-You've been here a bunch,
but it's been a very long gap.
You were last here
for the finale of
"Parks and Recreation."
-That's right.
And then that's when
our feud started.
-That's when our feud started.
-And I'm glad we made up.
It's good to be back.
-We finally made up.
We always said
that if a pandemic hit,
we would put
our differences aside.
-Mm-hmm.
-So, I've known you --
-I received your owl.
-You received --
I'm so glad
because you train an owl,
you train an owl,
you train an owl,
and then the time comes that you
actually have to send him ou
with a message
wrapped to his leg,
and you just hope he gets there.
-Your summons was successful
-Well, I'm glad you're here.
You know, I know you --
We were talking backstage.
A lot of times,
people will almost confuse you
with Ron Swanson because you are
in life a very crafty gentleman.
You are a woodworker by trade.
-Yeah.
-I remember
when I first met you,
you were in Red Hook, Brooklyn
making a canoe.
-That's right.
-This is a real thing.
So it made sense.
In this show, you play
a quantum-computing expert
-That's right.
-That have any of
the same overlap for you?
-I have not -- You know,
I was down at the RadioShack
and, uh...
No, no one has accused me of -
No one has confused me
with a genius as yet.
-Very believable genius
in the show.
-Thank you.
I'm classically trained.
Alex Garland,
our writer/director...
-Who's a genius.
-...is just astonishing.
-His -- I mean,
he wrote a great character
And, so, the trick to playing --
You know, like,
if I was cast as a NBA player,
the trick is not to try
and look good dribbling.
It's just to be cool.
And people are like,
"Oh, clearly,
he can make a free throw.
I mean, look how cool he is.
-Right. So that's the go-to.
-Your go-to move is findin
an inherent coolness
to the character.
-That's Acting 101.
-This is a lot of --
Asks a lot of questions
about how technology
affects our lives,
how it affects our free will
Are these questions that you'v
found that you have ever asked
yourselves before
taking on this role?
-Uh, no. I hate technology
-Yeah.
-I hate it.
I grew up in a farming family.
My life is very tangible.
I like to read physical books.
I don't like e-books.
I'm reluctantly competent
when it comes to using screens
you know?
But I have a system where I --
I'm like, "Okay, I've got to
check these five places.
All right. Nobody needs me
Get that thing out of here
Now let me get back
to this sandwich."
[ Laughter ]
-We were both in Chicago.
I feel like I was maybe
a tick after you,
maybe a half-generation
after you in Chicago.
You had a theater company.
-Mm-hmm.
-Defiant Theatre company.
-That's right.
-What were the sort of shows
you guys were doing in Chicago
back in the '90s?
-Defiant was formed
by a group of friends
that attended
the University of Illinois
down in Champaign-Urbana.
And among other things,
it's a great program
for theater,
but there was this
special sensei,
a man named Shozo Sato,
who was our true sensei.
He taught us Kabuki theater,
which is this amazing Japanese
presentational theater style
And so we would do these shows
that were like a Tex Avery
cartoon, with, like, samurais.
Part of it was probably 'cause
we weren't great at acting
But I was like, "I can do a flip
and crash through a wall.
All right. We can use that
Let's build from it.
Let's turn that into a story."
But it was really fun.
I mean, we had
a great following.
And we did do good plays,
as well, you know.
We did realistic stuff.
But my favorite thing were these
sort of carnival-esque shows
in which we would
often get hurt.
-I genuinely think -- and I'
sure you feel the same way -
I count myself so lucky to hav
been in Chicago at that time
And I hope Chicago
is still like it today.
But there were followings
for shows.
You know, I was
an improviser at the time.
And it was great
that you could do a show,
and I feel like people from al
walks of lives would show up
and you just learned
how to be a better performer
-I agree.
I mean, I always say
I think it's the best town
for theater in the country
because it doesn't have
Broadway or Hollywood.
It doesn't have
the ulterior motive.
You can't make money
performing in Chicago.
So if you're doing it, it mean
you must really be earnest
and people recognize that.
-Yeah.
-They come for your work ethic
-Yeah.
You -- Your work ethic was s
strong that you also built sets.
You did not have a big budget,
I'm assuming, at Defiant.
-No, we did not.
We had a small budget.
But we prided ourselves on -
I could drive around the alley
of Chicago for two hours
and collect all the material
I needed
to build any structure
you would want for a set.
-Friends of mine from Chicag
who also were fans
of the alleys in Chicago
and how you could find things,
they said the worst thing
about New York is no alleys.
-It's true.
-It's just like a no-alley town.
-Yeah. How are you supposed to
furnish an apartment?
-Where were you living,
speaking of apartments,
in Chicago back then?
-Well, my main spot, you know --
I bounced around a little 'cause
I was not making
a lot of income.
But I talked
a landlord of a warehouse
into letting me live
in part of the warehouse.
This guy was generous.
Because I was like, "Look.
Or maybe he thought
I was threatening him.
So, I said, "Listen.
Do you have anybody --
Do you have
a night watchman here?"
He's like, "No."
I'm like, "Somebody might come
in here and mess with your rea
nice warehouse full of stuff
I would be willing to pay yo
a small amount and live in back,
and maybe I'd build
some scenery in part of this -
and have a scenery shop."
And this guy agreed to it.
So I lived in this warehouse
right around the corner
from Steppenwolf
that is now a Crate & Barrel
-Wow. So you obviously had a
eye for real estate back then.
-Yeah. I knew what I was doing
