Tony Hale

0:06How much would I love to speak my mind on this campaign game? Can you imagine if I did that? Mississippi is chock full of assholes. I don't trust the Chinese. Operation Lady POTUS is gone. You see, I'm Selena Meyer, and I'm running for president of the United States. You don't announce your candidacy while the incumbent is the warm. That's like trying to bang the widow with a funeral. Plus Gary. Oh, come on. If you really want to be standing behind you for the next eight years like an asshole, you need to get a new job. Someone around here needs to get a new job. And it gave me... So I chose this room. Because one of your characters is kind of like a rock and roll in this book. A rock and roll chicken. Oh, yeah. That's right. Because I was looking around and I was like, most of the characters I do are pretty emasculated. Gary, Gary would fit real well in here. He'd just be wiping sweat off drummers. Actually, it'd be a good stress relief if you gave him a pair of drums.

0:53And Selena is pretty abusive. He needs a set of drums in his house. That's going to be a new plot point. Thank you. Do they do stuff from real life? I was watching that THR round table. And I think that was one of the questions they asked. They were, take things from your real life and add it in. Oh, yeah. Man, if they do that, I must have a sad life with Buster Bluth and Gary Walsh. That's a sad existence. Yeah, no. You know what they do do? Like when we were doing the, we would kind of tour around DC and we would pick up on kind of the way they were talking and different things that were kind of the kids were, the young interns were saying or kind of political lingo jargon. That's the one I'm looking for. Political jargon. And then they'd add that into the show. Yeah, that's interesting.

1:39So like, remember Matt Walsh and Timothy and Reed went somewhere in DC and they heard these kind of executive talking. And it was this really interesting term, which I don't know if I can say on camera. Go for it. Called pencil fucked where you take a, sorry. Where you take a speech and it's set but the very end someone comes in and just says you can't say this, you can't say this, you can't say this. Gotcha. And it's called pencil effed. You can say it. And so we use that in the show. What would Gary's swear would be? Because it's HBO. You guys can carry on. Well, would he ever swear? Probably. I don't know if Gary. Gary's a pretty glass half full person. Like he hears so much swearing from Selena that I think he's just, he just tries to detox with nice language. He's like, I can't, he'll go home and just probably watch my little pony on loop.

2:28Or read your book. Or read my book. Look at that segue. Look at that segue. So, so the gestation of this book, because I read it this book and I thought it was great. I love the, the Nest flicks that comes in his mail. Yes. Yes, yes. Well, it kind of came from, I'm doing this book, Archibald's Next Big Thing and it comes out in August and it really came from, I've been an actor for over 20 years. And you know, in this business you can always, you're always finding yourself going, what's next, what's next, what's the next gig, what's that. And many times I find myself, I'm so focused on the next adventure. I'm missing the adventure that I'm on. I'm missing where I am. And so it's about a little chicken named Archibald who's a bald chicken. And he goes, he gets a card in the mail that says your big thing is here. And he's like, where, where, where, where, where, where. And so he goes and all these adventures to find his next big thing.

3:15But every time he's on an adventure he's like, I gotta get to my next big thing. And there's this little bee that travels with him. And then the end he realizes obviously that his big thing really is here. And the bee teaches him a valuable lesson. Back to the THR round table. That's kind, you mentioned something about it in the middle of it. That's kind of where the whole interview went. Yeah. And because I mean, when I first booked my first job out here was Arrested Development and when I, and I all I ever wanted in life was a sitcom. That's all I ever wanted. And it was a fantastic job. Arrested Development was just an amazing gig. But I'd given it so much expectation, that big thing, get that big thing, that nothing can match that. And so I got and I was like, oh, I should be feeling differently. But it's because if you're not practicing content where you are, you're not going to be content

4:02when you get what you want. And so I had not been practicing content in my whole time in New York thinking that big come, I was never practicing being present. And so ever since that job and during that job, I really, as my friend says, you have to wait yourself up a hundred times a day to where you are. Are you able to do that? That's hard to do. I'm not good at it. Let me just let me know. I'm not good at this. It's a daily and I do think contentment and practicing being present is a discipline. Like I'm not good at it. And so I have to wake myself up to saying I'm having an awesome conversation right now in front of a drum set, you know, as you do. And it's like you have to wake yourself up. And so this is Archibald's lesson of he's so focused on the next big thing that he's missing the big things around him. Is it therapeutic to write? Like were you trying to like, you know, it was, it was very therapeutic.

4:50And it's also, it's something that I really believe in. I want my daughter here because, you know, kids are always like, what's next? What's next? What's next? And granted, it's not to say ambitions wrong and dreaming is wrong. I mean, obviously, but it's also like, Hey, what's, where are we now? Like what's going on now? And I really believe in that because it's something I have to learn. So this was, this book has been super fun doing it. It's a message that I really believe in, you know, and so to be able to write a book and say, Hey, this, I really believe in this. That's just fun. And that's what life's about. As a writer now, I guess. Yeah, that's weird. Is it? No, it's not. I mean, it's, it's cool because it happened very organically because it's an experience I had and then we wrote it into this children's book and I met this guy named Tony by Agni

5:36wrote the book with me. You only work with Tony's. That's your, I only work with Tony's. Sorry. Sorry for the world. I just went and recessed. But, so I met this guy Tony by Agni and he's a great writer and he helped me come up with the story and then this guy named Victor Huckabee and this girl Misty Manley illustrated it. And it's just this very organic process and just fun and I'm super proud of it. I heard something about the whale that I want to. Oh, yeah. Oh, I wish I had a camera. Yes. Take pictures and I love that because I talked to so many bands. Yeah, sure. I kind of broke the room. Yeah. But they all talk about that whole thing with the cell phones on their own stage and everyone's watching the show like this now as opposed to just basking in the moment and I love that you're teaching that to kids in the moment. Yes. He meets a character on one of his adventures called Ronald's spoutfly who's a big whale. And he does.

6:21And he does, he does fountain art out of his spout and it's gorgeous and Archibald is like this is beautiful and he says I wish I had a camera and Ronald says why don't you blink and let your mind take a photo instead. And so he blinks and perfectly stores it away for later. I love that. And I hope that message permeates the kids. Because it won't. But I hope it does. It's also something that as a father, I mean I'm with her all the time and I'm like let me get this picture and I'm like wait a second why can't I just be here and experience it. Because I think it's for me a lot of it's based on anxiety and kind of like I have to capture this I have to remember this. And it's like oh just be and trust that you know if you're present you will remember it because I will say most of my life I think I was checked out. I was kind of somewhere else and kind of you know just not very present.

7:10And I don't remember that. So I think if you do if you are present and you wake yourself to where I think you actually do remember things best. Isn't it the opposite of what your train is an actor is to be present? Oh totally. I mean I'm doing exactly what I shouldn't be doing as an actor. Talk about being present though. What I guess everything is recorded though at the end of the day so you could go back and launch it but is there any such a typical actor question? I don't love it. What scene really hits you and resonates that you like you're so that scene happened. Oh man. And you show anything ever. Well it's different things like on VEEP for instance you know working with this cast like Julia Louis Dreyfus is when you're working with another comic actor and actors like Matt Walsh and Timothy Simons and all these guys you when you trust their comic sense and when

8:01you have that faith it's like you ride the wave together. And so when you really feel like you're just catching each other's joke and you're able to give it back and there's nothing like it. It's an energy that is that's a very present moment because you're just you're feeling that and you're both riding that together. Do you remember when that clicked for you unarrested because that was your first gig is what I was doing like the first time you were really selling. I mean I will say like even though I mean you know I learned a lot of lessons on that show that cast was crazy good and so when you were up in Jeffrey Tambor and Will Arnett and Jason and Jessica Walter whose comic timing is brilliant you know you're surrounded by these people are so skilled at what they do so when I kind of got when I kind of gained some confidence I was like okay I can step into this pool of people.

8:48It was just there was such a faith there because you know I think we've all had actors out there have had an experience where you're working with someone and they're just not giving back to you what you need or they're not catching the joke or whatever they're just kind of not the rhythms not there and the chemistry is not there but with the rest and in VEEP it's just always that faith that it's going to be there and that's a gift. What do you do to an actor when it's not there? You guys are the director to come in and hope that he or she is able to. You know that's when I have to get out because that's happened to all of us and I'm sure somebody might say that about me like Tony just wasn't there or whatever. Everyone has their days. Everybody has their days and but if I'm with somebody that I feel like we're just not clicking that's when I just say you know what I'm that's when you know those boundaries and I think we're good.

9:34That's a cool sound. Yeah that's different. Anyways so it's that kind of when you have that like with arrested their skill set is so strong that it was just you stepped in you're like wow there's just a foundation of trust and that's when you can relax and say oh now we're gonna have a good time. Oh but your question was what is not there. Yeah. It's kind of a I have to watch my boundaries I have to say you know I can only control myself and do the best I can and you know just what do they have what they need from me you know so like rather than me going oh they're not giving me this and I can be this it's like wait a second am I giving them enough am I giving them what they need. Has anyone ever asked you that? Ask me to give more something. Sure yeah like if we're doing a bit. Many actors are watching it like that's kind of cool.

10:21Yeah it's that thing of hey can you try can we try this and the whole thing is you there is a director and you have to watch that you don't take the director role so tend to be like you'll bring the director and say hey can we try this can we try this rather than like you do this like let's let's have this would be fun. Oh finding Buster. Yeah. How do you prepare for a role like that? Like this is not even a human. I know he's not he's pretty much a cartoon character. Is that okay is that where you went cartoons? You know I get that I've gotten that question many times and I never feel like I have the right answer because it scares me how natural the character came and I'm thinking oh crap that means I am f-ed up. But you know the way he was written he was obviously a big mom was boy and he was really

11:10just I mean I've said this but he was really just kind of a seven year old at the time a thirty two year old body. So he just was very child like and very I would even say a five year old I think sevens too old he just was incredibly codependent with his mother. He had all this information but he didn't know how to implement it into life because he did all these graduate studies but he just didn't know how to function. I don't know he was just kind of just attached to his mother and he was terrified if he left her and it's something that she instilled in him like it was I what's that munchkins disease munchkins where you keep a child sick so that they stay close to you. It was insane. It was not movie six cents. I bet she had a little bit of that like she probably kept Buster really sick so that he

11:56would never leave her side. That's interesting. Yeah. And awful. Yeah. How do you get back into characters seven on years later was that hard was it easy. You know it wasn't actually I was nervous about it because it had been seven years and talk about expectation I didn't know what people were going to expect if we would be able to you know step into this again and but I will say once we were the for my first day was the day that everybody was on set which was very rare. So everybody was on set and when I heard Jessica Walters voice which was a very patronizing like Buster just like really like it was just like really just oh. And it was just like riding a bike again then I was like I'm back in I'm back in mama's

12:45boys back. Did they give you the full because I don't know how you prepare for a script for a show like that when everything is just you need all the episodes to understand it. You know I had every day I had no idea what was going on which kind of made it fun. We would always just go to Mitch and we would say Mitch so what's happening right now what's what's doing this and he go okay this this this because he had this like matrix in his mind and he was like okay so this is where this is going this is where it's going I was like okay got it so what am I doing now got it great and I had no clue what's going on. And I mean honestly on VEEP too many times we read the script but it's so much they shoot it. I love it just kind of has a real chaotic feel to it like people are coming in and out so I like that kind of chaos of energy where it's not it's focused it's a very chaotic it's

13:34a very organized chaos but it's still chaotic. Different from VEEP though from what I read. VEEP is very scripted very scripted those writers work. But after you guys kind of. But after everything's set and kind of fun then it's just kind of play. That's what our question was before the things started. Yeah right there it is. That it's just a playground. The playground and how that all works. And VEEP is very much of playground and the great thing about VEEP one of the great things about VEEP is there's absolutely and not that we don't all have a little bit of ego but there's just not there's no it doesn't feel like there's any ego in the room. And everybody is especially Julia and Armando they just want to make the best show possible. So because many times when you go this is not working they're like okay what are your ideas or how can we make this gel or where's the chemistry and writers come in and say how

14:20about this and it's just a real playful environment rather than like this is my bit and this is my bit and this is my writing and you have to do this and it's like no like let's forget the entitlement let's forget the ego let's make the best product possible and that's the environment that's the vibe. Where would you like to see Gary go I mean he tried to make this season. I don't want Gary to go anywhere I want him to stay right by Selena Sire. I mean is a character like character fellas ever. Where do I want Gary to go? You know I will say if before if this when the show ends I would love for him to just have one day where he just blows up. Like he just because Dan and Jonah and even Selena even though he worships the ground she walks on they're so verbally abusive to him and they're so condescending and they're just

15:09they forget about him. Like he's that oh what am I thinking of he's that person that he's like Anne on Arrested Development I don't know if you remember Anne. Yeah who was just like oh Anne like she was always forgotten. Gary's a little bit like that like he's just everybody's like oh yeah you're in the room. Oh you know and so he it's a smoke monster again. There it is okay so last time we shoot here. No but it's he's just kind of forgotten and I would like they're so passionate I like one day he just lets loose and just goes bat shit crazy and just starts going off on and just just goes on a rant. That should be your anything when you both win this year instead of doing what you did last

15:55year you should just explode on her own stage. Ever bring you up. Oh man I don't know that that whole anything is so it's so hard to think about it. No it's so like fun but it's I never thought it would be on that list. You know I remember last year when you know when they gave it to me it was it was such an out of body experience and you know this business is so chaotic and we're all looking for a job and you know it's hard to stay present and then you get there and have a night like that and you're like what like wait this is you know I'm I'm I had years in New York and still it's just like can I give a job? Give me a job like I'll do this and so to be on that list is like wait this is it's just

16:40so out of body and awesome it's crazy. Does it change that I mean everyone always hears when you get that award. All the scripts come in. No I mean I I think thank to be on a show is the gift. I mean you know it was just an honor like I mean yeah I mean it's been a it's been a great year and I've been able to do other work but it's I don't know it's yeah I guess I guess it I don't know if it changed. I don't know. That's a good one. That's a whole fine. But I mean it's more it's just been it's one of those things that talk about a moment talk about like that was a moment that was something that next to getting married and having my daughter genuinely it was like one of those like what this is amazing you know.

17:27Is her name in the book that I did I know her name is one of the characters. Yeah it was one of Archibald's sister. And my friend who told me you have to wake yourself up a hundred times a day is Calhoun who's the dinosaur. Oh cool. I like the dinosaur. It's great right. I feel like a four year old right now. I like this pretty book. Anyway. I'm glad you liked it. Yeah it was cool. I like while I've been reading to a lot of kids lately. I don't have any but friends kids and what not. Oh yeah yeah yeah. So it's nice when I'm like okay I can bring this to their house and it's a good gift is what it is. Hey ooh. I'm gonna let you go because I've taken up a lot of your time. I haven't asked me whatever you want. Well I'm almost done. Okay fine. Do you want to keep talking to Lost? What did you think of the finale? Okay so let's talk Lost. So I loved Lost and I was one of those guys.

18:12I never had any idea what was going on and I was always like wait who's the guy underneath in the steel? Like what's the ticking clock and who's the smoke monster and what? I was always that guy and I remember actually I remember one time I saw I was reading some reviews and I saw the word flash forward. Okay. I was so pissed off because I had missed a few episodes and I wish I'd never saw that because do you remember that scene where Kate and what's the lead guy's name? Matthew Fox. I can't remember Charlie? No that's not what I was showing. Um Matthew Fox that guy. Yeah. He is there and a girl gets out of the car and I go that's Kate because I'd seen the word flash forward in the press and I was like damn it so I missed that moment.

18:59But it was the show that I never knew was going on but I couldn't get enough of it. I couldn't and shows like I won't name names but shows that are that kind of action and suspense. There's a lot of my can't watch because it's too real. It's too much. There's a part of me that's like yeah this is going on somewhere. This is not entertaining. I could watch CNN. Like it's like that's not entertaining for me. But since Lost had that fantasy element to it it I was able to enter into it easily. It's the only show where my friends are still polarized. Some people hate the ending. I'm like you know who's all I get it. Yeah. I mean it didn't bother me because I kind of went into it going there's so I already have so many questions that I don't know what the hell's going on and I don't really care because it's just a fun ride. So even though it ended in like a church and this like kind of unitary situation I was

19:46like all right that's another question dad to my list I don't know what's going on. It's interesting. But it was just kind of fun. It's a fun ride. Are you able to separate yourself watching TV? No. Like as an actor? No. Are you criticizing performances and watching? No. I have a difficult time disengaging from like loss I could engage because it's a fantasy and it's like oh it's going to be so far out there. But something like... How's the card to true detective? How's the card? I don't know what he likes. Because he breaks the fourth wall. Right. Because he will talk to the audience so I'm like oh I can disengage and enjoy it. But something like I don't know homeland or something like which is you know about homeland security. It's hard for me to disengage from that because I'm like that's going down somewhere. And it's not something my wife loves it.

20:32It's not something I can enter into so easily. Which makes it make sense to me what my wife's like you're an actor. Don't you know that's... But I don't know it's something... You're still keeping the fantasy though that's cool. It's hard for me to... Especially when kids in peril are involved. Like if I'm watching something and kids are hurting or something like that I'm just like I can't. Like first episode of Game of Thrones when they push the kid out the window I was like okay. Spoiler. Sorry. But I was like okay that's hard. Yeah. You stuff like that I have a hard time. What about watching your own performance? Do you ever watch? I do watch my performances. I think my characters hopefully are so different than me by the grace of God. I can just kind of be like oh it's actually the hardest things that I have a hard time

21:18watching is interviews. Because that's... So you don't watch this. I'm not going to watch this. That's fine. That's not me. So that's what's the picture of me. And I go ugh. But if it's a character I'm doing something that's not me so I can disengage. I mean I can watch it. Cool. Does that make sense? Yeah absolutely. Five quick questions. I love it. Ask me whatever you want. Nobody do the same ones with everybody. I got time. I'm never in like a cool... Holy moly ground afterwards or something. Like a rock studio. Never. Script or improv? Script. Stage or screen. Well both. A mix. Good veep. There's a mix of both. Stage or screen? Man these are hard. Every actor gets the same ones. I say you know I've done these past years I've done more screens so I would say stage.

22:09Cool. Lenden or McCartney. Sorry? Lenden or McCartney. Uh, Tim McCartney. Hitchcock or Kubrick. Oh man. There's such good things of both. The um, um, you can cut this the other. I don't cut anything. This is all going in. I'm not joking. Well except for like the... The, I'd say the, ah, I just love the twistiness of old school at Hitchcock, the twistiness of Kubrick, the style of Kubrick but then both of them have style but different. That's hard. I'm going to go with Kubrick but Hitchcock is like, classics.

22:58I don't know. Cool. And one word. Veep. One word, Veep. One word. Um, I'd say, ah, um, Veep is one word. One word. Ah, dang it. Dang it. Um, I mean I just say fun. I like fun. I was, but of course I want to talk about. Go for it. There's a side, the thing I love about Veep that I get on a soapbox about is, you know, people say it is a satire but again it goes back to that politics, you know, we put these

23:43people on a pedestal and they have to be perfect and I will say the right things but it's like we're all works in progress. We're all in mess. We're all working things out. So I like that Veep even though she's made out to be a monster. You know it shows the reality of the situation. This is a very high pressured, intense environment. So when you put people who are works in progress in that environment they have to freak out. They got to lose it. And I like that we show a taste of that rather than which I still love the West Wing but this is more of like, let's go behind the scenes and show that these people are incredibly insecure probably. They probably have moments with like, I don't know what the hell I'm doing. And there's people expecting me to do this. Help me. You know, so I appreciate that about it. Yeah, I feel like, has anything ever talked to you and been like, yeah, you got it.

24:34Yeah, we've heard that a lot. I don't think they haven't said like that spot on by the grace of God because that would be a really terrifying situation but I think people who are in the world, I would think it would be a sense of relief because it's like, yes, like, thank you for showing the Ronis and thank you for showing that we're human and thank you for laughing at things. You know, I mean granted, again, hopefully that's not happening specific that way but it gives them a little more of a humanity. I can edit there. That was a good way to edit. Great. Thanks Tony. Oh, that was. Perfect timing. Fantastic. And then this goes. Yeah, I have to pay for that.