Girl on Guy with Aisha Tyler - girl on guy 193: kevin durand

Episode Date: July 16, 2015

join kevin durand of the strain, vikings, and dark was the night and aisha as they dig deep and wreck sh*t live from the us grant at comic con 2015

Today's episode is brought to you in part by Squarespace. Squarespace is the easiest way to create a beautiful website, blog, or online store for you and your great ideas. Squarespace features an elegant interface, beautiful templates, and incredible 24-7 customer support. Try Squarespace at Squarespace.com and enter offer code Aisha, that's AISHA, at checkout, to get 10% off. Squarespace, build it beautiful. This is Girl on Guy. Hey everybody, welcome to Girl on Guy, 193. Welcome to the show.

As you can hear, once again, I have lost my voice, this time due to the madness that is San Diego Comic-Con. I'm actually recording this on the Sunday of this year's Comic-Con, in between panels at Nerd HQ, where I will no doubt destroy my voice further, show up to the talk on Monday, sounding like a complete idiot. But what can you do? I'm a fragile flower, and I run myself into the ground with glee. joyfully every single day because you only live once. I'm not going to say YOLO. Well, I did just say YOLO, but you know what I'm trying to tell you. You got to do that shit. Let's get the business out of the way. There are only a few episodes left in this year, but I do want to thank every single fan

who came here to Comic-Con who went to the contest for the fan appreciation event and then came and hung out with me here in San Diego. It was such a fun day. We had all kinds of new original art for Comic-Con 2015. T-shirts. This year we did phone cases, stickers. We signed everybody's memorabilia and handed out the beer that I created this year with Stone, Stone Cold Fox. This was my 2015 Comic-Con brew, which was a black IPA. It is available on tap houses around San Diego and at Stone Tap houses in San Diego and in Pasadena, or will be available in Pasadena in a few weeks. So keep tuned for that. I'll tweet that out as it becomes more available, but it will not be available for sale outside of California, unfortunately. But it was a super fun day. And then we went down and we

had an amazing podcast live with all the fans in the audience with this year's special guest, Kevin Durand. And this episode is with Kevin. And it is coming to you momentarily right after the business. This episode is brought to you in part by Squarespace. And I have mentioned many times how I run this show all by my lonesome. I am a one-woman band. And that included in the very beginning, creating a website for the podcast. I did it on my own. It took me many, many, many, many hours countless hours thrown down a hole, during which I got very tired, very sick, and sprained my eyeball. I have mentioned that before on the show. I actually did spray my eyeball. I had an attain pain behind my eye. I thought I was dying, and my eye doctor was like, you idiot, you see your computer

too long and your big dumdum. But if I had used to Squarespace, I would have not had had that level of pain and agony building my own website because Squarespace is set up to give you a site looks professionally designed, regardless of your skill level. You need no coding ability, no intricate knowledge of how computers work. They have intuitive and easy to use tools and state-of-the-art technology to power your site, ensuring security and stability at every minute of every day. Squarespace is trusted by millions of people, some of the most respected brands in the world, and it starts at just $8 a month, and you get a free domain if you sign up for a full year, which is a paltry, I don't even know, less than $100, essentially. So to start your free trial

site today with no credit card required, all you need to do is go to Squarespace.com and use the offer code IEach to get 10% off of your first purchase. Squarespace provides simple, beautiful, powerful websites that look professionally designed, intuitive and easy to use tools to create your website and support whatever business or dream you are pursuing, your art portfolio, your restaurant, the new company you're starting. Squarespace makes it easy to build a beautiful website without breaking a sweat. So search a free trial site right away, no credit card required. at Squarespace.com. Sign up for Squarespace using the offer code Aisha,

and you will get 10% off that first purchase. Squarespace, built it beautiful. Okay, this episode is with Kevin Durand, and he is so much fun. I can't wait for you guys to cyber meet him, ear meet him. Yeah, I don't know what's going to happen, but it's going to be great. He's so interesting and fun. He's a character actor.

He'll know him from lots and lots of stuff, but you'll know him most probably from his roles on Lost as Martin Kimi, the badass that came to the island in season four. And in his most recent roles as Vasily Fet on the Strain on FX, which just premiered season two this past Sunday night, and as Hobbard, I love saying that, Harvard, Hobod, on Vikings. So he's a really great actor and a really lovely guy. He's got a brand new movie coming out this month called Dark Was the Night, and we're going to talk about all that and more on this episode of Girl on Guy recorded live at the U.S. Grant Hotel in San Diego, the site of the very first Comic-Con, and now the site of the awesome fan appreciation event

at Comic-Con. It was an amazing time. We loved them. They took such good care of us and all of my fans, and we can't wait to do it there again. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Girl on Guy, 193, Live from the U.S. Grant at Comic-Con, San Diego, 2015, and right into your face. It's our third annual fan appreciation event. And so first of all, for all of you who have done this before, thanks for coming back. For all of you, for whom this is the first time, you're awesome. Welcome. And as you can see, we stepped it up a bit this year by bringing it to a fancy new venue with lights and things.

and beers and stuff. And you guys can all drink during the show, which I think is the highest and most important improvement of all. You may not know this, but this hotel of the U.S. Grant, this room, this very room inside the U.S. Grant, is the site of the very first Comic-Con. So you are sitting on hallow ground.

This room is haunted by the ghost of nerdery past. But it's very exciting, and they've been lovely to us, so thanks for staying and eating upstairs and drinking upstairs, because that made it worthwhile for them, because they could give a fuck, but they were happy that there were people buying booze. All right, and I will just say, finally, before I bring our special guest,

that I love doing this event. You know, I start a girl and guy just to see if it would be fun to make a podcast. I had friends what a podcast, right? Adam Carolla had a podcast. I was a guest on his podcast, and that was a guest on Nerdist, and I thought, God, it'd be so fun to sit around with people I find interesting and kind of pick their brains and get to chat with them. But I didn't know if it was going to do well, and more than that, much more than that. I didn't know if I was going to like it. It's a lot of work, as you can see, it's just me and my shitty, like, second generation technology.

I think we're on, like, Generation 7. By the way, the software used to make the show has no customer support. The company's gone out of business. And I'm too lazy and inert to like learn garage bands. So there you go. But I, and I make this thing all, I'm seriously like, fuck garage ban. I can't do it. I can't learn one new thing, you guys. So I'm, this is a labor of love.

I do, when, if you listen to this show, you are seeing how the show was made. I sit in my little production office and I record it on this thing and then I put it on my computer and then I blop, blop, blop. and then it goes onto the internet. So sometimes it sounds great, and sometimes it sounds like your mom made it on her flip phone. And I don't give a shit because it's free. So feel how you want to feel. But the reason that I do it is because of you guys.

And to get to see you and to touch you and to meet you and to hear how the show's affected you is so meaningful to me. So I know sometimes you come in here and you think like, oh my God, I'm ploncing a little Raisha. But inside I'm like, oh, my God, I'm plodzing over this strange person who's a little sweaty. So we both were plodzing today.

And I think that's what Comic-Con is all about, is getting to plots about stuff that you love. And I'm really, really grateful for you guys making the trek. I know some of you guys drove to San Diego from very far away just to do this today. So you're awesome. And thank you for your love and support. And I hope that you've had fun so far

and that we've plied you with alcohol and gifts. And now we're going to ply you with conversation. So I'm super excited for my guess. I guess today on the show is Kevin Durand, who is a character actor who you know from a lot of things. There's so many things I can't even name all of the things. But the things that you may know him from most vividly is he was a villain in the fourth and sixth season of Lost, where he came to the island to kill everybody and set shit on fire. and then most recently right now he is on he plays facility fete on the strain which starts at second season this

Sunday night and he also plays a character whose name is not in my head I think his name is Harbord or Harbord on that might be wrong he's going to come out go you got that totally wrong his name is George he is he is a really cool mysterious character that is recurring on a show that I really love and if you know when you listen to all the episodes of Girl on Guy you know I'm a episode of Girl on Guy you know I'm obsessed with Vikings. I went to Shadow On last summer in Dublin and had an amazing time and got to touch shields and I got to touch Vikings. Super inappropriate. Some of them are avoiding eye contact. They're here and they're like, hey, there she is guys. Fuck, how did she get here? So, but he's amazing and I know you're going to love him and please welcome to the stage.

Mr. Kevin Duran. Okay, so I'm going to put this by your face hole. By my face hole. You have a really high mouthhole. Hello, everyone. Yay. How you doing? Yeah. I was super excited about getting you on the show, and it's always hard with Comic-Con because it's a very busy time.

Yeah. And so I was like, God, we should pitch Kevin Duran. We should pitch Kevin Duran. And then you said, yes, like, super fast, and I was so happy. Yeah, yeah, no, I was like, I was so excited. I mean, we had almost done this back in LA. And I jumped on that too. So I bet you I'm more excited than you are.

I honestly don't think that's possible, Mr. Durand. So we're just going to do the thing, the most linear thing, which is we're going to start at the beginning. Because I think a lot of times, and especially you, you have a very distinctive look. I think people, if you see Kevin Durand on the street, you wouldn't know what you knew him from, but you would be super fucking sure that you knew him.

You know what I mean? You'd be like he's a movie star or he beat me up in high school. Or he's wanted by the police. Right. So, but I really want to talk about, I want to talk about the origins of Kevin Durant. So let's just start at the beginning. Where were you born? I was born in a city that's 21 hours northwest of Toronto.

Wow. And it's called Thunder Bay, Ontario. And it was minus 52 this new year. Dude, that's not even a thing. You know what? My wife, the first time that she came up to Thunder Bay, I was like, okay, well, leading up to it, I was like, we got to get you a jacket.

Jacket, we got to get you a sweater. Yeah, it's going to keep you warm. And I showed her all the options. She was like, but they're so poofy. And I was like, yeah, but poofy is what is going to keep you alive. And so she showed up to Thunder Bay. because I had gone up a little earlier and she came out in her little LA outfit and she was looking all beautiful. And I was like, baby, like, it's minus 40 out.

She's like, it's okay. No. And I was like, where's your jacket? She's like, it's in my bag. Don't leave it. And I was like, all right. And the doors open up. And she went, she was making sounds that.

I could only wish I was responsible for. And then she literally just stopped. And she was like, can't breathe, can't breathe. And I was like, I know. You remember that boofy jacket? And now she listens to everything I say. She learned. Yeah.

So that's Thunder Bay. That's where I grew up. So many questions and one statement. which is that that kind of cold is a unique kind of cold. Like, it's not like you get outside and then a minute later, you're like, oh, I need a jacket. It's like you get outside and then in one second, you're like the incident of my nose is frozen. Yeah. And I might die.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Especially if you don't know it. Like, it's like touching fire for the first time. If you grow up in it, I mean, I'm like a crazy person when I'm there. Like, I'm outside playing with my dogs. And even the people are living there like all year around, they look at me. They're like, that dude is insane.

No wonder he plays so many crazy motherfuckers. I'm like running around. Even my dogs, like they put their paws on the snow. And they're kind of like, are you sure about this? I know it'll be cool. You're straight. Let's go. But yeah, that's the kind of cold that we have there.

Is it, is Thunder Bay on a body of water? It's at the tippy top of Lake Superior. Wow. The largest freshwater lake in the world. Ooh, Canadian. So what was... Okay, so first of all, that's really far north. That's like, that's up there.

Yeah. And how big is Thunder Bay? We have about 100,000 people. Okay, so it's not tiny. No, it's not tiny at all. But you have to travel an enormous distance to get to any other city. Right. I think the closest city to us is Duluth.

Okay. Minnesota. Duluth, Minnesota. So in another country. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you have to go to America. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

The next closest city is Inuktuuktuukotaka, which is like, no, I'm the eyes. No, you made that out. That's not real. You think I could come up with something better. Nookutu Tukukata. Everybody bought it. Everyone's like, damn. And they're like, oh, I know Enukotukuk.

Right. Eskimo is hype. So 100,000 people was like a college-sized town. So it's not like a college-sized town. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How do people make a living on the frozen tantra?

Well, up in Thunder Bay, my family, like I would have been sixth or seventh generation lumberjack. Oh. My father, when he was a child, was pulled out of school, and he was like hammering spikes into these logs and guiding these big workhorses to pull the logs into the lake. Oh, wow. That's what, you know, if I didn't want to sing and dance, then, you know, I'd be welding tickets in 40 below or something, which I give so much respect to. But it's funny because, like, people always comment on my work ethic, and I always think it's so funny because I really truly don't feel like I've worked a day in my life.

My father worked. Yeah. And I have so much respect for people who, you know, put their bodies and lives on the line to provide for the people they love. Yeah, that's a dangerous field of work too, right? Yeah, yeah. I just get to say lines that people wrote and I get to talk to really lovely, brilliant people like you. And it's like, get out of here. Well, I got off.

I got it pretty easy, man. We just suffer emotional wounds, no physical ones. Yeah, just slow crushing of our psyche. When you were growing up, so your father was a logger? I mean, was he cutting down the trees or was he, what did he do? You know, he was actually, he started off working in the bush camps, and by the time he was 13, he tells me stories. He was actually driving 18-wheeler trucks and hauling logs.

He was like 13, 14 years old. And then the last like 30 years of his career, He was building the 18 wheeler trailers. Building them? Building them. That's crazy. My father can build anything. That's amazing.

Yeah. Did he teach you that stuff when you were coming up? He tried. And I was busy, you know, just trying to, you know, I was a rapper. That's how I started in the business. Yeah, you were. Of course you were. I heard the accent.

I heard the rapper's accent. I was 13. I was rocking wheelie's roller skater. skating rink in Thunder Bay. And they were sneaking me in. I was also trying to do comedy. And I was like 14 years old. And this guy named Kevin Kennedy,

nicknamed Dr. Funnybone, don't ask. Oh, no. Would sneak me into the back of these hotels and give me like a 50 and I go up and entertain the adults. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Any venue that I could find. Wow.

So that started at a really young age that you wanted to be a performer. Do you remember the first moment, the earliest stage that you thought this is what I want to do? Man, I remember all the way back to my grandmother when I was like two or three years old. And I still, it's funny, I get like emotional when I talk about it. But she put me up on the kitchen table and she'd sing these French-Canadian songs. And I would dance for her.

And it would bring her so much joy that... Wow. So that's that early in your life. And you're, so your family, even though you're in the province of Ontario, which is kind of central Canada, you're French-Canadian or half of your family? I'm completely Canadian-Francer. Vue you that I talk in French? My ponties are tropé. Yeah, yeah.

It's very good. But my French, it's not tropia. Because I don't know the French can't. There's subtitles, right? Not do, no subtitles. No, there are no subtitles. I did say at some point in really shitty French, my panties just dropped. But that's a different thing.

It's different. That's a totally different thing. No, French-Canadian, every time I go to Canada, I try to speak French with everybody, and they're just like, oh. Oh, really? Canadian French is like American Southern English. To me, it's so accented. Yeah, like if I was going to say,

Bonjour, jean, I'm called Aisha in French, in Canadian, be like, well, jean, right, it's pretty good, right? Like my like French from France and even if you don't speak French, he talks of French pretty like, it's very announced, my family, like, You know, there, my tabernacle, my schoole-is, I'm going to mackethe, a crisset a clack, I'm going to crissing a clack in a cocksucker, my tabernacle. And it's just like, when the people in France, it's basically the difference between, you know,

like, hello, welcome to my home and Hi, hi, how the fuck you do it? Grab your shit up a chair! Yeah, it's like, And that's how they kind of look at us. They're always like, oh, you guys are so cute, you French-Canadian. They're the hillbillies of North America. It's cute.

No, but it's, I've worked in Canada, and I love speaking French, and I try so hard. And there's just no, and because that's not my first language, I'm just, I literally, I think people think I'm like a little like learning disabled. I'm like, just say it again so I can look at them and I'm staring. I'm like, let me stare into the interior of your mouth while you talk, get every third word that you say. So when you were going up, French was your first language? Yeah, yeah.

And then I was confused for a long time. I spoke both at the same time. Yeah? Was that difficult? I don't know. It was just normal. We all spoke what we call franglet, which is the mix of both. It's like our patois.

Yeah, yeah. When you were growing up, you are in this tiny town, very far north, and apparently ball-dropping frigid. And, you know, I think that, like, the entertainment business seems remote to everybody. Like, you know, but it seems a little bit more accessible if you live in, like, New York or L.A. And I just wonder when you were coming up if it felt like something that was very dreamlike, or if you thought, oh, this is what I'm going to do, and I know how I'm going to do it, and I'm going to go for it. I just thought there was never a chance in hell. So I practiced really hard. I was on the ice every day.

It was just all about hockey because I thought that's the way that. I started practicing my autograph when I was about six because I was going to be the greatest hockey player ever lived. And that didn't work out. Then I tried basketball. Are you too tall to be a hockey player? No. Our hockey player's bigger a little. There are guys in the NHL.

There's a guy, Zvedny Chara, who's 6'9, 270 pounds. Oh, wow, that's nuts. And then you put him on skates. Right? And then you run like hell. Because who's that big purple dude from McDonald's? That dude is coming on shoe on the ice. I try to think of a hamburger.

I want to call him hamburger. Snuffaloogis. I don't know what the hell is wrong. Big bird. A big motherfucker's coming. So, yeah, because I guess I always think of those guys have been kind of like really wiry and tiny. Yeah.

But, yeah. Dick and range. But, I mean, it was kind of, it was just kind of, when I was coming up, it was, people were looking for big players. Right, right. And I was seven years old, and my coaches would bench me

because I wouldn't go out and hurt somebody. Really? That was what they wanted to do for. And it started really, really young. Yeah. Were you a big kid? Were you, I mean, you were always, a little big for your age?

I was about six, seven when I was four. You and me both, my friend. I was like two, and we'd be at a restaurant, and the waitress was being like, what would you? Like, honey, and I'd be like, have to pick you off you. And they'd be like, oh, he's special. And I am.

You are. To this day. So when you were playing hockey as a kid, which obviously, I mean, we're more of like a three-sport country here, so I don't think there's the same obsession with any one sport in the U.S. the way there is in Canada, hockey is everything. Yeah. Everything.

When you were coming up, you thought I wanted to be a pro hockey player. And did you play, like, for your school? Did you play competitively? We're crazy up there. I mean, you're on full-out, you know, my dad was driving truck, you know, 16, 18 hours a day, six days a week so that he could buy me skates three times the season. because I was growing. Like, it was like it was something wrong with me

because I was growing so fast. Yeah. And, yeah, that's, I mean, we're religious about it. Yeah, you know. Yeah. And I still am. I'm a fan now. Mm-hmm.

I think the opportunity has passed me by. You never know, though. You never know. And I love my day job. Yeah, you have a good day job now. I love my job. I love my job. When was it that you decided?

Because you were saying you first was hockey and then it was rap and comedy. And then, like, when did you decide? okay, hockey's not going to be the thing that I'm going to pour my life into. When performing really became an option, there was a national talent search. Adorbs. This lovely lady with this amazing bright orange hair and big, big heart. Her name is Janice Dunning.

She came to town, and she auditioned a bunch of us. And I only went because my girlfriend was this beautiful dancer. And I thought I was going to marry her and have to turn. children. I was like, I'm not going to let her go on the road with a bunch of really interesting dudes from out there. Right, right, right. It's out there.

And so I went in an audition. I got the gig. And... Audition as a dancer? I was rap and acting. I was like, whatever you need. I was like... I was like, tap dancing really bad.

Another opening another show. From Philly, Boston. You know, and I think my enthusiasm... really, really heavily outweighed any kind of skill or talent, but I get, it still does. We're trying to find balance, but yeah, that's when I really felt like this, this might, this is what I'm going for. And even if I starve the rest of my life and I'm doing theater in the basement of a church, I'm good. You got in the talent show, what happened? Like what, like what, what was that?

Did you go on tour or? We went on tour for like four months across Canada in the States, and it was for Canada's 125th anniversary, singing about the multicultural diversity of the country. Oh, God, it's so Canadian. It's so cute. We wore, it was awesome, the opening act. It was tight white denim suits,

and I had a vest and it had pastel patches on it. Yeah, it did. And Janice would come around. and check our hair and she's like you have wispies fix your wispies everyone was so hairspray and you're like we're the generation that's got the inspiration take this declaration all around the world it was just like and and god bless him for coming because if they hadn't given me that job you know i'd be sitting in thunder Bay and I don't I have no idea what I would want to do with was the most frustrated yeah so that's something so interesting because I feel like um like this is a little bit of a sidebar but um when you

look when you know people get into the arts um when they look back they it's easy for you to say this is I couldn't have done anything else right like I really like I knew this was the only thing I could do. But I always wonder about that because, you know, it's either it's a moment, it's an opportunity, it's some galvanizing experience, or for most of us, almost all of us, including you, it's a boy or a girl. I always say that when someone's like, how'd you get in a guy? Well, I like this dude. You know, or you were like, I had this girlfriend who's a dancer. Not that the impetus for art isn't in you, but there's always, there's always, there's some catalyst, right? And I always wonder about, and we talk about this on the show, right,

about pursuing stuff you want to do and not holding back. And I guess, this isn't a question so much as I just wonder if you thought if that hadn't happened. I think if that had, you still would have gotten at it a different way.

Yeah, maybe. It's just, we're really far up there, Aisha. I just, I just don't know how. Right, right. Yeah, I, I, I, I, I certainly, you know, I believe in fate. Yeah. But I also believe that we have some control over our direction.

So it's kind of like a mix of both. So yeah, man. Yeah, maybe, yeah. Well, like Sarah Kona says, there's no faith but what we make. So, yes, that was a Terminator quote. But I mean, you know, it's like the fact that you were performing and you were doing this other stuff, it was like it was in you.

You know, you might have found some other way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wanted it really bad. And, I mean, I was waiting tables at strawberries. Rock and roll. And the middle of the restaurant was elevated and people would come and just watch me wait on people because it was like a stage to me.

And so maybe I'd still be at strawberry. But you would be the star of strawberries. I'd be like, you've got to go see Kevin at strawberries. Yeah. It's chicken winged Friday. Yeah, yeah. Let's get a short stack and a giggle. That big goofy Sasquatch bastard.

Tell another joke, you big. So after this talent show that you travel all over, just like Canadian Minuto. We totally were. We totally were. What happened after that? Because that ended, right? And then you kind of had to figure out

what the next step was going to be. Our main mentor on the show, Jacques LeMay, who's a great artistic director, is kind of standing in the corner at this rap party kind of thing. And I went up to him and I said, Jacques,

I think I'm going to do this. Yeah. And I thought he was going to be like, yes. I've been waiting for you to say. He was like, yeah, no. Oh, no. No, maybe go to school. No, but he was, but you know what?

He was, he was just kind of like feeling a lot of guilt about being on the road so much and not being around his family as much as he had wished. And he was like, he's kind of saying, get a nine to five. Right. And I realized that years after. When he first told me that, you know, I kind of walked off and I was like, I'm going to show you. I'm going to show you. Which is a super deep voice for a 14-year-old.

I don't know. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And yeah, I mean, bless him for like trying to tell me what he thought was right. Sometimes I think, I mean, like my parents were both artists and I do think that I remember that they were. were like just like it was it also brought a lot of like pain like it brought a lot of agony and frustration that like you know what I mean I get sometimes it feels like dream killing but sometimes it feels like I don't want you to go through what I went through it was difficult for me but everybody has to go

through that I mean you have to have travel but you just fought them the whole oh the whole way I was like whatever take your very expensive Ivy League degree and shove it I'm going to be a clown you were not happy it took them a long time too they're happy now they're still they're They've been happy for a while. Took my parents in Europe and shit. They're hell like, man. You know what I'm saying. Saying that.

So you said, I'm going to do it anyway. And then what was that? Like, what was it going to be for you at this point? Because, again, like you, I think for some people, they're like, clear. Like, I'm going to go to Juilliard. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. But you are so far north.

And maybe things feel so remote to you. I wanted to go to the National Theater School of Camp. That's in Montreal, right? Yeah. Okay. I auditioned four years in a row. NADA. Really?

Nata. I auditioned from most of the universities, NADA. Oh, wow. One let me in. I went to that one. And no disrespect the University of Windsor, but that's why I went there. And I got that and I was like, I really don't like this. So I just started to pound the paper.

pavement and I really loved actors like Gary Oldman and Daniel DeLewis, guys that I could watch and just feel like, wow, they're so lost. I want to do that, you know. And I'm just lucky enough to get to disappear into these different dudes all the time. That sounds weird. Or depending on how you get down, it sounds awesome. That's weird. Yes. Remote high five on the right. How you doing?

Thanks for describing my Saturday. Woo! All right. All righty then. You dirty-minded bastards. Welcome to Girl on Guy. So you go to the Nurse of Windsor and you stay. Do you finish them there?

No. No? No. No? No, I was terrible. Yeah, they made me take a classical cultures and ideas, and I had to learn about the Mesopotamians and how their sewer system work and stuff like that. And I was like, I was waiting tables, like 80 hours a week

to come here and learn how to act. And not that I'm begrudging a good, rounded education, but I didn't care. I wanted to get it on like Donkey Kong. I was like, do this. And so I left. And I just started pounding the pavement. Where did you go?

Toronto. Oh, okay, yeah. And you know Toronto. I do. I love Toronto. I love Toronto, yeah. Toronto is New York without all the poop. Clean.

Canadians are so clean, you guys. They're polite and they're clean and they recycle. Totally. Just the best. And by the way, this is my favorite experience in Toronto. I was doing my first movie there, and there are projects in Toronto. and I remember just walking through the projects and it was like the scene in Cinderella

where the birdies come with the ribbons and shit it was like that it's like, welcome to the projects, the projects, people are poor here but you won't get stabbed so nice, so pleasant so pleasant. Our black people are on de Gracie, hi. So racist.

So, but anyway, so you go to Toronto and you're just like, I'm going to be an actor. I'm just going to get into it. Oh, yeah, definitely. Yeah. Yeah. How old were you? 20.

20 years old. 20 and 19. Did you know anybody in Toronto? Very few. Very few people. There's a lot of bravery to go there by yourself. Small town boy. Yeah.

From the tundra with your puffy jacket. Whoa. Look at those buildings, eh? Jeez. That guy's got a phone that's not plugged into the wall. What's hard about, eh? Yeah, it was culture shock. So I generally kind of have a pretty good way to kind of measure my comfort with things.

And going to the big city was enough. So I was like, this is not even audition or think about agents or anything for a while. Let's just prove that I can survive there. Yeah. So I was a waiter. slash bouncer. Yeah. For a while.

This is a funny job. You can definitely bounce. You can bounce. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my God. I was working at Fran's restaurant. And these kids would come in.

There's 15 of them every night. And they would burn their straws, melt them onto the table. And they would always short me. Oh. My bill, let alone give me a tip. So I went up to them before. I was like, okay, 15% tip on top of this. if not we'll be talking about it.

Then I went, whoa, I sound really mean, eh? So they leave. They short me again. I have to add 50 cents, and I broke out onto the street, on the young street, and I chased them. Oh, my God, that's excellent. And they ran into a bank. I don't know why.

It was closed. And so they were stuck in that middle. They couldn't get any further. And I almost ripped the door off. I was like, I'm being dramatic. Yes. And I was like, you know what? And they were like,

and one guy fell. He tripped because there's ice everywhere in Canada. Even inside the bank. Yeah, even inside we wear skates. And then I was like, oh, an opportunity to play a scene. So I, I... An opportunity to play a scene. So I was like, I...

I don't want to be predictable, yeah. And, and, and, and, and, and, makes it up,

make some different choices. Yeah, I don't want to be truthful, yet compelling. And so, and so, and so, I started to tear up,

and, and I told them how I had three children at home. And I was bawling. And little Timmy has cancer. Oh my God. Every time they came in after that, they,

they gave me like 15% and they're like, hey, how's the kids? It was growing. They're getting up there. They're so hungry. I love it. So what people may or may not know about Toronto and Vancouver,

those are kind of like the two big filmmaking cities in Canada. And even at that point, I imagine, because you and I are around the same age, maybe, I'm sure I'm like a lot older than you, but Toronto, I'm a thousand. Black, don't crack. I died like 10 years ago. I'm just a corpse right now. That Toronto is more a little bit more TV, maybe it covers a little more film. I don't know if it was like that when you were there. I think it's constantly changed. Okay, yeah.

Yeah, I'm not really sure. I know Toronto's really hot now. Yeah, there's lots of stuff there. Yeah. Really cranking. What was your, did you, what, I mean, it's so funny because I always say, oh my God, this is such a hacky question, but then I always ask it. Because I'm curious, was there a thing that what you felt was your first break? And it doesn't have your big break, but was it a feat,

was it a play? Or was there something, in some moment, you're like, we've got a little bit of traction here. I was a music theater guy. And no one would see me for film or TV. And then they're auditioning for this hockey movie called Mystery Alaska.

And they needed a giant, goofy hockey player. And I walked in and, you know, I somehow got it. and showed up to that set. And I went from, you know, taking four buses to get out to like an airport theater where I was doing Forever Plaid. Oh, adorable.

To sitting in a room, you know, opposite Bert Reynolds and Russell Crawl and all these cats I'd been looking up to. And I was like, wow. Man. This is phenomenal. And Russell called me the night before the scene that we had. had and we only had like about a three line exchange and he was like my I shouldn't do this no do it I love it I'm already so excited he he basically I don't want to I don't want to I don't know this is happening this is happening it's such a hard accent to do so I'm right

but he just basically said you know we need more of a moment between our characters and he had rewritten the scene and and and told me to write it in my hotel room and come and we're going to do that. And I was like, are we going to tell anyone? He was like, just nod your lines, man. And we did it. Oh, wow. It was fire.

It was like, it was magic. Yeah. It was the first time I really experienced that intimacy that you get from television film as opposed to. I love theater, but I'm so hooked to doing a film and television. Yeah. And in between takes, I would skate away. we're shooting on a pond and the Rockies are all around us covered and so it's just beautiful.

And I would skate away and just kind of like pinching myself. My eyes kept watering up. I was like, holy shit for the first time, I belonged somewhere. Yeah. Like I never felt like I really belonged. Yeah. And that's always in me. Yeah.

That's that's the definitive moment. Oh, that's a great story. Oh, thank you. It is because I also think that we aren't always aware of transporting moments when they're happening. Do you know what I mean? You get so outside of yourself, like, am I doing a good job? Or, you know, do I belong here? I mean, I know that I have that inner monologue, and I still have it.

I'm like, they're going to figure out anyone with, I don't know what the fuck I'm doing about to kick this bitch out of here. Every day, I'm like, is this the day that my key don't work? You know, every single day. But so it's so lovely when you can feel something changing while it's happening, you know? That's so amazing. Yeah. And then it was exciting because that first rule kind of took advantage of like everything that you were, right? It was like in some ways both effort and effortless because you were a hockey player, right?

And you could kind of tap into things that felt very natural to you. Well, for years, I felt this thing whenever I went home that I had messed everything up because I should have kept playing home. hockey because I was this giant who could skate and that I might have had a shot. And from my dad, too. Yeah. Yeah. Then all of a sudden I get to play a hockey player. Yeah.

It was perfect. It was, I couldn't have, I couldn't have asked for a better, better way to pop my cherry. Aw. It's romantic. Saturday night? Yes. I'm in love with you. So what was it that...

We have so many Canadian actors here, interloopers. And what was it that brought you? What was the role that brought you to the United States? It was that role. Was it that role? Yeah. Bert Reynolds had heard that there was something cool going on while we were doing that scene,

and he came down and watched it and sent a message to me to come and say, to him afterwards. I was going to put Reynolds. I hope he has booze. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He does have booze. And I went up there and he proceeded to tell me things way beyond, I could ever imagine, just filled me up with so much hope and inspiration. Really? And gave me, gave me a job. and I got to do this TNT movie with him in California and I got my papers through that company and I came to California.

Wait a minute, let's stop and tell the whole story again. Whoa! What did he say to you? What things did he say to you? Oh, man. You don't have to tell them all, but pick one that is safe for work, or not safe for work, I don't care.

He said, can you massage me without massage? Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally. No, no, no. He, he, he, he, I swear that didn't happen. Nobody cares if it did. He said, he just told me that he thought that I was finding a truth and a compelling truth within the scene that it took many actors to get to that place. and the fact that it was my first scene that I

should come and massage him. No, he offered me a job. He said, I have a part for you, and I got my papers. That's just so amazing. And I also feel like it's not that actors aren't generous. I think we are generous. But I think sometimes it takes bravery

on the generous person's part to take the time out, to bring somebody in and say those things, you know? He was such a generous fellow. And always, always would take a moment to, to, to love. He never gained anything out of it other than, you know, a carmic love, right? Yeah.

And I'll say this because I know you won't, but, but Reynolds, I think, sometimes maybe has this reputation for being kind of glib. And I actually think it's so lovely that he was so genuine and kind to you. So kind. Yeah. It's so wonderful. Yeah. I also threatened his life. Yeah, well, there's that. There's that. There's that.

That's very effective. And then he told you told him about the three kids and Timmy has cancer and then he was like, okay, yeah, I've just got to do something for this guy. His kids, they're 30 and they still haven't eaten. So you come to California to do this T&T movie and then you stay. You're like I'm staying in

Hollywood. Yeah, I kind of I kind of got lost. I was really, really lost. Tell me what that means. I had, I think I stayed for a year and a bit, and I felt like my teeth were rotting, my hair was falling out, and that I was the most person in the world. I couldn't get an agent, I couldn't get auditions, I couldn't. And it was really, really.

really, really tough. Yeah. Disorienting. Yeah, and I ran out of money. Yeah. And, and, and, yeah,

so I left L.A. about six times driving back north of Canada going, I hate those another fucker. Fuck him! Yeah.

And, um, and, um, I have felt that feeling today. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. You're funny This morning

Oh my gosh And mom was always like Okay well just Just go back to Canada And you know And then when I turned 30 I don't know I became a man

Yeah I wasn't like a goofy Well I'm still goofy I just felt like it all made a lot more sense to me. And I moved to California. My goal was to learn how to surf and to hike the mountains and fall in love with the state. And I did. And then it got to a point where my agents would call me and I'd be like, I'm meditating.

Got some yoga going on here. And that was the big turning point in California. Yeah. I was like, I'm levitating right now, motherfucker. I'll return your call when I touch down. But so that's interesting too, because I feel like something that I don't know that we always do well as, because there's this weird nexus between art and commerce that happens in our business, right? where you feel like you have to be hustling

and marketing yourself and kind of putting yourself out there and really work-focused because it's competitive and for a lot of us you feel like time is passing you by and that's in direct conflict with the idea of trying to be fully human and have human experiences that will make you a better actor and we're able to portray a human being

who is enslaveously chasing you know fucking goals and aspects all the time but it's just being alive. You know what I mean? They're kind of in conflict. Yeah. Right? And so I think for a lot of people, sometimes they have a breakthrough, at least a personal breakthrough, when they stop just being about work and start to be a person. I am only about work.

I'm dead inside. But, I mean, it's exciting that that was the moment where, like, things changed for you when you just kind of wanted to just be alive. Yeah. Yeah. People feel it on you, you know? Like, if, you know, if I was walking in the room, like, and you can't be calm, be really calm, but inside it's like, hire me.

you know. Please hire me. Come on, you really want to work with me. And, and, um, I'm really talented. And, um, and, uh, and then when you walk in and you're like, just kind of like, just kind of like, this is, this is my, this is my place, man. Yeah. This is, this is where, this is what I was born to do.

And I've known it for a long time. And you put them at ease too. Yeah. Yeah. Dance. Right? Yeah. Right?

Yeah. I'll never get to cover all the things that you do. So I want to do the big things that you have done and the big things that you're doing now. And the one, you've done so many things. But the big thing I want to talk about is what your experience was like when you were on Lost. Because you came into the show when it was already a hit. And I have seen every episode of Lost. I may or may not have diagrammed several of the storylines on graph paper and put them on my wall about my television.

And one thing I read. which is really interesting about your character. Keeney, what was his first name? Martin Christopher Kimi. Oh, who he had a middle name? See, you'd be doing all kind of method shit. Backstory, motherfucker. That he was sent to the island

to essentially kill everybody. Except for Ben. Except for Ben. Take Ben back in a revenge move. And one thing that, I don't know who was this, I don't know if it was Carlton or somebody else associated with the show, was that your character was the only character was kind of purely evil.

Every other character had a backstory. Every other character had some diversity of motivation. You could find sympathy with Ben, even though he was a total prick. You could kind of see why he was doing. He had a terrible childhood. His dad was mean. But you were just a bad motherfucker,

and you stayed that way. You know what's so weird about that? Tell me. Is that for me, in order to make it real, I couldn't play, I'm an evil motherfucker, you know? So, I, To me, Charles Widmore had hired me, well, not hired me, forced me to go and do exactly what you just said.

But if I didn't do it in a certain amount of time that he would kill all my family. Right, right. That means that's meaningful. Yeah. So that was why I was like, let's go. Let's go. You're dead. You're dead.

You know, it's like, I got to get back and save my family. So it made it very real for me. Yeah. And so it's funny when people talk about how evil he is, it was like, I was like, you know, yeah, he killed a lot of people. but, you know, should be happening. He loved his wife and his kids, and he was a good dad.

And he had a job to do, right? He had a job to do. Yeah, yeah. You know, he had a lot of hobbies. He was a great knitter. He liked to knit. He liked to do, you know, a watercolor painting. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, it's interesting because I mean, everybody, I guess even Charles Wintermore was obviously kind of like the grand villain of that show. had his own set of motivations as well, right? I mean, he cared about his daughter and, you know, and whatever set of revenge fantasies he was nursing. But you were somebody that people could kind of hate overtly because there was this dynamic on this show,

and I don't know how much you knew about it before you joined it, where, like, with the main cast and then the others, and this is what I loved about loss, was that it's like the us and the, them thing. Like we love our family and families and they love their families. And that's what motivates each of us. But it's very easy for us to demonize them as the others. But then when you went over to the others camp, they had their own shit going on, right? Top perspective. Yeah, exactly. And then you kind of came in the middle and you, and everybody was

able to kind of unite in their generalized game. Yeah, that douche. How was it coming on to it? How was it coming onto that show? Because the other thing that is rare for an act. is to know going in, oh, this shit is big. Usually you're like, I hope it works. It's rare that you come on to something that's already working on such a grand scale. You know what was so cool? It was that I'd never watch a show.

Really? And I had an idea of who this guy was. I only had a one-page scene. And so I started to build stuff in my head. Oh, you didn't really tell you what was going to happen, right? You didn't know. I was only going in to do one episode. Wow.

They didn't tell me anything. You did two seasons. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so I kind of like, I didn't want to know anything about anyone on the show, so I didn't watch it. Oh, incredible. I wanted them to be basically like meat to me. And so maybe that's part of why it was so cold.

Yeah, that's why you kicked ass. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I wasn't like, okay, I'm going to kill you. But you're so nice. But I got to kill you anyway. Sorry.

Right. Sorry about that whole button push up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally. Did that change? Did that show, did that show, did the profile of that show changed since you as an actor?

So much. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So much. A lot of cool stuff came off of that. Losties are so loyal.

And luckily there was a lot of losties who were in the industry. And I started getting some pretty cool meetings and jobs. And it kind of moved from there. That's so awesome. It was, I'm so grateful to Carlton Cues because he saw me in 3Tandie Yuma. Yes. And he wanted me to come on to the show. Yeah, just from seeing you in that movie.

Yeah. Like I still came in and read, but he said, yeah, no, we already knew it. It was you. Yeah. Jump through the. He's so lovely, Carlton Cues. Amazing. And then he gave me my.

Then he gave you this job. Now, which is. Let's talk about this job. This job. The strain. Yay. So I, do that. Who here watches the strain?

Yes, and the rest of you get your shit together. What's so exciting about the strain is it feels both modern and traditional in terms of its approach to horror, which I really like. And what's also great about, I don't want to ruin it for you guys. What's also really great about Kevin's character is up until now, for the most part, you play villains. That's kind of like, he's so adorable, but you have like a little bit of a, there's some dark shit in there, obviously, because he keeps getting hired to play villains. And in this movie, in this series, you star as someone we don't know what your motivations are, but you become kind of the hero of the show. Cool. Yeah.

And, you know, you're kind of becoming like the kind of the foxy, leady. Don't tell Corey I said you're the posse leading love interest on the show But you have kind of become that guy How much did you know about this show when you took it on? Because it's based on a set of graphic novels, right? And the novels. That Guillermo Del Toro wrote.

With Chuck Hogan. Okay, yeah. First it was just the novels. Okay. A trilogy of novels. And I just heard that Guillermo del Toro and Carlton Cues wanted to meet me and I almost just went, yes.

Yeah, right? You're like, no, no, you don't know. Carlton and Guillermo. It could be Guillermo, like, Havez and Carlton, Bomp. Let's go. And I had three days before the meeting, and I rushed out, got the book, the first book, read it. And all I could think was, like, I hope it's this guy that they want me to play. Right.

Because if it's this guy, I'm so in. Really? Yeah, yeah. And then when we had the meeting, I was about 45 pounds lighter. I was kind of skinning bones and I had white hair and this weird little pencil this I was doing a movie

called The Captive at the time and I met him I look like a really weird I would wake up in the morning and go oh God my poor wife had to live with that for a while

and Germo was like you're usually different than those like yes I'm yeah when growing online this is what me this is me this is me Muscles.

And, and, and, and, um, and he was like, yeah, we'd like you to do it. And I was like, you, yeah, really? And he was like, yeah. It was like, oh. That's so great. And then we were in and I got to play for silly. And, and, man, it's, it's been such a pleasure. The second season's just, I saw that it was a screening of the first episode of the second season.

And I felt like, I just felt so incredibly proud to me. Yeah, it's really came together. It's always exciting too because a lot of times you're just caring for your own little corner of a project. And you don't quite know how it's going to come together. You have to trust everybody else that's working on it. You only can really curate your corner of the project. You can't control. And this is a pretty elaborate show with a lot of moving parts.

For those of you that don't know, the strain, I can't even describe it. It's a show, it's a vampire show, but the through line runs through the Nazi regime and kind of the ideas that at the source of Nazi evil is this ancient kind of demonic power that spreads through bites and worms in your eyeballs. So it's not quite vampirism, but the idea that the linking of vampirism and Nazis, I think, is really clever.

And he plays, you play an exterminator, New York exterminator. You're like a rat cowboy. Yeah. You are. I like that. You are. You are.

I read so I heard from somebody I can't remember who who said that like actual like exterminators in New York shoot the rats with guns that's how big they get in New York City yeah yeah yeah yeah so you are a little bit of a rat cowboy yeah yeah he's he's uh during 9-11 like it says in in the books he was one of the exterminators that that went into you know the really sad really wreckage and and and help kind of stop the explosion of the Oh, because there would have been a lot of... There would have been, and there actually was. And so he's kind of like, you know, he's not just an exterminate.

He's the best rat exterminator in the five borough. And guys, let's not put you find a point on this. That's badass. There are rats in the five burrows the size of dogs, okay? And another thing about Vasili more than anybody else, but maybe I won't get this right, so correct me, is that in a lot of ways, he's unfettered. Like everybody else in the little...

Unfettered. You have a family, but you're not really connected to them. And a lot of ways you're like, you are the lone cowboy, right? He's a lone wolf. And you're also the skeptic. You're the guy who's like,

what the fuck? Yeah, he's... Well, he's really methodical and kind of obsessive, compulsive about information. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Like the amount of information this guy knows.

It's like every time I get a script, I'm like, oh, I don't know about that. Wow. That's crazy. This guy's like a walking encyclopedia about New York City, about vermin, how to kill them, how they live, everything. And those skills kind of end up applying to a bigger, scarier, mother-sucking vermin that should have taken over to New York. Big ass rat with some long Coke fingernails.

And you also know about the underworld. And that's the thing is that these hive of these vampires live in the sewer. and you know the sewers better than anybody else. Yeah. Yeah. My favorite part about him is in the books, he has these journals. And while everybody is like climbing out and freaking out and, oh, my God, the world is ending. He's kind of like, I'm needed.

Attractive women are coming to me now. Like it wasn't like this before. Right. And like, so he's working for me. He's flourishing. Yeah. So, like, he's actually feeling a lot of joy during all of this. So it's kind of, like, a really fun thing to play.

And that's interesting. And I talk about this a lot. I wonder how this was for you reading the books and then playing the show about, I love post-apocalyptic fiction because a lot of times when the rules fall away and kind of the constraints of society fall away, people, like, who people really are becomes more fully revealed. Right. And, you know, this is a guy who has been living in the shadows literally and figuratively for most of it.

his life. His relationship with his father is strained. You don't have any other families. Is it just you and the dad? I can't remember. Yeah, my mother's still around, but I go and, for those of you who didn't watch the first season. Spoiler alert, earmuffs. It won't ruin anything. Yeah, I just kind of go over and try to warn them. I haven't seen them for years, but I just want to make sure that they know that this is serious. Right, right. But it's, you know, but it's Your father doesn't approve of you. Doesn't listen to me. Yeah.

And I walk away. Yeah. And that's it. And then you are really like a maverick. You have nobody. No idea. No idea of what happened to them. Oh, man.

I just know that I'm a really big disappointment. Right. But now you have this opportunity to turn that around. Step into his own greatness. Yeah. You know? And that's how he feels is the world's crumbling. Right.

Right. I mean, sometimes, you know, you're the guy who runs towards the, sewer. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. When things are crumbling. Yeah, yeah. Tell me quickly, not quickly, tell me at your own pace how the role on, because now, because Kevin's also working on Vikings right now, which is another show I love a lot.

I mentioned that at the top of the show. And I came over to visit, but I think I just missed you by like a few weeks. Yeah, yeah. Tell me how that role came to be, because it's so different from the role that you play on this train. And Viking specifically has a very specific look and feel and tone. It's very dreamlike and different. Tell me about how that role came to you.

Wow. I just heard that Michael Hurst had wanted me to, he had an idea for me for a character. Right. And he came up with this character that just really like knocked my socks off. I was like, oh, my God. And I was terrified of it. Because the first scene was like a six-page monologue. And I have been a wanderer.

It's just like this accent. It's like, what is that accent? Like I, you know, and so I got to, everyone's like, oh, how was Dublin? I locked myself in my room. Really? The whole time. When I wasn't on set, I was like in the mirror or videotaping myself trying to figure out how to do this. Do they have dialogue coaches on that show?

Yeah, because that the accent, the Swedish accent, is really specific. Oh, my God. And the intonation, all of it, yeah. Well, it's also kind of, it's, it's its own accent as well. Right. It's got its own rules because it's set from so far back. It's like 700 AD maybe, yeah, yeah.

So no one actually really talks like that in the world now. Right, right. Because it was like a long time ago. The two Swedish guys on that HBO show talk like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that happy-ish. Yeah. But it's so, it's, you just came in on that, having,

having watched every episode of that show, you came in and I just thought, God, he fits so beautifully here. Yeah. Yeah. And you were also... Tell me more. You're awesome, Kevin. And so how much, he has this idea for this character, and then again, he has a vision. You have to come in and kind of put your own, turn it into your own iteration of that vision. Who is this guy? Is this Ha, Ha, Hubbard? How about you said? Hobart? Yeah, he, he, honestly, I don't know.

Really? Like, he's still shrouded in mystery. I get more and more, like I'm shooting right now. And I still don't really know. But I love that I get to work my way through it and figure it out. You know, a lot of people think that he's a god and he might be. You coy motherfucker. Yeah, he gets away with some crazy stuff this year.

And yeah, I mean, it's just such a pleasure because it is. It's like the flip side of Fet. So it's really a great privilege to get to go and really work out the other side. Yeah. Something that I haven't done before. And you're doing accents for both characters. But Celie's accent is like Russian, Eastern European. You know, he's New York.

but he is, you know, he comes by way of the Ukraine. So it's kind of like New York. It's kind of like in between, you know. Love it. And then do Harvard too. Harvard is. I have been a wanderer most of my life. So he's a very different, you know.

And then once they get that beard on me and the hair down the waist, I mean, it's so easy to become something different. do all the work for me. How different is it to work on these two shows? Because the strain shoots in New York? Toronto. Oh, in Toronto. Yeah.

Okay. Wow. T. Dot. Back in T. Yes, the GTA. Not Grand Theft Auto. And so Toronto's doubling for New York for the strain. And then Viking shoots in Dublin,

kind of in the outskirts of Dublin. It's made like 45 minutes north of Dublin town. Yeah. And I think I remember you saying when I saw you prior to our conversation today that shooting Vikings was was like tough like physically kind of a tough show to shoot um did i get that right where you said it's a little it's like it's like it's kind of like well i don't know first of all europeans they're i don't know we get treated different on this continent as actors than we do like other places like you know here they're like are you warm doing some stuff

are you okay we'll bring you a drink and you're like there's some tea over there bitch help You know what's crazy about it, though, is that they work French hours. But they do. They work very short hours. So it's like, you're done by dinner. Yeah. I'm always kind of like, I've got some other scenes in me. That's true.

It's crazy. They work like eight or nine to five with a one-hour lunch break like a normal human being might do in Europe. And I shot in Paris and we shot eight to five with a one-hour lunch break. And they brought out wine at lunch. And I was like, well, if y'all don't drink, I'm wondering. Just to see what would happen.

You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But here, you'll get in at 5 a.m. and if you get out by, like, eight or nine at night, like it was a lucky day, yeah. Oh, the strain hours are a strain. Like, you know, from the first season and the second season, we had a lot of different crew.

They were like, good luck with your vampire. You're sucking the life out of me. But yeah, I mean, it's such a, a big show. Yeah. It's like every episode looks like a, like a giant, you know, spectacular film. So we film long hours. Yeah, yeah.

And it's complex. There's a lot of moving parts and prostheses and things and jumping and guys got teeth. Yeah. Can I ask you just one really embarrassing question before we talk about your film that you have coming out? And I'm going to apologize because I am a fan of the strain. Have you been in the room? What's the name of the character? What's the name of the main vampire guy?

I can't think of his name. I coerced. Have you been in the room? when you guys have shot iCourced. How is that working? Is there a guy in there? Oh, you mean the master. The master. The master.

The master is played by a very good friend of mine. His name is Robert Meier. And he's a 6'11 Acadien. Oh, really? He used to be a W.W.E. wrestler. Wow. And he's a wonderful actor.

And he's probably the nicest person I've ever met. Wow. And they're always asking him to play all these monsters. Because he's just a big dude. He's just so... It's like, you guys. Like I'm... Yeah.

Yeah. Like, I'm the biggest asshole in the world compared to him. Like, he's the nicest guy. Wow. Yeah. How difficult is that for him? I mean, that's a massive... Is it prosthetics or it's like this giant thing that they just put over him?

No, he just looks like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just got that one, that one robotic eye that plays him like... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. God love him, but geez, right.

Yeah, he goes through, like, I think it's six or seven hours of aesthetics. That's cool. Yeah, really. I want to talk about the film we have coming out now, but because I've had, I've drunk this entire drink that's sitting in front of me, and it is not juice. I actually have to look it up. There it is.

Okay, Dark was the night. Sorry, ding-dum. And that movie comes out July 24th. It's actually going to be in theaters and on video and demand. So this is your first, like, leading man role in a film, which is really exciting. No more villainy for you. Now they're the dude that gets the girl. And tell me a little bit about this movie.

It's a thriller or is it like a horror film? Both. Both. Okay. And it's got a really strong family drama element to it too. I play Sheriff Paul Shields. He's the sheriff of this little town. And at the start of the movie, he's a lot of the movie.

he's completely broken because his son died while he was in his care. Oh, gosh. Eight months previous and he can't get over it. He doesn't even know how to tie his own shoelaces. Right, just falling apart. Yeah. And then people start disappearing out of his town. Wow.

These strange tracks are showing up. And, you know, everyone's looking to him to save the day. And so it's a really kind of cool classical kind of arc. This is based on a real occurrence. though. This happened. I read that this happened in a real town in 1855, somewhere in Europe. Yeah, I mean, probably loosely. But you know, we have all these wonderful, you know, mythological figures and, you know, like my cousin, the Sasquatch. Yeah, that guy. He's adorable. Yeah, you know, the windigo and all the

And all these different kinds of creatures that are still, no one's ever actually seen. Right. And so the question is, what is what is happening? And Paul has to rally and try to save the day. Does he? I don't know. You're going to have to watch the film. You play a small town sheriff.

So did that feel in some way? Did that feel natural too? Do that feel like a homecoming, at least from a setting perspective? Because we were... It's the closest I've ever played to me. Yeah. It was weird and cool. But to play that side of me, dealing with that kind of loss, you know, it was kind of in the darker spot, I guess, for a little bit.

But yeah, it was worth it. I really like the movie a lot. And please go watch it. He asked you nicely. It's so fun. It's such a great film. I'm really proud of it. It's exciting.

It's, you know, I don't know that anybody, any artist or any actor ever has like one, like, one catalyzing moment, right? You have like a personal catalyzing moment when you were doing the film, you know, Mr. Alaska. And then maybe you have another catalyzing moment when you get lost. And all of a sudden, like the platform of people, you know, where you are, the member of people seeing you exponentially increases, right? But it does seem like right now you have like a lot of different things happening in your life creatively that are all kind of dovetailing beautifully and getting people to see you in a different way. Does it feel that way to you? Or are you just like, man, I'm happy to be working? I think a bit of both.

Yeah. I mean, I'm so incredibly grateful like every day that I get to do this. That I'm just always happy to have a job and get to like. like, you know, just kind of get lost in these characters and get to create, make belief for people to watch. And then at the same time, it does feel like there's more spin going on right now with all these different characters and the strain kind of starting to pop really well. And my level of gratitude is just like, I mean, it's just seeping out of my eyeballs.

It's hitting all of you right now. Feel it! Your gratitude is terrifying. Feel it now. I'm going to make you feel my gratitude. Saturday night. Feel it. Yeah, so it's such an exciting, exciting, exciting time.

And then the most exciting thing in my life is I have a daughter that's going to be born at the end of August. Rock and that's, and that's, uh, that's, that's, that's the greatest thing

that I, I've ever felt. Yeah. So, so all this stuff is kind of coming together. Yeah. Don't you make me cry up in here.

Grateful. No, how can I get you to cry? Let's make her cry. You guys know, I'm a weepy, weepy bitch. Yes.

I do this show every year at the end of the year where I read all the letters that fans are written into the show and I'm like Cuba Gooding and fucking. I'm like, no, I'm not going to make me to cry. I can't go make you cry.

All right, I think it's time for self-inflicted wounds. Now, do you feel like something has come to you in the time between when we discussed it now? I think I'm going to go. I'm looking at all the different doors. I'm going to see what's behind door number seven. Okay, oh, it's that story. Okay. No, I, when I went away to university, I was just constantly just trying to figure out how to make enough money to eat, really.

Right. And I started going into comedy clubs again and doing amateur nights, and I ended up getting these industrial gigs. Oh, yes. And this guy calls me, he's like, you know, I've got this construction. construction workers conference, you know, like kind of blue collar humor. I was like, yeah, I mean, I'm in Thunder Bay and my dad's, you know, lumberjack. I mean, I'm more blue collar, you know, I was like, I could do this. And so I had all this material that was, you know, really crass, you know.

And I'm upstairs and the two guys that went on before me, I mean, there wasn't even like there was nothing. Oh, God. Like, dead. And so in my head, I start freaking out. I'm like, you know what? I had to walk down a spiral staircase. And I was like, I'm going to do the Chevy Chase thing.

Because Chevy Chase is so funny. I am going to pratfall down this spiral staircase. Holy shit, I am so brilliant. That's such a good idea. Oh my God, I'm going to go straight to Saturday night live from this construction. So before I go down, you know, Brett comes up and he's like, they're dead. He's like, dude, it's not a construction workers conference. And I'm like, what is it?

It was like a rich, retired person's club. Oh, no. I was like, oh, my God. And all my jokes are like, not jerking off this and this. You know, it's like, fuck. Like, crazy. It was all about masturbation because I lost my virginity very, like, like, late. I had a lot of pent-up frustration,

masturbation jokes. Isn't it funny? So, Pratfall down the staircase. They're like, Kevin Durand. And I come walking down and I'm waving. And I do the Pratfall. And I, of course, completely lost control. Oh, God. Because I'd never done a Pratfall. Chevy Chase did it. I roll down, I fly off the stage under a table.

Oh, my God. Okay? I land between this woman's legs. Okay? And I'm like, what do I do now? Nice legs, lady. I popped my AC joint. So this was like, you can still feel it.

It's like raised. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. Yes. Wow. Wow. Slater is still raised. And I went up on stage and realized they weren't going to laugh anyway.

So I was like, well, jerking off this, jerking off that, jerking off this. And I did my act anyways and terrified the crap out of them. That's self-inflicting. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. And I think that I can relate to that story more than you know. The masturbation part and the bombing part. Hi-five.

Hi-five. Masturbation rocks. I swear I washed my hands before I did. I didn't, though. Ladies and gentlemen, Kevin Durant. Thank you. That was Kevin Durand. So fun.

Such a great conversation. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. My voice is kicked. So no apology today. No litany of stuff to do. Just come say hi to me online. Come write me a letter. Come follow me friendly on all of the social platforms.

There'll be new news coming about courage and stone very soon. So stay tuned for that. And it's the middle of the summer. Go eat some ice cream. Go kick some ass. Talk to on the next one. Late. Girl on Guy is a production of Hot Machine, blowing shit up since 2009.