Monday June 30, 2008 at 0:17
Some Questions For Michael Ian Black, Pt. 1
So, I help Michael Ian Black do stuff to his website. I provide a kind of feedback, some technical assistance, and every now and then, an idea or two. To spread the word about his upcoming book — see above — and assuage some of my curiosity, Michael agreed to answer a question or three for a series of entries here at Random Lunatic News. This here is part 1 of… some.
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Steve Huff: In 1991 the Denver Center Theater Co. premiered a play titled Junk Bonds. The Denver Post’s critic-at-large had nice things to say about some members of the cast, but only one cast member received the one-word compliment many performers never get to read or hear. The 19-year-old actor playing a “leather-jacketed,” suicidal, misfit elder brother, the young actor the Post critic called “charismatic” was named Michael Ian Schwartz, aka Michael Ian Black.
I like to see historically comic performers do dramatic work. One example: I’m old enough to remember the 1977 episode of Hawaii Five-O in which impressionist Rich Little played a homicidal, possibly rape-y weirdo named Johnny Kling. Something about that character being played by the same guy who did cheesy impressions on Dean Martin Roasts really made the episode memorable and frankly, unusually creepy.
So — you did heavier fare like that Junk Bonds when you were in college and a guest role on NYPD Blue in the mid-90s,but since 1995 or so, you’ve mostly stuck with comedy.
Here’s what I want to know: Do you think we will ever get to see an episode of CSI or Law & Order guest-starring Michael Ian Black as a homicidal rapist? Perhaps even as a cop? As a performer, have roles like that ever come your way?
Michael Ian Black: Jesus. I mean, I knew Google was powerful, but not that powerful.
I think that was the only review the play received, and I remember it because it was the first time anything I was involved in received any kind of notice. At the time, I was pretty upset at that adjective, “charismatic,” because it sounded to my ears like the critic was fishing around to find something nice to say about me, and rather than compliment my acting (which was probably not worth complimenting), he chose the nebulous “charismatic,” which meant absolutely nothing to me. I didn’t, and don’t, have much interest in being “charismatic,” because it sounds like how you might describe a game show host, a job which is probably not too far away in my career.
As for doing dramatic work, the truth is I never expected to be doing comedic work. I never thought I would end up being a comedian or comic actor or whatever you want to call what I do. I always thought I’d be a serious actor performing at repertory theaters like the Denver Center, eventually maybe working my way back to New York where if I was lucky I’d wind up doing a miserable Shakespeare in the Park production of Troilus and Cressida. I just assumed my career would be years of struggle followed by more years of struggle. None of it turned out the way I thought, and every year something happens that surprises me again. Like writing this book.
Nobody ever offers me dramatic work now, but if they did, I would jump at the opportunity. Not only because I would love to stretch in that way, but because I’m a whore and never turn down work.
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Note from Steve: I loved the episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent where Stephen Colbert played a gifted but demented forger. I hope someone gets an original idea soon and considers Michael for something like that.
Watch this space for more of Michael Ian Black’s answers to odd questions from me in the coming weeks. In the meantime, be sure to read Michael’s hilarious and thoughtful blog.
