Joe and David Do Chicago, Part 2
Someone asked Joe if he had created a backstory for his character, and David said that the Johnny Cash poster was pretty much it. Joe replied that the character didn’t get explored the way he expected it to, and said there was some explanation in Outcast. He added that they had hoped more would be done and they thought there was time, since “everybody expected the show to go for another three”-(David interrupted, “One hundred years.”)-years, at least.”
David said he was lucky to have a better backstory, having been in two episodes of SG-1. When he was chosen to be in Atlantis, David said he saw threads on Gateworld such as “Why Mckay?” and he had to kind of admit to the same feeling. “Ten years of SG-1, and THIS is who you bring over?”
From Terry:
David was asked, “So, what is it like, being neurotic?” First he had to clarify whether the question was meant for him or his character. When it was the latter, David said that in any of his characters he just tries to highlight the parts of his character that he can find in himself. “With McKay I hit a goldmine.” Neurotic, hypochondriac, geeky nerd, etc., it was just all fodder for the character.
After being asked by a young boy what they would like to be doing if they hadn’t become actors, Joe responded, “Fly through space….and kill bad guys.” After the laughter died down, David said, “He’s not far off. I wanted to be a Timelord.” When he was told that there are no such things in real life as Timelords, David said then he wanted to PRETEND to be a Timelord. David said he loves computer programming, and that’s probably what he’d be doing.
Joe said he’d done a few other jobs, but he kept getting fired. “I was a bartender-fired.”
David (incredulously): With the name Flanigan, you got fired as a bartender?
Joe: I was a waiter-fired. We both failed our way into acting.
They turned around and asked the boy what HE wanted to be when he grew up. When he didn’t have an answer, David told him that he would get asked that question more and more every year as he got older. Then Joe advised, “By the way, it’s not just what you WANT to do. It’s also important that you try things so you can figure out what you DON’T want to do. For example, I don’t want to work with David any more.” LOL!
They paused and David asked, “Is that you ringing, or me?” Apparently it was Joe, and David said, “Flanigan’s ass is ringing.” Joe held up the phone to try to show us the picture on his I-phone and said that when he was in the green room his phone had rung, and up comes a picture of David. Joe said he got a little ill, but David gleefully pointed out that he had changed Joe’s I-phone picture to one of himself, which was MUCH better than “your little Chihuahua dog.” Or, what was it exactly that he’d deleted? “A picture of Joe’s wife and kids? GONE!”
From Kelly:
Someone asked David how he had gotten Mars to do what he wanted him to in A Dog’s Breakfast. David replied that he “carefully wrote the script around Mars’ limited abilities-just like they did with Joe.”
Someone said at the end of the series, did Joe have any interpretation of what had happened to Todd. Between the two of them, Joe and David spun a fanciful tale of how Todd moved into San Francisco, started working at a gay bar, became the most popular guy in the whole district, eventually became a hairdresser, got on America’s Got Talent and won. “He’s touring Europe right now!” They said they might have to pitch this to SyFy. Joe said, “If we can’t do a Season 6, maybe we should do a You-tube video with a bunch of answers.”
Shortly after this is when the germ-laden handkerchief attack occurred.
(If you missed it: http://margec01.livejournal.com/32236.html )
One more handkerchief pic from Kelly:
A lady at the mike said, “Though I love you both, this question is for David.” David gleefully riffed, “So, you love us both, but you love ME more?” She continued by saying that both she and her daughter have a citrus allergy. David was intrigued, and asked what the symptoms were, “Or don’t we want to know?” She started to describe anaphylactic shock, etc., but Joe interrupted, “Hey, I have a lemon here. Perhaps you could demonstrate.” She continued after the resulting laughter, but then someone in the audience actually held up a lemon. (Turns out, it was our own darsynia!) Joe said, “There it is, just like a hand grenade!” and made an explosion sound. Apparently, as long as it wasn’t being peeled and was relatively far away, she was okay. The lady FINALLY got the chance to ask her actual question, which was how did David come up with such an odd allergy. He replied that it wasn’t him but the writers. He and Joe went on to joke that the writers would put these odd bits of themselves into the characters and probably somebody somewhere had an allergy. David said one of the things he loved about Atlantis was all these little character bits they put into the show, which added up to a great story.
(By the way, one of my good friends has a lemon allergy. No epi-pen, but we still have to keep them away from the table when dining out. She does NOT have an allergy to all citrus, though, since she eats oranges all the time.)
Someone asked them to describe what they are working on currently. David replied that he is in his “Primate Phase” right now. He is editing his “snow monkey” movie (which he directed and stars in), and is in another movie which he can’t tell us about. Rise of the Apes, apparently a sequel to the Planet of the Apes movies. He described the various non-disclosure agreements which he apparently had to sign with almost every page of the script he received. Also, his name was on every script page and he thought, gee I must be pretty important, until someone advised him that was for security reasons if anything leaked out. Apparently, it’s planned to come out some time in the middle of 2011.
Joe said that the movie he filmed earlier this year (with Hal Holbrook) is scheduled for early next year. He said that the movie he just finished filming in Ireland is probably “only slightly better than your snow monkey movie, but we had an absolute blast filming it.” He then said that he was leaving later that day for Toronto, where he’d be filming a 2-hour movie/TV pilot about “an Air Force pilot who gets to raise four adopted children.” He said an actress named Brooke White plays his wife. He said that she’s “half my age” and he’s not quite sure how that is going to work out, but that it’s a good script.
From Kelly:
Someone asked if either one of them is Mr. Fixit around the house, and David replied, “My wife takes power tools AWAY from me.” Joe said he does a lot of fixing things, “because my boys do a lot of demolition work.”
I don’t remember how we got on this topic, but David was talking about things kids say at school and you just have to shrug and wince. For example, Baz proudly announced, “I fell down the stairs and Daddy couldn’t catch me!” (Oops!)
David also mentioned he had read the SGU script for the episode he’ll be in while he was on the plane to Chicago. “It’s not a happy show, is it?” He said he’s bought the DVDs so he can sit down to catch up and see what’s going on. He loves that he can tell Jane, “Honey, I can’t do that right now because I HAVE to watch TV!”
Joe said that he didn’t expect to be invited to be on SGU any time soon. “Especially after Hewlett destroys it!”
When asked what their least favorite acting jobs had been, it was a commercial for both of them. They said that commercials aren’t generally bad to do, because they pay very good money. But the directors are often….not the best… and often the product people will try to direct you as well. Joe’s commercial was for Gillette razors and Joe had to pretend to shave over and over and over again, and after a while his face was terribly sore and hurting. When he said something to the Assistant Director, the guy said he didn’t know what the problem was because, “I had them dull the blades!” (Ouch!)
From Terry:
David had to do a Clamato (clam and tomato juice, really?) commercial. Apparently, the stuff is only used as a mixer, generally with vodka, and tastes horrible straight. He said the director basically did nothing and mostly said, “Act….BETTER!” Or, “Look happy to be here!” Which David found hard to do, since the stuff is so foul without booze.
When someone asked who was the biggest prankster on the set, David immediately said, “Flanigan!” Joe responded, “I blame Jason a bit….Because he egged me on.” David basically agreed, saying that Jason holds nothing back. And neither one of them would describe any of the pranks because, “None of the pranks we did are family oriented.”
Okay, that’s all I have notes for. I hope I’ve managed to convey a bit of the fun we had listening to the two of them. But really there was SO much more, banter and kidding, a bit of serious, and a lot of laughter. It really WAS worth the trip. And the cost. Thank God!
Our guys signing the banners just before they left the stage. Always a great view! Thanks Kelly!
David said he was lucky to have a better backstory, having been in two episodes of SG-1. When he was chosen to be in Atlantis, David said he saw threads on Gateworld such as “Why Mckay?” and he had to kind of admit to the same feeling. “Ten years of SG-1, and THIS is who you bring over?”
From Terry:
David was asked, “So, what is it like, being neurotic?” First he had to clarify whether the question was meant for him or his character. When it was the latter, David said that in any of his characters he just tries to highlight the parts of his character that he can find in himself. “With McKay I hit a goldmine.” Neurotic, hypochondriac, geeky nerd, etc., it was just all fodder for the character.
After being asked by a young boy what they would like to be doing if they hadn’t become actors, Joe responded, “Fly through space….and kill bad guys.” After the laughter died down, David said, “He’s not far off. I wanted to be a Timelord.” When he was told that there are no such things in real life as Timelords, David said then he wanted to PRETEND to be a Timelord. David said he loves computer programming, and that’s probably what he’d be doing.
Joe said he’d done a few other jobs, but he kept getting fired. “I was a bartender-fired.”
David (incredulously): With the name Flanigan, you got fired as a bartender?
Joe: I was a waiter-fired. We both failed our way into acting.
They turned around and asked the boy what HE wanted to be when he grew up. When he didn’t have an answer, David told him that he would get asked that question more and more every year as he got older. Then Joe advised, “By the way, it’s not just what you WANT to do. It’s also important that you try things so you can figure out what you DON’T want to do. For example, I don’t want to work with David any more.” LOL!
They paused and David asked, “Is that you ringing, or me?” Apparently it was Joe, and David said, “Flanigan’s ass is ringing.” Joe held up the phone to try to show us the picture on his I-phone and said that when he was in the green room his phone had rung, and up comes a picture of David. Joe said he got a little ill, but David gleefully pointed out that he had changed Joe’s I-phone picture to one of himself, which was MUCH better than “your little Chihuahua dog.” Or, what was it exactly that he’d deleted? “A picture of Joe’s wife and kids? GONE!”
From Kelly:
Someone asked David how he had gotten Mars to do what he wanted him to in A Dog’s Breakfast. David replied that he “carefully wrote the script around Mars’ limited abilities-just like they did with Joe.”
Someone said at the end of the series, did Joe have any interpretation of what had happened to Todd. Between the two of them, Joe and David spun a fanciful tale of how Todd moved into San Francisco, started working at a gay bar, became the most popular guy in the whole district, eventually became a hairdresser, got on America’s Got Talent and won. “He’s touring Europe right now!” They said they might have to pitch this to SyFy. Joe said, “If we can’t do a Season 6, maybe we should do a You-tube video with a bunch of answers.”
Shortly after this is when the germ-laden handkerchief attack occurred.
(If you missed it: http://margec01.livejournal.com/32236.html )
One more handkerchief pic from Kelly:
A lady at the mike said, “Though I love you both, this question is for David.” David gleefully riffed, “So, you love us both, but you love ME more?” She continued by saying that both she and her daughter have a citrus allergy. David was intrigued, and asked what the symptoms were, “Or don’t we want to know?” She started to describe anaphylactic shock, etc., but Joe interrupted, “Hey, I have a lemon here. Perhaps you could demonstrate.” She continued after the resulting laughter, but then someone in the audience actually held up a lemon. (Turns out, it was our own darsynia!) Joe said, “There it is, just like a hand grenade!” and made an explosion sound. Apparently, as long as it wasn’t being peeled and was relatively far away, she was okay. The lady FINALLY got the chance to ask her actual question, which was how did David come up with such an odd allergy. He replied that it wasn’t him but the writers. He and Joe went on to joke that the writers would put these odd bits of themselves into the characters and probably somebody somewhere had an allergy. David said one of the things he loved about Atlantis was all these little character bits they put into the show, which added up to a great story.
(By the way, one of my good friends has a lemon allergy. No epi-pen, but we still have to keep them away from the table when dining out. She does NOT have an allergy to all citrus, though, since she eats oranges all the time.)
Someone asked them to describe what they are working on currently. David replied that he is in his “Primate Phase” right now. He is editing his “snow monkey” movie (which he directed and stars in), and is in another movie which he can’t tell us about. Rise of the Apes, apparently a sequel to the Planet of the Apes movies. He described the various non-disclosure agreements which he apparently had to sign with almost every page of the script he received. Also, his name was on every script page and he thought, gee I must be pretty important, until someone advised him that was for security reasons if anything leaked out. Apparently, it’s planned to come out some time in the middle of 2011.
Joe said that the movie he filmed earlier this year (with Hal Holbrook) is scheduled for early next year. He said that the movie he just finished filming in Ireland is probably “only slightly better than your snow monkey movie, but we had an absolute blast filming it.” He then said that he was leaving later that day for Toronto, where he’d be filming a 2-hour movie/TV pilot about “an Air Force pilot who gets to raise four adopted children.” He said an actress named Brooke White plays his wife. He said that she’s “half my age” and he’s not quite sure how that is going to work out, but that it’s a good script.
From Kelly:
Someone asked if either one of them is Mr. Fixit around the house, and David replied, “My wife takes power tools AWAY from me.” Joe said he does a lot of fixing things, “because my boys do a lot of demolition work.”
I don’t remember how we got on this topic, but David was talking about things kids say at school and you just have to shrug and wince. For example, Baz proudly announced, “I fell down the stairs and Daddy couldn’t catch me!” (Oops!)
David also mentioned he had read the SGU script for the episode he’ll be in while he was on the plane to Chicago. “It’s not a happy show, is it?” He said he’s bought the DVDs so he can sit down to catch up and see what’s going on. He loves that he can tell Jane, “Honey, I can’t do that right now because I HAVE to watch TV!”
Joe said that he didn’t expect to be invited to be on SGU any time soon. “Especially after Hewlett destroys it!”
When asked what their least favorite acting jobs had been, it was a commercial for both of them. They said that commercials aren’t generally bad to do, because they pay very good money. But the directors are often….not the best… and often the product people will try to direct you as well. Joe’s commercial was for Gillette razors and Joe had to pretend to shave over and over and over again, and after a while his face was terribly sore and hurting. When he said something to the Assistant Director, the guy said he didn’t know what the problem was because, “I had them dull the blades!” (Ouch!)
From Terry:
David had to do a Clamato (clam and tomato juice, really?) commercial. Apparently, the stuff is only used as a mixer, generally with vodka, and tastes horrible straight. He said the director basically did nothing and mostly said, “Act….BETTER!” Or, “Look happy to be here!” Which David found hard to do, since the stuff is so foul without booze.
When someone asked who was the biggest prankster on the set, David immediately said, “Flanigan!” Joe responded, “I blame Jason a bit….Because he egged me on.” David basically agreed, saying that Jason holds nothing back. And neither one of them would describe any of the pranks because, “None of the pranks we did are family oriented.”
Okay, that’s all I have notes for. I hope I’ve managed to convey a bit of the fun we had listening to the two of them. But really there was SO much more, banter and kidding, a bit of serious, and a lot of laughter. It really WAS worth the trip. And the cost. Thank God!
Our guys signing the banners just before they left the stage. Always a great view! Thanks Kelly!