Interviews Conducted by Robert J. Beck

Where do you think your interest in acting comes

from?

Oh man, let’s see. I was an only child and I grew up in a house with all women so I was an only male and I was the youngest so I was the centre of attention! [laughter] And I think I enjoyed that a little bit too much. I decided to become an actor completely against my mother’s wishes and studied it at NYU. Then in my third year I got a manager and I’ve been professionally acting since I was 19 I think.

How did you get your role on 30 Rock?

I auditioned for it. This was just rumour but from what I understand Tina Fey had been looking for the role of Toofer for about a year and my agent said to me “we’d love to send you in for this role, we think it might be right up your alley”. Then when I read the role I felt like it was mine to lose, I got really really nervous walking into the auction and was like “if I don’t get this part it’s going to be my fault!” [laughter]. I feel like a screwed up the audition but thank god Tina saw something in me.

How do you think your character on the show compares to you?

I would like to think that I’m quite different from him! [laughter] But it’s so interesting because Toofer and I share a lot of similarities but I do think that I’m different than him in terms of personality and world view. People who meet me initially and are fans of the show are kind of surprised at how laidback and low key I am because my character is wound so tightly. I like to think that I’m laidback; my girlfriend might disagree with me. I also dress very different than Toofer, [laughter] I kind of dress like a townie, I wear a lot of American Eagle T-shirts and ripped jeans and sweatshirts and hoodies, I’m not the best dresser in the world.

What’s it like working with the cast of the show?

I think that we are very much like a family but the difference between a real family and our family is we don’t fight! [laughter] Or if we do fight I don’t see it. I feel very very close to everybody so I’m not very biased towards them so I kind of think that everyone I work with is a genius. We all come from very different backgrounds on the show, Judah Friedlander who plays Frank on the show and Tracy Morgan come from the stand up world. Jack McBrayer who plays Kenneth and Scott Adsit who plays Pete both come from the inprov world. I come from the theatre world. All of us kind of come from different backgrounds and so there’s a lot to admire in everyone’s work because no-one has that experience that anyone else has and it’s just fascinating to be in the same world as these people. Anything I say though will be skewed heavily into “they’re brilliant”.

The show isn’t actually filmed at 30 Rockefeller Plaza is it?

No, it’s filmed in a bread factory in Queens [laughter]. We shot the pilot at the actual 30 Rock but when we got picked up they rebuilt the whole set! And it was scary how they got all the details spot on. It all feels like it’s the same building.

And in the next season you’re doing a live episode?

We are on October 14th. I know that Tina had been talking about doing it for a couple of years, she wanted to do it after the writer’s strike but the logistics of doing a live episode is nuts so it’s had to wait till now for it to come together. But I don’t know if I’m going to be in the episode or not. And everyone involved in 30 Rock has had live TV experience so I don’t think it’s going to be nerve racking for them but I do think it’s going to be a challenge.