Timothy Simons joined Henry Winkler, Jim Carrey, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ted Danson and Don Cheadle for the Comedy Actor Roundtable. The full roundtable airs June 30 on SundanceTV.
00:00When was the last time you guys were sort of genuinely nervous? I'm curious, in your case,
00:09I mean, you took on, I guess it's the antidote to the Me Too movement, with the not-me movement.
00:16But I am curious in that, and I believe that started on some level as your idea.
00:22Do you get nervous? Do you think about sort of where that line is? What is that navigation?
00:26Well, I mean, I think like sort of specifically to this show, I've never worried only because the writers involved are so good at handling those kinds of things
00:34and always making sure that the joke is on the right person.
00:38So I never, I think having a backstop of talent like is in our writer's room is incredible.
00:46But as a performer, I never really have gotten nervous about it.
00:49Just because ultimately the joke is never on any of the people that he is saying terrible things about.
00:55It's always on how terrible of a person he is.
01:00Because it's politics, and not only U.S. politics, but then world politics,
01:03there is not a single thing under the sun that we can't be cynical about.
01:07And moving forward, like I think I will miss that a little bit.
01:10There's no side to it either.
01:12Yeah.
01:13Everybody's in the front.
01:14Everybody is in there.
01:17I will miss that level of cynicism, but at the same time,
01:20I am looking forward to not being so cynical about every single thing that you come to contact with.
01:25But yeah, I do think that like nobody in making a, like the not me joke,
01:30wants to have the joke on the victims.
01:32You know, like nobody would think that was funny.
01:35So I do think that like from the beginning, it's just like,
01:37oh, they found a really good way to do that.
01:39I just had like a dumb, I was like in my backyard, I was raking.
01:42And I was like, I had a dumb pitch, and I called up our showrunner
01:45and pitched them like the very beginning of it.
01:48And then they built it out into what it became.
01:55Hollywood likes to sort of lock people in lanes.
01:57They want something, a specific thing from you.
02:01Most often it's because it's, you've given it to them before.
02:05What are the things that you get approached for that you just say,
02:08oh, not this again?
02:10I'm grateful for every opportunity,
02:12but I will tell you I have turned down a bunch of offers
02:15and or auditions for things that are just bad versions
02:18of the thing that I'm doing already.
02:19Like if there's just too much of a Venn diagram overlap,
02:22I do somewhat reject it out of hand.
02:24Oh, here's like a sort of gangly guy
02:25who's going to say sexually inappropriate stuff in an office,
02:28and he's going to wear it.
02:28So like, okay, well, I'm doing that already.
02:31And also this version of it is not as funny.
02:33So like I do, like, I mean, like I'm sure we all try.
02:36I've done several of the parts you've turned down.
02:39That's so loud.
02:42You know, I mean, there is that thing of like I do,
02:45although it does involve like saying no to work,
02:48which I never ever thought I would be in a position to do,
02:52I have tried to be cognizant of it since the beginning of the show.
02:55Do you know what I mean?
02:56Absolutely, yeah.
02:57Complete this sentence.
02:59I knew I made it in Hollywood when?
03:02I feel like everybody that I've met,
03:04like outwardly you look at them and you think,
03:06oh, well, that person's fine.
03:08Like they're perfect.
03:09They're sailing.
03:10Like they're never going to have to hustle.
03:12And then you meet them and they still hustle.
03:14You bet.
03:14And they're still after it and it doesn't matter.
03:16And so that feeling of like I've made it in Hollywood,
03:18I don't know that that actually exists.
03:20Okay, but you do have your sort of first dose of success
03:23and feeling like, oh, I can make a career of this.
03:25But it's flipping.
03:26I did get to meet Steve Buscemi at a party one time
03:28and I will fucking tell you that was amazing.
03:30That was some great shit right there.
03:34I love it.
03:35There was one time where Paul McCartney,
03:37in like a Twitter question and answer session,
03:39somebody asked him like, what were his two favorite shows?
03:42And one I think was just like a UK reality show.
03:44And then he mentioned our show in this,
03:46like those are my two favorite shows.
03:48And I do think there was a moment of quiet in the room.
03:50It was interesting to know in that moment
03:53that you were a part of something that a beetle noticed.
03:56Yes.
03:56Like that seemed like a gigantic thing.
03:58It didn't mean that we get to take the rest of the day off.
04:01But there was the thing, like I grew up,
04:03I lived my entire life and it came to this moment
04:05and a beetle knew something that I did
04:08and that seems in itself insurmountable.
04:16I just feel like, I don't know that I had much of a choice
04:19in the matter.
04:19Like I have always been somebody,
04:22like I think from when I was a kid,
04:23like was able to see the serious things.
04:25I just have only ever been able to deal with them
04:28through this lens.
04:29And they're like this lens of like,
04:31oh, well I need to make myself comfortable in this
04:33by coming at it sideways.
04:36And there is, I don't know if you guys do.
04:37I had a conversation with a friend of mine
04:38about this recently that like,
04:40it's like sometimes when stuff comes up with your family,
04:43I don't know, like if you're a bomb thrower,
04:45like sometimes throwing bombs,
04:47sometimes they explode.
04:48But it just, I don't know when it happened,
04:51but just ever since I was a kid,
04:53in whatever situation it was,
04:54it was like, all right,
04:55well I'm just going to put this in here
04:56and see how that goes.
04:57Like it is fun.
04:58And I do feel like you can.
05:00Taking that risk is great.
05:01There is a risk there,
05:02but like the reward sometimes is like,
05:04this is an impenetrable person
05:06and you got in with that.
05:08That is a really amazing thing.
05:10And whether or not it's able,
05:12you can get to it a different way,
05:13it's certainly possible,
05:14but my way into it has always been for that.
05:16I do feel like you can get to it a different way.
05:21I do feel like you can get to it a different way.
05:21I do feel like you can get to it a different way.
05:22I do feel like you can get to it a different way.
05:23I do feel like you can get to it a different way.
05:24I do feel like you can get to it a different way.
05:25I do feel like you can get to it a different way.
05:26I do feel like you can get to it a different way.
05:27I do feel like you can get to it a different way.
05:28I do feel like you can get to it a different way.
05:29I do feel like you can get to it a different way.
05:30I do feel like you can get to it a different way.
05:32I do feel like you can get to it a different way.
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