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Blair Young and Little Shop of Horrors
75 Plays2 months ago
Blair is a working stage, screen and voice actor and the president of ACTRA Alberta, the acting union for screen and voice performers.
He shares with hosts Joe and Mark some fun acting stories and how various actors pursue their art before talking about the play that still inspires him, Little Shop of Horrors.
Blair got to see the show at the age of 17 on the West End. That version starred Ellen Greene, the original Audrey on Broadway. (She also plays the character in the 1986 movie version of the show.) Blair loved the characters, the songs, the puppet that is the alien, and the chorus, which sings do-wop songs. At the end of the show, tentacles dropped from the ceiling into the audience. The whole thing blew his mind.
"This is what I want to do," Blair said after seeing the show.
For pure fun and laughs, this is an episode not to be missed!
For more information, check out the show notes for this episode.
Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.
Contact us at [email protected]
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Transcript
Sunday Afternoon Plans and Introductions
00:00:09
Speaker
Hello, Mark. Joe, you magnificent bastard. That sounds like a Sunday afternoon, that music. All right, we're into it. It's Sunday afternoon. We're hanging out with a bunch of middle-aged guys. Just gonna talk about art. Because that's what middle-aged men do. Sit around on a Sunday. It's either art or sports. We have some serious disembodied voice activity here. That's our guest, Larry Young. Disembodied. So I usually start off with a question. I must still do that. Okay. Yeah. And actually I think it's a question you'll joy blur.
Favorite Movie and Book Aliens
00:00:46
Speaker
So Joe, favorite alien, any genre, any medium, I don't care. What's your favorite alien? Oh my God. These questions are brutal. They're so hard.
00:01:00
Speaker
Favorite alien. See, you get some time to think about it, Blair. Well, yeah, not much of an alien. So maybe you should go to Blair first and then I'll answer. Yeah, we can go to Blair first if you want. Blair Young, our guest, welcome. my Yeah. How's it going? Do you have a favorite alien? You know, I love the movie Contact ah with Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey about, which is from the Carl Sagan book. It's the adaptation of the Carl Sagan book, which they're working on for years apparently. And he never got to see the finished product, which is kind of sad because it's one of my favorite science fiction movies.
00:01:28
Speaker
And in it, when they when Jodie Foster finally goes through the wormholes and contacts the aliens, they show up looking exactly like her dad. And they're like, oh my God, it's dad. And they're like, no, no, we just figured this was the best way to show up to you because obviously we look way different than you guys. And this is just so that you're not scared when you first see us. And because it's played by David Morse, who was like the best all time dad ever on TV, and he's got this lovely voice and he's very calming and he tells them, this is just first contact. We'll get back to you in 20 or 40 years when we come back to take over. I don't know if that's actually what they're going to do or not. but so yeah i love i just I always think about, I just love that film. I've watched that film 20 times easily. That is a great movie. Yeah, I really enjoy that one too. i Joe, do you have an answer yet or are you still ruminating? I'll i'll go. i mean I don't know that it's my favorite alien, but I think the alien that scared the shit out of me most was alien.
00:02:24
Speaker
The xenomorph was really terrifying. So that your favorite alien in terms of most interesting and intriguing, but definitely not one you'd like to sit down to tea with. Do they drink? No, unless it's like a robot chicken alien. I think that alien is more friendly.
00:02:42
Speaker
I suppose what I should say is that my favorite alien is the plant in the thing we're about to talk about. that would be no no that great That's why I like asking these questions because usually it's that's not the answer. It's usually like, I want to talk about that thing, but that's not my favorite thing.
00:02:59
Speaker
yeah now You know, the the alien that came to mind um
Blair Young's Acting Journey
00:03:03
Speaker
after about four minutes of ruminating about of us talking stupidness. Yeah. And while trying to focus on your answers at the same time was in a wrinkle in time, those ah aliens, you know, Mrs. Watson and Mrs. Who and, you know, do you remember them? No, no. And I, and I even saw the movie.
00:03:25
Speaker
I have not seen the movie or read the book. That's really embarrassing. I haven't read the book. I did see the movie. You never read the book? No. There's so many books that I haven't read that I should read. It's a little time. I don't want to get into that right now because I'm feeling that a little bit these days. Oh, yeah. Is the movie any good? Obviously not that good. I don't remember any of the character's names. so And I usually do.
00:03:55
Speaker
Well, then it's a book that I've reread many times and loved it as a kid. And that's why I guess it popped up as my favorite alien. Although later this evening, I'm sure I'll think of many other different aliens. And Yale cursed me. that That book has come back into the pop culture zeitgeist just because it showed up on Ted Lasso, right? That's the book that Ted Lasso gives to Roy yeah to read. And then you see scenes of him reading the book with his niece going, I just don't get it. I don't understand what am I supposed to be learning here?
00:04:24
Speaker
That's a good Roy Kent. That's a good Roy Kent. Fuck you! Now, if you guys hear any ah dogs barking in the background, that would be my my dog is ah is getting fed. And she's very vocal. She should open the door to make herself haven louder. Perfect. I kicked my cat out of my room. so You kicked your cat out of your room. take No, out of the room. Little bugger.
00:04:47
Speaker
He's like sound asleep. I'm sorry, buddy. I know you're going to wake up and make some noise. So you got to go. He just was confused. like What? What? What? So but but maybe at this juncture, we should ah have ah Blair explain to us ah and our listeners. um ah who he is at that time. Yeah, Flair Young, welcome. Yeah, sure. I mean, the first full disclosure is that Mark and I have known each other in a previous existence. We went to Queen's University together and, in fact, ran for Arts and Science Undergrad Society um Council, whatever you want to call it, thankfully, for the Arts and Science students of the day we did not win, um because God knows what kind of mayhem we would have caused if we had one. Right? what Well, no, i I was the president in the first year, and you were on the committee.
00:05:33
Speaker
But yeah, well, i would but then we ran for something else. There was like a three, it was three of us. This is so funny. I'm just reading something about memories and we only, got whenever we remember something, actually no, it wasn't that it was something I thought it was for us. You know, the arts and sciences society. Yeah. I, the one I remember the most though, is when, um, I was asked to run for the, uh, the rhino party yes in that third year. And I was like, Oh, I really want to do that. Cause I really want to be on stage with Flora McDonald.
00:06:03
Speaker
But at the same time, I'm like, I really also want to graduate, so. Oh, wow. Yeah, tough choice. Floor McDonald will graduate. I know. ah Okay, so that that's part of who you are. Sorry. Yeah, yeah. So that that was just the first mark. That was just the primer. But yeah, so ah Blair Young, um I live in Calgary, Alberta. I lived in Toronto for 38 years before that. ah But my wife's job took us here about 18 years ago. I'm an actor, mostly stage and screen, but sometimes so in the voice booth.
00:06:32
Speaker
um And um for some reason, Mark thought I'd be interesting and entertaining. That remains to be seen, and I guess we'll find out. I'm also, it as it turns out, the president of ACTRA Alberta, and ACTRA is the acting union for screen performers.
00:06:48
Speaker
And voice performers, actually. Well, you're an actor, too. Like, you're a working actor, so I thought that would be cool to talk to working. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, recent credits. Tell us, yeah. Give us some credit. I'll give you some credit when it's due. I worked in Under the Band of Heaven. If you saw that, that was a pretty popular show. I was on Joe Pickett.
00:07:08
Speaker
Which is based on those CJ Box novels. And I did spend, although you never see me on camera, I did spend seven days on the set of Last of Us, which was pretty freaking cool. It's an incredible beast of a show. I was going to say, when you said that you were like the president of Oktra in Alberta, you must have been involved in the Last of Us. A lot of people were, there's no question. And it was a pretty exciting production. It was at the time, it may still be the most expensive season of television ever shot in Canada.
00:07:35
Speaker
And I'm not going to get the title right, but it was Hell on Rails or Hell on Wheels. Hell on Wheels. Yes. I played, and that's probably my, my, my, my, my most favorite character name, Otis Spong. I know, right? You look like a Spong. I know. I'm sorry, sir. Spong. Yes, sir. It's Sponge, but just without an E. um Yeah. So he was the, I don't know, he ran the hotel in Wyoming or something in season three or three and four, I think it was. Yeah. So yeah, that that was, that that was like the big show that really started Alberta to really sort of become a ah better, a bigger destination. Cause it was at a time when the big surprise conservative government of the day pretty much eliminated credits. Uh, and this show came anyway and, uh, and we've been building up since then and now we're, we're sort of on a bit of a roll and certainly last of us and under the banner of heaven, both helped with that.
00:08:23
Speaker
cool And I think I think I know I actually never watched Fargo the TV series, but you had a part not to write. Yeah, I did. Fargo. Well, I first of all, I was a stand in for um for Martin Freeman for the first season, which was pretty fun because Martin Freeman and also um I'm gonna forget his name Slingblade.
00:08:43
Speaker
Billy Bob, thorn so he was the other he was the other lead and so to work with those two guys every day on set was pretty amazing but they kind of threw me a little bone ah toward the end of the season and I got to. Have a one line role doing a bus driver or something and then it came to season five they were finishing the series back here in Calgary.
00:09:01
Speaker
And the director, who was the the um director of photography back in the day, remembered me and was like, hey, can we get Blair back in to to do the bus driver again? But that part was cut out anyway, so it didn't it didn't end up in the final.
Craft of Acting: Film vs. Stage
00:09:15
Speaker
That was bastards. I know. But I got paid, so that's all that matters. Wow. I have to ask okay because I'm having worked on Q with, I'm not even sure if it's a good thing to mention this this fellow, Gina Gomesha, but of course there was the famous moment with Billy Bob Thornton where he was kind of um
00:09:37
Speaker
less than pleasant on the show cue for Gamashi. What was he like working with him? Well, and because of that, I, and and you know, we'd heard the stories of him carrying around what's her name's blood around his neck. I was just like, this guy's going to be an absolute loon for sure. And hard work with probably first day It was cold, like minus 30. We're starting at 6.30 in the morning. I show up. I walk by the trailers. And there's Billy Bob, nothing but a t-shirt on, standing at his trailer door, sipping his coffee. And he's saying hello to everybody who walks up and walks onto set. Hey, how's it going? Nice to meet you. Let's have a great day today. And I was like, and I was kind of looking as I walked by. Yeah. Hi. But he was, an you know, I expected Martin Freeman to be the one that I would, you know,
00:10:20
Speaker
get to know better and hang because I was his stand-in. And while Martin was absolutely you know a gentleman and very and very nice on set, he didn't talk much. But Billy Bob was always hanging out and loved to spend time with people and tell stories. There was one day we were the There was three stand-ins and we were done earlier than everybody else and we we were sitting at lunch and Billy Bob comes in and hes he's he was always with his hair person who was also a very fun guy and just kind of came and sat down and said, today's the day we eat lunch with the stand-ins and all the producers are like giving us the death glare from the table next to us. It's like, you're not allowed to sit with Billy Bob Thornton. He didn't give a shit because he was great that way. He would talk to anybody about anything, and he was always entertaining. So he was a lovely man, which made me kind of, in retrospect, go, hmm, maybe Jean was the one who wasn't the nice guy in the end. Well, he, yeah, he did do something in that interview that he had, that the Perusas had promised that he wouldn't do. That's right. That's right. And they said, we're not going to talk about the music. And he almost immediately, I think it was his first question, right? Like out of the chute. So what about the music?
00:11:26
Speaker
Or what about the actor? He wanted to talk about just the music. That's what it was. Yeah. And he's like, so what's it like being a world famous actor? Oh, I'm not going to talk about that. So, and and not to make this all about Billy Bob Thornton, but there's a couple of things I got to say. Who's actually the guest today? Billy Bob Thornton, everybody!
00:11:42
Speaker
The ghost of Billy Bob Thornton. You had said that this hair guy travels with him everywhere. I just want to say that if I was at that level of fame, that would be me. I'd be traveling everywhere with my hair guy. Yeah, no, he was a lovely, lovely guy. I'd be the hair guy, a chin guy, a beard guy. And Billy Bob's hair was very simple, and it was the same every day. But he'd been with him, even with Billy Bob for like a decade or longer.
00:12:10
Speaker
I think it's one of those things, it's very much like Billy Bob. He had this guy and this guy kind of depended on him to have a living. And so he just continued taking him wherever he went. And I think it was a way to have someone, yeah. And just to have a familiar face right off the bat. There's someone that I know and I can talk to in case it goes sour or whatever. I don't know. Okay. The last thing I want to say about Billy Bum Thornton is my favorite- Did you say Billy Bum Thornton? I'm pretty sure he did, but we're going to edit it out. I'm pretty sure. Let's play that back because I'm pretty sure he said Billy Bum Thornton. Billy Bum Thornton.
00:12:40
Speaker
Okay. The last thing I want to say about Billy Bob Thornton is, uh, no, okay. The, what I was going to say was a Billy Bob Thornton. Yeah. My favorite film, film of his is pushing tin. He's great in that movie. Him and John Cusack. Yeah. That is a great movie. Yeah. I love that. I heard, uh, well, I got it. I got to have a Billy Bob thing. Then, um, he had an amazing story. I can't remember. I think it was probably on a Mark Merritt show with that WTF.
00:13:06
Speaker
And he was talking about like his early days in Hollywood and you know, how he made a living. And he, you know, he was, he worked as a caterer basically. He was a waiter and he met Billy Wilder in the kitchen.
00:13:19
Speaker
because apparently Billy wilding yeah Wilder at at these Hollywood parties didn't like going to them and that and he would just hang out in the kitchen and talk to people. And he he talked to um Billy Bob and gave Billy Bob the best advice he'd ever had in his his life, which was, well, if you want to make it in this business, you've got to create your own material.
00:13:40
Speaker
Yep. And that night, he went off and started writing Sling Blade. Wow. Which he did like, wasn't he in his late 30s? Or he was quite old or something. He was about to give up. I think I think it was kind of that situation was like, I made my late 50s. It's probably time. i eighty Yeah, I feel the same way. bla we're right We're all about to give up. Yeah. Yeah. we need no all other In our lives to Yeah, we've all got facial hair, and it's just time to give up. Yeah, your mustache looks good, though. I like it. Okay, back to back to you, Blur Young. So you said you were in The Last of Us, and yeah and you were there for seven days. So what what part did you play in The Last of Us? Well, it was the special skills extra thing. So there's the there's like a big scene that happens ah after they run the you've you've seen the show.
00:14:29
Speaker
Oh, yeah. So the way on yeah so after the the bus or the truck kind of runs into that house and all these mushroom clad people come pouring out, it was that whole scene. I mean, it took several weeks to shoot that one scene. And so I was just one of the infected that wasn't quite sprouting mushrooms yet. But like they had us there for for, I know, right? It's hilarious. for ah but But they had us there for for three days of choreography to you know teach us how to move, which I thought was pretty amazing.
00:14:58
Speaker
Because they didn't want it to be zombie. like we We're you know were're not zombies. We're just this this creature that's been taken over by cordyceps and are being run, you know sort of being dangling from from these marionette strings from from some other unknown entity. And and so they so they taught us that. And then ah we we did seven days overnights, like we started every day at sort of 10 o'clock at night, maybe, or maybe it was more like maybe a little earlier. But we would shoot all night long and then get up and uh, you know, be done and then go home and then come back the next day. And so we did a bunch of overnight shoots seven days, but in the end, I don't think I'm ever visible. Like they had on those days, I think they had, I think they had a hundred stunt guys and then 60 special skills extras on top of that to try and fill it in and make it just look like these whore. And then on top of that, they still filled that in with, with CGI peeps as well. So it was just a, just a, it was a free for all for and like a week and a half.
00:15:53
Speaker
A lot of fun is worth it though. That was a great scene. It was. Yeah, it was a great scene. Agreed. Yeah, it was really great. Yeah. So, okay. So before we get into what it is that you're here to actually talk about, um, I want to ask you more because you're one of the, you're not the first actor we've had on, but you're, um, I think one of only two that I can think of.
00:16:12
Speaker
And so i just wanna if i can ask you about the craft how do you do that how do you make it like so so like wow natural like how how does an actor do what they do and make it so effective. Well the thing is i think there's as many answers to that question as there are actors and it go and like it runs the gamut from like.
00:16:32
Speaker
I basically put up my cigarette and show up in front of the camera to I go for days and days of thinking about the character, you know, what goes before, what goes next, um, creating alternate scenes and what my character might say in getting ultra, ultra, um, method method whole thing. Yeah. Method about the whole thing. And there's everything in between. And I think it's just.
00:16:52
Speaker
I mean for me, ah I don't know, it's always for me it's always about language and about rhythm. I guess because I do so many musicals as well. And music's been such a big part of my performance life. But it's all about rhythm and um feeling what that interaction is with you and the other character. And and and and for film,
00:17:14
Speaker
You don't get to really do that until you show up. Because you know you do your ah you know you learn your lines, or do you do your audition with a reader, and they give you as much as they can. but then and And then you get the part, and you and then you rehearse your lines some more. You get some extra scenes. You make sure you got it all in your head. But until you show up on the day, you really don't know what you're going to get from the other person. And even you know like and then you do the rehearsals. And you know they they say the lines, but it's still not acting it. It's only when the camera comes on And that's when it's really on. And that's, and so you have to sort of, you're really flying by the seat of your pants, aside from the fact that you have your lines memorized. And that interaction, for me, I only, I i liken it to a tennis game. And I've i've heard that before from other actors, but it's it's it's absolutely a tennis game. You throw the ball up, you hit it, and you just don't know what's going to come back. You don't know what the speed's going to be. You don't know what part of the court they're going to hit. Is it going to be a drop shot? Is it going to be a lob? Is it going to be
00:18:08
Speaker
you know, a smoker right down the line. And that is where all the fun is, that's where all the creativity happens, is that interaction on the day. Now, obviously, I do theater too, and then that sort of happens more in the rehearsal period, which can be anywhere from, you know, a week or two to four weeks or even longer if it's a really, really big show. and But even then, until you're on the stage that night,
00:18:31
Speaker
with the audience giving you whatever they're giving you, with everybody else who's got their own you know stuff going on in their lives and how they feel that day. Even if you're doing a run of, I think the longest run I've had for a show was while I did the mouse trap in Toronto for like a year and a half. Yeah. And when I left that was the most junior member of the cast, if you can believe that. I can believe that. That's the one that's run forever, right? Yeah. Yeah. It ran for about 25 years and then eventually they finally decided to tear down that building. I think now it's condos or something.
00:18:59
Speaker
But there was a gentleman who was was there for the entirety of it from beginning to end and played the same character for 25 years. Yeah, I don't know. Wow. i hall and yeah Okay, so I have a question. raise blair sure oh Cause it seemed you've made it sound like acting ah in front of a camera is in some ways more exciting than acting in on the stage. It's just that true. It's just, well, it's so funny cause I've been having, it's different cause we've been, I've been having this discussion with, with a lot of actors lately and in some ways, you know, like everybody says, oh yeah, you know, film is so immediate and it's so raw and it's so real.
00:19:37
Speaker
And then you look around and you're like, is it? I've got like 65 people that can't be seen on the camera around. There are lights pointed at me. There are microphones pointed at me. The lighting is just so. My wardrobe is just so. And we do it once. And you think, if that were the case, absolutely, it's so immediate. But then you do that version of it three or four times. And we change the angle of the cameras. We change the lights. I go away and have a drink or, you know, some some um some some food.
00:20:05
Speaker
And you know i kinda chill and you know and come back again and we do it again another four four or five times depending. and we're go now Now we're gonna go in for the really tight shot that's on me and i have to act differently like when the camera is when it's two or three people.
00:20:18
Speaker
in the in the camera, i
Roles and On-Set Experiences
00:20:20
Speaker
can be a bit more um I can be a bit bigger with my facial expressions because the camera's not that close, but when the camera's really close, I have to really you know keep things really minor. And so we've been talking about this. And then the alternate is on stage. you get You say your line once every night, each line once. And as I say, it depends on the audience, depends on everybody else's feeling. And you get one shot at that version. And that version of the show never happens again, ultimately.
00:20:46
Speaker
So, it's interesting it's interesting for you to say that. It's hard. um I think it goes both ways. Obviously, there's an immediacy to film because it's right there. The camera's right in your face. You're as close as possible, so you don't have to act as big. And so, in that sense, it's more like real life.
00:21:04
Speaker
But in the other sense of, you know, by the time, like for Under the Banner of Heaven, that that scene I did as a creepy professor, I think we did that like 30 times and we ran it from beginning to end 30 times pretty much. um they They wanted a really free form. It was it was all handheld cameras.
00:21:20
Speaker
And they just kind of followed us around and did a different slightly different version every time. But ultimately we did the scene. And it's funny because I look at the look at the finished product and I can pretty much say that 80% of it was off the first take. Like I do remember some specific things that happened in the first take that didn't happen for the rest of it. Just because it was their first time through, you know, they actually forgot to do something.
00:21:42
Speaker
um i I won't say what. And and that's that that that take, as as I said, is probably 70 to 80% of what was in the final version of that roughly two and a half to three minute scene. so Did I answer your question? I think I've skewed a little bit straight. No, it's great. No, it's fine. No, I just was really interested because, of course, we both studied drama. But I've never really performed in front of the camera. I only ever was on stage. The camera is in it. And because I was doing Joe Pickett, I had this great scene with Michael Dorman, who's a great actor, and it was just him and me for once again. Oh, he's a fabulous actor. Yeah.
00:22:20
Speaker
three and a half minutes of just him and me. And I'm like sort of his douchey boss who's firing him. And I remember that. And I remember thinking, holy crap, like, look at all these people that are here in the background and all the lighting and all the people that are here. And like, and you know, you sort of stop to think about every once in a while, I really should stop thinking about this. But When, like like if some lighting person makes a little mistake, no big deal. They just fix it and they and they move on. If there's a little you know stain on ah on ah on ah on a piece of clothing, they'll come and they'll clean that and whatever. Nobody really says anything. But when the actors, like when the cameras are rolling and and if the actors make a fuck up, like you can see the crew just like rolls their eyes.
00:22:56
Speaker
I'm going to do that again now. And so there, it is such a hyper focused thing and you're trying your, you know, you're trying your hardest not to think about the fact that this is costing tens of thousand dollars a minute to film. And.
00:23:12
Speaker
You know, everyone would really like it if you got it right the first time. Second time, okay, fine. But, you know, and so I remember I almost like, I almost, you know, sort of lost it and kind of ran off into the woods saying, I'm never going to do this again because I just felt the pressure that day for some reason, maybe because it was Michael Dorman and I had such respect for him. Amazing human being, first of all. Quick story about Michael Dorman. If you haven't seen, what was that thing called Patriot?
00:23:35
Speaker
Oh, Patriot. That's such a great series. If you haven't seen that series, listen. You've got to see that series. Especially if you like dark comedy. It's so good. Yeah. And you can't confuse it with The Patriot. I think it's just no Patriot. there's There's lots of different versions. There was a huge stunt day on on Joe Pickett.
00:23:51
Speaker
and lots of takes and lots of action. And the day was done, all the stunt guys had been released, but he was still sticking on to do a few more takes of just him, I think. And he's in the and he's in the tent where all the stunt guys are and he's cleaning up. He's like getting all the water bottles and putting them away and getting all the garbage and throwing that away.
00:24:11
Speaker
He's just every, and every day he was like that. He was the most considerate person I've ever seen on set before in my life. just to Just an amazingly great human being on top of being this ridiculously talented person, because he could sing too as a singer, actor who's very funny. because that's That's the shtick in Patriot, right? he's yeah He's a spy, but he wants to be a you know he wants to be a full position yeah horrific stories come out in his folks songs and his boss is like no you you you can't sing about that to focus that's yeah classified information you can't s say. yeah that's right ah So i love your analogy about um playing tennis and you know and sometimes they'll you know hit something back like a.
00:24:50
Speaker
and Have you ever had ah a situation where some ah an actor threw something back at you and it just threw you? You didn't know how to respond to that or or have you done it to anyone else? Intentionally, no. Actually, intentionally, yes, I should say. There there are times like when it's show 67 out of 72, you're like, you know it's not time to mix things up a little bit. let's just Honestly, i I find that the thing that throws me more is is audience. There are times when just people have a different kind of personality for lack of, you know, to try and say it nicely. And they're just loud and they're and they're laughing in the wrong places or they're laughing early. And I've had that interrupt my flow worse than anything. I i am, I guess, being a tennis player in the past myself and funny stories to work on the tennis circuit as a line umpire before I was really active in
00:25:41
Speaker
and performing. We can talk about that another day. Spent days on court with Andre Agassi, the Williams sisters, Boris Becker. I had a great time doing that. Anyway, um but like if if you're always in the ready position, it really doesn't matter what they throw at you. So I can't think of any, aside from when somebody you know dries,
00:25:58
Speaker
Where they forget a line and you're like, Oh crap, well how are we going to fix this? And actually funny story about that when I was doing the mouse trap, it had it had been just about a year at that point. And the opening scene has Christopher Wren and Molly, who's the lady who was the host of this sort of inn.
00:26:13
Speaker
And for the first seven or eight minutes, it's just she and I on stage. And there came a point, it was about a year in where I just dried on a line. And it was weird because I'd never done that before. And you know we talked after, wow, that's strange. I know that was really weird. Well, thank thanks for coming in. and And she said something that got me back on track. Next night, the line before it, I dried on that one.
00:26:34
Speaker
And it kept going for like a week and a half until I got all the way back to the beginning of the play to my first line, dried on that amazingly. And then after that, it was it was gone. So, you know, the mind is an amazing thing. And even though I, you know, in between those shows, I went home and made sure to go over all my lines again just to give it. Maybe I should check up on those again. But yeah, no, the.
Inspirations and Career Aspirations
00:26:55
Speaker
Were you terror stricken when that happened? or Oh, fuck, dude, like it's flop Sweat City. Joe.
00:27:03
Speaker
There's a reason I don't act and that is why it happened to me. And it's, it's, yeah it it was terrifying. It was a classic production. We were doing a class production. I can't even remember what the restoration play was. I was the lead. You might've saw that you might've seen this. yeah maybe i't know i can And I dried on the line and I made something up. I knew what I was, see, I had done the acting thing of like, I know what my motivation is. So I was like, I know, and I know what the.
00:27:33
Speaker
next act that the actor needs needs to go to the next line. So I made something up. ah But it was a restoration play, right? So I'm like yeah kind of trying to write the right kind of. um And it went like that for the whole play. Oh, Jesus. And I came off stage and the stage manager was there with the script. And, and she was testing me on the lines. And I knew them cold, but put me back out on the stage. yeah They're gone. And it was, it was a night. It's, it's the worst thing that's happened to me in my life. Yeah. that's That's the most terrifying thing about doing Shakespeare, is that if you dry and you're trying to make something up, you still have to make something up in rhyming fucking couplets. Exactly. And with Elizabeth's inaugural language, and it's just like, oh my God. But yeah, no, it's a lot of sweat. or suicide for know I know why I am so sad. For sooth, I have shat my pants. Hello. For sooth, I think it's time I should go. Bye. The only good thing that came out of that was that my no one seemed to notice because everyone around me was so supportive, amazing. And the production went on. And at the end of it, ah the professor said, that is the most amazing bit of bullshit I've ever seen in my life.
00:28:50
Speaker
He said, and I mean that as a compliment. You you kind of nailed the language. I'm like, I don't know what happened. Because when that happened, you know, 10 seconds feels like a minute and a half. And like the audience, you know, afterwards you you talk to somebody that you know who is there for the show. And that's usually when you have those moments the most is when somebody that you love and respect or both or half of those is there. That's when your, you know, your brain is like, okay, it's got to be good tonight.
00:29:18
Speaker
And of course, that's when we should be even more relaxed. And when those happen and you speak to them after and they're like, what are you talking about? I had no idea that there was ever, that there was anything wrong. Yeah. Cause as the audience, you don't, you don't know. Exactly. Yeah. As long as you'd say it convincingly, I guess. and No, I actually, I had people come up to me the next week and compliment me on my performance. And I'm like, you're insane. That was the worst thing ever. Yeah.
00:29:42
Speaker
and Okay, I can talk about this all night long. Apparently. tempting to But yes, but um but I know that you're actually here to talk about, to bring something else to us. um Sure, if you like. that That you found inspiring. We could break the mold tonight and never get to that and just talk about craft, I suppose. You know what? That that has happened in this podcast where we get to like the 55 minute mark and it's like, okay, now let's turn to what we're supposed to be talking about. Yeah, I don't think it's school, Joe.
00:30:09
Speaker
yeah we can do we want could do what you want but i I do want to talk about that show because it's such a great show. Well, let's talk about that for two or three minutes and then we'll get back to the interesting stuff. Okay, cool. I think the show's interesting. Come on. It is interesting, I'm just kidding. So... Okay, yeah. Blair, what do you got?
00:30:27
Speaker
Yeah, we're flashing back to 17-year-old Blair, who was part of a school choir. And we got to go to England to go to the Harrogate International Youth Festival. That in itself was amazing. There were people there from Germany, the US, Canada, well, we were the only Canadians there, all across Britain, um Finland, I think there was a group. So, and it was a it was a really cool time. At the at the end of it, they they tagged on like one extra day in London, where we went and did all the touristy things. And to top it off, we went to the West End.
00:30:55
Speaker
and saw Little Shop of Horrors starring Ellen Greene, who, if you know, I'm not sure everybody knows who she is, but she was the original Audrey on Broadway. yeah And she just has a, she has such a unique style, the way she sings, the way she talks. I mean, she was Audrey. you know I recently listened to a 2003 version of the show.
00:31:16
Speaker
on Broadway and I was like, this girl is totally wrong because it's got to be her. And interesting fact, she was married to or at least was was um partnered with the voice of Mr. Snuffleupagus, which is sort of a great little sidebar that Ellen Greene has in her life. and i think all right It's kind of amazing. so i'm going So I went to the show.
00:31:35
Speaker
And I'm watching it. And up until that point, I mean, now there's so many different genre within musical theater. You know you can go and watch Hamilton. you know That's all rap, practically. A show I did a Canadian premiere of just a few years ago called Bright Star, which is, some of the aficionados will say it's not, but it's basically a bluegrass musical written by Steve Martin and Edie Burkell. And that's a very different style of music altogether as well. And then you've got almost everything in between. And there's so many different styles of musical now.
00:32:03
Speaker
probably because they had to, because musicals were dying in sort of the 80s and early 90s. But you know to me, at that point in my life, a 17-year-old early 80s, musicals were sort of sort of an adjunct to classical music, and most things were classically based. you know's It's Bernstein, it's Cole, it's Oklahoma, and it's really kind of stayed semi-operatic shows.
00:32:27
Speaker
And this show was just so gritty. I say that now. You know, at the time, it was gritty. Now, it's like it's it's actually almost a fluff piece in the end. But, it you know, and it has sort of R and&B songs and pop and doo wop like there's this, you know, like in the first yeah the chorus is a doo wop chorus. but Yeah, there's like a three person doo wop chorus that plays throughout the whole show. And like one of the first lines I had to bring it out here because I just loved it. um shingling what a creepy thing to be happening look out look out look out look out shangling feel the storm and drying in the air i mean what a great line. I feel the storm and dry they sing storms storm sperm and dry because they're americans i'm going to be saying that for the rest of my life right now right in the air.
00:33:11
Speaker
Yeah. And so there was that element of it. And then there was just totally different characters. You know, like the second show is, is down on skid row. So we're not, you know, it's not elevated characters. It's everyday characters. And then there's this huge puppet that is the, is the plant of a little shop of horrors. That's the alien. That's, I guess that should be my favorite alien given what we're talking about.
00:33:32
Speaker
And then like I remember at the end of the show, there's sort of a reference that um that a few of these plants got out into the wild and we all better be careful because this plant could be coming and eating you anytime soon. And the theater had these vines up in the up in the rafters and they dropped into the crowd at this at this point in the musical and we're all like, oh my God. And everything about it was so different than anything I had seen in the musical before.
00:33:58
Speaker
And that's when I was like, holy crap, that is what I want to do. I want to get up there and and do great music because there's all sorts of great harmonies in there. And like the dentist character, he's, you know, he's dying while he's laughing. It's one of the most brilliantly written songs because he knows he's dying he because he's got this mask stuck on him and he's sucking in laughing gas.
00:34:18
Speaker
and he's And he's asking Seymour to help him and Seymour's like, well, actually, you're a bit of a douche to my, really, the woman that I love. So I'm gonna kind of let this go and see how it finishes on its own. And he's laughing and laughing and laughing. Please, Seymour, help me. I'm dying, I'm dying.
00:34:33
Speaker
Just so many aspects of that show that I just went, oh, my gosh, this is what I want to do. And so that kind of turned the page for me. And that was when I was in grade 12, I think. So for us old time Ontario people, I still had one more year of school in grade 13, which of course doesn't exist anymore. And then by then I had applied. I made sure that I applied to Queens ah for political science because my parents needed to believe I was going there for something important. And before Christmas, thanks to Mr. Oh, what was that? What was that?
00:35:03
Speaker
There was a professor there who worked for the CRTC for many years, and he showed up in the same clothes every time. It was always a turtleneck and a corduroy jacket to every lecture, and he repeated himself. A political science professor? Yeah. Oh, I wish I could remember his name. I didn't take a single political science course, I don't know. Wow, that's interesting. I kind of find that hard to believe. But by Christmas, I had already switched my major to drama, and it's been like that ever since.
00:35:29
Speaker
Wait, what did the guy in the turtleneck sweater have to do with you? Wait, did he tell you this? Oh, just because in first year you only take like 100 level courses. So there was a 101 poli sci. And that was kind of my, I think I was, so my major was political science at that point.
00:35:46
Speaker
And this guy was so boring and so dry, and he'd been there for so long. And as I said, he was he literally repeated entire lectures before Christmas. And I'm just like, I cannot do this for the rest of my life. Are you kidding me? Because I had a mistake in being a politician with political science. They are two very different things. and Because I've always lived kind of a political life. So I was going to study theater at yeah at Queens as a result of seeing a Little Shop of Horrors. Have you ever performed Little Shop of Horrors?
00:36:15
Speaker
It's so funny, there was there was an audition notice out ah just a couple weeks ago for, I think it was Theater Northwest, which I think is in Prince George, BC. And it's a show that I promised myself I would get to play Seymour at some point. And I applied, even though, generally speaking, it's someone younger than 57 that stars as the lead. But in the end, it's just a single guy who's looking to make a connection. And so that's what I put in my cover letter. I realized that I may look like so you know older than you'd normally see playing this role.
00:36:45
Speaker
But ultimately it's a story about a single man who's looking for connection and i think that that's a timeless and ageless story so. Think of me so I haven't heard anything yet so I'm i'm sure they were unconvinced and nonplussed by my arguments but nonetheless I gave it a shot but no I have not yet had that I used. A song from that show for many years as as my as my sort of general audition.
00:37:07
Speaker
Here's Me piece, um that was the Grow For Me song, where he's talking to the plant. This is when he finds out, for those that don't know the story, this is when he finds out that the plant needs blood. yeah And he's like, i've been i've been i've been trying to I've been watering you, I've been giving you sunshine, I've been giving you... And then he accidentally pricks his thumb with like ah i don't know some sort of implement for um that's used at the nursery.
00:37:29
Speaker
And suddenly the plant starts gravitating his the head of the plant toward that the the blood. And so he says, all right, I guess I can give you just one or two drops, just this once, famous last words. And so it's a great song. And then, of course, in the end, he gets eaten by the, he gets, oh, shit, oh, man, spoiler alert, he gets eaten by the plant. Okay, I think it's okay.
00:37:47
Speaker
it's It's been around film versions, theater versions. Yeah, it's fine. I don't know, man, you could make a meal of ah Steve Martin's part. and scriner oh no well and i would have auditioned for that but specifically they weren't looking for anybody for that part so clearly ah had already been given to somebody you know maybe a prince george regular had already been given that part i would have loved to play that part because strangeing in the last three or four years i've been playing nothing but bad guys um The worst of which in that show. the price It's the mustache. it Absolutely. It's the mustache. no No question about it. um So you're like you're assuming then that that you're that you haven't got this part because you haven't heard back. Will they not tell you one way or the other?
00:38:30
Speaker
Oh, that's hilarious. night joe publishing You know this how this works. i not only I mean, I won't know if i so. I apply to get an audition. Then if they go, yeah, we'd like to have you audition because I'm in Calgary. I won't. I'm not going to fly to Prince George. So I would submit a self tape, um which is its own you know bag of tricks to be able to, especially when it's musical theater. It's really tough. I have to try and play a track next to me, sing into the camera. And then I send that off.
00:39:01
Speaker
But once i've yeah once once you've sent the audition or if you've gone to an audition in person it's quite rare and i really do love it when those rare times when i'm actually when i actually get a when i do get an email saying ah we have finished the casting process i want to thank everybody so much they did we saw so many great versions of all those characters but casting is final.
00:39:22
Speaker
If for no other reason, just to know that if somebody ah offers me something, I can go, well, now I know I'm definitely free during that time period for that show. I would rather do, but I guess I'll do your stinky show now because they are obviously not going to use me in their show. But yeah, no, generally speaking, and this is one of the men, my my
Navigating an Acting Career
00:39:39
Speaker
wife works in, in, um,
00:39:41
Speaker
government compliance for for ah for an oil and gas company, so a completely different life to mine. And she constantly shakes her head and goes, I don't know how you do that. how you do all that you know you know You basically create a character and do it and give it up and then you know More than likely you don't get the role and it's just rejection after rejection after rejection and i'm like hey honey easy on the rejection but. Yeah you yeah yeah and that's that that's our life and yeah most of the times we have no clue when when the part is cast until we go and show up and buy a ticket for that show ourselves. To see how the other guy did it and usually go i could have done that better that's a victory in that though.
00:40:22
Speaker
Well, I could have done that so much better. Right? Oh my God. I kind of like, I would have been such a better choice. Oh my God. Who are they thinking? I'm going with this guy. Okay. So how, so you said you let it slip that you're 57 years old and you see, you've done this kind of work for quite some time.
00:40:43
Speaker
I think he made a mistake. I think he meant to say 47, but... No, I'm 57. I'm good and proud of that for sure. Okay. Yeah. We got to be proud of rage. How do you deal with that with with the rejection, which I gather hasn't been very much. Oh, there's been... Oh my God.
00:41:00
Speaker
Don't even get me. Is this gonna be like a psychology session now? Yeah, this is not WTF. How did you deal with that? how did like Okay, go ahead. yeah I will honestly tell you that since I did that under the banner, like I had an an amazing summer. I booked three great roles that summer under the banner of heaven. Jan, you know, the Jan Arden TV show. I did a role in that and then I did this great Joe Pickett role. Meantime, I'm also working as a stand-in, so I'm i'm filling out my bank account.
00:41:24
Speaker
but but But those three roles especially the Joe picket and under the banner and like all these are big roles with like the number one. Actor in the show and each of them and they were good long scenes and it was just them and me and I finally hit it, you know, and the role, you know, the roles are just going to come rolling in. No pun intended. And I haven't booked a single film role.
00:41:43
Speaker
since that. And that's been almost three years. So that's how fickle this industry is. I've done a couple of plays. I've done some voice work. I spent a lot of time doing stand-in work because that's just a way to fill the bank account and get fed for free. But um yeah, it's it's such an ebb and flow thing. And at times it is easy to just go, is it time to pull the chute? Like I have some friends, you know, people that went to Queens. Everybody knows Tom Cavanaugh because he's done some incredible roles and you look at someone like him, he's had a career. He could stop now and he's and he's done. And I have had nothing like that kind of success where I've played a lead role in a huge show like The Flash. And so, you know, every once in a while I just kind of go,
00:42:26
Speaker
Hmm, should I get a job at a flower shop or something like Seymour? and or you know how do you And it's just that even if I didn't know, because I was talking to my wife about this the other day, because I i love art and you know I can't afford a lot of art, but the the guys I'm doing the show with,
00:42:44
Speaker
right or this podcast with can see a piece of art on my wall that I'm pretty, that that I have to really adore. It's all ink. Yeah, it's really cool it' to a local artists. And I love art and I was joking with some, i there's an auction house called Heffel and they have an office here in Calgary and I was picking up something I wanted at uh, wanted auction. I was like, Hey, do you guys have any jobs here? I'd love to work in an art gallery joking. And they were like, yeah, actually we do. And I'm like, Oh, really? And my wife's like, you should take that job. Just go work at the art gallery. And I'm like, yeah, I would love it. But in the back of my mind, I would just be like, huh, I wonder what's going on.
00:43:19
Speaker
oh who's yeah they Oh, yeah, they're doing what play? oh And they got who to do that? Oh my God, that's a mistake. I could have i should have been. you know And I think that that's the test. I speak because i because I'm the president of Actor Alberta, they asked me to talk to graduating classes of acting students at U of C and at SAIT, and so I do that. And um I tell all of them, there are a lot of there are a lot of good jobs, especially in film.
00:43:42
Speaker
outside of acting. You can work in props, you can work in sound, you can work in wardrobe, you can you can be a director, you can work in locations, you can do so many different jobs. Unless you absolutely have to do this, for the love of God, don't do it.
00:43:57
Speaker
Because it is a constantly painful profession, full of rejection and highs and lows. And it's it's it's a tough road, but i don't I think that no matter when or what other job I might take, I would always be looking over my shoulder going, what did I miss? What what could I have been a part of? And even if I'm only working as a stand-in, it's still being part of that show.
00:44:20
Speaker
And I got all sorts of great stories of being on that set. And then I get to watch it after being there, you know, for all the days, seeing season one of Fargo. You're like, wow, this is even better than I remember, you know, the days when we shot stuff.
00:44:33
Speaker
and And that break, I guess, can can happen at any time, right? because So I worked ah for a decade in ah in doing radio dramas for for CBC Radio. So we worked with a ton of different actors, and I'm always tickled when I see some of the actors that we worked with you know crop up in some random production. you know So like we had you know Andrew Gillies in on a couple of projects that I was working on, and then he shows up on ah Orphan Black, and I'm like, oh, Andrew, there you are, you know? Doing good. Good to see you. Yep. It's not dissimilar from writing. I mean... I wouldn't think so, no. ah The best part of writing, though, now is that it's it's possible to do your own thing. Right. Yeah. I think that's probably possible, too, as an actor, but then you have to have a whole bunch of other other skills that are not acting skills.
00:45:24
Speaker
Well, and I've stumbled upon audiobooks as a potential for some future employment. A friend of mine from Toronto ah posted a year ago saying, hey, I just graduated from this mentorship program with Penguin Random House. And so I looked into that and I applied and I got in, a long story short, out of 1250 people, I was one of the 19 that got to do this mentorship program and that's gonna wind down in May. So i'm I'm hoping that that can move into something that is dependent less on, you know, because in the end, film, and to a lesser degree, but still to a degree, theater is about a look. And it almost doesn't matter how good your performance is. If it doesn't fill the director's notion of what they've already got in their head, what that character is, if you're not quite that fit, it almost doesn't matter how good your audition is. And for something like audiobooks, it's that that doesn't matter. All I need to do is depend on my voice, which I feel pretty confident about. I feel pretty confident about my voice.
00:46:22
Speaker
and damn good So so we'll see we'll see what direction that takes me. At at the end of this thing, you do um a three-minute demo live in front of 20 producers at Penguin Random House, and basically everybody that completes this program is pretty much hired to do at least one book right off the bat. So we'll see if that if that holds true for me as well and see if that can take me in another direction and a really interesting direction, because you know you're own you've you've got your voice to convey the entire Gamut of what you're acting is and that's such ah an an interesting and unique challenge. So I'm really looking forward to um Finishing that program and perhaps turning that into a new chapter. No pun intended of my life but Yeah, i'm and I'm sure you could do a fantastic job. I've i've recorded one audiobook my own book and it was a hack of a hack of a job and Yeah, I did buy my second book i ah I recorded and it was hard, but I'm going to do more. that's yeah I think I'd be great at that. Like a blur. Yeah, yeah i think I think I'd be great too, just like I thought I'd be awesome in film and and stage and everything else I've been trying to do my whole life.
00:47:33
Speaker
I don't know. I think you're pretty successful. I need to go off the corner. I think you should see your career as successful. Okay, thank you. I appreciate that. And,
Alberta's Film Industry and Community Appreciation
00:47:40
Speaker
you know, of course, and that's my wife is there for it too, and my kids, you know, to remind me of of all the amazing things I've done and seen. Because the best part of the film job here in Alberta, especially, because we do so many, so much of our work is done on location because we are, you know, in the mountains and in the badlands and, you know, outside the cities where we do most of the shooting here in Alberta, not all, but, but, but certainly, you know, at least half, if not more like two thirds of our shooting is, um, is location shooting and Westerns and that kind of thing. And the places I've been to and, you know, the amazing views I've seen.
00:48:12
Speaker
through that that I never would have gotten to if I was just you know doing so doing some other jobs. so and yeah And it's such an amazing team and it's ah still a fairly small industry. It's getting bigger every year because we are starting to you know people are starting to hear about us and realize the positives of coming here. But it's a relatively small community so far. And so every time you go back to set, it's like even though it's a completely different version. you know Every show is a different ah staff and there's different people there. There's new people, there's old people, there's new people there's old people in new positions and all that stuff. and And it's always a fun place to be. I love being on set. Being on set is just so much fun and it doesn't matter. Ultimately,
00:48:52
Speaker
and Of course, it matters into my you know actor ego. Of course, it matters what I'm doing. But in the end, being getting to be part of that industry is just is so much fun and so rewarding in that sense. So I'll just keep doing it until and until they tell me I'm not allowed to show up anymore. I'm sure we'll never have it. Yeah, that you'll get the card eventually.
00:49:12
Speaker
does happen. I hope that um these people who are doing a little shop of horrors reaches out to you and tells you that you got the part. so I would love that. I would love to do to finally see that 17-year-old's dream to to do that show because it was such an amazing show. That would be pretty awesome to to have that sort of full circle
Closing Thoughts and Gratitude
00:49:33
Speaker
moment for sure.
00:49:35
Speaker
That sounds like a wrap up to me. Yeah, actually, that's a good point. Like there's no real i like this idea. There's no reason why Seymour has to be a young guy. He could be a guy in his fifties who's had a couple of failed relationships and then he meets the alien of his dreams.
00:49:54
Speaker
I think the key to that is how they cast the, is it Schmelnick or Melnick, who actually runs and is sort of a father figure to to to the Seymour character, as long as he's like really decrepit and old looking, like sort of- 70. Yeah. Well, can play 70. He could be 50 too. That's right. He could be. Yeah.
00:50:17
Speaker
Any, ah Mark, any ah final thoughts or questions? Oh, Clark, this is just so much fun to catch up with you. Oh, my God. Oh, great. I'm so proud of you, man. Like the the fact that you've been able to have a career doing this is really amazing. And I don't think you should ever feel otherwise.
00:50:35
Speaker
Well, I appreciate that. And same to you. You've had books published. I remember when that that's what you wanted to do. And so you've gone ahead and done that. And I will forgive you the fact that you're working at Western. Like, that's the enemy. What are you doing there, buddy? I don't know. I went to i it's what can I tell you? i I live here. So it was the only option. Yeah. All right. All right.
00:50:56
Speaker
Cool. And we'll have to get Mark back on the boards to get over his stage right now. I think so. I would be front and center for that, which would probably make it even worse. Back to the audiobook thing. Like, I'm actually, I performed for a class the other day, like not my class, just to do a reading. And it's like, yeah, I'm actually pretty good at this. And it's like, I think I'm going to do some more of this kind of stuff. And absolutely I'm going to do an audiobook or two.
00:51:23
Speaker
Yeah, you should. As you should. Blurry Young, thank you very much for being on our podcast, Recreative. Thank you so much for inviting me. It was it was an it was an unexpected invite and it's been nothing but fun to do this.
00:51:53
Speaker
Yay!
00:52:00
Speaker
You've been listening to Recreative, a podcast about creativity and the works that inspire it. Recreative is produced by Mark Rainer and Joe Mahoney for Donovan Street Press, Inc., in association with Monkey Joy Press. Technical production of music by Joe Mahoney, web design by Mark Rainer. You can support this podcast by checking out our guest work, listening to their music, purchasing their books, watching their shows and so on.
00:52:27
Speaker
You can find out more about each guest in all of our past episodes by visiting recreative.ca. That's re-creative.ca. You can contact us by emailing joe mohoney at donovanstreetpress.com. We'd love to hear from you. Thanks for listening.