(bright music) - [Alison] On the season finale of "The A List," I talk with a man who found a home on the stage.

- I did a lot of theater when I was in high school, and I'm actually incredibly grateful because when I moved to Tallahassee in the seventh grade, I was not into sports.

And the South is very centered on sports.

- Yes.

- And so my parents didn't really know what to do with me and they found this theater called Young Actors Theater.

And it was really a safe haven for me.

Like it was a place that I just could be stupid and funny and just very much find myself.

And so I'm really grateful for that, so- - Join me as I sit down with Emmy Award-winning actor, Tony Hale.

Coming up next on "The A List."

(lively music) Audiences know they can count on Emmy Award-winning actor Tony Hale to consistently bring joy and laughter.

Over the course of more than 20 years, he has built an impressive career and played some of the most beloved comedic characters on television.

He may be best known for his iconic performances as Gary Walsh on "Veep" and as Buster Bluth on "Arrested Development."

But he's also lent his vocal talents to animated hits like "Toy Story 4" And "Inside Out 2."

I had the chance to sit down with Tony at Sanford University in Birmingham, Alabama.

A place where we both feel right at home.

(lively music) Well, Tony, welcome to "The A list."

- Hey, I'm on "The A list?"

That's a first.

(Alison laughs) - Well, and welcome back to not only Birmingham, but your alma mater.

So Sanford.

- Yeah, this is Sanford University.

This is the new, I think concert kind of hall that they have.

And it's a place I went to school for four years.

This is very nostalgic.

- Did you perform here?

So I guess not here since this was new.

- No.

I actually didn't study theater in college.

I studied communications journalism.

- Okay.

Yeah, how'd that work out for you?

- Yeah, so I'm taking over the interview, kids.

- Well, I used to come here for piano lessons.

I grew up.

- Did you?

- A few miles away.

- Oh, that's right.

- Well, and I'd say that with a lot more joy than I felt.

- Yeah, sure.

- I had a little PTSD walking through the doors.

- Sure.

- And having to come for a piano theory.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- But I love this campus.

- Did you keep it up?

Did you keep up piano?

- Oh, no.

- Don't You wish you did though?

- No, I do not.

- Oh, interesting.

- I have piano just so it can torture my kids.

- Oh, okay.

- I can say, yeah, one day, you're gonna take lessons.

- [Tony] Yeah.

- But they're out of the house.

They're not gonna do it.

- I've thought about taking it up again, like I kind of regret letting it go.

- Well, is it weird that you now live in Birmingham?

- Yeah, so we just, I guess we've been here about nine months.

We were in LA for 21 years and then my daughter graduated high school last May.

- Congrats.

- Thank you.

Thank you.

We kept her alive.

(Alison laughs) And so she graduated and as you know, just the back and forth West coast to East Coast, seeing family, we needed to be closer to family.

So we made the move.

And my wife grew up in Anniston, which is about an hour from here.

- And you grew up in like Tallahassee sort of?

- Yeah.

- But you were an army brat?

- I was an army brat.

So we moved to Tallahassee when I was in the seventh grade.

And I think before then, we moved like seven times before I was in the seventh grade.

But starting in the seventh grade through high school, I was mainly in Tallahassee.

- Okay, yeah.

So this feels comfortable.

- Yeah, totally.

And Tallahassee's very Georgian.

It's kind of very, it's on the panhandle, it's northern Florida, so it's not like...

It's very, very similar to like Georgia, Alabama, - But also unlike la we're not used to seeing stars in the south.

- And this is a big star you're seeing today, kids.

If this is your base, I apologize.

(both laugh) - I just imagine you like in the Piggly Wiggly and somebody's like, "Wait, aren't you?"

- That's so funny.

It actually did happen recently.

And then there's the other person that's like, "What?

Let me look you up.

What, what?"

- Thank God for Google, right?

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- All right, so let's go back a little bit.

Because there's so much to ask you.

So I might, at any random moment, just throw out like a random name or something, because I think of all these things because I wanna call you Buster.

I wanna call you Gary.

- Sure, yeah.

- I hear your voice and I think a Forky.

- I mean, just think of whatever masculine sidekick has been on television.

(laughs) - So how do you go from journalism to becoming a star?

I'm gonna use that word a lot.

- Oh, that's nice.

- Off stage and screen.

- Oh man, well see.

I studied theater.

I did a lot of theater when I was in high school.

And I'm actually incredibly grateful because when I moved to Tallahassee in the seventh grade, I was not into sports.

And the South is very centered on sports.

- Yes.

- And so my parents didn't really know what to do with me.

And they found this theater called Young Actors Theater.

And it was really a safe haven for me.

Like it was a place that I just could be stupid and funny and just very much find myself.

And so I'm really grateful for that.

So I studied theater and did a lot of theater in high school.

And then came to college, didn't know if I can make a career out of it.

So that's why I leaned into journalism, which actually I'm really thankful for.

Because as you know, you learn a lot about editing in journalism and it's like, always get to the point, get to the point, get to the point.

And when I go over scripts or like if I'm writing, it's always like, "Get to the joke, get to the point."

You know, there's a lot of those tools that I use.

So anyways, I studied journalism here.

And then after college, I worked at Grady's restaurant and near the gallery, I don't know if you remember that.

- I lived at the gallery.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I loved the gallery.

And so I worked at Grady's and I was shocked how mean people could be about food.

I was like, "What is wrong with the world?"

'Cause if they didn't get their cheese toast, they were pissed.

And so I was there for like, about a year and then I decided to move back home Tallahassee 'cause I didn't know what I wanted to do.

And then I was like, "You know, I'm gonna dip my toe back into acting."

And in '95, I moved to New York.

And I didn't know a soul.

And my first show was Shakespeare in the parking lot where I did "The Taming of the Shrew" in a parking lot in the East Village.

And then I just like hopped from sublet to sublet and did every job under the sun.

I passed out flyers in Bryant Park.

I cater waitered.

I attempt a lot.

And I was randomly sent to like Conde Nast, like Vogue a lot if like somebody was out.

They just needed a warm body.

It was like, I look like a bad gap ad around these like fashionistas.

But just did a lot of jobs and then started doing commercials.

And my type was the guy who's not all there.

(Alison laughs) And that hasn't changed much.

So then I started to do commercials and then thankfully, commercials kind of started to, I was making money and I didn't have to temp as much or cater waiter.

And then I threw a casting, a commercial casting director.

The audition of "Arrested Development" came around.

(excited music) - "Arrested Development" became a turning point in Tony's career.

Though the show was canceled after only three seasons, it was praised by critics and quickly became a cult favorite.

The show's all-star cast is a who's who of some of the biggest names in comedy today.

And for Tony, landing the role of Buster was a dream come true.

So when you heard about that opportunity.

- Yeah.

- Were you nervous?

Were you like, "Eh, let's see what happens."

- Yeah it took me six or seven years to find an agent who saw me outside of commercials 'cause they just saw me as a commercial actor.

So it took a long time to kind of for them to see me as something different.

So I really, I saw it and I was like, "This is too good.

Like, this is not gonna happen 'cause it's too good."

But I was like, "You know what?

I'm just gonna go in, have a good time."

And I did and got called back.

I remember when I got called back, they flew me out to LA and I was like, "Wait a second.

They're flying me out to LA for a callback?

This is nuts."

And then they decided, they picked me, which blew my mind.

And then they decided to shoot the pilot while I was out there.

And I remember specifically going to Old Navy 'cause I ran out of underwear.

And I was like, "I don't, what's happening?"

So it was kind of, it was just a total whirlwind.

- It was a game-changing show, not just for your career, but really I think for people like me who are just rabid consumers of comedy.

- Oh, cool.

- And I think we're waiting for a show that was really gonna turn the narrative on its side.

Right?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- And say things that you only thought in dark places without ever saying it out loud.

- Yes, yes.

- But it gave all of us, and I think it seemed like all of you permission to laugh at things that we're not conventionally allowed to laugh at.

- No, no.

And it also stuff that I never got.

Like, I told this story once that there's this great joke on it 'cause for those who haven't seen it, my hand gets eaten off by a seal.

FYI.

- Spoiler alert.

- Spoiler alert.

And there's a joke in there where the doctor comes out, my hand had just eaten off and says, my mom goes, "How is he?"

I thought he said, "Oh, he's fine but his arm's been eaten off by a seal.

Ha ha ha."

15 years later, I'm doing this podcast with an audience.

And I say, that's my favorite joke.

And somebody raises their hand and says, "No, no, no.

That's not what he says."

He says, "He's all right.

Meaning he just has a right hand 'cause his left arm is gone."

This is a joke I got 15 years after.

- It took that long.

- It took that long but it's also, the show is so layered and so dense.

And at the time, people understandably, you know, they would kind of focus on dramas, you know, take the time to really figure out something.

But in comedy, it wasn't like a thinking game.

It wasn't as layered.

It was like one, two, three, punch, joke, joke, joke.

And Mitch Herwitz who created it, is such a genius.

And that word gets thrown out a lot.

But I think he really is kind of a touch of the genius because he just had so many layered jokes that you had to really pay attention.

And that's why it got popular with Netflix because people could go back and DVDs, they could go back and really understand the layers that he created.

- I was gonna say Netflix was a game changer for me because I got to rewatch it.

- Yeah.

- But put it on captions and really understand every show.

- Yeah, I should do that.

- And I mean, like, if you blink, you miss 1,000 jokes.

- Oh, and I still have missed 1,000 jokes, yeah.

- How much freedom did you have for that show?

And really, I wanna know on "Veep" too.

- Yeah, yeah.

- To fine tune some of the script or to ad lib or to be spontaneous.

- We had freedom.

I think it was David Cross who said we never wanted to, you know, 'cause what Mitch put on the page was such gold.

I've said this before also that I remember going up to Mitch and saying, "Hey, I'm thinking maybe wouldn't it be funny if Buster was on Dancing with the Stars or something?"

And he goes, "Yeah, I think I'm gonna have a seal bite off your hand."

(Alison laughs) And I was like, "Oh, that's better."

But he thought way outside the box.

Obviously, 'cause look at the show.

And so we always want, we're like, you, whatever comes outta your mind, that's what we wanna do.

Whereas on "Veep," I mean they gave us such great scripts, but there was a time to play.

Like we would sometimes rehearse for two weeks before we shot like four episodes.

'Cause he just wanted to see if it was gelling.

If the relationships were working, if any other organic bits came up.

And so it was a very different process, - I have to say, I don't think this was at all the pinnacle of your career 'cause it was too early but for me, it was one of the highlights.

You dated Liza Minnelli.

- I dated Liza Minnelli.

- I mean, how did?

- Yeah.

- Did you ever look at that and go, "How in the world did this happen?"

- How in the world?

Well, I was in such a fog in general, - And I would say your character did, not you.

- Oh, sure.

No, we did too, no.

But I was in such a fog that first year of... 'Cause I had never, it was my first big show.

I had never been on a studio lot.

I say before, I've never had that much free food.

I think I gained 15 pounds at first.

If you look at Buster the first season, it's like, "Wow, he's packing it on."

And so like, when they said Liz Minnelli's girlfriend, there was just kind of like, "All right, let's go with that."

You know, nothing was kind of, I was so overwhelmed that nothing was really shocking me.

But she was so great, Alison.

Like, she was so kind.

And when you're dealing with an icon, sometimes you don't know how that's gonna be.

She took my wife and I out to lunch once and told us stories about our mom, Judy Garland.

And her stories never came from a place of ego.

They just came from a place of like, "Listen to my life" and so lovely and funny.

And there's one scene where she does like a somersault back on the ground, no stunt person, you know, she's just like, yeah.

Always game to do whatever, yeah.

- You've played these sort of repeatedly very iconic, awkward, codependent, sidekicks.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Do you feel like at some point you were being typecast?

Were you happy that you sort of fit into this one lane at some point?

- Yeah, I mean, I'm thankful that it's stuff I enjoy.

It's wild though.

My therapist, we were talking about this actually because my characters kind of followed a little bit, the history, if you like, where I was in my life.

You know, I've dealt with anxiety in my life.

I've dealt with codependency.

And at that time of "Arrested," it was pretty heated.

You know, just like, I was pretty anxious and I was kind of dealing with a lot of things.

And then "Veep" is also that character, but he's a little stronger.

He's not Buster, but he's a little stronger.

And then doing like "Benedict Society" or other shows I've done and then just doing this movie that's about to come out.

It's cool how like, the growth of my own life has kind of been reflected in my different characters, you know?

But like, I do panic.

I mean, I have had panic attacks in life, so you can kinda, when I was playing a parent panic-stricken character, I was like, "Yeah, I know what this feels like."

You know?

- Like fear.

- And fear on an "Inside Out 2."

I have a history of fear.

So it's nice.

What's cool though, not to sound super spiritual, but it's like having gone through crap in your life, it's cool how God takes stuff you've gone through and can implement it and bring it into stuff that hopefully brings life and laughter.

You know, I'm really grateful for that.

- You are very driven by your faith.

- [Tony] I am.

Yeah, yeah.

- How does it play a role in balancing you in terms of, you know, I wanna say not dealing with but confronting and finding the tools for real life anxiety.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- Panic, fear.

And then having to play those characters.

Is it cathartic for you?

- Yeah.

- Is it?

I think I'm conflated two different questions about your real life versus your character, but also how faith helps you navigate that.

- Yeah.

I mean, with faith, obviously, life in general is very uncertain.

Our business is incredibly uncertain.

And knowing that there's a loving presence that sees a bigger picture gives me a lot of strength and a lot of hope.

And also just a figure that I can lean on and a presence that has really, for me, guided me throughout my life.

That's incredibly comforting to me.

And it also, while I do these characters, when you have, for me, when I lean on this foundation and I lean on the truth that I believe is truth, it gives more freedom to do all that.

You know, you're kind of...

It's a safe place to do it.

- Yeah.

(bright music) Tony's ability to tap into his real life experiences has clearly made a big difference on screen.

And although his characters are sometimes larger than life, audiences are still able to find resonance in his performances.

All right, so we have to talk about "Veep."

- Yeah.

- I can't even say the word without hysterically laughing.

- Oh, so funny.

- I don't know how you got through any episode.

- I don't either.

- Because I can't.

And now that I watch it, you know, on Netflix or on Max on my iPad, I have to just rewind constantly because I'm laughing through the next line and I know I've missed something.

- Yeah.

- It was that.

Was it as joyful- - It was.

- As it seemed to the audience?

- It really was.

And unlike you, I actually don't watch the episodes, but I'll tell you what I do watch and I have on my Dropbox, on my iPad is the gag reels.

- Oh, that's gotta be the best.

- Because I think that's what I remember.

And I just remember losing my mind.

And there's one scene where she's asking me to break up with her boyfriend for her and we're so close and the shot of us, and I remember that my body was just trembling 'cause I was about to break and we couldn't break.

And she says she's digging her nails into her hands and then they say, "Cut" and we just lose it.

And it's like, that's the joy that I just remember.

Not only being around friends, and I'm so grateful to that.

A lot of them are actually coming to the premier of "Sketch," this movie that's coming out in LA.

And I'm just very, very thankful for that time.

And I get very nostalgic about that.

Much like being here, it's my college.

It's like, I just so appreciate that gift of that cast.

Like, we were really, really close and we just, we just laughed.

And when we were in Baltimore, we would go out for drinks after shooting and just talk about the day.

And it was just really good times.

- There's a scene.

I don't wanna go, like, and then there's this other scene.

- No, please, I don't remember it, please.

- Oh my gosh.

When you're in the bathroom with- - Oh sure, yeah.

- Selena.

And you get.

- Yeah, and I get a nose and- - You get the bloody nose and she's going through your bag, the infamous bag, and she starts playing and she's cracking up and you're cracking up.

And all I thought is, "Like, am I watching a blueprint?"

- Yes.

- But it was really the actual scene.

- Ironically, we were both really sick that day and after we stopped laughing on like camera, they'd.

- They'd say, "Cut," and we'd be like, (imitates sighing) we were just so tired.

(interviewer chuckling) But doing it with her, that's the thing, when you're doing it with somebody that you so trust and you're such a good friend, it's like, with comedy, you just feel you throw the ball, they're gonna throw it back.

Like, her and I, there were times when she would be getting ready and my character would be giving her bag, or her jewelry, and stuff like that.

And we just talked about it like it was a dance, you know?

Like she would... And I live for that stuff.

Like, when you really get into that pocket- - Yeah.

- You feel like you're riding a comic wave together, and that's just heaven.

- So I have to talk about your voiceover work.

- Oh, sure.

- Because, first of all, Forky made me cry.

- Oh, right?

- I mean- - Isn't he sweet?

- The best character.

- Yeah.

- And you brought him to life, literally.

- Aw.

- You know?

And then Fear and all those.

What's it like just being the voice versus having to be, you know, the full character.

And not that you're not the full character- - No, yeah.

- But it must be a very different way of acting.

- It is.

And in all honesty, I had a lot of insecurity about my voice, most of my life.

I remember this, and not that it's all their fault, but you know how things stick with you.

And I already had a little bit of an insecurity, but I remember going to this voice teacher and just him saying some pretty harsh things to me, and it just stuck, and then I couldn't get out of it.

And it wasn't really until I started doing voiceovers that I started to really love my voice, you know, and started to find the range of it and the freedom in it.

And doing like, wacky characters like Forky, or "Inside Out," or any of the animation I've done, it just allowed me to kind of have that openness, which I'm really grateful for it.

But voiceover is wild because you... Like "Inside Out...." Well, I take that back.

At Pixar, you're in the same room as the director and producers, but mainly you're in a separate room with a glass partition.

For those two, you're in the same room, which was really nice, but you're never around the cast.

So I didn't meet the "Toy Story" cast, the "Inside Out" cast until the premiere.

- Wow.

- I've known Amy, and I'd known a lot of them just, you know, from other jobs, but most of 'em... (chuckles) I remember going to the "Toy Story" premiere, and it was like me, Keanu Reeves, Tom Hanks, and Tim Allen just talking about our day, and I'm like, "What am I doing?

Which one of these is not like the other?"

But I just not had met them yet.

- Do you remember that one moment where you looked at your life and thought, "How did this happen?

How did I get here?"

- Yeah, I mean, I think I still do that, you know, like, it's very weird being here at Sanford.

And at the same time, you know, I'm so grateful, but, not to get into it too much, but "Arrested Development" taught me a huge lesson of being present, 'cause I say this in a lot of interviews, but getting a sitcom was my big thing.

And when I got "Arrested Development," it didn't satisfy me the way I thought it was gonna satisfy me, and it really scared me.

And it's because I gave it so much weight, I gave it too much weight.

And it's that whole lesson I learned that if you're not practicing contentment where you are, you're not gonna be content when you get what you want.

And after "Arrested Development" got canceled, that's when I dove into therapy, and I realized that most of my life, I had not been very present.

So later in life, I'm so cautious... Not cautious, but I try really hard to stay present.

So, like, even moving here to Birmingham, just absorbing where I am, rather than kind of, I guess, what I'm saying is like, I don't step back much and kind of look at life, or not life, but, like, "Oh, look at all the things that have happened."

It's like, older I get, it gets really simple, like, "Where are we going to dinner tonight?

", or, you know, "Oh, let's do this," and "My daughter and I can do this," like, that's kind of where my mind is a little more.

Does that make sense?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- So you're working on "Sketch," it's about to come out.

- Oh.

And this is like...

This is- - It looks awesome.

- It's so awesome.

And this is a movie my buddy, Seth Worley, wrote and directed it that we had been trying to get it made for eight years.

- [Interviewer] Wow.

- And it has been through many different places, in and out of producers, kind of in and out of financing.

It used to be kind of a TV show that we were pitching, and that didn't happen, then we went back to a film.

It is such a good movie.

And it's about a little girl, who's my daughter in the movie, my wife has died, so she lost her mother, and she draws these horrific pictures.

And as her dad, I'm like, "What are these?"

So I take her to a therapist, and the therapist says, "Do you wanna do these things you draw?

", 'cause it's like stabbing people in the stomach and stuff.

And it was like a bully.

And she had a thought, like, "Yeah, I do."

And the therapist goes, "Well, then I think it's a good idea that you drew it rather than did it."

And it gave her permission to express herself in art.

And these pictures in the movie come to life.

So we describe it like "Inside Out" meets "Jurassic Park."

- [Interviewer] Yeah.

- But not only the message, it's such a fun movie, it's so adventurous, it's PG, anybody can bring their kids.

But I am so proud of this movie, so I can't wait for people to see it.

- Well, I'm excited to see it.

- Yes.

- I'm excited to see everything you do next.

- Aw.

- But I have to ask- - It comes from so much pain.

- Oh, is it?

(chuckles) (Tony chuckles) - Your pain is my joy.

- Yeah!

- Is that wrong?

- Yeah!

Meant something.

(interviewer laughing) - So if you had to go back and you had to tell younger Tony Hale, as you were embark... Well, as he was about to embark on his career.

- Yeah.

- One piece of advice moving forward, what would you say to him?

- Oh, I love that question so much.

Because I would say to him, like, if I was talking to him here at Sanford, I would say, "Tony, the value you have now is gonna be the same value you have after success."

Because we live in a world that says, "Oh, you have value when this happens, you have value if you get this award, you have value this."

It's just BS.

The value anybody has now is the exact value they're gonna have with whatever happens after they have in their life.

And I love to tell not just young actors, but, you know, young people that.

- Yeah.

Well, thanks for not only bringing us fear and anxiety and codependence.

- Yeah!

- But at the end of the day, more laughter than we could ever imagine.

- Aw, that's so nice.

That's nice to hear, that's nice to hear.

Thanks for saying that.

- [Interviewer] Thanks, Tony.

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