November 16, 2025 • 50 mins
A kindergartener chasing laughs becomes a Netflix‑credited actor with a thriving improv trio - that’s the arc Jack Seavor McDonald shares as we explore what it really takes to build a creative life. From landing the Mad Hatter in a community musical to working on shows like Modern Family and Never Have I Ever, Jack reveals how small stages, supportive mentors, and relentless reps turn ambition into momentum. He breaks down the difference between improv and stand‑up with crisp clarity, showing why ensemble listening, playful risk, and physical comedy shaped his voice more than scripted punchlines ever could.
We go behind the camera to decode set life: how art departments build partial homes that feel whole, why a great take is a dance of lighting, sound, camera, and timing, and how “pampering” is actually smart safety and insurance at work. Jack’s pool‑cramp story delivers both a laugh and a lesson about teamwork. He also opens up about the lines he draws—avoiding racist roles and not mimicking disabilities he doesn’t have—explaining how ethics and representation guide choices without stifling storytelling. Along the way, we touch on his new horror‑comedy film Or Else, demystifying fear by appreciating craft through behind‑the‑scenes features.
When the conversation turns to AI, Jack is pragmatic: powerful for math, limited for art. You can automate a render; you can’t automate presence. We trade views on whether Hollywood is dying or evolving and arrive at a shared belief that live performance, improv, and human collaboration will only grow more valuable. If one era ends, another is waiting backstage. Want more from Jack? Follow him on Instagram at @JackSeavor and on TikTok at @JackSeavor8 for show updates and appearances. If this conversation sparks you, tap follow, share with a friend who loves comedy, and leave a quick review to help more listeners find us.
Thank you for stopping by. Please visit our website: All About The Joy and add, like and share. You can also support us by shopping at our STORE - We'd appreciate that greatly. Also, if you want to find us anywhere on social media, please check out the link in bio page.
Music By Geovane Bruno, Moments, 3481
Editing by Team A-J
Host, Carmen Lezeth
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carmen Lezeth (00:00):
Okay, we're recording.
Jack, it's so nice to meet you.
I'm so glad you're here on theshow.
Yay!
Jack Seavor McDonald (00:06):
Amazing.
Thank you so much for havingme.
And it's wonderful to meet youtoo, Carmen.
Carmen Lezeth (00:10):
I know.
I'm so excited.
So Jack Siever McDonald is anactor and a comedian.
And I have to say, you may notknow this, but like I I have
love for performers.
You know, I live in Los Angelestoo.
You know, I just um I think weneed to have more people on the
show that are creatives.
And so thank you for being, Ithink you're our first.
Jack Seavor McDonald (00:31):
Really?
Wow.
Carmen Lezeth (00:32):
Yeah.
I mean, we we have a neglectedgroup of guests that come on the
show.
But um I remember when your PRperson reached out to me, I was
like, yes, immediately.
And then we had to like,because we we have a schedule we
keep.
And so I was so glad that whenwe had a cancellation, I was
like, could you possibly come inearlier?
So thank you for doing this.
I appreciate it.
Jack Seavor McDonald (00:53):
So yeah, absolutely.
No problem.
I mean, life happens to us all,you know.
Carmen Lezeth (01:00):
No, no, no.
So, okay, so for people whodon't know, uh, you're gonna
find out everything you need toknow about Jack.
So you're a loss.
So of course I'm readingbecause I just grabbed a whole
bunch of stuff off of all ofyour well, you know, I'm I'm I'm
not gonna pretend I knoweverything about you, but I know
a lot.
Um, you're a Los Angeles-basedactor and comedian.
You're known for Never Have IEver.
Is that on that's on Netflix,right?
Jack Seavor McDonald (01:22):
That's right.
Carmen Lezeth (01:23):
Um, Ted, I've seen.
So, and that's the the TVseries that is um uh narrated.
Is it narrated?
No, no, he's Ted is what's hisSeth McFarland, right?
Is the voice.
Um, so I've seen that and themovie.
You've been on Modern Family,you've been on Young Sheldon,
you've been on Stubbs, you'vebeen on so many shows.
(01:43):
You've also been in a lot ofcommercials, right?
I've seen quite a few of them,I think.
I've seen at least two.
You've been on two nationalcommercials.
You started performing when youwere a kid.
Can you tell me when you knewthat you wanted to be an actor?
I know that you're a lot ofyour influences, you talk a lot
about your grandmother.
Is is that who Grammy is, yourgrandmother?
Jack Seavor McDonald (02:06):
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
Carmen Lezeth (02:07):
Can you talk a little bit about that, your
beginnings?
Jack Seavor McDonald (02:10):
Yes, absolutely.
Um, so I I have memories ofbeing in kindergarten and really
enjoying making my crush laughby dancing goofy and falling
down doing Pratt falls, but Ireally didn't consider acting to
(02:30):
be a viable career until likesixth grade.
I heard that acting was a realjob.
Carmen Lezeth (02:38):
And I that was my first year that I you grew up
in California, so you also grewup with the idea that acting was
not a real job.
That's a prevalent thing here.
Jack Seavor McDonald (02:50):
Uh I mean, yeah, even uh so I grew up
about an hour away from LosAngeles, and even that close to
the the whole biz, you you stillgrow up hearing that's a very
competitive business.
You should really do somethingelse as a backup plan.
Carmen Lezeth (03:08):
And that's so interesting to hear, Jack,
because that's how I grew up onthe East Coast.
Like, you know, anything to dowith performing was that's not a
real job.
So I'm sorry, that wasfascinating to hear that from
someone who grew up here.
So go ahead, I'm sorry.
Jack Seavor McDonald (03:20):
No, you're fine.
Yeah, absolutely.
And so in sixth grade, Iauditioned for a community
theater uh show, Alice inWonderland Jr.
And when I auditioned forsomething where nobody knew me
or like nobody knew my mom, andthey cast me in the musical as
(03:41):
the Mad Hatter.
That was a really bigconfidence boost for me.
It was a Valverde School ofPerforming Arts in Rancho
Cucamonga.
They still do classes if anyonearound that area is listening.
Interested in stepping intoyour shoes.
Oh, sure, yeah.
It's uh a really wonderfulcommunity and really fantastic
(04:06):
teachers there.
Uh I basically from about sixthor seventh grade through my
first year of college, I wasstill doing shows with them.
And yeah, every summer andspring they do a musical, uh
junior show for 18 and under,and then bigger show with adults
in the summer.
(04:27):
Yeah.
Carmen Lezeth (04:28):
How did comedy become part because there's
acting and there's comedy, andpeople like to confuse that it's
oh, it's the same thing.
No.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Right.
Carmen Lezeth (04:36):
So how did you realize?
I mean, you you talked about uhmaking your crush laugh, and
that's when you knew, but thenyou went into kind of more
dramatic acting with the school,right?
Jack Seavor McDonald (04:48):
Um at first, but it was definitely my
I I I just grew up in a funnyfamily, really.
So I've always been inclined towant to make people laugh
because that's how I was shownthat adults are from my mom and
my dad.
Carmen Lezeth (05:08):
Okay, you and I grew up very differently, but at
least I I'm very lucky.
That's awesome.
Um, who are some of yourinfluences?
Do you have favorite comedians?
Let's start with comediansfirst because I'm always
curious.
I may not know them, so but goahead.
Jack Seavor McDonald (05:24):
No worries, that is totally fine.
I love Tim Robinson.
Carmen Lezeth (05:28):
You know Tim Robinson?
Jack Seavor McDonald (05:29):
He's recently had a pretty big not
shift, but like he has a sketchshow on Netflix called I Think
You Should Leave, and he justgot a new show on HBO called The
Chair Company.
Carmen Lezeth (05:42):
Okay, I'll have to check them out.
Who else?
Jack Seavor McDonald (05:44):
Yeah, uh I I love his comedy.
Dimitri Martin.
I I love him.
Carmen Lezeth (05:50):
I feel so old right now.
I don't know who this is.
Jack Seavor McDonald (05:53):
No, it's fine.
It's totally fine.
He actually doesn't really do alot of uh stand-up anymore.
He was back from like 2010s, Ithink, and he did a lot of sort
of prop comedy drawing in frontof crowds.
Carmen Lezeth (06:09):
What kind of comedian are you?
Do you do a lot of stand-up orare you more like Steve Martin?
Do you know who Steve Martinis?
Because I'm going to be soembarrassed if you don't.
Jack Seavor McDonald (06:18):
No, I definitely do.
I I think I would definitelysay Steve Martin is an influence
and Jim Carrey.
I watched a lot of Jim Carreygrowing up.
So I would say that morephysical and sort of goofball
energy is more my thing.
I like to do uh improv morethan that.
Carmen Lezeth (06:37):
Oh, right.
I read about that.
You have your own improv grouptoo, right?
Jack Seavor McDonald (06:42):
Yeah, we're called Heat Wave, and it's
me and two other comedians, andwe perform all over Southern
California.
Carmen Lezeth (06:50):
That's so great.
Now, do you prefer am I goingtoo fast with too many
questions?
I'm so sorry.
Jack Seavor McDonald (06:54):
I don't know.
I don't think so.
Am I answering in a Oh my god,you are.
Carmen Lezeth (06:59):
I'm totally loving this.
Like you're not going to beable to leave for like you know
three hours.
We're gonna have a wholeconversation.
But let me ask you this.
Um, do you prefer, this mightnot be a fair question, dramatic
acting or comedic acting?
Jack Seavor McDonald (07:14):
I value dramatic acting for its
challenge, its own personalchallenge, but my heart is
definitely connected more tocomedy.
Okay because it was just comedywas just such a huge important
part of my childhood growing up.
(07:36):
If you're sad, you get hurt.
The automatic thing is to tryand make someone laugh and makes
them feel better.
And I that always stuck out tome is that people are happy when
they're laughing.
Why wouldn't I want to make asmany people laugh as I could?
Carmen Lezeth (07:54):
Let me just see this.
Uh, you're married to Joe, youhave a dog named Willie.
I'm like just letting everyoneknow the stuff you can read
about.
Um, and I love how thedescription is cattle dog,
chihuahua, miner, and I'm likemutt.
That is a mutt, like, which Ibelieve we all are, which are
the best kinds of people anddogs, right?
So totally.
(08:14):
You are known for your warmthand humility and grounded
presence, despite working inhigh-profile productions.
What do you love about being onset?
Can you share with people whodon't know anything about
acting, have never been becausethat's our audience.
Our audience, some of thepeople on our show have been on
set because they're from LosAngeles or New York, but our
(08:36):
audience really is not theHollywood crowd.
So what is it like to be on setfor you?
Jack Seavor McDonald (08:42):
When I'm on set, I really love to well,
when you're in a studio, theyhave all these fake walls that
they've built to try and makeyour setting look as realistic
as possible.
And one of my favorite thingsis to go around looking at the
set to see what is real, what'suh uh just for looks like um the
(09:08):
old Looney Tunes cartoons.
You could always tell what wasabout to be like touched in the
background because it was adifferent color or something.
Carmen Lezeth (09:19):
Uh was it oh go ahead, I'm sorry.
I agree.
Jack Seavor McDonald (09:22):
No, no worries.
Uh so I just to round out thatanswer, I would say I I love
getting to look at the setdecoration and uh admire the
work that all the other crewputs into uh a project like
that.
Carmen Lezeth (09:37):
I don't think people understand, um,
especially people who are notpart of the Hollywood crowd,
that people that build the sets,construction workers,
electricians, there's justthere's so many people involved
in the crew.
And like I was thinking aboutthe modern family set, you know,
that must have been interestingbecause it's actually a house,
right?
(09:57):
There are certain houses thatyou go into.
Um, or are you on a stage crewall the time?
Were you at one of the stageswhen you were doing Modern
Family, for example?
Jack Seavor McDonald (10:07):
Uh for Modern Family, I remember that
we were on a sound stage for oneof the scenes.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Uh-huh.
Jack Seavor McDonald (10:16):
Um, but uh a lot of the time, even if
you're in a house, they justhave that section of the house
built.
Carmen Lezeth (10:27):
So right, just the living room or something or
whatever it is.
Jack Seavor McDonald (10:31):
Mm-hmm.
And and for instance, in theModern Family one, there's a
scene where I'm in a bedroom,uh, Manny's bedroom at his
computer, and you're like, oh,okay, he like lives on the
second floor of the uh of hishouse.
They don't need to do that, butthey do build an entire first
floor to just give that samefeeling that there's a second
(10:55):
story and you're in a room thatis only imagining the rest of
the house space.
Carmen Lezeth (11:03):
And isn't that I mean, that's kind of the
beautiful part about being anactor is you do you really do
have to use your imaginationbecause what people don't
understand is that while you'redoing your lines, there's a mic
overhead hanging, there's peoplewith lighting, there's people
with cameras all around you.
It's not just you and Manny ina room, it's you and like, I
(11:24):
don't know, 45, 50 other people,right?
Jack Seavor McDonald (11:27):
I mean Yeah, yeah, easily.
And all the there's dozens ofdifferent things that need to go
correctly on a set for uh ascene to be or that angle of a
scene to be deemed correctlyfilmed, or like, oh, that's what
we wanted.
(11:47):
You need the lights to becorrect, you need the makeup and
the hair, and then the camerahas to move the exact correct
way every time.
I I think you're right, peopledon't really realize how much of
a a dance every sort of scenethat you film is.
Carmen Lezeth (12:06):
And it's not one time.
So do you remember how manytimes you had to film?
And and it's not because anactor does something wrong, but
you have to film a certainscene, like how many times would
you say you do a few takes orsomething?
Jack Seavor McDonald (12:21):
Um, I mean, it it when everyone is on
their game, so to speak, it canprobably be three to four takes
if that's everyone working attheir best.
But anything could happen, Iwould say the worst I've ever
gone to is probably like 15 to20 takes of something
(12:44):
complicated.
Oh, that's hard.
Carmen Lezeth (12:46):
Yeah, that's really hard.
And it's because, just so I canexplain to our audience if you
don't mind, and you can correctme if I'm wrong because it's
been a long time since I've beenactive on a set.
I've been running budgets forsex, but um they will film you
straight on doing your lines,and then they will turn around.
So that'll be one take offilming, and then they'll turn
(13:09):
around and put the camera behindyou and take your scene partner
from the opposite side, they'llfilm that.
Then they'll turn around and doangles.
But again, it's like ifeveryone's on point, and that
doesn't mean just the actors,it's the lighting, the sound.
I mean, I remember doing thescene, and this was theater, and
you know, we were like justtrying to do the previews or
whatever, and um I thought wehad nailed it, you know, like we
(13:33):
they were filming it for to dokind of these little like uh ads
or whatever, and that neverreally happens in theater, but
they were filming it, and Ithought we nailed it, and the
sound hadn't been like no onehad sound and any packs or
anything.
Like it was such a stupidthing, but it was a small
community theater thing, so itreally is about everything on
(13:53):
set.
Um, are you energized whenyou're on set or on on stage?
Like, do you you do comedic?
Oh, you know what?
Maybe I'm confusing.
Do you do stand-up?
I thought you did stand-up aswell.
Jack Seavor McDonald (14:07):
I uh uh I'm definitely interested in
stand-up.
I've done it once.
I did an open mic in 2020February, and then I haven't
been back to it, but it doesinterest me.
I uh I struggle when it comesto sitting down and getting my
thoughts out on paper, which iswhy I love improv so much.
(14:30):
It's just it's out there.
Carmen Lezeth (14:32):
Okay, I was just gonna ask you.
That's why I'm I'm kind of uhinterrupting again.
I'm just so excited to talk toyou.
Um, can you explain what thedifference is between improv and
like stand-up comedy?
Because that's a mistake I justmade in asking, right?
I am like, oh, he does stand-upcomedy because you talked about
improv.
So can you explain what thedifferences are and what it
(14:53):
means to say you do improv withtwo of your comedic friends?
Jack Seavor McDonald (14:57):
Yes, absolutely.
So uh stand-up is typically aone-person performance that they
have written ahead of time andpracticed multiple times, uh,
including in front of anaudience, and each of those
shows is going to be verysimilar to each other.
Whereas with improv, you do notwrite anything down beforehand,
(15:22):
and you are doing it withmultiple people.
It's not just you, you'reworking as a team, and you can
just get a suggestion of anyword from the audience, and then
you just do scenes uh made upby you and your friends right
there on the spot, and hopefullyit's funny.
Carmen Lezeth (15:40):
I mean, I think that would be so much scarier
than like writing it all out,having it memorized, but I think
like the hard part with that islike being funny after you
writing something would alsoscare me to death because I
wouldn't be able to be funnyafter writing something.
You know what I mean?
So I think what you do is evenscarier.
So you go on stage with yourfriends, you ask the audience,
(16:03):
like, can you just give me kindof a what happens behind the
scene thing?
Jack Seavor McDonal (16:06):
Absolutely.
So the way that our team works,Heat Wave, we go out and we
say, Hey everybody, we're HeatWave.
All we need to get started isone word suggestion.
What is something that makesyou sweat?
And then the audience will justsay something that makes them
(16:27):
sweat, and then that's our oneword.
We all repeat it, and then wego into whatever scene starts to
happen.
Carmen Lezeth (16:38):
Is that right?
Jack Seavor McDonald (16:38):
Like uh That's right, just any kind of
comedic scene, and anyone canstart it.
You just start mimingsomething.
I I don't even know what thatwas.
Maybe a uh violin.
Carmen Lezeth (16:51):
What is that?
Like something makes you sweat.
unknown (16:54):
Yeah.
Jack Seavor McDonald (16:56):
I don't know.
I don't know.
Carmen Lezeth (16:58):
Oh, I love it.
Okay, you just taught mesomething.
I made an assumption and uh youjust taught me something which
is kind of embarrassing sinceI've been working in Hollywood
forever.
Jack Seavor McDonald (17:07):
Uh oh no, no.
I I I think no matter your yourno matter a person's age or
like where you come from, you'renever done learning.
You you always have thecapability to learn.
Carmen Lezeth (17:19):
And I I know nothing about uh I'm I'm not uh
a comedy person that I lovecomedy.
I love, but I I think it's awhole different kind of
performance.
I think it's a whole differenttype of um ability and skill
set.
And um, you know, people wouldalways tell me that I'm kind of
(17:40):
funny, but I'm not funny.
I'm just funny because Iwhatever, I can talk to people
and make them laugh, but not onpurpose and not as a thing.
It's accidental, you know.
So when you were talking aboutwhen you were younger and you
noticed you like to make peoplelaugh, why?
I know you noticed it, butsometimes comedians are um tend
(18:04):
to have these tragic, painfulyou don't seem to be that, but
I'm I'm just and if it's toomuch to talk about, we don't
have to talk about it.
But I'm just curious of do youhave that kind of uh thing too,
you know, all this tragedy, andso that's why you're able to be
a comedian.
Jack Seavor McDonald (18:22):
Um luckily I'm I don't really come from
much trauma uh myself.
I'd say God bless you.
Uh it's pretty I I've had apretty privileged life that the
extent of it at the time wasjust I'm fat and I don't want
them to make fun of me.
(18:42):
And so if I can make themlaugh, then I can control how
they're reacting to me, and Idon't have to feel bad about how
I look because well, I madethem laugh.
Carmen Lezeth (18:54):
Oh my okay, but the way you just said that was
so amazing.
Like your confidence in sayingthat.
Jack Seavor McDonald (19:02):
Thanks.
Yeah.
Carmen Lezeth (19:04):
Wow, I love that.
I was wait a minute, I totallyhad like a moment, and I was
like, did he just what?
Secure.
Because some people would sayyou were doing, I mean, you you
just admitted it straight out,but you were also doing it as a
protective thing, but also askind of a help to them.
Jack Seavor McDonald (19:21):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I thought, or you know, Igenerally think that okay, if I
I'm not always thinking aboutthis in such an analytical way,
but I think that it is oh, I'musually looking for the most
amount of happiness in everyinteraction because I just
(19:45):
don't, you know, I'm a littleweird.
I don't like people upset withme.
Um I don't think that's weird.
Carmen Lezeth (19:51):
I think that's human I think that's human
nature.
Jack Seavor McDonald (19:54):
I know, I'm just joshing around.
Oh, okay, okay.
Carmen Lezeth (19:56):
I I think it's human nature.
And and I think what'sdifferent about what you're
saying is that you know yourselfwell enough, which I think is
also an attribute to being agood performer, a good actor, a
good I was a dancer as a kid,that's why I always say
performer.
Um I think if you know yourselfwell enough, it's a different
kind of confidence that mostpeople don't have.
Jack Seavor McDonald (20:19):
Right.
That's have that.
Uh yeah, I I've always beenvery lucky that I I knew since
such a young age that I wantedto be an actor, and I that was
one of the things that I heardoften was like, wow, that's so
surprising that you know whatyou want to do.
Yeah.
And um, so I I do considermyself lucky to have uh been
(20:41):
through that so early.
Carmen Lezeth (20:44):
Yeah.
What's coming up for you in thefuture?
Um, you know, like I'mwondering why you want to do a
podcast with me.
I look it, this is all aboutthe joy, and I was grateful to
have you reach out.
I'm just curious, what's on thehorizon for you?
Jack Seavor McDonald (21:00):
Well, coming up is sort of sort of a
nebulous thing with the way thatthe industry looks right now.
Everything is so slow anduncertain.
Uh, all that I know for sure isthat I I just finished a movie
called Or Else.
(21:20):
And um, did I miss that?
Carmen Lezeth (21:23):
Tell us a little bit about Or Else and when it
might be coming out.
No, you just finished filmingit, right?
You just finished filming it.
Jack Seavor McDonald (21:29):
Uh-huh.
A few months ago we wefinished, and I think I just
heard that they were doneediting as well.
So Or Else is a horror comedywritten and directed by Diana
Hopper from the Goliath serieson HBO.
Okay.
And it's about this woman infreshman year of college, and uh
(21:56):
people start to pass awayaround her, and it's intrigue
and mystery, who done it.
Carmen Lezeth (22:05):
Who's done it, okay?
Jack Seavor McDonald (22:06):
And then it sort of all spirals around
this main character to aclimactic showdown.
Carmen Lezeth (22:14):
Okay, so I I know I kind of skipped it.
I don't do horror.
So if if you've ever watchedour show, which I'm sure you'll
watch in the future, um, uh,Cynthia and Rick love horror.
So I'm a one man out orwhatever.
Like so, I kinda I I even evenif I don't intend to, I you
know, I was like horror skip.
You know what I mean?
Jack Seavor McDonald (22:34):
So I grew up the same exact way.
I would not touch a horrormovie with a 10-yard stick.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Yeah.
Jack Seavor McDonald (22:41):
Um, and weirdly, what made the switch
for me is I started my sister,who I have a five years older
than me sister, and uh she wasshowing me the saw movies, which
those aren't even reallyhorror.
Carmen Lezeth (22:59):
I won't even watch them, but you just said
saw.
I'm just yeah, I don't want todo gore.
I don't I'm really goody twoshoes, don't want to watch
anything that has horribleending.
Jack Seavor McDonald (23:09):
Color.
I I understand.
And uh my my sister startedshowing me the special features
for the Saw movies, and ithelped me so much to see how it
was done to and it's all fake.
Right.
And even though I knew that ona conscious level, but seeing
(23:30):
how they did it specifically wasvery relieving to me.
Carmen Lezeth (23:35):
Okay, I can understand that.
I guess, like as you're saying,like I went skydiving because I
was afraid of heights, and itreally did help me, but I will
not be watching.
I I'll just trust you on that.
You know what I mean?
Jack Seavor McDonald (23:44):
Like Yeah, no, and I will definitely just
trust you on the skydiving.
Carmen Lezeth (23:50):
No, you have to go skydiving at some point in
your life.
You gotta do it.
Oh my gosh.
Jack Seavor McDonald (23:54):
Wow.
Well, this is just too you willnever watch one of my favorite
horror movies, and I will nevergo skydiving.
Carmen Lezeth (24:00):
Okay, I well wait, what's one of your
favorite horror films?
Jack Seavor McDonald (24:04):
Oh, I really love the Friday the 13th
series.
Carmen Lezeth (24:07):
No, yeah, I'm sorry, love.
It's it's nice to meet you andeverything, but okay, you won't
go skydiving.
I won't watch any Friday.
Okay, we're good, we're good.
I was thinking maybe I wouldfind a way.
Like I did go see Sinnersrecently, and I was like this
the whole time.
Oh, I did not see it, but Iwanted, you know, because it was
such a cultural event.
I was like, but yeah, and stillI wish I hadn't seen it.
(24:28):
I thought it was amazing, butI, yeah, it was too much for me.
Okay.
Gotcha.
But I want to get back to youtalking about AI and talking
about how the industry ischanging because that was an
interesting thread.
Yeah.
What is your feelings on it?
And again, where where do yousee yourself going, or what are
you doing, if anything, at all?
Jack Seavor McDonald (24:50):
There the disturbing trend of leadership
in production companies wantingto focus on AI usage is shame.
I really believe that there'sno future for AI in a creative
industry.
I I really think that our ownnot artificial intelligences are
(25:16):
good enough for a creativecareer like this.
Now, I'm not saying no AI ever,because I do think that there
are scientific uh pluses tousing it, you know, computing
formulas that we as humans don'thave time to do.
(25:37):
But when it comes to the actualindustry, I can't think of a
single job on a set that wouldjust out flat out be better done
by a computer.
Carmen Lezeth (25:53):
So I just had Joel Lava, who's a DJ director.
He was on our last episode.
I'll send you the link so youcan check it out.
But he was kind of talkingabout how even as a director,
and he films a lot ofcommercials, a lot of shorts,
you know, he's been we we'veknown each other for a long
time, and uh, and he's talkingabout how Hollywood's dying
because of AI.
And he knows AI, like he soit's just interesting to hear so
(26:15):
many different people in theindustry talking about AI.
And I agree with I love AI, notas a creative entity, but as
kind of like an assistant, youknow.
Like I like the, you know, Ican ask it any question and
it'll get me some information.
But as far as it, you know,taking over the creative realm
of things, I'm I'm afraid.
(26:36):
Um and Joel makes this point inthe interview.
You know, we keep saying thingslike that AI people aren't
gonna believe it, whatever, butyou know, we all believed kind
of the Star Wars puppets fromthe original movie or ET, or we
believed it even though it was,you know, made or whatever.
And it's like it's a scary timefor our industry, you know.
(26:57):
Are you nervous at all?
Jack Seavor McDonald (26:59):
Or no, I I think like any new technology,
there's just a fear of theunknown and where it will go.
But I I don't think that it'srealistic to say that it could
ever wholly replace people in anindustry.
(27:20):
I I think there's gonna beplenty of people who believe,
like, wow, technology isamazing, and I'd love to see
what AI can do.
But I couldn't ever imaginepeople just saying, that's it,
no more people-made projects.
Carmen Lezeth (27:39):
You know, I I said that to him too.
I said, I think he kept sayingHollywood's dying.
I said Hollywood's changing.
And um, I I think you and I areon kind of the more
level-headed, he's gonna be madat me if he watches it.
It's level-headed, or maybewe're just optimistic about it.
I think we're gonna find ourplace.
I also think I don't care howgreat AI is in duplicating a
(27:59):
film, there's never going to bethe ability to have someone on
stage doing an improv show or acomedian or theater.
I think what it's actuallygonna do is drive people back to
seeing live performances ordoing things like this, you know
what I mean?
So I'm glad that you'reoptimistic about the future of
(28:21):
Hollywood.
Jack Seavor McDonald (28:22):
Yeah, I mean, uh to his point about it
dying, uh, well, that you know,when something dies, then
something else is born and cantake its place.
It's okay.
If it has to die, then therewill be a brand new way of
making movies ready to take itsplace.
(28:43):
So I it's almost like we'reboth right.
It is changing, it could bedying.
Carmen Lezeth (28:48):
Yeah, I'm just gonna say he's wrong and you're
right, because I'm gonna go withthat.
He's my friend.
We can fight, we can fight onthe side of it.
unknown (28:54):
Okay.
Carmen Lezeth (28:55):
I love that you're agreeing with me.
Stay on this side of it, Jack.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Okay, okay.
Carmen Lezeth (29:00):
Um, all right, I I have some rapid fire questions
next.
Jack Seavor McDonald (29:06):
I love it.
Carmen Lezeth (29:07):
Um let me just see if I got all my other
questions out the way.
Jack Seavor McDonald (29:11):
Oh, you know, I I'm sorry, really quick.
Carmen Lezeth (29:13):
No, of course.
Jack Seavor McDonald (29:14):
Way back when we were talking about my uh
inspiration for comedy andtalked about having a family
funny, uh funny family, but wewere specifically mentioning
Grammy, my grandma on my mom'sside.
She was like my first friend inlife, and we would spend so
(29:35):
much time together, and we justgot each other's humor so much
that I I would get in troublefor sitting next to her on car
rides because I'd laugh so hard,I'd wet my pants.
So she she and I had a reallystrong bond, and I think a lot
(29:56):
of my f physical humor and sort.
Of little silly voices or a lotfrom her.
Carmen Lezeth (30:05):
I asked disrespectfully, and if it's
wrong, I'll cut it out.
Has she passed on or is shestill around?
Jack Seavor McDonald (30:11):
Oh, no worries.
I don't think that'sdisrespectful.
Uh, she's passed on as of 2022,I believe.
Carmen Lezeth (30:19):
Oh, recent.
Oh, Jack, I'm sorry.
Jack Seavor McDonald (30:23):
Yeah, it's it it hurts, but she is not
hurting anymore.
So I'm happy for her.
Carmen Lezeth (30:31):
And that's she lives on through you because I
saw that in every single thing Iwas looking up about you.
And that's kind of thebeautiful thing about it is
she's, you know, I'm I'm notgonna uh try to coax it or
whatever.
I just think the way in whichwe honor people says a lot more
about who they are than werealize, even when we say
(30:52):
something about them, you know.
Um, so I love that.
And she was a huge influence inyou doing the work that you do
now, which is just beautiful.
I'm so excited.
All right, so now we're gonnado a couple of rapid fire.
You don't have to be rapidabout it, though, if you wanna.
Okay.
So, all right.
Tell me the name of a role youwould drop everything for to
(31:16):
play.
Jack Seavor McDonald (31:21):
I would drop everything to play a uh the
the first sort of uh comparisonI think of is Pee-Wee's Big
Adventure.
I'm thinking of goofy maincharacter that's out to well, he
was just out to get his bike,but like someone save the town
or um Oh, that's awesome.
Carmen Lezeth (31:43):
I wouldn't have guessed that at all.
That's good.
Oh yeah.
Jack Seavor McDonald (31:47):
Yeah, I'd love to do like a goofy, an
earnest, um, scared, stupid, uhuh any of those type of any of
those types of roles.
Uh goofy main character thatyeah, is has got a heart of
gold.
Carmen Lezeth (32:01):
I love it.
Okay.
I think that's kind of who youare, though, too.
I think what people don'tunderstand about actors is they
can always find, they have tofind a piece of themselves in
the character they're playing.
And it's so interesting who youchose because I don't know you
at all, but I feel like I'm a Ihave good intuition.
That's why that relates to you.
They have a hard goal too.
(32:22):
But don't mess it up and getarrested as something tomorrow
for something bad.
Okay.
Jack Seavor McDonald (32:27):
All right, all right.
But I I'll say Carmen said.
I know.
Carmen Lezeth (32:30):
Carmen said, right.
Um, okay, funniest moment onset.
Jack Seavor McDonald (32:36):
Uh funniest moment on set, uh there
was on Never Have I Ever, I wasswimming for an episode that I
was in, and that there was thisother actor, Pete Gardner, that
was playing the coach.
He's a really big improvcomedic actor as well.
(32:58):
And when you're a speaking lineon a set, the people who in the
crew who are sort of in chargeof you, knowing where you are,
letting you know when you're upnext, it can feel like a very
sort of pampered existence, theway that they oh, do you need
(33:19):
anything to drink?
Like, are you okay?
And I was expressing to Petethat it was kind of it kind of
made me a little uncomfortablebecause I wasn't used to that,
and I just I hadn't had thiskind of uh speaking role where
they were so on hand and foot.
And he said, like, oh well, youknow, don't worry, that's kind
(33:39):
of their job, that that's allthey're there to do is make sure
you're okay and you can do yourjob.
And then I was like, okay, Idon't know, I might ask them
maybe not to do it.
Cut to, I'm in the pool, and Istart to get a cramp in my foot,
and I swim over to the edge,and the swimming instructor
(34:00):
says, Give me your foot, give meyour foot, and starts to
massage it, and someone, the sethealth person is giving me a
drink of water with electrolytesin it, and then Pete walks by
as I've got one foot out of thewater drinking a delicious
propel, and he just shakes hishead at me, like, yeah, you
(34:23):
really don't like the pampering,huh?
I actually love that.
Yeah, it was very funny for me.
I was like, oh man, he caughtme good.
Carmen Lezeth (34:34):
Well, and just so that people who don't know, the
reason why actors, and this iswhere I we spend a lot of money.
So from the money side, fromthe insurance side, from all the
other business end of thereason why we take care of all
actors on set is for a lot ofreasons.
It isn't just to make sure thatyou're okay and fine to that
you can deliver your lines,although that is a big one.
(34:55):
Like if you're comfortable andall you have to worry about is
not the lighting or what yourshirt looks like or if your
makeup's on right, you don'thave to worry about any of that.
All you have to worry about isyour line and doing your work,
the work that you were hired todo.
But the other of it is alsoinsurance.
And you said you were in apool, you know what I mean?
Like, so we have to haveeveryone in place to make sure
nothing happens that is wrong.
(35:15):
And you having a cramp andhaving somebody like the doctor
on set to be there to make surethey must that's so important,
insurance-wise, too, you know.
So I I think there's this ideaabout Hollywood that everybody's
pampered all the time.
So I wanted to give the otherperspective.
There's a reason why we dothat, you know.
Jack Seavor McDonald (35:34):
So oh, yeah.
No, I think it's so good topoint out that they they're not
doing this because you're a bigstar or no, that's no, that can
be it too.
Carmen Lezeth (35:45):
We want to take care of you to make sure you
deliver your line.
So I'm not, do not do that.
You were you were the actor onset, that was your scene, you
were waiting.
So I'm not taking away fromthat, too.
That is why we're doing it.
We're delivering lines.
You're you're just as importantas any other person on set.
And that's um on Ron Howardsets, what I loved about there
(36:07):
was it didn't matter who youwere.
Um, didn't you were everybody,whether it was the crew or
background actors or Ron Howard,everybody knows him as Opie
from you know, whatever thatshow was back in the day.
But also he's one of thegreatest uh directors around.
Um his his film sets, his thework environment.
(36:30):
I was on Parenthood and Iworked for a couple other uh
film sets, but he that that thatwhole environment is just all
about positivity and joy andhappiness, and doesn't matter
what they're filming, you know.
Yeah, but I've been on sets,I'm sure, and I just as the
financial person, I'm sureyou've been on sets that you
would never want to walk onagain.
(36:51):
And we won't discuss those.
Jack Seavor McDonald (36:55):
No, we don't need to, but yes, I I sure
have.
Yeah.
Carmen Lezeth (36:59):
But but you would do it again because you get
paid.
So you might do it again, youknow what I mean, if you get
paid.
Jack Seavor McDonald (37:04):
Sure, sure.
And depending on the the part,like there's so many different
uh milestones that actors canhave, like, oh, I finally did a
death scene, or right, oh, Ifinally got to do acting in a
pool, or things like that.
That's um so fun.
Yeah.
Carmen Lezeth (37:22):
Okay.
Favorite curse word.
Jack Seavor McDonald (37:26):
You know, in an Australian way, I find the
C word pretty fun.
Okay.
Carmen Lezeth (37:35):
See you next Tuesday.
You know what it is?
See you next Tuesday.
Jack Seavor McDonald (37:38):
Yes.
Yes, yes.
I would never use that as aderogatory misogynist term, but
as a hey friend.
Carmen Lezeth (37:47):
Got you.
Got you.
Understood.
Understood.
Okay.
Jack Seavor McDonald (37:52):
Even here, I I won't I don't even want to
actually say it, but uh I thinkit's funny in certain contexts.
Carmen Lezeth (37:58):
I love the way you said it, and that's why I
said see you next Tuesday,because I would have bleeped it
out, but it would I would havedone something underneath to
make sure people knew.
So I appreciate you being sokind on the set.
But on the set.
Oh my god, I feel like we'realready on set.
So crazy.
Okay.
All right.
Um, is there work as an actoror comedian that you wouldn't
do?
Jack Seavor McDonald (38:20):
Um, I I'm not really interested in playing
any racists.
I know that that is a realthing that should be shown so
that people know that it exists,but I don't I'm just not
interested in playing a partthat has to be derogatory or
(38:46):
racist.
I I don't I don't like that.
Of course, nobody likes it, butI I would say that is a type of
role that I would rather notokay.
Carmen Lezeth (38:55):
But if Steven Spielberg came to you and said,
I'm doing a movie and I see youas the perfect person to play
this character and he is aracist.
Your answer to StevenSpielberg.
Okay, wait, let me let me setthis up for you.
If Steven Spielberg, like Iwill not do nudity, okay?
(39:17):
True ever.
As a as a performer, I waslike, I will never do nudity.
And then somebody said, ifSteven Spielberg, like Okay, so
now answer the question.
Jack Seavor McDonald (39:28):
I'd say, look, Steven, does uh does this
racist get a comeuppance for it?
Because that is important tome.
If if I'm gonna portray acharacter that is duplicitous,
then I need them to be punished.
Carmen Lezeth (39:42):
Okay, so as your newfound manager, okay, like I
am telling you right now, ifSteven Spielberg came and told
you that you are going to play aracist in his upcoming movie,
you're gonna do it.
Because you know that he wouldget his comeuppants.
Because that's the kind of filmdirector he is.
Jack Seavor McDonald (39:59):
Okay, well then, well then great.
Carmen Lezeth (40:01):
I'm just telling you, you would.
I would make you do it.
Jack Seavor McDonald (40:04):
No, sure, sure.
I get it, I get it.
Uh but no no no.
Carmen Lezeth (40:10):
Oh, yeah, right, right, right.
Uh I'm 20%, so I don't knowabout your manager, but I won't
be 20%, right?
No, I'm just kidding.
Um, wait, I'm I I don't want tonegate what you said.
I get it though.
It's kind of like I would dobecause I had to change my idea,
right?
I'm not gonna do nudity forgratuitous sake.
But there's a differencebetween art and there's a
(40:30):
different, you're right.
There's art and then there'sjust gratuitous bullshittery.
And that's where the line isdrawn.
I think that's what you'resaying about racism or any other
ism that we could probablythrow on the table.
I don't know.
Jack Seavor McDonald (40:40):
Yeah, no, I think that's absolutely fair.
Uh uh Oh, uh I I would really II don't ever want to uh portray
or ableism is uh what anotherone that I would not like to be
portraying a certain um birth uhum illness or or what have you,
(41:05):
facial difference.
If I don't have that facialdifference.
Carmen Lezeth (41:09):
Right.
Yeah, it's such a like peopledon't understand how hard it is
to because there's the part whenyou're starting to be a
performer, you'll take anything,especially if you have no money
coming in or you don't havethat kind of financial support
somewhere else, you'll takeanything.
And I saw so many of my friendsend up regretting some of the
roles that they took, you know.
(41:30):
Um, but but then you havestandards, and I'm glad that you
are in a position where you cankind of decide not to take
certain things.
That's a great place to be.
Jack Seavor McDonald (41:39):
That's absolutely I I love that you
brought that up.
It it is weirdly unfair thatthe earlier you are in the uh
career, the less options youhave.
Yeah, yeah.
Carmen Lezeth (41:52):
They're fine though.
So um let's see, what's a soundyou hate?
Jack Seavor McDonald (42:00):
Oh, a sound I hate.
Uh oh, the the classic iPhonealarm sound will just get my
hackles up immediately because Ihad it as my oh that's okay.
I had it as my alarm for solong that if I just hear it
(42:21):
while I'm awake, my brain justgets confused and upset.
Like, I'm already awake.
Carmen Lezeth (42:28):
That's so funny.
I don't even know what thatsound is because I'm not an
iPhone user, so I trust yourjudgment.
Okay, no argument for me there.
It just kind of goes like uh ohyeah, okay, yeah, yeah.
That would drive me.
Why would that be their normalsound?
But okay.
Jack Seavor McDonald (42:43):
Yeah.
Carmen Lezeth (42:43):
Um, what's your favorite food on set?
Jack Seavor McDonald (42:48):
Oh gosh.
Uh you know, I I really if I'mgoing for fuel, I love a trail
mix.
But if if I'm just going for alittle snicky snack, uh I would
say probably like a cookie or orsome chips.
Carmen Lezeth (43:08):
Okay.
It's just fun, snacky stuff.
Craft services doesn't getenough love.
I'm just saying, craft serviceson sets do not get enough love.
Sometimes they're horribledepending on what you're on, but
most times if you're on a realset, craft services are amazing.
Jack Seavor McDonald (43:24):
Can can I tell you my theory on craft
services that no matter what setyou go on, there will always be
at least coffee and bananas.
Carmen Lezeth (43:38):
Yes! That's true.
Why is that?
Jack Seavor McDonald (43:42):
I feel like the bananas they're like
easy to carry around and carryaround.
They they have they're not theydon't have the trash involved,
and then just people everywherealways want coffee.
Carmen Lezeth (43:55):
Coffee, always, always nice.
Okay.
If you weren't an actor, whatwould you be doing?
And you cannot say gasattendant thingamajiggy that you
did back in the day.
Jack Seavor McDonald (44:05):
Well, good, because I I would never go
back.
Carmen Lezeth (44:07):
Um you you'll have to tell people that you
were you had to work a shift atlike 11 p.m.
to seven in the morning orsomething.
You were working as a gasstation attendant.
Uh where were you?
You were in school orsomething?
Jack Seavor McDonald (44:23):
That's right.
Yeah, I was in uh Fullertongoing to Cal State Fullerton for
theater, and I needed a jobbad, so I I went and did a
graveyard shift at a gas stationnearby.
And uh I would not recommendgraveyard shifts.
Carmen Lezeth (44:41):
Right, but I read that um so many people came and
would get gas and hang out withyou for a bit every once in a
while, right?
Like your teachers and yourfriends would come just to hang
out with you and some of yourimprov buddies, right?
Jack Seavor McDonald (44:53):
Yes, that's right.
I uh my friend Casey Bowencreated these posters uh that he
put up around our theaterdepartment that were
photoshopped pictures of me, andit said Graveyard Jack will be
working at this gas station.
(45:14):
Come visit him.
And uh and then people did.
Carmen Lezeth (45:18):
That's kind of nice.
That's that's good friendships,man.
That's really cool.
Jack Seavor McDonald (45:21):
I love it.
It really is.
There's really sweet communityat the Cal State Fullerton
Theater Department, and yeah,they'd take pictures and post
them on their Facebook page.
Carmen Lezeth (45:31):
That is the coolest thing.
Okay, so if you weren't anactor and a comedian, what would
you be doing?
Jack Seavor McDonald (45:41):
You know, I think I could be a food
critic.
Oh.
That was that was another oneof my dreams as a young'un
before actor.
I was like, maybe I could be afood tester.
Okay.
And then my dad was like,that's called a critic.
And so, yeah, I think I couldbe a good food critic.
(46:01):
I've got that's kind of cool.
I I mean I I love food.
Uh and then just exactly,exactly.
And then just there there aresome times where me and my
spouse Joe are are trying thingstogether, and I'm like, oh, do
you taste the cinnamon in there?
And Joe will be like, no, thisI don't taste that at all.
Speaker 1 (46:23):
Not at all.
Jack Seavor McDonald (46:24):
Yeah, and I'm like, oh, that's weird.
Why am I picking up onsomething else?
Carmen Lezeth (46:29):
Because you're very sensitive to it.
That's good, yeah, because youlove it.
Okay.
Window seat or aisle?
Jack Seavor McDonald (46:36):
Hmm.
Well, if it's an airplane, thenI would say window seat because
it it was in 2018.
I was on a trip to Ireland formy sister's wedding.
Carmen Lezeth (46:50):
Oh, nice.
Jack Seavor McDonald (46:51):
Uh-huh.
Uh my brother-in-law is apilot, so they were going
somewhere neither of them hadbeen before to get married.
Um that's nice.
Carmen Lezeth (47:02):
That's nice.
Jack Seavor McDonald (47:03):
Very cool.
Carmen Lezeth (47:04):
Yeah.
Jack Seavor McDonald (47:04):
And I had a aisle seat on that flight, and
I had taken a melatonin to helpjust sleep through the 12-hour
flight.
But then about half an hourlater, the drink cart comes out
and rams right into my knee.
Carmen Lezeth (47:20):
Oh, okay.
Jack Seavor McDonald (47:21):
And wakes me up, and I'm like, I'll never
want an aisle seat.
Carmen Lezeth (47:25):
I'll never want that again.
All right, that's a good enoughreason.
I I tend to like the aisleseat, not window seat.
Oh.
I don't like people walkingover me when they have to go to
the bathroom and stuff.
Like, I just don't like, youknow.
So, of course, my preference,I'm sure, is yours, would be to
be in first class and not bebothered at all.
But just another dream.
Okay.
All right.
So here is my take on theactor's studio question.
(47:47):
This is the last question foryou.
Okay.
If there is a hell and youfound yourself at the
fire-embossed gates, what wouldyou say to the clerk of
damnation guarding them?
Jack Seavor McDonald (48:00):
Oh my gosh.
Carmen Lezeth (48:02):
Everyone wants to do the pearly gates of heaven.
I'm saying, what if you findyourself in hell?
Jack Seavor McDonald (48:08):
Yeah, if I found myself in hell, I would
probably say, was it just onething, or did I do a bunch of
bad things?
I'd want to know exactly whatgot me there.
Carmen Lezeth (48:22):
Right.
Was it just one thing or abunch of things?
That's awesome.
Oh my God, thank you so muchfor being on the show.
Um, I want to tell people howthey can find you.
Of course, I'll be putting itdown at the bottom.
I know I could find your IG.
Your Instagram is JackSeber,right?
At Jack Siever, and that'sS-E-A-V-O-R.
Speaker 1 (48:42):
Correct.
Carmen Lezeth (48:43):
Uh, so that's your Instagram.
But did did you have anotherplace people could find you at?
Jack Seavor McDonald (48:48):
Um, you can also find me on TikTok.
Uh it's fantastic.
The similar uh username at JackSiever8.
Carmen Lezeth (48:59):
Okay, so there's an eight at the end of it.
Okay.
Jack Seavor McDonald (49:01):
Yeah.
Uh for TikTok.
Carmen Lezeth (49:03):
Okay.
Thank you so much.
Will you come back?
You have to come back.
We'll have to talk aboutsomething else.
We'll talk about acting andperforming, but you'll have to
come back.
So I'm gonna make you say it oncamera.
Jack Seavor McDonal (49:14):
Absolutely.
Carmen, I would love to be backto talk all things acting and
performing art, whatever.
Carmen Lezeth (49:21):
So much fun.
Do you do you have anythingelse coming up soon that you
want people to be aware of?
Jack Seavor McDonald (49:25):
Maybe uh can people come and see you with
your improv group or there areno standing performance dates
that uh like I do all the time,but my Instagram will always
have updates.
Carmen Lezeth (49:40):
Perfect answer.
Yep.
And so we can always figure outhow to find you, see you, and
just be in your presence.
It was a pleasure to meet you.
Thank you so much.
And everyone, uh, please govisit him, follow him on
Instagram and on TikTok.
And um, yeah, remember at theend of the day, it really is all
about the joy.
Thank you, everyone.
Bye.
(50:01):
Thanks.
Thanks for stopping by, AllAbout the Joy.
Be better and stay beautiful,folks.
Have a sweet day.
Okay, we're recording.
Jack, it's so nice to meet you.
I'm so glad you're here on theshow.
Yay!
Jack Seavor McDonald (00:06):
Amazing.
Thank you so much for havingme.
And it's wonderful to meet youtoo, Carmen.
Carmen Lezeth (00:10):
I know.
I'm so excited.
So Jack Siever McDonald is anactor and a comedian.
And I have to say, you may notknow this, but like I I have
love for performers.
You know, I live in Los Angelestoo.
You know, I just um I think weneed to have more people on the
show that are creatives.
And so thank you for being, Ithink you're our first.
Jack Seavor McDonald (00:31):
Really?
Wow.
Carmen Lezeth (00:32):
Yeah.
I mean, we we have a neglectedgroup of guests that come on the
show.
But um I remember when your PRperson reached out to me, I was
like, yes, immediately.
And then we had to like,because we we have a schedule we
keep.
And so I was so glad that whenwe had a cancellation, I was
like, could you possibly come inearlier?
So thank you for doing this.
I appreciate it.
Jack Seavor McDonald (00:53):
So yeah, absolutely.
No problem.
I mean, life happens to us all,you know.
Carmen Lezeth (01:00):
No, no, no.
So, okay, so for people whodon't know, uh, you're gonna
find out everything you need toknow about Jack.
So you're a loss.
So of course I'm readingbecause I just grabbed a whole
bunch of stuff off of all ofyour well, you know, I'm I'm I'm
not gonna pretend I knoweverything about you, but I know
a lot.
Um, you're a Los Angeles-basedactor and comedian.
You're known for Never Have IEver.
Is that on that's on Netflix,right?
Jack Seavor McDonald (01:22):
That's right.
Carmen Lezeth (01:23):
Um, Ted, I've seen.
So, and that's the the TVseries that is um uh narrated.
Is it narrated?
No, no, he's Ted is what's hisSeth McFarland, right?
Is the voice.
Um, so I've seen that and themovie.
You've been on Modern Family,you've been on Young Sheldon,
you've been on Stubbs, you'vebeen on so many shows.
(01:43):
You've also been in a lot ofcommercials, right?
I've seen quite a few of them,I think.
I've seen at least two.
You've been on two nationalcommercials.
You started performing when youwere a kid.
Can you tell me when you knewthat you wanted to be an actor?
I know that you're a lot ofyour influences, you talk a lot
about your grandmother.
Is is that who Grammy is, yourgrandmother?
Jack Seavor McDonald (02:06):
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
Carmen Lezeth (02:07):
Can you talk a little bit about that, your
beginnings?
Jack Seavor McDonald (02:10):
Yes, absolutely.
Um, so I I have memories ofbeing in kindergarten and really
enjoying making my crush laughby dancing goofy and falling
down doing Pratt falls, but Ireally didn't consider acting to
(02:30):
be a viable career until likesixth grade.
I heard that acting was a realjob.
Carmen Lezeth (02:38):
And I that was my first year that I you grew up
in California, so you also grewup with the idea that acting was
not a real job.
That's a prevalent thing here.
Jack Seavor McDonald (02:50):
Uh I mean, yeah, even uh so I grew up
about an hour away from LosAngeles, and even that close to
the the whole biz, you you stillgrow up hearing that's a very
competitive business.
You should really do somethingelse as a backup plan.
Carmen Lezeth (03:08):
And that's so interesting to hear, Jack,
because that's how I grew up onthe East Coast.
Like, you know, anything to dowith performing was that's not a
real job.
So I'm sorry, that wasfascinating to hear that from
someone who grew up here.
So go ahead, I'm sorry.
Jack Seavor McDonald (03:20):
No, you're fine.
Yeah, absolutely.
And so in sixth grade, Iauditioned for a community
theater uh show, Alice inWonderland Jr.
And when I auditioned forsomething where nobody knew me
or like nobody knew my mom, andthey cast me in the musical as
(03:41):
the Mad Hatter.
That was a really bigconfidence boost for me.
It was a Valverde School ofPerforming Arts in Rancho
Cucamonga.
They still do classes if anyonearound that area is listening.
Interested in stepping intoyour shoes.
Oh, sure, yeah.
It's uh a really wonderfulcommunity and really fantastic
(04:06):
teachers there.
Uh I basically from about sixthor seventh grade through my
first year of college, I wasstill doing shows with them.
And yeah, every summer andspring they do a musical, uh
junior show for 18 and under,and then bigger show with adults
in the summer.
(04:27):
Yeah.
Carmen Lezeth (04:28):
How did comedy become part because there's
acting and there's comedy, andpeople like to confuse that it's
oh, it's the same thing.
No.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Right.
Carmen Lezeth (04:36):
So how did you realize?
I mean, you you talked about uhmaking your crush laugh, and
that's when you knew, but thenyou went into kind of more
dramatic acting with the school,right?
Jack Seavor McDonald (04:48):
Um at first, but it was definitely my
I I I just grew up in a funnyfamily, really.
So I've always been inclined towant to make people laugh
because that's how I was shownthat adults are from my mom and
my dad.
Carmen Lezeth (05:08):
Okay, you and I grew up very differently, but at
least I I'm very lucky.
That's awesome.
Um, who are some of yourinfluences?
Do you have favorite comedians?
Let's start with comediansfirst because I'm always
curious.
I may not know them, so but goahead.
Jack Seavor McDonald (05:24):
No worries, that is totally fine.
I love Tim Robinson.
Carmen Lezeth (05:28):
You know Tim Robinson?
Jack Seavor McDonald (05:29):
He's recently had a pretty big not
shift, but like he has a sketchshow on Netflix called I Think
You Should Leave, and he justgot a new show on HBO called The
Chair Company.
Carmen Lezeth (05:42):
Okay, I'll have to check them out.
Who else?
Jack Seavor McDonald (05:44):
Yeah, uh I I love his comedy.
Dimitri Martin.
I I love him.
Carmen Lezeth (05:50):
I feel so old right now.
I don't know who this is.
Jack Seavor McDonald (05:53):
No, it's fine.
It's totally fine.
He actually doesn't really do alot of uh stand-up anymore.
He was back from like 2010s, Ithink, and he did a lot of sort
of prop comedy drawing in frontof crowds.
Carmen Lezeth (06:09):
What kind of comedian are you?
Do you do a lot of stand-up orare you more like Steve Martin?
Do you know who Steve Martinis?
Because I'm going to be soembarrassed if you don't.
Jack Seavor McDonald (06:18):
No, I definitely do.
I I think I would definitelysay Steve Martin is an influence
and Jim Carrey.
I watched a lot of Jim Carreygrowing up.
So I would say that morephysical and sort of goofball
energy is more my thing.
I like to do uh improv morethan that.
Carmen Lezeth (06:37):
Oh, right.
I read about that.
You have your own improv grouptoo, right?
Jack Seavor McDonald (06:42):
Yeah, we're called Heat Wave, and it's
me and two other comedians, andwe perform all over Southern
California.
Carmen Lezeth (06:50):
That's so great.
Now, do you prefer am I goingtoo fast with too many
questions?
I'm so sorry.
Jack Seavor McDonald (06:54):
I don't know.
I don't think so.
Am I answering in a Oh my god,you are.
Carmen Lezeth (06:59):
I'm totally loving this.
Like you're not going to beable to leave for like you know
three hours.
We're gonna have a wholeconversation.
But let me ask you this.
Um, do you prefer, this mightnot be a fair question, dramatic
acting or comedic acting?
Jack Seavor McDonald (07:14):
I value dramatic acting for its
challenge, its own personalchallenge, but my heart is
definitely connected more tocomedy.
Okay because it was just comedywas just such a huge important
part of my childhood growing up.
(07:36):
If you're sad, you get hurt.
The automatic thing is to tryand make someone laugh and makes
them feel better.
And I that always stuck out tome is that people are happy when
they're laughing.
Why wouldn't I want to make asmany people laugh as I could?
Carmen Lezeth (07:54):
Let me just see this.
Uh, you're married to Joe, youhave a dog named Willie.
I'm like just letting everyoneknow the stuff you can read
about.
Um, and I love how thedescription is cattle dog,
chihuahua, miner, and I'm likemutt.
That is a mutt, like, which Ibelieve we all are, which are
the best kinds of people anddogs, right?
So totally.
(08:14):
You are known for your warmthand humility and grounded
presence, despite working inhigh-profile productions.
What do you love about being onset?
Can you share with people whodon't know anything about
acting, have never been becausethat's our audience.
Our audience, some of thepeople on our show have been on
set because they're from LosAngeles or New York, but our
(08:36):
audience really is not theHollywood crowd.
So what is it like to be on setfor you?
Jack Seavor McDonald (08:42):
When I'm on set, I really love to well,
when you're in a studio, theyhave all these fake walls that
they've built to try and makeyour setting look as realistic
as possible.
And one of my favorite thingsis to go around looking at the
set to see what is real, what'suh uh just for looks like um the
(09:08):
old Looney Tunes cartoons.
You could always tell what wasabout to be like touched in the
background because it was adifferent color or something.
Carmen Lezeth (09:19):
Uh was it oh go ahead, I'm sorry.
I agree.
Jack Seavor McDonald (09:22):
No, no worries.
Uh so I just to round out thatanswer, I would say I I love
getting to look at the setdecoration and uh admire the
work that all the other crewputs into uh a project like
that.
Carmen Lezeth (09:37):
I don't think people understand, um,
especially people who are notpart of the Hollywood crowd,
that people that build the sets,construction workers,
electricians, there's justthere's so many people involved
in the crew.
And like I was thinking aboutthe modern family set, you know,
that must have been interestingbecause it's actually a house,
right?
(09:57):
There are certain houses thatyou go into.
Um, or are you on a stage crewall the time?
Were you at one of the stageswhen you were doing Modern
Family, for example?
Jack Seavor McDonald (10:07):
Uh for Modern Family, I remember that
we were on a sound stage for oneof the scenes.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Uh-huh.
Jack Seavor McDonald (10:16):
Um, but uh a lot of the time, even if
you're in a house, they justhave that section of the house
built.
Carmen Lezeth (10:27):
So right, just the living room or something or
whatever it is.
Jack Seavor McDonald (10:31):
Mm-hmm.
And and for instance, in theModern Family one, there's a
scene where I'm in a bedroom,uh, Manny's bedroom at his
computer, and you're like, oh,okay, he like lives on the
second floor of the uh of hishouse.
They don't need to do that, butthey do build an entire first
floor to just give that samefeeling that there's a second
(10:55):
story and you're in a room thatis only imagining the rest of
the house space.
Carmen Lezeth (11:03):
And isn't that I mean, that's kind of the
beautiful part about being anactor is you do you really do
have to use your imaginationbecause what people don't
understand is that while you'redoing your lines, there's a mic
overhead hanging, there's peoplewith lighting, there's people
with cameras all around you.
It's not just you and Manny ina room, it's you and like, I
(11:24):
don't know, 45, 50 other people,right?
Jack Seavor McDonald (11:27):
I mean Yeah, yeah, easily.
And all the there's dozens ofdifferent things that need to go
correctly on a set for uh ascene to be or that angle of a
scene to be deemed correctlyfilmed, or like, oh, that's what
we wanted.
(11:47):
You need the lights to becorrect, you need the makeup and
the hair, and then the camerahas to move the exact correct
way every time.
I I think you're right, peopledon't really realize how much of
a a dance every sort of scenethat you film is.
Carmen Lezeth (12:06):
And it's not one time.
So do you remember how manytimes you had to film?
And and it's not because anactor does something wrong, but
you have to film a certainscene, like how many times would
you say you do a few takes orsomething?
Jack Seavor McDonald (12:21):
Um, I mean, it it when everyone is on
their game, so to speak, it canprobably be three to four takes
if that's everyone working attheir best.
But anything could happen, Iwould say the worst I've ever
gone to is probably like 15 to20 takes of something
(12:44):
complicated.
Oh, that's hard.
Carmen Lezeth (12:46):
Yeah, that's really hard.
And it's because, just so I canexplain to our audience if you
don't mind, and you can correctme if I'm wrong because it's
been a long time since I've beenactive on a set.
I've been running budgets forsex, but um they will film you
straight on doing your lines,and then they will turn around.
So that'll be one take offilming, and then they'll turn
(13:09):
around and put the camera behindyou and take your scene partner
from the opposite side, they'llfilm that.
Then they'll turn around and doangles.
But again, it's like ifeveryone's on point, and that
doesn't mean just the actors,it's the lighting, the sound.
I mean, I remember doing thescene, and this was theater, and
you know, we were like justtrying to do the previews or
whatever, and um I thought wehad nailed it, you know, like we
(13:33):
they were filming it for to dokind of these little like uh ads
or whatever, and that neverreally happens in theater, but
they were filming it, and Ithought we nailed it, and the
sound hadn't been like no onehad sound and any packs or
anything.
Like it was such a stupidthing, but it was a small
community theater thing, so itreally is about everything on
(13:53):
set.
Um, are you energized whenyou're on set or on on stage?
Like, do you you do comedic?
Oh, you know what?
Maybe I'm confusing.
Do you do stand-up?
I thought you did stand-up aswell.
Jack Seavor McDonald (14:07):
I uh uh I'm definitely interested in
stand-up.
I've done it once.
I did an open mic in 2020February, and then I haven't
been back to it, but it doesinterest me.
I uh I struggle when it comesto sitting down and getting my
thoughts out on paper, which iswhy I love improv so much.
(14:30):
It's just it's out there.
Carmen Lezeth (14:32):
Okay, I was just gonna ask you.
That's why I'm I'm kind of uhinterrupting again.
I'm just so excited to talk toyou.
Um, can you explain what thedifference is between improv and
like stand-up comedy?
Because that's a mistake I justmade in asking, right?
I am like, oh, he does stand-upcomedy because you talked about
improv.
So can you explain what thedifferences are and what it
(14:53):
means to say you do improv withtwo of your comedic friends?
Jack Seavor McDonald (14:57):
Yes, absolutely.
So uh stand-up is typically aone-person performance that they
have written ahead of time andpracticed multiple times, uh,
including in front of anaudience, and each of those
shows is going to be verysimilar to each other.
Whereas with improv, you do notwrite anything down beforehand,
(15:22):
and you are doing it withmultiple people.
It's not just you, you'reworking as a team, and you can
just get a suggestion of anyword from the audience, and then
you just do scenes uh made upby you and your friends right
there on the spot, and hopefullyit's funny.
Carmen Lezeth (15:40):
I mean, I think that would be so much scarier
than like writing it all out,having it memorized, but I think
like the hard part with that islike being funny after you
writing something would alsoscare me to death because I
wouldn't be able to be funnyafter writing something.
You know what I mean?
So I think what you do is evenscarier.
So you go on stage with yourfriends, you ask the audience,
(16:03):
like, can you just give me kindof a what happens behind the
scene thing?
Jack Seavor McDonal (16:06):
Absolutely.
So the way that our team works,Heat Wave, we go out and we
say, Hey everybody, we're HeatWave.
All we need to get started isone word suggestion.
What is something that makesyou sweat?
And then the audience will justsay something that makes them
(16:27):
sweat, and then that's our oneword.
We all repeat it, and then wego into whatever scene starts to
happen.
Carmen Lezeth (16:38):
Is that right?
Jack Seavor McDonald (16:38):
Like uh That's right, just any kind of
comedic scene, and anyone canstart it.
You just start mimingsomething.
I I don't even know what thatwas.
Maybe a uh violin.
Carmen Lezeth (16:51):
What is that?
Like something makes you sweat.
unknown (16:54):
Yeah.
Jack Seavor McDonald (16:56):
I don't know.
I don't know.
Carmen Lezeth (16:58):
Oh, I love it.
Okay, you just taught mesomething.
I made an assumption and uh youjust taught me something which
is kind of embarrassing sinceI've been working in Hollywood
forever.
Jack Seavor McDonald (17:07):
Uh oh no, no.
I I I think no matter your yourno matter a person's age or
like where you come from, you'renever done learning.
You you always have thecapability to learn.
Carmen Lezeth (17:19):
And I I know nothing about uh I'm I'm not uh
a comedy person that I lovecomedy.
I love, but I I think it's awhole different kind of
performance.
I think it's a whole differenttype of um ability and skill
set.
And um, you know, people wouldalways tell me that I'm kind of
(17:40):
funny, but I'm not funny.
I'm just funny because Iwhatever, I can talk to people
and make them laugh, but not onpurpose and not as a thing.
It's accidental, you know.
So when you were talking aboutwhen you were younger and you
noticed you like to make peoplelaugh, why?
I know you noticed it, butsometimes comedians are um tend
(18:04):
to have these tragic, painfulyou don't seem to be that, but
I'm I'm just and if it's toomuch to talk about, we don't
have to talk about it.
But I'm just curious of do youhave that kind of uh thing too,
you know, all this tragedy, andso that's why you're able to be
a comedian.
Jack Seavor McDonald (18:22):
Um luckily I'm I don't really come from
much trauma uh myself.
I'd say God bless you.
Uh it's pretty I I've had apretty privileged life that the
extent of it at the time wasjust I'm fat and I don't want
them to make fun of me.
(18:42):
And so if I can make themlaugh, then I can control how
they're reacting to me, and Idon't have to feel bad about how
I look because well, I madethem laugh.
Carmen Lezeth (18:54):
Oh my okay, but the way you just said that was
so amazing.
Like your confidence in sayingthat.
Jack Seavor McDonald (19:02):
Thanks.
Yeah.
Carmen Lezeth (19:04):
Wow, I love that.
I was wait a minute, I totallyhad like a moment, and I was
like, did he just what?
Secure.
Because some people would sayyou were doing, I mean, you you
just admitted it straight out,but you were also doing it as a
protective thing, but also askind of a help to them.
Jack Seavor McDonald (19:21):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I thought, or you know, Igenerally think that okay, if I
I'm not always thinking aboutthis in such an analytical way,
but I think that it is oh, I'musually looking for the most
amount of happiness in everyinteraction because I just
(19:45):
don't, you know, I'm a littleweird.
I don't like people upset withme.
Um I don't think that's weird.
Carmen Lezeth (19:51):
I think that's human I think that's human
nature.
Jack Seavor McDonald (19:54):
I know, I'm just joshing around.
Oh, okay, okay.
Carmen Lezeth (19:56):
I I think it's human nature.
And and I think what'sdifferent about what you're
saying is that you know yourselfwell enough, which I think is
also an attribute to being agood performer, a good actor, a
good I was a dancer as a kid,that's why I always say
performer.
Um I think if you know yourselfwell enough, it's a different
kind of confidence that mostpeople don't have.
Jack Seavor McDonald (20:19):
Right.
That's have that.
Uh yeah, I I've always beenvery lucky that I I knew since
such a young age that I wantedto be an actor, and I that was
one of the things that I heardoften was like, wow, that's so
surprising that you know whatyou want to do.
Yeah.
And um, so I I do considermyself lucky to have uh been
(20:41):
through that so early.
Carmen Lezeth (20:44):
Yeah.
What's coming up for you in thefuture?
Um, you know, like I'mwondering why you want to do a
podcast with me.
I look it, this is all aboutthe joy, and I was grateful to
have you reach out.
I'm just curious, what's on thehorizon for you?
Jack Seavor McDonald (21:00):
Well, coming up is sort of sort of a
nebulous thing with the way thatthe industry looks right now.
Everything is so slow anduncertain.
Uh, all that I know for sure isthat I I just finished a movie
called Or Else.
(21:20):
And um, did I miss that?
Carmen Lezeth (21:23):
Tell us a little bit about Or Else and when it
might be coming out.
No, you just finished filmingit, right?
You just finished filming it.
Jack Seavor McDonald (21:29):
Uh-huh.
A few months ago we wefinished, and I think I just
heard that they were doneediting as well.
So Or Else is a horror comedywritten and directed by Diana
Hopper from the Goliath serieson HBO.
Okay.
And it's about this woman infreshman year of college, and uh
(21:56):
people start to pass awayaround her, and it's intrigue
and mystery, who done it.
Carmen Lezeth (22:05):
Who's done it, okay?
Jack Seavor McDonald (22:06):
And then it sort of all spirals around
this main character to aclimactic showdown.
Carmen Lezeth (22:14):
Okay, so I I know I kind of skipped it.
I don't do horror.
So if if you've ever watchedour show, which I'm sure you'll
watch in the future, um, uh,Cynthia and Rick love horror.
So I'm a one man out orwhatever.
Like so, I kinda I I even evenif I don't intend to, I you
know, I was like horror skip.
You know what I mean?
Jack Seavor McDonald (22:34):
So I grew up the same exact way.
I would not touch a horrormovie with a 10-yard stick.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Yeah.
Jack Seavor McDonald (22:41):
Um, and weirdly, what made the switch
for me is I started my sister,who I have a five years older
than me sister, and uh she wasshowing me the saw movies, which
those aren't even reallyhorror.
Carmen Lezeth (22:59):
I won't even watch them, but you just said
saw.
I'm just yeah, I don't want todo gore.
I don't I'm really goody twoshoes, don't want to watch
anything that has horribleending.
Jack Seavor McDonald (23:09):
Color.
I I understand.
And uh my my sister startedshowing me the special features
for the Saw movies, and ithelped me so much to see how it
was done to and it's all fake.
Right.
And even though I knew that ona conscious level, but seeing
(23:30):
how they did it specifically wasvery relieving to me.
Carmen Lezeth (23:35):
Okay, I can understand that.
I guess, like as you're saying,like I went skydiving because I
was afraid of heights, and itreally did help me, but I will
not be watching.
I I'll just trust you on that.
You know what I mean?
Jack Seavor McDonald (23:44):
Like Yeah, no, and I will definitely just
trust you on the skydiving.
Carmen Lezeth (23:50):
No, you have to go skydiving at some point in
your life.
You gotta do it.
Oh my gosh.
Jack Seavor McDonald (23:54):
Wow.
Well, this is just too you willnever watch one of my favorite
horror movies, and I will nevergo skydiving.
Carmen Lezeth (24:00):
Okay, I well wait, what's one of your
favorite horror films?
Jack Seavor McDonald (24:04):
Oh, I really love the Friday the 13th
series.
Carmen Lezeth (24:07):
No, yeah, I'm sorry, love.
It's it's nice to meet you andeverything, but okay, you won't
go skydiving.
I won't watch any Friday.
Okay, we're good, we're good.
I was thinking maybe I wouldfind a way.
Like I did go see Sinnersrecently, and I was like this
the whole time.
Oh, I did not see it, but Iwanted, you know, because it was
such a cultural event.
I was like, but yeah, and stillI wish I hadn't seen it.
(24:28):
I thought it was amazing, butI, yeah, it was too much for me.
Okay.
Gotcha.
But I want to get back to youtalking about AI and talking
about how the industry ischanging because that was an
interesting thread.
Yeah.
What is your feelings on it?
And again, where where do yousee yourself going, or what are
you doing, if anything, at all?
Jack Seavor McDonald (24:50):
There the disturbing trend of leadership
in production companies wantingto focus on AI usage is shame.
I really believe that there'sno future for AI in a creative
industry.
I I really think that our ownnot artificial intelligences are
(25:16):
good enough for a creativecareer like this.
Now, I'm not saying no AI ever,because I do think that there
are scientific uh pluses tousing it, you know, computing
formulas that we as humans don'thave time to do.
(25:37):
But when it comes to the actualindustry, I can't think of a
single job on a set that wouldjust out flat out be better done
by a computer.
Carmen Lezeth (25:53):
So I just had Joel Lava, who's a DJ director.
He was on our last episode.
I'll send you the link so youcan check it out.
But he was kind of talkingabout how even as a director,
and he films a lot ofcommercials, a lot of shorts,
you know, he's been we we'veknown each other for a long
time, and uh, and he's talkingabout how Hollywood's dying
because of AI.
And he knows AI, like he soit's just interesting to hear so
(26:15):
many different people in theindustry talking about AI.
And I agree with I love AI, notas a creative entity, but as
kind of like an assistant, youknow.
Like I like the, you know, Ican ask it any question and
it'll get me some information.
But as far as it, you know,taking over the creative realm
of things, I'm I'm afraid.
(26:36):
Um and Joel makes this point inthe interview.
You know, we keep saying thingslike that AI people aren't
gonna believe it, whatever, butyou know, we all believed kind
of the Star Wars puppets fromthe original movie or ET, or we
believed it even though it was,you know, made or whatever.
And it's like it's a scary timefor our industry, you know.
(26:57):
Are you nervous at all?
Jack Seavor McDonald (26:59):
Or no, I I think like any new technology,
there's just a fear of theunknown and where it will go.
But I I don't think that it'srealistic to say that it could
ever wholly replace people in anindustry.
(27:20):
I I think there's gonna beplenty of people who believe,
like, wow, technology isamazing, and I'd love to see
what AI can do.
But I couldn't ever imaginepeople just saying, that's it,
no more people-made projects.
Carmen Lezeth (27:39):
You know, I I said that to him too.
I said, I think he kept sayingHollywood's dying.
I said Hollywood's changing.
And um, I I think you and I areon kind of the more
level-headed, he's gonna be madat me if he watches it.
It's level-headed, or maybewe're just optimistic about it.
I think we're gonna find ourplace.
I also think I don't care howgreat AI is in duplicating a
(27:59):
film, there's never going to bethe ability to have someone on
stage doing an improv show or acomedian or theater.
I think what it's actuallygonna do is drive people back to
seeing live performances ordoing things like this, you know
what I mean?
So I'm glad that you'reoptimistic about the future of
(28:21):
Hollywood.
Jack Seavor McDonald (28:22):
Yeah, I mean, uh to his point about it
dying, uh, well, that you know,when something dies, then
something else is born and cantake its place.
It's okay.
If it has to die, then therewill be a brand new way of
making movies ready to take itsplace.
(28:43):
So I it's almost like we'reboth right.
It is changing, it could bedying.
Carmen Lezeth (28:48):
Yeah, I'm just gonna say he's wrong and you're
right, because I'm gonna go withthat.
He's my friend.
We can fight, we can fight onthe side of it.
unknown (28:54):
Okay.
Carmen Lezeth (28:55):
I love that you're agreeing with me.
Stay on this side of it, Jack.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Okay, okay.
Carmen Lezeth (29:00):
Um, all right, I I have some rapid fire questions
next.
Jack Seavor McDonald (29:06):
I love it.
Carmen Lezeth (29:07):
Um let me just see if I got all my other
questions out the way.
Jack Seavor McDonald (29:11):
Oh, you know, I I'm sorry, really quick.
Carmen Lezeth (29:13):
No, of course.
Jack Seavor McDonald (29:14):
Way back when we were talking about my uh
inspiration for comedy andtalked about having a family
funny, uh funny family, but wewere specifically mentioning
Grammy, my grandma on my mom'sside.
She was like my first friend inlife, and we would spend so
(29:35):
much time together, and we justgot each other's humor so much
that I I would get in troublefor sitting next to her on car
rides because I'd laugh so hard,I'd wet my pants.
So she she and I had a reallystrong bond, and I think a lot
(29:56):
of my f physical humor and sort.
Of little silly voices or a lotfrom her.
Carmen Lezeth (30:05):
I asked disrespectfully, and if it's
wrong, I'll cut it out.
Has she passed on or is shestill around?
Jack Seavor McDonald (30:11):
Oh, no worries.
I don't think that'sdisrespectful.
Uh, she's passed on as of 2022,I believe.
Carmen Lezeth (30:19):
Oh, recent.
Oh, Jack, I'm sorry.
Jack Seavor McDonald (30:23):
Yeah, it's it it hurts, but she is not
hurting anymore.
So I'm happy for her.
Carmen Lezeth (30:31):
And that's she lives on through you because I
saw that in every single thing Iwas looking up about you.
And that's kind of thebeautiful thing about it is
she's, you know, I'm I'm notgonna uh try to coax it or
whatever.
I just think the way in whichwe honor people says a lot more
about who they are than werealize, even when we say
(30:52):
something about them, you know.
Um, so I love that.
And she was a huge influence inyou doing the work that you do
now, which is just beautiful.
I'm so excited.
All right, so now we're gonnado a couple of rapid fire.
You don't have to be rapidabout it, though, if you wanna.
Okay.
So, all right.
Tell me the name of a role youwould drop everything for to
(31:16):
play.
Jack Seavor McDonald (31:21):
I would drop everything to play a uh the
the first sort of uh comparisonI think of is Pee-Wee's Big
Adventure.
I'm thinking of goofy maincharacter that's out to well, he
was just out to get his bike,but like someone save the town
or um Oh, that's awesome.
Carmen Lezeth (31:43):
I wouldn't have guessed that at all.
That's good.
Oh yeah.
Jack Seavor McDonald (31:47):
Yeah, I'd love to do like a goofy, an
earnest, um, scared, stupid, uhuh any of those type of any of
those types of roles.
Uh goofy main character thatyeah, is has got a heart of
gold.
Carmen Lezeth (32:01):
I love it.
Okay.
I think that's kind of who youare, though, too.
I think what people don'tunderstand about actors is they
can always find, they have tofind a piece of themselves in
the character they're playing.
And it's so interesting who youchose because I don't know you
at all, but I feel like I'm a Ihave good intuition.
That's why that relates to you.
They have a hard goal too.
(32:22):
But don't mess it up and getarrested as something tomorrow
for something bad.
Okay.
Jack Seavor McDonald (32:27):
All right, all right.
But I I'll say Carmen said.
I know.
Carmen Lezeth (32:30):
Carmen said, right.
Um, okay, funniest moment onset.
Jack Seavor McDonald (32:36):
Uh funniest moment on set, uh there
was on Never Have I Ever, I wasswimming for an episode that I
was in, and that there was thisother actor, Pete Gardner, that
was playing the coach.
He's a really big improvcomedic actor as well.
(32:58):
And when you're a speaking lineon a set, the people who in the
crew who are sort of in chargeof you, knowing where you are,
letting you know when you're upnext, it can feel like a very
sort of pampered existence, theway that they oh, do you need
(33:19):
anything to drink?
Like, are you okay?
And I was expressing to Petethat it was kind of it kind of
made me a little uncomfortablebecause I wasn't used to that,
and I just I hadn't had thiskind of uh speaking role where
they were so on hand and foot.
And he said, like, oh well, youknow, don't worry, that's kind
(33:39):
of their job, that that's allthey're there to do is make sure
you're okay and you can do yourjob.
And then I was like, okay, Idon't know, I might ask them
maybe not to do it.
Cut to, I'm in the pool, and Istart to get a cramp in my foot,
and I swim over to the edge,and the swimming instructor
(34:00):
says, Give me your foot, give meyour foot, and starts to
massage it, and someone, the sethealth person is giving me a
drink of water with electrolytesin it, and then Pete walks by
as I've got one foot out of thewater drinking a delicious
propel, and he just shakes hishead at me, like, yeah, you
(34:23):
really don't like the pampering,huh?
I actually love that.
Yeah, it was very funny for me.
I was like, oh man, he caughtme good.
Carmen Lezeth (34:34):
Well, and just so that people who don't know, the
reason why actors, and this iswhere I we spend a lot of money.
So from the money side, fromthe insurance side, from all the
other business end of thereason why we take care of all
actors on set is for a lot ofreasons.
It isn't just to make sure thatyou're okay and fine to that
you can deliver your lines,although that is a big one.
(34:55):
Like if you're comfortable andall you have to worry about is
not the lighting or what yourshirt looks like or if your
makeup's on right, you don'thave to worry about any of that.
All you have to worry about isyour line and doing your work,
the work that you were hired todo.
But the other of it is alsoinsurance.
And you said you were in apool, you know what I mean?
Like, so we have to haveeveryone in place to make sure
nothing happens that is wrong.
(35:15):
And you having a cramp andhaving somebody like the doctor
on set to be there to make surethey must that's so important,
insurance-wise, too, you know.
So I I think there's this ideaabout Hollywood that everybody's
pampered all the time.
So I wanted to give the otherperspective.
There's a reason why we dothat, you know.
Jack Seavor McDonald (35:34):
So oh, yeah.
No, I think it's so good topoint out that they they're not
doing this because you're a bigstar or no, that's no, that can
be it too.
Carmen Lezeth (35:45):
We want to take care of you to make sure you
deliver your line.
So I'm not, do not do that.
You were you were the actor onset, that was your scene, you
were waiting.
So I'm not taking away fromthat, too.
That is why we're doing it.
We're delivering lines.
You're you're just as importantas any other person on set.
And that's um on Ron Howardsets, what I loved about there
(36:07):
was it didn't matter who youwere.
Um, didn't you were everybody,whether it was the crew or
background actors or Ron Howard,everybody knows him as Opie
from you know, whatever thatshow was back in the day.
But also he's one of thegreatest uh directors around.
Um his his film sets, his thework environment.
(36:30):
I was on Parenthood and Iworked for a couple other uh
film sets, but he that that thatwhole environment is just all
about positivity and joy andhappiness, and doesn't matter
what they're filming, you know.
Yeah, but I've been on sets,I'm sure, and I just as the
financial person, I'm sureyou've been on sets that you
would never want to walk onagain.
(36:51):
And we won't discuss those.
Jack Seavor McDonald (36:55):
No, we don't need to, but yes, I I sure
have.
Yeah.
Carmen Lezeth (36:59):
But but you would do it again because you get
paid.
So you might do it again, youknow what I mean, if you get
paid.
Jack Seavor McDonald (37:04):
Sure, sure.
And depending on the the part,like there's so many different
uh milestones that actors canhave, like, oh, I finally did a
death scene, or right, oh, Ifinally got to do acting in a
pool, or things like that.
That's um so fun.
Yeah.
Carmen Lezeth (37:22):
Okay.
Favorite curse word.
Jack Seavor McDonald (37:26):
You know, in an Australian way, I find the
C word pretty fun.
Okay.
Carmen Lezeth (37:35):
See you next Tuesday.
You know what it is?
See you next Tuesday.
Jack Seavor McDonald (37:38):
Yes.
Yes, yes.
I would never use that as aderogatory misogynist term, but
as a hey friend.
Carmen Lezeth (37:47):
Got you.
Got you.
Understood.
Understood.
Okay.
Jack Seavor McDonald (37:52):
Even here, I I won't I don't even want to
actually say it, but uh I thinkit's funny in certain contexts.
Carmen Lezeth (37:58):
I love the way you said it, and that's why I
said see you next Tuesday,because I would have bleeped it
out, but it would I would havedone something underneath to
make sure people knew.
So I appreciate you being sokind on the set.
But on the set.
Oh my god, I feel like we'realready on set.
So crazy.
Okay.
All right.
Um, is there work as an actoror comedian that you wouldn't
do?
Jack Seavor McDonald (38:20):
Um, I I'm not really interested in playing
any racists.
I know that that is a realthing that should be shown so
that people know that it exists,but I don't I'm just not
interested in playing a partthat has to be derogatory or
(38:46):
racist.
I I don't I don't like that.
Of course, nobody likes it, butI I would say that is a type of
role that I would rather notokay.
Carmen Lezeth (38:55):
But if Steven Spielberg came to you and said,
I'm doing a movie and I see youas the perfect person to play
this character and he is aracist.
Your answer to StevenSpielberg.
Okay, wait, let me let me setthis up for you.
If Steven Spielberg, like Iwill not do nudity, okay?
(39:17):
True ever.
As a as a performer, I waslike, I will never do nudity.
And then somebody said, ifSteven Spielberg, like Okay, so
now answer the question.
Jack Seavor McDonald (39:28):
I'd say, look, Steven, does uh does this
racist get a comeuppance for it?
Because that is important tome.
If if I'm gonna portray acharacter that is duplicitous,
then I need them to be punished.
Carmen Lezeth (39:42):
Okay, so as your newfound manager, okay, like I
am telling you right now, ifSteven Spielberg came and told
you that you are going to play aracist in his upcoming movie,
you're gonna do it.
Because you know that he wouldget his comeuppants.
Because that's the kind of filmdirector he is.
Jack Seavor McDonald (39:59):
Okay, well then, well then great.
Carmen Lezeth (40:01):
I'm just telling you, you would.
I would make you do it.
Jack Seavor McDonald (40:04):
No, sure, sure.
I get it, I get it.
Uh but no no no.
Carmen Lezeth (40:10):
Oh, yeah, right, right, right.
Uh I'm 20%, so I don't knowabout your manager, but I won't
be 20%, right?
No, I'm just kidding.
Um, wait, I'm I I don't want tonegate what you said.
I get it though.
It's kind of like I would dobecause I had to change my idea,
right?
I'm not gonna do nudity forgratuitous sake.
But there's a differencebetween art and there's a
(40:30):
different, you're right.
There's art and then there'sjust gratuitous bullshittery.
And that's where the line isdrawn.
I think that's what you'resaying about racism or any other
ism that we could probablythrow on the table.
I don't know.
Jack Seavor McDonald (40:40):
Yeah, no, I think that's absolutely fair.
Uh uh Oh, uh I I would really II don't ever want to uh portray
or ableism is uh what anotherone that I would not like to be
portraying a certain um birth uhum illness or or what have you,
(41:05):
facial difference.
If I don't have that facialdifference.
Carmen Lezeth (41:09):
Right.
Yeah, it's such a like peopledon't understand how hard it is
to because there's the part whenyou're starting to be a
performer, you'll take anything,especially if you have no money
coming in or you don't havethat kind of financial support
somewhere else, you'll takeanything.
And I saw so many of my friendsend up regretting some of the
roles that they took, you know.
(41:30):
Um, but but then you havestandards, and I'm glad that you
are in a position where you cankind of decide not to take
certain things.
That's a great place to be.
Jack Seavor McDonald (41:39):
That's absolutely I I love that you
brought that up.
It it is weirdly unfair thatthe earlier you are in the uh
career, the less options youhave.
Yeah, yeah.
Carmen Lezeth (41:52):
They're fine though.
So um let's see, what's a soundyou hate?
Jack Seavor McDonald (42:00):
Oh, a sound I hate.
Uh oh, the the classic iPhonealarm sound will just get my
hackles up immediately because Ihad it as my oh that's okay.
I had it as my alarm for solong that if I just hear it
(42:21):
while I'm awake, my brain justgets confused and upset.
Like, I'm already awake.
Carmen Lezeth (42:28):
That's so funny.
I don't even know what thatsound is because I'm not an
iPhone user, so I trust yourjudgment.
Okay, no argument for me there.
It just kind of goes like uh ohyeah, okay, yeah, yeah.
That would drive me.
Why would that be their normalsound?
But okay.
Jack Seavor McDonald (42:43):
Yeah.
Carmen Lezeth (42:43):
Um, what's your favorite food on set?
Jack Seavor McDonald (42:48):
Oh gosh.
Uh you know, I I really if I'mgoing for fuel, I love a trail
mix.
But if if I'm just going for alittle snicky snack, uh I would
say probably like a cookie or orsome chips.
Carmen Lezeth (43:08):
Okay.
It's just fun, snacky stuff.
Craft services doesn't getenough love.
I'm just saying, craft serviceson sets do not get enough love.
Sometimes they're horribledepending on what you're on, but
most times if you're on a realset, craft services are amazing.
Jack Seavor McDonald (43:24):
Can can I tell you my theory on craft
services that no matter what setyou go on, there will always be
at least coffee and bananas.
Carmen Lezeth (43:38):
Yes! That's true.
Why is that?
Jack Seavor McDonald (43:42):
I feel like the bananas they're like
easy to carry around and carryaround.
They they have they're not theydon't have the trash involved,
and then just people everywherealways want coffee.
Carmen Lezeth (43:55):
Coffee, always, always nice.
Okay.
If you weren't an actor, whatwould you be doing?
And you cannot say gasattendant thingamajiggy that you
did back in the day.
Jack Seavor McDonald (44:05):
Well, good, because I I would never go
back.
Carmen Lezeth (44:07):
Um you you'll have to tell people that you
were you had to work a shift atlike 11 p.m.
to seven in the morning orsomething.
You were working as a gasstation attendant.
Uh where were you?
You were in school orsomething?
Jack Seavor McDonald (44:23):
That's right.
Yeah, I was in uh Fullertongoing to Cal State Fullerton for
theater, and I needed a jobbad, so I I went and did a
graveyard shift at a gas stationnearby.
And uh I would not recommendgraveyard shifts.
Carmen Lezeth (44:41):
Right, but I read that um so many people came and
would get gas and hang out withyou for a bit every once in a
while, right?
Like your teachers and yourfriends would come just to hang
out with you and some of yourimprov buddies, right?
Jack Seavor McDonald (44:53):
Yes, that's right.
I uh my friend Casey Bowencreated these posters uh that he
put up around our theaterdepartment that were
photoshopped pictures of me, andit said Graveyard Jack will be
working at this gas station.
(45:14):
Come visit him.
And uh and then people did.
Carmen Lezeth (45:18):
That's kind of nice.
That's that's good friendships,man.
That's really cool.
Jack Seavor McDonald (45:21):
I love it.
It really is.
There's really sweet communityat the Cal State Fullerton
Theater Department, and yeah,they'd take pictures and post
them on their Facebook page.
Carmen Lezeth (45:31):
That is the coolest thing.
Okay, so if you weren't anactor and a comedian, what would
you be doing?
Jack Seavor McDonald (45:41):
You know, I think I could be a food
critic.
Oh.
That was that was another oneof my dreams as a young'un
before actor.
I was like, maybe I could be afood tester.
Okay.
And then my dad was like,that's called a critic.
And so, yeah, I think I couldbe a good food critic.
(46:01):
I've got that's kind of cool.
I I mean I I love food.
Uh and then just exactly,exactly.
And then just there there aresome times where me and my
spouse Joe are are trying thingstogether, and I'm like, oh, do
you taste the cinnamon in there?
And Joe will be like, no, thisI don't taste that at all.
Speaker 1 (46:23):
Not at all.
Jack Seavor McDonald (46:24):
Yeah, and I'm like, oh, that's weird.
Why am I picking up onsomething else?
Carmen Lezeth (46:29):
Because you're very sensitive to it.
That's good, yeah, because youlove it.
Okay.
Window seat or aisle?
Jack Seavor McDonald (46:36):
Hmm.
Well, if it's an airplane, thenI would say window seat because
it it was in 2018.
I was on a trip to Ireland formy sister's wedding.
Carmen Lezeth (46:50):
Oh, nice.
Jack Seavor McDonald (46:51):
Uh-huh.
Uh my brother-in-law is apilot, so they were going
somewhere neither of them hadbeen before to get married.
Um that's nice.
Carmen Lezeth (47:02):
That's nice.
Jack Seavor McDonald (47:03):
Very cool.
Carmen Lezeth (47:04):
Yeah.
Jack Seavor McDonald (47:04):
And I had a aisle seat on that flight, and
I had taken a melatonin to helpjust sleep through the 12-hour
flight.
But then about half an hourlater, the drink cart comes out
and rams right into my knee.
Carmen Lezeth (47:20):
Oh, okay.
Jack Seavor McDonald (47:21):
And wakes me up, and I'm like, I'll never
want an aisle seat.
Carmen Lezeth (47:25):
I'll never want that again.
All right, that's a good enoughreason.
I I tend to like the aisleseat, not window seat.
Oh.
I don't like people walkingover me when they have to go to
the bathroom and stuff.
Like, I just don't like, youknow.
So, of course, my preference,I'm sure, is yours, would be to
be in first class and not bebothered at all.
But just another dream.
Okay.
All right.
So here is my take on theactor's studio question.
(47:47):
This is the last question foryou.
Okay.
If there is a hell and youfound yourself at the
fire-embossed gates, what wouldyou say to the clerk of
damnation guarding them?
Jack Seavor McDonald (48:00):
Oh my gosh.
Carmen Lezeth (48:02):
Everyone wants to do the pearly gates of heaven.
I'm saying, what if you findyourself in hell?
Jack Seavor McDonald (48:08):
Yeah, if I found myself in hell, I would
probably say, was it just onething, or did I do a bunch of
bad things?
I'd want to know exactly whatgot me there.
Carmen Lezeth (48:22):
Right.
Was it just one thing or abunch of things?
That's awesome.
Oh my God, thank you so muchfor being on the show.
Um, I want to tell people howthey can find you.
Of course, I'll be putting itdown at the bottom.
I know I could find your IG.
Your Instagram is JackSeber,right?
At Jack Siever, and that'sS-E-A-V-O-R.
Speaker 1 (48:42):
Correct.
Carmen Lezeth (48:43):
Uh, so that's your Instagram.
But did did you have anotherplace people could find you at?
Jack Seavor McDonald (48:48):
Um, you can also find me on TikTok.
Uh it's fantastic.
The similar uh username at JackSiever8.
Carmen Lezeth (48:59):
Okay, so there's an eight at the end of it.
Okay.
Jack Seavor McDonald (49:01):
Yeah.
Uh for TikTok.
Carmen Lezeth (49:03):
Okay.
Thank you so much.
Will you come back?
You have to come back.
We'll have to talk aboutsomething else.
We'll talk about acting andperforming, but you'll have to
come back.
So I'm gonna make you say it oncamera.
Jack Seavor McDonal (49:14):
Absolutely.
Carmen, I would love to be backto talk all things acting and
performing art, whatever.
Carmen Lezeth (49:21):
So much fun.
Do you do you have anythingelse coming up soon that you
want people to be aware of?
Jack Seavor McDonald (49:25):
Maybe uh can people come and see you with
your improv group or there areno standing performance dates
that uh like I do all the time,but my Instagram will always
have updates.
Carmen Lezeth (49:40):
Perfect answer.
Yep.
And so we can always figure outhow to find you, see you, and
just be in your presence.
It was a pleasure to meet you.
Thank you so much.
And everyone, uh, please govisit him, follow him on
Instagram and on TikTok.
And um, yeah, remember at theend of the day, it really is all
about the joy.
Thank you, everyone.
Bye.
(50:01):
Thanks.
Thanks for stopping by, AllAbout the Joy.
Be better and stay beautiful,folks.
Have a sweet day.
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