HALE GETS POLITICAL
JFL hosts Veep panel tonight
There are those who believe Veep is winning Emmy Awards in the wrong category.
Not that they have doubts about the HBO series being the most hysterical show on the tube. Not at all. But the thinking is that Veep is more documentary than sitcom. And after taking in the spectacle that was the Republican convention last week, and the spectacle that is the Democratic convention this week, it’s not much of a stretch to assume that if that’s what goes on in public, even greater histrionics take place behind the scenes.
Veep, which wrapped its fifth season last month, offers the sort of behind-the-scenes vision of the American political process that many long suspected is true to life. Fiction or not, it is absolutely riveting, with some of the sharpest writing — satirical or otherwise — in the TV universe. It also features one of the best ensemble casts in the TV universe: a gaggle of thesps as backstabbing politicos who will go to any lengths to stay employed in D.C. and to prop up their foulmouthed, diabolical boss, Selina Meyer, the former veep-turned-POTUS.
Locals will now be afforded an opportunity to get a glimpse into the creation of the acclaimed sitcom, which has 16 Emmy nominations this year (including for best comedy series, an award it snagged last year). One of the most anticipated events of this year’s Just for Laughs festival is An Evening With the Cast of Veep, Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Maison symphonique.
Moderating the Q&A will be Veep exec producer Frank Rich.
On hand will be Meyer alter ego Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the former Seinfeldian and odds-on fave to cop her fifth straight Emmy for best actress in a comedy series; Timothy Simons, portrayer of weasel Jonah Ryan; showrunner David Mandel, a former Curb Your Enthusiasm exec producer/ director; and Tony Hale, whose character Gary Walsh serves as the ever-loyal, ever-beleaguered, ever-flummoxed personal aide — more like punching bag — to Meyer.
For all the grief his character has had to deal with in the series, Hale can take solace in the two Emmys he has won; and he, too, is considered a shoo-in to nab the award again this year, for best supporting actor in a comedy series. But Hale also has his suspicions on whether Veep is more reality show than sitcom.
“It’s becoming less of a satire all the time,” says Hale, 45, in a phone interview. “But honestly, I’m just so happy to have a job as an actor and on a show that I believe in and that I think is funny. Many times in your career, you do gigs that maybe you’re not passionate about. But this is one that I’m just so passionate about, and one that I so love the people I’m working with.”
But has the show soured Hale on politics?
“Actually, it hasn’t,” he says. “If anything, it has given me more of an empathy as to what these people must go through on a daily basis, because there must be a behind-the-scenes story that goes on that the media doesn’t report on. No doubt that they freak out and have fits and wonder what the hell they are doing. If anything, I think Veep brings a humanity to politics.”
Perhaps, but pretty much every character on the show is amoral. Save for his, that is.
Hale disagrees — not about most of the others, but about his own role. “Gary is pretty selfish. He will do anything to anyone who gets in the way of his woman (Meyer). If anyone does get in his way, he’ll attack. Gary is actually pretty much a neurotic mess.”
It could get worse for Gary, what with the uncertainty surrounding Meyer in the Season 5 finale.
“That’s where the writing comes in. They’re working feverishly away on new developments for the next season (which is slated to debut in April 2017). There’s always an element of surprise on the show, and I have no idea what’s going to happen. I’m quite curious to find out where we go.”
Hale points out that the show’s writing team does more than bring delirious nastiness to the proceedings.
“It is also so well researched. These people have such a knowledge of the political system. They know the characters so well, as to what they can and can’t do.
“Any time they have a character doing something, they have to ask: ‘Could this happen? Is this possible?’ Otherwise they could just let everything go off the rails and just do chaotic stuff. It has to make sense on some level.”
While Gary gets his share of smackdowns, Hale concedes it’s nothing compared to what is meted out to Simons’s Jonah Ryan.
“(Simons) is just the sweetest man, the father of twins, but his character gets so much verbal abuse. I may get ignored or insulted, but the names that Jonah gets called are shocking: the largest single-cell organism, human scaffolding and worse. And he gets that on a daily basis. People do not hold back with him. It can’t be easy for him going home after work.”
Hale had been slated to take part in a panel discussion at Just for Laughs before, as part of the Arrested Development team, but a scheduling conflict resulted in its cancellation. Prior to undertaking the role of Gary, Hale had landed a real live one in 2003 on Arrested Development as the neurotic and awkward mama’s boy Buster Bluth.
Given the roles in which he has thrived, one might assume Hale is a tad on the muddled side. Quite the contrary, as anyone who caught him on Chelsea Handler’s new Netflix series will surely attest. Hale, married and father of a 10-year-old daughter, is an author and no-nonsense social activist away from the
bright lights.
“You should ask my therapist how I get cast in these kinds of roles,” cracks Hale, who was born in West Point, N.Y., and is the son of a nuclear physicist/professor. “I’ve done a lot of other roles over the last 20 years, but it’s these two characters — who have similarities — for which I’ve become known. Yet I have to admit it’s kind of fun to play anxiety on different spectrums.”
Hale is involved with the International Justice Mission, a human-rights organization that is pushing legislation to combat human trafficking and slavery around the world. In April he went to Washington, D.C. to lobby members of Congress on behalf of the group.
“What the group does is just mind-blowing. I feel fortunate to be able to bring some attention to their cause,” he says. “Children half my daughter’s age are involved in trafficking. As a father, you can’t walk away from something like this. It’s a huge problem, but they’re putting a big dent in it.
“In addition to rescuing these victims from human trafficking and slavery, they send advocates to work for them. They don’t just rescue them — they also rehabilitate them and deal with the trauma they’ve suffered. Last year alone, they rescued 4,000 slaves.”
Two years ago, Hale released the children’s book Archibald’s Next Big Thing, focusing on a chicken who is always on the lookout for the next big thing instead of soaking up the splendid world around him at the moment.
“Actors are constantly looking for work, but we end up so consumed with the next adventure that we miss the adventure that we’re on,” he explains. “In the book, the chicken, always looking for something bigger, gets a card in the mail advising him his big thing is already here.”