After a brief hiatus, "The Baker's Dozen" returns! And this week we have T.A.G.'d Actor Donal Logue! Donal is a writer, actor, Harvard grad, and now he's really made his mark - he's answered our 13 questions. Enjoy!
1) You’re the second Harvard graduate that we’ve interviewed. How does one go from studying history to becoming a television and movie star? And how does Harvard teach history better than any other school? I mean, it’s all the same history, right?
I initially wanted to go into public service (maybe International Relations) and I ran for student government at Harvard and in the midst of an incredibly strange, frustrating and boring debate, I realized that I didn't want to deal with bureacracy at all. My rommmate was in a band (Bullet LaVolta) and my friend Jesse was in the Lemonheads and it turned my mind on to doing performance stuff. Harvard's is not the best History department and there are probably a thousand schools with good faculties- however- Harvard has all the cool texts in the original.
2) After Harvard, you were a roadie for the rock group "The Lemonheads." You're family must have been very proud. Tell us a cool story about those days. And don't be afraid to mention the rampant drug use.
Well, with the Lemonheads (and more with Bullet LaVolta) it was an amazingly freeing experience. You pull into some town or city, anywhere in the US, and immediately meet the twenty weirdest and or coolest people there and have strange adventures. We used to crash on various floors because we were broke and one time a chick in Portland laced our enchiladas with acid.
The bands, SoundGarden, Mudhoney, Yo La Tengo, Dag Nasty, Nirvana, were all great and it was before anyone was famous.
3) Your first “big break” came as Jimmy The Cab Driver on MTV. Tell us about how that character was created, and how poorly MTV paid you.
I used to just be a jack ass in various guises around our dorm room in college and Clay Tarver and Jesse Peretz said- "Let's screw around with a Boston character and maybe do little vignettes." I think we were at a flea market downtown in New York and I found these glasses and greased my hair and that is when Jesse and Clay had the epiphany. We borrowed some guy's car and shot the first spots. Jesse and /or Clay (I can't remember exactly who-probably both) thought it would be cool to riff on pop culture and MTV in particular.
We shot these rambling monologues and a woman named Amy Finnerty from MTV saw them and that was that.
ps- by the end of the run, MTV paid us well- at least by the standards we were used to making.
Donal as Jimmy the Cab Driver.
4) In 1996 you played Ken Schuler in the Stephen Bochco show “Public Morals.” The show aired only one episode. How does it feel to have been in the biggest Bochco flop since "Cop Rock?"
It feels good. It was a chance, we took it, met some cool people and it didn't fly. Thank God it didn't go for seven years, that would have been about thirty other projects I couldn't have done.
By the way, I saw a great Cop Rock with the guy from Jesus Christ Superstar who played Judas (Carl Anderson I think)
5) You won Best Actor at Sundance for your role in “The Tao of Steve” and Roger Ebert, in his review of the movie wrote, “’The Tao of Steve’ is an easygoing but bright comedy that focuses on Logue's effortless charm.” How did it feel to read that? And how does it feel to watch Roger Ebert speak out of the side of his mouth now?
It was a strange and cool exerience- It was like there was no evidence of me on the radar of this world of film until that moment and then it goes away again. I have always respected Roger Ebert's opinion. He is a champion of a good friend's work (Bill Paxton). I wish him a long and happy one.
Donal in the critically acclaimed movie The Tao of Steve.
6) I read that you were originally cast as Phil Stubbs on "Ed." A role that was ultimately played by Michael Ian Black. When you two do those "Remember the 80's" things on VH1, is there a certain amount of animosity? And on a totally un-related note: What did you think of the Matt Le Blanc/Monkey vehicle Ed?
I loved "Ed," I just couldn't relocate to the East Coast becuae I had a baby and another on the way and no way was their Mom going to move to New York. When I lived in New York, Jesse's friend Craig Wedren was buddies with all the people in the State and so I was always aware of their work and talent. Michael Ian Black is funny. But do we brawl when we see each other? Hell yeah.
Ed was awesome, but not as awesome as the motocross monkey movie starring Lorenzo Lamas that I was forced to take my kids to.
7) You starred as Sean Finnerty on the sitcom “Grounded for Life” for 5 seasons. In the middle of the 3rd season, the show moved from FOX to the WB. Which network was nicer to you?
Fox for starting it and the WB for picking it up. They were both cool. I basically operate from the perspective that people don't owe you anything- so when they cast you in a pilot and pick up the show, it is all extra. I generally like people who offer me employment- the executives at both Networks were very cool- I am not bullshitting- they used to be welcome additions down at the set.
The cast of "Grounded for Life" before the WB buried it for life.
8) “Grounded for Life” survived schedule and network jumps, but in the last season it couldn't survive the hand off from show creators Bill Martin & Mike Schiff to new show-runners Jeff Astrof and Mike Sikowitz. What went wrong?
Carsey Werner stopped doing overall deals and Mike and Bill's deal came to a close and CW didn't reup so they took a deal with Warner Brothers- They just did, however, a deal with 20th Century Fox. Mike and Bill are very talented and cool guys- the show was lost without them (and Richard Riehle)
9) "Tennis, anyone..." a movie you wrote, and star in, is garnering quite a bit of praise. Do you ever think of writing for the small screen, you know, apart from greasy cab driver bits?
I actually just pitched a tv series (one hour drama) to FX with John and Rick Dahl and I am writing the pilot now with those guys. I would be more than happy to write and not act for awhile
10) So what’s up with you now? Tell us what you’re currently working on.
Well, I am writing the FX thing as I mentioned, shooting a pilot this week for NBC and this is all in the midst of a moveie called Ghost Rider I am doing in Australia with nicolas cage. They were kind enough to let me come home twice to see my kids and work on "ER" and do a pilot.
11) You were born in Canada, but raised in the US and you have citizenship in Ireland. Which begs the question: How do you pronounce "About?"
The very normal, USof A way. Not only that, from eight to eighteen I lived in the desert on the Mexican Border, so I have a kind of Western twang normally. Canadians do not accept me as their own.
12) If you could be adopted by any TV family (past or present), who would it be?
The family from the animated seventies show "Wait til your father gets home" No one remembers it, but it was the best.
13) I’m going to list some names, you jot down some thoughts about them.
(Example: Michael Ian Black – Funny guy, who knows his 1980’s shit.):
*Bill Martin = Current and/or ex stoner who loves his Tar Heels and is a great writer.
*Tom Werner = Just the coolest- a man who has brought salvation to the people of Boston.
*Evan Dando = If you saw him when he was eighteen you thought- this dude is going to be bigger than Elvis. Listen to songs off of Lick, he was and probably is still amazing. Much smarter than people think- he just hit a hard drug time that was confused with creativity. It was fitting that Outdoor Guy was in the Tao of Steve.
*Sherry Stringfield = Easiest person to work with perhaps ever. Gets my stalking humor (always a dangerous line of joking).
*Stephen Dorff = Crazy and talented, arrogant and awesome. I have always gotten along really well with Dorff, since Blade. We work well together and he was incredibly cool to be in my film. Check out the Power of One, his first big film, it is great. He just has a ton of talent- never has one of those really good looking guys had that much range- no one has seen it all yet, that's all.
*Jeff Astrof - Good family man, really religious guy. It was hard to get to know Jeff at first, but when I did, I realized what a solid and good citizen he was. He and Mike were incredibly fair and good guys who were really loved by all, especially their writing staff. I just remember Jeff would bum because he couldn't be there Friday for the show because he observes Sabbath and I really kind of thought that was cool. He stepped into an impossible situation and really showed he was a stand-up guy.
*John Putch = Son of famous actress- if John Blanchard (who directed SCTV and Kids in the Hall) wasn't so awesome- Putch would have directed all our shows. He defends actors and I liked that about him. A really good guy and a talented director.
*Megyn Price = Megyn is awesome. Not like we didn't go through shit on the show together and stuff in our lives- we just got continually tighter as a result of it. She is so smart and strong willed (literally a photographic memory) that she likes to be an alpha dog cause she is- so we bumped heads like sea lions a little at the beginning. SHe got married to this great guy who is a doctor and not an entertainment person and it has really grounded her in her life. It is hard for me to disassociate the heavy things that I think we really helped each other through from just the scenes and how good an actress she is- it just was real important that she was in my life. She is a real strong person who has dealt with real pain and adversity and you would never know it.
Thanks to Donal for playing along with our "Baker's Dozen!" Go rent his movies, watch repeats of "Grounded for Life" and try to find the one and only episode of "Public Morals."
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