I just enjoyed bar mitzvahs as a kid, and there was this company in the Detroit area where I grew up, and I think they recruited me as a party dancer - you know, like, you dance around and pass out glow sticks. I quickly rose in the ranks and, within a year, became an emcee, which was kind of unheard of.
There's a film I did called 'Front of the Class', about a teacher who had Tourette's. That was a beautiful blend of drama and comedy. There's some great moments of levity in the script.
I had such a broad array of classes, in improvising, in clowning, in Shakespeare. It was so great to just be inundated with all that.
As an actor, you're tied to the writing. You live and die by what's written for you. And you can elevate that to a certain extent, but really, that's your blueprint.
Anytime you get to join a group of people you admire and respect, you want to keep those doors open.
My character on 'The Crazy Ones' is entirely different than Bob Benson. If these guys ran into each other at a bar, I don't think they'd have much to talk about. They're really different guys.
When I was young, my parents made me listen to old music and watch Jimmy Durante. I fell in love with the whole mystique of acting and entertainment.
I had just finished working on a play, and we started to talk to the 'Happy Endings' folks. There was interest from both sides, which was exciting, because I thought it was very fresh. Adam Pally's just a really funny, talented dude. I thought I'd be great to jump on and do some comedy.
Often in television, you read a script and you're amazed that you get the scene given to you.
You can find old Jewish newspapers from Detroit that have my promotional ad in them. It was a totally insane time in my life. Paul Rudd was also a bar mitzvah emcee, you know? It was like being a local rock star in Detroit.
My mom is an art teacher and my dad owns a women's shoe store, so they're not actors by any means. Well, I guess to sell women's shoes, you have to be an actor.
In Michigan, if you want to act, it's local theater, it's high school theater and it's going to camp and putting on plays in the summer, and I always loved doing that. There was something that just drew me to it.
The 'Lone Star' experience was tough at the time, but it really allowed me to look at things from a 3,000-foot high view. You can think something is the greatest thing in the world, but, as we know, anything can happen. It really taught me that I always want to make choices that I believe in artistically. No one can take that away from you.
My dad used to put me in front of the TV screen and made me watch old Jimmy Durante and Dean Martin movies. I just always loved entertainment.
I was an emcee for bar mitzvahs from age sixteen to twenty-one.
I like to dance, but there's nothing professional about it.
Even when we see somebody incredibly evil, there's a rationalization behind what they're doing. They're at their best when they're at the moment.
No one ever judges their own self.
In my everyday life, I'm a jeans and button-up shirt kind of guy.
I just grew up loving acting and loving entertainment.
