Kal Penn Meets World

It’s time to talk to Boy Meets World’s most famous background actor! 

Before he was Kumar, before he became a doctor on “House” and before he met your mother, Kal Penn found his way onto our favorite ‘90s sitcom - even though you probably never knew it.
 
Kal joins the gang to share his memories from the Season 4 episode, “Quiz Show,” and talk about his time as an extra breaking into Hollywood (he even walked around another TGIF classic).

From White Castle to the White House, this week the gang talks to one of the most inspirational guests yet. And also, does Barack Obama know what Boy Meets World is?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Danielle cancer update, my favorite.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Stop talking about it, Danielle.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
We're done with it.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
No, I just wanted to give everyone an update because
I've kept you guys all abreast. I've kept you all
abreast of what's been going on with my breast cancer
diagnosis and treatment. I am officially done with radiation, which

(00:52):
means I am officially done with what is considered active
cancer treatment. Surgeries, chemo, which I did not need to have,
and radiation are all considered active cancer treatments, and so
I'm done. I don't have to have any more of those.
I now will just start to moxifen eventually. My doctors
wanted me to wait until my body had physically healed

(01:16):
from the damage that radiation does before they put me
onto moxiphin because tomxifin I will have some side effects
from and they didn't want to overload me with negative
side effects.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
So radiation was.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Actual time there relatively easy. You don't really do anything,
you just lay there. It's really short, it's super fast.
I did fifteen rounds of whole breast radiation and then
five rounds of targeted radiation, which just means they focus
in on the very small area where my cancer was
versus treating the entire breast. It will help significantly lower

(01:54):
my chances of recurrence, which is always good news.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
But boy, I am feeling.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
The effects I am physically. I have a very bad sunburn.
I also have a rash on top of the sunburn,
which is just great. So it's very itchy. And also
you can't itch it because if you even come close
to touching it you want to cry. So yeah, hurts to

(02:21):
wear a bra, hurts to not wear a bra. It's
just hurts to sleep on my side, hurts to sleep period,
hurts to be awake. It's just yeah, it hurts to
live right now. But you know what, it's not gonna
last forever.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Physically.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Every day now, I'm supposed to be getting better, fatigue wise,
I am really very stinking tired. And I had a
doctor's appointment yesterday. I had a follow up so they
could see how I'm healing. And I asked, I'm just
not used to feeling this tired. I'm so so fatigued,
and they said, oh, yeah, well, you know it's a

(02:54):
cumulative effect, so you're only right now starting to feel
the effects of your first radio And I said, so
how much longer am I going to feel like this?
And they're like, you'll feel better in two to three months.
I'm sorry, what I'm going to feel this tired for
two to three months and.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Then get this.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
They told me that if I want to feel better faster,
I need to work out and drink water those faster.
I'm sorry, you want me to be tired and take
care of myself.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
But just unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
So I guess I'll try to drink more than twelve
ounces of water today, which is my normal intakeout.

Speaker 3 (03:42):
That is that is not good?

Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, but I did start working out. I worked out yesterday.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
I'm going to work out again on Friday, because he
said all the working out and drinking water helps my
body get rid of all the damage that the radiation did.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
So anyway, I'm.

Speaker 3 (03:59):
Have you found the best or me?

Speaker 2 (04:00):
App No? Is that is that the calisenics thing you do?

Speaker 4 (04:04):
The calisthenics thing I do every day and Susan and
I do it together and it's like fifteen it starts.
It's like fifteen minutes a day, Okay, super easy. You
don't need anything, there's no weights, there's no anything. You
just they do like a twenty eight day program. Today
is my last day of doing it, and it's super
super simple.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
So not an ad Are you saying that for twenty
eight days I could do to calisthenics and then I'll
and then that's it.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
That's it is just twenty eight days.

Speaker 3 (04:28):
That's it.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
You're good.

Speaker 4 (04:29):
Well, that's this one regiment. It's not You're not going
to be miss universe in twenty eight days. But then
I don't want a good exercise.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
It gets me to miss universe in twenty eight days.

Speaker 4 (04:38):
Some random kind of drugs I would imagine.

Speaker 3 (04:41):
Yeah, you're right.

Speaker 5 (04:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (04:42):
The drinking water thing is key. Yeah, And it's also
I so I heard we will beep. But I about
a month ago just heard my wife in the kitchen
say to herself, okay, in like just this voice, maybe
try drinking some more water, you stupid.

Speaker 3 (05:05):
And I walked in, like who are you talking to?
And she's like, oh, that was for me, And I
was like, can we not talk to my wife like that?
That's that's really really under on her behalf.

Speaker 4 (05:15):
Yes, but she does the same thing where she's like
and then what she'll remember to do it at nine
thirty when what happens, and then she has to peet
nine times in the night.

Speaker 3 (05:23):
It's you got to see.

Speaker 6 (05:24):
Those water bottles that like track how much you're supposed
to drink, like when you're moving drink.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yes, yes, I actually I own one of those. Do
I use it?

Speaker 1 (05:32):
Of course not, but yeah I don't. I'm not thirsty
ever all day until right before I get into bed,
and then suddenly I'm very parched. I have to drink
thirty six ounces of water immediately.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
And it tastes incredible good. Why does a water taste
like that at noon?

Speaker 4 (05:50):
At no at nine thirty ten o'clock at night, you're
in bed, all tucked and warm. It is the greatest
tasting thing in the world, is chugging water.

Speaker 3 (05:57):
And it's like, well them, I'm up in an hour.
That was stupid.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
I know.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
Sometimes when alth there wakes me up to pe in
the middle of the night, I'm really happy because I'm like,
I also needed to go and I was.

Speaker 2 (06:06):
Gonna be too lazy to get out of bed.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
But now that I'm here helping you, I'll just And
for those wondering why I have to help my five
year old p it' said he doesn't have a doesn't
have a bathroom in his room, and so he and
it's very dark and lonely in the house with a
mommy helping you to the bathroom.

Speaker 4 (06:21):
Can I make a suggestion, just so he knows what
he does to you at night? I say, tonight you
wake up to pee, start yelling his name.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
Put the monitor in his room.

Speaker 3 (06:30):
So he has to come and help you go to
the bathroom. And then at the end, just be like,
see this is what it's like.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Do you like it? He'd probably love it. He'd be thrilled.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah, and he'd be awake exactly. This is why I'm
not a parent, one of the many reasons. Just put
it on the list.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
Welcome to Pond Meets World.

Speaker 3 (06:47):
I'm Danielle Fischel, I'm right or Strong, and I'm Wilfordell.

Speaker 1 (07:02):
During our rewatch, we have had a lot of fun
pointing out some of our favorite Boy Meets World background actors,
from Dusty Tasie Me to the guy we can't find
who looks like writer. Some of our fondest memories have
been reminiscing about the fun times we had with actors
and actresses you may not have known by name, but
were around all the time. Actually, one of the most

(07:23):
fun episodes of this podcast was when we got to
reunite with and talked to a handful of these talented
people and heard all about taping Boy Meets World from
a totally different perspective. So imagine our surprise when we
found out thirty years later that one of our background
actors in the season four ROMP Quiz Show would go
on to become one of Hollywood's most beloved TV and

(07:46):
movie stars. Well, at first we didn't believe it. Then
we recapped the episode and yep, there he was front
and center. We were looking at a very young Cal Pen.
You know, Cal from an unlimited number of bursting into
mainstream success in two thousand and four as Kumar in
the Harold and Kumar franchise, then appearing on shows like House,

(08:07):
How I'm at Your Mother and the Santa Clauses, with
movies like Smile and Van Wilder. He'd take a two
year sabbatical from acting in two thousand and nine to
serve in the Obama administration as an Associate director of
the White House Office of Public Engagement. That's about the
same time I was gift wrapping at a Bloomingdale's for
Fun and hosting a clip show on the Style Network.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
So we've had similar journeys. This week, we are.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
Honored to talk to the most successful background actor in
boy Meets World history, someone whose resume we will now
take all the credit for. Welcome to Pod Meets World,
our co star Cal Penn Good. Oh my gosh, I
am so excited. I'm so excited that we've made this happen.

Speaker 5 (08:54):
Oh my, thank you, Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2 (08:57):
Oh my gosh, thank you for being here.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
I can only imagine that over the years, your door
has practically been kicked in by people asking you about
your time on Boyme's World. So the fact that you
waited to talk about it to be with us really
means a lot.

Speaker 5 (09:13):
You know, people do ask about it a lot, which
applies to be And so when I when I saw
this email, and I know we have mutual friends that
sort of connected us, I was like, yes, absolutely love
to come on this podcast. It's like, obviously it was
an eternity ago, and it was like right when I
had moved to La but I had such a great
time that this was like very exciting.

Speaker 1 (09:34):
Okay, well, I want to get to all of all
of that, and I'm really happy to hear that you
had such a good time. But before we do talk
about that, where you moved to LA.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
How old were you? You were you lived and you
were born in New Jersey.

Speaker 5 (09:47):
Yeah, I was born in New Jersey. I got into
UCLA at their theater and Film school, and so I
moved at eighteen. I graduated high school and moved across
the country. It was one of those classically didn't know
anybody in entertainment or in ol and I sort of thought,
like I wanted to do more film and TV. I
had some somewhat of a theater background. I went to
a performing arts high school outside of New York City,

(10:10):
and so I just like I moved to LA and
u c l A is a great program, but it's
very theater focused, which I didn't realize. What most students
would do is they would kind of either audition outside
of the classroom or they would work. Like there were
a lot of obviously working actors. It was. It was LA,
So people would be in school and then just go
off and shoot commercials and stuff. And I'm like, I
don't know how to do any of this. I do,

(10:32):
and so that was that was just being a team
and being out in La Also, I had not a
car for like the first three years, like.

Speaker 3 (10:41):
Walking the three blocks of Westwood and that's it.

Speaker 5 (10:44):
And it was like you could get like I remember
trying to go to I got some internship my sophomore
year in Burbank at I think it was Lucasfilm, so
like really love it. Yeah, And it took me two
hours on the bus from Westwood to Burbank. And on
the third day I was like, yeah, I can't do this.

(11:05):
I'm not there's no time to study. It's like it's
dark when you go home.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
Right.

Speaker 5 (11:10):
I didn't a laptop. It's not like I could like
do papers on the Boss or something.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 5 (11:16):
Yeah. Anyway, those are the days.

Speaker 1 (11:18):
You just ate a lot of Dede Reese cookies. That's
what you had for dinner most nights.

Speaker 5 (11:22):
Yeah, Ady rees whatever. That sandwich shop that's probably four
dollars now that used to be a book fifty Oh man.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
I'm okay.

Speaker 1 (11:32):
So we want to talk about your experiences on the show,
but I do also first want to give a shout
out to a Twitter user I refuse to call it
X at work with TJ who somehow spotted you because
a few years ago this was exposed on Twitter that
you were a background actor on Boy Meets World and
we had absolutely no idea. Now, did anyone do you

(11:56):
keep in touch with anyone from the show?

Speaker 2 (11:58):
Did you meet anybody? Did anybody like?

Speaker 1 (12:01):
None of us knew that you were ever on the show,
which is amazing.

Speaker 5 (12:04):
So I was an extra a few times, okay, And
I think that's the only one that's like noticeable. I
didn't know. I didn't keep in touch with anyone. I
was at UCLA at the time. I would do this
on my on my days off, mostly because I had
never been on a real set before, and so everybody
who I had talked to, and I had plenty of
friends who were working actors, are like, look, just so

(12:26):
you know, background work doesn't lead to speaking work. Usually
they're separate. So as long as you know that that's
the reality and you're not chasing that path to think
that you can get a speaking role, it's a great
way to learn of the TV works and all of that.
So I started doing it, and you know, there are

(12:47):
like I love what we do for a living, and
like entertainment is full of strong personalities. So depending on
which show you went to, it was either like nightmare,
I can see why people a real issue with doing
this type of work. And then you'd also just have
so much respect for people who are professional background artists.
And I had a little drama teacher who used to

(13:08):
tell us that that you know, you'll see when you
start working there are people who have made their entire
livelihood out of being background actors, and it's incredible, and
that their dedication and they know all the rules and
their union members and the whole thing. So I've met
a lot of folks like that, and then obviously met
idiots like me who were like, I don't know, let me.

Speaker 3 (13:25):
See what I can do, right, Well, how did you
how do you even get jobs?

Speaker 6 (13:29):
Are they? Were they listed in the back of magazines?
Or like, how do I don't even know how you
started that?

Speaker 5 (13:33):
There were there were two companies. There were sort of
sister companies. One was literally called Central Casting if you
were in the Union, and then that was the background
acting agency that I think almost every TV show and
movie used. And then if you were non union, there
was a company called Senex Casting. Both were based in Burbank.

(13:54):
I think they were in the same building, and you
basically went again taking the bus to Burbank. You go
to Burbank and you you like, pay twenty bucks. It's
the it's the only time that it's okay to ever
get it give an agent money when you haven't made
anything right, right, uh, And they list you in this
database and then this was you know, this is pre

(14:15):
uh not pre Internet, but pre like functional Internet. And
there's a number every day that was updated so many times,
and you would call in and if you fit any
of the listings, you would like press another number and
it would connect you to the agent who was booking
the background.

Speaker 3 (14:31):
It's like jury duty, totally.

Speaker 5 (14:35):
Very similar. And they would have your picture right so
they could pull it up and tell you if they
thought you were the right look or not. And if
you were, then they would either I guess they would
email you or tell you exactly where you needed to
go on which date. And uh so I don't so no,
I didn't keep in touch, you know, with it. There's
always a line to write where you I mean, I

(14:57):
guess I know both sides of this now, but like you,
you kind of like leave the crew alone so they
can work, especially if you're a background artist, your job
doesn't really kick until later, and then you don't want
to bother any of the any of the actors who
have speaking roles because they're also prepping for stuff. But
I will say we did all interact several times.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
Great, please tell us the story.

Speaker 5 (15:20):
We're just great with the background artists. And I think
part of that was, like, you know, I'm not even
gonna I've done other I had done other shows, and
I was an extra on other shows, and I was
I was about to say, I think it's probably maybe
because we were all roughly the same age that you
guys were so nice, But I don't think that's the
case because I had done other shows. But that definitely

(15:41):
was not the case.

Speaker 2 (15:41):
You know, what other shows have you worked? I can't
believe this. I cannot believe. This is just the cool,
just the coolest thing to me.

Speaker 1 (15:48):
Ever, what other what other shows have you And first
of all, I need to know also Boy Meets World,
what other episodes of Boy Meets World were you.

Speaker 3 (15:54):
And we see very featured.

Speaker 5 (15:56):
I honestly don't remember quiz shows that I actually was
like visit on on screen. There were probably two others. Okay,
I also did let's see Clueless, Remember the Clueless TV show?

Speaker 3 (16:07):
Of course, Yeah, so they.

Speaker 5 (16:09):
Were also super nice, except the the hours were crazy
on that show. That was like, they would keep you
for eighteen and a half.

Speaker 3 (16:18):
Hours, Oh because a single.

Speaker 5 (16:20):
Camera something absurd like that. You're like, I feel like
this is not.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
Legal.

Speaker 5 (16:26):
Also, I kind of like, you know, I would never
get to see eighteen hours of production up close at
you know, you know, when I'm trying to trying to
break into this industry. So I thought it was I
thought it was super interesting, but but it was I
remember remember Clueless being very cold and they didn't feed you.

Speaker 1 (16:42):
Oh my gosh, long day's cold and you don't get
to eat It sounds on my nightmare.

Speaker 5 (16:48):
What else I did? Actually I did. I did a
few episodes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. The caw was
really nice, the producers were awful, and I remember very clearly,
and I feel comfortable saying that because I had I
had a speaking gig on that show. Unrelated, actually there
was a Yeah, I'd done a bunch of background work

(17:10):
on Sabrina the Teenage Witch. And then it must have
been two years later when I finally got an agent
who by the way, you guys probably know her, do
you know Barbara Cameron? Of course, she was my first agent.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
That's unbelievable. Candice Cameron's mom.

Speaker 5 (17:24):
Yes, okay, okay, sweetest woman. Like she literally the only
agent in three and a half years of submitting my
headshot every single week, the only person who called. And
I remember walking into her office. Her office was like
in the back of her house.

Speaker 3 (17:40):
Yeah, okay, in West.

Speaker 5 (17:42):
Hills, And I had borrowed a car from somebody in
my dorm and I drove out there and I'm looking
at the address on like the Thomas Guide print tip
map that I have for my compier, and I'm looking
at this house and I was like, this is poor.
This is what this is, This is not this is
there's no.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
Way this is a real agent.

Speaker 3 (18:01):
Like this is I'm gonna be taken away by the circus.
This is what's gonna happen.

Speaker 5 (18:07):
There's something. And then I go in and it's all
pictures of Kirkan Candice and full house and growing off
and I was like, okay, this is the opposite of porn,
right what And then I'm like wait, wait Cameron, Oh
no way, that's so cool. Right, and then she was
very sweet and anyway, so she you know, this was
then two years after I'd done background work on on Sabrina.

(18:29):
She called and she said, you have this great audition
for you. And there was a thing in the breakdown
that said, please make sure that that none of the
actors you're submitting have ever done background work. So I
lied to her and I said, no, of course I've
never done anything.

Speaker 7 (18:46):
That's okay, that's okay, just you know, you want the job.

Speaker 5 (18:50):
It's like, how about these I lied about playing basketball
so that I could get my SAG card in a
Nike commercial, like you kind of do what yea?

Speaker 3 (18:56):
My special skills still say, horseback riding. So yeah, never
been Yeah.

Speaker 5 (19:03):
To the stay, I was like, I mean, if I
have a month to learn anything, I can just figure
it out. Yeah. So I got the speaking role in Sabrina.
They were they were kind of awful even to kind
of the the actors that have the underfund.

Speaker 3 (19:14):
No, why do you.

Speaker 2 (19:15):
Think they didn't want someone who had ever done.

Speaker 6 (19:18):
Background work because you would have been another student in
the background or whatever.

Speaker 5 (19:23):
Yeah, yeah, I think it's literally for the like a lot,
I mean your show as well. There were these super fans,
right who would yeah, who was in each scene or
yeah yeah, and they would probably look I mean, you know,
there's endless choice of people who are like eighteen to
twenty four to play these roles. So all you have
to do is say, hey, if you've been in the

(19:44):
background of this show, you can't be in this particular scene. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:47):
I'm just trying. I'm just trying to imagine.

Speaker 1 (19:49):
Like on our show, Dusty was featured in the background
multiple times, and then they would say, hey, Dusty, go
ahead and say this line here or there, But like, why.

Speaker 3 (19:59):
Why are the didn't work out?

Speaker 4 (20:03):
It's also it's with Sabrina the teenage, which you're dealing
with a young witch from Salem, So they don't want
to take you out.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
Of the reality, right true.

Speaker 4 (20:13):
To see a background actor. They want to keep it real,
so they want.

Speaker 3 (20:16):
To make sure people don't speak.

Speaker 5 (20:21):
But all of it just to say the contrast from
from then, you know, being on Boy Meets World was
like night and day. Was just such a joy to
come in and you guys were so nice to everybody.
The crew was wonderful. I can't remember who must have
been one of the ads or PA's was in charge
of all the background folks, and they were great, like.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
It was.

Speaker 4 (20:39):
Time.

Speaker 5 (20:40):
I don't I honestly don't remember that the name sounds familiar.

Speaker 2 (20:44):
Okay, that's so great.

Speaker 1 (20:48):
Okay, So did you tell like, did you tell anybody
at U c l A. That you were doing work
on Boy Meets World? Did anybody even know what Boy
Meets World was?

Speaker 5 (20:56):
Yeah, it was a big deal. This would have been
what I think I was on. You guys would know
the dates better than me, but like ninety seven.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
Maybe, yeah, question was ninety seven?

Speaker 5 (21:06):
I think, yeah, So yeah they knew. I think what
By the time I had done Boy Means World, I'd
done other background stints, and you know, you never you
never see the shot that you're like supposedly in. So
there were probably five other times I would say to
like guys in my dorm, like, so tonight I'm gonna
be on this and nothing obviously no, So I don't

(21:31):
think I told anybody until after it aired, and then
you know, I had obviously taped it on VHS and
was like, okay, look.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
Were you telling your family back in Jersey too?

Speaker 5 (21:40):
I did, yeah, yeah, yeah, I did tell them, And
I remember my mom was very excited and told a
bunch of her friends. If I'm remembering this right, they
watched the rerun because the like, I didn't have the
clout or the confidence to know that I would necessarily
be right in the like the first.

Speaker 1 (21:59):
Run, so you waited to like watch it yourself, and
then you saw yourself and you were like, now I'll
let them know.

Speaker 5 (22:05):
And a couple of years after this, this, this is,
this is sort of why I was like scarred. H yeah,
this would have been right after boy me I got
my first speaking role, which was one line on the
Steve Harvey Show that he had also playing a nerd.

Speaker 2 (22:19):
By the way, really, yes, okay, you were you were being.

Speaker 5 (22:25):
Come on, that's fine. But also the very mid nineties
nerd where it's like.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
Of course.

Speaker 8 (22:33):
Right, and that I remember, I knew I was in
the scene, told everybody had to watch party in my
dorm and they cut the line, told me they were
going to cut the line, so it airs, and obviously
all my friends then leave and.

Speaker 5 (22:47):
My parents are like, why would you like it? I'm
sorry they knew before because they were on the East coast,
so and.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
I cancel the party.

Speaker 5 (22:56):
Count I definitely would have canceled it if if if
my parents have had up and then Barbara. I remember
calling Barbara and she just picked up and was like,
I'm sorry, honey, they didn't tell me in advance. I
just it's all right. But so it's it also makes

(23:16):
sense why it wasn't until later that I was able
to a show friends that I was in boy Mets World,
and then, you know, years later, I was just surprised
that people found it because I look so different.

Speaker 7 (23:27):
I think, so funny.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
Do you remember? Okay, so shooting Quiz Show, which is
the episode we mentioned you're pretty heavily featured in, were
you in?

Speaker 1 (23:37):
Was that audience? So it's quite a romp. It's a
show within a show. Was the audience that you were
sitting in? Where was that on set? Relative to where
we were shooting the quiz the quiz show set?

Speaker 5 (23:51):
So if I remember this right, it was in your
actual studio audience, Okay, on tape night, so they needed
the space to like shoot that stuff. So yeah, we
pre taped that entire scene, so you.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
Were clapping and cheering towards something where the set you
were it was not even happening in front of you.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (24:10):
Yeah, that tracks that totally tracked.

Speaker 3 (24:14):
Yeah, because I don't.

Speaker 5 (24:15):
Remember it at all.

Speaker 4 (24:16):
Right, really good acting, man, Because yeah, I didn't remember
until we watched the episode that I go up there too.

Speaker 3 (24:24):
Eric's like in the stands and watching the show as well.
I had no memory of that at all.

Speaker 2 (24:29):
So yeah, it's so funny. Okay, So I want to know.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
You said that you got to interact with us and
we were all just hanging out. Do you have any
specific story do you do you have any memories about
us hanging out talking?

Speaker 2 (24:43):
What did we talk about?

Speaker 5 (24:45):
I don't remember what we talked about, but I remember
very clearly that it seemed like you guys all really
a loved this job. Also got along in real life, Yeah,
which felt really good as a as an aspiring actor,
because I'm like, Okay, these people are my peers. They

(25:09):
really do love what they do, and so all of
the struggle of like, Okay, you've go on these auditions,
you work odd jobs even when you're in school, you
save up your gas money, all of that, you're like
and then this is like, there are good people who
really like what they do and get to make fun
things that families can watch together. I just you know,
I mean, I have the language to describe it now,
but I just remember that it's the feeling that I had.

(25:32):
This is really this is really nice and really cool.
And I think you guys knew so at the time.
She's still a very close friend genevan Oye.

Speaker 3 (25:40):
Yes, yeah, my ex girlfriend.

Speaker 5 (25:42):
Oh yeah, that's right, that's right. Yeah, yeah, that's right.
So she she and I met my freshman year of
college because her roommate was at UCLA with me, and
he and I were good friends, and so I had
already had this, like heard this great reputation about you guys,
because she was like, Oh, they're so great, You're gonna

(26:03):
have such a great time. I'm glad you're you know,
I'm glad you're doing that that show. And so that
was also really nice that that held up, because you
know a lot of times that there's a somebody professionally
is maybe different than there personally, and you know, kind
of is what it is. But that wasn't the case.
Everything was was that makes me.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
That makes me so happy. I know too, it makes
me so I was waiting for the like, well, no
one would talk to me.

Speaker 5 (26:27):
I mean, look, everybody has bad days. I happened to
not be there for your bad days exactly.

Speaker 3 (26:34):
You were just there for the few good ones we had,
which is nice.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
No, I've actually been really pleasantly surprised unless we just
have handpicked really great uh background actors who only say
nice things about us. We've interviewed quite a few background actors,
and for the most part, they have the same story
that like, when we were around each other, we were
laughing and we were joking, and we were having casual conversation.
It seemed like we loved what we did. We were
getting along like that. That's nice because that's are certainly

(27:01):
our memory.

Speaker 5 (27:02):
It's true, though, like I'll give you, I'll give you
a contrast. So probably also around that time, or maybe
it was after I graduated, I had like two lines
on R And that's another show actually that I had done.
Had I done the background work? No, maybe I had,
but I had two lines on the YAR. Obviously I
was very excited. I was playing like a young I

(27:22):
must have been a young medical student or something.

Speaker 2 (27:24):
But not a nerd.

Speaker 5 (27:26):
Not a nerd, not a nerd.

Speaker 6 (27:29):
Graduated out of nerdom.

Speaker 5 (27:30):
Yeah, and I remember I was supposed to stitch up
Eric Lesala's character had a son who like hit his
head or something, and so I just had to give
him stitches. And I had two lines and the I
was very excited, you know, love dr I thought it
was great, wonderful opportunity. And I show up in the

(27:51):
director that day. I didn't know if he was having
a bad day or not, but it was kind of irrelevant.
He just immediately, like his directing style is to yell
at you. We did the first thing. And he's like,
who taught you how to Who taught you how to stitch?
And I'm like, I don't know what I'm supposed to say,
because I'm obviously not a doctor, and I years ago

(28:13):
and I just assumed there would be a consultant who
would show.

Speaker 7 (28:15):
Me how to do this stitching.

Speaker 5 (28:19):
Would have been happy to meet with the consultant before
medical stitch, right like, you know. So he just started
and then apparently my elbow in one take was blocking
the kid's face and it was just sort of a
head on shot and I just hear.

Speaker 4 (28:34):
Hey, you.

Speaker 5 (28:36):
Move your elbow. You hello, Hello, I'm talking to you.
Move your elbow. So I moved my elbow and he goes, yeah,
you know, people are watching the show for the kid
not to see you, and I was, God, why do
you need to talk to somebody that way? Right? Not
helpful to the process, like don't don't understand what he

(28:57):
actually wants from me. And so by contrast, I just
have to say when when people are probably telling you
guys that you were so nice to background actors and
to under fives, there's a reason for that that some
of the other experiences, whether it was something on Sabri
and The Teenage Witch or you Are, other beloved shows
were the cast was always wonderful, but I had these
people in leadership positions who were just awful because they

(29:21):
could be or you know, I don't have reasons, I
stressed out or whatever. Contrast, man, really like you really
saw that when you came to a show like Boy
Meet's World, it was a really wonderful wow.

Speaker 6 (29:33):
Great.

Speaker 4 (29:34):
So wait, I'm sorry to jump way back, but you
said you're from New Jersey. So were you going into
New York for auditions as a kid, like going to
for commercials and stuff like that.

Speaker 5 (29:43):
I mean no, my parents wouldn't let me. I had
to wait. This is one of the reasons I think
I chose U c l A over over n y U.
I was debating between the tiss the dramas pool here, yeah,
in New York, and I was like, you know, I
think I just want to see what like exposure to
film and TV fully is like. So, no, I I

(30:06):
went to a performing arts high school. It's still one
of the few publicly funded arts high schools in the country,
and so that was obviously a big, a big privilege
because my parents are immigrants. My dad's an engineer, my
mom has our masters in chemistry. So no like career
arts background, right, so very scary for any parent who
doesn't have an arts background to be like, yeah, you

(30:28):
should do this, go for it. So I think if
it weren't for that publicly funded arts program, I maybe
wouldn't have had even just the tool kid or the
know how to be like, oh, there's a BFA program here,
or there's a program at U c l A and
USC and I can I can apply for it and
maybe I'm maybe I'm good enough to get in. I
don't know, you know, But so that was the that

(30:49):
was kind of the the pre college stuff.

Speaker 4 (30:53):
Man. Yeah, so you did you came out to l
A cold. I mean when you need cold. It was
like you didn't even have the audio behind you.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
I mean to LA without a car.

Speaker 5 (31:05):
And at U c l A. There's a parking lottery
that's really really hard to get, and so I read
about how hard it was to get a spot in
the parking lottery, and the end of my freshman year,
I entered the parking lottery without a car because I
sort of reasoned, like, if it's this hard to get
a parking pass, then I'll start entering the parking lottery now.

(31:26):
That way, by the time I'm able to afford a
car parking pass, which obviously is not how statistics actually work,
live for this parking lottery, and I get a parking Yes,
I didn't have a car. So when I when I
mentioned earlier that like I borrowed a car from somebody,
a buddy of mine on my dorm floor, and I

(31:46):
made an arrangement where I would pay for parking for
the year and he would let me use his car
whenever he didn't need it. So smart, he's very smart.

Speaker 8 (31:56):
It did.

Speaker 5 (31:56):
I still couldn't do internships because he needed his car
more than you know, more than that schedule. But for
the rare audition or for going to go and to
an extra gig it came in.

Speaker 3 (32:05):
Really, so did you then did you have to quit
the job at Lucas Arts to Oh.

Speaker 5 (32:12):
Yeah, just because I couldn't get there and there was
no because it would have been what a four and
a half hour round trip. Basically, Oh my gosh, the
bus didn't make sense. You know. It's honestly, it's one
of those things. As I got older and was and
obviously then moved from being a struggling actor to a
working actor and then having you know, very blessed to
have the privilege that I have now, it really underscores

(32:34):
you know, fine, I was an aspiring actor. I elected
to do that, But what about people who are working
two or three jobs because they got they got to
put food on the table. It really was like, you know, okay,
I'm just a college kid who like wants a film internship.
But it really underscored for me, like, oh, not to
make this about like infrastructure. It was like, oh, we
should invested in buses and public.

Speaker 3 (32:55):
Trans yes, oh, the public transport in la is awful.

Speaker 4 (32:59):
I mean for everybody out there listening, Uh, you know,
that trip in a car with minimal traffic is what
thirty five minutes? Yeah, that two hour, two and a
half hour bus ride is thirty five minutes. So I
mean that shows what it's like.

Speaker 3 (33:11):
It's yeah, it's crazy.

Speaker 5 (33:12):
Yeah wow, So that was that was also my first
realization of like, oh yeah, I can't I can't walk
to my lucasfilm internship.

Speaker 4 (33:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (33:33):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
So when you graduate from doing background work and you
get your first kind of big TV speaking job, is
that Buffy the Vampire Slayer in nineteen ninety nine.

Speaker 5 (33:44):
I would that's would have I mean it would have
been it would have been the Steve Harvey Show.

Speaker 2 (33:48):
But they come, okay, but they got your life right exactly.

Speaker 5 (33:52):
But yeah it was. It was Buffy.

Speaker 2 (33:55):
Okay? And what did you play on Buffy?

Speaker 5 (33:57):
So on an episode of Buffy called Beer Bad? I
played cave Man And I'm gonna say two things about
this one. I'll just elephant in the room for any
like hardcore Buffy fans. That episode I think is still
consistently rated as the worst episode of Layer really, especially

(34:20):
for super fans, like that was the worst thing I've
ever seen.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
What's the episode about. It's called beer Bad, call Beer Bad.

Speaker 5 (34:27):
It's about these four prap boys who turn into cavemen
when they drink beer that's been tainted with this save
man potion.

Speaker 3 (34:36):
Yeah, that sounds amazing to know what are they talking about?

Speaker 2 (34:39):
I think this sounds great.

Speaker 5 (34:41):
You know what's crazy about about things like that is like, yes, okay,
looking back on it, it was kitschy and it was
whatever a really fun. In order to be transformed into
a caveman. They did a live cast of our Heads.
Oh cool show up at like they shot that show
in Santa Monica is actually way closer to UCLA than
any of the other stuff. And I remember our call

(35:02):
time was like three in the morning because they had
five hours of putting the prosthetic face on you.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 5 (35:11):
Those faces had like little they would call them them
air bladders where they would they would pump air in
to make it. Yeah, we're transforming and just all this crazy,
these crazy special effects. So you you had these super
long days. They were paying all sorts of crazy penalties,
which as a as a young actor just getting started,
I was like, great, and actually, people, you can't feed

(35:32):
me because I have this thing on and it was awesome.
And then the director was so cool. He did this
you know, we we only had speaking, uh like English
speaking verbal lines when we were the frat boys. As
we turned into the cavement, it was all grunting, right
of course.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
Well because it's a documentary and they didn't watch this.

Speaker 5 (35:53):
Yeah, the director sent all four of us, I think
you brought us in actually for a rehearsal and gave
us each DVD of this movie called Ring of Fire
has no noques quester fire Quester for fire.

Speaker 2 (36:07):
Yes, I love this movie.

Speaker 3 (36:08):
It is bonker.

Speaker 7 (36:11):
Oh no, I show this.

Speaker 3 (36:13):
Movie to my screenwriting students, like the first class.

Speaker 6 (36:15):
Because there's not a word of dialogue and yet you
you get the entire story and it's caveman, it's amazing.

Speaker 3 (36:21):
It's it's it's not good, but it's it's crazy.

Speaker 5 (36:25):
He gave us that film and he said, this is
what you need to communicate when you're I want to
be able to understand everything you guys are saying. You
had these rehearsals and just with this, this grunting for
like a started. It was awesome.

Speaker 4 (36:39):
I really loved so wait I have to I have
to know it was the dialogue written out in English
and then you have to grunt to make like this
is what we intend for you to say in grunting
or are you just making it up as you go along.

Speaker 5 (36:52):
I honestly don't remember it, but I would imagine that
it was written right. Yeah. Yeah, least at least it
was certainly written in description, because it was a little
right like there's this scene where we discover a lighter
and we're amazed that a lighter can create fire because
here we are needing to preserve fire.

Speaker 3 (37:10):
Of course.

Speaker 5 (37:13):
It must have been Yeah, it must have been written
out in something.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
Oh man. So after Buffy, it looks, at least on
IMDb like pretty much after that you were kind of
off to the races you did, Spin City, angel Er,
NYPD Blue. By the way, all shows that have a
lot of background actors, have you always then in every
project you've gone on to, have you always made a

(37:37):
point of then being extra kind and considerate to the
background actors because you know what it's like?

Speaker 5 (37:43):
Yeah, I think so, But I think it also sort
of predates that. And I'm gonna like, I'll throw some
more flowers your way with this, but I feel like
it's I don't know very many people who have to
be told to be kind to somebody right. We either
under like that's either your worldview joy and empathy and
you love what you do, or it's not who you are.

(38:05):
And if it's not who you are, I understand, then
you have to be told something. But that's not gonna
result in you being kind. It's just gonna result in
you not being.

Speaker 4 (38:12):
A dick, right, right, Yes, nice and kind are two
different things.

Speaker 5 (38:16):
Yeah, so I am privileged with you know, just my
worldview has tended to just be relatively joyous whenever I can,
so it has. It has irked me when I've been
on projects where people are not treated respectfully. I think
one of the nice things about them being in a
leadership position, whether whether it's your first couple of leads

(38:39):
or whether you're like finally producing things, is you get
to set the tone of wanting to you know, certain
shows or run certain ways. So so that was also
really nice about I mean, most of the projects that
you mentioned, or I've had nothing but great experiences on
people were always really kind. I know that's not everybody's
experience with all these shows, but that that was mine
and that's all I can really be to firsthand.

Speaker 4 (39:00):
Right, So, maybe you were on some of the best
shows ever, I mean and my people. Everything was just
named there is like banger after banger.

Speaker 5 (39:08):
Yeah, and they were all relatively small parts. Right the
Spin City, it was like I think I was playing
there was a flashback with Charlie Sheen's character, and I
was his. I was his rap boy doing like a
like a keg stand or something here. By the ways,
I basically either played a nerder or frap boys and fratuys.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
That's so great.

Speaker 1 (39:31):
That's the range that you want to have when you're
I mean honestly quite inspiring. So then in two thousand
and four, Harold and Kumar comes out the first Harold
and Kumar, and you go from this consistently working character
actor to one of the most recognizable actors.

Speaker 2 (39:49):
Of the mid aughts. Was this the dream you had
always wanted? Or after it happened, did you go hmm?

Speaker 1 (39:57):
I kind of enjoyed being a successful journey man, but
having a little bit of anonymity, I think to jump
it's such.

Speaker 5 (40:04):
A good question. I don't think I've been asked in
that way. I mean, y'all are actors, so you you
get it. The I appreciate that those were journey minerals.
They were mostly just paying five hundred of the seven
and fifty that I needed for rent every month. So
I still threw all those those those parts. I still was.

(40:24):
I was a runner, I was a production assistant. I
was working sort of random, random jobs and was very
happy to very happy to do those those jobs to
like save up for rent and audition money and stuff.
But for me, the bridge between those two was a
movie I did called Van Wilder with and That's think

(40:45):
that was the first supporting lead that I had in
a in a movie. And were it not for that movie,
I don't think I would have gotten the job. And
Harold Kamar go to WAKEMP and Harold and Kumar everybody
always forgets. When that movie came out, it it totally
tanked at the box office. Nobody saw it in a
lot of places. I think it got pulled early from

(41:06):
that initial like two week exhibit or commitment because nobody
was going to see this thing and it was a
real I mean to say it was a bummer is
a very light way of saying.

Speaker 1 (41:15):
Like, yeah, art breaking, because devastating, Yeah, totally devastating.

Speaker 5 (41:19):
I mean for John Choe and I, he had worked
certainly a lot more consistently than I had. And he's
a couple of years older, so he had he had
more credits, but you know, he was an American pie
and he had a yeah on Off Center, that sitcom
on the WB And we both read the script. We
didn't know each other before doing the movie, but we
read the script and you know, I was just like, Wow,
this is so funny. It's the funniest script I've read

(41:41):
in such a long time, probably ever. And you know,
in those days that we're talking to, early two thousands,
so if you if you didn't fit into sort of
like if you weren't white or black friends, people didn't
really know if they could cast you. There was something
you know, today we wouldn't even call it creative thinking,
but back in the day, it's like, oh, you're taking
a risk.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
By how risky of you?

Speaker 3 (42:01):
Yeah, out of the box, out of.

Speaker 5 (42:03):
The box casting. So when the script came along, I
just remember being like, whoa, I get to just play
the irresponsible but smart stoner wants to go get character.

Speaker 2 (42:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (42:16):
So so we had a lot writing on it, and
then and then when nobody came to see the movie,
a couple of things. It was, I know, your classic
like Okay, if your movie tanks, you're not really getting
calls for auditions or anything like that. And then there
was this added thing of like there were a couple
of people who are like, yeah, say we told you
Asian American men just can't open And so then you

(42:38):
start questioning like is that I feel like that's wrong.
I feel like my life experience is like he was
a fan of movies who also like just happens to
be brown and from New Jersey. It's like I feel
like everybody I know loves movies to laugh, right, So
so for about four months, I feel like nothing happened.
It was just this really down and the dumb time.
And then the movie ends up on HBO and coming

(43:00):
out on DVD with no marketing budget and no press,
and fans just found it on their own. Yeah, and
when I found it on their own, like I'm not
just talking about like so all the you know, the
sort of the haters in town who are like, oh,
these guys could never open a movie. It was people
sure La New York, San Francisco, and then Oklahoma and
Alabama and Iowa and places that would never show up

(43:23):
on those old school kind of Grids a movie like
this would do well, and I loved it selfishly, of course,
I'm like, oh my gosh, this is incredible artistically and
for my career, but then also as somebody who just
loves what we do, it's like, see, you guys are wrong.
People just everywhere we just want to have a good time,
especially like you think about that today things are so polarized.

(43:44):
It's one of the reasons I love what we do
in comedy is like you could still bring people together
to have a great time. And so I really credit
when I when I talk about that jump for Harold
and Kamar, it really was a fan driven thing. It
wasn't marketing, it wasn't the studio. Obviously, I'm very great
full of new Line and Warner brotherstunity, but it was
really such a fan driven thing and that got us

(44:05):
a second and third movie after that. So I absolutely
credit that movie with being able to launch a career.

Speaker 3 (44:11):
It was such a good movie. It was such a
good movie.

Speaker 5 (44:14):
I'm making it it did.

Speaker 4 (44:15):
It had the same you know what it did is
it had a new generation vibe of like Bill and
Ted's Oh it just kind of brought you back to
that buddy comedy, wacky, ridiculousness. I'm in one hundred percent
wherever you go, I want to go with you guys.
It was had that same vibe. It was awesome, great.

Speaker 5 (44:31):
What else is cool about that? I mean just just
talking about how you know when actors support each other.
You know, we had so many cool cameos in Harold
and Cargo. Yeah, and it was mostly because John and
I had worked with all these amazing actors who basically
we were either a supporting lead or in some way

(44:52):
kind of worked with them, and there was this feeling
of like, hey, when you and I remember Ryan Actually,
Reynolds said this very explicitly when we were on Bean Wild.
He was like, you know, man, when you get your
first lead in something, I would love to do something
supporting in it. So we called him. He played a
nurse in this hospital. Anthony Anderson has a small part.

(45:12):
Eddie K. Thomas has lead.

Speaker 2 (45:14):
Like Neil Patrick Harris.

Speaker 3 (45:15):
Neil Patrick Harris, I mean, no deal, but he Yeah.

Speaker 5 (45:19):
He's obviously an integral part of the film. Dave crumbhols like,
there's just so many great actors in all of these
that have these cameos. It was really fun to put
together great.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
What did your family think of these movies and your
success or at the time when it didn't do well
in the theaters?

Speaker 2 (45:37):
What did they think of that?

Speaker 5 (45:38):
I think that the not doing well in theaters I
don't necessarily remember, and I think part of it was
I don't think my parents were like following box office results, right,
And I think for a lot of people, I mean,
you all have friends and family who are not in
this crazy, wonderful business. When something comes out, if they

(45:58):
know you, all they know is like your movie is out.
They love you and they know you, and that's a
very nice thing. So even if nobody else is watching it,
they're like, everybody's watching this, right, It's a huge it.
It's that kind of thing. So so I think, what's funny.
I remember my mom, you know, when Van Wilder is
a very I mean like Harold and Corn are very rated,

(46:21):
our movie the very late nineties, early two thousands brand
of comedy. And so I decided when I because Van
Wilder was my first big, big part in the movie,
I decided, you know, I want to explain to my
parents the many ways in which acting is a is
a real job and all the things that go into

(46:41):
it and how it's a business. So I went home.
It was probably Thanksgiving that year before I shot the movie,
and I brought the script, and so I gave my
parents the script. I'm like, read this Van Wilder movie.
I just want you to see that there's even a script.
You know, so many people you must just have fun
every day at work, and ideally, yes you do, but
there are writers and a crew, right. So I remember
giving them the script and going to my childhood bedroom

(47:04):
and after twenty minutes just hearing my mom yell, this
is pornography. I obviously come running and I was like, oh,
right to the topless scene in this movie. I was like, Mom,
it's not. My dad's like, now I'm interested. So that

(47:26):
was the bar right that we set, and in that,
you know, they came to the premiere. They understood what
type of the review was. But when Harold and Kabar
comes out, I overheard my mom. I was home again
for some reason, and I overheard my mom talk into
my hand. I could only hear her side of the conversation,
but I remember just thinking her talking about Harold and

(47:46):
Kamar and saying, no, no, it's not like that. Van Wilder,
This one's actually good. He has a big part. Like
in my head, I was like, there's probably more profanity
and news Harold and Kamar got a castle. But Mom
is very much like, no, no, he's got a bigger part,
so we have to see this. I was like, this

(48:08):
is great.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
So they went to the premiere? Did they did they
on their own also see the movie in theaters.

Speaker 5 (48:15):
They did see it in theaters. They brought their friends
and they did a disclaimer. What I didn't realize they
came to the premiere and the way that we were
all seated. You know, you get to bring a bunch
of your friends and your family. My mom was sitting
next to Jenna, next to Jenna Bunnoy, and I didn't
tell her. There's the opening scene, I'm naked, like you

(48:37):
see it from behind. Yeah, it's basically like my bare
butt act. And Jenna afterwards, like, you know, everyone's applauding.
They do the thing people do it. Premiere is very
self congratulatory. Oh the movie was funny, and Jenna just
like grabs me by the collar and goes You did
not tell me that we're going to be naked, and

(48:57):
then I was going to be seated next to your
It was like, oh, yeah, that was definitely my dad.
I am sorry, I should have thought that through with
the seating chart a little bit, but no, they came
to the Premier and it was very nice, you know,
especially you know, for an immigrant community. A lot of

(49:18):
my parents' friends whose kids weren't in entertainment, it was
very sweet to know that they were. You know, the
thing I think which drives a lot of a lot
of parents, whether their immigrants or not, is this fear
is your kid going to go into a business that
I don't really understand, understandable fear for parents, And so
for them to know that they had that fear and

(49:40):
still be like, we would like to go and support
the thing that you're doing was really very kind, really sweet. Yes.

Speaker 1 (49:47):
And then so much of your work post Harold and
Kumar has been in such intense projects like you've done
twenty four Designated Survivor, American Horror Story and even House
to an extent, was that an intentional like a career
turn or is it just that then you decided to
flex a different muscle.

Speaker 5 (50:08):
I think it's a lot of it was just chance,
and I'm grateful for it. You know, I remember for
both twenty four and well for twenty four, Yeah, they
is it Robert Gordon? Is that his name? Mark Gorton?
No Robert anyway, what are the Gordons?

Speaker 2 (50:26):
What are the Gordons? Gordon Fisherman.

Speaker 3 (50:29):
Well, there was no You're right, it's there's Mark and
there's Chuck.

Speaker 5 (50:32):
It would have been Mark then, yeah, I think that's
of course. Yeah, so he I remember he called and
they said, we'd like to offer you this part in
twenty four. It's a four episode arc. We saw you
in Harold and Kumar go to Whitecastle. And our feeling
is that if you can do comedy of a specific type,

(50:53):
then you you're definitely able to do drama. And we
think it's an interesting this is these are the people
that you dream about working with. Yeah, like, well, you're
outside the box. Thing is frustrating to hear as an actor,
but then you meet smart producers and directors who are like,
actually that's what I want. I've only seen you. See

(51:15):
you do another thing. And then similar thing with House.
David Shore is such a talented guy created House and
I remember going in to read for that and it's
the first time still probably to this day, you go
into this room they were casting. I think they were
casting nine actors to be supporting characters for the first

(51:36):
half of a new season of House. And of those nine,
three were going to become series regulars, and so they
were all doctors, right, And so they basically gave everybody
the same sides. There were two or three different sides
they gave everybody. So I was sitting next to both
men and women age maybe twenty four to eight, and
we all had one of three sets of sides right,

(51:58):
for nine different characters. Wow. And I remember the sides
I was given were for the part of a Mormon doctor.
I don't know, like, I'm never going to get this
right right, And then I'm like, get out of your head.
There might be a reason they gave you these sides.
Get out of your head. Just go in there, do
a good job. And I ended up getting, you know,
one of the nine parts. Then myself, Olivia Wilde, and
Peter Jacobson became the three series regulars that season, and

(52:20):
I got to know David really well, and I was like, man,
now that I know you, I just have to ask
you this actor question, like why did you give you know,
fifty actors the same sides, you know, men and women
and eighteen to eighty or whatever. He said, Well, I
just I just wanted to make sure that I cast
the best actors. Yeah right, but like we were all

(52:40):
ethnically diverse type verse, like everyone was none of us
looked the same. He's like, I don't really understand the question.
I just wanted the best actors. I was like, okay, thanks,
you me, you know. Yeah, And so those were That
was another great experience of just like these are these
are people who are so creative and they just really
on the best actors, the best writers, the best experience

(53:04):
on set. So I feel really lucky for both of those,
I mean, especially House. I was on that trip for
two and a half years. And yeah, really.

Speaker 3 (53:12):
Was twenty four as an intense a set as they
said it was?

Speaker 5 (53:17):
Yeah, I mean yes, I think so. And I think
it was intense as an actor also because you're because
it's twenty four hours in each each season, right yeah, yeah,
so it's in real time that you're kind of doing
your scene for the most part, right, their little gaps
when they cut to the commercial or whatever, but it's
in it's in real time. So and I played a

(53:38):
you know, I played this this terrorist who's taking a
family hostage. And there are two things that I think,
two things that most of us probably don't love. I
won't speak for other people, but like, okay, obviously nobody
loves a terrorist, right And I'm I'm not a big
gun guy like right handguns, yea. And I'm holding this
handgun holding a family hostage for four weeks and it

(54:01):
but because each scene is real time, it really was
like it was very That's that's probably the only I'm
not a method actor by any means, but I had
a hard time sleeping when i'd get.

Speaker 2 (54:10):
Home from I bet.

Speaker 5 (54:13):
Yeah, up, you know you are from playing a character
like that. Awesome exercise, awesome acting exercise.

Speaker 7 (54:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (54:21):
Also, there's I didn't have. I worked with Kiefer when
we did Designated Survival. Yeah, there's only one scene that
we overlapped on twenty four. It's obviously way before I
knew him, and I was a big twenty four fan.
And so at the end, my character gets shot when
there's this raid and people are running around everywhere and

(54:44):
I'm supposed to turn a corner and Keifer you know,
draws his weapon and says drup your weapon. So we
rehearse it and I'm in character and I'm like in
the zone and I come around the corner, cameras are
rolling and he just goes drop your weapon, And in
my head all I can think is, oh my god,
that's you for some.

Speaker 3 (55:05):
Just ruined it for myself, takes out of it, that's
all about.

Speaker 5 (55:21):
Well.

Speaker 1 (55:21):
You would also end up in legendary sitcoms like Big
Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, and you would
later even create an EP, your own show, Sunnyside with
super producer Mike Sure.

Speaker 2 (55:34):
What do you love about sitcoms?

Speaker 5 (55:37):
I like baking people laugh so much. I mean I
grew up on the classic era of I mean you
can't even really say classic era since TV has changed
so much, so probably unfair, but it's the nostalgia, right,
It's the like the Full House Boy meets World Growing Pains,
like all the shows that you you would you could

(56:00):
watch with your friends, you would certainly watch with your family,
but then you talk about it in school the next day. Yeah,
it's great unifier. And obviously today there are a lot
more choices of what people can watch, but the idea
that you can still make people happy and make people
kind of smile and enjoy themselves is something that I
really love. I loved it. Look obviously, my like my

(56:21):
ten year old nephew is not allowed to watch Harold
Kamar Go to Away Castle yet maybe soon, but he
can watch this TV series last year called The Santa
Clauses with Tim Allens, Yes, Christmas show six episodes. Obviously,
who doesn't love Tim from his sitcoms yea. And so

(56:41):
that was one where I'm like, this is so different
than the Harold and Kumar audience, and I love it
because you get to make a whole different set of
people laugh and smile.

Speaker 1 (56:50):
Well, that actually leads me. It's a perfect intro to
my next question. You have a lot of projects that
involve Christmas. You have Harold and Kumar Christmas and Deck
the Halls, Mess Holiday and then the Santa Clauses.

Speaker 2 (57:02):
Is this coincidental or intentional?

Speaker 7 (57:05):
Do you?

Speaker 2 (57:06):
Are you just a big Christmas person?

Speaker 5 (57:08):
I mean I am, but I think it's I think
it's coincidental. Yeah, actually it is concidental. Tell you so well.
Hot Mess Holiday. Actually, hot Mess Holiday is more of
a the Volley movie. Okay, happens around Christmas time. Okay,
I think that was on purpose that we wanted to
merge the two. In real life, they happen around each
other November. But I think we merged the themes a

(57:30):
little morse that could be a little more like celebratory, right,
and then yeah, Harold and Kumar Christmas. I just remember
when the writers John Horwitz and Aiden Slasberg called with, like,
here's the concept for the third movie. And I am
a big Christmas fan. You know, it's mostly like Home
Alone Christmas Story era stuff, but definitely national and pooon

(57:51):
like any Yeah, this comedy I love, but I had Yeah,
I'd never thought about whether that was on purpose. Also,
I mean with like the Santa Claus is this, I
guess we shot it two years ago. You you know,
we shot over the summer in la and like you're off,
you get to go to the North Pole every day

(58:13):
like the sh right right, You sit in hair and makeup,
you go over your lines, and then you are legitimately
just in the North Pole. And the only creepy part
of it was all of the children who played elves
have their like little pointy ears. They're like, you know,
when they're in character on the North Pole set I'm cool, Like,

(58:34):
we're good, right, they call like a twenty minute lighting reset.
The bell rings, the massive door opens, and suddenly these
kids with their pointy ears, their creepy shoes are sitting
having granola bars, talking like adults.

Speaker 7 (58:50):
Like do you like Machia TI? I like, don't take
me out of it, guys, I got to call my agent.

Speaker 5 (59:02):
No, they were all obviously very sweet, very sweet kids.
But but I love that you get to get to day.

Speaker 3 (59:07):
It was it still a two and a half hour
bus ride to the North Pole.

Speaker 2 (59:13):
There's nothing I.

Speaker 6 (59:14):
Love more than fake snow. Like working with fakes no
makes me so happy. It's like the most Hollywood movie
magic experience. We're like, wow, it's it's many degrees in LA,
but we're going to make it look like it's freezing.

Speaker 5 (59:25):
I love that combo they do now of like some
of it is so analog, low rent, looks like it
you can see at the mall. And then suddenly there's like,
is this real snow? Look Actually it's soupisodes that we
put I don't.

Speaker 3 (59:37):
Want to know, just me, just don't tell me, just
don't tell me.

Speaker 1 (59:40):
Well, before we let you go, I do have one
kind of important question for you, as someone who took
a sabbatical from acting to work in the Obama administration.

Speaker 2 (59:51):
Does Obama know that you were on Boy Meets World?
Does yeah? Does Obama know what Boy Meets World is?

Speaker 5 (01:00:01):
I don't know. I can try to get you some confirmation.

Speaker 2 (01:00:05):
I would like nothing more than to know whether.

Speaker 3 (01:00:10):
A question yeah to you?

Speaker 1 (01:00:12):
And I've really I've wondered before, I've wondered does he
does he.

Speaker 2 (01:00:16):
Know of Boy's World?

Speaker 5 (01:00:17):
He and Missus Obama are both very pop culture savvy,
so like, I know, he obviously knows about that war,
movies and things like that. I would love to go
just a little farther back to see, let me see
what I can dig up.

Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
Okay, see what you can dig up for us?

Speaker 1 (01:00:33):
Boy?

Speaker 2 (01:00:33):
That would really, that would really make me feel good.

Speaker 5 (01:00:35):
So I ask you, guys a question, what's the if
you don't mind? Because I've I love that you do
this podcast, and I love how much love there is
for your show, which I only see, by the way,
I only see when you don't know if you know this,
Like most people go on Twitter to.

Speaker 1 (01:00:49):
Be mean, right, I know, Twitter's assesspool of mostly awful stuff.

Speaker 5 (01:00:53):
This is like any time this episode airs anywhere, there's
like I'm getting tagged in these really sweet wrong about
how much people love Boy means world.

Speaker 3 (01:01:02):
Like we have the best fans in the world.

Speaker 5 (01:01:04):
Oh yeah, is this like this must be such an
incredible podcast to do and to like engage with fans
old and new, Like do you just love it?

Speaker 6 (01:01:12):
It's so life affirming, man, It's like yeah, I mean
because you know, I think for all of us, we've
gone through periods of like you know, not getting work
or changing careers or just like what is you know,
what is the legacy of this this thing that we
spent so much time doing, and so yeah, doing this
podcast is just brought it front and center into our
lives of like oh no, wow, these like it's beloved

(01:01:32):
and and you know, being able to discover why and
how it's just been wonderful. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
Yeah, and you know being able to It's like there's
there's a certain amount of time you need away from
something to be able to see it more objectively.

Speaker 2 (01:01:49):
And I think we started this podcast at a perfect time.

Speaker 1 (01:01:54):
In our lives where we're on that the other side
of middle age where you're able to to have that
distance from who you were as a teenager where now
you can look at it and instead of being wounded
by a certain experience, or instead of reliving it in
a way that feels too personal, we can look at
it and go, man, I love that, that's so that

(01:02:15):
shape who I am, that changed me there, or even.

Speaker 2 (01:02:18):
Kind of things that you know, it's felt therapeutic. It's been.

Speaker 1 (01:02:24):
It has been the highlight of truly one of the
massive one of the main highlights of my entire career
is this podcast. I love what we have done here
so much, and it's just ours and it's been great.

Speaker 4 (01:02:42):
I also think it it points out that exactly what
you were talking about, where there comes a time where everybody,
I don't know, Boy meets World seemed like a time
back then, and now people are rediscovering it where you
could just put everything aside, everything else that's going on
in the world, everything that makes you different from people
are the same, None of it matters. You put it
aside and everybody can just enjoy something wholesome. And I

(01:03:04):
think that's kind of missing nowadays, where it's just I mean,
we're not a monoculture anymore. So, the idea of everybody
watching something and then going to school and talking about
it doesn't seem to immun occasion you get a stranger
things or something like that, but for the most part,
it's we don't have that anymore. So I think people
being able to go back to a time in their
lives that didn't seem as complicated, where the most complicated

(01:03:25):
question was is Tapanga gonna really ask Corey to marry?
I mean, that's a wonderful time to go back to.

Speaker 3 (01:03:31):
So yeah, it's been. It's been pretty magical.

Speaker 5 (01:03:34):
That's so cool.

Speaker 1 (01:03:35):
Yeah, we're really lucky, and we are really grateful that
you came and spent your very precious time with us.

Speaker 2 (01:03:42):
You have been an absolute delight. We have been looking so.

Speaker 1 (01:03:46):
Forward to talking to you and reconnecting with you, and
we hope that it's not the last time.

Speaker 2 (01:03:51):
So I look forward to seeing you again. Thank you
for being here.

Speaker 5 (01:03:54):
When you guys are in New York, Okay, that would
be good.

Speaker 2 (01:03:57):
Thank you so much, Thank you so much.

Speaker 4 (01:03:59):
By by bye.

Speaker 1 (01:04:02):
Another person that you go, well, some things are right
in the universe. When when someone who has a dream
like living in New Jersey and a performing art high
school goes I want to go to la and see
if I can make it an entertainment and then does
and is that freaking nice and smart and cool?

Speaker 4 (01:04:21):
Yeah, he's also go back and watch Harold and Kumar
from strictly a comedic acting standpoint.

Speaker 3 (01:04:27):
He's phenomenal, so funny, he is hitting beats like he's
the that's.

Speaker 4 (01:04:31):
The kind of comedy that I like. Where it's like, oh,
where where did that rhythm in that joke come from?
Like where did you pick that up? It's just's awesome
in a.

Speaker 2 (01:04:39):
Lot of ways.

Speaker 1 (01:04:40):
Will things he was saying really remind me of you.
I think you guys would be I think you guys
would be good friends.

Speaker 3 (01:04:45):
Really awesome? Are you kidding?

Speaker 2 (01:04:47):
I think you guys would be good friends?

Speaker 3 (01:04:49):
And I Allan will go to McDonald's. Oh my god,
greatest thing ever.

Speaker 1 (01:04:56):
Thank you all for joining us for this episode of
Pod Meets World as all. You can follow us on
Instagram pod Meets World Show. You can send us your
emails Podmeets World Show at gmail dot com.

Speaker 2 (01:05:05):
And we've got merch.

Speaker 3 (01:05:08):
I can't beat Callum Will go to McDonald's. Merch.

Speaker 4 (01:05:10):
I can't beat it. I'd love to beat it. I
had nine of the things in my head, but no,
that's the new one. That's the standard.

Speaker 3 (01:05:16):
I'm sticking with it.

Speaker 1 (01:05:17):
Podmeetsworldshow dot com. We love you all, pod dismissed. Pod
Meets World is an iHeart podcast produced and hosted by
Danielle Fischel Wilfridell and writer Strong Executive producers Jensen Karp
and Amy Sugarman. Executive in charge of production, Danielle Romo,
producer and editor, Tara sudbachsch producer, Maddy Moore, engineer and

(01:05:37):
Boy Meets World superfan Easton Allen. Our theme song is
by Kyle Morton of Typhoon. Follow us on Instagram at
Podmeets World Show or email us at Podmeets Worldshow at
gmail dot com