>> hard to pick back up buster after all that time? >> the crazy thing about buster is when i started doing buster, it scared me how naturally it came to me. [laughter]. >> he was that weird at first. >> i don't know what that says about me. [laughter]. but i will say this time around, because it had been seven years since we shot the last episode, and so there was so much -- the only reason we were able to come back is purely the fans. i mean, they -- they gave the momentum for the excitement. i mean, everything. so that's the only reason we're back. so you kind of feel this wave of expectation, this momentum, and there was a part of me that was like, i don't know if we can match that. you know, it was kind of nervnerve-racking, but obviously wwe were so thankful. and i will say -- stepping back into buster, i don't know if i can match that but then when i heard all the other characters talking and specifically the woman who plays my mother. >> jessica walter. >> jessica walter, she plays the character of will you seal and she has this in --

willucics lle, passive aggressive, with bus other. >> it was like riding a bike again. [laughter]. >> it was very pavlovian. >> i'm ride there. >> the last show aired in 2006 but one of the aspects that's so interesting is many people discovered it after it was no longer on are the air. it was the dvds that got the momentum. the fan momentum, if it had been there originally it would still be on fox. >> our ratings were not good on fox so they didn't have to keep us around for two and a half years but i'm grateful they did. but definitely with dvd and netflix, people watching on there, that's how it gained -- >> i bet fox is thinking, i wish we had it back on now. given the momentum now. >> yeah. but they -- i mean, even -- because they still own will -- i don't understand all that stuff but they obviously have ownership to it that they allowed us to do this. beep beep.

>> -- [beep] >> they may be benefiting from it. >> yes. >> the other people in that series, we've had david cross, but jeffrey tamber, jessica walter, these are great actors and interesting and funny, to put all of you together. i wonder what the dynamic has been from the beginning because these aren't normal people. these aren't normal kinds of actors in the same place. [laughter]. >> yes, it is. the great thing is when we do get together, we are very different, all of us, but we have such respect for each other, and the great thing with comedy is when you throw the bowl -- the bowl -- we throw bowls. [laughter]. no, when you throw the ball you want to make sure to have the trust they're going to throaf th throw the ball bacd we all have that trust and respect. so it's like getting on the playground with those. >> everybody is following behind mitch hurwitz. >> absolutely. he is the master puppeteer,

people have asked -- >> is it ad lib. >> improve. yes, ad lib. mitch is like a mad scientist and had it mapped out so well that i never wanted to leave the page because something that i was supposed to say might be forced out of something or be a clue -- fornld ou forged of something i missed. storyline, there were all these jokes happening way back about hand shares and signs of hand. i didn't know my hand was coming -- [laughter]. i remember thinking, oh, like hand share. that's odd. >> that's odd. >> so if i were to kind of improv or ad lib something i would have missed what he already pointed out. i personally never want to leave a page when mitch is there. >> that script. for people who haven't seen the fourth season, the one on netflix, it's organized where every episode is built around a character. >> yes. >> and so you didn't actually have maybe a lot of time in every episode

because the way it's structured that's not the point. so you may be shot for three weeks, for the whole season? >> yeah, total. and also i was shootin veep at e time, that was shooting in baltimore. bits came out of each episode, lucille, when we do -- we do the bit where i'm inhaling smoke out of her mouth. [laughter]. oh, typical. >> yeah. >> so because she is not allowed to smoke and she has to -- i inhale out of her mouth and i go out to the porch and exhale. it's just so disturbing. [laughter]. but like i would go her episode but each character had one episode we did. >> i have to ask, because i can't imagine what this must have been like, about working with liza minnelli. >> yeah. >> right. >> my girlfriend. >> your girlfriend. [laughter]. >> what about -- what's she actually like at this point?

[laughter]. >> thitat this point, in her life and her career. >> she's great on the show. >> she's fantastic, and she's had a very colorful life. >> that's a nice way to say it. >> she is awesome, and that's not just me being hollywood, just trying to say nice things. she really is fantastic, because i think with her status, it could go one of two directions. >> oh, my gosh -- >> you never know what you're going to get when you're dealing with an icon like that. they culd be completely a witch or they could be gracious. >> she always seems game. >> there was one thing where she did like a somersault over a back somersault, and i remember when she was doing it, i was like, a! [laughter]. >> liza minnelli. >> but anyway, she was so gracious. she took my wife and i out to lunch once and told us stories about how she loved her mom, and she was raised on the mgm lot. >> right. >> so you're dealing with someone -- and her stories

never came from a place of ego. they came from a place of like listen to my life. >> right. >> and i was just like, amazing. >> all right. so what about a fifth season? there's a lot of discussion that netflix has expressed interest in doing this whole thing over again. >> yes. >> there's been discussion of a movie. i gather neither of those things is confirmed but there's discussion. >> to me, completely candid, i'm probably the last person that knows anything that's going on, so i kind of read the press, and i'm like, wait, what's happening? i know mitch has said, obviously he's very interested in doing it again, and all of us are just game for whatever, because the thing that's so great about arrested is it's all about surprises. as an actor you have no idea what they're going to throw at you. >> right. >> i mean, one day it's like buster is going to a mother-boy convention with his mother. [laughter]. you're like, okay, let's do it. so there's all those surprises coming at you. so it's just fun. >> so you'd be willing to do it and you think that the

cast would be willing to do it. >> everybody. >> making whatever happens happen. >> everybody would be willing to do it. i think it's all kind of the bigwigs, them working it out. >> in the meantime you'll go into production of the third season of veep i right. >> you've got this going on. a very different experience be doing arrested. >> very different. veep was created by armandi, these are british writers who write about american brits. they're fascinated about it. the great thing about their process is we rehearse for two or three weeks before you shoot. in television i rarely rehearse. you show up and do the work. so we rehearse for two or three weeks and improv and come up with ideas and bits. it's really just this playground of just coming up -- the script starts one way and it kind of morphs into something else. >> in some ways veep is less structured be "arrested development."

>> it's stru structured -- >> you have some room. >> we have some room just to play, and he's not at all -- he doesn't -- there's the freedom, and julia -- drive us who place -- julia drive dreyfus who plays the vice president -- >> being on hbo affords you what liberties other than being able to cuss? >> that's a good one. >> it is a good one. >> i think kind of to go back to what i said about -- i think they -- i don't know -- -- that's a good question. i think you don't have to go in 20 minutes, where you have to fill in for commercials. i remember mitch doing arrested and he had so much material and he had to keep it -- >> on fox. >> on fox, so that's what was great about netflix, is he could continue it. but i think also they had hands-off, they just allowed armando to do what he does best. >> they're not wedded to

ratings in the traditional way a network would be. they can afford creative risks, they can afford to give people, like people who created veep more roof to -- exercise. it's not seasonal calendar. >> it shoots in baltimore so it's a shorter season because my wife and daughter are in l.a. and we travel back and forth, but it's nice i don't have to be there the whole time. >> i don't imagine there's ways to prepare the place, bus -- but there are ways to prepare to play vice president. did you see people who worked for joe biden or dick chaney to get a scens sense of what the character -- >> my character is titled as a body man, clearly. [laughter]. so gross. [laughter]. but he -- i didn't meet their body man, carry around bags and have stuff for people. i did meet one who was a body man to a certain representative, and they have no life. i mean, they -- 24/7 they are with these people. they don't have any social

life. they travel with them. and the thing is that typically in your 20s they'll do this and move on and burn out in their career. my character stayed in his 40s because he has no identity outside of celine sea -- selena. he would follow her to dairy queen, he loves and a obsessed with her. in his ideal world they would be married and he still things thinks they'd be married. he worships the ground she works on. >> so it's based on something -- >> yeah, it's based on something. there's a bag people carry around. my bag, gary has probably 60 or 70 pockets season inside the game and cocktail versions what's inside the bag. god forbid it runs out. >> he's a mess. >> "arrested dvelopment" and veep are your first regular -- as -- you have a long list of one-offs. you're on this episodic

drama, this nighttime show. there's a mr. robato performance in a commercial, that i think was your big star turn. >> in new york i mainly did -- i was in new york from -- for about seven or eight years and i mainly did commercials and theater, and it took me that long to get a tv and film agent. i could not find an agent when i worked for tv and film, and then i finally found somebody -- my commercial agency recommended this person and that's how i kind of got in tune and the rest of it -- >> break in like that. >> yeah. >> are those hard years, when you're doing essentially two episodes of law and order, an episode of er, is it difficult to keep your sanity and to make a living and think that you want to continue to do it. >> yeah, i think -- because here's the thing. when you sign up to be an actor you're signing up for a career of rejection. you're constantly getting rejection. you have to find a support system. you have to find people who believe in you, can encourage you. we were just talking about this. i think the 20s are difficult times because you're trying to figure out

stuff in general and new york is a crazy place to live. but i was speaking with this person who was in their 20s recently and i was saying how -- everybody is dealing with uncertainty. we're all kind of trying to figure out -- we don't -- after this i don't know what the next gig is. at my age i'm more used to the uncertainty. but in your 20s you're not. so living in new york it was just trying -- i'm going to find another gig and i didn't know what was happening but my support system was like everything to me. so i'm -- and the crazy thing is in my business you -- typically people go to job interviews for two or three months and then they have a job for two or three years or longer. in my business you're on a job interview for two or three years and you're lucky if you get a job for -- >> a couple months, right. >> like that's a good gig. so you're constantly looking to that next gig, and it's -- it can be crazy, but, you know, you learn lessons about kind of -- i mean, i'm going to turn into oprah now, but you learn

lessons of just kind of trying to be in the moment and not -- because if you think too far ahead it will drive you a little nuts. >> you were acting in high school, right? all the way back to a school in florida when you were growing up? >> yeah, tallahassee -- i was an army brat for a little while -- >> born at west point? >> i was born in west point. >> right. >> and my dad -- we lived in germany for a while, and then in the 7th grade moved to tallahassee and that's where i mainly grew up. >> what made you think you wanted to do this? >> tallahassee. >> neither -- [laughter]. >> neither parent was in show business, right? >> my grandfather was an opera singer. >> grandfather was an opera singer. so is that the fruit from the tree here -- >> i don't know. -- yeah, i guess. i mean, again, i have no singing abilities whatsoever, but he -- he also did vaudeville in new york for the earl carol follies. he was an mc. the great thing i never met him because he passed away when my dad was 6 but my dad has always been very

supportive of my work, and my brother is a lawyer so he's got the business side and the creative side and appreciates both. >> what was the first thing you did in high school? do you remember the early things you did? >> yeah -- i don't know if this -- i'm trying to think. this is -- i have gof got the worst memory known to man. i remember the first thing i ever did was a music called barbecue for ben. [laughter]. and i remember -- i've seen pictures, i wore these really bright tight pants, that's all i remember. and it was about the prodigal son story where i was the brother that was all pissed off that the other one got all the attention. >> that's a -- >> you're welcome for that story, guys. >> that one is free. >> you're welcome. [laughter]. >> might want to jot that down. [laughter]. >> and so you left florida, went to college in alabama. >> yes, i went to school in alabama and studied journalism because i didn't know if i could make a career out of acting. yeah, that's a growth

industry. >> exactly. >> very profitable. and then after college i said, you know what, i'm going to take a crack at it and i went to school? virginia for a little bit and studied theater and moved to new york in 1995. my first job was shakespeare in the parking lot. [laughter]. >> sounds like you're telling the truth, actually. >> i'm telling the absolute truth. it was taming of the shrew in the east village and we were performing in a park lot, and i just remember performing and it was like garbage trucks were going by and just needles were just all around the street. [laughter]. and it was actually my first taste of a new york audience because we had all these chairs set up and they would sit down and you'd see them look at us and go oh, and they'd look at us and go, oh, nah. keep performing, keep performing. >> we were talking about this when you came out here. you lived in new york for a long time before you got "arrested development" as you were trying to get -- as an actor.

and you wife worked on the crew of "saturday night live." >> she was a makeup artist. >> makeup artist. >> so you get the job and move to l.a. you've been i l.a. ten years. >> ten years. >> new york versus l.a. as an actor, seems like more of the center of the industry is out there so it's probably good for you to be out there. >> you know, i think the difference -- again, i grew up -- when i was getting my break in new york, we didn't have youtube and the internet and stuff, it was so -- what we always did -- it wasn't like web site used to showcase your work or things like that on youtube. we would do these showcases and do scenes, because people would go to theater in new york. in l.a., though, i think at the time -- i think it was very difficult for someone to showcase their work because nobody went to the theater in l.a., but nowadays i think it's a lot easy year to get your work -- easier to get your work show cade because technology makes it -- showcased because technology -- >> youtube, yeah.

>> it was a very different time. i love and hate things about both, obviously the traffic in l.a. is not fun, but the weather is ridiculously good. it's so good. and it is so hot in austin right now. [laughter]. >> oh, good god. >> yeah. >> but i love it. [laughter]. i really do. i love -- i love -- there's all these steel trailers of fantastic food, like crazy doughnuts and all this stuff. it's like, yes, please, anyway, l.a. -- and new york, i loved it, when i was -- the subway is fantastic to get around, but it's the kind of city that i think you really have to be ready for because it's a very fast city, and when you get on the street you can just feel this push where everybody is just going, and it's -- and you kind of got to adjust to that. >> living in l.a. but you're filming deep in baltimore so you're spending a fair amount of time on this coast here. >> yes. >> couple minutes left. what will you do next? you said you're trying not

to prepare. don't know what's going to happen. is there anything else you're working on or thinking on past veep or beside veep? >> veep -- most of my attention is focused on that. i'm writing a children's book with friends. >> talk about that. >> and i -- well, i don't want to give it away. [laughter]. but it's really very -- it's kind of about a lesson that i have learned of kind of to this thing about contentment, where so much of my attention when i was younger was like i want a sitcom. and when i got that sitcom, even though i loved it, it didn't satisfy the way you thought it was going to satisfy. and i think -- that whole thing, if you're not practicing contentment why you're at you won't be content when you get what you want. and it was a big lesson that i really had to learn and it taught me a lot. >> during arrested you were thinking, i finally hit the thing i wanted but maybe it's not exactly what i wanted. >> no, i obviously loved to be on the show but i just remember i put so much expectation on getting this.

nothing can match that expectation. that's so much weight you put on something. and it really was just that thing, well, i have it -- i put a lot of weight on this, and it just -- that was a big lesson for me, of kind of -- i spent a lot of time -- it's not ambition is bad. i'm not saying dreaming is bad and looking forward but i think i put a lot of my value and identity on getting that. i'll be worth something -- rather than you have value exactly where you're at, you know. and i kind of like the idea of teaching kids that, because dreaming is fantastic, but where you're at, there is tremendous value. does that makes sense? >> it does make sense. and as you say, much of acting is rejection. >> it's all rejection, so i mean -- just kind of -- it's almost more than -- anyway, yes, exactly. [laughter]. it's like turning into a serious -- >> it is, actually. no movies? do you have any interest in transitioning over from tv -- >> oh, yeah, i go back -- i

just did that summer the heat with mccarthy, just any -- if i believe in the work and i'm -- a gig, i'm so thankful. i mean, there's times that something is offered that i don't necessarily want to do, but for the most part i'm just always so thankful for the work. >> well, thanks for spending time with us. >> thank you. >> it's great to get to hear from you and talk to you about this stuff and good luck with everything you're doing. fun to see you succeed. >> thank you for having me. >> more veep and more "arrested development," please. >> thank you. >> tony hale, thank you very much. [applause] >> we'd love to have you join us in the studio. visit our web site at klru.org/overheard to find invitations to interviews, q and as with our audience and guests and an archive of past episodes. >> i am a huge advocate for just finding as many opportunities where you're at and make the most of

those, because if one day you do want to move to l.a. or you do want to move to new york, it's all about being the most relaxed, the most comfortable you can be on stage and in frt of a camera. so making all those opportunities worthwhile where you're at, getting that experience. >> funding for overheard with evan smith is provided in part by the mattson mchale foundation in support of public television. also 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.

[music].

recs i am llewellyn king, the host of "walk -- white house hronicle." today, said thoughts, thoughts about elephants. i feel some affiliation with elephants. i come from africa. the news that has saddened me beyond measure is the news that very close to where i was born in zimbabwe, in the game reserve, 41 beautiful giant, gentle, gentle giants have been poisoned with cyanide by poachers seeking their tasks for ivory. it is horrendous that such lovely creatures are being expunged from the earth. years, there may

be no african elephants in the wild. we are all, in some way, guilty. it is a long chain of guilt, including myself. i once bought an ivory gift for someone. in they mother, who 1920's hunted elephants with an uncle of mine when it was considered an honorable undertaking. we are all guilty to some extent. and sequestration. there is a long, thin line that extends to the u.s. congress. this holocaust of the elephants might somewhat be influenced by the congress. wildlife service does something to stop the poaching and trade of rhino horn, elephants, and special gifts to the earth in africa that are being denuded. but it is underfunded. sequestration has cut the number of agents. they were particularly in

stopping shipment through the u.s. they work with other governments to enforce laws on the bus. they are underfunded. there are 63 vacancies. it is a shame. i was upset to learn about the slaughter of the elephants. gasparello, was so moved that she wrote a poem unbeknownst to me. i will read it to you. it is called "fade to gray." they walked in line, trunk to tail to their watering holes innocence drink the water 41 trumpets sound bellowing, they all fall around the elephant cost child is dead -- the elephant's child is dead. you can get that poem online. please think about how small a

world it is, how hegelian. denied seeing one of natures most extraordinary creatures tomorrow. to onei am going to talk of my best friends about life in general, how we live now. he is an international lawyer and a fabulously wise, thoughtful, and engaging man. i think you will enjoy what is coming up very much. >> "white house chronicle" produced in collaboration with whut, howard university television.and now, the program host, llewellyn king, and cohost, linda gasparello. >> hello again, and thank you for coming on. i