Joe Keery on 'Stranger Things,' Tanking Auditions, and His First Jobs | How I Got Here | Esquire - video Dailymotion

Esquire

Before Joe Keery became Steve Harrington or Djo, he was delivering pizzas, waiting tables, and playing shows for crowds made up entirely of his and his friends’ girlfriends. In this episode of “How I Got Here,” Joe opens up about the slow fade-outs of past jobs, the chaos of his ‘Fargo’ audition, and how he sealed the deal for ‘Stranger Things.’   Stream 'Stranger Things' season 5 Vol. 1 on Netflix. Check out Joe's digital feature here: https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a69512849/joe-keery-stranger-things-interview-2025/   #JoeKeery #StrangerThings #Djo #TheCrux #HowIGotHere #Esquire

Transcript

00:00Hi, I'm Joe Keery, and this is How I Got Here with Esquire.

00:04Let's get into it.

00:06First job I ever had, I was a paper delivery boy.

00:10I took over a neighbor's paper route.

00:13I was probably like maybe 10.

00:15And then my first real job, yeah,

00:16I was working in a restaurant called The Grog.

00:19I was a busboy.

00:20I was a host.

00:21And then I was a waiter, eventually.

00:23I wasn't the best.

00:24What I, you know, lacked in organizational side of things,

00:27I kind of made up for being real with people.

00:31First job I ever quit, I was a pizza delivery guy for a summer.

00:36Wasn't the greatest pizza delivery guy, I guess.

00:39And so I had to quit that.

00:40I went back to school in Chicago.

00:42I haven't quit a lot of jobs, though.

00:43I feel like generally it's a slow fade out.

00:46There's not like a kind of a dramatic end to any of these jobs.

00:49Listen up, Neutrogena.

00:51You know you can't go around looking like that.

00:52The rules are clear.

00:53And another thing, you can't hack the NPC avatar.

00:56Any jobs I was really terrible at, I'm relatively competent.

01:00I feel like I can at least get by.

01:01And I am a little bit of a people pleaser,

01:03so I'm like, you know, making sure I'm doing an OK job.

01:07I've taken so many auditions.

01:09I think about it all the time.

01:10It was Fargo.

01:11I kind of like exited the audition.

01:13I was reading for the part, and we did it like,

01:16I was in a hotel room on a Zoom situation.

01:21Just doing all these scenes.

01:23And we did it once.

01:23OK, you do it once.

01:24Great, OK, let's make some adjustments.

01:26Did it again.

01:27OK, let's just change it this way, and let's do this.

01:29And I've also had to kind of be doing this like accent

01:32that I was sort of like, you know, you're winging it.

01:33You're kind of tossing it together.

01:35I think we did the tape like 15 or 16 times.

01:39It was like a lot.

01:40You know, up to a certain point, you're like, OK, this is cool.

01:42Like, we're working on it.

01:43And then you're like, you want to be able to do

01:45what the person is asking you to do.

01:47But I guess I booked a job.

01:49So, you know, I guess I did something right.

01:52You want the last word?

01:53Here it is.

01:56I'll see you soon, asshole.

01:59What I think sealed the deal for my Stranger Things

02:02audition, it was right place, right time.

02:06Kind of had a good understanding of,

02:09just a basic understanding of who the character is.

02:11And like, also kind of like knew the tropes

02:14that they were pulling from.

02:16So I was like, oh, I kind of feel like I get this.

02:18It was just one of many characters in the show's

02:20like huge, big ensemble show.

02:22And like the first season, it wasn't even like really

02:24a core character, to be honest, to the whole thing.

02:26But they were nice enough to add me along

02:30and write some great stuff for me.

02:32And I just was, I just like wanted to be on set

02:35as much as possible and loved the brothers and the cast.

02:38Like I really was quite invested in it.

02:41So I was like, I'll do whatever.

02:43I just am interested to be here.

02:45You got the job!

02:46You got the job!

02:48One of the things that I really dislike

02:50is when someone's like, oh, you play guitar?

02:52Oh, play something.

02:53Hey, just play something.

02:55Like, that's horrible.

02:57And so I was working on a different job.

03:00And someone was like, oh, cool.

03:02You play music, play me something.

03:03Play it for the whole group.

03:04And that is terrible.

03:07In terms of like bad or small shows,

03:10definitely done a few of those.

03:12We did a show.

03:12It was like a bar.

03:13And it was just our girlfriends,

03:15which was really sweet of them to come.

03:17They're all like, you know, hey, good job.

03:19It's just us.

03:20We're like, it happens.

03:22You're losing it.

03:25Big mishaps.

03:28Oh, man, recently we were opening for Gracie Abrams.

03:31And we were playing in Toronto.

03:33And my guitar just didn't work for the back half of the song.

03:38Or back half of the set, I mean.

03:39And so you're kind of, you know, do I mime this?

03:42Do I just put it down?

03:44Like, you have to focus and like still do stuff.

03:46So but like that stuff happens.

03:47I think it's much more about like how you recover and just not,

03:53you know, sweating the small stuff.

03:55You do four puffs of the Farrah Fawcett spray.

03:58Farrah Fawcett spray?

04:00Yeah, Farrah Fawcett.

04:01You tell anyone I just told you that,

04:04and your ass is grass, you're dead, Henderson.

04:06You understand?

04:07I do feel like acting has helped my music career.

04:10They kind of feed off each other.

04:11You get sick of one, you can kind of go to the other.

04:13You get sick of that, you can kind of go back.

04:15And so just like having two different outlets is really good.

04:17I really like being creative and making something.

04:21There have definitely been times where

04:23you feel sort of like quitting.

04:25You get discouraged all the time, I think.

04:27But I've also been like very, very lucky.

04:30How did I get here?

04:32I took the A train.

04:34Thanks so much for watching.

04:35Watch Stranger Things on Netflix.

04:51KAROL HELLY

05:06catch you.

05:08On Netflix.

05:10Neverית 500.

05:11We'll see.

05:11That was one thing you learn new year.

05:12We'll see you in the comments.

05:13I'll see you in the comments.

05:14And maybe us later.

05:14We have to wait until this comments.

05:15We will see you in the comments.

05:15We will see you in the comments section.

05:17I'll see youцев enfim.

05:17And we will see you in the comments too.

05:19Acts 666-19 And we'll see you in the comments below.

05:20But kinds of feels like that.

Joe Keery on 'Stranger Things,' Tanking Auditions, and His First Jobs | How I Got Here | Esquire

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