IR Interview: The Cast Of “Extended Family” [NBC]

The Inside Reel

Actors Jon Cryer, Abigail Spencer and Donald Faison talk to The Inside Reel about energy, context, performance and intention of comedy in regards to their new multi-cam sitcom: “Extended Family” on NBC.

Transcript

00:00 (dramatic music)

00:02 - Jim, how did you know I was here?

00:12 - Family sharing, that blinking green dot, that's you.

00:15 - You're tracking me?

00:16 - You're the one who opted into the sharing.

00:18 - When we were married.

00:20 - And just like we opted out of that,

00:21 you gotta opt out of this.

00:22 (audience laughing)

00:25 - Between the three of you, so much experience

00:27 doing so many different things,

00:29 but bringing you together, it creates,

00:31 all three of you creates an energy.

00:33 Could you talk about bringing sort of

00:34 those different experiences to bear for something like this?

00:39 - Well, it just brings hilarity, excitement, lightning.

00:43 (all laughing)

00:45 - Honestly, do I feel like I'm working with a dream team?

00:47 You know what I mean?

00:48 In past projects, I was new to,

00:55 we were all kind of, like in Scrubs,

00:57 we were all brand new to the game, really.

01:00 I had done some work and Johnny had done some work,

01:02 but Zach was brand new, nobody really knew.

01:06 I mean, I guess you knew who Sarah was.

01:07 Anyway, coming here, it's like, you know,

01:11 coming here, everybody's established

01:13 and worked really hard already.

01:15 And so it's like, you've got a group of people

01:18 who are like, all right, I've got a resume.

01:21 You've got a resume.

01:24 We should be able to dominate.

01:26 And so that's what we're trying to do.

01:27 We're trying to come in.

01:28 - Trying to dominate.

01:30 - I'm thinking, I'm talking team oriented.

01:32 - So you're Shaq, I'm Kobe.

01:35 - Yes.

01:35 - And I'm Michael Jordan.

01:37 - Yeah, sure.

01:38 (all laughing)

01:38 - And we've created this team and we're going out there

01:42 and we're gonna, you know,

01:43 and hopefully we're giving the people what they want.

01:47 - Hey, Grace.

01:48 - Welcome home.

01:49 - Hey, Jimmy.

01:50 - Oh, I see you got a new goldfish.

01:51 (audience laughing)

01:54 - What do you mean new?

01:55 - Isn't this dead one the old one?

01:57 (audience laughing)

02:00 - Trey killed Googles.

02:03 (audience laughing)

02:05 And then he asked us to lie about it.

02:07 (audience laughing)

02:08 - Why would you do that?

02:09 Grace, Trey didn't do-

02:10 - Because I was ashamed.

02:12 - Trey.

02:13 - Let him speak.

02:14 (audience laughing)

02:15 - Are everybody's comic instincts like,

02:17 you're all different,

02:18 but does the instinctual like timing

02:21 sort of just come together?

02:22 Did it come together fairly quickly for all three of you?

02:25 - Oh yeah, yeah.

02:25 It was super easy and immediate.

02:28 I mean, Abigail and I did what felt like hundreds-

02:33 - Many, hundreds of Zoom.

02:35 - Auditions going through the scenes and stuff.

02:39 But it was instantaneous.

02:40 We had instantaneous,

02:42 the timing was just locked in from the jump.

02:46 It was remarkable.

02:47 And that's, you know,

02:49 you feel incredibly lucky to get that.

02:51 And then bringing in Donald, you know,

02:53 he's this spitfire who just brings in this incredible,

02:57 you know, spontaneity.

03:00 And it's true.

03:02 - Yeah, it's true.

03:04 - I'm agreeing 100% with you.

03:05 - Yeah, yeah. - Exactly.

03:06 - By nodding at the camera.

03:07 - But yeah, it didn't take work.

03:10 And that's been a lovely, lovely surprise.

03:13 - And we're lifted by this beautiful script and concept

03:16 written by Michael Malley.

03:17 So, I mean, when you're supported by the page,

03:20 it really, it's like dancing.

03:23 You know, you just gotta jump out of the plane.

03:26 - Yeah. - And see what happens.

03:28 - But for you, because I mean,

03:29 we talked for "Timeless" a couple times, obviously,

03:32 but it's a different thing with multicam.

03:34 Obviously, I know you did "Soap" too,

03:36 but can you talk about using multicam

03:38 and understanding that and playing to it?

03:41 - Oh yeah, I mean, it was a crash course,

03:43 definitely during the pilot.

03:45 And these two have been so patient and kind and generous.

03:48 And I'm so lucky.

03:49 I really just need to listen and respond,

03:51 which is what I gotta do.

03:54 (laughing)

03:56 - It sounds easier said than done.

03:58 - And you know, but what was interesting on "Timeless"

04:00 is I was always trying to do,

04:02 like get everyone together to do bits off camera or add bits.

04:06 And I was doing it off camera, trying to add,

04:08 like I was doing so much work,

04:09 and now I get to do it on camera.

04:11 (laughing)

04:12 And I was like, no, bring all the bits on camera.

04:14 So I really realized that I was maybe in the wrong medium

04:18 for a very long time.

04:20 (laughing)

04:21 - Your mom was stuck in a meeting

04:23 and your dad and brother weren't here.

04:25 And I was tasked to watch the goldfish

04:27 and I failed miserably.

04:29 I am so sorry.

04:30 - Trey, who killed Google's mom or dad?

04:34 (laughing)

04:37 - But it also has to do with context.

04:39 Obviously, you know, this is,

04:41 it's about, it's modern families.

04:43 And I mean, you know, you guys have done something

04:45 with unconventional families before,

04:47 but it's all about what was interesting

04:48 that you just said, Abby,

04:49 was the aspect of reaction and action, you know,

04:52 'cause that's something that always,

04:54 where I mean, two and a half men, obviously, John,

04:56 that was the big thing.

04:58 Could you sort of talk about action and reaction

05:00 in these scenes because of the context of the divorcees

05:03 and the new family and all this,

05:05 because it has to hit just right.

05:07 - Well, yeah, just to give you a little background

05:10 on the story, the story is Jim and Julia

05:14 are a couple that is divorcing,

05:16 but they are doing their best to be amicable about it.

05:19 But what happens is Julia meets Trey,

05:22 the owner of the Boston Celtics,

05:24 Jim's favorite sports team, and they become engaged.

05:28 And it's how do you reform your family

05:32 when it's, you know, when it's a completely new situation.

05:37 And they're doing a thing called nesting,

05:39 which is where the kids stay in the same apartment

05:42 and the parents actually go back and forth

05:44 instead of the old school swapping every week.

05:48 And so it creates a lot of situations that are unusual,

05:53 but universal at the same time.

05:54 - Yeah.

05:55 - So like our first episode is just about what happens

05:59 when our daughter, who is away at summer camp,

06:03 when her goldfish dies, it's like, you know,

06:05 this is a four alarm fire

06:07 for three completely very capable adults

06:11 who of course completely fall apart

06:13 in the face of the smallest, tiniest sitcom crisis.

06:16 - Yeah.

06:17 - It really is too many cooks in the kitchen.

06:19 - It really is.

06:20 - It really does.

06:20 - Yes.

06:21 - We're gonna go grab that little sucker.

06:23 Yeah.

06:24 - We get the apartment so the kids can stay there

06:28 and we're the ones who come and go.

06:29 We gotta get your grades up.

06:30 Dad said, don't worry about it.

06:32 I wasn't here to cover dad's mouth when he said that.

06:35 - Hey, Trey Taylor, owner of the Boston Celtics.

06:38 You don't need to say that.

06:39 I didn't say Jim Kearney, owner of a 2004 Honda Accord.

06:42 (audience laughing)

06:44 - The thing I like that you guys do,

06:45 every single character, all three,

06:47 give each other so much crap.

06:49 And that's the great thing.

06:50 It feels real because the thing is,

06:52 even if she's engaged, you know, you're engaged to Trey,

06:55 Trey's still giving crap to Jim.

06:57 Jim's still giving crap to you.

06:59 It's just sort of great.

07:00 Everybody takes the quote unquote piss

07:02 out of each other all the time.

07:04 - That's a part of who our characters are as a family,

07:08 but it's also a part of where we are.

07:09 We live in Boston on the show.

07:12 Trey's character is the owner of the Boston Celtics.

07:14 And if you know anything about Boston,

07:16 it's a place where people are very free

07:17 with their criticisms.

07:18 (all laughing)

07:20 That's one thing you know.

07:22 And that's been great, just being infused

07:25 in the culture of Boston and letting it be kind of who we are.

07:30 - Yeah, and it's part of how they show love to each other.

07:33 And kind of to your question about action and reaction,

07:35 that is the show, it's character-based.

07:37 It's how and who and what is gonna happen

07:40 when any situation arises.

07:42 And that's been the joy, is to really see

07:45 these three characters in a room just working crap out.

07:49 (all laughing)

07:50 - There's a lot of love between the three of them.

07:52 And you touched on it about how they give each other crap

07:56 and stuff like that.

07:57 Trey isn't safe either, you know what I mean?

07:59 Even though he's the outsider and he's the new guy,

08:01 they'll eat, Jim and Julia will quickly gang up on Trey.

08:05 (Donald laughing)

08:06 And bust his chops also.

08:08 You know, so I think that's their--

08:11 - But there's a truth, there's a truth behind it, Donald.

08:13 Yeah, 'cause the thing is they love each other--

08:15 - That's their language though, yeah.

08:17 And that's how they speak it.

08:18 - What's the update?

08:20 - Things are good, things are fine.

08:22 They're not good, they're bad.

08:24 (all laughing)

08:26 - I wanted to ask about truth,

08:27 because truth only comes from heart.

08:29 Can you guys talk about the heart?

08:30 Because the heart, if that doesn't work,

08:32 then the humor doesn't work and the drama behind it.

08:36 - I think our heart on the show is our children,

08:39 you know what I mean?

08:40 That's where Jim and Julia's love really lies, you know?

08:45 And that's why they tried to make this divorce so amicable.

08:48 - Yeah. - Yes.

08:50 That's why, you know, and so when you realize

08:54 that they're doing all of this

08:56 and they're going through all of this for their children,

08:59 Jim is accepting Trey into his life

09:03 because he knows that Julia's gonna be with him

09:05 for hopefully ever in Trey's eyes and Julia's eyes,

09:10 but he's doing that because he knows

09:12 that they're gonna be around his kids

09:15 and he wants his kids to be happy

09:17 and still feel love from their mom.

09:19 - The show is very funny and very elevated in its writing

09:23 and at the core of it is heart.

09:25 I mean, that is what we're,

09:26 that is, and Michael Malley, our creator,

09:28 is definitely, that's what we're talking about,

09:30 Jamie Widows, our director,

09:31 like how do we bring the love and the heart

09:34 into every moment?

09:35 So thank you for picking up on that.

09:37 (laughing)

09:38 - Making us helpless. - Yeah.

09:39 (upbeat music)

09:43 (gunshots)

09:46 (gunshots)

09:48 (dramatic music)

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