The Business Shrink Interview Series Actor, Judah Friedlander(star of NBC’s “30 Rock”)

As the Business Shrink interviews Judah Friedlander from “30 Rock” we hear what is at the heart of the writer’s strike and his feelings about the issue. Also discussed is “30 Rock’s” Emmy this year for best Comedy Television Show on TV, nominated for 3 Golden Globes, 3 Screen Actors Guild awards and Best Ensemble Cast. Judah let’s everyone know he’s a true method actor by using real worms in the movie Feast. The vail is lifted when the secret passion of Bigfoot is revealed along with some Bigfoot artwork done by Mr. Friedlander. As good as having a conversation yourself, you’ll get an in-depth view in the mind of Judah Friedlander and what he’s all about.

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Segment 1
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Peter L: And now, Peter Morris, The Business Shrink, is most pleased to welcome as promised, Judah Friedlander, to the program; comedian, actor, Judah Friedlander, please do say hello to The Business Shrink, Peter Morris.

Judah: Hey, howzit goin?

TBS: Good, how are you?

Judah: Pretty cool, man.

TBS: I’m happy to have you on the show and I want to apologize, in advance, for sometimes getting caught up in the difference between life imitating and art imitating life because you seem to gracefully move back and forth between the two.

Judah: Yeah, it can be a little tricky, yeah.

TBS: Yeah, I . . .

Judah: A lot of people . . .

TBS: Go ahead.

Judah: Well, as I say, a lot of people think I’m exactly like my character on 30-Rock, and I’ll just say that we look exactly alike and pretty much dress exactly alike, but we’re not actually exactly alike, but we’re pretty close.

TBS: And of course a lot of stand-up comedians are very extroverted on stage and are quite conservative and quiet and introverted off stage. I don’t now if that relates to you.

Judah: I would, for the most part, agree with the generalization, but for the most part I would agree with that.

TBS: Now my son, Brad Morris, who’s on the main stage now, Second City, I think he’s pretty much that way too. He’s quiet off stage and he can be pretty good as a cutup on stage, so I have a little bit of that in my family. You’re a writer in real life, but not for 30-Rock; on 30-Rock you are an actor who is acting as a writer, is that correct?

Judah: Yes, that’s correct. I play a writer on the show. I (interference) and you know as a standup comedian I write all my own material and everything.

TBS: Yeah.

Judah: And I actually write a blog for 30-Rock.

TBS: Okay.

Judah: . . . and I write it in the voice of my character. If you go to my website there’s link to it, it’s called frankdoc. My website is judahfriedlander.com, or worldchampionoftheworld.com. There’s a link to it and every week I write kind of crazy, funny stories all in character, as the character Frank Rositanno that I play.

TBS: Well, now, this would be an interesting question as it relates to writer’s strike and are you, as an actor, writing a blog in character as an actor considered a writer who’s disobeying the writer’s strike, or are you exempt because you’re an actor?

Judah: Ahhh, well I think you’re correct in what you’re saying, but I have chosen to not write any new blogs until the strike is over in honor of the writer’s strike. I myself am not in the Writers Guild, but I support them 100%. My character on 30-Rock, I wear hats, I wear these baseball hats, trucker hats, with different weird and funny sayings on them, and each episode I wear probably about 3 or 4 different ones that say different things; I actually write those; I come up with those and I actually make the hats myself.And in honor of the writer’s strike, on my blog, my most recent blog, I’m sitting down at a desk with a blank sheet of paper and an unsharpened pencil and I’m just staring at the camera and my hat is completely blank, it doesn’t say anything; first time that’s ever happened, and I’ll (inaudible) just says ‘on strike’ and I’m leaving that blog entry up there until the strike is over.

TBS: Now, as a standup comic and I understand that you’re performing at Caroline’s in New York soon.

Judah: Yeah, I’m at Carolines in New York City tonight, Thursday through Sunday, and two shows Friday and two shows Saturday. You can go to carolines.com or tickets are 212-757-4100.

TBS: Now, in that regard, you’re a writer but your still not part of the Writers Guild, but that you would continue to write your product and your script as your acting, and so it’s integrated and that’s not something where you would want to have a symbolic show of solidarity.

Judah: Stand up comedy, stand up comedy is completely separate from screen writing or television writing, and that’s not an area that the Writers Guild is trying to get into. It’s completely separate, always has been completely separate, so it’s no conflict of interest.

TBS: Can you share with me in a short burst of information, kind of what’s the strike about. Obviously it’s about the money and it’s about the . . .

Judah: Well, it’s about . . .

TBS: Go ahead.

Judah: I mean there’s a few things, mostly it’s involving the new media, meaning internet. Because almost every television show now you can watch the television shows, not just when they are on TV, but you can watch them for free online…

TBS: Well.

Judah: …on websites. And all you do is you watch, before you watch let’s say an episode of whatever show you want to watch, you have to watch about a 1 minute commercial for something and then you can see the whole episode for free. So basically it’s working just like television because there is a commercial being shown, which means they are paying money to the network or the owners, whoever owns the show, and depending on how many people watch it, those advertisers pay the owners more money.And as it stands right now, the writers, a swell as the actors, get zero money from that, and there’s money being made. The writers are asking for a percentage and the owners are saying no, we’re not going to give you a percentage. So that’s the main thrust of what the writer’s strike is about.

TBS: And I mean, to me it sounds, first of all, I mean like who didn’t see this coming 7 years ago?

Judah: Well that’s the thing, they did see it coming and the writers, to my knowledge, have been trying to negotiate with the owners for months and months, and the owners kept refusing to negotiate with them, and then, you know, the deadline comes and the writers say look, we need to negotiate, and the owners will not negotiate so the writers were forced to strike. Believe me, nobody wants to strike, it’s a last resort.

TBS: And what’s gonna happen, what’s gonna happen if President Bush’s speech writers go on strike? What will he say?

Judah: Yeah, I don’t know, that would be pretty interesting though, I think I’d like to see that.

TBS: Oh my God yeah. It’s kind of like Howdy, how ya doin? I think he can do that.

Judah: Yeah, he’d probably say that over and over about 20 times.

TBS: Exactly, so maybe he’s okay anyway . . .

Judah: Yeah.

TBS: . . . because he kind of is a bit of a standup comic and he doesn’t have that much in his repertoire.

Judah: I think he’s alright because I don’t think there are any Unions in Presidential Speech Writers, so.

TBS: Yeah, and of course he’s got Dick Chaney there to do most of his work anyway, so.

Judah: Those guys provide a lot of material, so.

TBS: They sure do, and speaking of 30-Rock, I have to tell you I’ve heard a lot about it, I’m embarrassed to say I haven’t watched it, but it’s not because of . . .

Judah: Well check it out, it won the Emmy this year for Best Comedy Television Show on TV, and it was just nominated for 3 Golden Globes. Alec Baldwin and Tina Fay both got them for acting and it was nominated for Best Comedy Television Show. And just today, 30-Rock got 3 SAG Award nominations. It got nominated . . .

TBS: Screen Actors Guild.

Judah: . . . it got nominated for actor and actress, being Tina Fay and Alec Baldwin, and it got nominated for Best Ensemble Cast, which means, technically I got nominated today, so it’s pretty cool.

TBS: Congratulations.

Judah: Thanks, yeah . . .

TBS: And then your rival in acting, maybe not in real life, Tracy Morgan, personally Tracy Jordan the character, AKA Spooney Love. Is he getting any awards?

Judah: Well, Tracy was nominated also for the Best Ensemble Acting Award.

TBS: Oh. I thought he may have. . .

Judah: Tracy was nominated for that also.

TBS: I thought he may have got the Howard Stern Memorial Entertainment Award.

Judah: No, I think he might be in the running for that, but there’s been no official announcement yet, so I . . .

TBS: Yeah well, I read a little bit . . .

Judah: I can’t prove that one way or another.

PL: It is The Business Shrink program, with your Business Shrink, Peter Morris. From Berlin, I’m Peter L to tell you that this live edition of the program continues as Peter Morris goes on with his conversation with Judah Friedlander.

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Segment 2
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TBS: Judah, how does your character, Frank Rossitano, have a rivalry with Toofer, played by Keith Powell, can you tell the audience and me a little bit about that?

Judah: I think it mostly comes from, he’s a Harvard guy and I’m probably a Junior College dropout and we have to share an office that’s pretty small. So it’s not like we really dislike each other or anything, we just get on each others’ nerves; and he’s a pretty high strung guy so I like playing practical jokes on him and that pisses him off.

TBS: And of course in real life, you guys have the same kind of relationship, or is it different?

Judah: Uh, no, it’s just that, you know, he’s a, it’s just very low key, you know. It’s, you know, I’m not an antagonistic person at all and I’m not one that plays practical jokes on someone, so yeah, ya know, everything’s fine, yeah, that’s the way it is, that’s the way its scripted, you know, but yeah, as a whole the whole cast gets along really well, everyone’s pretty cool.

TBS: I like that and I like to hear that. I can tell you that having gone to Harvard, I often wish I were the 8th Grade dropout or the Junior College guy because they often have the psychological advantage in real life when they’re dealing and trading.

Judah: Could be, could be.

TBS: Yeah, no, no, the diploma doesn’t make the smarts, I can tell you that.

Judah: No, no, it’s a diploma; it has nothing to do with, uh . . .

TBS: The real world.

Judah:…brain stuff necessarily, yeah.

TBS: No, not at all. And um…

Judah: It says you did a certain amount of work and you did it well; it doesn’t necessarily, yeah. It doesn’t necessarily…street smart.

TBS: Exactly. If anything, yeah, if anything it can be misleading and it can also unrealistically pump up your ego until you get shut down enough to realize how misleading it is. You know, on another subject, you’re . . .

Judah: Wow, I didn’t realize it was that bad, wow.

TBS: Well it’s, um, I’m not going to trade it in, but I’m also not going to be borrowing on it. I like your taste in cheesy art, I thought we could discuss that a little bit.

Judah: Oh good.

TBS: I have some pictures here and I would have to tell you that first of all, I’m intrigued by the horse, the reflection of the horse and the white Unicorn and your understanding of it as a clear definitive racial statement on the Equestrian world, and I think that’s very deep, it’s very interesting.

Judah: Yeah, I collect art and a lot of art that I really like most people would probably think it’s really bad, but I tend to find something wonderful in it and, uh…

TBS: You find a meaning.

Judah: Exactly. I like …

TBS: And I like your Dorothy Hamil painting, especially with the …

Judah: Yeah, that’s not exactly mine, that’s one of my best friend, Mike’s, he lives out in New Jersey and I’d say I’m very jealous that he owns that, it’s a pretty incredible piece.

TBS: Well you’re giving it a lot of provenance and I’m helping along here; that’s now going to become a very valuable collectible.

Judah: Yeah, yeah, yeah, he better hold onto it even more now, yeah.

TBS: Yeah.

Judah: For the people listening, if you go to my website judahfriedlander.com; if you can’t spell my name, it’sworldchampionoftheworld.com, same website, just click on Art Gallery and you’ll see my collection of art is …

TBS: Yeah. I understand you’re the best art collector in the world.

Judah: Uh that’s, you know you said it, and I think you got it right, you know, I’m not going to argue it,

TBS: Well that’s what I heard, I heard it. And then of course I like the Ken Duncan “A View of the Theatre from Behind”. I think that’s really, really interesting and worth of comment and I think just in general you, I bet your collection is much larger than what you have on your website.

Judah: Yeah I got a lot of stuff that’s not up there; I need to upgrade it and start putting some new pictures up. And I’ve actually, recently, you know I used to paint a lot more when I was a kid and I’ve recently started painting again and one of my paintings actually appeared on 30-Rock. There was an episode where my character turned gay for an episode and he made a painting to try to impress this dude that he had a crush on. I made a painting and in that episode I actually made it, and it’s a picture of a mermaid with one arm, part Unicorn, being held up in the air by Big Foot.

TBS: Well that’s a lot to take in, that’s kind of deep, I think I need a moment. I need a moment of silence, I need a moment of silence for that.

Judah: A one-armed mermaid that’s part Unicorn with Big Foot, that’s the name of the painting.

TBS: Yeah. And thank goodness you titled it to lead the viewer into the emotional nirvana that that painting must produce.

Judah: Yeah, it’s, uh, it’s a very romantic painting.

TBS: It’s probably the best painting; it must be the best painting in the world.

Judah: I don’t know about that …

TBS: Again I’ve heard that …

Judah:…because it’s pretty good, you know, it’s a very romantic painting.TBS: Well, tell me, you’re a Big Foot hunter. Are you a good one?

Judah: Well, that’s not really correct, I’m not a Big Foot hunter. You might call me a Big Foot expert, a Big Foot enthusiast. I think it’s important not to hunt Big Foot but to try and befriend Big Foot.

TBS: Ah ha. And are you one of the top Big Foot aficionados if I can use that word.

Judah: I don’t like to brag, but there’s definitely nobody better than me. Yes, I’m the best, but I don’t like to brag.

TBS: Do you constantly have a mapping of where Big Foot is, even though you’re not hunting him?

Judah: It’s actually hard for me to find Big Foot because Big Foot is afraid of me so, um …

TBS: I understand.

Judah:…so, um, I actually have to track other people who are tracking Big Foot that Big Foot is not afraid of and (static) better.

TBS: Do you have like, um …

Judah: I’ve met Big Foot and the guy’s afraid of me, so whenever he hears me coming he splits.

TBS: I can imagine you have like a war room with a bunch of wall-to-wall electronic screens that map the people that are looking at Big Foot, or looking or him, all over the world.

Judah: Uh, it’s actually not exactly that high tech, that would be nice, but I prefer to just go on instincts, my instinct is really strong.

TBS: So you’ve got Big Foot instinct that turns into radar of sorts.

Judah: Yeah, it’s better than radar. I mean, radar is, you know, it’s been around …

TBS: It’s limited.

Judah:…since the 60’s or earlier and you know the stuff I’m dealing with is much higher tech stuff.

TBS: Yeah. That’s interesting. Have you thought of writing the definitive Treatis on Big Foot, or have you already done that?

Judah: Yeah, you know I worked on a series, a documentary about Big Foot but it’s all going to be, you know, words and pictures, photographs.

TBS: Uh huh. Have you, that’s really interesting. I just have this sense of Big Foot hanging out in some lake in Scotland, but I’m sure that’s not the case.

Judah: No, Big Foot is actually American.

TBS: American, hmmm. But is he, is he …

Judah: Yetti is European, but Big Foot is American.

TBS: Yeah, but he doesn’t have any…

Judah: As far as I know he hasn’t left the Continental U.S.

TBS: Ah.

Judah: The Scottish creature you’re talking about must be the Yetti, or the cousin of the Yetti or something.

TBS: Oh, okay. Well that’s good to know because I was misinformed and I’m sorry to the audience and everybody there.

Judah: Big Foot is American, just remember that and be proud of your country.

TBS: Well, you know, the second part, well I shouldn’t say that. The first part I can do, the second part may take until after January ‘09.

Judah: Yeah, well just remember we’re still in the Top 10, ya know.

TBS: Yeah, that’s true. I think we’re neck and neck with Zimbabwe right now.

Judah: Yeah, I mean, our country has its problems but we’re still a top ranked country worldwide.

TBS: No, I agree. I kind of like the joke about the fact that our democracy is analogized to an all-you-can-eat buffet, but really it’s a restaurant with one dish on the menu. I can’t tell you how many things that are unimportant that we vote on and how many important things we don’t get to vote on.

Judah: That’s a good analogy, but remember it is all-you-can-eat, so.

TBS: Yeah, that’s true, it’s just I don’t want to talk about what it is that we’re eating because I’d rather talk about a Howard Stern or Tracy Morgan.

Judah: I hear ya.

TBS: Yeah. You’re a Navy Seal?

Judah: Yes.

TBS: You were in Viet Nam?

Judah: I’ve been in every war this past 50 years.

 

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Segment 3
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Peter L: This is The Business Shrink show. Your Business Shrink is Peter Morris. In this segment of the program, with Peter Morris’ conversation with the comedian and actor, Judah Friedlander, currently appearing on NBC’s 30-Rock. It’s a live edition of the program, and Peter Morris, as your conversation continues, there’s a call on the line from Kurt.

TBS: Hello Kurt.

Kurt: Hey, howzit goin? I had a question for you about the project Greenlight.

Judah: Oh okay.

Kurt: Yeah I wanted to know, because you were in that movie, Feast, and I’m a big horror fan, by the way. Hey, how ya doin? I just talked to you earlier today …

Judah: I know.

Kurt: I’m your web guy.

Judah: I know.

Kurt: But you know what, a lot of people don’t know about the Project Greenlight, it was kind of a big underground hit on HBO, but tell us about Feast and what’s going on with that and how did you get involved with that? That’s a really interesting …

Judah:Uh, yeah, you know that Feast is a horror comedy movie and it was actually the last Project Greenlight movie. I had a great time making it. The way I got cast in that, there’s this guy Mark Riccadonna, who’s a comedian and he used to work as a standup in New York, and one night Miramax, which in fact is owned by the Weinstein brothers, were having a showcase, looking at people, and he put me on the showcase and the Casting Director, Katrina Wolf, was there, really liked my set, Then I talked with her and I said, hey if there are any (inaudible) coming up I’d like to know about it. And she said yeah, as a matter of fact there is this one part coming up and I basically got offered the part in the movie and did it, and that’s it. And actually, it really got screwed on the theatrical release, but it did very well on DVDs, Maxim named it DVD of the Year last year, and right now they are actually filming two sequels to it and I just did a cameo in the second one.

Kurt: Wow, that’s awesome.

Judah: It should be out on DVD sometime in 08.

Kurt: Yeah, I remember out here in Kansas City, they had a midnight showing of that movie and I made an extra special point to go out there and do it, and of course they had some promotions around it, and there were a couple people out there who were all so stoked to see this movie. And of course at the very beginning they didn’t get the sound right for some reason so we were all sort of suffering through this silent movie in the beginning and then it finally started up, it was great.

Judah: How long did that happen (inaudible) the sound.

Kurt: It was just like for the first minute or so …

Judah: Oh, okay.

Kurt: You know when you see the dessert scenes in there.

Judah: That’s a movie actually that you really need to have good sound on because sound actually plays a big part in that.

Kurt: Yeah, yeah. Everybody was bummed but ya know luckily it didn’t get too far into it before it kicked in.

Judah: Yeah, yeah. Cool man. A lot of fun to do, I’m a big horror movie fan so it was a real kick to do that movie. And I uh, a lot of gross stuff happened to me in that little week. I got an eyeball gouged out by an alien monster, and had maggots all over my face and up my nose, and in my mouth. They used real wormy type creatures, so it was a lot of fun.

Kurt: Did you stick a real maggot up your nose?

Judah: Yeah, and in my mouth, yeah, they were actually I believe meal worms.

TBS: That sounds good.

Judah: Yeah.

TBS: That’s a delicacy.

Judah: So, yeah, so I did it, yeah. We wanted it to look real, so that’s what I did.

TBS: Well that’s good to know. Do you have anything in your nose right now?

Judah: No, it’s pretty clean. I make sure my nose is always clean,

TBS: Yeah, good, I always cut my nose hairs. I cut my nose hairs regularly.

Judah: Oh okay.

TBS: That’s good. I wanted to ask you about Tracy Morgan, Tracy Jordan the character. How did you feel when he went on Howard Stern and gave his raunchy interview, from a personal point of view and a professional one, they may be two different set of feeling they may be the same.

Judah: I didn’t actually hear that interview because I wasn’t up early that day. I listen to Stern but that day I was not up early. I heard it went great, but I know Tracy, he’s that kind of guy; he says whatever is on his mind and if he’s talking about something graphic, he won’t shy away, he’ll get really graphic and detailed.

TBS: Is the graphic stuff that he discussed with Howard out of character to the character in 30-Rock?

Judah: Yeah I think there are similarities between the two there, between Tracy and this character he plays, yeah.

TBS: Although I would assume that there are more governors on 30-Rock than there would be on Tracy personally.

Judah: Yeah, no, everything Tracy says on 30-Rock is written, and it’s not written by Tracy.

TBS: Right.

Judah: 30-Rock is 90% written by the writers; very little is improvised on the show.

TBS: Uh huh. But yet …

Judah: So if Tracy says something crazy on 30-Rock, not because he made it up, it’s because that’s what was written.

TBS: Although people who write perhaps fashion the character after him so we still have to go back to is it life imitating art or art imitating life, or both. It sounds like it’s both.

Judah: Yeah, there might be a little of both there, yeah, because there’s a little bit of a fine line, and I think that in common entertainment, you know walking that fine line between the two can be an interesting way to play things.

TBS: I think so, and I think if the show is any measure of you, then I can understand why it’s got a wide and fervent audience.

Judah: The audience seems to be building a lot, which is nice. Hopefully we aren’t going to lose any of the audience with the writer’s strike, because our show would have to shut down production, we only have one new episode as it stands.

TBS: Well how, I want to ask you, how did it come upon you to visualize yourself, or anoint yourself as Champion of the World. What was the epiphany? Where were you? What were you doing?

Judah: I’ve been doing stand up comedy 18 years and in my standup act I talk about how I’m the world champion, the greatest athlete in the world and chicks dig me, and it’s a pretty exiting lifestyle basically. That kind of came, it developed over years and it was a gradual process, and I think it first started through crowd work. I do a lot of interaction with the audience and sometimes I would just go up there with no material and I’d just work with the crowd, and I kind of got into this habit of just going up on stage and bragging, you know, just start talking to somebody and then I’ll just start talking about how I can do everything better than them. Then I came up twit ht he idea to make a hat that says World Champion, but not because of anything, just sort of in general, I thought was a funny hat; a guy that wears a hat that says World Champion but not of what.. So then I started getting more into that. As a kid I was kind of obsessed with the Guinness Book of World Records, so a lot of my World Champion stuff is all sports related, I’m also a big sports fan, and so as a kid I was obsessed with all these world records an breaking world records, so some of my stuff with my World Champion stuff actually comes from that passion as a kid of trying to break world records.

TBS: You mean like, like…

Judah: And now it’s (inaudible) champion I can break any record I want.

TBS: Yeah, I mean it’s like the most steroids taken in any baseball season.

Judah: I actually don’t take steroids, but I’ll be honest with you, I don’t blame these guys for taking steroids because all they’re trying to do is keep up with me.

TBS: Well that makes a lot of sense.

Judah: Yeah, I don’t blame them. I tell you, if I didn’t do sports, I don’t think anyone would be doing steroids because it would be a level playing field. But with me, (inaudible) these guys are intimidated so they start shooting up.

TBS: We ought to get Barry Bonds on here, we ought to get Barry Bonds on here and you and I …

Judah: He won’t come on, he won’t come on if I’m on, he’s afraid of me.TBS: I can understand that, I think that . . ….

Judah: I’m stronger than him, I’m faster than him, and I know Karate and he doesn’t so he will not come on a show that I’m on.

TBS: And you’ve hit more homeruns haven’t you?

Judah: I’ve hit more home runs and I’m richer also.

TBS: Well, listen; when they get done with him I think my taxi driver may be richer.

Judah: No, he’s got his hands full.

TBS: Yeah, he really does, he really does.

Judah: He would need a lawyer that’s on steroids to get (inaudible).

TBS: Yeah, yeah he is, there’s no question. Hopefully if he gets a Judge and a Jury that are on steroids, he’ll be alright.

Judah: Well in that case he might do well then; I think a lot of them already are.

TBS: Exactly.

Peter L: Would you jokers just say goodbye. Peter Morris, The Business Shrink, with comedian/actor Judah Friedlander from 30-Rock, a pleasure to have you on the program, most appreciate that.

Judah: Than you a lot.

TBS: Thank you, Judah. I hope to meet you some day.

Judah: Yeah, thanks a lot man that was a lot of fun. Good luck with everything.

TBS: Thank you.

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