me
and all that sort of stuff,and I just really appreciate you giving up
so much of your time to chatwith me today. Thank you so much.
You are so welcome. Before Igo, I do want to give
a really big shout out to mypartner kristen Berg, my agent Chris and
Mitchell, and all the incredible castingdirectors here in Albuquerque that make things happen

(01:04:47):
for all the actors here in Albuquerque. So