tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight, a conversation with david hyde pierce. after fraser, he returns to the theater. he is here in los angeles directing that play. we are glad you have joined us. a conversation with david hyde pierce, coming up right now.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: david hyde pierce has played dozens of characters, received accolades for everyone of them. for many of us, he will always be dr. niles crane in the hit series "frasier." i assume you're ok with that. >> i'm ok with that. thes: every seasone

series was on, he was nominated for an emmy. costarred in the tony award-winning play. sonia and majia and spike." now he is directing that play. take a look at a scene. now, now. >> i forget something every day. i can't remember the italian. window or ceiling. >> that doesn't sound familiar. i don't think i know italian.

>> you haven't forgotten it then, have you? how far back do you go? >> 30 years. he wrote a play called "beyond therapy." i did not even have a middle name, that's how young i was. audiences loved it, got a crappy review in the new york times, we closed in two weeks. that was my introduction to the world of theater. tavis: you have never been afraid of rejection. >> i had such a good time and i learned so much, this is what it is like when it fails, what must it be like when it is successful? tavis: a lot more of the latter. >> up and down. tavis: what do you make of

having been in this play and -- andted display echo directing this play? >> they knew that i love the play, they asked me to take over. it has been great. it has been sort of shepherding the old folks and the new folks, keeping them interested. directing thing for you over the last few years? >> people had said to me for a long time that i should direct. namely, people that did not like my acting. tavis: [laughter] to becausever wanted i like acting.

my partner had written a musical. they had a big director who was going to direct it, but then he got "the book of mormon." that worked out for them. andd been to readings of it i thought, i would direct this. we ended up doing it and it was a big hit. hov, i will let you explain the connection. best.egard chechim as the >> he is one of the great russian playwrights at the turn of the last century. there are plays that are comedies and famous for being almost unwatchable. there are so many bad productions because he is really hard to do.

in his play, the cherry orchard, nothing happens. except one world ends and another begins. there is all this incredible history and dramatic mileage. they have always been intrigued by this darkness and russian depression. he decided finally to do his own version of it. chris is a unique talent. with his mind, which is probably a good thing. he is kind of insane and has a real insight into what is going on in the culture and in the world. comedy, a very funny piece. but there is an undertow of real connection about what is happening to people, what is happening to families, how we

are feeling disconnected. in the midst of this laughter, he taps into something that touches people which is something that checkov did. ivania has quite an astounding sort of explosion near the end of the play. it is about where we are now, technologically. haveow all these advances disconnected us from one another. he goes back and talks about all the great things that were cultural icons in the 50's. he says a lot of them are actually not that good. it's not that they were great works of art, but that we all shared them. tavis: when they come see this, will they recognize checkov? >> you don't have to know him to enjoy it but there are

allusions. the characters are not identical to, but sort of a mashup of checkov's characters. tavis: give me a word about the characters. sonia havend stayed home. their mom and dad got alzheimer's and they ended up spending about 15 years taking care of them. intosort of evolved homebodies that said and gripe and have ather slightly hopeless life. their sister masha is a movie star. she made action movies and became a big deal. she is always gallivanting around and she is never there. in the play, she comes back with spike, who is her boy toy.

that is when things start to get disruptive and the comfort of the home and the sudden change starts to hit the family. thee is cassandra, housekeeper who is also psychic and suddenly bursts into greek choruses of psychic predictions like housekeepers do. tavis: [laughter] >> nina is a sweet young thing in love with checkov's plays. and she brings a kind of wonderful innocence and spirituality into the mix. for me,t is impossible at least, given the number of times you have been on this program, reference alzheimer's regarding the play and not make a connection to your own life. lifeis that old adage, imitates art and sometimes art imitates life? why do you keep coming back to this?

>> i have been involved in the for aagainst alzheimer's long time. i lost my grandfather and my dad to alzheimer's and vascular dementia. i was on a conference call with the federal advisory council because back when the president and congress did things together, they put together this national alzheimer's plan. .t is a forward going movement congress unanimously approved $122 million funding research and care for alzheimer's. given the care and climate, that is a big deal. it appears in the play is in some ways a current event. -- a coincidence. i think it is a reflection, though, of the prevalence of the disease.

and also to an audience, it is not an odd thing. it is life. for better and for worse, it is part of our common experience. you celebrate 120 $2 million and i will celebrate it. i may have agreed on it, but where are we at in funding? >> we need $2 billion. tavis: it seemed like it was a drop in the bucket. >> at least there is a bucket and they put a drop in it. there are people that get alzheimer's very young, but the vast majority of people get it as they get into their 60's and beyond. the baby boomers are turning into their 60's and 70's. ,he numbers of people with it the family members taking care of those people and the cost to the health care system would make me laugh if it was funny.

people are so concerned about obama care. it is not going to matter. we are all going to be in serious trouble if we don't step up and fund research. tavis: i know these issues matter to you. i will swing this way and i will swing back. >> i will wait here. comedic timing, you've still got it. you made a comment that was not lost on me. the notion of back when congress together, what do you make of the state of affairs in washington these days? the world will and in a year or two so it probably won't matter. it is a reaction -- what is it? aalways think extremism is

reaction out of fear. what we seem to be experiencing is polar extremism that keeps people from coming together. but i also feel like people in congress and the country are so sick of it now and we have experienced what a waste of time it is that it has allowed people start to creep back together. i guess i am an optimist but we will see what happens in the next few years. optimisticare more than i am. i hope you're right about it. --en this is a midterm year >> it will be fascinating because does the extremism when out -- win out? appeasing the tea party or far left, or do they appease the middle? can we be adults and come together?

would you consider running? >> i would rather die. tavis: [laughter] >> it is a slow death. it is so easy to criticize the federal government but as i said, i just got off this long conference call. this advisory council is made up of people like me not in the federal government. people from every branch of government. national institutes of health, veterans affairs, indian affairs. everything. they are working so hard and they have accomplished so much. we can talk about the funding isn't there, but that's not them. the people in the trenches care and they are doing work to push this ahead. to your mind, what is driving the focus?

is it the realization of what these numbers are going to mean a few years from now? sad realityt is the that we all know someone now. 15 years ago when i started being involved, we said the numbers are going to go up. in anhuman nature that immediate crisis, bird flu gets money like that. in terms of the statistics and the number of people that will die, this is way beyond that. is slow and steady so it is a long time coming. virtually everyone in america has someone in their family or they see it on tv. that is what is fueling it. they are going to their own burden of taking care of a parent or grandparent.

people, people in their 50's or 60's getting diagnosed with this disease. this is the other thing that is helping. because we can diagnose earlier and more effectively -- people are able to speak out and speak about it. there is nothing more powerful than someone with the disease you can be articulate and go in front of congress or the local government. it is one thing when you see the images we have all seen of elderly people, and that is sad. it is another when you see someone that looks exactly like you or me and they say i've got it. i don't know how long i've got. there is so much to talk to you about every time you come by. what did you learn, not about your father, but about yourself? going through that.

i certainly learned about my family that when times get tough, they came together. when my grandfather had alzheimer's, it was back in the late 80's. diagnosed until he died and had an autopsy. my grandmother was very private and did not let anyone know what is going on. the things that we saw that or just quirks or him getting forgetful were serious. having had that experience, when my dad got dementia, he got vascular dementia. he had heart surgery and had complications and strokes. essentially, dementia is the death of brain cells. that is how that started. we recognized what he was going through and we were better

equipped to deal with it. we took turns after my mom passed away staying with dad. he went to live with my brother, then went to a fantastic assisted living place where he had lots of people to be social with. at the end, the dementia started increasing where the alzheimer's crept in. the flu and he died, and we were glad because we knew -- he still knew us when he died unlike my grandfather. tavis: your dad got to see some of the best of your work on "frasier." >> yes. tavis: since you were on last? 20 years. the cover of this magazine came out last year -- there it is. a great photo. what do you make of that? 20 years ago?

>> a lot of years and a whole lot of hair. tavis: [laughter] >> it's on so much. so many people come up to me and say, thank you for all the laughs. here at the hotel, on my way to reversal on the night of the grammys. this very beautiful woman, a lovely black outfit. are you going to the grammys, she turned and said yes. i watched your show all the time i was pregnant. it got me through. whenever my daughter hears the theme song, ishe gets calm. tavis: [laughter] i teased you at the start of this conversation. if this is the role that you're going to be known for, it's not a bad one to be known for. went tof the reasons i theater right after frasier

aside from that is where i came from, i knew television would either be more of the same or i would try to do something else and not be accepted. you can't fight in him is like that over a long. of-- over a long period of time. in the at her, you can do anything. -- the legacyen of that show and the memories of the people i worked with. i will have dinner with some of the gang tonight. i have nothing but love for that old time. tavis: the story of how you got that role. when frazier was on cheers, he did not have a brother. i will let you tell the story of how he wound up with her brother. >> they were putting together the show. the casting director had seen me in a play on broadway.

one of the casting directors said if you're going to ever have a brother, this guy looked a lot like kelsey. in his early days on soaps and me in my early days on "frasier," we did look alike. now he looks younger. said, weght me in and are thinking of having a brother and all we know is that frasier freudian and niles will be hjungian. they called me and said, it must've gone well because they offered you the part. it was like a rehash of what i went to new york and my first audition i was on broadway. it close, but -- tavis: this did better than two

weeks. [laughter] halfway through the first season i said, does this mean i will never have to work again? he said no, this means i will never have to work again. i learned the difference between producing and acting. tavis: [laughter] this question will sound silly given all that you have done since then. but when the show was in its heyday, were you ever concerned that this might typecast me for the rest of my life? or that this is great work, i loved it. >> i did not think about it with the problem -- as a problem with the show or the role. but in between seasons, i would only do stuff that was not like niles. mainly because nobody was writing better than the writers on "frasier."

and i wanted to get away to it -- from it. i decided to get out of town and go back to the theater where we had more flexibility. i could use the celebrity of the show to get lead roles on broadway. my first show, and it was great because it was a comedy. people were used to seeing me do comedy. but it was completely different. doing sketches and playing different characters. i was able to break away from what i had been doing all these years. --"ia "vania, >> nobody gets the title right. thank you. tavis: i still screwed it up at the beginning. what this will be through march

9. what happens next? little bitng to do a of teaching. i have been asked to go to various places. there is a great place in wisconsin where these great american actors to some sort of mansion in the middle of wisconsin. place and every summer they have a master class where they bring actors from around the country. i will go pretend i know something and tell that to people. i am hoping to direct this musical i am talking about. and in the fall, the plan is to take vania to london. that's what i got so far. tavis: that works for me. you want to see that if you get . ticket it is directed by david hyde pierce.

again. to see you that is our show for tonight. as always, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with best actor nominee for his role in 12 years a slave. that is next time, we will see you then. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you.

thank you. >> be more. pbs. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. r:

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