00:00Hi, I'm Dietrich Bader.
00:01I'm in studio with The Hollywood Reporter.
00:06You're here to talk all things American Housewife.
00:08Yeah.
00:08Better things in Veep.
00:10That's right.
00:10First with American Housewife, though,
00:12what stood out to you about the script when you first joined me?
00:14You know, it has a very distinctive voice.
00:17It's Sarah Dunn, our creator of the show.
00:21She managed to create a character that was sympathetic and awful all at the same time.
00:26The Katie character says things out loud that a lot of moms think.
00:32So some people, and it's more people than not, resent the fact sometimes that they have kids at all.
00:37That their life has completely changed.
00:40That they have to give up their career.
00:42That they're now saddled with this incredible amount of responsibility.
00:46And, you know, it's a slog.
00:47And you can't say that kids are always grateful for the amount of work that you have to do.
00:52They're not.
00:52Because they just assume you're the mom, so you're going to be doing that work.
00:56So she voices all of those things that a lot of women just feel.
01:00So to me, when I read it, as a dad, I thought, yeah, that's right.
01:05That's totally right.
01:06So from her voice, also super interesting, and also I love the interior monologue.
01:10But one of the things that really appealed to me about Greg was that he really loves his wife.
01:15No.
01:15And not in a snarky sort of way.
01:19Not that he takes a backseat, but he kind of loves her.
01:20He doesn't take a backseat.
01:21He lets her handle the household.
01:23Yeah.
01:23And he stands up for himself.
01:24But he also just really genuinely loves her.
01:26And wants to contribute to the family.
01:28He wants to be responsible for the kids.
01:31He's not trying to see his friends or go play golf.
01:34Or he doesn't make any kind of snide remarks about being, you know, saddled with his family.
01:40He really loves it.
01:42And that was really hard to find because that's how I feel about my kids.
01:45I'm really happy to be a dad.
01:47Like, it's the best thing that ever happened to me.
01:48I'm very grateful to my wife.
01:50I give her as much support as I possibly can.
01:53To find comedy in that is difficult because it's an easier get, an easier thing to hang your hat on
02:00to have somebody go,
02:01I don't want to do this.
02:02Or, yeah, you do it, honey.
02:05Yeah, I have nothing else to do.
02:06I'm at work and getting out of things.
02:08But that's not Greg's case.
02:09Now, you're on, obviously, American Housewife is on ABC broadcasts.
02:13Yes.
02:13And you're also on Better Things and V, which is more cable.
02:15What are the biggest differences, would you say?
02:17Well, I would say there's a lot of differences and there's also a lot of similarities.
02:21One of the similarities is that a strong woman is in each lead.
02:26And in their own way, they're telling a kind of feminist tale.
02:30For Housewife, it's that she, while taking the mantle, sort of resents it of being a parent, which is understandable.
02:36Yeah.
02:37In Pam's case, she is a single mom and also a functioning human being.
02:43She goes to the bathroom.
02:44Yeah.
02:45So there's...
02:46A lot.
02:47Yeah, a lot.
02:48But she covers things like that.
02:49And that, in its own way, is kind of a groundbreaking sort of feminist tale.
02:52And then the other, of course, is the first female president and also an almost unsympathetic lead.
02:59Like, Selena's really awful.
03:02Yeah.
03:02At the same time, you understand her.
03:03So I would say all three have, like, different ways of approaching feminism in their own, like, category.
03:13What separates them is, I think, the idea of network television casting the widest possible net.
03:21Yeah.
03:21So we're trying to appeal literally to the biggest audience that we possibly can and create a family show that
03:28everyone can sit down and watch.
03:29And I'm really proud of that.
03:31There have been a lot of fun moments on American Housewife.
03:34What has been, I guess, your favorite moment?
03:35And you recently had George Hamilton on.
03:37How was that as a guest star?
03:38George Hamilton.
03:39I didn't know what it was going to be like having him on there.
03:43He's a legend.
03:43He's a legend.
03:45And I thought, is it going to be cheesy?
03:47Is he going to be...
03:48What's it going to be like?
03:49And the single greatest raconteur I've met in Hollywood, and I've met a lot, is George.
03:57Okay.
03:58He tells the best stories, and you're totally rapt.
04:01First of all, he's extremely charming.
04:03Yeah.
04:03But also, he has, in one form or another, known everyone that you want to hear a story about.
04:10That's interesting.
04:10From Imelda Marcos to Elvis.
04:13He had the same manager.
04:14The colonel was his manager.
04:16Crazy, right?
04:17I was like, seriously?
04:18He goes, I was Elvis's pallbearer, one of them.
04:20That's a great start for a story.
04:22So I was Elvis's pallbearer.
04:24It's not like you're going to go, all right, I'm going to get some coffee.
04:27You're not going to drop out of that story.
04:28You're like, okay, hold, hold, hold.
04:30Yeah.
04:31What's the story you think he's going to tell about you?
04:32Is there one?
04:33I don't know.
04:34That's interesting.
04:35No, I don't know.
04:36Tender lover, maybe?
04:37Okay.
04:37Yeah, I'm hoping.
04:39What has been your proudest moment on Better Things?
04:42You've said once that it's been the honest you've ever been on screen.
04:45Yeah.
04:45How has that experience been for you?
04:48Better Things is a really cool experience.
04:50Yeah.
04:50It's a set like no other.
04:52So it has a very laid back, hipster vibe.
04:55Everybody is very hang out.
04:57It's really cool.
04:58You basically barely know that the camera's rolling.
05:01She wants the rhythm of life.
05:03So you take time to come up with what you're saying.
05:06Yeah.
05:06And she leaves that time in, which is fascinating.
05:08Everybody else just cuts, like V for example, super fast paced.
05:11So you talk right on top of somebody else's.
05:14Yeah.
05:14And you have a joke all ready to go.
05:15No one actually thinks that quickly.
05:17But on Better Things, she allows that time to happen.
05:20And that's where the comedy really comes from.
05:22It's a tone and it's kind of like a genuine comedy.
05:24Totally.
05:24I didn't get it at first.
05:25The first scene that I did with her, I sold my jokes like I do all the time.
05:29And then I watched playback.
05:31It's rare that a director lets you watch playback.
05:33Because it loses some sense of control.
05:36So she was, but check it out!
05:38And I watched it and I thought, oh, I'm missing it.
05:41I'm totally missing it.
05:42So I need to slow down and really mean what I'm saying.
05:45And that built up to the moment where I was genuinely honest.
05:51My father had just passed away.
05:53And I was afraid of dying.
05:59Yeah.
05:59And my character said he's afraid of dying.
06:03Dying.
06:03And the fact that life and a part coincide, it happens very rarely.
06:09You're supposed to always try to get to that depth.
06:12Yeah.
06:12But a lot of times it doesn't happen.
06:16And in that moment, I was being as honest as I have ever been.
06:21I was, at that moment, very afraid of dying.
06:24Next up is Veep.
06:25Yeah.
06:25What are you going to miss most about the show?
06:27And what do you think other people will miss most?
06:29Everything.
06:30Yeah.
06:30Veep changed my life.
06:31Yeah.
06:32You know, this is a show that has a lot of people in show business that watch it so I
06:37can actually talk about show business.
06:39A lot of show business for everyone is about the nature of perception.
06:44So I felt like, before Veep, I was considered to be a broad comedy guy.
06:51So Office Space, big character, Napoleon Dynamite, Beverly Hillbillies, also Oswald on the Drew
06:57Carey Show.
06:58These are all very broad characters, so they're not like me at all.
07:01And I had gotten to a point where all that I was offered were these really broad roles.
07:06And I was, for lack of a better way to put it, sick of being me.
07:11Yeah.
07:12I was tired of me.
07:14And then Veep came along, and I did one guest star spot.
07:21And at the end of the scene, Julia patted me on the shoulder and went, good job.
07:26And I said, well, thanks.
07:28And then the cameraman went, hey, you're coming back.
07:32Yeah.
07:32And I went, what do you mean?
07:33That one tap?
07:34She goes, yeah.
07:35It was basically like being called over by Carson.
07:37Yeah.
07:37You know, but I didn't know it at the time because it just felt another actor just giving
07:40me a nice thing.
07:42Yeah.
07:43And she brought me back.
07:44Office Space recently celebrated its 20th anniversary.
07:47Yeah.
07:48Can you believe it's been 20 years?
07:49No, I rolled my eyes because I missed both screenings that were the 20th anniversary
07:53because of work.
07:54And it really disappointed me.
07:56Yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:56Like I really wanted to go.
07:58Because, you know, when I first saw it opening weekend, it was me and my wife.
08:05It was a total bomb.
08:06Like the whole, there was no one there except one other person who left about halfway through.
08:11So it was really just my wife and myself.
08:12I loved the movie, but it's also, being in show business, I saw it through the eyes.
08:16It's a bomb.
08:17Yeah.
08:17It's going to do nothing for me.
08:18I spent all that time, and I really loved it, and I was like, I don't know anything
08:24about America's taste.
08:25I'm the worst tastemaker probably in Hollywood because I love every frame of that movie,
08:31and it's a colossal bomb.
08:33Then like two years in, it started getting, yeah, I caught on to it.
08:36I never watched it when I was on Comedy Central.
08:38And then at the 10th anniversary in Austin where we shot it, I went to the screening at
08:43South by Southwest, which sold out in like seconds or something.
08:46People paid like a ton of money to scalping for the office space.
08:50And then it was like Rocky Horror Picture Show.
08:53People knew every line, and the waves cascaded off of the screen.
08:56And it was like, oh, it is funny.
08:59Even strangers like it.
09:01It's also 15 years since the release of Napoleon Dynamite.
09:04Yeah.
09:04Another anime.
09:05Get out of your sensei.
09:06Yeah.
09:08What do you think Rex is up to now?
09:09Right?
09:10He's probably still in the octagon, you know?
09:13But a lesser version, like a smaller octagon for older fellas.
09:17Yeah.
09:18But you know, he's still got the moves.
09:20But I was doing a voiceover, and this kid that I was working with goes, oh my god, you're
09:24Rex Guando.
09:25And I was like, oh, yeah, right, yes, no, I am.
09:28I hadn't seen it.
09:30And he started quoting, like, do that part where you say this.
09:32I had learned the lines the night before.
09:34What was the part?
09:35Oh, it was like, you know, the bad boys, like, you know, Stella.
09:39Oh, like all of the lines.
09:41I was thinking he knew every single line of Rex.
09:43I didn't remember them.
09:44Because even though I learned it the night before, and then I did it two takes, and then
09:47I left.
09:48Yeah, I totally forgot about it.
09:49But then I never saw the movie.
09:50Well, I saw it years later, but not before I saw this kid.
09:53And he knew, I was like, wait a second.
09:56Because it creeped up on me, like, how do you know every line?
09:58How many times have you seen the movie?
09:59He said 10.
10:00And I thought, wow, this is going to do pretty well.
10:03This might be actually my one hit that I've ever had.
10:06And yeah, it turns out, yeah, it really did well.
10:09Thank you so much for being here.
10:10It was a real pleasure.
10:11I really appreciate it.
10:11Yeah, thank you very much.
10:13Thanks for having me.
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