Interview with Tony Hale

Folks: We had an issue ready this week, but we decided to take the week off, show you some classic articles, and generally enjoy the Fall season. We’ll be back next week!

BWC writer Susan Isaacs and actor Tony Hale met in New York and started King Baby Sketch comedy with Jeannie Noth-Gaffigan and Todd Wilkerson. Tony and Susan also did a short film, Devotion, which caught the attention of Arrested Development’s creator, Mitch Hurwitz. For one, Tony was so good; and two, Mitch dated Susan in high school. Susan and Tony recently caught up in LA.

SI: Jordan and Don are huge fans of Arrested Development.They were so excited when they found out I knew you.

TH: Wow, that’s so nice.

SI: They almost flew down for this interview. They talked about renting a cabin to watch the whole series on DVD, and have you act out your scenes.

Tony laughs. Until he notices Susan is not.

SI: I’m kidding! They said you could read off a script.

TH: (looking around, nervously) Susan, do I need to worry? Like, should I get a restraining order?

SI: No. They’re far away, in Portland. Here’s the first Don/Jordan question: The success of Arrested Development as a comedy hinged so heavily on the uniqueness of each of the characters and the actor’s skills in pulling off their idiosyncrasies. How much of the character of Buster Bluth was your invention?

Tony thinks�

SI: Singing Billy?

Tony laughs. (Singing Billy was a King Baby sketch written by Chad Darbyshire. Math geek Billy helps a cheerleader do her calculus, but keeps breaking into song.)

TH: Yeah, Buster had some Singing Billy, and some of Ed from You Can’t Take It With You. Buster started off innocent and fearful, and then he got more tweaked. But as Mitch described, all Buster wants in life is safety: he’s afraid to leave his mom, he’s afraid to get a job, afraid to go into the army. Then Buster made sense. So I just took it to the extreme.

SI: Kind of autistic?

TH: Yeah, he got severely autistic.

S: I also noticed Buster used some of Singing Billy’s mannerisms.

TH: Like the arms circling around? I enjoyed making Buster’s vulnerability physical. So Buster didn’t just “look” hurt, his hands would fly back. When they told me my hand was being cut off, it was, ugh, hard. I loved using my hands. Then I got The Hook.

SI: Wasn’t the same.

TH: But still fun.

A wistful silence, remembering Buster’s hand.

SI: Here’s another Don/Jordan question. Arrested fans felt frustrated that Fox didn’t fully commit to the show. Did the cast feel that same frustration?

TH: Not at all. The ratings were never what they needed to be for the show to break even. There are plenty of shows that have gone six episodes and then dropped. Fox didn’t have to keep us on past six episodes, but they gave us two and a half years. The cast was mostly frustrated more over not knowing our fate. At the end of every season we were left hanging: is this our last show? Are we going to cable? When it finally was our last show, we knew we needed to treasure it, because it could have been gone. In Hollywood you’re never promised anything. The experience helped me develop a skin of, “you can love what you’re doing, but other people may not catch on. So enjoy it while you got it because it might never come around again.”

SI: Was there anything that could have been different in order for people to catch on?

TH: I don’t know, I loved doing it. Mitch worked so hard, each line had depth; each word had a story behind it. I can’t imagine doing it differently. Even If Showtime had picked it up, they still would have used the bleeps (over the profanity). The bleeps were part of the show.

SI: You’ve done a couple films, and now a new show. Tell us about Andy Barker PI.

TH: Andy Richter is an accountant who stumbles into doing detective work. My character, Simon, runs a video store in the same strip mall and helps Andy solve crimes. Simon was probably a film student who never got to make films, so solving crimes is his adventure; he’s living out all the films he ever watched in his life.

SI: So that’s a lot different from the autistic Buster?

TH: Susan, a lot of people reading this article may have autistic friends.

SI: Autistic people don’t have friends; they don’t interact. Actually, I have an autistic friend. He’s got Aspergers. He’s brilliant and funny and he barely talks to me. But I should get back to the real interview, the part we really said.

TH: We never had this discussion about autistics?

SI: No. I needed to find a through-line for this interview: threads, callbacks to previous jokes. It’s like Reality TV: only a small part of it is real.

TH: Wow. I’m so glad I’m going to proofread this.

SI: So, how is Simon different from Buster?

TH: Where Buster craved safety, Simon craves adventure. Simon’s more sane. But I’m still the quirky sidekick. If there were a show, you and I would be the married, quirky sidekicks.

SI: No. Female sidekicks still need big boobs and to look good a thong…that’s a callback to another article.

TH: I’m afraid to ask.

SI: So did you give Simon physical mannerisms?

TH: Not really. Arrested was my first show. I was so green that I drew on the past: characters ands stuff I had done before. Whereas now I’m more comfortable letting myself find it.

SI: “Whereas?” You would never say whereas.

THE: That’s you rewriting me.

SI: I had to. You were talking stream of consciousness. I had to go back and piece the fragments into complete sentences.

TH: You’re making me sound like I can’t speak.

SI: Like an autis—