E-mail a friendJeffrey Tambor
airdate January 30, 2008
A multi-talented actor with credits in over 100 film and TV roles, Jeffrey Tambor is set to return to the small screen in CBS' Welcome to the Captain and to the big screen in Hellboy II. He's earned six Emmy nods—four for his role in HBO's The Larry Sanders Show and two for his turn in the critically acclaimed Fox series Arrested Development. Born and raised in San Francisco, Tambor built up his résumé in regional theater and has directed a number of stage productions. He also teaches acting.
Jeffrey Tambor
Tavis: Jeffrey Tambor is a terrific actor, whose work has earned him six prime time Emmy nominations, including four for his role on the groundbreaking series "The Larry Sanders Show." He's back in prime time in this season in the new series "Welcome to the Captain." the show premiere this Monday night at 8:30 on CBS. Here now, a sneak preview of "Welcome to the Captain."
[Clip]
Tavis: After watching you so many years, an honor to meet you.
Jeffrey Tambor: Thank you, it's an honor to be here.
Tavis: Glad to have - you have one of those faces that I assume you get this when you walk down the sidewalk.
Tambor: That I have one of those faces?
Tavis: Yeah.
Tambor: Yes, lately it's been - I apparently look like some heart specialist in Beverly Hills. And I get Dr. Phil, and I sometimes get myself. And now I look like I'm running for the Burl Ives contest, but that's neither here nor there.
Tavis: Do most people - everybody recognizes your face. Do most people who walk up to you know your name, and if they don't, does that disturb you or are you happy about that?
Tambor: Oh, I'm just happy to be walking at this point. (Laughter) It all depends. I get hey now.
Tavis: Yeah, hey now, yeah.
Tambor: I get Dr. Phil. But I must be improving on it because I'm getting Jeffrey Tambor. Not when I drove up here for this taping, but that was fine.
Tavis: I've always liked that name, Tambor. What kind of name is that?
Tambor: I think it's Hungarian, which is odd because I was just doing "Hellboy II" in Hungary and I am Hungarian. I seem to have an affinity for those people who are somewhat cranky.
Tavis: You'll be happy to know I am not Hungarian, so I'm not going to be cranky with you tonight.
Tambor: I don't know if I'm Hungarian, but I'm something of that area.
Tavis: Tell me about "Welcome to the Captain."
Tambor: It's a place called El Capitan, and we call it The Captain and it's an enclave of artists and actors and people in show business. And this young person, Josh, comes to visit us. He's an idealist and an Oscar winner and he comes, and here we are. And we have everyone from soup to nuts. We have Raquel Welch and we have Jeffrey Tambor and we have young actors in the building. I am an episode writer, I haven't written an episode in 30 years. My last episode was "The Ropers," which I was on.
Tavis: Which you really were on "The Ropers."
Tambor: Yes, and not only that but I was on "Three's Company," and -
Tavis: Which led to "The Ropers."
Tambor: Which led to "The Ropers." And so it has that. It's a very wonderful, dysfunctional family, and it's written by the very talented John Hamburg, who is sensational. And I'm just happy to be a part of it.
Tavis: You have been, to your point now, we'll go there, you've been fortunate to be in so many series over the years. Television, fair to say, has been really, really good to you.
Tambor: Everything's been good to me. I've never done anything else. I lived across the street in San Francisco when I was a young boy, I used to go and watch rehearsals and I said, "I want to do that." I knew that when I was eight years old. And here I am still doing it, and I'm very - there were short stints as a bus boy which didn't end well, and a shoe salesman, which ended even worse.
Tavis: So what did you learn - sent you went there, what did you learn from being a bus boy? You had to learn something. What'd you learn from being a shoe salesman?
Tambor: When you work in a restaurant called Agnes Compton, do not spill the entire setup tray on Agnes Compton.
Tavis: Okay. (Laughs)
Tambor: That's what you learn (unintelligible).
Tavis: That's what you learned from being a bus boy.
Tambor: And when you work as a shoe salesman, I did the baby shoes and I did learn that this is how you - if you go like that to a baby's foot, it will open. That's it. That's all I know.
Tavis: So TV Land runs episodes of "Three's Company," and so I see you from time to time on "Three's Company" on TV Land.
Tambor: I thought I came out to do - I met the great Norman Fell, the great - you have to understand that I grew up as a - I did only avant-garde theater. If it was written before 1960, I used to go to a musical theater classes at San Francisco State and boo them. (Laughter) And now I should actually boo myself, because I love musical comedy.
And I thought when I did "The Ropers" it would last for a nanosecond but actually it went on, and I'm very grateful. I met good people. And then I do "Hellboy," I've done the voice in "SpongeBob." Being a character actor is very interesting.
Tavis: How did you get drawn to or when did you know that your particular gift was in this comedic arena? You said you were eight when you -
Tambor: There was a sentence. Mr. Pravitoni, if you're out there, hi, Mr. Prav. If you're not out there, hi, Mr. Prav. And after junior high school in San Francisco I was goofing around and doing a rehearsal and this young girl walked to the front of the stage and said, "Mr. Prav, he's not doing it right." And Mr. Prav yelled out from the audience, "Leave him alone, he knows what he's doing."
And I think that's the first sentence that anyone has ever said, "Leave him alone, he knows what he's doing." So I said, whatever this is, I shall continue.
Tavis: It's amazing to me, though, that from that you found your way - were you doing something comedic at the time?
Tambor: No, I was actually departing from the text and there was - I remember it. There was a thrill that came over me and I said, "I'm going to go for broke and I'm just going to be myself." And it's so odd because that's what my father said to my brother and my sister and I, he said, "Whatever you do, be yourself. Be your own man." So there it was, and Mr. Prav, shall we just join hands and sing "Kumbaya?"
Tavis: Sure. (Singing) Kumbaya, my lord, Kumbaya.
Tambor: I think this has become one of the most - oh, jeez, I'm sorry. I apologize for that entire story, but here's to Mr. Prav.
Tavis: No, you don't have to apologize. It's always fascinating to me to hear how people got started. I get a chance to do this every night but I'm always, more than anything else, fascinated with how people knew that whatever they are doing that gets them on this show, how they figured out that that was what their gift was (unintelligible).
Tambor: I think any time - people come up to me and they say, "My son or my daughter wants to be an actor." And I say, "There's nothing you can do." (Laughter)
Tavis: Don't even try.
Tambor: There's still something about it, even while I'm with you, we don't know where we're going and we're in this thing, and I like that. It's the sort of the jazz of it, and I was attracted to that. And also there's something about rehearsing and ladies and gentlemen of the theater. I used to go across the street and watch these two actors perform. Now in retrospect, they're 18 years old, but I would sit there and watch them take the scene apart and put it back together, and I would cry because it was so moving to me that you could change reality. And that's what we do.
Tavis: Now you sound like Barack Obama.
Tambor: There's nothing wrong with that.
Tavis: Change reality. (Laughs) Are you political at all?
Tambor: I like that - right now I think things have been not so good for a while, and I think things are going to get very good for a while. Hopefully for a long, long time. I have two children. I have three children, actually; I just gained one as we were talking here. (Laughter) I have three children and it means a lot to me in the society that they're growing up.
And I like what's happening. I like the choices that are there. I like that people are finally just saying, "We have to do something about the (unintelligible) that we live in," about the economy, about poverty, about all of that. And that to me is very, very important.
Tavis: You said a moment ago and I heard this and I want to come back to it. You said you like the jazz; you used that word "jazz," which I got that. You like the jazz-like nature of being able to work in the way that you do. There's some people I meet every now and again - Robin Williams comes to mind immediately - you and I have just met for the first time, but I just see how you just improvise and flow. Some people I think -
Tambor: Let me ask you a question, am I your favorite guest?
Tavis: You absolutely are.
Tambor: You don't have to -
Tavis: You absolutely are.
Tambor: Okay, we can go on.
Tavis: Not even close. Hands down.
Tambor: All right.
Tavis: Did that sound right?
Tambor: Perfect.
Tavis: Okay. (Laughs) There are some people, I get the sense that they're almost confined by the material, that you are such a -
Tambor: Well, that's a blessing and it's a curse. I don't know; I try to do every take differently. And I don't know if that's a good thing but I can't do it any other way. I live for being in the moment and that to me is a freedom, and that's the way I want to live my life. But I just did the David Mamet's play "Glengarry Glen Ross" and I had to do it every night.
And so that gets to be - but with someone like Mamet in that wonderful box. I don't know if I'm answering your question, but I like the moment. I like to play. I have a 1-year-old daughter, I have a 3-year-old boy, and I watch them play and to me, it's revivifying. And then when we were doing "The Captain" I would watch these young people do it - why are you laughing?
Tavis: No, I'm not laughing.
Tambor: Yes you are.
Tavis: No I'm not. It's powerful.
Tambor: Your lip went just like that.
Tavis: No.
Tambor: Oh, maybe it's your lip.
Tavis: He likes freedom, so I'm going to free him now. (Laughter)
Tambor: You're so free that we're going to let you go.
Tavis: And let him go do what he wants to do. The new show is called "Welcome to the Captain," Monday nights on CBS starring one Jeffrey Tambor. Nice to see you.
Tambor: Nice to see you. You're wonderful.
Tavis: Glad to have you here.
Tambor: You're wonderful, thank you.
Tavis: Thank you, you are, too.
Back to January 30, 2008