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STORY TIME!
(Sophia from Golden Girls voice) Picture this! It’s 1997 or 1998 I forget but I’m in New York tryna make a name for myself. Background and stand in work help with the rent and give me a chance to learn. I end up on set as John Enos’s stand in and am told to wait for lunch. John Enos comes in to eat accompanied by a guy who says “Hey, I’m Phil.” We shake hands and I say “hey Phil, I’m Matt.” Phil asks “you wanna eat with us?” “I don’t think I’m allowed to. The AD told me I should wait till y’all are done” “If you wait, all the good stuff’s gonna be gone. Come eat with us.” So I take a chance and go with Phil and John. Phil and I start shooting the shit about theater and other random things and the guy’s just a blast to hang out with. John’s nice as well but wants to talk with Phil about their scene so I leave the table and let them get back to work. The next day I’m doing background in a club scene. Phil’s up on stage. He’s playing Rusty, the drag queen who is the star of the show. He yells out “Hey Joel?! I wanna try something. Is that okay?” Director Joel Schumacher yells back “Sure! Whatever you need!” He’s created a fun atmosphere that feels more like a party than the filming of a movie. Phil says to the crowd “Alright. Are there any guys out there from Brooklyn? I need a guy from Brooklyn.” Nobody answers. “C’mon guys. There’s gotta be ONE of you from Brooklyn out here.” I raise my hand, he looks at me and I say “I can BE from Brooklyn.” He gets it. He gets that I get it and he says “yes you can.” The cameras start rolling and we are ready to jump in. “And ACTION!” Phil calls me to stage and we improvise the scene you see here. It’s not every day you get to say you held your own doing improv with one of our generation’s finest performers. I will forever be grateful to Joel Schumacher and Philip Seymour Hoffman for giving a kid his first chance in a film and giving him the gentle reminder that every now and then it’s good to kiss a little ass.
MAYANS M.C.
Chad Guerrero asks if I’d put myself on tape for casting cuz they have to hire a stuntman to play the role of a guy who’s on a ladder. I do and it books me the gig! First time a self tape got me the job. Putting in what I started with vs. what we ended with cuz it’s fun to see the process and Sarah Bolger and Michael Anthony Perez give far more incredible performances than a phone recording I did could. Fun tidbit, got to tell Sarah how “In America” was a phenomenal film that might not have been the wisest choice for a first date outing. She laughed and was a blast to work with. Great crew all around! Elgin James, creator of the show, was at the helm that day and folks would break down walls for that man. Thank you Chad and Oakley Lehman for this great opportunity!
THE BROTHERS RIEDELL
Met these insanely talented weirdos doing a show called Internet Icon and became fast friends. Luckily they’ve brought me back a time or two to do other stuff through the years. Here’s some tidbits. Putting in the entire scenes or episodes so you can enjoy their lunacy in full. I love you Chris and Nick! Thank you for letting me play! Up first, the infomercial challenge from Internet Icon that launched it all.
SPORTS RIOT
This was the next bit with The Brothers Riedell. They put together a short film specifically for a contest that aired on FOX Sports before the Super Bowl. We had a blast working on this one and Stephanie Duchaine was a hilarious cohort as Victoria Robb. Nick and Chris and I got to do our own stunts while Stephanie played the perfect straight man to all the insanity. Normally for comedy I’m the straight man so it was freeing to get to be the insane one for a while. This was a pitch piece that was gonna hopefully end up as a series. Would love to revisit Rip once more and create some other shenanigans with these hooligans. Thanks fellas!
THE KLOONS
Met these fools at Internet Icon on Season 2. Twas a thrill to be asked back to play on the show and an honor to play with this chaotic crew of geniuses. Mitch Lewis, Greg Washburn and Nik Kazoura are a collaborative bunch who’ve let me play a time or two and we’ve laughed a ton when we do. We first worked when they were tasked with The Prop Challenge in Season 2 of Internet Icon, co-hosted by none other than THE RIEDELL BROTHERS! This show was the gift that kept on giving. Grateful to all who let me play.
TACO HELL
These guys got hired to do ridiculous commercials that were real cuz they made ridiculous commercials that were fake. Here’s one of em. Talk about runs for the border.
GEORGIA RULE
“You’re not in the movie. But you’re on the DVD. So you’re gonna get paid.” This was what Garry Marshall said to me coming down the hall before a performance of Happy Days A New Musical at the Falcon Theater. I was playing about 7 characters at the time as we were workshopping the show before it went to The Goodspeed Opera House and then on to a National Tour. I LOVED working with that man! He really made you feel like family and he looked out for me like a father. I got to start working with him in 2002 on the musical that changed my life for the better and we would try these bits. We got to improv a lot for Garry. He liked some stuff and it stuck. He didn’t like some stuff and it’d go. We had Carole King and Paul Williams on board writing music and then when Carole had to depart with her own show Beautiful turning into something real, we got to hold on tight to Paul as he shepherded us through with brilliant lyrics and melodies that stuck in your brain while John McDaniels created beautiful orchestrations. I got to work with legends and because Garry saw me as a character actor, he let me play a nerd who owned ducks in Georgia Rule. I named one of them Maynard after Maynard Ferguson, had a whole back story and everything and am grateful that this even got filmed for posterity. Because of Garry Marshall, my life has been infinitely better. Thank you good sir. Love you and love the whole Marshall family.