Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Tony Shalhoub

Episode Date: February 20, 2022

Before he was an actor, Tony Shalhoub grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin as the ninth of ten kids. His father was a Lebanese immigrant who came to the United States in 1920. Now, Shalhoub is a four-time Emmy winner, a Golden Globe winner, and a Tony winner. In this week’s “Sunday Sitdown,” Willie Geist gets together with Shalhoub to talk about the fourth season of the beloved hit series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and his 30-year career starring in series like Wings and Monk.    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My thanks as always for clicking and listening along. I've got a good one for you this week with a four-time Emmy winner. He also is a Golden Globe winner and a Tony winner for Best Actor in a Musical. He is Tony Shalube. Right now, he's out with the fourth season of the hit Amazon series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, in which he plays Abe Weissman, father to Midge Maisel. the title character played by the great Rachel Brosnahan.

The series is a phenomenon. If you haven't seen it, you've got to check it out. We'll talk through where his character is, where the series is, because it's been a little bit since season three ended. So we get you up to speed on season four set in Manhattan in New York City, and that's where the two of us find ourselves at a restaurant called Resdora to set the scene for you a little bit. He is an investor, Tony is, in this place that it's a quintessential New York restaurant. come off the sidewalk, go down a few stairs, inside a door, cozy, narrow room with delicious

Italian food. In fact, it just received a Michelin Star, which is highly coveted and very rare, as you probably know. So it's one of the best restaurants in New York City. It opened a couple of years ago. Just got its Michelin Star last year, and Tony is an investor in the place. So I was lucky enough to sample a couple of pasta dishes, chef Stef Stefano. Setschi put them down in front of us. Delicious food, great conversation. You know, Tony, if you haven't seen The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, you know him starring in Monk, where he was nominated for eight consecutive years for the Emmy for Best Actor.

He won it three times. You might know him from wings. You might have loved him way back in Big Night with Stanley Tucci, that film. He was a voice in cars. He was in men in black. The list goes on and on. And five years ago, 2017, gave a performance in a broad, musical called The Band's Visit that earned him a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.

So much to talk about a fascinating guy with a fascinating life. He grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin with parents. His father was a Lebanese immigrant. Came to this country at eight years old in the year 1920, speaking no English, met a Lebanese American woman. They had 10 kids together. Tony has six sisters and three brothers, a tight family, a big family in a small house. and just started performing and look at them now. So let's take you inside Resdora Restaurant right now for a great conversation on the Sunday Sit Down podcast with Tony Shalub. The space is amazing.

The food is great. And you, my friend, are gearing up here for season four, marvelous Mrs. Maisel. I told you I just watched episode one. I can't give too much away. But you have a heck of a day at Coney Island, I guess. Oh, yes. as close as I can come to not giving it away.

Well, no, I think that we did have Preston and Paparazzi there when we were actually at Coney Island. So, and I, you're one up on me. I have not seen these episodes. But the show will be released on the, well, I guess this month. Yeah. And I think it's going to be a great season.

And it's because of COVID, there have been delays and there's such a long gap, such a huge gap between season three and season four. I hope people re-watch three to catch up on the story because it's kind of continuous. The beginning of four picks up right there. Coney Island was a trip. And weirdly, even though I lived in New York

and worked in New York a lot, I'd never been there. Really? I don't know how it just escaped me. And I was, well, it's way more than I think I ever imagined. It's massive. It's huge. Beach is beautiful and endless.

Yeah. But shooting there was great. Somehow we pulled it off during COVID with a lot of extras, a lot of background people, did it all very safely under our COVID protocol. And I think that's kind of the impressive thing that people will not, I think they're just going to wonder how did they do that, you know, during lockdown. It did cross my mind. The COVID side, but also just the utter transformation of such a familiar place to a different time.

Yeah. Down to every booth and every, obviously, costume. I'm looking in the background to see some trace of modern Coney Island. Yeah. I couldn't find it. So you did well. There's a scene on there that, again, people are going to watch on the Wonder wheel, the famous Ferris wheel that. I think it's going to define this season, perhaps.

It's fantastic. So for people who have been a bit of a gap from season three, where do we find Abe? Where do we find Midge? Where's the show right now? Right. Well, Abe's gone through a big life change during season three. I don't know if you want to call it a midlife crisis or what, but he drops his old career. You know, as a professor at Columbia, his job at Bay.

Bell Labs, become very disenchanted with all of that. And we find out at the end of three that he's going to be hired as a theater critic at the Village Voice. So now Abe gets to reinvent himself. And he gets a, I guess, a vehicle or an outlet to unleash his, his, frustration and a little bit of his rage.

His perpetual frustration. As a critic. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, it changes everything. It changes the way he dresses and, you know, the pipe tobacco he smokes. And it just because he's rubbing elbows with a whole different crowd. It's not in academia anymore. And he's always, you know, Abe is a little bit of a, you know, he needs things to be orderly. And but when he gets to the voice. It's, you know, it's half-eaten pizzas, slices, sandwiches, and cigars, ashtrays overflowing, and paper thrown everywhere. And he just, he kind of, he kind of embraces it. And then we just see how his whole new, a new career track unfolds. Even just watching you talk about, Abe, you've got a smile in your face the entire time. How much do you love playing this guy?

A lot. They just, they give me the best. You know, they just give me this great material. And the best part of it all is, you know, so often in TV you get, if you're in a series, that's a great thing, especially if it's a long-running series. But there is that tendency to, you know, your character gets kind of painted into a corner. Well, you serve a certain function and your character has these traits and this is their job or this is their, you know, the notes that they play in the, you know, in the piece of music. And in this show, almost all of the characters just go through massive changes.

For me to have this character, you know, move on and move and drop where he was, what he was. It's a luxury in a series. And he's changing kids' birthdays in this episode. which, again, we'll let the viewers figure out what I mean by that. Right. Well, you know, he's about, Avis is just a guy of, you know, it's all about for him, I think, lining up his priorities. Right.

Well, it's important to some people, just not important to him. Didn't line up with his schedule either. No. I wish, you know, and I wish I were kind of more like him in a lot of ways. I was going to ask you that. Is there any of you in his? or have you realized anything about yourself playing him? Well, I think maybe there's a tad of me and everybody I play, I suppose,

but I envy him. I envy this character in a way because he, I think, I'm not as able to just kind of shoot from the hip and speak my mind. And I guess he's the opposite of a people. pleaser, really. Yeah. So, so I wish I just, I wish I had a little bit more of that. He's more of a pragmatist, I guess. You know, but like me, he is a father and a grandfather and, you know, a husband in a long, you know, marriage. So there's, you know, there's got to be some overlaps. What do you think it is about this show, Tony, that is so resonated with people?

It's obviously well-acted, the cast, the ensemble together, it takes you back in time, the costumes are fun, all of those things. But are you able to put your finger on why this has taken off to the extent that it has, probably more than any of you could have dreamed. Oh, way more. I honestly can't answer that. I mean, it's everything you said. It's the, well, I think the writing is, I think, is unique.

And we have Rachel Rosnahan, you know, at the helm. if I knew what it was, I would, you know, I would pitch a number of series tomorrow. But I don't. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, I think that's true of a lot of successful shows. It's just that it's that osmosis or something that just, just occurs. A lot of it has to do with the timing of a show. You know, when is, you know, would Maisel have been as, as far-reaching and as massive a hit,

if it had been released three or four or five years earlier, maybe not. Or, you know, or two years from now, let's say. Maybe not. It's just sometimes they just sort of, the lightning strikes at the right moment. And everything, all the pieces are just in place. And I wish I knew.

It just works. It works. Maybe that's enough. And I think it's, it's, maybe it's better to just sort of sit back and just let it kind of wash over you and enjoy it. Rachel is extraordinary. I told you I interviewed her about a year ago for this show and we drove around on a bus and all kinds of things in the snow. But when you talk about her, there's almost a fatherly pride. Is that fair to say about her as a person, but also such an admiration as the actor she is? It is that.

And there's also, you know, this is going to sound like, I think, you know, like false humility. But really, I find myself, I learn from Rachel. I really find myself locking in and observing when she's performing, when she's in a scene,

especially during these stand-up monologues that she has. I only I wish that I had the kind of confidence and centeredness that she you know I wish that I'd had that at when I was her age and I was you know stumbling in you know in the fog really I was just I don't know what I was doing at that age but she just brings all it's just I don't know is it a know soul is it is it just that she's she's she's just she has a presence and a confidence and a in a and a well just multi-talented and uh i just i just i want to just i want to just i want that to rub off on me. You know, I want to, I want to learn. And I think the greatest thing about her is that she gets it. She is, she's humble. She's grateful for, you know, the position that she's, you know,

fallen into. And I love that. I love that about her. She's, she has it all in perspective. It was interesting when we were talking about her stand-up scenes, which are not easy scenes to do. She said, I get... Is you all right if I keep eating? Please do. The food's great here. That she genuinely gets nervous, as if she were a stand-up comic. She said, this isn't what I do.

I'm not a stand-up comedian. So I've got to get my lines, but I also have the presence, have to have the presence of a stand-up comedian. And you're staring out at a couple of hundred extras dressed like soldiers on a base or whatever it is. That's no easy feat for an actor who's not a stand-up comic by trade. Right. And an actor that really wasn't known for her comedic jobs. Hadn't really been seen in comedies. Most of her work was all drama and heavy-duty stuff. But she just has that light. Some people just have that light in them. she brings it every time.

I think she'd say a lot of the same things about you. In fact, I've read her, say that she learns from you. Really? Well, yeah, part of the reason that show works is you can't have one or two people, but everybody on there is good, you know? Every character, no matter whether the front and center or supporting actor, brings something. I think that's true.

And I think it's a really generous, gracious cast. There isn't really any one person who's sort of out there just for themselves. It's a great ensemble. There's a high level of trust. And we really, I think, key into each other and enjoy each other, on camera and off camera. And I think that really shows. I've heard you say there might be a trace of your own father in Abe. Is that fair?

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. There's a trace of my father, but also in combination with other fathers that I have known. And then, you know, really ultimately, it's on the page. I'm not inventing this. I'm being given this gift. And it's so beautifully crafted on the page. on the page that, you know, I, it's that sensation of, you know,

stepping on to the moving train and having it kind of sweep you along. Reading again, your family story, particularly your father's story, it's just kind of breathtaking, you know, to come over here in 1920, be dropped into Green Bay, Wisconsin, culturally, the weather. All of it, no English, right? I mean, what a... No English, no money. Yeah, no English and no money.

I mean, I can't imagine what that must have been like for an eight-year-old kid, which is I think how old he was when he got there. Yes. So what was it like for you to grow up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the ninth of ten kids with your dad driving that refrigerated truck? Wow, you really have done your homework. It's my job. Yeah, it was great.

I mean, my childhood was, you know, a lot of siblings, a lot of chaos, I guess. The mandatory level of chaos. But my parents were great, and I feel like I've, I feel like I, you know, learn so much and gain so much from their, I guess they're, resilience and their resourcefulness really and so yeah it was my memories of all of that are good and we and our family still is close all of my siblings you know still with us and and we stay connected and a lot of Zoom as weekly Zoom meetings and I I think that's been a real in terms of my work and in terms of my career it's been sort of essential and life-saving in a way because there have been a lot of times when I you know gotten disheartened

or lost my way and there was there was that map there was that support system and so I I think I you know I carry them daily with me and and I think a lot of the you know when I'm working on a part I I pull from these all these disparate personalities you had a lot to pull from 10 kids yeah it's a bench is deep that's that's right so did you then it's a bit of a cliche but the kid and the big family who needs to be seen and heard from becomes a performer well I think we were all performer And are all performers. You know, it's funny, that whole question of, you know,

why did you get into this or how did you get into this? Why did you, as I've been asked often, you know, why did you choose to do this? And I think as many times as I've been asked the question, I don't think I've ever given the same answer. Because I'm always kind of trying to reevaluate that. And I'm never, I'm never sure, really.

So I've given it a lot of thought. And I don't think there's any one reason. I think it's just the, I don't know. But it's been, it's been a sort of a conundrum. And as it sometimes happens, you know, you stop, you stop looking for something, you stop searching, and I stop thinking about it. And then something hit me out of the blue, a memory.

hadn't thought it for a long time. And then occurred to me, maybe this is the real, you know, the kind of kernel of it all. And that was, I remember when I was very young, my mother, who loved to read and loved movies and loved to go to plays. And we grew up in, you know, a fairly small town. And at the time, you know, there wasn't any real professional theater, maybe things that came through. but it was mostly just school stuff or community theater. But I have this memory of my mother coming home from a play one night, community theater, and telling this story about one of the actors

how I was wearing a mustache, a fake mustache. And in the middle of an animated scene, it came off. And he, you know, tried to slap it back on it, whatever it was. and improvise, you know, to the other character. And furthermore, you're going to buy me a new mustache or something like that, which, you know, it's a clever thing and the audience loved it. And my mother was telling the story to us.

And she told it many times, actually. But the way she, the sort of joy that she had, the relish And I think, I don't know, I think maybe there was this thing that just, this coin that just dropped in my head is like, this is, she loves this so much. You know, it gives her such, you know, such pleasure and joy. And I just, I don't know. And I thought, God, maybe could that have been the, could that have been the thing that made it all sort of, you know, that sort of set me on that. It's possible, right? Is that too, like, deep psychological and crazy?

No. And sometimes those things come out all these years later and the light bulb goes off. Yeah, because that question just keeps barreling at me. And I never quite have the right, you know, I answer it. And I go, yeah, we're getting into psychoanalysis, but it's pleasing your mother, right? Making her happy. I thought that's what I was paying for. Yeah.

I think so. Yeah. I thought, wow, if I could do something like that, that she could see and that would be, you know what I mean? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Anyway, still trying to match that moment. The other side of that is, which I've heard as a common immigrant story, I'm thinking I was interviewing Sandra O recently. She said, her parents who were immigrants said, well, that's not a real job.

You should be a doctor. or this is cute and it's fun, enjoy it, but then you'll get a real job. And I think you had some of that probably with your dad too. Yeah, I think there was that, you know, I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't setting myself up for failure. And that, you know, like, how was I going to actually eat? Right.

That was the main question. And, but I think eventually that he, eventually he you know kind of got on board before he passed away luckily I think he saw me do a few things that were you know right where I think

it maybe it struck him that all right there's a chance here right you know and look at you now not only are you able to eat but you own your own restaurant I think I'm like this much as well I think he would like this restaurant

because he loved food Hey guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Stick around to hear more from Tony Shaloob right after the break. Welcome back. Now more of my conversation with Tony Shaloob. So for you, what was the moment where you said, yes, I can do this as a profession? This is real for me because you've even said yourself, you were a bit of a late bloomer in terms of big, recognizable roles into your 30s.

Was it Broadway? Is it off Broadway? What told you, yeah, this is my life? You know, I don't think it's, it's never, again, it's never just with that one thing. I think it's, because I'm sure you can talk to, you know, 99 out of 100 actors will tell you that we just live in this state of uncertainty and doubt and insecurity of like, is it is it going to, if I'm doing well, am I going to be able to sustain it? And if I'm doing, if I'm not doing well, is this it?

You know, this is going to be the, you know, my future. But at some point you were convinced I don't have to go to law school or go get another job. I'm good at this. Or at least someone else thinks I am enough to keep hiring me. What was that moment? I mean, it wasn't all the way to wings, was it? No, no. I think it was before that.

Oh, I knew what it was actually. I think it was, I had been working, after graduate school, I went to work in, in, Cambridge, Massachusetts at the American Repertory Theater. And I was, I had set out to be a theater actor. That was, you know, and it was a great job. And it was, we did a lot of, we had a company of people. And it was really a great, fertile time of work. But then I moved to, I decided to move to New York just to see what happened, what

would happen. And one of my very first auditions in New York was for Neil Simon. They were doing a female odd couple pre-Broadway tour, and then it was supposed to come into New York. And so, and this was, I think, literally my second audition in the city. This was like an unlikely thing. And I had never done Neil Simon, really. And it worked.

It was a crazy thing because I first auditioned for the producing. I think, for the casting director, and Manny Eisenberg, who was producing. And they wanted me to have a callback for Neil, but Neil's back had gone out. So he was in a, he was in this hotel. So I had to, this is a true story. I'd go to Pierre or somewhere.

And, I mean, this sounds like a, don't think you could even do this today. But there I was, and Neil, I'm in a hotel room. And he was flat out. I was like propped up on the bed. He was in agony, really. But the protocol was that he had to see me in person. It wasn't, they weren't doing tape then.

They weren't doing, it was pre-internet, all that. So I stood at the foot of the bed. It wasn't that big of room. I swear this is true. How bizarre is this? And I read the scene, a couple scenes. He said, thank you. I walked out of the hotel room.

It was surreal. And then I got the part. So I think about, and that show did come into New York. It was really exciting. Now, that's a great Broadway story. I auditioned for Neil Simon in his hotel room while he was in traction. True. And then it's funny because when we opened on Broadway,

he gave us all nice gifts and he wrote a card. and he said, I recommend that you always audition in someone's hotel room. And off you went from that hotel room to your career. So I think maybe that was a little, that was a bit of reassurance that, okay, I'm, you know, I'm not just that. Right. Regional theater guy, whatever that. But really, to be totally honest, people, because people say, like, when did you feel like, you know, you had success?

when I, the first time I felt like is when I had my first job out of school. Because I never, we were, you know, no one knew if we were going to actually work when we graduate. There was no guarantee. But I went to Cambridge. I got hired at the theater and, oh my God, there was a little bit of, there was a paycheck at the end of the week. And it was a professional. venue and uh well this is this is i'm doing it this is this is this is it so you had a good reputation you were a well-respected actor on stage and then the world gets to know you sort of more widely

with wings i think it's fair to say i guess wings in terms of uh yeah i had done a couple of films maybe before that yeah some episodic right things in new york but then i moved to california and wings came. And yeah, I think on a larger stage maybe, Wings was, and Wings was a great job. It was a really fun group to work with. Yeah. Wonderful writers. What did that do for your career, being on a successful show in a role that people loved? You know, I can't answer that because there's just no, I've said, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've said this before, but it's something that I, you know, subscribe to. It's a quote, I think, by Walter Mathau.

He said, all it takes in this business is 40 big breaks. And that's true because you can have a big break and then guess what? And then there's nothing. So there isn't ever one thing that sets you, I mean, I'm sure there's a handful of actors in the world that, you know, like they're. But for the rest of us, it's job to job and at least in our own, whatever's happening

out, the perception in the world, that's one thing. But in our own minds, no, it's, it's like, oh my God, I hope this isn't the end. And I still feel that. We all have a little fatalism, don't we? Like, I think it's actually healthy to have, I do. I think it's a good thing. It's what we, it's, you know, look, if you want to get psychoanalytical

about it, to go back to my mother. There is, there's a, there's a, there must be a reason why we, a lot of us chose to, to embrace the, the unknown or the, or the, the, the uncertainty of it all. Because we could have made the choice. Like, look, I need a secure thing. I'm going to do this. I know I can do this for 25, 30 years and then bailout or whatever. But knowingly go into something where, you know, just like at every turn, you know, there's a cliff that just drops, you know, a thousand feet. There must be something that that gives us or that feeds us. And because I've been in situations where, you know, like when I was at at A.R.T. in Cambridge, for example. And I was going to go for just, you know, I was hired for one season.

And I thought, okay, I'll just do one season, and I'll move on, go to New York. But I stayed. I stayed for four seasons because it was great. And I was, you know, wanted to save a little dough. And I could have, because we had a company. And a lot of people, I mean, many stayed in the company because it was great and it was secure. And it was. But I had this sort of. thinking about, well, maybe I don't, I'm worried about maybe complacency setting in or something. Or I need to feel, I need to feel like uncertain again or hungry again or something. Or I need to, I need to fulfill my, you know, my vision of falling on my face. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Oh, yeah. And so I moved to New York because I thought, I need that. And then something happened. Things happened in New York, and that was great. And I worked in New York for six years fairly steadily. And, you know, I was getting comfortable. You know, I mean, a little more confident about, you know,

going into casting offices and auditions. And I thought, now about I'll go to L.A. Because then, you know, there'll be a big brick wall out there. I can sprint into, you know. And actually that happened. I went to L.A. And it really was like, I really thought I was starting over.

Nothing I had done before that seemed to count for anything there. Right, right. So. But then something. Yeah. Yeah. There is, you know, you can't, it's hard to put your finger on one part that is especially important or significant to you,

but I do know that Big Knight holds a special place in your heart. Oh, okay, yes. And was some kind of a turning point maybe for you with you and Stanley? Oh, I think so. Yeah, Big Night, yes. But that was, you know, wings at all, I was actually doing wings at the time. Yeah. And on hiatus, we did Big Night.

But that was a turning point in terms of film, because I had never, hadn't really had a role like that in a feature of that, of that weight and that size. And I want to circle back to answer a question that you asked earlier about like when did it feel like you were, that you thought maybe you could do this. And it happens when I was coming up, when I was very young, I was watching films and this. and I would key into certain actors and writers and writers and directors. And then you start, you start into the career and then you, it happens that you cross paths with these, with your idols. That's, I think, when it starts to feel like, oh my God,

this person was such a massive influence, a major influence. And there you are in a room with that person. Like when I was in New York, doing the Neil Simon play, I auditioned for Mike Nichols. And Mike Nichols was a God when I was, I mean, he is a God. But when I was a kid, it was, you know, Nichols May and the graduate and, you know, all of these. And then a little later, I worked with Herb Gardner. or playwright.

When I was growing up, I was a big fan of a thousand clowns, the movie. I'd never seen the play, but they made a movie of the play. I was doing a play of originating a role in a Herb Gardner play. And it's those moments that, those are the moments that I really, really treasure. Because it seems so, when you're young, it seems so far away and sort of like almost like a fantasy that you could never get to Mount Olympus. You could never be in the rarefied air, even if they're just brief, you know, brief meetings or collaborations.

I know exactly what you mean, by the way. There are people you think exist on some other planet, and you'll never travel to that planet. Right. You don't get to go there. No. They're all up there somewhere. And then to find yourself in a room with them or they're appreciating your work or asking for your opinion on something, it's almost disorienting. It's, yeah, it is, it is completely disorienting.

That's the word. And that's, you know, and the weird thing is, is, again, when that happens, you sort of feel, well, yes, on the one hand, I'm sort of touching the hem of that. That'll never happen again. And then it happens again. And the sort of the pinnacle of that for me, frankly, was I was doing monk. And one episode we approached Jenna Rollins to do a role, never thinking she would do it. And she came on and walking into that makeup trailer for me, you know, greeting her and I mean because you know there were those few people in your

life where when you see a film for example you go okay that's that is it that is the that's the peak of what everyone all of us are trying to do in all those Cassavetes Casavetti's movies that when I was in college for example I was just devoted to those films and trying to, you know, what can I glean from these artists? And, of course, I had to tell her. I just, I had to, I literally knelt down at her feet and thanked her for raising us. And she was so, you know.

And the thing that blows your mind is she's there because she respects you so much and loves the show that you do. And that's, now you're on her planet. I didn't think of that. Was that run on Monk just, I mean, you won three Emmys, you were nominated every year. It was the most popular, but also the most acclaimed show on TV. Did that surprise even you? Oh, sure.

It's always a surprise when things work and, you know, people want to connect to what you're trying to do. what your vision might be. And Monk was a real, a bit of a game changer, just in the sense that it was the first time that I wasn't just an actor, and I was also a producer, and so I got to, you know, I was allowed to do other things. I was involved in the guest casting sessions, and I was in the editing room,

and seeing it from all these different, you know, from all these different angles. I'm on the phone with the writers all the time. And, and, well, that was a real learning experience, but it just shook things up. It kind of, it refreshed me and sort of reinvigorated me in terms of my acting. It kind of allowed me and forced me actually to change,

I think, what I was doing and how I approached my work. approached my work. To be more involved in the total production of it. Yeah, to really see it. The downside of that was that while I was doing that, and even for a few years after Monk, it was hard to watch things. It was hard to watch films and series because I was just,

okay, now why did they make that cut there? And why what is with that jacket? That's all wrong. And I couldn't quite get out of that producer mode thing. Right. Or I wonder how much that cost. You know what I mean? You're running through line items as you watch the show.

That person is totally miscast. Just sucking the joy out of everything you watch. Yes. Then I realized, oh, that's not my responsibility. Stick around for more of my conversation with Tony Shalube. quick break. Welcome back now the rest of my conversation with Tony Shalub. There was a very cool moment a few years ago and just hearing you talk about your

Broadway experience and performing as a little kid, you were standing on stage accepting a Tony award. And I can't imagine what that must have been like for a kid who grew up wanting to be an actor, a guy who grew up off Broadway and on Broadway to have that validation of performance and to join that club with the Tony Award. Yeah, that was, that was, it was a big deal, especially because it was for a musical, which was not in the plan at all.

I had been avoiding those, you know, I was been avoiding that brick wall for decades. And somehow I got talked into it. And so it's just, It's just again, it's the business. You know, those, the most unlikely things can occur or not, or the most likely things can't occur or something or if you, and at a certain point you just really have to throw up your hands and just say, okay, whatever,

I give up. I give up trying to figure it out. I give up because all of the best ladies. You can prepare and you can work and all that, but you can't really plan or orchestrate it. It's just not. And you never quite know what the one is that everyone's going to respond to. It may not be the one you thought it would be, or the one you thought it would be, people don't respond to it. Exactly.

Many times that's occurred. I feel like, wow, I'm really proud of that. That's something that, you know, I feel like as a real accomplishment. and nope nobody just doesn't just doesn't for some odd reason it doesn't click and uh so it's there's that again that that that that that that word random just just hangs over everything i loved your speech that night when you got the tony talking about immigrants bringing it back to your father's story oh yeah yeah i i just thought that oh my god this you know ellis i i is so close to where we are right now.

Who would have ever dreamed? How does that happen? How does the... It seemed like... It seemed like he... My father and those people had to have, you know, been, you know, honored in it. They're a part of it.

There's no way they're not a part of it. It's theirs as much as mine. You know what I mean? It's no... No worker. accomplishment is really, you know, of one person. It's just not realistic, I think, to see, to look at things like that. Do you have moments where you stop and think about what your parents must think,

watching somewhere if they are, all the success you've had along the way? Yeah, I think that, yeah, I do think about that. You know, I hope I haven't embarrassed. them with some of the things. But I do remember, along those lines, I do remember my father, when I graduated from Yale, I went to Yale Drama School. And when I graduated, my parents came to my graduation, of course, and drove out, you know, from Wisconsin. And I just remember my father was sort of getting teary and saying, you know, And my sister turned to him.

What's the matter? He said, my parents couldn't read her right. And my son is graduating from you. I thought, that's a bit of a... One generation. I mean, he didn't, you know, the part about me graduating as an actor, well, we'd just sweep that under the run.

That's immaterial. He told his friends it was for... He'd become a lawyer. Yeah. But that is extraordinary. near one generation removed from being dropped into Green Bay and your son goes to Yale and graduates. Yeah, I mean, that's kind of amazing. Something.

Yeah. For him. We've made him proud undoubtedly. So thanks so much for the time, Tony. Oh, my gosh. That's great. And thank you for the food. Thank you for me.

I'm going to keep eating if you don't mind. Me too. Yeah. Thank you so much. I think there's more aware of this game. My big thanks again to Tony for a great conversation and to the people at Res Dora for a truly, truly fabulous meal. Go check it out if you're ever in New York City.

And be sure to check out season four of the marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon Prime Video. My thanks to all of you for listening again this week. If you want to hear more of these conversations with my guests every week, be sure you click follow so you never miss an episode. And don't forget, of course, to tune in to Sunday today every weekend on NBC. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sit Down podcast.