And his first note and recurring note to me is yes, that's great, it's very funny, now let's make it true. And I think that's his great gift to this material is that he's given it a great big sort of beating Arthurian heart. And that's an extra dimension that you just sort of don't expect.
Lots of black folks and lots of people in black baseball really did not rock with the clowns. So, we can go back to the 30s when they started as the Ethiopian Clowns.
We all feel that we have to perform this version of ourselves that knows the script, that, as you said, is commanding and decisive and desirable, the best public version of ourselves. We're performing that. But actually the gap between that public self and the messy vulnerability of our private selves is often huge.
The homework is there to support me, not to decide what it is that I'm going to do. Often when we're acting, we're acting with other people and other factors that we're not aware of when we're doing our rehearsal process. So I like to do the tightrope dance.
The band director said why don't you go upstairs and announce the band's set. So coming up next, Wheels of a Dream from Ragtime or whatever it was. And it was it was the first time I was behind a microphone.
Most comedians I know are very serious people. And also, they're also a bit shy. I think my, I would say this, Tina's very shy. I would say Steve Carell's very shy. But they know how to get the thing done.
I'm forced into the choice of having, you know, two actors who can probably half sing or two musicians who can half act. And he says, I'd rather, if it's a musical film, I'd rather have two musicians who can half act. And I'll get a performance out of you. And he says, as long as the music's convincing, I think people are going to believe it.
I've got a doctor. His name is Dr. Footlights. Her name. Her name is Dr. Footlights. And when I stand on that stage, and when those lights come up, and when the audience greets me, the pain disappears.
I got in my suit with the helmet off stage and I pedled onto the stage in the car like knees to chest driving it and got out modeled my suit got back in and and tried to pedal but you know like it the floors were slick. So as I'm pedaling the tires are moving but the car isn't moving.
We're often our own worst critics. Yes, you know, I know a lot of people will be watching this series and thinking, is Riz playing himself, playing a character? And so much of this, you, well, all of it, you wrote. So it comes from real experience as well as your imagination.
There's a lot of me and Shah, but I think actually there's a lot of Shah in all of us, more than we like to admit. And really the show is about this feeling that life sometimes feels like one big audition.
6mo ago
Underscored — save the words that stop you in your tracks.
