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tv   Charlie Rose  PBS  October 11, 2010 11:39am-12:00pm PST

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alike a 9 to 5 job that you can fall back on, you might eventually just fall back on that job, you know, if you don't have any other options but one thing, you kind of go for the one thing. >> rose: why do you think you wanted to do this? >> my father when i was a kid, not too sound too corny but he used to emphasize to me and my brother and sister to combine labor and love. and i just always paid attention to that and i thought well, i can make people laugh, somehow naturally. and then i am going to try to figure out how to make some bucks doing it. >> rose: you knew that early on. >> uh-huh. >> rose: in school. >> i knew it. >> rose: in the family. >> in my family's pretty, all very funny, funnier than me. my cousins were real funny, my brother, my sister. and i used to like perform the robot in front of my family and they would give me money. and then-- . >> rose: you said this is good. >> yeah, my dad would ask,
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do you have change for a quarter? >> dad that is a drachma. >> so that's kind of how it started. and then, you know, just a lot of laughing in the family. >> rose: what does the family say today about their boys act up on the big screen. >> can i borrow some money. >> you can change a hundred. >> yeah. they're all-- i think they're very positive about it. i mean it's different but nothing really is changed that much as far as the family dynamic. >> so you are doing stand-up. we'll work up to this movie. you are doing stand-up here and there and then you have boston commons, was that it? >> it was a sitcom. i was a busboy at a strip joint, stringfellows on 21st street. and then at the four seasons, i think, restaurant, after that and then i got --.
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>> rose: you mean in the series. >> no, in real life. >> rose: in real life. >> not on the sitcoms. no, mr. rose, this is unfortunately the real life i'm talking about now. yeah, so i was a busboy and i was kind of a busboy later in life. and then i got a job on a sitcom out in california. and i drove out there and lived and that dried up and a lived in a van for a while. and then i rented a car from a mechanic. so let's say that you have turned in your, let's say, i am assuming a bentley, to your mechanic. i convince the mechanic. >> rose: how come are you so smart. >> i convince the mechanic. >> rose: why didn't you say rolls. >> i didn't seem like a bentley guy, go, chevy lumina. >> rose: that's better. >> charlie rose, you have seen charlie in his new lumina. he keeps bragging about it. >> rose: it's a great car. >> and i convinced the mechanic to let me rent a car he was fixing.
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>> rose: to sleep in. >> to sleep in. and i did for a little bit. and then just started performing again out in california. >> rose: the car kept breaking down so you kept being able to sleep. >> it broke down and i remember, i don't know how i-- how i got a house but i got a house somehow, but i didn't have any money. oh, yeah. s landlord-- . >> rose: this brings us to "hangover" >> right to the hang over. no suffering in between whatsoever. you know, the streets were pavered with gold. >> rose: no, we suffered enough here. we suffered enough. >> okay,. >> rose: we are sleeping in a car and we can't make ends meet and then we have a house. >> right. this is the first my parents will hear about this. i have never told them any of this. >> rose: yes, you have. you told them everything. >> i tried to guilt them. >> rose: all right so hangover. >> yes, sir. >> rose: you had, did you have any idea, did you guys know when you were making this that this is, made what, a half a billion dollars, a half a billion. >> i haven't seen those receipts yet but that's what
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they tell me. >> rose: they tell you the check is coming. we are doing well, the check is coming. when did they make this film? >> they made this film in, the year, i don't remember, a year and a half ago. >> rose: he has to wind its way through the international scene. >> yeah, right. >> rose: and it has to go into digital release. >> who knows. i haven't seen one dime yet. but which, when we were filming it, i had a feeling inside my gut that i would go to dinner with the other casts and say you know what, i think this is good. i had never been in anything good. and i had a different feeling inside of me. and we all chatted and thought yeah, this is going to be a good movie. but to the extent of being, you know, such a big moneymaker, nobody knew. i mean it's kind of great but it's also kind of ruined my life. >> rose: why is that? >> i say that kind of tongue-in-cheek. well, people assume when you play an outlandish character in a movie that are you that
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outlandish character, some people assume that. >> rose: we will see that character in just a moment. >> and it's difficult to walk down in the airport and people, i mean would you have gone up to the scare crow in the "wizard of oz", the actor, oh, you're not really a scare crow, you know what i mean. >> i'm not really the guy from the-- i'm just a guy. i'm an actor. >> . i'm not an actor, just a guy who got lucky. >> rose: roll tape, here say clip from "the hangover" here it is. >> so you sure are you qualified to be taking care of that baby. >> what are you talking about, i found a baby before. >> you found a baby before. >> yeah. >> where. >> coffee beans. >> wait, what? >> look, i don't think doug would want us to take the mercedes. >> relax. >> my dad is crazy about that car and he left doug in charge. >> allen, we got bigger problems here. doug could be in the hospital. he could be hurt, okay. >> there's your car, officer.
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>> all right, everybody act cool. don't say a word. >> let's just get in and go. come on. >> sir, you have a -- >> no. >> get you on the way back. >> thank you. >> oh my god. oh my god. you just nailed the baby. >> my glasses okay. >> your glasss are fine. >> yeah. >> rose: that character. >> yeah, they think i'm that guy in real life. >> rose: you let the baby get caught like that. >> yeah, exactly. or as if i would be walking around with a baby or anything like that. >> rose: not. here is the other thing this made a lot of money but it also gave you tons of rolls, tons of offers to play in lots of movies, yes or no or maybe. >> yes, i mean, the way i think the hollywood system works is they see you in a successful thing and they just try to copy it a little bit. and i kind of wanted to-- .
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>> rose: we'll help dow another one of those. >> i didn't want to do that kind of thing necessarily because i didn't want that character is pretty specific to the hangover and i knew that there was going to be another sequel so you kind of save it for that franchise. and so i wanted to pompously i guess try to do something a little bit more grounded with, that is how i came across it's kind of a funny story. >> rose: how did you come across it. >> well, the directors asked me to meet with them. and we had some drinks, some belgian beer. i think i tricked them in that i could do the part. you know. >> rose: how did you trick them. >> with drinks, charlie. it's a great-- people believe anything if they have a few drinks. >> oh, no i can act. i can do anything you want. so but no, we just discussed the script and it was a great script and they kind of asked me to do it. >> rose: and tell me the character. >> name is bobby.
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>> rose: this is kind ever a one flew over the cuckoo's nest. >> kind of t is. >> is a mental institution. bobby does what? >> bobby is a patient there who is suicidal. he's tried to kill himself self six times. and i went and did some research at a couple of mental facilities. >> rose: serious. >> yes. before i even heard about the movie, no-- no, i was in new mexico and they let me come and a couple places let me come and observe. and i sat and watched and took some notes and that's how i kind of helped develop this character. >> rose: what did you see when you took notes? >> i saw, i put on a straight jacket, turns out i'm gay, no, terrible joke, terrible joke, sorry, charlie. i-- i-- i got to remember that one. the old press junket that will go gangbusters.
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>> rose: they'll like that. here he is. zack. >> yes, zack impresses, once again, nobody believes him. i went so, i observed what i observed was people that are in some of these people that are in these facilities are funny and also seem very capable of being on the outside. but something, something pretty big is keeping them from -- . >> rose: having interviewed people and talked about it, it is that some of of it appears normal conduct. and then there are moments in which -- >> they can break. and i think that's pretty common, i think certainly i feel fragile sometimes.
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hopefully not where i will need assistance. but you know, the mind is a fragile, fragile thing so we kind of tried to bring that into the undercurrents of this film. >> i generally don't ask this question but -- >> i'm single. >> seems strange, charlie. >> you could have-- you could have at least gone and got a --. >> we talked about you and john tesh, didn't we. >> yes, that's right. >> rose: who went to the same university. you both went to north carolina state. >> that's right. >> but the point is, is there some connection, you think, between in the end, or between unhappiness and comedy? >> well -- >> discomfort and comedy. >> discomfort for me, absolutely in comedy. i think awkwardness is funny, inappropriateness is funny, as far as that old stereotype of unhappiness in comics, are a lot of-- often
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thought to have very dark souls and dark corners that certainly is true. there is a reason for stereotypes. >> you think it's true. >> for some people. i think some people, though, are born, you know, some people have a math cat call mind. some people have a mind maybe that genetically is, for someeason, has the-- of an architect but some people are born funny and if you come from a family environment that nurtures that t can be kind of healthy it doesn't have to be just an abusive father and then that's the reason you develop comedy. i come from a very nice family, very, very beautiful parents who are very supportive. so unfortunately, i don't have that excuse. i mean it would be nice. >> rose: so why did you become a comic. >> because there is too much love in my family. when your dad is connection you on the lips when he drops you off for high school, ew. >> i mean, like, he it is a
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break thing, you know, dad, stop. >> rose: it another greek thing, isn't it. >> another greek thing. >> rose: kissing again, yeah. >> yeah, but he, he is such an emotional man, it is so nice. >> rose: so you have a relationship here in this movie with the attendant. >> i have a relationship with the, i boy that that is having thoughts, suicidal thoughts who checks himself into the mental hospital. >> rose: what is the relationship. >> well,. >> rose: seriously t is a friendship, shared sense of -- >> shared sense of, you know, bobby is-- something's wrong. i mean i have tried to commit suicide six times and he has thought about it heavily enough to check himself into a hospital so my character sees this in the young kid and tries to help out. even though he himself is, you know, of questionable
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stability rdz a perfect segue as we say for this clip. roll tape. >> how are you doing? >> you got a cigarette? >> no, sorry. >> what's wrong with you? >> i just don't smoke. >> no i mean why are you in an er. >> it's 5:00 on sunday morning. >> well, i guess there's just been a lot going on in my mind lately. >> go ahead. >> okay, well, it's sort-of-difficult to explain. but there is this girl. >> yeah, got you. >> and this summer school application that i'm really nervous about.
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>> summer school. >> yeah, it's like this superprestigious kind of -- >> why would you want to be in school in the summer? you should be on connie island-- chicks. >> are you a doctor. >> it's kind of a funny story. congratulations. >> thank you,. >> great to you have here. >> thank you for having me. >> rose: my pleasure. >> nice to chat with another north carlin yan. >> i hope will you come back. >> i hope will you have me back. >> also this evening a preview of a segment we will show you in its entirety next week. it's a movie called "budrus". >> i wanted to show that there is much more happening on the ground than we're getting. people watch the mainstream media and they often follow either negotiations like we're seeing today or violence. military incursions or suicide bombings. and there's very little coverage of actual civil society in what palestinians and israelis are doing together. because what's happening in
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this village is that hundreds of israelis crossed into the green line and under the threat of losing their life. and for certainly under the threat of losing their credibility and families and jobs, many of them lost all of that. they decided to side with the struggle of this palestinian village and in that way forge the relationship that is still standing today .
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captioning sponsored by rose communications captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org
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>> . additional funding provided by these funders: and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and information services worldwide.
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