"I took for granted just giving someone a hug " - Dan Levy

dan levy joins us now from Los Angeles dan how are you holding up you know I feel like I have a roof over my head and I have groceries in my fridge so I am I cannot complain through this whole process it's it's really sobering to think about and really scary and disorienting and it's hard I feel like this is the first time that any of us have dealt with anything of this magnitude so I almost feel like our human brains are having this like short circuit where we can't possibly fathom the the magnitude of it and the breadth of kind of sadness and tragedy and I think that's why it comes in waves I read this really interesting article about how this feeling that we all seem to share which is this sort of nonsense of dread is actually grief and that what we're feeling is a kind of grief for others grief for the planet grief for ourselves grief for the fear that we might not be able to have the kind of freedoms that we've had before and it was really kind of an enlightening read I've been reading so much I try to read as many sort of constructive articles and essays as I possibly can instead of spending all my time on the news because I feel like that's kind of a downward spiral that will just leave you shaken and alone I think one thing that seems to be coming out of this at least from what I can see is you know I've never seen so many people try to help in my entire life now maybe if you were in a maybe if you were in a place where a disaster happened there's people that's trying to help here but like a global initiative of just everybody but you be like my neighbors everyone's just trying to help staying inside is helping yeah I know you've been doing stuff for the food bank right yeah food banks Canada and feeding America we've done sort of a joint fundraising initiative to raise money for them that started yesterday our goal was $100,000 and we're already at 56,000 like less than 24 hours so I was stunned by just the excitement and people's ability to to give and and it's always quite moving to be in such strange and precarious times and be reassured that you know there's there's a lot of goodness out there you know as shits Creek is coming to an end what's what's the hardest part personally about saying goodbye to this thing I don't like change you know if I had a warehouse to just keep everything I've ever been given I would just put it all away I don't like to let go of things so this has really been a lesson in letting go and deciding to end the show when we did when we didn't have to was a really difficult decision to make too because you know we could have kept going for four years our networks wanted us to keep going but it really came down to a respect for the storytelling and our characters and our audience because I don't love when a show that I watch week after week sort of over extends its welcome it's such a nuanced program you know what do you hope people remember from shits Creek um I hope people remember the way that it made them feel I think part of the success of the show has been that we came out just as politics shifted in a really major way in America and I think that reverberated into Canada as well I think since he has been elected there's there's been a dark cloud over a lot of people and to put a show out there about a town where people feel safe to be who they are where acceptance is key where bigotry is not part of the equation where ultimately any conflict is resolved in a thoughtful and meaningful and respectful way it was hard to write that because that can really lend itself to a bit of like saccharine storytelling so the challenge was always is how do we tell kind-hearted well-intentioned stories in a comedy and still keep the edge and a lot of that is the you know a credit to the casts and just how beautifully they've managed to balance the humor being really skilled at the comedy while at the same time being very delicate and and cautious and thoughtful about their choices when it came to the more sentimental moments as well and I think people have really been tuning into the show as an escape from their reality and it's it's interesting that our last episode is airing in the height of a global pandemic where people are at home and scared because I do feel like this last episode is is just a it's just a warm hug so you know it's it's a wonderful thing so your your hearts okay though right your hearts feeling good about putting your baby to bed my heart is full and I think that's okay I think it's it's nice to have an emotional kind of response to things I think that's healthy I think tears are a wonderful thing it's a nice form of release and you know I to be overwhelmed with pride and joy is is a luxury in this time so I feel very grateful for everything and I hope people enjoy it and and and take away as much from it as we sort of put into it so what are you looking forward to doing when we're able to get at again seeing people and I think there's you know I think in a way it's really given me such an mean such a rich or appreciation for my friends and my family and the time that we spend together you know you think about even a like three weeks ago and how you know now I took for granted just giving someone a hug it's bizarre so I look forward to hugging my friends and my family hopefully at some point soon a simple pleasure I know I saw a tweet that said had I known it was gonna be light like this I would have hugged him extra tight last time I saw right let that be a lesson to all of us Dan congratulations on your show it's it's it's I can't think of anything like it in Canada ever so I hope you're very proud I know you are and congratulations on it thank you very much

Channel: Q with Tom Power

Views: 21,500

Keywords: dan levy, schitts creek, eugene levy, dan levy sister, dan levy indebted, dan levy comedian, dan levy degrassi, dan levy instagram, Catherine O'Hara, Annie Murphy, David, CBC, daniel levy, daniel levy schitt's creek, COVID-19, corona virus

Id: xQWArLEGBxs

Length: 7min 10sec (430 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 07 2020