Sussman & Lapus interview - Stuart Fails to Save the Universe — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 1:07All right, Joe. It looks like we are
2. 1:08ready to go if you want to.
3. 1:11>> Amazing. Thank you.
4. 1:15>> All right, y'all. We're going to go
5. 1:16ahead and start sending you into the
6. 1:17room. Give us one moment. Here we go.
7. 1:20And again, this is going to be with
8. 1:21Kevin and Lauren.
9. 1:26>> I just parts of me are elbow. [laughter]
10. 1:29It's like I have hair over here, but
11. 1:32then it's
12. 1:33>> Hello everyone. Welcome in. We'll be
13. 1:36getting journalists here.
14. 1:38>> Hi.
15. 1:38>> Hi.
16. 1:40>> Hi.
17. 1:41>> Hi.
18. 1:43>> Wow, there's so many people on this
19. 1:45Zoom. I feel like I'm have to show my
20. 1:48quarterly report or something.
21. 1:50[laughter]
22. 1:51>> No pressure.
23. 1:52>> Okay, Joanna, we're rolling whenever
24. 1:54you're ready.
25. 1:54>> Amazing. Thank you. Well, in that case,
26. 1:56we can give the first question to Adam
27. 1:58from Hungary.
28. 2:00>> Oh, thank you so much this uh this
29. 2:03pleasuress. So, cheers. I I saw the uh
30. 2:07the show. It was really extraordinary
31. 2:11for me. I I was
32. 2:13>> too
33. 2:14>> waiting for some different some kind of
34. 2:17sitcom like the big bang chi. So uh
35. 2:19that's why uh my question where did the
36. 2:22a idea came from or the inspiration came
37. 2:25from to create such a completely
38. 2:27different more abstract series based on
39. 2:30supporting characters from the big bang
40. 2:32theory. I felt there was a bit of
41. 2:36sliders inspired influence in it. Am I
42. 2:39right? Uh, [clears throat]
43. 2:42>> yeah. I mean,
44. 2:44>> the idea came, actually, it's
45. 2:46interesting, came from a clinically
46. 2:48insane person named Chuck Lori.
47. 2:51[laughter]
48. 2:51>> Yeah. Yeah.
49. 2:54>> Um, creator of The Big Bang Theory and
50. 2:57many other shows, he went crazy.
51. 3:00[laughter] Um, yet HBO Max still allowed
52. 3:03him to continue making TV.
53. 3:06>> Yeah. I think for for the writers it was
54. 3:08really fun because they could literally
55. 3:10write anything and it made sense
56. 3:12somehow.
57. 3:13>> Yeah. Yeah. [laughter]
58. 3:16>> So So the sliders was inspired.
59. 3:18>> We don't know. We don't know what which
60. 3:20shows specifically because I think that
61. 3:22all three writers kind of have different
62. 3:24um interests and backgrounds with their
63. 3:27experience. So um you know Zach brings a
64. 3:30bit more of the superhero world and
65. 3:33>> the sci-fi stuff. definitely knows all
66. 3:36the like old comic books and the and
67. 3:39Doctor Who and science stuff and Chuck
68. 3:41>> hard science.
69. 3:42>> Chuck's got the sitcom stuff unlock plus
70. 3:45all the plus everything else.
71. 3:46>> Yeah.
72. 3:47>> Together it's al alchemic alchemically
73. 3:51alchemically.
74. 3:52>> I don't know. [laughter]
75. 3:55>> It created the Yeah. And what can we
76. 3:58expect expect from the second season?
77. 4:01This this multiverse craziness or or
78. 4:04will it be a little bit traditional
79. 4:06sitcom style?
80. 4:08>> I think it'll keep going in this
81. 4:09direction. I hope it does because we had
82. 4:11so much fun. Every episode was so unique
83. 4:14and it was such a special experience to
84. 4:16get to do that as an actor. So, I hope
85. 4:18that it continues that
86. 4:20>> although I don't want to do any more
87. 4:21episodes where I'm bald.
88. 4:24>> Cool. Cool. Okay. [laughter]
89. 4:26So I I I don't know how how
90. 4:28>> I'm sorry we had to give questions to
91. 4:31someone else. Sorry.
92. 4:32>> Thank you so much.
93. 4:32>> But uh now we can give to Sophia in
94. 4:34Colombia.
95. 4:37>> Oh, hi guys. How you doing?
96. 4:41Uh my question is for both of you. Uh
97. 4:45talking about the multiveres, which was
98. 4:47your favorite multiverse and why?
99. 4:51Yeah, I think my favorite was probably I
100. 4:54think ultimately my favorite was the cow
101. 4:57universe because it was just very funny
102. 5:00to play having cow stomachs and um I
103. 5:04also just enjoyed sort of the calmness
104. 5:06of it within the chaos of the whole
105. 5:07season. So there's something kind of
106. 5:09nice about having this little respit
107. 5:11with that storyline. Um but I also
108. 5:14really enjoyed the paradise episode. I
109. 5:16think that was really just beautiful. I
110. 5:18I mean, as a viewer, I loved looking at
111. 5:20it, but I in the in in the environment,
112. 5:22it was just very calm and pretty and
113. 5:24kind of a nice lifestyle until we ruined
114. 5:26it for them. [laughter]
115. 5:28>> Yeah. I also my favorite was also the
116. 5:30cow universe. I cuz I just I find that
117. 5:32premise so funny. Uh we've been going
118. 5:35through all these terrible universes.
119. 5:37People are trying to kill us and then
120. 5:39finally we're in a a place where
121. 5:42everything is just the way it was.
122. 5:45Everything's super normal except that we
123. 5:47have four stomachs like like a cow.
124. 5:51>> Uh and so and we're like, you know what?
125. 5:54Close enough. [laughter]
126. 5:58>> Thank you.
127. 5:59>> Mhm. You know, James in New Zealand.
128. 6:02>> Hi.
129. 6:03>> Hi, Lauren. Hi, Kevin. Thank you for
130. 6:05your time and congratulations on the
131. 6:07show. It's excellent what I've seen so
132. 6:09far. I wanted to ask you,
133. 6:12>> how easy was it to come back to these
134. 6:14characters and how easy was it for you
135. 6:16to find them?
136. 6:18>> Becky,
137. 6:19>> you know, it's interesting because I
138. 6:21feel like because my character, we first
139. 6:23find her in the apocalypse world. It's
140. 6:26such a different vibe. Like, she's still
141. 6:28who she is at her core, but she's gone
142. 6:30through a lot of stuff. So, it was fun
143. 6:33to kind of layer that in because I think
144. 6:34in the conversation that you see with
145. 6:36Stuart and Denise, it is reminiscent of
146. 6:38their comic book store conversations in
147. 6:40The Big Bang Theory, but she's wearing a
148. 6:42gun and, you know, has a lot of stuff
149. 6:44going on in her backstory there. So, it
150. 6:47was fun. It was fun to kind of juggle
151. 6:48like the reality of how much of that
152. 6:51person's personality stays within these
153. 6:53extreme circumstances.
154. 6:55>> Yeah, our characters in the spin-off are
155. 6:58actually alternate version. We're not
156. 7:00the exact versions of us from the
157. 7:03original show. That said, uh just going
158. 7:06back into the character of Stuart was
159. 7:11not that tough because Stuart from the
160. 7:14original show had a lot of me sadly in
161. 7:18[laughter]
162. 7:19um there. So, uh it's, you know, it's
163. 7:22never really been a stretch. I mean, the
164. 7:25stretch was like taking on a leadership
165. 7:27role now in the spin-off. That that that
166. 7:30was different. Um uh but uh other than
167. 7:34that, it was it was pretty similar.
168. 7:37>> Mhm.
169. 7:38>> Cool. Thank you.
170. 7:40>> Thank you. Now, we have Fernanda here
171. 7:42from Brazil. I don't think your
172. 7:43connection is too good, but I just
173. 7:44wanted to check if Can you hear us,
174. 7:46Fernando?
175. 7:48In that case, I have the question on
176. 7:50email.
177. 7:50>> I'm sorry. Yeah, my con my connection is
178. 7:53pretty bad. If you can ask.
179. 7:56>> Yeah, I can ask them. No worries. I have
180. 7:57a question which is how did you guys
181. 8:00receive the fan reception to the
182. 8:01spin-off?
183. 8:04>> Oh, it's [clears throat] been so
184. 8:05exciting. I think you know when you're
185. 8:07doing a spin-off of a show that's so
186. 8:09beloved like The Big Bang Theory, it's
187. 8:11kind of like, you know, you have a
188. 8:12little bit of nerves like I hope people
189. 8:14who are fans of that show will enjoy
190. 8:16this show or will be open to how weird
191. 8:18this show is. Um, and I feel like the
192. 8:21reception has been so positive online,
193. 8:23which you know, the internet is not
194. 8:25known for being like the nicest place in
195. 8:26the world. So, it's been I I was very
196. 8:28pleasantly surprised by how people were
197. 8:30excited about it.
198. 8:31>> I've been surprised at how many people
199. 8:32actually know about it so far before
200. 8:34it's even come out. You know, just
201. 8:36people walking up to me and oh, I'm so
202. 8:39excited about the spin-off. Um, and
203. 8:41knowing that it's not the same, it's not
204. 8:45uh filmed in front of in front of a
205. 8:48studio audience. It's more of a sci-fi
206. 8:51comedy and people are totally down for
207. 8:54this completely new take with characters
208. 8:57that they love from the original show.
209. 8:59>> Mhm.
210. 9:01Lovely. Thank you. Now we can go to
211. 9:03Brigades in Germany.
212. 9:06>> Yeah. I was wondering um what was the
213. 9:08most challen challenging scene for you
214. 9:11and why?
215. 9:12>> This is such an easy question
216. 9:14>> because we know exactly what it is. It's
217. 9:16literally we are when we were falling
218. 9:18through the void in I can't remember
219. 9:20which episode it is but
220. 9:22>> that's the cow episode.
221. 9:24>> Yes. So we're falling through the void
222. 9:26and they put us on wires and were
223. 9:28flinging us up and down 30 ft at
224. 9:32>> and it was terrifying.
225. 9:34>> Yeah, it was terrifying. So we both
226. 9:35struggled with that greatly and then I
227. 9:37think ultimately
228. 9:38>> we Sorry. It just it when you watch it
229. 9:42like I think it looks fantastic but it
230. 9:44doesn't look like we're falling from 30
231. 9:45feet which we were like [laughter]
232. 9:48oh my god. So it was like a lot of
233. 9:50effort to um for us that day we we had
234. 9:53to like act like we were fine with it
235. 9:55and then later privately cry together.
236. 9:57So, [laughter]
237. 10:00>> we learned that we learned that um an
238. 10:03acting thing um is that when you're
239. 10:06falling because the first time we did
240. 10:08it, we felt like we were actually
241. 10:11falling and we're supposed to be
242. 10:13screaming in the scene. And what we
243. 10:15learned is when you really feel like
244. 10:17you're falling to your death, there's no
245. 10:18screaming. It's more of like a
246. 10:22[laughter]
247. 10:22>> It's like, [clears throat]
248. 10:25>> yeah, can't even get a scream out. It's
249. 10:26pure fear. [laughter]
250. 10:29>> So, is that more fun than being in front
251. 10:31of a studio audience? Is it more fun?
252. 10:33>> It's so different. I think the the
253. 10:35audience is so fun because you really
254. 10:37feed off their energy and like it it it
255. 10:39it helps with the the style of show when
256. 10:42you drink when you're doing a multicam
257. 10:43show like which is kind of like a more a
258. 10:45little higher energy. Um,
259. 10:47>> but this is more immersive because on
260. 10:50the studio show there's like there's
261. 10:53only three walls in this in the comic
262. 10:55book store there's four walls. It feels
263. 10:58more real. There's a ceiling. That was
264. 11:01the weirdest thing. It wasn't the fourth
265. 11:03wall. It was actually having a a ceiling
266. 11:05in the comic book store.
267. 11:07>> Like a real store. Yeah. Cool.
268. 11:10>> Lovely. Thank you.
269. 11:12>> Thank you. Now we can get the next
270. 11:14question to Claire in the UK.
271. 11:16Thank you. Hi.
272. 11:18>> Hi.
273. 11:19>> Hi. So, my question, so uh um Kevin, how
274. 11:23did it feel when you found out that you
275. 11:24were going to have the lead this time,
276. 11:26that it was all going to be about
277. 11:27Stuart? And also for the both of you, um
278. 11:30how was it to be reunited on this show
279. 11:33again? And had you kept in touch?
280. 11:36>> Um it felt uh surreal when I found out
281. 11:40that it was happening. It was in the
282. 11:41middle of the pandemic actually. Uh
283. 11:44Chuck had me come into his office and he
284. 11:46said, "Do you know why you're here?" And
285. 11:48I was had no idea. Um and he said, "I
286. 11:53have this idea to do a Steuart
287. 11:55spin-off." And he pitched me the idea as
288. 11:58though he needed me to sign off on it.
289. 12:02>> Like, "Are you available?" Like, "Yeah,
290. 12:04I'll
291. 12:04>> Let's see. We're in the middle of a
292. 12:05pandemic. Am I available to star in your
293. 12:09new show?" Uh let me think about it.
294. 12:12I'll get back to you. No, actually I had
295. 12:14to keep it a secret. Uh he didn't want
296. 12:16the press to find out about it too
297. 12:18early. So, uh months later, I hadn't
298. 12:21heard from him and I was like, "Wait,
299. 12:23did that happen? Did I imagine that?"
300. 12:25And I went and I actually was checking
301. 12:27my phone. Oh, yeah. Nope. Here it is.
302. 12:29It's right here. I met with Chuck Glory.
303. 12:31He said, "We're doing this."
304. 12:33>> Yeah. And it was great to reunite. We
305. 12:34were all so excited because we obviously
306. 12:37we all worked together before. We've
307. 12:38known each other in various ways outside
308. 12:40of the show. And so when we got the word
309. 12:43that we actually were doing this, we got
310. 12:44coffee and tried to just share whatever
311. 12:46little information we had. But it was
312. 12:48very exciting to to get to reunite. And
313. 12:51this cast like I feel like we all feel
314. 12:52so lucky because everyone's so nice and
315. 12:54fun to be around and so we're all just
316. 12:57like super excited to be there every day
317. 12:59and just a great energy.
318. 13:02>> Thank you. That's brilliant.
319. 13:03>> Thank you. Lovely. Thank you. And Al
320. 13:05Marta in Poland.
321. 13:10Guys, first of all, congrats on the
322. 13:11show. I had so much fun watching it.
323. 13:14>> Oh, thank you.
324. 13:15>> And um there is a whole lot happening
325. 13:18this season, but I feel like there is
326. 13:20one story line.
327. 13:22Yep. And that's sort of at the heart of
328. 13:24the show, and that's Stuart and Denise's
329. 13:28love story. Uh so, how did you approach
330. 13:31that one? Because I feel like
331. 13:34probably a lot of that is in the
332. 13:36writing, right? H but still it all feels
333. 13:39pretty twisty and you know there there's
334. 13:41a lot of like emotional weight to carry
335. 13:45on top of everything else and like I
336. 13:47said there's a lot
337. 13:50>> Yeah. I mean, I think I I feel like um
338. 13:52one of our our biggest episodes for our
339. 13:55relationship is the is the cow episode.
340. 13:57And Jonathan Franks, who directed that,
341. 14:00I thought did an amazing job with um
342. 14:03getting us into this place of having a
343. 14:04really grounded sort of romantic but
344. 14:08like just showing the the depth of their
345. 14:10relationship. I thought he did such a
346. 14:12great job with those
347. 14:14>> and and in the original Big Bang Theory
348. 14:18where our relationship was just budding
349. 14:21and then the show ended and it was like
350. 14:24a
351. 14:25>> this is such a Steuart thing to happen
352. 14:26right when he gets this this great
353. 14:28relationship. But then the because this
354. 14:32show is not a multicam
355. 14:35in front of a live audience because it
356. 14:37had it able to have those more intimate
357. 14:41>> uh moments. It actually their
358. 14:43relationship benefits from having this
359. 14:45depth that it wouldn't have had in the
360. 14:48in the show.
361. 14:49>> Yeah. And now they've been through so
362. 14:50much together and they're like on this,
363. 14:52you know, neverending journey to get
364. 14:54back to reality. So it's like they need
365. 14:56each other more than ever.
366. 14:58>> Yeah. It's like when you you really
367. 15:00learn about a person by going on
368. 15:02vacation with them, except it's a
369. 15:05vacation where you almost die every
370. 15:07single every day.
371. 15:11>> All right. Thank you guys.
372. 15:13>> Lovely. Thank you. And we can get the
373. 15:14final question to William in the UAE.
374. 15:17>> Both. So, um, Lauren, I'm a huge fan of,
375. 15:20you know, comedy Bing Bong forever. So,
376. 15:21I love your work on that.
377. 15:22>> Oh, thank you.
378. 15:23>> I have a question for for both of you,
379. 15:25but separate questions. Kevin, I wanted
380. 15:26to know going back to being number one
381. 15:28on the call sheet, what was that like
382. 15:30for you? I mean, to to step up to that
383. 15:32to that role, you know, off the off the
384. 15:34camera, what was it like? How did you
385. 15:35push yourself as a as a performer? And
386. 15:37how do you feel like you've changed? And
387. 15:38Lauren, as well, how do you feel like
388. 15:40your, you know, I guess chops in improv
389. 15:44like benefited the situation where
390. 15:46anything could be happening at any
391. 15:47moment?
392. 15:48>> Yeah.
393. 15:50Um,
394. 15:52discovering that I was number one on the
395. 15:54call sheet was crazy, surreal, exciting.
396. 15:58Uh, I think it really hit me when I
397. 16:01first came to the studio lot and all the
398. 16:03little golf carts for the production
399. 16:05were driving around and it said Stewart
400. 16:08on them and and that was amazing and fun
401. 16:11and exciting, but that wore off pretty
402. 16:14soon. And then, you know, I got a good
403. 16:17day or two of being like excited about
404. 16:19that and then it just it just for the
405. 16:21rest of it, it just I mean, it is it's
406. 16:22such an ensemble show. I mean, Steuart
407. 16:25is in the title, but it really is an
408. 16:26ensemble comedy. And so, I didn't really
409. 16:29think about it that much while we were
410. 16:31making it. I was just happy to be, you
411. 16:33know, to be in a show where the four of
412. 16:35us were are such good friends outside of
413. 16:38the show and on the show and it was so
414. 16:40much fun and that was more exciting to
415. 16:43me. Yeah. Yeah. And then to answer your
416. 16:46question, I think, you know, with
417. 16:48improv, one of my favorite things about
418. 16:49improv is that it's always different.
419. 16:51And so doing this show was like my dream
420. 16:54because you really can't get bored
421. 16:56because every single day was like a
422. 16:57totally different situation. And you
423. 17:00know, there's like a couple episodes
424. 17:02where we go from one universe to another
425. 17:05like four times in a row, like really
426. 17:06fast. And so we had these days where
427. 17:08like, you know, we're getting a bald cap
428. 17:09and we're in a matrix pod and then the
429. 17:11next day we have like a centaur ass, you
430. 17:14know. So it's like [laughter]
431. 17:15it's like every day was something
432. 17:16different which just really fills that
433. 17:19part of myself that just loves change
434. 17:21and variety and um going with the flow.
435. 17:24So I really enjoyed it.
436. 17:26>> Thank you.
437. 17:27>> Thanks.
438. 17:27>> Thank you. And we can actually squeeze
439. 17:28one final question for Joshua in
440. 17:30Belgium.
441. 17:32Well, to follow up on that, Kevin, uh
442. 17:34you were originally cast as Howard all
443. 17:36those years ago, but that eventually
444. 17:38didn't work out. Did you sometimes
445. 17:40wonder what if during all those years?
446. 17:42And does it now feel like you finally
447. 17:44gotten that lead role that escaped you?
448. 17:48>> Um
449. 17:49I mean, Simon Hellberg is so amazing
450. 17:53that I feel like the universe sorted
451. 17:56itself out, you know? Uh it's hard to I
452. 17:59mean and my the Howard that I auditioned
453. 18:01with was completely different and
454. 18:03completely different than Stuart also.
455. 18:05Um but yeah, no it is weird to
456. 18:08especially since the show ended like
457. 18:10seven years ago to come back to this
458. 18:12character. But uh
459. 18:14>> but I got to say that's really so cool
460. 18:16of Chuck that like you know all that
461. 18:18happened then you had a big role on The
462. 18:20Big Bang Theory which is amazing as well
463. 18:22and then he's like and we're going to
464. 18:24give you your own show. Like that
465. 18:25>> that doesn't happen you know. Yeah. No,
466. 18:27it is crazy. It's been
467. 18:28>> There's plenty of I think actors have
468. 18:30that experience all the time where you
469. 18:31have a near miss with something cool and
470. 18:33you're like, "Oh, that would have been
471. 18:34so awesome." And like then there's never
472. 18:36any sort of like moment where you feel
473. 18:38like it gets brought back. You know what
474. 18:40I mean? Like it's pretty lucky to have
475. 18:42that. So
476. 18:43>> that is a great point. Yeah.
477. 18:46>> Thanks.
478. 18:48>> Amazing. Thank you. I'm afraid that's
479. 18:49all we have time for today, but thank
480. 18:50you very much.
481. 18:51>> Thank you. All right. We