The Watch - Colby Minifie on ‘The Boys’ Season 3, Plus Why You Should Be Watching ‘Irma Vep’

Episode Date: June 30, 2022

Andy talks about ‘The Old Man’ getting renewed for a second season, and why you should give the new HBO show ‘Irma Vep’ a chance (1:00). Then, he's joined by actress Colby Minifie to talk about her work as a stage actress (16:47) and how it prepared her for ‘The Boys’ (36:51). Host: Andy Greenwald Guest: Colby Minifie Producer: Kaya McMullen Check out the ‘Baranksi BBQ '22’ Playlist here. Donate to the National Network of Abortion Funds here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I hold no official title at the ringer.com. I have no one joining me at the moment. Chris Ryan is on vacation. It's me. I'm not even going to say my name in an exciting way. It's me, Andy Greenwald. I am thankfully joined, as always, by our Crackerjack producer, Kaya McMullen. Kaya, should you unmute and say hi so it doesn't seem like I'm just totally alone here? Hi, everyone. Andy's not just speaking to a empty room. I'm listening over Zoom. And thank you, Kaya. And we have a guest later, which I'm very excited about. I was joined on the podcast today by the great Colby Minifie, who is a wonderful actress, who is, on The Boys on Amazon Prime currently.

She plays the role of Ashley, the harried now CEO of Vought. I love Colby's performance on the show since the beginning. I'm really grateful for a chance to talk to her about her journey to being on the boys, what it's like being on that set. Whether I'm right or Chris is right about how nice everyone seems on the show, obviously she does have a bias there, but she supported my views. She was also on Fear of the Walking Dead, and she's currently performing in a play that sounds really awesome

called Epiphany at Lincoln Center in New York. So we're going to get to my interview with Colby, Minifie in a moment. Before then, we have some rundown. We got some news. We got some stuff for me to talk about. I can't tell if she's being entirely genuine, but Kaya has been very weirdly suspiciously supportive of me monologing to you guys. I feel like there might be some inside bets about whether I can make it,

but I accept the challenge. I do love to talk. So I'm going to do a quick rundown before we get into the, Colby Minifie interview. The first thing that came across the Transom this week is that the FX series, the old man that Chris and I have been loving and that we talked about reverently in the pod earlier this week, the old man has been renewed. And I wonder if you guys had the same reaction that I did, which is, excuse me? Everything about this screamed prestige one-off, not the least of which being Jeff Bridges didn't strike me as the guy in his 70s who would agree to multiple seasons of a TV

show, and that was before he almost died twice during the production. And that's not hyperbole because of the action scenes has been reported elsewhere. He had a terrible brush with COVID and then also was having cancer treatments during part of the production. So all of this is to say, I was kind of surprised. And it isn't because I don't love and admire the show. I do. I think it's awesome. I imagine that the people charged with making the show have more road to run. And I am never against continued good things on my TV screen. I do have to say that it feels a little bit like a bait and switch because I don't think I'm alone in saying this felt like it was a one and done.

And I've spoken to people at FX. They say this was always the plan. Obviously, it was reception dependent, but that there always was a larger plan, which is the kind of thing you want to hear, that they're not just suddenly undoing definitive character beats from the finale to make sure that it can run for a longer period of time. that would be terrible. I believe them, but at the same time, it has affected my watching of the show because there's a certain kind of dramatic stakes that exists in a project like this

when you're like, this is the final showdown, the final go-round for the titular old man and the other old man, John Lithgow's character, who I guess isn't necessarily returning. Although now that I'm saying this, maybe it's just going to be an anthology show about old men, which, you know, a group that I am hurtling my way towards as I speak. So that would be interesting. A lot of old actors looking to get on TV these days. But I don't think that's what it is. I think the assumption now is that Dan Chase or whatever his real name is will keep running.

I give them the benefit of the doubt. They've earned our trust with three excellent episodes. But I'm just curious. I'm going to put that to you listeners. And Chris and I will continue to talk about this as we cover the back half of the season. But I wonder if I'm going to detach a little bit. If the level of just, I've been gripped by this. the show. And I think part of that being gripped came from a sense of stakes and finality that

we were watching all we were going to get. So it'll be something worth watching as we keep watching. Second point I wanted to make in reference to our podcast from Monday, you guys heard us rave about the bear. I can't sing this show's praises highly enough. It's really gratifying in a really nice way in a very pure, very un-2022 way to have something new and unexpected drop into our laps and just have what appears to be a universal approval rating. Anecdotally, people in my life, people in my professional life, personal life. I know some of you guys who post on the Facebook group. People just seem to love the show.

And they love it in a way that isn't about getting answers or about knowing more of the source material or reading the books, God forbid. It's just a great show. It's just an exceptional achievement. And that's awesome. So I keep telling me how much you love it. It makes me really happy, even though I have no stake in it whatsoever. But I did want to just make a point that when Chris and I were talking, we seem to have

confused a couple people because we were a little bit not on the same page. We were referring to a scene. This is not a spoiler if you haven't seen it. So don't worry about skipping. But there is a moment in the finale where a character, I won't even say the name for fear of spoilers, is in an Alon meeting, an AA meeting. And he's there not for his own addiction issues, but to speak as someone who has gone through addiction issues in his family. And I brought up the scene. I think Chris conflated briefly in the moment AA with NA, Narcotics Anonymous. Just want to make it clear that we know that these are different organizations that do great work both with people suffering from addiction and their family members.

And it was glib to sort of power past that and make it seem like they were the same organization. The second thing that I think was confusing was I questioned whether Karmie, the lead character played by Jeremy Allen White, may have some addiction issues of his own that were not, to my memory anyway, ever articulated on the show. I did not see episodes you guys didn't. I don't think I was misremembering anything. I'm sorry I wasn't clear.

What I was saying was addiction issues are rife in professional kitchens. I mean, they're rife in every professional setting. But I think famously, you know, both championed and then, you know, reconsidered by people like Anthony Bourdain, like kitchens are hotbeds for for addiction issues, particularly substance abuse. And so what I was trying to articulate was I appreciated the bear's sense of its own season-long real estate. that there was so much to do, it didn't have time for that plot in this season with those characters. And I was wondering if it might be something

to revisit later down the line. Because for as much as we didn't see them suffering from addiction, I also don't, and again, this might be my memory of how I watched the show. I don't remember them having like shift drinks after work. I mean, obviously the restaurant, the beef, Chicagoland, doesn't serve alcohol,

so it's not like they just belly up to the bar, but it just wasn't present in the show. So I was just wondering if it was something that might be considered in future seasons. I apologize for the cross-case. confusion about all of that. Third thing I got to talk about. And you guys know, you're new, that if Chris ever cleared out, I would have to go ISO on the HBO series, Irma Vep. Okay. So we haven't talked about this. And the reason we haven't talked about it is because there

was simply too much TV and I hadn't gotten to it yet. But yeah, guys, I'm here for this. Obviously, for people who don't know, Irma Vap is an HBO series. I believe it's probably a French co-production. It is written and directed by one of the greatest living filmmakers, in my opinion, Olivier Asias, who has made some of my favorite movies of the last 20 years, including his original Irmovep in 1996, Summer Hours, Carlos, a couple of years ago, a great film called Nonfiction. He has written and directed a update, remake, reboot, expansion, reinvestigation of that 1996 film, which follows a similar plot for people who may have watched the 1996 film in this. And I know I'm going to lose some people when I describe the plot. I may have

already lost Chris. It is about an international movie star, played in the original version by Maggie Chung, and played in this version by Alicia Vikander, who goes to Paris to star in a remake of a 1940s black and white serial called The Vampires, which is, by the way, extra confusing. Not actually vampires. This is not Twilight Saga. That's a criminal gang that call themselves the vampires. The head vampire is an intoxicating cat burglar. named Irma Vep. The name Irma Vep is itself. You rearrange the letters, it spells vampire. As in the 1996 movie, in the series, the lines between professional and personal and fiction and nonfiction blur heavily. If you are not into meta stuff, you're not going to be into this show.

I can tell you that. But if you enjoy Call My Agent, this is kind of like a little bit of a darker version of that. Basically, Alicia Vikander's character, Mira, is a star of like kind of shlocky, Marvel movies, and she wants to do something more artistic, and she goes to work on this project, which seems totally insane, as it did in the 1996 version. It is completely uncommercial. In fact, it's unclear who's paying for this or why they're paying for it in a way that is kind of fascinating. She is turned on by being a cat burglar. She is put off by the fact that the budget keeps falling out. It is very inside baseball industry meta-satire stuff. But there are a lot of pleasures here that I'm really, really digging. And I've only seen three, four have aired. First and foremost, it's extremely

clever in its skewering of not just the way the industry works right now, but even of itself, where the director character has to explain that, you know, he doesn't make TV shows. Just, yes, he's making an eight episode series, but it's really just a very long film cut into eight pieces. But the thing that I think I'm finding most appealing, and I imagine some of our audience might as well, is that it's really in love with the art of making things. Inside baseball, naval gazing stuff about industry people being cool or special can get really old or can get really entourage. This kind of gets at the chanciness of life on the fringes of trying to make something where insurance is trying to shut you down. The director's trying to strangle the actor.

The German theater star who's come in to do a cameo is not even metaphorically fully addicted to crack and someone in the production has to get him some. What it speaks to is just it's adult summer camp and it's fun and they talk about art and messiness in their lives and drugs and they sleep with each other and it's building into something kind of interesting. The only drag I would say is, and it might be a barrier to entry for some, is like the first episode is a little bit stilted in the sort of this show is happening in three languages kind of way. So that might be initially off-putting. I think that evens out. I also have to say, I love Alicia Vikander. I love her as an actor and think she's awesome. It's very, very hard at times to watch

the show and not think about how Olivier Osias wrote this for his frequent muse, Kristen Stewart. She was the star of some of his great films of the last 10 years, like Personal Shopper and the Clouds of Sils Maria, two movies I really, really recommend. I think he's talked in interviews that he wrote this for her and she was unable to do it. This is no slight at Vicander, who is awesome and great in her own right, but you can kind of tell sometimes. And so I'm curious what the show does to kind of either change my mind about it or even potentially address it because everything that subtext becomes texts in the show. It's a lot of fun.

It's airing on Monday nights on HBO. And I'm really hoping that at the end of the season, I'll get a chance to talk to Monsieur Aceh himself, which would be a huge honor because I just think he's a genius. He makes my favorite kind of movie, movies that aren't necessarily box office gold, but movies about people that are too smart for their own good. talking to each other about stuff, summer hours and nonfiction being great examples of that. And he's just a master. And anytime a master comes to TV, it's worth paying attention to. Okay, so that's Irmavap. Check it out. We will revisit. We'll try and pressure Chris into watching it,

although I don't know how we'll do it. Last thing, a couple years ago, guys, we made, Chris and I collaborated and we made a Spotify playlist for the Fourth of July weekend. And I wish I could say there was a lot of demand for us to do it again. Not sure if that's the case, but we wanted to do it again. And I kind of wish we had been doing it annually, to be honest. So we did. We made a Spotify playlist. I made some songs.

He sent me some songs. I'm responsible, good or bad for the mix. I mean, the order, because I'm a micromanager like that. And it's called Beranski BBQ 22. You can, I will break my Twitter embargo to tweet it. put it on Instagram. You can search my profile on Spotify at Andy Greenwald to check it out. A lot of some older songs on there, some surprising songs that I've been listening to a lot, like, you know, by like Art Garfunkel and Patty Austin and Michael McDonald, but also a lot of

new artists that we are currently super obsessed with, like The Range and Daisy, MJ Lenderman, Chris's beloved Drug Church, with one of the best songs, if not the best song of the year. So really excited for you to check this out. But I also thought this was, an opportunity. So obviously you guys are all aware because you live in the world that we are all living through a uniquely awful moment in American history. And it just doesn't feel right to sit idly by and not at least address it or engage with it in some small way on this podcast. And I know Chris and I were talking before I recorded solo that he's with me in lockstep on this. So what I wanted to do is I'm going to put this thing on Spotify and like it or follow

or whatever the checkmark is. For every like or follow this Bransky barbecue playlist gets, I'll donate $5 to the National Network of Abortion Funds up to a $10,000 donation. It's something I want to do anyway, but I think it would be nice to sort of engage our listenership and people who feel the same way we do and get them to contribute in a small way to a good cause. And if you guys wanted to contribute your own amounts as well,

that's awesome. We can put the link to do so on social media. Yeah, it goes without saying that women's rights are human rights. And I say this not just as, you know, that awful cliche as a father of daughters, but as a man in the world who has benefited from the people in my life having access to reproductive freedom. And so what can we do? We can make a playlist, which seems small, but hopefully we can put a little financial power behind that and get money going to places that it should go and use this podcast for something a little bit more than making fun of Marvel movies. So that's my soapbox. feel. It's a holiday weekend. I hope everybody has a wonderful one. We will be back

covering a lot of shows, a lot of stuff, a lot of interviews, the usual. But I do hope everyone takes a moment. See that I tweet this playlist, certainly. And then after that, please unplug, please be with your loved ones, family, and friends. Have an amazing and great time because having a good time does matter and can make you feel better for the fight begins again and whatever venue you're fighting in next week. So that's my spiel. That's my monologue. Now it's to get into an interview. I said at the beginning, the great Colby Minifie is here. I love her as Ashley on the boys. She is such a fun, just presence on the TV screens. Maybe you watch her in Fear the Walking Dead or Jessica Jones. And it was really fun to talk to her. And you'll hear that it was

sort of even, it was even fun booking her because it went through a non-traditional avenue. So I don't think there are spoilers really in this conversation other than you'll know, you'll hear about what the boys is about. But honestly, before we even get to that, you'll mostly hear about how she's really needed taking ceramics classes, which I found fascinating. And hell, Chris isn't here. So I can, I can program the podcast. And Kai supports me. I know Kai is passionate about ceramics as well. So without, I was going to say further ado, but Kai, this was a lot of ado, right? How did I adieu? You addued, great. Thanks, dude. Thank you for being here having my back. Thanks for always being the best producer. And we wish you all very happy 4th of July weekend. And please enjoy this conversation

with Colby Minifie and talk to you next week, Baranskis. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. Ever have a plan come together out of nowhere and realize you're missing something? Like a last minute beach day, a spontaneous hike or an outdoor movie night you didn't plan for. That's when Prime's same day delivery as you're back. Getting you exactly what you need fast and reliably so you can actually join the moment instead of watching from the sidelines. Same day delivery, it's on Prime. Visit Amazon.com slash Prime to find millions of items delivered fast. Available in select areas, terms apply.

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season three now streaming. You know her as Ashley Barrett on the show. I never introduced people like this. I don't know why I became a game show host, but Colby Meneffey is here. Welcome. Hey, thank you. I'm so happy to be here. This is exciting for a number of reasons.

One, because season three has been awesome and episode seven is dropping, I believe, tomorrow. We're recording this on Thursday. Very excited to talk to you about you, your performance, the role, all of that. But also, this is important for the podcast because I think this is the first shadow booking that's ever happened, where five-time guest, member of the five-timers club, Iya Cash, just made this happen. but so grateful to her. She made it happen so easily. She just texted me.

She's like, it's my buddy. He's great. Do it. And I said, yes. To the point where then I had to back channel the publicists. And they were very gracious about it. But they were like, to be clear, does Colby really want to do this? And I was like, I don't know her.

But also the amount of exclamation points I use in every text message that I ever send, you know, I sound enthusiastic about everything. So yes, you can always assume. Yes. You did seem enthusiastic. And shout out to Aya for being the booker of this podcast while in a ceramics class somewhere in upstate New York. Yes. I think her hands were covered in clay while she made this happen. Yes.

That's my, I just came from. That's where I was for the past four hours is my ceramics class. We both are into it. Yeah, I know. Isn't that strange? I know. Wait. So this is a thing?

Is it bigger than? Within the cast of the boys or just the two of you on your own mission? Every single person I think is secretly doing ceramics at all times. Yes. Yes. No. It's like I did it in college a bit. And then I started in January.

I like restarted in January because this is amazing studio right by my house called Mouse Dramic Studio. And I just was just did it for a couple months. And I was like, I want to come. I want to come. I want to do that. And then she found a really great studio upstate. And now we have yet to do it together. but she has, I think, been doing it less than a month,

and she is making unbelievable stuff where I feel like I'm like, oh, I'm crap compared to. I mean, she's like hand-building entire like hand forearm bases and like she made this base on the wheel and then put a nose on it. And I'm like, this is so good. And I'm just doing basic bowls and shit, you know. Okay, but what, but.

Can we curse on this podcast? Please do, in fact. Okay, great, great, great, great, great. It's better for the algorithm if you do. Oh, good. But for you, is this just like, well, my day job is one thing, and this is something different, like, stay creative or to pass the time? And she's suddenly, like, elevating it?

Is that the distinction here? Or is it that you're both trying to make a certain type of product out of this and some sort of produce something beautiful, and she's just crushing it? Like, are you using it for different ends? I think we're both, I mean, I, I, I, I don't want to speak for her, but we've talked a bit about this, about how like, you know, I've been doing this, and this goes into some deeper shit,

but I've been going, I've been doing acting professionally since I was 12. So that means I've been doing it for 18 years. And I can always look back on everything I've done being like, well, you weren't that good on that. But yeah, you could have done better. And now you've learned this other thing now, so that was shit. And I found that I need to do either physical, yeah, like physical things.

things like a long hike, you know, like a month long hike or like, you know, making shit. I need to make things to look at them and say, I made that in order to feel some sort of accomplishment that I can't take away for myself. Do you know what I mean? I'm like incredibly hard on myself and I like to kind of circumvent that instead of just being nicer to myself, I just circumvent it by being like, okay, but I made that. So there, it's there. You can't take it away. But I think that's very wise, actually, because acting is ephemeral, right? Like you can't.

It's a moment, and then ultimately it's a moment that you can't control or have back because it might not even be the moment you felt best at. You know, it could be the lighting wasn't good in that one. And so they used the wrong one. Exactly. There's a physicalness and a control, not in a analyzing you sort of way, but in a very healthy sort of way that I think makes sense. Yeah.

I mean, I do love to control things for sure. And that's definitely an added. And the thing, the thing about clay, too, and throwing specifically, is that centering itself, it's like, if you move with the clay, and this is whoever, whichever ceramicists are listening to this, are going to be like, oh, my God, this girl. But if you move with the clay, the clay is going to be teaching you. The clay is going to be doing whatever it wants.

But if you brace against like four things and you are stable, and the thing moves within you, then you can like actually, then you can center and then you can make things. And so it's all about breathing and it's all about like this life force like within this stable thing. It's cool. It's really cool.

And then it's all about failure because then everything breaks or drives too fast. And, you know, I recently, for the first time threw two pots and put them together into one. And the first time I did it, the pots dried too fast. And then the second time I did it, they dried too fast again and I had to like wet them and then I and then it cracked in the kiln and

you're like oh my god and maybe I'll glaze it anyway and we'll see what happens and it has yet to come out but you just got like you just got to I mean it's not like I have enough I have a lot of familiarity with failure from this industry but I guess I needed more you know I I love first of I love that we're talking about ceramics but also I think that whatever skepticism are robust audience in the clay community may have going into it, it was fine because you started, you were using slang. I mean, you're using the lingo. You said you were throwing.

You just casually said you threw a pot. And I was like, this lady knows what she's talking about. So I learned all the lingo from the great pottery throwdown, which is my, the greatest TV show of all time. Right. Yeah, but something also, look, something positive coming from reality TV. This is, you keep trying to find a negative here. I don't see it.

Oh, yeah. No, no, no. It's good. I'm into it. I'm into it. But speaking of ephemeral. stuff. I'm doing a play right now and it's like the play goes away, you know? It goes away. And then you, then you like, you like reform the narrative of whatever the play was or however you were in the play

because you can never watch it. You can never know. And all you know is how you felt every night and whether or not you were dropped into that. And then some nights you're like, oh, I sucked. And somebody was like, that was your greatest performance. You know, it's just so, it's so, such a crazy little weird job we have. What is the play? And it's up now. It's up now. Yeah, it's called Epiphany.

It's at Lincoln Center. It's written by this guy, Brian Watkins. Really beautiful playwright. And directed by this great woman, Tyne Raphaelli. And the cast is like just all seasoned legendary theater actors, including Mary Louise Burke. And from Sideways, she played Paul Giamati's mom and Sideways. And she was in Ozark, latest season of Ozarks, Jonathan Hidari, Omar Metaulali, David Ryan Smith. It's like Heather Burns.

I mean, it's like an amazing group of people. If I don't mention everyone, I'm going to be really upset. Carmen Zillis, Francois, C.J. Wilson. And that's it. This is going to be amazing. We're going to find out finally a question that's been plaguing me. Like, are we bigger in the Clay community or the Broadway community? Like, who did we offend more so far in this podcast?

There's something very like as a former and never really recovered New Yorker, like summer at Lincoln Center. Like that's something really special about that. That's awesome. Oh, you got it. You got it. It's really every time I walk to work up, like, I work here. Like, it's one of the great places. Yeah.

Yeah. And so you said, you referred to it earlier and I wanted to ask about this, that your career started very young. Yeah. You were on Broadway at like 12 or 13, right, in a Martin McDonough play that I think I saw. and I, and I'm, you were great, by the way. You did not see me. You did not see me. I was an understudy and I never went on.

So I wasn't really on Broadway. Did you like how genuine I was though? That was so, that was so, that was so, that was so, that was so, your part was, I believe was girl, right? Like it was. Girl, well, yeah, there was, I was the understudy of girl and boy. Oh. Which as a pre-pubescent team, and they put a wig on me, I looked exactly like a young

Billy Curet up. It was perfect. Oh, that's who the... I mean, because that's just kind of an incredible thing. Like, you're 12 or 13, and you're on Broadway or Broadway adjacent backstage, a veil, with Crudeau, Goldblum, Stoolbarg in a McDonough play. I mean, that's crazy. So prior to that, to be an actor, you're from New York originally, if I'm not mistaken.

Yeah. It's one thing to be like, I like acting when you're 10, 11, 12, and then another thing to be suddenly, like, professionalized. And was that a positive experience for you? It clearly didn't dissuade you. Oh, yeah. No, no, no, no. I begged for it. My parents were like, what? I mean, I went to a, convince my parents to let me audition for this middle school, this performing arts middle school. And I got there. And it was a school for kids who worked in the industry. And I got to the first day of sixth grade. And there were like five kids in the class, a class of 30 who had each been in five Broadway shows before the age of 12. 11. 11. And I was like, I am behind. I am just failing. and I went home crying.

I was like, I was like, they tell, they say I need an agent. I need to get an agent. I need to get an agent. My parents were like, oh, what is an agent? Okay, like I guess. Because they're not industry folks. They were not. No, my dad's an opera singer, but that world like works a bit differently.

Yeah. And my mom's a chef. She worked with a roommate magazine for 32 years. You know, they were like, and they weren't sure if it was smart. And they called some of the other parents and they took me to, this agent's office and they were like, well, we're going to have to, you know, let her down slowly. It's not going to work out. And I was represented and they were like, what? So luckily, I had supportive parents, you know, like they could have just been like, you know, no, we don't have time.

We don't have the resources. We don't have money. But they, they made it work. And it was, they used to, I used to coming out of Pillerman, I used to call my dad. That was the play. At a certain. Yeah, the McDonald play. Yeah, the Pillerman. Yeah, which is a crazy. I mean, talk about like the best thing to just watch as a kid. You just like sat there and I just watched that play all the time. And you learned a lot of swears. I learned a lot of swears. That year for Halloween, I was a girl who committed suicide and people were a little worried about me because the whole show is about killing children. I was like, yeah, this is cool. But yeah, I used to like call my dad when a certain scene happened and he'd like, you know, find a way to get. there and like swing around and then pick me up and get back in time for bed and schoolwork. You know what I mean? So what was, the way you're talking about it sounds great.

Like sort of like it's a magical, like this is a secret window into a different world that you have access to. And the people that were in the show were, you know, in the best theatrical tradition, they were kind and supportive. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. They were so, I mean, I mean, I was in understudy. So if I, and I was 13 at the time. So if I were them, if I, and I had this huge show to do, to put on my shoulders,

I would like not even give, I would be like, okay, there's somebody here who's young, who I can say hi to, but like, you know, it's, that's, I'm not going to, I'm not going to, like, be their best friend. But they were so kind and like, not, like, they were just so encouraging. I remember there was one day where I was like, in, they were in tech and I like stepped in for a minute and Billy calls up and he was like, how you do it up there, Colby? Just, you didn't have to do that, you know?

They were all very, very kind. And I met Billy Cookard up since then. And I was like, I was in that play and he was like, I remember your presence there. That's so sweet. It's not nice. I know. Yeah, it's a weird, weird. thing to do when you're a kid, you know, but it was fun. So fun. So what's interesting to me is you

started, you know, that's such a pedigreeed, incredible experience, and you studied acting, and then you were continued to be on stage, obviously, including, you know, you did O'Neill, you did Long Day's Journey, you did six degrees of separation, one of my favorite plays ever. You know my whole resume, dude. Well, it's, it's, it's a, I mean, I didn't have to dick. Like, I didn't go in the microphone. Right. But thank you. I take the credit. that that is. But, all right, I'm, I'm older. But so that, it's true.

It's fair. I thought it was like a deep, I thought it was like a deep digital thing that I don't like, that I, like the dark web. Yeah, it's the dark web. Yeah. It's Silk Road. You can get all kinds of designer drugs and also your playbills from 2006. Oh, my God. But all of this is prelude.

And we're going to disappoint the clayheads out there by talking about your more recent television career. But I'm just kind of curious about how. you study, you train. I'm sure you did some classical training. You were doing these great American plays on stage in New York. And then on the screen, you shoot zombies and talk to people wearing capes. And that's so wild because you were on Fear of the Walking Dead for a bunch of years and now on the boys. And I'm kind of wondering how you navigate that. Like, is it for you? I just feel like it's a unique thing because of the window of experience that you've had professionally to have one thing entirely and then this other thing and how the two talk to.

each other in how you approach them. Oh, good question. I mean, really my training has been on the job. Like, I went to a great high school and I did like a Meisner program outside of that. But I didn't, the closest thing I've gotten to classical training is doing Long Day's Journey. It was like there was no, it was me reading the play 400 times. And I'm like, you know, it was just doing whatever I can, watching the rehearsals as much as possible in order to like try to fit into the same play as these people.

And so I've approached every job like that kind of, you know, it's like I don't think there's really any difference between approaching Fear of the Walking Dead and approaching Long Day's journey tonight. And I think people are going to really kill me when they hear that. But like, I think that there's a, um, can't kill someone who's already dead. Sorry for the spoilers. True, true, true. But yeah, it, it, you take, you look at everything as if, you know, fear is written very differently than O'Neill is, of course.

I can't believe I'm making this comparison. I'm super into it. O'Neill is like, O'Neill is like not alive to defend himself. But you have to look at each thing as if it's Shakespeare, you know, as if it's like, okay, this is the word on the page. What are they trying to tell me with this? why are they using this word instead of this word? And then I, with fear, luckily the writers are there. So you just email them and go, what is this?

What's going on here? And they can help you. But with O'Neill, you just have to like fit yourself into whatever, you know, have to hammer yourself over the head with that. But I kind of approach them all in the same way, which is why I probably only play crazy people on film and TV, because I'm such a theater actor. Well, so I wondered about that.

This is kind of a, this might be too heady a question, but like for a lot, but I'm curious if it's generational to a degree because I remember growing up in the days of Mike Rofiche and wondering and noticing that like the actors who seemed to do best in like Star Trek were Patrick Stewart, you know, or Malcolm McDowell. Like something about British stage actors, there was like, slap this makeup on me, put some ridges of my,

forehead, I don't care. I'll sell it. And there was always this thing where like some American actors, whether they were screen actors, seemed like removed from the material or had trouble just being alive in it. Now the work for every actor, at some point you're going to touch a cape, right? Or touch a zombie. Like that's part of it. And so I was curious if generationally, that just was, I mean, obviously it's not a big deal. These are great shows and great opportunities. But your facility in doing that or I'm searching for a question in this observation. And I'm not sure if there is one. But like I don't even know if I was even wondering if you had said like in high school if there was a like how to shoot zombies class, you know, like if we've reached that level

of an actor prepares. Yeah, I do think it's like like language forward. And that's the tricky thing about film and TV is that it's a visual medium. And so oftentimes what's on the page, you really have to be searching for what's actually going on underneath the page. Like what, you know, what's happening visually in order to help tell this story, and maybe the words aren't the, you know, the words are just the scratching the surface and everything else's. But I think that like, it's, I mean, it's all, it sounds so corny, but it's just all imagination-based.

The zombie thing, you know, the biggest trick for me there, and I really didn't imagine I would be on these shows. Like, I actually cannot believe that of all the shows that I've done, The biggest ones are all the Marvel, like Jessica Jones, like all comic book shows. And I think that that, you know, I feel very blessed in that way because the people who watch them are so wonderful and encouraging and supportive. And it's given me like great training in my imagination. You know, the hardest thing for me about filming fear was shooting the gun. Yeah.

I was like not that. That's the kind of thing that we didn't learn in high school. and like how to how to kind of contend with the idea of like your body doesn't know it's it's your body doesn't know it's fake you know like I had like a whole three night shoot of a of a shoot out and I had to shoot a hold a gun up to somebody's head I had to shoot a gun into somebody's face during another night shoot and it like you're traumatized from that kind of There's a gunfire going off. Your body is like, whoa. And, yeah, that's the kind of thing that, like,

that, like, you just can't prepare for, you know, unless you're a military person, like Adam Driver or something, you know. Right. You have some familiarity in your body of those sorts of noises and sounds. Yeah. So specifically to the boys, speaking of things you might not be able to prepare for, watching the first season, you are on the show, you're in supporting roles.

you seem to be written off the show midway through the season and seemed to be done. Now, was that the plan? Like, was there a moment when you were like, this is a guest starring gig on one season of a show that who knows what it's going to be? And then you found out, we love what you're doing. We want you back. Or was it more organic than that? I think that is kind of a trajectory. But yeah, I thought it was like one season.

I don't actually know the answer to this question. But from my understanding, I always understood it as this is just one. season and and then they liked what I was doing and then I got an email before the script where I got fired came out and Eric Cricky was like listen we love what you're doing but we have to fire you story wise but just you know don't don't distress so I was like okay cool cool cool cool and I got fired and so that so I knew that there was something coming but you can't ever like you know assume anything I've done that too many times and gotten my heartbroken too many times, you know? But the thing about Cricky and that whole

producing team and all of the cast is that they were so welcoming to me. Like they were just, it included me as like, you know, in all the emails and all the like viewing part and all that stuff from day one, um, in a way that made me feel like I was really part of the team from day one, which is, you know, they didn't have to do that. So I have to ask about what you're just saying that my co-hosts in the podcast, Chris, makes fun of me for this. But this is not usually how I watch things. But he accused me of having a parasycial relationship. Have you heard that term?

Oh, yes. I heard this on the podcast yesterday that I was listening to. Parassocial, yes. What is it? It's like when John Mullaney and his wife broke up and people felt personally broken up with. Oh, yeah. You know, like you don't know these people. But so he accused me of having that with the cast of the boys.

because, and I genuinely feel this based on almost nothing other than like I as Instagram, which is to say that this is a giant, giant show with a lot of moving pieces and a lot of moving parts. The people on the show, by and large, genuinely seem to be getting along very well. And like, there's just this constant feed of like, you guys and Claudia, like drinking wine, making fun of Antony Star, which was a masterpiece of the form. Or just like, you know, like Aaron and Jack, like Surround a bit of, by dildo's laughing and then also scenes from the set of the show. But like, but you know what I mean?

And I don't know if that's the right way to enjoy things, if there is one way to enjoy things, but it does affect my enjoyment of the show because it just has a spirit of everything is so over the top. And it has genuine emotions and old-fashioned storytelling structure, but it does seem to be a good time. And I struggle with saying that's a reason why I like the show, but it is. And so somewhere in this confession, again, is a question of like, how accurate am I? you're super accurate i mean i i think we all have a genuine respect for each other and admiration of

each other um we all think everybody else is the most fucking talented person you know and so uh and i also think that that part of that part of the reason why you're and why you're in why you seeing all that back background stuff and it makes you enjoy the show more is because that feeds into the show. Like if we weren't, if you can always sense it. You can always kind of tell, you know, when something's not and something's gone awry.

I think you have to like, and I really learned this on this, on this play that I'm doing, that if you have to build a thing starting with love, starting with a place that it's, and this goes back to what I was saying about, everything is Shakespeare kind of, Like, you have to expect that you have to go into everything thinking this is the best written thing.

This is amazing. Such an important story. Everybody's amazing. And it ends up, like, feeding into what's on screen. Now, that's not to say that, you know, things can't use some edits every once in one. You know what I mean? But, like, if you enter a space with like, with like, I want to make this thing work. And I'll do everything I can to make this thing work as much as possible.

It shows up, I think. And that's what you're seeing. You're seeing, I think, all of us caring a lot. We all care a lot. And you guys have to just be in Toronto, a city where I don't think any of you live. Now, especially during COVID, and then just like go to the circus for a couple of months, right? And you have to have a certain mindset to do that. Is that an accurate read?

Absolutely. We have to like, especially during COVID, you know, we weren't allowed to cross the border. So it was eight months, seven, eight months of us being up there. without getting to leave. Or if we did leave, we had to have a long enough break in the schedule in order to do that. And it meant that we were,

we were really, you know, we're like, we're really tight. And because we also have to exist in a bubble, there's not many other people that we can hang out with. And it's great. I love it. I love it. And it was great too because we weren't going out

to restaurants all the time to be saved a bunch of money. And, you know, it was fun. So you mentioned, before that you felt like the energy that you were bringing to your on-screen characters. So did you just know, Ashley, right away? Like, was that just clear to you who this person should be, how you should play her, or has it been a process? Well, it's funny. When I auditioned for it, I had just lost the biggest job of my life. The whole thing got shut down for various reasons. And I had this audition on the weekend after that happened. And I was like, fucking superhero show, what the fuck? What the

fuck this industry? I don't fucking do this. Like, fuck. And I just, just printed the sides out and read them off the, like I acted with the sides. I like didn't even bother memorizing them, which is horrifying to me because sometimes it works, you know, for certain things, but it's not my level, not my standard of work, you know, and I did the tape and didn't hear anything for five months. You know, you just completely forgot about it. And then five months later, my agent's like, do you remember this thing you tape for? They want to, they want to see a, you retape it, but just less broad, just more serious. And I was like, okay, and I got a friend over to retape it.

And I, I just did like a bunch of different options. I like sent in like, maybe it's this, maybe it's this, maybe it's this. And I learned the lines this time. I was like, here we go, we got it. But I, I don't know why they cast me. and I don't really know what, where I got the idea. I hadn't even met a publicist before I started playing her. I had no idea.

And Kripke told me the story that he was like, Ashley's kind of based on my wife. And he's like, my wife was a publicist. And there was a scene where she was at her birthday party, her own birthday party. And she got a call from somebody being like, I got a white limo instead of a black limo. and you need to come fix this right now.

And she had to, like, leave the party, run, she's sobbing, so stressed out, all this stuff. And I thought, okay, that's really all I need to know. It's like somebody who, whose job is, you know, Krippie also described her as, like, as, like, the moon. She always wants to shine off the sun, you know?

Just always trying to catch that light. Yeah. And those two things are, like, really, really helpful. And of course, like, You know, the length of time that we shoot this show and my, like, how hard I am on myself, I'll, like, shoot a scene and then I'll be like, oh, that was wrong. I'm going to try to fix it in the next scene. And it's, like, always me overthinking everything.

And, like, so it's a constant, I'm always finding her. You know, I'm always discovering and finding who this person is through the time that we have. It's been four years now. Do you get excited when you get handed the scripts for, like, the season premiere? And you're like, now she's having angry sex and bathroom. and now she seems to be removing her own hair at an alarming rate. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Oh, no, I mean, when I read that first script, I was shooting and I was supposed to be quiet and I screamed. And they were like, Colby, please. I was like, I cannot believe, A, that I get to have sex with PJ Byrne, the best guy in the world in a bathroom,

which we, like, thank God for PJ Byrne. It was my first time ever doing a sex scene. That wasn't a rape scene, just to be clear, because that's not a sex scene. but he was the best. He called me. We went on Zoom. We wrote the whole thing.

We talked it through. We were like, what if it's this? What if it's this? And like in the world of intimacy coordinators and like having to be as we should be, as sensitive as we can be with sex scenes and as sensitive as we, as is necessary, I was so grateful to have somebody who was leading with joy, with leading with work first, not meaning personally at all, just leading like, how can we make this as funny as it possibly can be? And we had a blast. We had a total, total blast. Yeah. Thank God for PJ Byrne. Anyway.

That's awesome. And I have to ask about another scene partner that maybe not as intimate, that this season, especially, you have all these scenes with Anthony and with Homelander. And it's, I mean, A, he's phenomenal, but B, like, one of the things that I do love about the show that it keeps returning to is just this totally bizarre dynamic where obviously everyone is increasingly terrified of him, but he is the most powerful being on the planet and he still is enslaved to the algorithm and the ratings and the Q stuff that you have. So the power dynamics must be fun to play every time you're on set. Oh yeah. I feel like, oh, totally, totally. And I always think of actually, especially this season as Kellyanne Conway. And I just hope and hope.

for the future that she becomes more of like a Cassidy Hutchinson. And where she starts to like, where she starts the, that's her name, right? Cassidy Hutchinson. Yes. And the show sometimes has been giving us that. There have been moments where it shows a little empathy or humanity and then it snaps back. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, that's where that's where I really like hope for her because Ashley's like, they do need things from each other. but Ashley's intimacy with that power I think is like it fuels her so much you know it's like working it's like assisting a really terrible producer on Broadway you know you're like but it's this guy like I can't know like but I'm close to the thing I'm this close to the thing how can I leave you know it's it's

you know being an aid to the president you know what I mean it's this like desire to be as close to where the magic happens as possible, even if you're ripping your own hair out, completely tortured by it. And knowing that she has the numbers power. You know, she's like, I know how to swing this as much as possible. You know, you need me, which I think is hard for her to feel sometimes, but, you know. I love, I mean, there are obviously ups and downs to an actor's life, but I have to think there's something that is just kind of incredible about like one

day you're doing O'Neil and another day you're shooting the the deep eats Timothy, the octopus scene. And can you just tell me about that day? Because that is one of the most absurd things I've ever seen on television. That was, and this is a credit to Kripke and his crew, like, deeply unsettling. Like, it really was very upsetting. And I hold that scene up as like, this is what this show does that makes it incredibly unique.

Yeah. Well, especially after watching my octopus teacher, you know, that's like. Right. Oh, and I just want to be clear. I don't think I answered this in your last question, but Anthony is such an incredible actor. Like, he's just, he's always present. He's always got incredible ideas.

He's always committed to making the thing as good as it possibly can be. And, yeah, I don't think I made that clear in my last answer. But, yeah, in terms of shooting that day, it was my favorite day of all time because I'm vegan. And I was like, okay, room full of shellfish. Like, I got to be eating this stuff. Like, what are we going to do? how we're going to do this?

And the props team made the most incredible Trumploi shellfish. I mean, it's all like dumplings and mushrooms and real shells. And like, I mean, and like potato painted to look like a lobster. I mean, I ate the entire day in between, they had vegan butter. In between takes, I was just like, yum, yum, yum, like, more. everyone else is using spit buckets I was like I'm into it I'm into this this is great but what they did too

is I mean also Chase is one of the most amazing actors ever I just I don't I don't know you have to be so smart to play that dumb you know

and he's just the things he comes up with like there are times when I'll catch him like right before they call action he's like trying to to add something into the scene at the very top of a scene. And he's like picking his teeth in a reflected table or something. I mean, he's just, he's like touching his muscles while walking on the hall. You know, this kind of stuff that he's so, he's layered so much stuff into this character.

And him having to eat his love of his life, tentacles and all was like just, yeah, it was horrifying. And what they did, they did this amazing stuff with his face where they put strings on his face. for the tentacles to, like, move his muscles around. And, oh, it was just, I loved that day. I loved it so much. Yeah, it was so fun. Do you feel, because the other thing that I think is really successful about the show is that in some ways it's really old-fashioned in that there's, like, nine stories

happening over the course of a season, and we jump from one to the other, and it's all building, you know, every character gets their moments and their scenes. But on your side of the ball, does it, do you feel disparate? Like, do you feel part of the larger hole when you're working, you know, 70% of the time in the tower or with these three actors. Do you have a sense of the larger enterprise in a way that resonates? I have to make charts to feel a sense of the larger. Just because we are in basically two different shows.

You know, it's like there's, they're two very, very, especially my character. I think it depends on, you know, if you're Jack or Aaron, like you're bouncing around a bit more. But I have to keep track. Like I have to like, you know, make clear charts, A, of every soup and what they're up to and what they're doing because Ashley's supposed to know all that shit. And, and then of like storyline and why this, my storyline needs to happen over here at this time in relation to their thing. It's like, it's, and we don't have table reads, you know, which is, which makes things really, um, tricky because I'm, you know, I like learn from hearing the whole thing out loud. So I have to like, I mean, I hire somebody like, help me like.

map out what's what's going on story-wise because I'm I'm a little slow on that kind of thing anyway and I also like love rehearsal and I you know come from a place of getting a month of rehearsal and if I don't have that I got to like figure out another way to like understand everything that could possibly be going on in the story but yeah yeah but it does in terms of like our vibe as a crew like we're all one and then we're like oh we shoot separately you know but then we all hang out together as one fully and everybody then then the wine comes out Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's, see, this is what I need.

I don't know why. I don't know why it's your show. It's just, it's good vibes. It's good vibes, it is. So servicey part of the conversation, there's two episodes left in this season. We did this on the DL. Amazon doesn't, he barely knows we're talking other than the Amazon branded ear buds that you have in. Fired.

What is the most, what is it, what is, I was about saying, what is the most thing you can say, which is grammatically inaccurate, but what I mean, about the rest of this season that won't get you fired. It doesn't even have to be a specific word just like a vibe or a, you know what I mean? Like, how would you describe the last two episodes or the end of the season broadly?

Well, you know what? You know what this is really embarrassing? This is really embarrassing. I honestly have no idea. I love it. I like it. I love it. I am, we filmed this a,

year ago, I have, I like put it all away and I haven't even watched this season yet. But you lived it. I don't even remember. I know. I know what happens to my character, which I actually can't, like, the thing that is coming to my head are the things that are just major spoilers because there are two. I'm so, I feel terrible about this. Will we see you wearing an American flag pantsuit again or whatever that, you know what to me? Like that was an amazing, that was an amazing suit. No, but my outfits do continue to get hot and amazing. It's a good, I mean, the fun thing that I can say is that the amazing costume design

of this year, Michael Ground, really helped me turn Ashley into CEO Wonder, like Wonder Woman as, as with the, you know, with that shift. Like he was like, he was like, how do we do some skirts now? I was like, ooh. So I can say skirts. Okay, I love it. Also, you know. I really feel terrible.

I know I lived it. I just, my brain is very much wrapped up in this. Right now that's so lame with me to say. But it's okay, but also like literal bodies under the bridge aside, like you could watch the show as just an incredible reflection of Gen Z's dominance and like, you know, impatience in terms of climbing the corporate ladder. Because Ashley went from an assistant to the CEO in a really remarkable amount of time. And so there's a hero narrative there that I think is being undersold. Hey, interesting.

Yeah. I mean, I do think that this whole season is really kind of about like how far are you willing to go, right? And Ashley has to ask yourself those same questions as much as butcher does, you know, like how, what are you willing to do to, you know, serve yourself on some level? Well, all of us are going to find out, you included, over the next two weeks. And we remind me the name of the play. Let's say it again. So people coming to New York should come see you this summer. Come see it.

We only have a month left. So come quickly. It's called Epiphany. And it's at Lincoln Center. But before we go, I have to say, I loved listening to how much you liked the bear. Because Jeremy Allen White, who is the lead of the bear, went to my high school. We were in high school together.

No way. Yeah. And it brings me great joy to see him like doing, he is, we did a scene together when I was in, when we were in high school, we did in a scene called from Snake Bit, this play Snake Bit for the AIDS Assembly. And I felt like I had never been a better actor

when I did that scene with him because he's just, he makes everybody around him good, amazing, because he's so amazing himself. And he's just, he's a wonderful, guy and it makes me so happy to see him doing so well. Is there video footage of this scene together? Like, is this? I wish.

There might be photos, but years ago, they would be on Facebook and, and, uh, I, uh, I deleted, like my entire, because my entire puberty was on Facebook and I decided to delete it all. So I might have lost them in that. I think that's wise. But I also love what you said, because I think that was what was unique about that conversation about the show is we made it through just raving about how amazing it is. And then we're like, wait, we didn't mention the star. And how incredible is that achievement that he is that, I mean, just powerful and modest at the same time is such a rare combination, such a rare quality actor. Yeah, he's naturally like that. He's really naturally like that.

I mean, I haven't seen him in years, but I assume he's the same. High school reunions. He was in high school. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And another snippet, didbit, tidbit, that's the word tidbit. it is Justin Davis, this kid Justin Davis, who plays young Stan Edgar in boys. We also went to high school together.

Isn't that crazy? What a remarkable class. Well, it's a good, it's a good school. It's a performing arts school and everybody, everybody rocks. And everybody else who he didn't mention just kind of needs to step it up, right? That's the takeaway. Exactly. That's the takeaway. Yeah, exactly. Just, come on.

Clock's ticket. it. Good, good, good, good. Well, Colby, it's such a pleasure to talk to you. I wish you nothing but the best on Broadway and in the studio, as we call it, when we're throwing pots. Yes, yes, the studio, yes. The stud. And I hope we'll have an opportunity to talk again maybe season four. This show just keeps rolling. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Hey, thanks for having me. I'm really, I'm happy to talk to you about it. Seriously, it's so nice to like, you know, hear somebody who's such a fan. Because I haven't talked about it yet this year.

So it clearly. That's, yeah, because Amazon publicity was like, you're talking to who? She would do it? What? They're like, no, quick follow up. Do you have her number? And I was like, yeah, we're good.

It worked out. It's true. Yeah.