Taking career as it comes has served Reiser well
Paul Reiser never had a plan.
Throughout his long and diverse career, there weren't many straight lines between, say, the roast beef sandwichcoveting Modell of the Barry Levinson classic “Diner” and the author of three books of homespun wisdom: “Couplehood,” “Babyhood” and “Familyhood.”
And few links tethered his entertaining villain Carter Burke of “Aliens” and the musician-composer who released “Unusual Suspects” (2010), a lovely album of ambient piano pop with singer-songwriter Julia
Fordham.
That’s to say nothing of the New York native’s stand-up career, which he has resurrected in recent years; his acting and producing role on the long-running 1990s sitcom “Mad About You,” which netted him six Emmy nominations for lead actor; and his mastery of all streaming media.
In addition, Reiser, 60, has a hand in three period pieces.
On Netflix, he plays Dr. Sam Owens on the retro-extravaganza that is “Stranger Things 2.” On Amazon Prime, he is reprising his role as the complex Doug Getty on the final season of the underrated “Red Oaks,” also set in the 1980s. And the bittersweet 1970s comedy “There’s … Johnny!” — a fictional look behind the scenes of “The Tonight Show” co-created by Reiser — began streaming recently on Hulu.
For a man without a plan, Reiser has certainly kept busy.
“Maybe I’ll see it when I’m older, and further down the line, but I don’t think there’s ever been a design to any of this for me,” he said during a recent interview.
“I mean, I really just wanted to be a stand-up.”
You studied music in college but wound up in comedy and acting. What made you pivot?
This is the best advice I ever got, and I use this now with young people: I met a guy who is in advertising, commercial music. I said, “I don’t know, I think maybe I could do that.” He said, “It’s really hard. If there’s anything else you can do, do that.” I said, “OK, thank you.” I ran away. I went, “All right, that was easy.”
But you kept music in your life, releasing your album with Julia. Did you tour?
We did half a dozen shows; I wouldn’t call it a tour.
So you are now suddenly everywhere on the streaming services, and they are all period shows to boot.
Here’s the thing. I don’t have to write “Stranger Things.” “Red Oaks” I didn’t write. The Carson thing (“There’s … Johnny!”) is the only thing, it’s period for a reason, and it informs it. But “Stranger Things” could be in the moment. It doesn’t have to be in the ’80s.
You’ve been working on “There’s … Johnny!” for over 10 years. What was your original inspiration?
My buddy (and producing partner) David Simon — not that David Simon, that’s why he’s (credited as) David Steven Simon — always has a thousand great ideas … he goes, “What about something behind the scenes in ‘The Tonight Show?’” I thought, “That’s really interesting.” We played with it, but how do you get into that world? I was a wideeyed kid, so (the young main character is) sort of the audience’s eyes, because who wouldn’t want to be there?