about. i know that the -- i don't know what the film is contingent upon. i do know that the stories that are -- that what's happening in the episodes that will air on netflix, which are all unto themselves and great without needing this other thing, but will directly relate to what the film is about. >> ties in. >> very specifically. , and the number of episodes that you're recording for this series are as i understand it all being released at one time. >> yes. that seemed on to me, but that's what netflix is proud of that they have this model that they just put everything up there. it will make everything a different experience and i shouldn't editorialize because i don't know how it

will be, but personally i wish it was -- because of the way the story is laid out that it was laid out in a -- even if they did one per day -- >> give a little bit of time between them. >> yeah, definitely. >> it feels like people who came late to the wire or homeland, they said i'm going to lock myself in the house and watch it end to end and that may be how people do this. >> it may be so. i've heard references to people are planning to call in sick to work. [laughter] yeah. i'm not joking. and people are -- they're already things on the internet where they're going to have viewing parties. and first of all, you're going to end up -- even if they put everything out at once you're not going to get through that many of them because you're going to have to keep going backwards and min. it's so devious to be laid out. >> it's a layered show anyway. >> yeah. you haven't seen anything yet. [laughter] i mean, it's a rubic's

cubesque kind of -- each episode is of itself and everybody is threaded through various episodes. and you will see one scene in somebody's episode and when you see the next character's episode, you'll see that same scene shot from a different angle, which reveals more information. it's just crazy. >> you make it sound great. i have to say as a viewer it sounds great. i wonder if from your standpoint as a performer on the show, the fact that it's restarting again is a good thing? were you excited to hear that you would do it again? there was talk of it for some time. >> if for no other reason that i didn't have to answer that question anymore. [laughter] >> yes. everyone seemed to get a version of that question in the cast, when are you doing it again? >> daily, everyday. yeah. and i speak for everyone. we were all very excited, really excited to get to do those characters. the writing, get to work with mitch again, that cast

is amazing. i'd say a third of the crew is the same. it's just, you know -- and what a fun, great character to play. and also acting. when you're just acting that's like a vacation to me. i love producing, i love writing, i love acting, i love all that stuff. i love doing all those things at once. but you have no personal life. it's very difficult. but just acting and my responsibility is just memorizing lines, hitting my mark, having fun. that's a vacation. >> and that's the case if you're in something where you've got a big role like arrested development or something more mainstream where it's more of a runoff thing like modern family. you go do your thing, you enjoy it. >> yeah. usually part of hiring me is i improvise a lot and people know that i'll bring some other stuff. that's part of the fun of those things is you just get to have fun and you get to work with really talented casts whether it's modern

family or arrested development or whatever it is. >> pretty great. >> it's just a treat, yes. >> i think about the spectrum along which you work. so modern family is probably the most mainstream, most mass appeal thing that you've done. >> huh, have you not heard of a film called alvin and the chipmunks? >> maybe out of my demographic, actually. >> you think modern family is mainstream. good lord! >> i'm going to stick with the premise. so you have modern family over here, arrested development a little bit less so, network. mr. show, which is hbo, but still really alternative orientation and then the todd and margaret program is the other end of the spectrum. how do you live along that? how do you think about well, i'm doing this kind of a program now so i have to make myself think this way as a perform or as an actor or comedian versus some of the other stuff? what's that like? >> there's not a -- you don't go into it with this conscious kind of set of

rules, but i suppose -- well, there are different responsibilities to each thing. and when i'm -- when i'm doing something like todd and margaret which i was involved in every single aspect of it, it's all consuming and that was also an intricate story that had a crazy timeline and logic that we had to adhere to. so you have to think of that stuff. and that is probably the least enjoyable thing to perform because you're thinking of all this other stuff while you're in your day. >> the opposite of what you described, just acting, showing up and that's it. >> which is why it's kind of a vacation. you get to have fun. oh, your responsibility is really memorizing stuff and then you get to play around with, you know -- i get to do scenes with bateman and will. and it's very fun and loose.

and so you don't really think about it that much. i definitely when i'm doing something like mr. show ored to and margaret or something of that nature i get healthier. that's one byproduct. i drink less, i get more -- better sleep. >> because you have to. >> because i have to, yeah. and then, you know, if you're doing something, you know, like alvin and the chipmunks then you have to drink just to get through -- [laughter] >> just to be able to tell yourself and other people that i'm doing this. was mr. show as scripted? it's such -- they're so tight the way it lays out, but i have to feel like there was some improvisation. >> the way we did mr. show was there were a number of steps to it. so we would -- bob and i each season would get together roughly four to six weeks before the writers came in and very informally come in and we would go to

the office and we'd just start -- we'd have that time to start writing ideas. and like the first half hour sitting back, like did you see this thing in the news about the christian group who did this or whatever? and we're having coffee and shooting the [bleep] and ideas we'll talk about and we'll informally write them. and then we had some ideas up on the board. then the writers would come in and it was a little bit more formal. and then we would take sketches and we would perform them live and that is how we started anywhere before it was a television show it was us on stage. and so in the process of writing, then rehearsing the scenes, then doing the scenes live at a ucv -- that wasn't around then, whatever the stage. we would riff on that and rewrite and we would kind of improvise up until we were rehearsing the actual show. and then what you saw was pretty scripted at that point.

>> by that point. i was looking back at the cast for that program and in fact going back before that to some of the comedians who you came up with in the business. a lot of the people who just in those days you worked with have actually all gone on to do really interesting things as you have. all of you have kind of moved out of what may be thought of then as alternative into the mainstream. tom kinney who was on mr. show is the voice of sponge bob. scott on mr. show has been on 30 rock since the very begin. obviously you were on arrested development and some of the other stuff that you've done. go back before that to when you were playing catch a rising star and other clubs you were coming up with say have silverman and louie ck. and the ben stiller program, where you met odom kirk. seems like everybody now has found a place in more mainstream culture which i think is an interesting evolution. >> yeah. it makes sense, i suppose. as we got older, there is no

alternative scene anymore. it just doesn't exist. and even -- >> what do you mean by that? >> well, the idea of we bristled at the concept of alternative comedy. it was an easy, sort of lazy shortcut to decide what we were worth, but not necessarily what we were. but now that is comedy. that's the mainstream of comedy. >> louie ck is in some ways, he is in some ways the epitome of the new mainstream in that he's now just really broken out as this enormous store although he's an overnight success after all these years of plugging away. >> that guy was a natural. i think he was like 16, 17 when he started. and just immediately good. >> look how long it's taken him to catch on in terms of the larger culture. >> right. in the sense of a tv show. he did have lucky louie on hbo, which was fairly -- >> funny show. >> it was ground breaking in what he was attempting to

do. and pootie tank is a beloved cult movie. >> how could i forget? >> they took it away from him. he would have made a much cooler comedy, but the studio was like what!!?? and yeah. and -- but his comedy has always been that good. it's always been really raw and honest and he has been -- he's been making movies for decades in that john sales way. so it's -- it feels like even though it's been decades in the works, hollywood just at some point all at once went oh, yeah, that guy. >> oh, that guy. >> but there are plenty of

louie's out there right now. >> do you feel like that's how it's been with you? you've been at this for more than -- you go back to the mid 80's you've been doing this. >> at least two years. [laughter] >> i'm saying at least -- >> three. >> do the math. >> 14... >> i'm thinking at least 25 years in one form or another of performing, acting, trying to -- >> i did my first standup the week before i turned 18 and i'm 48. >> so 30 years. >> 30 years. >> do you feel like it's taken this long for you -- >> to be funny? [laughter] >> i'll just set it up. [laughter] because you are, given everything you're doing, you are very much part of the mainstream now. >> yeah, sure. i mean, my stuff is -- my standup, todd margaret, mr. show, even arrested development to some level, a lot of what i've participated in, there isn't a lot of middle ground with

how people view me or my work. i'm -- some people loathe me, hate me, hate the things i do. >> why? >> for different reasons. i know what i've heard a lot in certainly my standup is i'm condescending and arrogant and smug. [laughter] and i come off as like kind of snotty, holier than thou, ironically. and people like really dislike me and because of my -- how i come off, don't even -- just don't like my comedy. they feel like they're being preached down to. and there were people who hated mr. show. a lot of it becomes -- it was like this with arrested a little bit where something gets so hyped and their

friends like you've got to this, dude. it's so funny. you have to see the show. it's great. and it's so overhyped to them and for whatever reason, whether they want to -- they want to feel individualistic or whether they're just annoyed with that person who is telling them how great it is, they're like it's not that great. whatever. >> they resist. >> and arrested development got a little bit of that. >> oh, yeah. for awhile you couldn't go anywhere without people telling you you had to see it, had to watch it. >> and people were like no thanks. i'd rather watch family guy, thank you very much. that's funny. [laughter] and i'm definitely, you know, -- todd margaret, i very rarely did anybody go it's okay. people hated it or loved it. and there's been a lot of that with my standup. >> i think what you said about mr. show is also true. >> a lot of people didn't like it. >> one pole or the other pole. how has your comedy changed? >> initially i was biting styles of every -- i was very influenced by andy

kaufman and steven wright. and my favorite comics were probably richard pryor, steve martin, andy kaufman. i read a lot of lenny bruce. and -- but my comedy is nothing like it was now. and i think probably in the late '80s is when i really started finding my voice. and it became less of a -- of trying to shoe horn into a style and it became -- it did a lot of stupid, silly stuff like funny, silly, weird things. but i got mislabeled or i think mistakenly labeled as a political comedian because after 9-11 -- i talk now and have been for a long time just what i've observed in the day or what's happening around me or my life and my dealing with being an

atheist jew in a religious, baptist area where i grew newspaper georgia. and after 9-11 that was -- as it was with most of us, it was forefront in my consciousness and i was talking about it and people sort of assumed i was a political comedian. i wasn't. i wasn't then and i'm not now. i do talk about it sometimes and almost now feel a slight sense of obligation to talk about it. but it was usually more kind of auto biographical stuff. the last tour, last cd i put out had a lot more kind of personal stories about my body decaying, about the aging process and what's happening to me. because in my head i'm still 18 years old. and i just can't -- this is what i'm -- i'm at a

festival, you know, and i've got my drinking wristbands on and this is my nice shirt because i didn't -- >> thank you, b the way, for dressing up. we appreciate it. >> you're welcome. i brought a backpack. my socks are on backwards because it's day three, do you know what i mean? and i love doing these -- i love doing these festivals and doing these shows and the audiences are amazing and austin in particular is -- >> and you do a lot. >> i do a lot of them. >> how much time are you on the road during a course of a year. >> it completely varies. usually i'm doing these projects and todd margaret took a lot of time. that was nine months each year in london. so very little standup then. and you're working everyday outside of the weekends. >> leaving aside how your comedy has changed, how has comedy changed? obviously mr. show is an hbo program, todd margaret is on cable. the venues are different.

>> well, there's certainly more. there are additional venues. and that's got its obvious pros and cons. there's more access for people with very little money to put something together on a camera phone and put it up on youtube or even get it on like funny or die. but the con to that is there's a lot more unfunny cap. lots. so much unfunny. >> a lot more stuff, some of it good, some of it bad. >> one thing i'm surprised at is america's -- culturally our -- i would have thought that we-- and this isn't cynicism, this is just practicality. i would have thought that we would have peak understand how exploitive and inane our tv could get. and i just read this morning, this morning, that there's going to be -- i can't remember the exact name of the show, but a celebrity diving show. [laughter] no [bleep].

celebrity diving. >> actual diving in the water? >> well, i hope in the water! mishearing you. i'm as surprised a as you are. i can't believe it. >> yeah. it's like there's going to be celebrity coaches and stuff and then you'll watch them. i mean, what!!?? and i thought -- i mean, i remember whatever it was, 10, 12 years ago dancing with the stars. what!!?? who is going to watch that? some country western guy and who gives a [bleep]. [laughter] yeah, celebrity diving. and you think something like when you see honey boo boo and you feel such an emotional mixture and this is why people hate my comedy. you see this and you go that

poor exploited little girl, her awful, awful parents, the awful people who are producing that show who i guarantee you make fun of them every opportunity behind their back when they go out to dinner, when they're done shooting they call them white redneck trash, they're garbage, their idiots. i guarantee you. i know how people operate in this world. but then you think well, maybe this is the only opportunity for her to get this -- this life, at least she will have this for a little bit of time. and you think about how awful she's potentially could be 15 years from now when she's working at waffle house going you never saw honey boo boo? [laughter] and you have these real mixed emotions, but that's america in a perfectly bio di degradable nutshell. that's what we are, what we're like. that's part of the problem of this stuff continuing to exist. and like there's -- i remember when jersey shore came out and how horrific and awful that was and those

people are contemptible human beings. they offer nothing. [laughter]. and they're rewarded for nothing. no talent, no discernible talent. they're rewarded financially, sexually, and then there are these websites that i like, like gawker, that are really well written and they make fun of jersey shore, but they're the ones keeping it up. so there's this weird cyclical nature that wouldn't exist if you would just shut up about how awful it was, but i'm doing the same thing. i don't go out and talk about it on stand up. you asked me a question and i'm answering it. >> of course. [laughter] >> you know what i'm thinking right now, at least we're not talking about donald trump. >> yeah. there's enough people. everything has been said about that clown that you could possibly say. there's nothing else to say. >> we should agree, no more discussing honey boo bbo, jersey shore or donald

trump. >> i wonder if he would be proud or upset that he was lumped in with them. >> and he was third of the list of three. we have 30 seconds left. what's the next thing you will do, what else? >> go back to arrested development. we're shooting that through mid december. i will at that point afterwards finally be able to go on a hundred an hundred mn with my wife. just got married. [laughter] oh, don't -- don't sweeten that in post, please. [laughter] >> but you're right. wait, you're right. let me say that, you're right. because it's not a [bleep] accomplishment. people get such cheaa, easy applause like so i just got married. and they'll wait for it. i just got married recently. it's not an accomplishment you didn't do anything! >> so honeymoon and then what? >> then i hope to shoot a movie next year in upstate

new york where i have a place. and i wrote it so it could be made very cheaply and i will shoot it myself. i got a couple of movie coming out. one that was just here. i think got an audience for it. it's cclled it's a disaster. and it's awesome. i am rarely that happy with the film itself. what it actually -- >> it's really good. todd burger who went to the university of texas and some other guys in this group called the vacationers did it and it really came out well. i really liked it a lot. >> good. thanks for taking time with us. it's great to see you. >> absolutely. thank you, guys. >> david cross, thank you very much. [applause] >> we'd love to have you join us in the studio. visit our website at klru.org/overheard to find invitations to interviews, q and a's with our audience and guests an an archive of past episodes. >> i've been married for a month now and i still don't regret it at all.

[laughter] i -- but i did my first long set yesterday since i got married, and it's a very strange -- i know everybbdy has this experience and eventuaaly it will go away. but it's very strange to reference my wife. >> funding for overheerd with evan smith is provided in part by the mattsson mchale foundation in support of public television. lso by mfi foundation, improving the quality of life within our community. and from the texas board of legal specialization, board certified attorneys in your community. experienced, respected and tested. also by hillco partners, texas government affairs consultancy and its global health care consulting business unit, hillco health. and by the alice kleberg reynolds foundation, and viewers like you. thank you.

>> i write a lot. i write maybe for about eight or nine hours, you know, but i don't actually write for eight or nine hours. i only write for about an hour and a half, and then i fart around, but i figure if i don't have the farting around, i can't have the bit -- >> well, that's what i wonder, because i'm in the studio on my own for eight hours. but i should just do the morning and then go put a bet down on the races like roald dahl did. i could go after the bookies. >> yeah, completely. >> haskins: "theater talk" is made possible in part by...

>> what about rules, honey? rules? >> i believe that... matilda wormwood is an exception to the rules. >> an exception... to the rules... in my school? >> from new york city, this is "theater talk." i'm producer susan haskins. >> and i'm michael riedel of the new york post. now, susan, i have been going to broadway opening nights for about 20 years, but the one that i just went to is probably one or two, maybe hugh jackman number one, and the opening of "matilda" at the shubert theater the other night is number two. an absolutely thrilling night. the reviews are out today. four stars from every critic in new york. i want to welcome the creators of "matilda" and the star of "matilda" to "theater talk" tonight and tell them, "gentlemen, it's all downhill from here. >> [ laughter ] >> that's all right, i can handle it. >> i hope you're enjoying yourselves, 'cause it's just going right down. >> wait a minute, we're number two? you brought us here

'cause we're number two? >> a cabaret show is your number one? >> okay, walk out, walk out. >> tantrum time. >> hugh jackman, hugh jackman! all right, we are joined by dennis kelly, who wrote the absolutely terrific script to "matilda" based on the roald dahl novel. welcome to "theater talk," dennis. tim minchin, whom i met in london, wrote one of the best scores i've heard on broadway in at least 20 years. welcome to "theater talk." >> thanks. >> and a fantastic performance by bertie carvel as miss trunchbull, who makes miss hannigan look like carol burnett. terrific performance. >> thank you very much. >> and congratulations on your reviews. so let me ask you guys, i mean, you're all new to broadway. and you've just opened with one of the biggest shows of all time. can i just get your -- what was opening night like for you, tim? i mean, what's the experience like today reading these reviews? >> it's kind of... i think it's -- i find it very hard to take the whole moment in, i think, because it's so far beyond my expectations of what i've been doing with my life. and also, there's a... we feel sort of...