"Now don't tell me you don't remember me Reddit, because I sure as heckfire remember you!" - Stephen Tobolowsky

stephentobolowsky · 3 months

Hello!

stephentobolowsky · 3 months

Here's a nice review of my live show, to give you a taste.

stephentobolowsky · 3 months

Didn't you hear? I moved on to other studies.

stephentobolowsky · 3 months

stephentobolowsky · 3 months

Hope y'all stay warm this Groundhog Day, Reddit! In case you're interested: the behind-the-behind-the-scenes story of the making of the movie Groundhog Day.

(and plenty more stories where that came from too)

stephentobolowsky · 1 year

I do find it more fulfilling to write than to act. Working on the book for Simon & Schuster (out in 2012) has been about the most fulfilling project I've ever done. I'm looking forward to more storytelling project in the future.

stephentobolowsky · 1 year

I found out about Reddit through my good friend David Chen. No one from Reddit contacted me.

stephentobolowsky · 1 year

I'm against piracy. I think it's theft. I'm against people stealing music, stealing ideas, virtual property. It's funny, I think in Leviticus, they mention in the moral code the first, primary sin is theft, because every wrongdoing is a form of theft. Murder is stealing a life, a lie is stealing the truth, etc.

My son offered this interpretation of Memento: Listen to everything Teddy says at the end. I think my son is right. I think whatever Teddy says is true.

stephentobolowsky · 1 year

I thought it was hilarious working with Steven. The man is like a walking Haiku of Hollywood. On the one hand, he had a special chef to cook absolutely organic, low-calorie, low-cholesterol meals for him and make wheatgrass.

At the same time, he had an assistant running to IN-N-OUT Burger getting Double Double Animal Styles behind everyone's back. He was the perfect consumer.

stephentobolowsky · 1 year

I played Sammy as a different person than Leonard, because that was the reality in Leonard's mind, and it's part of the mystery of the movie. It was certainly the most challenging role I've ever had to play, a character who had no memory. That was tough.

stephentobolowsky · 1 year

I love being a character actor. You have to understand that in theater, I've played leading roles, so I know what that feels like.

In films and TV, being a character actor gives you the chance to meet lots of people and be on lots of different sets and have a world of experiences.

stephentobolowsky · 1 year

The last big theater park I did was "Morning's At Seven" which I did on broadway for about 10 months. Then I did it at the Ahmandson Theater in Los Angeles for 3 months. That role cost me $30,000. It's expensive to do theater nowadays. I was asked to do Broadway two other times since then and just couldn't afford it (because you have to support your house in New York and your house in Los Angeles). Theater does not pay as much as TV or film, so you're constantly having to pay to support doing a play on broadway, which is why now on Broadway you feature stars from TV series and movie stars, not just for their ability to draw audiences but because they can afford to do it.

stephentobolowsky · 1 year

That would probably be Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party. It's such a good movie!

stephentobolowsky · 1 year

We shot that street scene over three weeks, NOT back to back. One reason was that we not only had to shoot it over and over again, but we had to shoot it in different weather conditions.

Each time we shot the scene, each VERSION was shot with a different camera technique. Once on a dolly, once a steadicam, once handheld. So Bill did not need to be reminded which scene it was because each scene was shot in a distinct and different way.

So, sorry, you're not right!

stephentobolowsky · 1 year

I got a call from Mark Hirschfeld, head of casting for Seinfeld, who asked me if I could come over and meet with Jerry. They were trying to make this part work.

At that particular time in history, I was working on a movie where I had to learn sign language for the deaf. So when they asked me if I could make Tor funny, I asked "What if Tor could use sign language?" and I demonstrated. Most of the things in the show were things I just made up.

More about Tor here.

stephentobolowsky · 1 year

It's definitely part of the job. When you're doing a show that's technology-based, like HEROES. You expect things like that. But when you're in comedies, you don't. That's when it throws me.

stephentobolowsky · 1 year

I loved working on COMMUNITY. The cast was hilarious. I had no scenes with Chevy Chase but he came over to our set anyway to say hello. Chevy and I had done two movies together, and he wanted to know what was shakin'.

As for the episode, I hope so. It was pretty funny when we shot it.

Side note: it's very difficult, especially in comedies, to know how the finished product will be because of the editing and the music, which are put in later. I did an episode of GLEE in which, when I saw the finished product, they had cut out all of my jokes. You have no control over how the COMMUNITY ep is going to be, really, but it was a great script.

stephentobolowsky · 1 year

Answer #1: It depended on if there were livestock in front of you. Answer #2: It got pretty ripe. Nobody's clothes were washed for months. So it got ripe.

stephentobolowsky · 1 year

I think he is. I think David's cool and witty and an ENORMOUS baseball fan.

stephentobolowsky · 1 year

No, I loved doing Garfield! When I shot Garfield, I had young children, and I always think it's good to provide entertainment for them. You become keenly aware of that when you see all the videos/shows coming in and out of your house. So I was happy that they could watch daddy at home.

Same deal when I was doing Beethoven's 6th. Of course, it has its drawbacks...

stephentobolowsky · 1 year

I promised I would ask the executives at GLEE if that was intentional or not, since the spelling of Ryerson is the same.

But I forgot. So we'll have to wait until the next time I do GLEE!

stephentobolowsky · 1 year

The people from Punxatawny Pennsylvania invited me to visit them for Groundhog Day one time.

I tried the whistling bellybutton trick on stage in front of 10,000 people, and it didn't work. I bombed. It looked obscene. It just looked like I was trying to show everyone my stomach while whistling with my mouth. It was really awful looking and I deeply apologize for offending a lot of sensibilities in Pennsylvania.

stephentobolowsky

TROPHY CASE

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