E-mail a friendRandy Quaid
original airdate March 26, 2004
Randy Quaid has handled a million character roles. He arrived in Hollywood, worked as a janitor and, within a year, was nominated for an Oscar. He's also excelled on the small screen, winning a Golden Globe for playing the title role in the miniseries LBJ: The Early Years. His TV work also includes comedic turns - he was a regular on Saturday Night Live. His latest role is in the animated feature, Home on the Range.
Randy Quaid
Tavis: Though he certainly doesn't look old enough, actor Randy Quaid claims to have been in show business for 35 years. Yeah, right. His diverse movie resumé includes the classic 'The Last Picture Show,' 'National Lampoon's Vacation'-- caught that the other night on rerun--and 'Independence Day.' His latest project is the eagerly awaited Disney film 'Home on the Range,' which opens April 2nd. Here's a clip from 'The Making of ‘Home on the Range.''
Randy Quaid:
got hypnotized! Heh heh heh!
Estelle Harris: Is he really doing all
that yodeling?
Randy: Yeah!
rump if that ain't art! Heh heh.
Tavis: Ha ha ha! Randy Quaid, nice to see you.
Randy Quaid: Nice to see you, Tavis.
Tavis: That looks like a lot of work, but it looks like a lot of fun, too.
Randy: It was. It's a lot of fun making an animated movie. You just get in there and, um, just--just let it go. Let loose, and it's very freeing for an actor.
Tavis: In terms of the acting thing--and I'm not an actor, obviously--but what's it like? What are the challenges of doing something like that in a studio by yourself where you're talking into a microphone, as opposed to having somebody to play off of?
Randy: Well, that's the thing. You don't have the other actors there to interact with, so you're pretty much on your own, you know. It's a pretty lonely existence.
Tavis: Does that make it more challenging, more interesting, more difficult?
Randy: It's just different, you know, 'cause you just have your voice to rely on, other than all your gestures and everything. But it's, curiously, a fascinating process, because it's you with... The director's in the booth with you reading the other characters' lines. Then outside the booth, you have the animator that's assigned to your character drawing you doing the performance--the gestures and everything. So, together with the animator, you collaborate to create this character.
Tavis: I want to talk about animation in the future--or lack thereof--animation in this business in just a second. Before I get too far, 'cause I've been dying to ask you this--I read something. I don't know if this is true or not, so if I'm wrong about it, you disabuse me of this notion that I read somewhere, at least. Of this fact that I read somewhere. I mentioned I saw you in 'Vacation' the other night on rerun somewhere. I was up late, couldn't sleep. I saw you on 'Vacation,' and in your own way, you play sort of a clown in the 'Vacation' stuff. But I read somewhere that your career actually started--your first gig was actually playing a clown. True story?
Randy: It is true. Yeah, it was a summer job, and it was at a theme park in Houston. And a bunch of us from our school got these jobs. We were clowns. My name was Snafu.
Tavis: Snafu!
Randy: Yeah. I wore big--the big shoes with the hoop-coat and... But it was fun going to work every day and putting on your makeup, and then after a while, I would just try different things with different makeups. The Ringling Brothers circus was right across the street all summer, so I'd go over there, and they'd give me tips on being a clown. It lost its charm after a while. You walk around the park, take pictures with kids. They'd, you know, punch you in places where you didn't want to be punched.
Tavis: Yeah. Ha ha ha!
Randy: But it was fun for a summer.
Tavis: See, who knew? See the things you learn on PBS? Who knew Randy Quaid's career started out as a clown? Snafu, no less. Anyway, OK, so now I know that is a true story.
Back to the animation thing we were talking about a moment ago. I've read, also, preparing for our conversation, that this is...'Home on the Range' is the last animated film that Disney has on the books where people are actually drawing these characters. The next wave is 3-D. Everything is gonna be CG--computer generated. Your thoughts, if any, on what that means for the business. That animators may be losing jobs, everything goes to 3-D, everything is computer generated. What happens to these people you've had so much fun, I assume, working with that we saw in that videotape, who were drawing you as you were making all these crazy gestures?
Randy: Well, that's the real tragedy to this whole thing, you know. It's just--it's a corporate bottom line that dictates just about anything creative these days, and unfortunately the animators have been sort of cast aside. And I think that's... You know, they're such great artists, and to have them just become this sort of dislocated, like they have been, it's tough, you know what I mean?
The animation movies will always survive, I mean, this, 'Home on the Range is... What I love about it is that it is done the old style, with the hand-painted cels and--yeah. And they've done such an amazing job with it. It's the kind of animated movies that I grew up on. So I hope there'll be more of them. But the computer movies are great, too.
Tavis: 'The Matrix' made a whole lot of money.
Randy: And 'Monsters, Inc.,' And there's a lot of wonderful movies. I think that as long as you have a good story with good characters, people will go see it. But it is a shame that the animators have lost a lot of their jobs.
Tavis: Well, you see a billion-dollar enterprise like 'Lord of the Rings,' I suspect that's gonna happen. To your point, though, that you made a moment ago about how the bottom line has changed this business. I was teasing you earlier about the fact that you say you've been doing this for 35 years. How have you seen the business change, to the point you made earlier, about how creative is now overshadowed by the bottom line?
Randy: Well, I think that with the way everything is being acquired and there's the consolidation going on in all industries, in all areas, not just entertainment so much, but the big corporations come in and buy the studios and the TV companies. And it just seems that the gauge or what's at stake, the stakes go up a little higher, because there's--you know, it's all about--it just seems like it's more about the money and how much something is going to make, whether it's box office or ratings. And that is more the driving force than the quality and the content of these shows.
That's why they're doing a lot of reality shows, you know? They're inexpensive, and when one of 'em hits, they hit big. And networks can then pair off new shows on top of these shows, so--I mean, it makes perfect sense from a business standpoint, but creatively I think it puts a strain on a lot of writers' jobs, actors, and directors.
It just seems like when I started out in the late sixties, early seventies, it was more about the content. It was more--the creative people had more input. They were really controlling the show. The directors, it was their vision that came through in the motion pictures. And that lasted for 10 years, and it was a great time, you know? But it just sort of got switched over to more of the corporate side now.
Tavis: You're serious about this business thing. Not just from the standpoint of being an actor, but I am told that you are, like, really, really seriously into the stock market, like every day, you're at a computer. You're that heavy into the stock market?
Randy: Well, for me, it's like reading the sports page, you know? Like being really involved in sports. Instead of teams and players, I follow companies and CEOs.
Tavis: They're teams and players. Exactly. Yeah.
Randy: So, I mean, I've really become very fascinated with the way--what separates a good business from a mediocre business. And yeah, I've got into the financial sheets and the balance sheets and just looking at breaking companies apart and the way they finance their operations.
Tavis: And the value of doing all that is what? That makes you a better investor? Are you making more money as a result of that?
Randy: Yeah. Well, hopefully. It's a little tough in this environment.
Tavis: I'm asking, 'cause I want you to tell me something, 'cause I need some help. I'm not doing so well.
Randy: Well, I need help, too. I think just about everybody does these days when it comes to the market, 'cause nobody knows what's going on with all the unrest that's going on in the world these days, and it can change, you know? One day, it's up. The next day, it's down.
Tavis: But as you plunge this deeply into it, though--I mean, you're really into analyzing, as you said, breaking this stuff down and researching and reading. What has that done for you as an investor? How much has it helped you?
Randy: Well, it has helped me. It's given me more confidence in--when I started out doing it--and I've only been doing it for like, you know, 5 years, so I'm not an expert by any means, but I got in it--this is how my timing is. I got in it just at the dead end of the bubble. Came in like, October of '99, and everything went south that January, so my learning curve has been in a bear market, so it's--I started out, I would just, like, pick anything that they said on TV was, you know, good stuff.
Tavis: OK, yeah.
Randy: But so, gradually, you know, it's become a challenge to not say, 'I'm gonna beat this market,' 'cause that's not the right attitude, but just say, 'I'd like to be able to hold my own, just make a little--invest a little money and make a little bit,' you know? So, it's just fun for me. I find it very interesting.
Tavis: Speaking of fun stuff, let me end where I began, with the fun stuff: the yodeling. How'd you learn how to do this? I said earlier, it looks like a lot of fun. How'd you learn to do this yodel thing so well? You got that thing down, man.
Randy: Well, I never yodeled before, and they wrote this song. I think it was kind of like after we had already started recording the movie, and I came in one day, and they said, 'They wrote you a song.' So, I looked at the song, and it was a yodeling part in there. So I said, 'I can't yodel,' and they said, 'That's OK. We'll have people to come in and help you.' And so I just sort of played around with it and tried to find a place in my voice, in my head that I could place some sort of a yodel, 'cause I wanted to do as much of the song as I could do. And I sang all the song myself, but the yodeling, I had a little help. I would start the yodel, I would go...
Tavis: I was about to ask if you could help teach me how to yodel, but now that I know that you had help, you can't help me, so I won't even ask that. Randy Quaid, nice to see you. Thanks for coming by. I enjoyed talking to you.
Randy: Thanks so much.
Tavis: That's our show for tonight. As always, you can catch me on the radio on NPR, and I'll see you back here next time on PBS. Until then, good night from Los Angeles. Thanks for watching and as always, keep the faith.
Back to March 26, 2004