Paul Reiser discusses The Kominsky Method, appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and meeting Helen Hunt in the latest installment of Rolling Stone‘s “The First Time.”
Reiser kicked off with how he got the role of Martin Schneider on Season Two of The Kominsky Method, adding that he met Chuck Lorre years ago when the showrunner was an intern, “or a baby writer — little diapers, little pencils.”
Reiser had called Lorre to congratulate him on the first season of the Netflix comedy-drama, which stars Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin. “Half jokingly, I said, ‘We should do a show like that,’” he said. “‘Come on, two guys sitting in a car. I could do that all day!’”
Lorre immediately offered him the role of Schneider — an older man who begins dating Douglas’ daughter — and he accepted. “I said, ‘Wow, is that how it works? I just have to say I’d like to be in that?’” he said. “It’s never worked. Don’t try this at home kids, ’cause it doesn’t work. It just happened to work this time.”
Elsewhere in the video, Reiser recalled his first time performing standup comedy and his first film, 1982’s Diner alongside Steve Guttenberg, Kevin Bacon and others. He also described his appearance on Johnny Carson: “The end of the rainbow,” he said. “That was what you wanted, and I couldn’t see beyond that. I thought magically you get a career, or something.” Years later, it’s mortifying for him to watch. “People go, ‘You know it’s up on YouTube,’” he added. “I go, ‘Don’t tell me that.’”
Reiser concluded the segment by remembering the first time he met his Mad About You costar, Helen Hunt. “I thought, “She’s really cool, and funny, and lovely, and smart — and just neurotic enough to not be incapacitating,’” he said. “I remember literally walking out the door with my wife and went, ‘What do you think of her a you?’ She went, ‘She’d be great.’ And there you go. So, my wife cast herself.”
Source: Read Full Article
