EYDER PERALTA, HOST:
With all the streaming options, live TV isn't what it used to be, but a new talk show - on Netflix of all places - aims to capture that anything-can-happen magic.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "EVERYBODY'S LIVE WITH JOHN MULANEY")
RICHARD KIND: Live around the world, from the corner of Sunset Gower in Los Angeles. It's "Everybody's Live With John Mulaney." And now, here's your host, John Mulaney.
(CHEERING)
PERALTA: And that is Richard Kind. It feels like he's been in everything, on Broadway, in movies and TV - "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Mad About You," "Inside Out." On the new show, Kind's playing co-host to comedian John Mulaney, and Richard Kind joins us from NPR Studios in Culver City, California. Richard, thanks so much for being with us.
KIND: Eyder, it's my pleasure to be here. Thank you.
PERALTA: So you introduce John Mulaney at the top of each episode.
KIND: And, you know what, listening to it, it's exactly how I want it to sound.
PERALTA: So can you introduce yourself with that same verve?
KIND: No, Eyder, I can't.
PERALTA: (Laughter).
KIND: There's no reason to listen right now. No, I'm not...
PERALTA: All right, then do it for me then.
KIND: Yeah, OK. And now, Eyder Peralta, direct from the studios in Mexico City.
PERALTA: (Laughter) I love it. So how do you view your role on this show? I mean, emcee, sidekick, wingman?
KIND: You know what? Nobody has asked me why I did this or what I've done. This is, like, really the first time. If anybody describes it, it's, I am the Ed McMahon.
PERALTA: And that's Ed McMahon from "The Johnny Carson Show."
KIND: By the way, this is something I will say, too. I would go anywhere and do anything for John Mulaney. I not just admire him, I aspire to his smarts and his kindness. He wants the best, and he will fight for the best, but he will not run over anybody. He will get it by encouraging you to be the best. And he's the best of everybody who he's encouraging.
PERALTA: What did he tell you he was looking for? I mean, did he tell you play the idiot?
KIND: Eyder, I'm telling you, I didn't know what the hell I was doing...
PERALTA: (Laughter).
KIND: ...From the moment I started. I didn't, I've been trained at Second City, which - in improv, you do yes, and. Sometimes I go to set. We'll rehearse. I don't know what the jokes mean. Other times, I just serve the joke, and I do what I'm told. And it's a blast.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "EVERYBODY'S LIVE WITH JOHN MULANEY")
JOHN MULANEY: Let's say hello to a man who I personally witnessed steal a six-pack of tube socks from a Broadway costume closet. It's Richard Kind.
KIND: Thank you, John.
(CHEERING)
KIND: Thank you. Thank you, John, it's great to be back. It's great. It's great. It's great. So let's get to this week's celebrity birthdays. March 12 - happy birthday to Courtney B. Vance. Courtney be 65.
PERALTA: We are in the era of on-demand streaming, right? But this is a live evening talk show on Netflix, a...
KIND: Right.
PERALTA: ...Streaming service. What about that feels relevant?
KIND: I don't think it feels relevant. I just think it feels exciting. I think it feels different. I think that it becomes a character or a component of what we're doing, is that what you are seeing is happening at the moment. This has no constraints. There's an excitement to that. You know, I love it, and I'm dismayed by it because my butt is on the line. And that's a scary thing to do every Wednesday night.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "EVERYBODY'S LIVE WITH JOHN MULANEY")
ANNE KALOSH: Well, back in the old days of the ocean liners, they were transportation - right? - carrying people from one point to the next. And cruise ships go to a variety of destinations.
KIND: But the QE2 today is a cruise ship.
KALOSH: Right.
MULANEY: Yeah, it's like there are exceptions to what she said.
(LAUGHTER)
PERALTA: I think the part that I like about the show is that it seems to be trying to elevate mundane conversations, right?
KIND: I hope so. Look, all talk shows - I hope this one does, too. You know, you want to do that. The best thing I do is I keep my mouth shut. I know my place.
PERALTA: You do laugh a lot.
KIND: OK? Well, you want to know something?
PERALTA: Uh-huh.
KIND: I'm an honest person. And at the theater, I say, if you like this, then laugh. If this makes you laugh, laugh a lot, and if it makes you laugh a lot, laugh harder, OK? Theater is a very symbiotic machine, and having been on the stage and working for as long as I have, I'm very into - I think it's something that I was born with. I can feel an audience, OK? - because I live for them. It's pathetic, but I do. And I will laugh. I don't hold it in. I could cross my arms, and go hm, hm, hm. But I don't because I know what the generosity of response can foster.
PERALTA: So the concept of the show revolves around John Mulaney and you asking what can be some pretty awkward questions of celebrities and the regular folks.
KIND: OK.
PERALTA: So let's put you on the spot. Here's a question that you all asked in last week's episode. Have you planned your funeral?
KIND: No. First of all, if I die in 10 minutes, the life I've led, the gifts I've been - that have been bequeathed upon me, I'm the luckiest guy in the world. Come and celebrate. I'm buying. Drinks are on me.
PERALTA: (Laughter).
KIND: Great, great salad bar, buffet. Everything's great. Come and dance. Just laugh. Celebrate me. That's what I would like. My funeral? - I have nothing planned. The will has been figured out. I've been very nice.
PERALTA: I've read that you grew up wanting to be a star.
KIND: I did.
PERALTA: Why take on roles like this, right?
KIND: Because I'm an actor. I gave up being a star long ago when I looked in the mirror and said, well, I ain't going to be no star. I was blessed with talent, with, I think, a charisma, and I was blessed with looks that sort of helped the career that I ended up. I am glad I'm not a star because I know stars, and I know what they have to put up with. I don't worry about that. I go, well, eh, let's do this movie. And if I'm lucky, I get them.
PERALTA: But it has to be hard to see that dream that you had as a young man, right?
KIND: Let me tell you something. I also dreamt of being centerfield for the Yankees and being Mick Jagger.
PERALTA: (Laughter).
KIND: That wasn't so hard to give up either.
PERALTA: All right, fair. So let's go out on a question that John Mulaney always asks callers before he hangs up on them.
KIND: A 2016 Honda minivan that I've had - it now has - I think it's hit 90,000 miles.
PERALTA: Wow.
KIND: It is so beaten up. It looks like a 14-year-old kid's pubescent face because it's been dinged up on the streets of New York so much, and I don't have to worry about it getting stolen. I park it on the street, and I move it every Tuesday and Thursday.
PERALTA: What color is it?
KIND: Black, dark black. Yeah, it's a black minivan. It took my kids around for 14 years.
PERALTA: Do you have any of those bellwether questions that you ask people, and that's how you judge them?
KIND: Well, the easiest one - and people say you shouldn't do this - but what do you do for a living? I think that tells a lot about somebody, and then you can say - which is a better question - do you like it? Are you happy in your job? My guess is you're very happy.
PERALTA: Me?
KIND: You.
PERALTA: I love my job, love it.
KIND: Eyder, I love my job more.
PERALTA: (Laughter) All right.
KIND: I love my job. And I tell my kids, I say, I don't care what you do when you go to work. Just love getting there and hate leaving it. It sustains you.
PERALTA: I 100% agree.
KIND: Yep.
PERALTA: That's Richard Kind, actor and co-host of "Everybody's Live With John Mulaney" airing on Netflix live Wednesday night. Richard, thank you.
KIND: Eyder, thank you. It's been lovely, absolutely lovely.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A.")
WANG CHUNG: (Singing) In every word that you say... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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