#30 IKE BARINHOLTZ, a Self-Proclaimed "Functioning TV Addict" Talks 'The Studio' & Lots of TV Topics
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Hey, where's the remote? It's time for TV Topics, where
those who love television discuss the series and
performances that should be on your radar.
Hello and welcome to TV Topics. This is your host, Stephen
Percykowski. I'm an entertainment journalist
and critic with a lifelong love of television.
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Over the last decade, I've conducted interviews with
hundreds of talented celebritiesand industry insiders including
Dick Van Dyke, Bryan Cranston, Natalie Portman, and so many
more. Those interviews often had me
wondering, what are these peoplewatching on TV?
So I started a podcast to find out TV topics.
Each episode I sit down with oneguest and we discuss the TV they
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watch and how it helped shape them and their careers.
Today, my guest is the great IkeBarinholtz.
If you're like me, you've seen his work over the years, perhaps
decades, entertaining us on series like Mad TV, The Mindy
Project, After Party, Running Point, and now his Emmy
nominated work in Apple TV's TheStudio.
One thing you'll notice for sureduring our conversation is just
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how passionate Ike is about his television.
He not only provided a wide array of shows, characters, and
moments, but he also really impressed me with his ability to
recall them with such clarity. It's no wonder he's won both
Jeopardy and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Our talk covered all the TV Topics questions and some new
ones, including Which TV Death Would You Stop if You Could?
Ike is initially torn between a few different options but comes
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up with a winner. I think you'll agree.
So grab a seat on the TV Topics couch and enjoy my conversation
with Ike Barinholtz. Hi, this is Ike Barinholtz and
today I'm hanging out with Steven Prusakowski on TV Topics
Perfection. They call me the third time
Baronholtz, because the I always.
Third time's a charm. What they should call you is
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like Baronholtz, the guy who doesn't give up.
I never give up. I don't, unless I'm really
tired, in which case I might give up.
It depends. You don't have to add that.
We'll omit that from there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Stick with the cleaner nickname.Thank you for joining me on TV
Topics today. And a big congratulations on
your Emmy nominations. That must have been one hell of
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a morning for you. Oh.
Oh, gosh, yeah, no, it was crazy.
It was so nice. And I, I saw that my friend
Brenda Song, who I work with, was calling out the the nominees
and I was very excited. And I was trying to figure out a
way to watch it, but I I couldn't figure out where to
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connect it to. And I had Internet problems.
And then someone I worked with just called me.
He's like, hey, you got nominated.
And I was like, this is great. So there you go.
Yeah, I was very happy to see you on the list of nominees that
morning. It was crazy.
Very well deserved. That's really kind of you.
And you know, it's an honor justto be talk, just to talk about
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being nominated, is what I said.It's a huge honor.
Oh my God. Every year I look at the amount
of people I speak with and so many talented people out there,
so many great performances to bechosen as one of the few to
represent that category. I think that's the biggest honor
there is. Well, I'm still going to go
ahead and spend $800,000 of my own money on a private campaign.
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You'll be seeing billboards, skywriting, I'm hiring 10,000
people just canvas Los Angeles and knock on doors and you know,
you'll think it's about like a political candidate, but no,
it's just asking people to to vote for me.
So I'm just I'm going full Melissa Leo was it.
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And I'm just I'm just going to spend.
I'm going to tear through most of the money I have saved for my
kids educations because I think this is a little more important.
Priorities, man. Hey, if you want to throw some
of the data to KR away, we'll gladly help you out.
I can paper you guys up. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Any idea if you have any like collabs?
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What if we throw some fancy graphics on here or or something
like that? We'll talk about that after the
Zoom. All right.
I would like to send you some cash.
Sounds great. Well, before we get into your
Emmy nominated work on the studio, let's start with some TV
topics questions. Remember, there's no pressure,
there's no right or wrong answers, it's just a bit of fun.
So looking back over the years, what has your relationship with
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TV been? You're ATV junkie who watches
everything, very selective. Do you have go to shows?
I would say I'm a junkie. I'm, I'm a heavy user.
I would say I'm a functioning TVaddict.
I I, you know, we grew up in a in a very TV friendly house.
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One of my first memories was laying in bed and hearing the
theme from Taxi. My parents love taxi and I would
hear the theme and then I would like go out and sneak in the
room and watch them watching Taxi.
And, you know, we, yeah, we, we just were very big, you know,
NBC Thursday night people, Cheers and Seinfeld and Cosby,
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different world. And it's, you know, we as I then
as I got older, you know, yeah, Seinfeld, I became a crazy
Seinfeld person, crazy Larry Sanders person.
And, you know, up to that point,then you start getting into
prestige TV and that's when it really just kind of exploded.
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It went from just being, you know, whatever, four or five
channels to just like, Oh my God, there's so many channels
and so many crazy shows now. It's tough to keep up.
It's tough to keep up. There's constantly people are
like, have you seen Ferris wheel?
And I'm like, what's Ferris wheel like?
It's so good. It's on Prime.
It's incredible. It's a British crime thriller
about a mother who is her own daughter.
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And it's just like, it's, there's so much.
And I really do. I really do love when I find
like a a new great show. So yeah, it's a big part of my
life and always has been and probably always will be.
Did you watch as a family? Oh, yeah, yeah, We were, you
know, this is back when we had like monoculture where you would
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just kind of sit and watch TV together and there were no other
screens to look at and you wouldjust watch the show together.
And it really, I think too, we were very comedy heavy family.
And I think because my parents let us watched so much comedy
and watched it with us, it like allowed my brother and I to
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develop like comic personas and and and want to work in in in
the world. And so I really give Alan and
Peggy all the. Credit and they deserve it.
What is the first prime time show you really remember loving?
The first show, that was your show.
I mean, cheers, I would say cheers.
I, I, you know, I, I, I really liked The Cosby Show, but
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cheers. I just remember like, like
loving. I thought it was so funny.
I remember, I loved the coach, the character coach.
And I remember very clearly my dad telling me one morning, hey,
coach. I was like, I don't know.
I was like 9. I was like distraught.
I was like, no. And, and then I remember the
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next season they were like, oh, they're like, this is the new
guy. This is Woody.
He's replacing coach now. It's like, well, I'm not going
to like him and I loved him. And you know, I had a huge crush
on Kirstie Alley. Rest in peace.
I just, I loved, I loved that show.
I loved it made me feel like mature watching it 'cause there
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was like older jokes, but then there's also just like just
incredibly well written jokes that kind of span ages and
stuff. So I, I, I would say that was
the first show that I really like, loved as a child.
Did the family gather together for the finale?
Oh, yeah, perfect finale, by theway.
Like, finales are very, very tricky, very tough to stick to
landing. But cheers just did it.
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Perfect. There's one thing that's
important, Sam. You know what it is?
Beer, Norm. Yeah, I'll have one.
You know what I mean? Like, so, so great.
Jokes towards the end. Jokes up until the end.
Yeah, we, we, we definitely got together and watched that.
One yeah, those closing moments were amazing with Sam turning
off the lights and saying we're closed.
Could they really do anything better than that?
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So no, you honestly, it might maybe be the best, maybe the
best finale, maybe the best finale.
I was going to ask you that later what the best finale was,
but maybe we covered it now. There are actually so many good
finales. I've never asked that finale
question before, but cheers justkeeps coming up in general.
It's amazing how many people were influenced by it.
You know, when George Wentt died, I there was just a ton of
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great clips popping up online and I spent like a day just
watching Cheers clips. It was great.
Sounds like a fitting tribute. OK, what's a show you can put on
that's guaranteed to make you laugh?
That's great. I mean, you know, my kids got
very into Seinfeld. Seinfeld was another big they're
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almost like replaced Cheers in our house.
And we probably were more obsessed with Seinfeld than we
were at Cheers. Then I got my kids into it when
they were young, and I think we were like on vacation somewhere
and it was raining out. So we just went into the hotel
and we turned on the TV and Seinfeld was on, and they loved
it. So Seinfeld is definitely one of
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those ones where I've seen everyepisode at least, I don't know,
10 times, but I could watch it any day. 30 Rock is a big one.
The Office is a big one. American Office is a big one.
You know those ones, those are just shows that just they, they
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go down very easy and they're just like, you know, the Office
has a couple emotional moments, but it's just a lot of just
joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, which is how I like
my comedies. Are you a fan of the British
Office? Oh yeah, it's great.
And it like definitely changed the game.
I know people always talk about British office versus American.
I definitely choose the Americanby far.
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You know, the first like 5-6 seasons of the American office
were just incredible. You're doing 22 plus episodes a
year. And the British office just it
has like a melancholy to it that, you know, I know people
some people love, but I would rather have kind of the more fun
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version. But but it is great show.
And I remember like, yeah, I remember staying at Seth Meyers
apartment. He'd been hired.
He'd been on SNL for a few months and I was staying in his
apartment and he had tapes, likelike a videotape or a DVD that
someone burned the hat the British office on.
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And it had only come out for like a year.
And I watched. I was like, wow, really, really
game change. But I'm an American boy.
And what about crying? Do you cry during TV, and if So,
what is the last TV show that made you cry?
Yes I do cry Tvi cried everything.
The last show that made me cry. Let me think about this for half
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a MO. Take your time.
I wasn't sobbing, but I maybe had like a noble tear watching
this last season of Wolf Hall. Series 2 of Wolf Hall, which was
a Masterpiece Theatre. I don't know if you've ever seen
it. It's.
I have not. It's amazed.
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Probably my favorite show last year.
It's based off the Hilary Mantelnovel about King Henry the
Eighth and Thomas Cromwell. And they made the first series
back in 2016 with Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis, and then ten
years later, the drop to second season.
And there was a moment in there that got me a little bit.
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But like, you know, Band of Brothers is something I will
come back and I watch a lot and I cry a lot when I watch that.
What else? What else I'm trying to think
here. Oh.
Were you always a crier? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, no. As I've gotten older and I had
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kids. Wait.
Oh, oh, God. I cried very hard at one of the
best shows this year by far. The Rehearsal Season 2, I don't
know if you watched it, I thought it was like, I thought
it was incredible. I thought what Nathan did was
incredible. And he has a moment with like he
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does like a an American Idol take off kind of where he has
real people coming to sing and they think they're going to be
on like an American Idol show. And he has this moment.
He's talking about how he's not good at like he's not good at
telling people no, he's not going to rejecting people and he
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struggles with it. I can't remember what the setup
was, but he has this scene wherehe kind of tells this very
young, like 1716 year old girl. She's not going to go any
further in this fake competition.
And the way he does it and like her reaction of it, like made me
cry very hard because it was just he, he just, he's a very
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special voice. He's a very special performer.
And whenever you're dealing withreal people, there's there's
it's very tricky. It can go very bad.
And that made me, that made me cry.
Yeah, that's not the show I expected.
You know, there are a lot of shows out there that movie this
year, but I didn't expect that one.
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I did see Season 1 but I need tostep into Season 2.
Season 1 was very funny, very good ending was a little weird,
but season 2 was incredible. Like what he did in season 2 is
the last like 30 seconds of it. I was just like, like I, I was
just shocked. I I really good for Nathan.
He's, I'm really glad he's he's out there doing stuff.
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I'm going to start that today. You've completely convinced me
you've got good taste. If you could step into the role
of one pre-existing TV character, no matter what the
genre, no matter what the time period or for any reason, who
would it be and why? My God, Steven, that's such a
good question. OK, All right, let's think this
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through here. Let's think it through.
I mean, I'm not presuming that Iwould do better than any of
these people. Like that is just not on the
table. I can imagine playing Michael
Scott would have been incrediblyfun, incredible writers giving
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you great material and an insanely deep bench on on the
Office where you could walk out into that kind of Openoffice
area. And if you're Steve Carell,
you're looking around the room at like 9 killers.
So it's like, and it's just I, Ijust love that show very much.
I'll say that one for like a comedy and then for a well,
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maybe Hank Kingsley too. Very, very, very, very deeply
funny character who again, I I can't even pretend that I would
be a millionth as good as Jeffrey Tambor, but that's up
there. And then for a drama, I'll say,
oh, what's oh, oh, maybe like, oh man, Dennis Farina on Crime
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Story was awesome. Like I love Dennis Farina.
Rest in Peace King. I he's like one of my all time
favorite actors. Him and my late uncle were
partners in the Chicago police force 100 million years ago.
And I did love that show, only lasted a couple years but just a
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great gritty 50s noirish MichaelMann crime show with Dennis
Farina. Very good.
That's great. I love your TV palette.
It's all over the place. Definitely you're digging into
stuff that I haven't heard yet. And a lot of I've seen, most of
I've seen, but it's definitely aunique buffet.
So we're going to pause the TV topics questions and get into
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your work on the studio. I haven't seen all of you work,
but I have seen quite a bit. And you become one of those
actors who, when I see your nameon it, I go, OK, I'm on board.
I'm watching this. That's so nice.
Thank you, I don't recall what the first show of your hooked me
but the After Pie you were great.
I loved your work even though itwas only two episodes in
American Auto, which I thought was a real crime that they
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cancelled. Like a true crime.
Like that show was so freaking funny and sign of the times
maybe, but it should still be onthe air.
Yeah, and where they ended it, they nailed it.
It was only getting better. And if they just put it out
there and promoted it more? Yeah, it's a hopefully if it it
gets rediscovered later on. That's the one good thing about
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these shows, as long as you're able to still stream them, is
that, you know, they go away sometimes unceremoniously, but
ostensibly they live forever. So that is the one cold comfort
I guess. So the after party.
Fantastic. The studio, Incredible.
You keep raising the bar, you'reaging like a fine wine.
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Hey, everything you do is like, oh, this is a little bit better
than the last one. That's so nice.
Keep up the fine work. But for the character of Sal Sal
Saferstein, is that how you say it?
Saperstein is how I Saperstein. I will mispronounce every name.
I should have had it written down phonetically or something,
even though it said something like what, 40 times in the
episode? Yeah, it was.
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It was hit a lot. It was.
I get it a lot. Now.
People will walk up to me and goSal Saperstein and I'm like,
what's up? I'd walk up to you and
mispronounce it and you'd be like, what is he talking to me?
Is there a different salary around here?
I think it's you, buddy. So he's so much fun to watch and
at first when you meet this character, you're kind of
thinking that you're is this someone you're going to like?
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He's kind of self-serving. He's got a touch of
douchebaggery to him and his episodes pass on.
You see this much more to him and he's more relatable.
Sure, he's got some flaws, but he's a good friend.
He's a parent. There's more to him than we see
at first. What was it about Sal that made
you want to play him? What drew you to him and what
did you want to bring to that character?
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You know, I, I love how Seth andEvan write for me.
I, I, they kind of let me be theID a little bit and let me kind
of just be the guy that says thebad things and, and makes the,
the, the, the jokes that are a little harsh.
And I think they do that becauseI think they're confident that I
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can buy it back with just just enough, just enough likeability
to make people be like, I hate, I hate him.
I, I, I was so excited about theshow when Seth first told me
about it a long time ago. And I'm, you know, he said, you
know, we want to, we really wereinspired by Larry Sanders, which
is arguably my favorite show ever.
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And he was like, yeah, we're going to write this part for
you, blah, blah. And then when I read it, like
the first line is so funny. It's like, do I smell like
vodka? I was out with Pedro Pascal and
I getting fucked up and it just in a mint.
It's just, I think good writing in an instant.
You, you understand kind of who the character is.
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Like you said, you're unsure of if you like him or not, but you
kind of get it a little bit and then it frames it so well.
And then they they, they are able to keep layering things in
like he has a family and he has daughters who don't like him
very much. And you know, he's, he's a very
manipulative, backstabbing guy, but.
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He also is in survival mode a little bit.
You know what I mean? They, they, they, they, they
just did a very good job at creating this, this character
that on the surface is, yeah, a lot of douchebaggery.
But if you scratch under it a little bit, like a pretty pretty
fun nice guy. If this wasn't his career, maybe
he'd be a much more likable person.
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You know, you kind of see it in there.
Like, there's that end of the episode where you're sitting
with Seth's character on the couch.
I was at a bed. I can't remember.
You're hanging out, always supporting him.
And then you have the daughters that you're trying your best
with. There are these moments when you
find you're like, oh, wait, there's a good guy there.
Yes. He's not evil or anything like
that. It's interesting, you know, you
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say is he does this business bring out the worst in him?
And maybe it does, but also in acertain way, maybe it brings out
the best. Maybe if he worked in tech or
finance, he would be worse, you know, but there is something
about someone working in show business where it's like at the
end of the day, and I know this sounds a little cheesy, but at
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the end of the day, everyone in show business, whether you work
in business affairs or whether you work as a writer or a
seamstress, you are telling a story.
You are storytellers. And, and so I, I, I do find that
while there are plenty of assholes in this business, I, I
think a lot of people are drawn to it because they, they like
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entertainment, they like to tellstories, they like to see people
laugh or cry or be thrilled. So I, I think being in show
business gives him more humanity.
But again, as we all know, it's easy to get caught up in in in
the bad behavior and and to sometimes emulate the bad people
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in show business. So it's an interesting way to
kind of look at it. Yeah, that's a good point.
You seem to naturally inject humor into just about everything
you do in this series. Of course, I really got a kick
out of your physical comedy in episode 5.
The war especially. It's just so damn funny.
In addition to your line delivery, I'm curious, with the
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extensive use of the one shots, how did that challenge your kind
of creative comedic instincts? Did that hamper them?
I think it sharpened it, just knowing the style of what
they're doing and knowing that it it, it removed any laziness
or lack of focus. I think, you know, sometimes
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when you're riffing, when you'rein the riff zone and just funny
shit's happening, you can you can get kind of sloppy and
performance can suffer a little bit because you're too busy
trying to think of like a new line, like a new alt or new
joke. But for this one, you know, they
gave you latitude to improvise or to, to, to make it your own
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as much as you needed to. Although they did a very good
job writing it, but I think onceyou kind of do a take or so,
you're lot, you have to lock in and it it for me at least, I
think it made me just very, veryfocused in the scene.
Like it made me very just like Iwasn't thinking about anything
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else really, except for like notscrewing up.
So, so maybe because that extra pressure maybe for some people
that could, that could take away, but I think for me it made
me focus more and I think made it better.
Yeah, my concern would be the opposite if you're doing
something like this, that peoplewould be very rigid and afraid
to kind of screw up the timing. But in the end, the the dialogue
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and the humor is just so natural.
You often forget you're watchingwonders and you just get just so
wrapped up in what's going on, on screen.
And and the, and then I'd pause and and say, wait, wait a
second. How in the hell did that camera
just do that? I'd find myself going back and
watching it, just trying to figure out exactly how you made
these things work. So was that a real challenge for
you? Like every morning, did you wake
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up and think, oh, crap, this is going to be tough?
Or did you find a groove when itcame to shooting the Warners?
Definitely found a groove. Incredible camera department and
Adam are our cinematographer. We worked, I mean actors and
camera work very, very close together anyways.
But for this you, you're, you'reeven closer.
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You're, you're, you're, you're, you're really kind of like
helping each other out a lot. So the nature of the movement of
the takes, you know you will be in like Katherine Hahn's face
pointing your finger, saying it,but then you know that the
camera's off you so you can backup for a second.
So you're OP and his assist can like move right past you and you
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can kind of put your hand on their back to make sure that
you're spotting them a little bit and then you get right back
into it. So we fell into a rhythm pretty
quickly. And again, I think they just
hired very good people who were very eager to work with others
and and just were very locked in.
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It must be like a big dance at times, this actor steps in, this
one backs out. If the camera moves here, camera
moves there, and if one person'sout of step, then everything can
crumble. It's.
You know, they, they, Apple willput out little clips on
Instagram and TikTok of kind of behind the scenes stuff.
And it's great to see people's reactions to that.
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We're like, oh, that's how you broke the table apart and
brought the camera up through it.
And then it just, they were very, very clever and crafty,
and now they have to figure out new ways to impress people for
Season 2. Yeah, I'm really looking forward
to it because it ended so quickly.
It's all these bite sized episodes, 25 minutes, 33
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minutes, etcetera. Then when it's done, you're
like, shit, That was a whole season.
I was lucky enough to get screeners early and I was about
to go to bed one night and I said, you know what, I'm going
to watch one episode. Well, I end up watching 6.
Oh my God, and. It was the night of the the when
the clock shifted forward and I was up till about 3:00 AM and I
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thought I'll be fine and then realized Oh my God, it's 4:00.
Oh, you lost an hour. You lost an hour, but you gained
laughs so. Exactly.
And that's all that matters. I shortened my life a little
bit. It's worth it.
It's worth it. But hey, you know what the hell
with this series? As you mentioned, you're blessed
with this amazing cast plus the incredible guest stars.
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What was like having this old school Hollywood buffet of
talent around you? And were there any favourites
for you to work with when it came to the guest stars?
I mean, we were blessed with such a great group of regulars.
I mean, my God, you're looking at like Catherine O'Hara and
Catherine on Chase. We Wonders is like one of my
favorite people I've ever workedwith.
(27:02):
So you had this just baseline ofjust every day.
You were excited to see your friends who happen to be these
legends. But and but then on top of it,
you're like, you would look at the call sheet be like, Oh my
God, like Ron Howard and Dave Franco and Mack, you know what I
mean? Every day was just like more
treats. And in terms of favorite guest
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stars, that's a very, very, verygood question.
I mean, Dave Franco, I thought was so, so, so funny in it and
played such against his who he is in real life.
So he was great. Sarah Polley, someone I've been
a huge fan of for many, many years.
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And, you know, I loved her as anactress and then she stopped
acting and then now she came back to do this.
So that was very exciting. I mean, like, you're talking
about Martin Scorsese, who's like, it's so bad say to say
this, but like, he's the reason I'm here.
He's the reason I have went intofilm and TV and stuff.
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So it'd be impossible just to choose one.
Olivia Wilde I thought was like insanely funny.
Like so funny. So yeah, again, they really,
they blew it because they did too good a job.
Season 1. It's like, how do you top it?
Yeah, I thought, I mean, across the board, everyone was so
great. Zoe Kravitz.
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Zoe and Zoe had a tough job, like playing really fucked up
and tripping is tough. Like it's not easy.
People think it's easy because you just have to go.
But like she really just like went crazy and down for whatever
and just was look amazing. Like really, really great.
And then you have one. Of my all time favorites, Bryan
Cranston standing in his underwear flopping all over the
(28:52):
place. I mean like literally.
One of the greatest American actors of all time.
And we just got him down to his like, briefs and like a big sock
garters and shit. Like it was crazy.
And he really was someone who I've been a very, very, very big
fan of Ferb. I love Malcolm in the Middle.
I loved him. I'm Malcolm in the Middle and to
(29:13):
he came into the Mad TV sketch when I was on there a million
years ago and to get to kind of come back now and work with him
true, true thrill in addition tothe Hollywood.
Legends you also had another Co star.
I don't think you shared screen time with him, but your father
is part of the series. I get to watch it both on.
(29:35):
Who wants to be a millionaire? Yes.
And I just loved him. I thought he was so charming.
I was like, this guy needs to beon TV, and at that time, I
didn't realize he was the judge on jury duty.
Yes, yeah. I watched and had such a.
Great time with it. But then when I saw you on
Millionaire, I was like, Oh my God, this is his dad.
That's insane. He's very charming.
And your winning word, Zax. That was it, right Zax?
(29:57):
Yes, it's a tool for cutting roofing slates.
We all watched together. So my daughters know it now, I
know it forever, and this will forever be burned into our
memories. What is it like having your dad
along for the ride and kind of joining you along in your world?
I mean it it was a. Dream, you know, my, I remember,
you know, my dad wanted to be anactor when he was young and then
was like, it's too hard. I'm just going to be a lawyer.
(30:19):
And so he was a lawyer most our whole life.
And I went into, I got into improv and, and comedy and, and
I loved it. And then my little brother John
started doing it and we were alllike, oh, man, the whole
family's doing it, but he loved it.
And, and, and we, as we started working more and more, our
parents, our mom and dad were sosupportive of us.
(30:39):
They really could not have been more supportive.
And, but dad, I think always hadthis little hankering to kind
of, you know, do more and, and just threw a, a fluke, like a
friend of a friend reached out and was like, oh, they're doing
this jury duty show. And it was, it was like a pilot
that no one knew what it was. It was just like a little weird
(31:00):
thing. And so he did it and it became a
huge hit and him and my mom moved to LA and now he's in LA
and he's a working actor in LA and it's just like a dream come
true. It's definitely a dream come
true for him, but it's great forus.
You know, we get to see our parents more and every once in a
while, you know, we put him in arunning point, which is a show
(31:21):
that I write on. And then he's the kind of the
family lawyer on that show. And and then we put him on
History of the World and, and heit's just, it's a real joy.
And we're always trying to find new things to do with him
because he really is like a veryfunny actor.
But he's also like very smart, worldly man and knows a lot
(31:44):
about law. So he's just, he's a he's a
very, very cool guy. Yeah, he does.
And he's. Got some good timing, dude, and
I'd love to. I loved watching you 2 work
together and try to figure out these puzzles.
The millionaire question. It was just such a great
chemistry and not everyone has that with their parents.
Yeah, I'm really. Really, when it comes to
parents, very, very lucky. They also love trivia.
(32:06):
So they were always, they were always like we watched Jeopardy
growing up. When Millionaire first came out,
we watched Millionaire and I'm always amazed at how like much
my my dad and my mom know they just, it's crazy and to get to
use it to our advantage and raise a bunch of money was was
(32:28):
really, really one of my favorite moments of my life.
Probably. It's beautiful to have.
That you know their TV watching influenced your career than to
bring him in. It kind of goes full circle.
It's poetic. Next up is my mom.
We're trying to find a show for my mom this year.
Yeah. He doesn't want to make that
happen. You can do celebrity.
(32:49):
Wheel of Fortune or something? Bad at wheel?
I'm bad at wheel of fortune unfortunately.
I might like the way my brain works is more like I can hold
facts but I when it's tiles and stuff I'm just not as good at
it. So I can't do wheel.
I don't want to. I only want to go on game shows
where I have a fighting chance. Well, that's fair enough.
(33:10):
Well, with so many great scenes for sell your character, is
there a stand out? Is there one moment that you're
really proud of or you know justthat you really enjoyed watching
when it was done? I mean, I really, I loved the
casting episode where they're trying to figure out the cast of
(33:32):
Kool-aid and me and Han and Sethand Chase and Seth and Matt
Remick's office kind of spendinghours and hours trying to find
out like the least problematic combination was incredibly
funny. It was just, we were just, we
could not stop laughing. And it felt, it felt like what
(33:56):
you want to feel when you're doing a show like this, which is
like a little bit like, I hope no one gets mad at what we're
saying, but like, it's, it's just the reality of the world.
And that one I just in particular just remember
laughing at a lot, but there's so many like you know what, any
of the Vegas stuff, like shooting in Vegas was crazy.
I loved it. I, I love Las Vegas.
(34:17):
I like to gamble and have a martini and like, so to go and
spend all day in a hotel room with like Franco and Zoe and and
chase and these guys and, and, and then rap and go downstairs
and have a drink and play blackjack for 1/2 hour was
awesome. Sounds like fun.
(34:38):
I enjoyed what seems to be probably be the toughest, when
you park the car on the set and you're working your way through
the lot and the store hit you inthe face and the pasta or chili
or whatever it is dumps all overyou.
Just before this big meeting, I was laughing, I was cracking up.
It had me wheezing. It was so funny.
There's something about that type of humor I loved watching.
(34:58):
It shooting it that one was a little tough just because stunts
with a with with this style of show are just they're it just a
stunt always goes wrong at some point and like, or even a small
stunt like spilling a big, you know, carafe or or thing of
chili on on me. But that was one where I was
just like stressed and I was like, I just want to get this
right. Let's fucking let's go, let's
(35:19):
go, let's go. And then when you watch it, it
it just it worked out well. It's one of my favorite.
Scenes in a series full of favorite scenes.
So if you could go back to 2001,what would the Emmy nominated
Ike Barinholtz say to the younger Ike who was at the time
playing Assistant Milligan on the shaft?
And what would younger Ike say to you today, knowing where
(35:40):
you've gone with your career? I would tell the younger.
Ike, get Edward Herman's cell phone number so you could tell
him thank you for being so nice on set because I loved him.
Rest in peace. I would tell young me not to,
not to stress so much. I think, you know, you know, I
(36:03):
had a lot of years in between 2001 and now where it just
wasn't working. And it did.
You didn't feel very good about what you were doing.
If you were doing work at all, you weren't thrilled with what
the work was. And that comes with stress and
existential crisis. And, and I would try to tell the
younger version of myself to tryto put that away as much as
(36:27):
possible and just try to appreciate every moment inside
and outside of of the world of show business.
And the younger me, I would tellthe older me, I would say just
(36:48):
start now, like telling people that Donald Trump shouldn't be
president. I don't know something I would
try to like make a ton of money on, like bet on bet on the
Dodgers getting a a pitcher who can hit forty home runs in a
season or I don't know somethingI I, I I don't know, I don't
know, like what advice my could have given.
(37:13):
I mean, it's more of. Like, what would that reaction
be from younger Ike on the set of his first film?
And to see you pop up and guess what?
You're an Emmy nominee, I would say.
I would probably not believe it.I would probably respectfully
think I was hallucinating because I probably wasn't.
I'm seeing him talking to myself, but I would I would say
(37:36):
congratulations. Who's Seth Rogen?
I'd say he's a 19 year old rightnow in Canada, but he's going to
make a really great show one day.
That's a really you always hear like what would you tell your
younger self? But what would your younger self
tell your older self? You don't hear that one a lot.
I like that. And with your Trump advice, what
I would do is I would tell your younger self when you meet Seth
(37:58):
Meyers, tell him to lay off the jokes.
Tell him to not make fun of Donald.
Trump, tell him to say, tell himhow great he is.
How he could get an EGOT one dayand and then he could shift that
to be his new right now, Trump could have.
Been on Broadway doing the Phantom of the Opera, you know
what I mean? Like he could have been doing a
spoken word album and winning a Grammy as opposed to, yeah,
(38:20):
unwinding the federal state. He could have been one of the.
Greatest artists of all time andearned the right to change the
name of the Kennedy Center. But instead, we've got this
Donald, if you're. Watching this, it's never too
late. You could, you could resign
tomorrow and showbiz, we would take you in.
We would take you right back in and you could, you could, you
(38:41):
know, sing cats all day and, andand do whatever the hell you
want, but all you got to do is step down.
So we're here for you. He can use an Ebenezer.
Scrooge moment, you know, Yes, abig.
Redemption arc He gives up all this bullshit and then goes back
into show business and everyone's happy.
Let's go. I'd love to see it.
I'd. Love to see him in Home Alone 5
(39:01):
but him is the star focusing on him.
Yes. All him.
Forget Kevin and that bullshit. It's gone.
We don't need. It Kevin, we had to hold Donald
Trump. Donald.
Trump a nice movie. So he can go and start and
that'd be great. So let's close here with some TV
topics. I'll give you one of my
classics. I got a few.
You grab the remote control and you rub it.
(39:23):
A genie comes out and offers youa TV based switch.
What TV show do you want one more season of?
It can be a prequel season, it can be a season in the middle,
or it could be one final season tagged down at the end of its
run. And it's magic.
So same cast, same crew, no one's passed away, no time has
passed. You just get to have that extra
season. God, I mean.
I, I, I, I wouldn't, I wouldn't turn down another Soprano
(39:46):
season. I wouldn't.
I mean, if you're operating withthe assumption that Tony wasn't
whacked at the end of the finale, which I think it's
pretty clear he was, but let's say he wasn't and everyone was
still around, that would be pretty great.
I'll say that. Or The Larry Sanders Show.
(40:07):
Both excellent. Answers Yeah, The Sopranos.
I love it. I can still talk about the
finale and actually I've gone down to the ice cream shop
Wholesome's where they shot thatfinal scene and I'd be sitting
in that same booth he sat in andfor numerous reasons I'd just
say he's so dead it's not even an issue.
And for the record, like, I'm sorry people who were like that
(40:29):
finale sucks. You're just wrong, completely
wrong. It's.
Incredible. It's like.
You've, you've you've shut off the POV and the show's over.
You know what I mean? So it was brilliant.
And it's like, oh, exactly. Yeah.
And it and it continues. That's what people don't
realize. There are seconds of black there
before the credits roll. That's the show still running.
(40:50):
It's running until the credits roll.
Still running. It's still.
On a brilliant ending. I loved it.
Yeah, I was at the special screening.
Of the finale and had a chance to talk to David Chase and ask
him one question. Time was limited.
So I said I just want to know one thing.
The way they eat their onion rings.
Yes, the onion rings. They all ate their onion rings
like a host. No one eats onion rings like
(41:12):
that. I was like, this religious
symbolism. It's the end.
This is the end. He's dead.
There's no way. It's like the boring, oh, I want
the happy answers. Oh, we never know what happened
to Tony. Bullshit.
If you watch the show and you listen to the words they say and
you look at the symbolism, we know.
Or sure, he's dead. Exactly.
(41:32):
I'm. Preaching to the choir here.
I'll stop. Thank you.
I appreciate it. You know, I could do it.
All that, babe. Me too.
Let's continue. How about your favorite theme
song, One that you cannot skip and if you sing it you get a
Gold Star? I got to go with making your way
(41:55):
in the world today. Takes everything you got.
I mean, it's cheers, man. It's just like a, a, a it.
And it, when it kicks in and thekind of percussion kicks in, it
turns into a real little banger.That's my theme song.
Yeah. And the extended version.
Of the song is great as well, although I do love.
Taxi too. You know the name of the theme
from Taxi? No, no, I don't think.
(42:17):
The name is the name of the. Title song is Angela by Bob
James. Beautiful.
Whenever I think of it, it's like very Prostein for me.
Like I I hear that theme song and I'm just taken back to when
I was 3. But I'm sticking with yours.
It's a good choice. I'm, I'm gonna have to go listen
to it. It's hard for me to switch tunes
(42:38):
in my head. For some reason.
Mash popped up in my head. That's all I could think.
Suicide is painless, yes. And it's another song that
people don't really know the words behind it.
You know who wrote the words to?That no, I don't.
I think it was Robert Almond's son.
I think he either wrote the yeah, it was for the film, but
it was either the words or the melody was written by young
(43:01):
Altman another. Fantastic ending to a series.
So what about ATV death? One that you would stop if you
could. That I would stop.
And I've had guests say they. Would ruin the show if we
stopped at death. But there's several TV deaths
that I've watched and I thought,you know what, the show will
carry on fine even if this character didn't die.
(43:21):
So for any reason you want, you can stop at death.
I'll say, Tony. Blundetto from The Sopranos,
Steve Buscemi, Good 1. I loved his character on that
show. I I loved like, remember, he was
wanted to, just wanted to be a massage therapist.
He wanted to start his own business and go straight and he
just couldn't. Yeah, Blundetto's a big one.
(43:46):
Oh, oh, oh, maybe poor sweet Hodor.
Oh, yes, yeah. Hodor, Hodor, kind of, I'll say
Hodor. That's an.
Excellent choice. I mean, that series had a lot of
great deaths. Really.
You know, Pedro Pascal's death that that that gutted me.
(44:07):
Oh. Shit, Pedro's death, Oberon
Martell, man, honestly maybe himonly because like you saw him do
one fight and he was like fire and then he just we got a little
too cocky, got over his skies old.
But but I'll you know what? I'll still he's doing fine.
We could see Pedro everywhere. Hodor is very special.
(44:29):
Let's say Hodor. Excellent choice.
Hodor, I believe, was in our flag means death.
Oh, yes, yeah. He's one of the pirates.
A great series. So he's out there at least.
But I agree. 3 great answers. How about the greatest moment in
TV history according to Ike Barinholtz, The greatest.
Moment in TV history? Yeah, easy one.
(44:51):
Yeah, I just got it for half a second because there's like.
So, oh, OK, I mean, the greatest, I think the greatest
scene in TV history is probably,it's probably Christopher
Maltesante's intervention. The, the intervention on
Sopranos is one of the funniest scenes I have ever seen in my
(45:14):
life. You know, just everyone's going
through the machinations of, of intervention, but they're all
like, like, like when I think Elias Kateus plays like the guy
kind of guiding the interventionand he's like, does anyone have
any personal recollections of when Christopher's drug use
(45:36):
affected you? And Silvio takes out a piece of
paper and goes, Christopher, onemorning I came to get you, your
head was in the toilet. Your head was in the toilet
water. Disgusting.
And then like, see this where they just beat the shit that is
just all cylinders, acting and writing and and filmmaking
(46:04):
coming together. You've really got some.
Beautiful answers and the depth and the detail you go into.
I really, I love it. How about what TV show do you
wish you could erase from your memory so you can experience it
all over again like it was the first time?
Oh. Oh like re watch something and I
was just thinking like I need tore watch Mad Men.
(46:27):
So I'll say Mad Men. You know, I love that show so
much. And it was just so visually
beautiful. I thought beautiful actors, like
all the actors, you just wanted to look at them.
I'll say Mad Men. Yeah, great.
Choice Two more questions and we'll wrap up What for TV shows
(46:48):
make up Ike Barinholtz, TV, Mount Rushmore or TV just.
Make up my mouth from The Larry Sanders Show, Seinfeld, The
Sopranos, and this is a tough one.
This is a tough one. I'll, I'll say I'll.
Does Band of Brothers count? Yeah, sure.
(47:10):
I'll say Band of Brothers. It was either that or The Wire.
And I love the Wire so much, butI I I'll say Seinfeld, Larry
Sanders Show, Sopranos and Band of Brothers.
I thought Cheers might be. Up there, cheers is like.
Cheers was so formative for me as a young man, but I think as I
got older, Seinfeld and Larry Sanders just I think edged it
(47:32):
out a little bit. But I'll say those as a Seinfeld
fan. What are your feelings about
Curb Your Enthusiasm? Oh I love.
Curb, I think Larry's like one of the funniest guys.
I did an episode of it the last season, which was oh, did you?
Yeah, I played up here the ownerof a restaurant who like kicks
out Larry and JB Smooth. And it was it was a dream to get
(47:58):
to go play with Larry. I I love I love Curb.
It's it's hilarious and it's very stressful and it's a show
that I quote a lot. Like there's just so many
scenarios really. Oh, this is just like in Curb.
So I was very pro Curb. I have to go back and watch it.
I've watched every episode but there's just so why it's.
(48:21):
Like a buffet that they keep eating at and I'm like, you need
to leave, You're kicked out. You'll bend.
I was I remember and go how manytimes have your has Larry on
this show been banned from a restaurant and he's like four
Such a good. Show OK final one, if you had a
magic door, one that allowed youto access and live in ATV world
(48:42):
whenever you wanted to pop in orpop out.
You enter and your real life pauses.
You exit, your real life starts back up.
Which TV show world would it be and why?
I think I'm going to say Larry Sanders because it I love, I
have the luckiest guy and I I really love my job.
(49:06):
I love working in in showbiz andTV and that to me feels like I
can keep a version of my life asit is.
I could go and instead of going to work and seeing like Mindy
Kaling and Dave Stassen and KateHudson and Seth Rogen and and
Katherine Hahn, who I love, I would just be like, I'm going to
work. And I have to, you know, I'm
(49:28):
deal with Hank today. Hank's in a bad mood about
something. And yeah, R ES, I think had too
many drinks at lunch, but then Igot to come home.
So I'll say Larry Sandershow, just because it's like, it's
like working in show business. It's like you get to go into
what you already do because everything else is too
stressful. Like like it's so like, you
(49:52):
know, you don't want to go on The Sopranos, like you get shot.
You know what I mean? You don't want to go on Breaking
Bad. You'll kind of have like the
Aryan army, like beat you up, you know what I mean?
Like Seinfeld. You don't want to go on a
Seinfeld and like have to deal with Kramer being like, you need
to put the lotion all over my body.
Like you just I want to do. I want to just be with showbiz
(50:12):
people for for my little fun magic door.
So I'm just going to say Larry'shand.
You could be. The guest host.
Boom. Sorry Jon Stewart.
Bye. Bye Jon.
Nice try, Jonny. Well, thank you so much.
You're an amazing guest. And like I said, you're like a
fine wine. And I can't wait to see what you
do next, you know, with the studio, of course.
(50:33):
And Season 2 is coming in. It's on its way.
Is there anything else in the works?
Just. Yeah, we're.
Getting ready to the studio and running point Season 2, we start
shooting soon and I love that show and I, I love working on it
and so very grateful to be shooting.
Two things in LA and two things that people are are really
relating with. So very lucky man.
(50:54):
Excellent. Well.
Thank you so much for your time today and for all your amazing
brother. I really appreciate you anytime.
Talk soon. Have a great one.
Well, that was my guest, Ike. Barinholtz.
You can check out his work on Apple TV Pluses the Studio.
If you haven't seen it, you'll quickly understand what all the
buzz is about and why you get that Emmy nomination.
(51:14):
Check out his other work as well.
Keep tuning into TV topics and be sure to subscribe on Spotify
or apple podcast or wherever youfind your podcast.
And if you really enjoy the show, please give it a five star
rating. It really helps.
You can also follow TV topics onInstagram at TV under score
topics. Thanks for listening and stay
tuned for more TV Topics. TV Topics is.
(51:37):
Produced by Stephen Brzekowski, ZAP.
Hey, where's the remote? It's time for TV Topics, where
those who love television discuss the series and
performances that should be on your radar.
Hello and welcome to TV Topics. This is your host, Stephen
Percykowski. I'm an entertainment journalist
and critic with a lifelong love of television.
(00:24):
Over the last decade, I've conducted interviews with
hundreds of talented celebritiesand industry insiders including
Dick Van Dyke, Bryan Cranston, Natalie Portman, and so many
more. Those interviews often had me
wondering, what are these peoplewatching on TV?
So I started a podcast to find out TV topics.
Each episode I sit down with oneguest and we discuss the TV they
(00:46):
watch and how it helped shape them and their careers.
Today, my guest is the great IkeBarinholtz.
If you're like me, you've seen his work over the years, perhaps
decades, entertaining us on series like Mad TV, The Mindy
Project, After Party, Running Point, and now his Emmy
nominated work in Apple TV's TheStudio.
One thing you'll notice for sureduring our conversation is just
(01:08):
how passionate Ike is about his television.
He not only provided a wide array of shows, characters, and
moments, but he also really impressed me with his ability to
recall them with such clarity. It's no wonder he's won both
Jeopardy and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Our talk covered all the TV Topics questions and some new
ones, including Which TV Death Would You Stop if You Could?
Ike is initially torn between a few different options but comes
(01:31):
up with a winner. I think you'll agree.
So grab a seat on the TV Topics couch and enjoy my conversation
with Ike Barinholtz. Hi, this is Ike Barinholtz and
today I'm hanging out with Steven Prusakowski on TV Topics
Perfection. They call me the third time
Baronholtz, because the I always.
Third time's a charm. What they should call you is
(01:51):
like Baronholtz, the guy who doesn't give up.
I never give up. I don't, unless I'm really
tired, in which case I might give up.
It depends. You don't have to add that.
We'll omit that from there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Stick with the cleaner nickname.Thank you for joining me on TV
Topics today. And a big congratulations on
your Emmy nominations. That must have been one hell of
(02:13):
a morning for you. Oh.
Oh, gosh, yeah, no, it was crazy.
It was so nice. And I, I saw that my friend
Brenda Song, who I work with, was calling out the the nominees
and I was very excited. And I was trying to figure out a
way to watch it, but I I couldn't figure out where to
(02:33):
connect it to. And I had Internet problems.
And then someone I worked with just called me.
He's like, hey, you got nominated.
And I was like, this is great. So there you go.
Yeah, I was very happy to see you on the list of nominees that
morning. It was crazy.
Very well deserved. That's really kind of you.
And you know, it's an honor justto be talk, just to talk about
(02:53):
being nominated, is what I said.It's a huge honor.
Oh my God. Every year I look at the amount
of people I speak with and so many talented people out there,
so many great performances to bechosen as one of the few to
represent that category. I think that's the biggest honor
there is. Well, I'm still going to go
ahead and spend $800,000 of my own money on a private campaign.
(03:13):
You'll be seeing billboards, skywriting, I'm hiring 10,000
people just canvas Los Angeles and knock on doors and you know,
you'll think it's about like a political candidate, but no,
it's just asking people to to vote for me.
So I'm just I'm going full Melissa Leo was it.
(03:36):
And I'm just I'm just going to spend.
I'm going to tear through most of the money I have saved for my
kids educations because I think this is a little more important.
Priorities, man. Hey, if you want to throw some
of the data to KR away, we'll gladly help you out.
I can paper you guys up. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Any idea if you have any like collabs?
(03:59):
What if we throw some fancy graphics on here or or something
like that? We'll talk about that after the
Zoom. All right.
I would like to send you some cash.
Sounds great. Well, before we get into your
Emmy nominated work on the studio, let's start with some TV
topics questions. Remember, there's no pressure,
there's no right or wrong answers, it's just a bit of fun.
So looking back over the years, what has your relationship with
(04:21):
TV been? You're ATV junkie who watches
everything, very selective. Do you have go to shows?
I would say I'm a junkie. I'm, I'm a heavy user.
I would say I'm a functioning TVaddict.
I I, you know, we grew up in a in a very TV friendly house.
(04:45):
One of my first memories was laying in bed and hearing the
theme from Taxi. My parents love taxi and I would
hear the theme and then I would like go out and sneak in the
room and watch them watching Taxi.
And, you know, we, yeah, we, we just were very big, you know,
NBC Thursday night people, Cheers and Seinfeld and Cosby,
(05:11):
different world. And it's, you know, we as I then
as I got older, you know, yeah, Seinfeld, I became a crazy
Seinfeld person, crazy Larry Sanders person.
And, you know, up to that point,then you start getting into
prestige TV and that's when it really just kind of exploded.
(05:32):
It went from just being, you know, whatever, four or five
channels to just like, Oh my God, there's so many channels
and so many crazy shows now. It's tough to keep up.
It's tough to keep up. There's constantly people are
like, have you seen Ferris wheel?
And I'm like, what's Ferris wheel like?
It's so good. It's on Prime.
It's incredible. It's a British crime thriller
about a mother who is her own daughter.
(05:54):
And it's just like, it's, there's so much.
And I really do. I really do love when I find
like a a new great show. So yeah, it's a big part of my
life and always has been and probably always will be.
Did you watch as a family? Oh, yeah, yeah, We were, you
know, this is back when we had like monoculture where you would
(06:14):
just kind of sit and watch TV together and there were no other
screens to look at and you wouldjust watch the show together.
And it really, I think too, we were very comedy heavy family.
And I think because my parents let us watched so much comedy
and watched it with us, it like allowed my brother and I to
(06:36):
develop like comic personas and and and want to work in in in
the world. And so I really give Alan and
Peggy all the. Credit and they deserve it.
What is the first prime time show you really remember loving?
The first show, that was your show.
I mean, cheers, I would say cheers.
I, I, you know, I, I, I really liked The Cosby Show, but
(06:59):
cheers. I just remember like, like
loving. I thought it was so funny.
I remember, I loved the coach, the character coach.
And I remember very clearly my dad telling me one morning, hey,
coach. I was like, I don't know.
I was like 9. I was like distraught.
I was like, no. And, and then I remember the
(07:20):
next season they were like, oh, they're like, this is the new
guy. This is Woody.
He's replacing coach now. It's like, well, I'm not going
to like him and I loved him. And you know, I had a huge crush
on Kirstie Alley. Rest in peace.
I just, I loved, I loved that show.
I loved it made me feel like mature watching it 'cause there
(07:44):
was like older jokes, but then there's also just like just
incredibly well written jokes that kind of span ages and
stuff. So I, I, I would say that was
the first show that I really like, loved as a child.
Did the family gather together for the finale?
Oh, yeah, perfect finale, by theway.
Like, finales are very, very tricky, very tough to stick to
landing. But cheers just did it.
(08:07):
Perfect. There's one thing that's
important, Sam. You know what it is?
Beer, Norm. Yeah, I'll have one.
You know what I mean? Like, so, so great.
Jokes towards the end. Jokes up until the end.
Yeah, we, we, we definitely got together and watched that.
One yeah, those closing moments were amazing with Sam turning
off the lights and saying we're closed.
Could they really do anything better than that?
(08:28):
So no, you honestly, it might maybe be the best, maybe the
best finale, maybe the best finale.
I was going to ask you that later what the best finale was,
but maybe we covered it now. There are actually so many good
finales. I've never asked that finale
question before, but cheers justkeeps coming up in general.
It's amazing how many people were influenced by it.
You know, when George Wentt died, I there was just a ton of
(08:52):
great clips popping up online and I spent like a day just
watching Cheers clips. It was great.
Sounds like a fitting tribute. OK, what's a show you can put on
that's guaranteed to make you laugh?
That's great. I mean, you know, my kids got
very into Seinfeld. Seinfeld was another big they're
(09:13):
almost like replaced Cheers in our house.
And we probably were more obsessed with Seinfeld than we
were at Cheers. Then I got my kids into it when
they were young, and I think we were like on vacation somewhere
and it was raining out. So we just went into the hotel
and we turned on the TV and Seinfeld was on, and they loved
it. So Seinfeld is definitely one of
(09:35):
those ones where I've seen everyepisode at least, I don't know,
10 times, but I could watch it any day. 30 Rock is a big one.
The Office is a big one. American Office is a big one.
You know those ones, those are just shows that just they, they
(09:56):
go down very easy and they're just like, you know, the Office
has a couple emotional moments, but it's just a lot of just
joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, which is how I like
my comedies. Are you a fan of the British
Office? Oh yeah, it's great.
And it like definitely changed the game.
I know people always talk about British office versus American.
I definitely choose the Americanby far.
(10:17):
You know, the first like 5-6 seasons of the American office
were just incredible. You're doing 22 plus episodes a
year. And the British office just it
has like a melancholy to it that, you know, I know people
some people love, but I would rather have kind of the more fun
(10:38):
version. But but it is great show.
And I remember like, yeah, I remember staying at Seth Meyers
apartment. He'd been hired.
He'd been on SNL for a few months and I was staying in his
apartment and he had tapes, likelike a videotape or a DVD that
someone burned the hat the British office on.
(10:58):
And it had only come out for like a year.
And I watched. I was like, wow, really, really
game change. But I'm an American boy.
And what about crying? Do you cry during TV, and if So,
what is the last TV show that made you cry?
Yes I do cry Tvi cried everything.
The last show that made me cry. Let me think about this for half
(11:21):
a MO. Take your time.
I wasn't sobbing, but I maybe had like a noble tear watching
this last season of Wolf Hall. Series 2 of Wolf Hall, which was
a Masterpiece Theatre. I don't know if you've ever seen
it. It's.
I have not. It's amazed.
(11:42):
Probably my favorite show last year.
It's based off the Hilary Mantelnovel about King Henry the
Eighth and Thomas Cromwell. And they made the first series
back in 2016 with Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis, and then ten
years later, the drop to second season.
And there was a moment in there that got me a little bit.
(12:04):
But like, you know, Band of Brothers is something I will
come back and I watch a lot and I cry a lot when I watch that.
What else? What else I'm trying to think
here. Oh.
Were you always a crier? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, no. As I've gotten older and I had
(12:24):
kids. Wait.
Oh, oh, God. I cried very hard at one of the
best shows this year by far. The Rehearsal Season 2, I don't
know if you watched it, I thought it was like, I thought
it was incredible. I thought what Nathan did was
incredible. And he has a moment with like he
(12:49):
does like a an American Idol take off kind of where he has
real people coming to sing and they think they're going to be
on like an American Idol show. And he has this moment.
He's talking about how he's not good at like he's not good at
telling people no, he's not going to rejecting people and he
(13:10):
struggles with it. I can't remember what the setup
was, but he has this scene wherehe kind of tells this very
young, like 1716 year old girl. She's not going to go any
further in this fake competition.
And the way he does it and like her reaction of it, like made me
cry very hard because it was just he, he just, he's a very
(13:32):
special voice. He's a very special performer.
And whenever you're dealing withreal people, there's there's
it's very tricky. It can go very bad.
And that made me, that made me cry.
Yeah, that's not the show I expected.
You know, there are a lot of shows out there that movie this
year, but I didn't expect that one.
(13:52):
I did see Season 1 but I need tostep into Season 2.
Season 1 was very funny, very good ending was a little weird,
but season 2 was incredible. Like what he did in season 2 is
the last like 30 seconds of it. I was just like, like I, I was
just shocked. I I really good for Nathan.
He's, I'm really glad he's he's out there doing stuff.
(14:14):
I'm going to start that today. You've completely convinced me
you've got good taste. If you could step into the role
of one pre-existing TV character, no matter what the
genre, no matter what the time period or for any reason, who
would it be and why? My God, Steven, that's such a
good question. OK, All right, let's think this
(14:36):
through here. Let's think it through.
I mean, I'm not presuming that Iwould do better than any of
these people. Like that is just not on the
table. I can imagine playing Michael
Scott would have been incrediblyfun, incredible writers giving
(14:57):
you great material and an insanely deep bench on on the
Office where you could walk out into that kind of Openoffice
area. And if you're Steve Carell,
you're looking around the room at like 9 killers.
So it's like, and it's just I, Ijust love that show very much.
I'll say that one for like a comedy and then for a well,
(15:22):
maybe Hank Kingsley too. Very, very, very, very deeply
funny character who again, I I can't even pretend that I would
be a millionth as good as Jeffrey Tambor, but that's up
there. And then for a drama, I'll say,
oh, what's oh, oh, maybe like, oh man, Dennis Farina on Crime
(15:50):
Story was awesome. Like I love Dennis Farina.
Rest in Peace King. I he's like one of my all time
favorite actors. Him and my late uncle were
partners in the Chicago police force 100 million years ago.
And I did love that show, only lasted a couple years but just a
(16:10):
great gritty 50s noirish MichaelMann crime show with Dennis
Farina. Very good.
That's great. I love your TV palette.
It's all over the place. Definitely you're digging into
stuff that I haven't heard yet. And a lot of I've seen, most of
I've seen, but it's definitely aunique buffet.
So we're going to pause the TV topics questions and get into
(16:31):
your work on the studio. I haven't seen all of you work,
but I have seen quite a bit. And you become one of those
actors who, when I see your nameon it, I go, OK, I'm on board.
I'm watching this. That's so nice.
Thank you, I don't recall what the first show of your hooked me
but the After Pie you were great.
I loved your work even though itwas only two episodes in
American Auto, which I thought was a real crime that they
(16:52):
cancelled. Like a true crime.
Like that show was so freaking funny and sign of the times
maybe, but it should still be onthe air.
Yeah, and where they ended it, they nailed it.
It was only getting better. And if they just put it out
there and promoted it more? Yeah, it's a hopefully if it it
gets rediscovered later on. That's the one good thing about
(17:13):
these shows, as long as you're able to still stream them, is
that, you know, they go away sometimes unceremoniously, but
ostensibly they live forever. So that is the one cold comfort
I guess. So the after party.
Fantastic. The studio, Incredible.
You keep raising the bar, you'reaging like a fine wine.
(17:36):
Hey, everything you do is like, oh, this is a little bit better
than the last one. That's so nice.
Keep up the fine work. But for the character of Sal Sal
Saferstein, is that how you say it?
Saperstein is how I Saperstein. I will mispronounce every name.
I should have had it written down phonetically or something,
even though it said something like what, 40 times in the
episode? Yeah, it was.
(17:57):
It was hit a lot. It was.
I get it a lot. Now.
People will walk up to me and goSal Saperstein and I'm like,
what's up? I'd walk up to you and
mispronounce it and you'd be like, what is he talking to me?
Is there a different salary around here?
I think it's you, buddy. So he's so much fun to watch and
at first when you meet this character, you're kind of
thinking that you're is this someone you're going to like?
(18:19):
He's kind of self-serving. He's got a touch of
douchebaggery to him and his episodes pass on.
You see this much more to him and he's more relatable.
Sure, he's got some flaws, but he's a good friend.
He's a parent. There's more to him than we see
at first. What was it about Sal that made
you want to play him? What drew you to him and what
did you want to bring to that character?
(18:40):
You know, I, I love how Seth andEvan write for me.
I, I, they kind of let me be theID a little bit and let me kind
of just be the guy that says thebad things and, and makes the,
the, the, the jokes that are a little harsh.
And I think they do that becauseI think they're confident that I
(19:02):
can buy it back with just just enough, just enough likeability
to make people be like, I hate, I hate him.
I, I, I was so excited about theshow when Seth first told me
about it a long time ago. And I'm, you know, he said, you
know, we want to, we really wereinspired by Larry Sanders, which
is arguably my favorite show ever.
(19:24):
And he was like, yeah, we're going to write this part for
you, blah, blah. And then when I read it, like
the first line is so funny. It's like, do I smell like
vodka? I was out with Pedro Pascal and
I getting fucked up and it just in a mint.
It's just, I think good writing in an instant.
You, you understand kind of who the character is.
(19:45):
Like you said, you're unsure of if you like him or not, but you
kind of get it a little bit and then it frames it so well.
And then they they, they are able to keep layering things in
like he has a family and he has daughters who don't like him
very much. And you know, he's, he's a very
manipulative, backstabbing guy, but.
(20:06):
He also is in survival mode a little bit.
You know what I mean? They, they, they, they, they
just did a very good job at creating this, this character
that on the surface is, yeah, a lot of douchebaggery.
But if you scratch under it a little bit, like a pretty pretty
fun nice guy. If this wasn't his career, maybe
he'd be a much more likable person.
(20:28):
You know, you kind of see it in there.
Like, there's that end of the episode where you're sitting
with Seth's character on the couch.
I was at a bed. I can't remember.
You're hanging out, always supporting him.
And then you have the daughters that you're trying your best
with. There are these moments when you
find you're like, oh, wait, there's a good guy there.
Yes. He's not evil or anything like
that. It's interesting, you know, you
(20:48):
say is he does this business bring out the worst in him?
And maybe it does, but also in acertain way, maybe it brings out
the best. Maybe if he worked in tech or
finance, he would be worse, you know, but there is something
about someone working in show business where it's like at the
end of the day, and I know this sounds a little cheesy, but at
(21:12):
the end of the day, everyone in show business, whether you work
in business affairs or whether you work as a writer or a
seamstress, you are telling a story.
You are storytellers. And, and so I, I, I do find that
while there are plenty of assholes in this business, I, I
think a lot of people are drawn to it because they, they like
(21:33):
entertainment, they like to tellstories, they like to see people
laugh or cry or be thrilled. So I, I think being in show
business gives him more humanity.
But again, as we all know, it's easy to get caught up in in in
the bad behavior and and to sometimes emulate the bad people
(21:57):
in show business. So it's an interesting way to
kind of look at it. Yeah, that's a good point.
You seem to naturally inject humor into just about everything
you do in this series. Of course, I really got a kick
out of your physical comedy in episode 5.
The war especially. It's just so damn funny.
In addition to your line delivery, I'm curious, with the
(22:17):
extensive use of the one shots, how did that challenge your kind
of creative comedic instincts? Did that hamper them?
I think it sharpened it, just knowing the style of what
they're doing and knowing that it it, it removed any laziness
or lack of focus. I think, you know, sometimes
(22:40):
when you're riffing, when you'rein the riff zone and just funny
shit's happening, you can you can get kind of sloppy and
performance can suffer a little bit because you're too busy
trying to think of like a new line, like a new alt or new
joke. But for this one, you know, they
gave you latitude to improvise or to, to, to make it your own
(23:05):
as much as you needed to. Although they did a very good
job writing it, but I think onceyou kind of do a take or so,
you're lot, you have to lock in and it it for me at least, I
think it made me just very, veryfocused in the scene.
Like it made me very just like Iwasn't thinking about anything
(23:25):
else really, except for like notscrewing up.
So, so maybe because that extra pressure maybe for some people
that could, that could take away, but I think for me it made
me focus more and I think made it better.
Yeah, my concern would be the opposite if you're doing
something like this, that peoplewould be very rigid and afraid
to kind of screw up the timing. But in the end, the the dialogue
(23:48):
and the humor is just so natural.
You often forget you're watchingwonders and you just get just so
wrapped up in what's going on, on screen.
And and the, and then I'd pause and and say, wait, wait a
second. How in the hell did that camera
just do that? I'd find myself going back and
watching it, just trying to figure out exactly how you made
these things work. So was that a real challenge for
you? Like every morning, did you wake
(24:09):
up and think, oh, crap, this is going to be tough?
Or did you find a groove when itcame to shooting the Warners?
Definitely found a groove. Incredible camera department and
Adam are our cinematographer. We worked, I mean actors and
camera work very, very close together anyways.
But for this you, you're, you'reeven closer.
(24:33):
You're, you're, you're, you're, you're really kind of like
helping each other out a lot. So the nature of the movement of
the takes, you know you will be in like Katherine Hahn's face
pointing your finger, saying it,but then you know that the
camera's off you so you can backup for a second.
So you're OP and his assist can like move right past you and you
(24:55):
can kind of put your hand on their back to make sure that
you're spotting them a little bit and then you get right back
into it. So we fell into a rhythm pretty
quickly. And again, I think they just
hired very good people who were very eager to work with others
and and just were very locked in.
(25:16):
It must be like a big dance at times, this actor steps in, this
one backs out. If the camera moves here, camera
moves there, and if one person'sout of step, then everything can
crumble. It's.
You know, they, they, Apple willput out little clips on
Instagram and TikTok of kind of behind the scenes stuff.
And it's great to see people's reactions to that.
(25:38):
We're like, oh, that's how you broke the table apart and
brought the camera up through it.
And then it just, they were very, very clever and crafty,
and now they have to figure out new ways to impress people for
Season 2. Yeah, I'm really looking forward
to it because it ended so quickly.
It's all these bite sized episodes, 25 minutes, 33
(25:59):
minutes, etcetera. Then when it's done, you're
like, shit, That was a whole season.
I was lucky enough to get screeners early and I was about
to go to bed one night and I said, you know what, I'm going
to watch one episode. Well, I end up watching 6.
Oh my God, and. It was the night of the the when
the clock shifted forward and I was up till about 3:00 AM and I
(26:19):
thought I'll be fine and then realized Oh my God, it's 4:00.
Oh, you lost an hour. You lost an hour, but you gained
laughs so. Exactly.
And that's all that matters. I shortened my life a little
bit. It's worth it.
It's worth it. But hey, you know what the hell
with this series? As you mentioned, you're blessed
with this amazing cast plus the incredible guest stars.
(26:41):
What was like having this old school Hollywood buffet of
talent around you? And were there any favourites
for you to work with when it came to the guest stars?
I mean, we were blessed with such a great group of regulars.
I mean, my God, you're looking at like Catherine O'Hara and
Catherine on Chase. We Wonders is like one of my
favorite people I've ever workedwith.
(27:02):
So you had this just baseline ofjust every day.
You were excited to see your friends who happen to be these
legends. But and but then on top of it,
you're like, you would look at the call sheet be like, Oh my
God, like Ron Howard and Dave Franco and Mack, you know what I
mean? Every day was just like more
treats. And in terms of favorite guest
(27:24):
stars, that's a very, very, verygood question.
I mean, Dave Franco, I thought was so, so, so funny in it and
played such against his who he is in real life.
So he was great. Sarah Polley, someone I've been
a huge fan of for many, many years.
(27:45):
And, you know, I loved her as anactress and then she stopped
acting and then now she came back to do this.
So that was very exciting. I mean, like, you're talking
about Martin Scorsese, who's like, it's so bad say to say
this, but like, he's the reason I'm here.
He's the reason I have went intofilm and TV and stuff.
(28:08):
So it'd be impossible just to choose one.
Olivia Wilde I thought was like insanely funny.
Like so funny. So yeah, again, they really,
they blew it because they did too good a job.
Season 1. It's like, how do you top it?
Yeah, I thought, I mean, across the board, everyone was so
great. Zoe Kravitz.
(28:29):
Zoe and Zoe had a tough job, like playing really fucked up
and tripping is tough. Like it's not easy.
People think it's easy because you just have to go.
But like she really just like went crazy and down for whatever
and just was look amazing. Like really, really great.
And then you have one. Of my all time favorites, Bryan
Cranston standing in his underwear flopping all over the
(28:52):
place. I mean like literally.
One of the greatest American actors of all time.
And we just got him down to his like, briefs and like a big sock
garters and shit. Like it was crazy.
And he really was someone who I've been a very, very, very big
fan of Ferb. I love Malcolm in the Middle.
I loved him. I'm Malcolm in the Middle and to
(29:13):
he came into the Mad TV sketch when I was on there a million
years ago and to get to kind of come back now and work with him
true, true thrill in addition tothe Hollywood.
Legends you also had another Co star.
I don't think you shared screen time with him, but your father
is part of the series. I get to watch it both on.
(29:35):
Who wants to be a millionaire? Yes.
And I just loved him. I thought he was so charming.
I was like, this guy needs to beon TV, and at that time, I
didn't realize he was the judge on jury duty.
Yes, yeah. I watched and had such a.
Great time with it. But then when I saw you on
Millionaire, I was like, Oh my God, this is his dad.
That's insane. He's very charming.
And your winning word, Zax. That was it, right Zax?
(29:57):
Yes, it's a tool for cutting roofing slates.
We all watched together. So my daughters know it now, I
know it forever, and this will forever be burned into our
memories. What is it like having your dad
along for the ride and kind of joining you along in your world?
I mean it it was a. Dream, you know, my, I remember,
you know, my dad wanted to be anactor when he was young and then
was like, it's too hard. I'm just going to be a lawyer.
(30:19):
And so he was a lawyer most our whole life.
And I went into, I got into improv and, and comedy and, and
I loved it. And then my little brother John
started doing it and we were alllike, oh, man, the whole
family's doing it, but he loved it.
And, and, and we, as we started working more and more, our
parents, our mom and dad were sosupportive of us.
(30:39):
They really could not have been more supportive.
And, but dad, I think always hadthis little hankering to kind
of, you know, do more and, and just threw a, a fluke, like a
friend of a friend reached out and was like, oh, they're doing
this jury duty show. And it was, it was like a pilot
that no one knew what it was. It was just like a little weird
(31:00):
thing. And so he did it and it became a
huge hit and him and my mom moved to LA and now he's in LA
and he's a working actor in LA and it's just like a dream come
true. It's definitely a dream come
true for him, but it's great forus.
You know, we get to see our parents more and every once in a
while, you know, we put him in arunning point, which is a show
(31:21):
that I write on. And then he's the kind of the
family lawyer on that show. And and then we put him on
History of the World and, and heit's just, it's a real joy.
And we're always trying to find new things to do with him
because he really is like a veryfunny actor.
But he's also like very smart, worldly man and knows a lot
(31:44):
about law. So he's just, he's a he's a
very, very cool guy. Yeah, he does.
And he's. Got some good timing, dude, and
I'd love to. I loved watching you 2 work
together and try to figure out these puzzles.
The millionaire question. It was just such a great
chemistry and not everyone has that with their parents.
Yeah, I'm really. Really, when it comes to
parents, very, very lucky. They also love trivia.
(32:06):
So they were always, they were always like we watched Jeopardy
growing up. When Millionaire first came out,
we watched Millionaire and I'm always amazed at how like much
my my dad and my mom know they just, it's crazy and to get to
use it to our advantage and raise a bunch of money was was
(32:28):
really, really one of my favorite moments of my life.
Probably. It's beautiful to have.
That you know their TV watching influenced your career than to
bring him in. It kind of goes full circle.
It's poetic. Next up is my mom.
We're trying to find a show for my mom this year.
Yeah. He doesn't want to make that
happen. You can do celebrity.
(32:49):
Wheel of Fortune or something? Bad at wheel?
I'm bad at wheel of fortune unfortunately.
I might like the way my brain works is more like I can hold
facts but I when it's tiles and stuff I'm just not as good at
it. So I can't do wheel.
I don't want to. I only want to go on game shows
where I have a fighting chance. Well, that's fair enough.
(33:10):
Well, with so many great scenes for sell your character, is
there a stand out? Is there one moment that you're
really proud of or you know justthat you really enjoyed watching
when it was done? I mean, I really, I loved the
casting episode where they're trying to figure out the cast of
(33:32):
Kool-aid and me and Han and Sethand Chase and Seth and Matt
Remick's office kind of spendinghours and hours trying to find
out like the least problematic combination was incredibly
funny. It was just, we were just, we
could not stop laughing. And it felt, it felt like what
(33:56):
you want to feel when you're doing a show like this, which is
like a little bit like, I hope no one gets mad at what we're
saying, but like, it's, it's just the reality of the world.
And that one I just in particular just remember
laughing at a lot, but there's so many like you know what, any
of the Vegas stuff, like shooting in Vegas was crazy.
I loved it. I, I love Las Vegas.
(34:17):
I like to gamble and have a martini and like, so to go and
spend all day in a hotel room with like Franco and Zoe and and
chase and these guys and, and, and then rap and go downstairs
and have a drink and play blackjack for 1/2 hour was
awesome. Sounds like fun.
(34:38):
I enjoyed what seems to be probably be the toughest, when
you park the car on the set and you're working your way through
the lot and the store hit you inthe face and the pasta or chili
or whatever it is dumps all overyou.
Just before this big meeting, I was laughing, I was cracking up.
It had me wheezing. It was so funny.
There's something about that type of humor I loved watching.
(34:58):
It shooting it that one was a little tough just because stunts
with a with with this style of show are just they're it just a
stunt always goes wrong at some point and like, or even a small
stunt like spilling a big, you know, carafe or or thing of
chili on on me. But that was one where I was
just like stressed and I was like, I just want to get this
right. Let's fucking let's go, let's
(35:19):
go, let's go. And then when you watch it, it
it just it worked out well. It's one of my favorite.
Scenes in a series full of favorite scenes.
So if you could go back to 2001,what would the Emmy nominated
Ike Barinholtz say to the younger Ike who was at the time
playing Assistant Milligan on the shaft?
And what would younger Ike say to you today, knowing where
(35:40):
you've gone with your career? I would tell the younger.
Ike, get Edward Herman's cell phone number so you could tell
him thank you for being so nice on set because I loved him.
Rest in peace. I would tell young me not to,
not to stress so much. I think, you know, you know, I
(36:03):
had a lot of years in between 2001 and now where it just
wasn't working. And it did.
You didn't feel very good about what you were doing.
If you were doing work at all, you weren't thrilled with what
the work was. And that comes with stress and
existential crisis. And, and I would try to tell the
younger version of myself to tryto put that away as much as
(36:27):
possible and just try to appreciate every moment inside
and outside of of the world of show business.
And the younger me, I would tellthe older me, I would say just
(36:48):
start now, like telling people that Donald Trump shouldn't be
president. I don't know something I would
try to like make a ton of money on, like bet on bet on the
Dodgers getting a a pitcher who can hit forty home runs in a
season or I don't know somethingI I, I I don't know, I don't
know, like what advice my could have given.
(37:13):
I mean, it's more of. Like, what would that reaction
be from younger Ike on the set of his first film?
And to see you pop up and guess what?
You're an Emmy nominee, I would say.
I would probably not believe it.I would probably respectfully
think I was hallucinating because I probably wasn't.
I'm seeing him talking to myself, but I would I would say
(37:36):
congratulations. Who's Seth Rogen?
I'd say he's a 19 year old rightnow in Canada, but he's going to
make a really great show one day.
That's a really you always hear like what would you tell your
younger self? But what would your younger self
tell your older self? You don't hear that one a lot.
I like that. And with your Trump advice, what
I would do is I would tell your younger self when you meet Seth
(37:58):
Meyers, tell him to lay off the jokes.
Tell him to not make fun of Donald.
Trump, tell him to say, tell himhow great he is.
How he could get an EGOT one dayand and then he could shift that
to be his new right now, Trump could have.
Been on Broadway doing the Phantom of the Opera, you know
what I mean? Like he could have been doing a
spoken word album and winning a Grammy as opposed to, yeah,
(38:20):
unwinding the federal state. He could have been one of the.
Greatest artists of all time andearned the right to change the
name of the Kennedy Center. But instead, we've got this
Donald, if you're. Watching this, it's never too
late. You could, you could resign
tomorrow and showbiz, we would take you in.
We would take you right back in and you could, you could, you
(38:41):
know, sing cats all day and, andand do whatever the hell you
want, but all you got to do is step down.
So we're here for you. He can use an Ebenezer.
Scrooge moment, you know, Yes, abig.
Redemption arc He gives up all this bullshit and then goes back
into show business and everyone's happy.
Let's go. I'd love to see it.
I'd. Love to see him in Home Alone 5
(39:01):
but him is the star focusing on him.
Yes. All him.
Forget Kevin and that bullshit. It's gone.
We don't need. It Kevin, we had to hold Donald
Trump. Donald.
Trump a nice movie. So he can go and start and
that'd be great. So let's close here with some TV
topics. I'll give you one of my
classics. I got a few.
You grab the remote control and you rub it.
(39:23):
A genie comes out and offers youa TV based switch.
What TV show do you want one more season of?
It can be a prequel season, it can be a season in the middle,
or it could be one final season tagged down at the end of its
run. And it's magic.
So same cast, same crew, no one's passed away, no time has
passed. You just get to have that extra
season. God, I mean.
I, I, I, I wouldn't, I wouldn't turn down another Soprano
(39:46):
season. I wouldn't.
I mean, if you're operating withthe assumption that Tony wasn't
whacked at the end of the finale, which I think it's
pretty clear he was, but let's say he wasn't and everyone was
still around, that would be pretty great.
I'll say that. Or The Larry Sanders Show.
(40:07):
Both excellent. Answers Yeah, The Sopranos.
I love it. I can still talk about the
finale and actually I've gone down to the ice cream shop
Wholesome's where they shot thatfinal scene and I'd be sitting
in that same booth he sat in andfor numerous reasons I'd just
say he's so dead it's not even an issue.
And for the record, like, I'm sorry people who were like that
(40:29):
finale sucks. You're just wrong, completely
wrong. It's.
Incredible. It's like.
You've, you've you've shut off the POV and the show's over.
You know what I mean? So it was brilliant.
And it's like, oh, exactly. Yeah.
And it and it continues. That's what people don't
realize. There are seconds of black there
before the credits roll. That's the show still running.
(40:50):
It's running until the credits roll.
Still running. It's still.
On a brilliant ending. I loved it.
Yeah, I was at the special screening.
Of the finale and had a chance to talk to David Chase and ask
him one question. Time was limited.
So I said I just want to know one thing.
The way they eat their onion rings.
Yes, the onion rings. They all ate their onion rings
like a host. No one eats onion rings like
(41:12):
that. I was like, this religious
symbolism. It's the end.
This is the end. He's dead.
There's no way. It's like the boring, oh, I want
the happy answers. Oh, we never know what happened
to Tony. Bullshit.
If you watch the show and you listen to the words they say and
you look at the symbolism, we know.
Or sure, he's dead. Exactly.
(41:32):
I'm. Preaching to the choir here.
I'll stop. Thank you.
I appreciate it. You know, I could do it.
All that, babe. Me too.
Let's continue. How about your favorite theme
song, One that you cannot skip and if you sing it you get a
Gold Star? I got to go with making your way
(41:55):
in the world today. Takes everything you got.
I mean, it's cheers, man. It's just like a, a, a it.
And it, when it kicks in and thekind of percussion kicks in, it
turns into a real little banger.That's my theme song.
Yeah. And the extended version.
Of the song is great as well, although I do love.
Taxi too. You know the name of the theme
from Taxi? No, no, I don't think.
(42:17):
The name is the name of the. Title song is Angela by Bob
James. Beautiful.
Whenever I think of it, it's like very Prostein for me.
Like I I hear that theme song and I'm just taken back to when
I was 3. But I'm sticking with yours.
It's a good choice. I'm, I'm gonna have to go listen
to it. It's hard for me to switch tunes
(42:38):
in my head. For some reason.
Mash popped up in my head. That's all I could think.
Suicide is painless, yes. And it's another song that
people don't really know the words behind it.
You know who wrote the words to?That no, I don't.
I think it was Robert Almond's son.
I think he either wrote the yeah, it was for the film, but
it was either the words or the melody was written by young
(43:01):
Altman another. Fantastic ending to a series.
So what about ATV death? One that you would stop if you
could. That I would stop.
And I've had guests say they. Would ruin the show if we
stopped at death. But there's several TV deaths
that I've watched and I thought,you know what, the show will
carry on fine even if this character didn't die.
(43:21):
So for any reason you want, you can stop at death.
I'll say, Tony. Blundetto from The Sopranos,
Steve Buscemi, Good 1. I loved his character on that
show. I I loved like, remember, he was
wanted to, just wanted to be a massage therapist.
He wanted to start his own business and go straight and he
just couldn't. Yeah, Blundetto's a big one.
(43:46):
Oh, oh, oh, maybe poor sweet Hodor.
Oh, yes, yeah. Hodor, Hodor, kind of, I'll say
Hodor. That's an.
Excellent choice. I mean, that series had a lot of
great deaths. Really.
You know, Pedro Pascal's death that that that gutted me.
(44:07):
Oh. Shit, Pedro's death, Oberon
Martell, man, honestly maybe himonly because like you saw him do
one fight and he was like fire and then he just we got a little
too cocky, got over his skies old.
But but I'll you know what? I'll still he's doing fine.
We could see Pedro everywhere. Hodor is very special.
(44:29):
Let's say Hodor. Excellent choice.
Hodor, I believe, was in our flag means death.
Oh, yes, yeah. He's one of the pirates.
A great series. So he's out there at least.
But I agree. 3 great answers. How about the greatest moment in
TV history according to Ike Barinholtz, The greatest.
Moment in TV history? Yeah, easy one.
(44:51):
Yeah, I just got it for half a second because there's like.
So, oh, OK, I mean, the greatest, I think the greatest
scene in TV history is probably,it's probably Christopher
Maltesante's intervention. The, the intervention on
Sopranos is one of the funniest scenes I have ever seen in my
(45:14):
life. You know, just everyone's going
through the machinations of, of intervention, but they're all
like, like, like when I think Elias Kateus plays like the guy
kind of guiding the interventionand he's like, does anyone have
any personal recollections of when Christopher's drug use
(45:36):
affected you? And Silvio takes out a piece of
paper and goes, Christopher, onemorning I came to get you, your
head was in the toilet. Your head was in the toilet
water. Disgusting.
And then like, see this where they just beat the shit that is
just all cylinders, acting and writing and and filmmaking
(46:04):
coming together. You've really got some.
Beautiful answers and the depth and the detail you go into.
I really, I love it. How about what TV show do you
wish you could erase from your memory so you can experience it
all over again like it was the first time?
Oh. Oh like re watch something and I
was just thinking like I need tore watch Mad Men.
(46:27):
So I'll say Mad Men. You know, I love that show so
much. And it was just so visually
beautiful. I thought beautiful actors, like
all the actors, you just wanted to look at them.
I'll say Mad Men. Yeah, great.
Choice Two more questions and we'll wrap up What for TV shows
(46:48):
make up Ike Barinholtz, TV, Mount Rushmore or TV just.
Make up my mouth from The Larry Sanders Show, Seinfeld, The
Sopranos, and this is a tough one.
This is a tough one. I'll, I'll say I'll.
Does Band of Brothers count? Yeah, sure.
(47:10):
I'll say Band of Brothers. It was either that or The Wire.
And I love the Wire so much, butI I I'll say Seinfeld, Larry
Sanders Show, Sopranos and Band of Brothers.
I thought Cheers might be. Up there, cheers is like.
Cheers was so formative for me as a young man, but I think as I
got older, Seinfeld and Larry Sanders just I think edged it
(47:32):
out a little bit. But I'll say those as a Seinfeld
fan. What are your feelings about
Curb Your Enthusiasm? Oh I love.
Curb, I think Larry's like one of the funniest guys.
I did an episode of it the last season, which was oh, did you?
Yeah, I played up here the ownerof a restaurant who like kicks
out Larry and JB Smooth. And it was it was a dream to get
(47:58):
to go play with Larry. I I love I love Curb.
It's it's hilarious and it's very stressful and it's a show
that I quote a lot. Like there's just so many
scenarios really. Oh, this is just like in Curb.
So I was very pro Curb. I have to go back and watch it.
I've watched every episode but there's just so why it's.
(48:21):
Like a buffet that they keep eating at and I'm like, you need
to leave, You're kicked out. You'll bend.
I was I remember and go how manytimes have your has Larry on
this show been banned from a restaurant and he's like four
Such a good. Show OK final one, if you had a
magic door, one that allowed youto access and live in ATV world
(48:42):
whenever you wanted to pop in orpop out.
You enter and your real life pauses.
You exit, your real life starts back up.
Which TV show world would it be and why?
I think I'm going to say Larry Sanders because it I love, I
have the luckiest guy and I I really love my job.
(49:06):
I love working in in showbiz andTV and that to me feels like I
can keep a version of my life asit is.
I could go and instead of going to work and seeing like Mindy
Kaling and Dave Stassen and KateHudson and Seth Rogen and and
Katherine Hahn, who I love, I would just be like, I'm going to
work. And I have to, you know, I'm
(49:28):
deal with Hank today. Hank's in a bad mood about
something. And yeah, R ES, I think had too
many drinks at lunch, but then Igot to come home.
So I'll say Larry Sandershow, just because it's like, it's
like working in show business. It's like you get to go into
what you already do because everything else is too
stressful. Like like it's so like, you
(49:52):
know, you don't want to go on The Sopranos, like you get shot.
You know what I mean? You don't want to go on Breaking
Bad. You'll kind of have like the
Aryan army, like beat you up, you know what I mean?
Like Seinfeld. You don't want to go on a
Seinfeld and like have to deal with Kramer being like, you need
to put the lotion all over my body.
Like you just I want to do. I want to just be with showbiz
(50:12):
people for for my little fun magic door.
So I'm just going to say Larry'shand.
You could be. The guest host.
Boom. Sorry Jon Stewart.
Bye. Bye Jon.
Nice try, Jonny. Well, thank you so much.
You're an amazing guest. And like I said, you're like a
fine wine. And I can't wait to see what you
do next, you know, with the studio, of course.
(50:33):
And Season 2 is coming in. It's on its way.
Is there anything else in the works?
Just. Yeah, we're.
Getting ready to the studio and running point Season 2, we start
shooting soon and I love that show and I, I love working on it
and so very grateful to be shooting.
Two things in LA and two things that people are are really
relating with. So very lucky man.
(50:54):
Excellent. Well.
Thank you so much for your time today and for all your amazing
brother. I really appreciate you anytime.
Talk soon. Have a great one.
Well, that was my guest, Ike. Barinholtz.
You can check out his work on Apple TV Pluses the Studio.
If you haven't seen it, you'll quickly understand what all the
buzz is about and why you get that Emmy nomination.
(51:14):
Check out his other work as well.
Keep tuning into TV topics and be sure to subscribe on Spotify
or apple podcast or wherever youfind your podcast.
And if you really enjoy the show, please give it a five star
rating. It really helps.
You can also follow TV topics onInstagram at TV under score
topics. Thanks for listening and stay
tuned for more TV Topics. TV Topics is.
(51:37):
Produced by Stephen Brzekowski, ZAP.
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