Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 34 - John C. McGinley (Scrubs / Rooster / Office Space / Platoon)

Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 34 - John C. McGinley (Scrubs / Rooster / Office Space / Platoon)

This time, I’m letting John C. McGinley talk. I’ve wanted to interview John for many years, so the fact that that dream came true just as he’s delivered not one but two Emmy-worthy performances made it all the more exciting. I no longer remember where I first saw Mr. McGinley, mostly because he was in so many films throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, but like most people, he made the jump from “character actor” to “actor I know by name” when he picked up the role of Dr. Cox on  Scrubs. It’s a role he recently picked back up when the series was revived for a new season on ABC, and it’s since been renewed for a second season, thank the lord, but what’s also been keeping him busy is another Bill Lawrence-created series, HBO’s Rooster, where he plays Walter Mann, president of Ludlow College and boss to Steve Carell’s character, Greg Russo. I’m not kidding around about McGinley’s performances being Emmy-worthy, either; he’s great on Rooster – as well he should be, as you’ll soon hear – and Scrubs has taken Dr. Cox in a direction we haven’t seen before, giving McGinley a chance to flex his acting muscles in a different way with the character. As I mentioned, however, McGinley was acting well before he got that first full-time prime-time gig with Scrubs, and we talk about as much of that career as time would allow…and when time started to run out, I read him all of the various things that you folks wanted me to ask him about, and it’s clear that he’s got stories yet to tell. During this conversation, however, we managed to discuss Stan Against Evil, Platoon and his relationship with Oliver Stone, Watch It (a personal favorite of mine), Car 54, Where Are You?, Office Space, and Three to Tango. Oh, yes, and we sort of talked about Point Break and On Deadly Ground, but…you’ll, uh, have to listen to find out what I mean by that. Okay, that’s enough of an intro. It’s time to let John C. McGinley talk.

Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 33 - Nick Heyward and Blair Cunningham (Haircut 100 / Paul McCartney)

This time I’m actually letting two people talk. One of them I was expecting, one of them I wasn’t, but I was thrilled to have the opportunity to chat with them together, even if it had only been a little over a week since I’d last talked to them separately. To try and make that slightly confusing sentence a bit more comprehensible, I should explain that my wife and I recently took a trip to London to visit our daughter, who’d just wrapped up a semester abroad and was on the cusp of heading home. Having already finished her semester, she met up with us in Reading, where all three us stayed with family friends (hello, Toni and Stu, and thanks again for the hospitality), after which we spent some time in London, did an overnight trip to Galway, Ireland to see the Cliffs of Moher, and – most importantly for this story – headed to York to see Haircut One Hundred in concert! I must admit that I never would’ve expected that I’d ever have the chance to see them live, mostly because Nick Heyward parted ways with the band in 1983! But against all odds, the guys mended whatever fences they needed to mend, started playing together again, and not only are they back together full-time and touring, but they’ve even got a new record coming out on June 19! And owing to a combination of the band having a wonderful publicist and having interviewed Nick during my brief tenure as a senior editor of Q Magazine, my family and I were not only able to see the band live in York (along with openers Stone Foundation, who were also pretty damned great), but we met up with them after the show. And while I was of course thrilled to have a chance to meet Nick, as a proper music nerd, I was also excited to meet the band’s drummer, Blair Cunningham, who was sitting behind the kit the first time I saw Paul McCartney in concert. Nick and I were originally going to do an interview before my trip to London, but then it became clear that it would be easier to do it once I was back home and Haircut One Hundred was done with their tour. What I was not expecting, however, was for Blair to pop in a few minutes after we started and join us, but talk about a pleasant surprise. Plus, it kept me on my toes as an interviewer, having prepped questions about Nick’s solo career to fill the hour. Instead, I got both of their perspectives about the Haircut One Hundred experience, Blair had some amazing stories of his own, including some great McCartney tales as well as a hilarious story about working with Echo and the Bunnymen, and I still managed to get a question in about Nick’s songwriting collaboration with the late, great Terry Hall. Well, that’s enough of an intro: it’s time to let Nick Heyward and Blair Cunningham talk.

Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 32 - Kevin Dunn (Mermaid / Veep / Snake Eyes)

This time I’m letting Kevin Dunn talk. Kevin is a gentleman who’s been working in front of the camera since the mid-1980s, but it’s arguable that the role that transformed him from “oh, that guy” to being an “oh, that guy” from a very specific thing was playing White House Chief of Staff Ben Cafferty on VEEP. At the moment, however, he’s doing press for Tyler Kornack’s new film, MERMAID, which premiered at last year’s SXSW Festival, received a brief theatrical run earlier this month, and is on the cusp of receiving a digital release. I made this remark to Kevin during our conversation, but it bears mentioning here as well: MERMAID is a weird fucking movie, but it’s a weirdness that sucked me in and kept me glued to the screen until the very end. SPLASH it is not, nor is it THE SHAPE OF WATER, but all three films share a certain amount of DNA, and… Well, I don’t really want to say much more about it, except that Kevin’s role, while relatively small in the grand scheme of things, is one that provides him with a moment that would be a must-add to any actor’s clip reel. Of course, we talked about other topics as well, although I’ll tell you right now: Kevin’s a guy who has plenty of stories, and given the name of this podcast, it should go without saying that I didn’t get to ask him about everything that you rowdy lot wanted me to ask him about. This, of course, means that a sequel is a must if we can get it scheduled. For now, though, just know that we discussed VEEP, of course, along with MISSISSIPPI BURNING, LUCK, THE PRACTICE, SNAKE EYES, MARKED FOR DEATH, THE BEACH BOYS: AN AMERICAN FAMILY, and HOT SHOTS! And I’m sure a few other things came up as well, but suffice it to say that there’s a lot of great material to be found within those topics. And with that said, I think that’s plenty enough of an intro. It’s time to let Kevin Dunn talk.

Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 31 - Sam Anderson (Matlock / Friends / Lost / ER / WKRP in Cincinatti))

This time I’m letting Sam Anderson talk. Sam is someone who’s been a working character actor since the 1970s, popping up in dramas and comedies alike. At the moment, he’s living the character actor’s dream, in that he’s a series regular on one of the most entertaining dramas on network television, playing Kathy Bates’ husband on CBS’s extremely creative reboot of Matlock. Like so many actors, Sam got his start in the theater, but once he made the move to California, he jumped in front of the camera and has rarely found himself without work. As far as where you might know him from, it’s virtually impossible to know, given the width and breadth of his filmography, but some key moments from his career have found him playing an obstetrician obsessed with Arthur Fonzarelli on Friends, being stranded for several seasons on Lost, playing principal to a young Forrest Gump, and sparring with just about every doctor at Cook County General on ER. From Perfect Strangers and Growing Pains to four episodes of WKRP in Cincinnati, each one of which found him playing a different character, Anderson has been all up and down your TV dial and then some. Basically, if you look at this man’s list of credits, you’ll realize that he’s been in just about everything at some point, and while that might be hyperbole with some actors, with Sam Anderson, it’s way closer to the truth than not. As such, there was never any chance that we’d get to everything that you folks asked me to ask him about, but I did my best, and he offered up some great stories to go with all the things that I threw at him. Well, that’s probably enough of an intro. It’s time to let Sam Anderson talk.

Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 30 - Jay O. Sanders (JFK / Law & Order: Criminal Intent / The Day After Tomorrow / True Detective) /

This time I’m letting Jay O. Sanders talk. Jay started in the theater, quickly found his way in front of the camera, and has successfully forged an extremely substantial career as a character actor. Before that, though, he made his New York theater debut in a “Shakespeare in the Park” performance of Henry V alongside such fellow cast members as William Hurt, Meryl Streep, Michael Moriarty, and Bruce McGill, which – all things considered – is a pretty amazing way to kick off a career. Thankfully, he didn’t stop there, but since it’s statistically unlikely that most listeners have had the opportunity to catch Jay in his various theater performances, don’t worry, you’ll almost certainly recognize him from any number of TV or film appearances. For me, as I mention in the course of our conversation, he’s instantly Kevin Costner’s right-hand man in JFK. If you’re a fan of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, you might recognize him either from his first appearance, which was as a bad guy working alongside a funeral home owner played by Jim Gaffigan, or you might remember him when he stepped in to keep Goren and Eames in line for the series’ final season. More recently, you might’ve seen him on NBC’s Blindspot, Prime Video’s Sneaky Pete, USA’s The Sinner, or Discovery’s Manhunt: Deadly Games, i.e. the season about the Unabomber. But Jay’s done so much stuff that there’s really no telling where you might’ve seen him. AfterMASH? Crime Story? Roseanne? Eddie Macon’s Run? Okay, that’s kind of an outlier, but if you’re from my generation, they played that thing incessantly on HBO back in the day. He’s also in The Young Riders, Angels in the Outfield, The Big Green, Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider, The Day After Tomorrow… He’s definitely an actor where you can comfortably use the phrase, “And the list goes on…” And suffice it to say that he’s got at least as many stories as he’s got roles in his back catalog. That feels like a more than sufficient intro. It’s time to let Jay O. Sanders talk.