NYFA Guest Speaker Series: Bill Hader

[Music] he assaulted the customer grabbed the cash and ran out so how say whatever 510 is he was 510 the amazing thing about Bill hader's even before Barry came along his career was remarkable and if you doubt me look at his hundred plus credits look at the time he spent on Saturday Night Live and literally there's like 600 sketches featuring Bill Hader on the NBC website if you're looking for an experience I've got the place for you New York's hottest club is but his performance goes so far beyond sign a lot he has appeared in knocked up he was in Superbad he also was in trainwreck and if you guys haven't seen trainwreck I'm ready to pitch a movie starring him and LeBron James as the new Abbott and Costello yeah two cokes you trying to split the bill look look look I told you those refills weren't free no no no we're not splitting the bill to pick up the check why don't I have to figure this cheering LeBron James but he's also a performer who could do drama the skeleton twins fabulous film terrific independent film one of the Sundance darlings I really showed just what he was capable of but then along comes Barry here's my advice to you go back to whatever look of the world you call home and you do whatever it is you're good at because this is not it you want to know what I'm gonna have I'm good at killing people he won his Best Actor at the Emmys he won a Directors Guild Award he won a Writers Guild Award I mean it is remarkable what he did and guys I can't believe we get to have Barry himself mr. Bill Hader [Applause] hi Wow look at everybody Wow hi gang guys he did press the whole day I understand he went to Kannan he went to all kind of stuff you didn't they get this kind of reaction [Music] very sweet it's very thank you thank you so we'll talk they'll ask you a question more specific about the show but I wanted to ask you how did you in alikom with this sick but hilarious show I cook gravy with this guy Alec Berg Malick started as a Seinfeld writer and now then he did Curb Your Enthusiasm and then he does Silicon Valley and so he and I are agent put us together and we sat and we talked about one idea that wasn't very good for about and that happens you talk about it's never easy right so we sat and we talked about this one idea for about a month and a half and we wrote out tons of notes and worked really hard on it and then one day I came in and just went how is this working and he went no no I'm glad no it's not working and I said what is not working about this idea you know and you sit and you kind of talk about it and go it's kind of slight slice of life type of thing you know and those are great but I was seeing a lot of those on television I was like I'd love to do something has like steaks you know something like that you know it's real what are the most steaks is like life and death and I was like yeah yeah I was like what's a life and death type story and then I said what if I was a hit man and she said he goes I don't like hit man I don't he goes he said there's more hitmen and movies and television there are in real life you know it's like the dog catcher you know it's like that doesn't it's not a thing and and because I hate hitman you know the skinny ties the two guns yeah no no it'd be me no I go me be me like me not doing a character like just but it's me it's like very non-threatening you know and so we went oh that could be interesting and then very quickly we thought he should be taking an acting class I don't know why I don't know we still have no idea how that came up how it we you know though the idea is sometimes they happen like that you know so we said always take an acting class and then we started seeing interesting parallels okay so this is a great interesting conflict for this guy he's trying to be a hitman his life is in the shadows but on you know to be an actor you have to be in the spotlight right and then to be a hit man you got to be anonymous and unknown but as an actor you want to be known you know as a hit man you have to repress your emotions to murder people and acting you have to you know constantly you know but you're gonna do commercials buddy yeah yeah so I don't know yeah so that's we go oh that people about it and this is a good lesson you tell everyone we told about it they went yeah yeah okay I know you you as a hitman who wants to be an actor okay I know what that is and they everyone has a picture and they're mine what your idea is but it's your idea and it's and it's I yeah it's gonna I but I might do it differently and it was very satisfying when people would watch the pilot do that you guys watched and go oh this is not at all what I was expecting I thought it was gonna be real goofy and and kind of glib and I was like no no I we can't be glib about the violence we can't it's it's an emotional story about this this guy dealing with guilt and hoping for redemption and all this stuff you know and and so that was a good lesson for for me too just going like no no I I know I know what this is just trust me it's gonna be good because people will constantly tell you that it you're doing it wrong right how was it doesn't exec if I did the same thing yeah but why are so many comedians attracted to darkness [Laughter] I'm not all comedians are attracted to darkness I mean I don't know I don't know you just kind of attracted to what you're attracted to I can't describe it I don't think this shows necessarily that dark until people told me you know and they're like that's dark and I'm like very so how did you start in the business uh and then what point did knife enter into it that was it the New York what do you guys call it nice they did not call it that in 1996 when I went here I was a NYFA I in Tulsa Oklahoma and I loved movies and when I was growing up um gonna sound like an old guy but I did you know he didn't have the internet and none of these you know to watch a movie I was a movie fanatic and to watch them he had to really hunt it down you had to like it was awful and and you know I you know it was terrible but I in the back of premiere magazine there was a thing for anyone if a New York Film Academy mellow and I had terrible grades and I couldn't get in New York NYU there was no way but it was my junior of high school and I was like I went to my parents and said I'd like to go to this and and they said okay sure you know if that's what you want to do this summer I mean they saw that was making short films and stuff on my own and I was writing scripts they saw that I wasn't like just doing drugs they were like okay he's applying himself to things that he cares about if he cares about it he'll apply himself but if you know so I went and I couldn't get into the one in New York and they didn't have one in Los Angeles at the time so I end up going to Princeton New Jersey at the put on the one on the Princeton campus and we made we made four short films on arias and on a arias and we caught on flatbed know you guys do video right you've done arias you guys in 60 millimeters that's rad see that is rad that's awesome to hear that makes me really happy because I mean Barry's shot him I mean video I mean that's basically that's not film but I loved shooting on film that was so much fun and and so yeah we made like these films and then it was the first time I made this thing and then I remember make him one of those shorts and then the teacher it's like this is really good and everyone laughed during it they thought it was good and someone's like how'd you shoot that and Baba and all this and I was like you know it gave me a lot of confidence and so I came back with these shorter these four short films you know and I was gonna go my senior year of high school and I thought I'm gonna get into a good film school and it turns out you have to have a really good SAT score and you have to have really good grades and I had neither of those things by these short films and for some reason I ended up moving to Scottsdale Arizona I can't explain you I literally just like a little lost and then I went to a school there for a little bit and then I just moved here I was a PA on this lot back in 2000 in the year 2000 I was a movie called collateral damage we shot so I was a PA on that and this was a BF PA for a long time I was a post production PA worked imposed photo cam I think I'm still there yeah so yeah I would like delivery stuff too photo cam all the time and I remember falling asleep in my car in front of photo cam here's a crazy story fell asleep in my car in front of photo camera and because I was waiting for the stuff to come out and I just and I was with my friend and it was a film that we had made and so we're sitting there in the worst sleep and we get up and my friends like to get up I go what he's like David lunch is outside and I like look up and there's David Lynch smoked his cigarette I was like and then he goes I have a twin peaks' t-shirt on and I was like turn this inside a house dude that's so embarrassing and then we were like we just stared at him we got a car and just stared at him and he was like hey and then we were like right cool right on and then my friend was way more savvy than I I just like stared at him and he was like what are you doing he goes I'm working on this movie about a guy who drives a tractor across country and a straight story which is a beautiful movie and so that was like my first celebrity sighting and when I was like oh my god she's everywhere you go there's just like amazing directors hanging out yeah so let me ask you something I watched your impression of Keith Harrington Keith Morris MRSA Oh Dateline everybody's watching it yeah and have you so it if Keith Morrison was in Game of Thrones he was Jon Snow we're gonna defeat the dragon Battle of Winterfell are you great so won't you do that in a room where all kind of people were trying to do it and you were so yours was so superior to everybody's impression mm-hmm and really a cut above and my question is how come that you have this kind of gift and it didn't really direct you immediately to you know the track of acting and and comedian and instead you went filmmaking I just was in the film I mean it was just I was into movies like when I watched a movie I got really drawn in by this story this intimate ography the look of it the feel of it you know the score the production design that was saying acted that and and the actors I loved the actors but I was like the whole package I was into that it wasn't and I didn't I was very uncomfortable being in front of people I did and I didn't being in front of a camera made me a bit I wasn't into that so it was more writing and directing and then um but I had this thing of doing impressions and you know trying to you know I would do impressions like friends and stuff and and then I was taking so I moved to LA and I was doing all those jobs but I wasn't doing anything creative which can happen very easily here where you're just trying to make a living you're just trying to make money and you're not doing anything creative and you're like why did I move here I'm not making stuff so I started taking improv classes just because a friend of mine not a Groundlings Grammys no I'm joking this girl out front went growling it's not Groundlings do the growlings are rad I couldn't get into Groundlings you did I couldn't get into gremlins yeah bye good class at Second City LA now anywhere is good at The Groundlings and I am and I did a show my final show there and I was in the with Megan Mullally zan fu or ya know Megan Mullally is brother-in-law and he she went to see him and she saw me in the show and said you're really funny and then I was I was working as an assistant editor on Iron Chef America I was digitizing footage and she called me and said his Megan and I was like oh hi and she said I just had dinner with Lauren Michaels and I told him about you and they'd love to meet you and I had no manager no agent no anything and I just was like okay so I met Lauren Michaels and I auditioned like for a year I dish in like four or five times here we go yeah they would come see me in LA it was yeah and then I got to go yeah when you look back why do you think it took like four times he they just wanted to keep seeing if because I was I was green like super green as far as performing on my appellative performing on stage but I think they liked the they liked that because then they can kind of mold it instead of someone coming in with a lot of preconceived things I think maybe but they also just it was during the season and they weren't gonna bring me in midseason I think and and jason sudeikis already been hired and so they were like well do I want both these guys they are they kind of the same type or whatever and and and so I end up I got really lucky I came in with Jason Andy and Andy Samberg and Kristen Wiig and I was really lucky amazing yeah so one last question and then I'm gonna open it to the audience I know that you I read at least about a lot of anxiety about doing live shows and whatnot do you how do you handle anxiety now imagine everybody naked no no I can't do that anymore [Laughter] not in this current environment I'm not allowed to do back no no III do TMI Tate and just I you'll see you guys are all young you know your body will start to give that at some point and you start you start exercising not for like a vain reason but it's just to like live longer I guess just like if I don't exercise my back and my legs will stop working is to enjoy your youth right now I mean I just I have an assistant who's 25 and I just water I watched her eat french fries all day so petite she's little and I was like how are you but I I would get very anxious and then I I still deal with anxiety and it's just it's not a thing that you that ever goes away it's a thing you just kind of manage you know but I would have it on SNL pretty much every time I was on that show I was having I'm crying before I mean I would just have like a full panic attack I had a panic attack on air once and I was playing Julian Assange I just started like I'm having a heart attack this is bad you know abort yeah as is it was awful you know Jay Roach was here and he was saying the earth that the first day or meet the parents we eat when he had both Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman there he got such a panic attack that he pretended that he had a heart attack came in to see to sign that that's a great move I wish I could have done that on though it's the middle of us an SNL sketch go I'm having a heart attack I gotta get out of here anyway let's open up to the students hi hi how are you good how are you I'm pretty damn alright look at me I'm Coco I'm in the acting program and I have a question because how do you balance this imbalanced lifestyle of an actor without burning yourself out oh it's hard and and and a lot of it when you're acting in my experience you know auditioning and stuff like that you're dealing with a lot of failure and here's the thing it never goes away people go oh hey you got your things are working for you everything's great you're constantly dealing with failure you're constantly dealing with people going no man I'm sorry we're not we're not going with you we're not you know whatever and so that can be an energy suck you know and then the the exhaustion of trying to make it work and the exhaust you like there's it could be really hard and so the thing that is helpful for me is and this does address your question I know if it was just like you know basically I take naps you know are but it is that is the only thing you can really control can control is the work like what you put into a thing that's like the only and and and what you intake like what are you reading watching it's listening to the life that you're living like the things that that can influence the work like those are the only things you can really control you know so like the more you just put all your energy into those things and not think about these other things that can like you know knock you down and become burn you out you know in a weird way and some of that is like you know doing a scene too hard or what yeah I don't know you know what I mean it's just like just just make your focus about the work if that makes sense does that answer your question I know I don't know if that is like I just want to know do you taking the hips but sometimes it's just so overwhelming because do you know that feeling when you have like so many ideas and you want to act you want to direct you oh yeah like this huge like it's like a bomb sometimes this creative bomb that you feel like I don't know where to start you just just make it about the story just make it about the one thing you know and everything else kind of will like if you're wanting to you know like bury everyone goes out you have to wear so many hats you have so many jobs to me I just feel like it's one job it's like I'm just telling the story and he'll go oh but you're writing directing and acting immediately yeah but it's all part and service of a story and and don't make it about you and your vanity or nothing you are I don't know you maybe you are know but you don't want to make it about that just make it about the story you're making and and just be instinctual use your instincts you know thank you [Applause] hey big fan of the show I mean I just wanted to ask for Barry um you had like such an incredible like authentic performance and I was wondering what your preparation was for getting ready for that I really think of anything I mean that the best thing I mean honestly I know it's not sound of thing but because you're doing your you know writing and directing and doing all these other things in my head was someplace else and then you can forget almost that I'm in wardrobe and iMac you know what they're like right bill you gotta go like wait what but I think the best stuff kind of comes from just using your instincts you know and like you think about it like you know your lines the best you can I sometimes don't know my lines and I'm always like I'm so sorry guys I mean but uh but like you know the scene in the parking lot when I talked to him in the episode you know when I got back from Afghanistan I was really depressed you know I couldn't leave my house for months and this friend of my dad's he's it's like uncle to me he he helped me out and he gave me a purpose that's a thing where you just try a couple of times and you do it and the first time is kind of flat and the second time it gets a little bit better or third time gets the and by the way Henry Winkler had to leave I'm doing that whole thing to a c-stand it's Henry gotta go so I'm doing the whole thing to a c-stand with a little mark on or the X on it and and and you're just trying to think of you know people oh you're thinking about this or that or whatever and you go you care about it it's not like you I'm having a coffee and bullshitting with someone's I gotta go do the scene you you're there's concentration but it's not like Oh on this line I'm gonna do this and on this line I'm gonna do that it's it's more of a feeling you know you like I have a well my best friends this guy named Duffy Boudreaux and he wrote he writes on Barry you wrote on documentary now with me and stuff and he's a guy that when he gets nervous he kind of does that he kind of hold his breath and so in a weird way I'm like take four I started just doing that like now if he does this thing right and then when I'm in that at bay we're watching I go oh I like that you know it's like oh this is good this is now it's this somes happening you know what I mean and and so you know you you just you just it's like work you're just like fine-tune it and and and but it it's like but you have to be instinctual if that makes sense perfect thank you I'm gonna say that to everybody I feel like I'm giving like I ramble on them yeah thanks man you guys have an active program they didn't have that when I was every 96 is all about film no acting program Thanks hey Bill what's going on lorenzo here all around oh lord the evil or rent Lorenzo Hudson hey how's it going man how's it going though I'm a huge fan of your show oh thank you um the reason I actually became a fan of it was because um I began watching it for class but my question about the show is what inspired the show that the the the series Barry and what inspired the character Barry well the character Barry I think it was interesting because initially we were talking about earlier where we came up with the the the the character initially all the characters were a bit arch it was a bit over the top and HBO actually was great and they said yeah this the Hitman guy the way you're writing him like is that how what they do like what wait like how do you what recent like the acting world feels very well-researched but the hit man world feels like it's more about movies and about things that you've seen it's not rooted in anything real and that was a really good note because it's true you a lot of movies you stuff you watch now are just about movies essentially you know and the real stuff is it comes from your life and basically they're saying was like make it more personal and so we saw what a few is a marine and suddenly the whole show just got grounded into something a much more interesting one we decided that he wasn't John wick okay that he was a marine and it was like a guy kind of hating himself you know for you know doing something for the service's country and now he's taking it and he's doing something wrong and so for the character that's what helped it but so much stuff you know you talk about them other movies and I remember coming up and just being super inspired by movies and I still am I'm a I'll watch something and get so jazzed by it and go get inspired to make stuff but it's important as I'm getting older to learned that the real stuff is from your life and stuff that you felt now it doesn't have to mean that like I've never killed anybody as far as you guys know but it's like but it is like those emotions of feeling like lonely or misunderstood or out of place or wanting to belong or these things I have felt that and then you go okay let's put it in this guy right could I just mention one thing so like the scene between you and Sally when you gave her the laptop that was actually based off of something I like in junior high with you that actually was someone I was with yeah I gave her an iPod and she was like what the is this it was something I was dating and I gave her an iPod after dating for like a week and she was like no and then we wrote that scene actually where Alec Berg and I were like oh well we're gonna write this scene where he has like a laptop right and he gives her a laptop and she'll love it and all the women and the writers room were like no that's crazy I remember when I write is like how many once no that was like and then I was remembering I was like I gave someone an iPod and they are like super creeped out hello mr. hater hey my name is Timothy and I'm an actor and I just want to know from one actor to another do you believe that we should evolve and improve ourselves which each performance we are given yeah if you can yeah you should always be trying to evolve in everything you should never be like satisfied every time I do any of these things I'll watch it and you just kind of go oh man why didn't I do that you know an SNL it was always like each season I was like I would kind of do a little inventory of late okay I did this I did this I need to work on this I need to work on that but four years I can never get an original character on the show and I was like I need to get an original character on the show I need to be more confident I need to relax I need to you know all these things that you want to work on and in each performance you'll it's it's good to be proud of your work but I can't for me personally I never want to feel totally satisfied I want to constantly be trying to like make it better you know hey there I want to ask when the initial creation of Barry what was it like planning for the storyline to continue with something so long form such as a TV show and how much do you plan ahead was it only season by season or do you have a plan for multiple seasons well when we were writing it I had never done anything real long-form but I worked on the writers room a bit on South Park I worked on South Park for like ten years off and on and I watched how those guys would put episodes together and it was really helpful for me to understand how to how to do that but I I think a thing that that's is that we never we kind of have like little tentpole seems like season one we knew there was a part in Episode seven I don't want to ruin it for anybody hasn't seen it but there's a scene in Episode seven we knew okay we're headed there right so I don't know what we do we got a right to get to this you know and then this new season there was a like one of those that happens again in Episode seven and another one Episode eight where you're kind of like in one Episode four actually - where I start with a big whiteboard and I have we have eight episodes and I put one through eight and then you just kind of I have a bunch of notes that I've taken and I kind of just start dropping things places and something that happened at the end of episode one in the news season I initially had an episode four and I remember Alec going should that happen and at the end of it was home like oh my god yeah you're right well once we put that there now this goes deihi Oh rad okay yeah yeah this is working but it takes forever and then once you even have it and you I go home and I'm like high-fiving myself like we got it the next day or a week later you're like no okay this doesn't work you know and you're constantly constantly working on it but we never fully planned we have like kind of vague ideas but the fun of it is kind of seeing where the the I mean where the characters kind of take it I mean that's that's really what you want to do is you want to just be listen to the characters and getting out of the way and and and the big thing I'm sure you guys been taught this but it was beating into me at South Park which is you guys heard the and and and that thing that was it's there for therefore that is everything with berries that where we're constantly I mean Alec Burgos say it's all and and and right now mana Mele I know I'm gonna go AHA oh wait what if he does this and therefore this happens and then that OC it's more causal if we do this you know and then how cool and then another act you know you just have to be real malleable and and know that the process is messy and that you're gonna fail a lot and writing I always come in kind of with a whole thing I kind of I kind of sit down with the writers and I'll go here's where I think this the season is and they go okay and it's kind of like saying like I want a house here's the house I wanna build and the writers are like cool but wouldn't like a swingset be in the backyard and not the front yard and you're like oh yeah that's a good idea okay you know and it's like wouldn't that that should be a door right and not a window right you're like oh yeah yeah you know and you're you kind of piecing it together that way you know and but it should feel organic it shouldn't be by the numbers it can't be plot like it should be character driven that was what I learned at South Park and it was really crazy was everything was driven by emotion really everything was all forest driven by emotion everything's like Cartman is feeling blank so he he wants this and and his emotion is something that can be relatable right or something or I'm serious I mean I worked on one episode did you guys see fish sticks with Kanye West yeah we're use the fish sticks and he gets but that's about a guy not getting a joke you know and so you know or or whatever it is and and so you know you're constantly it's it's so much with emotion it's so much if you could go you know every time we're in the right we always were always going like you know I've had a feeling we're like the thing with the laptop like he was talking about where it's like oh I had that happen where I got really embarrassed by this thing where I was trying to make a big overture to someone or like in Episode six and season one there's a scene where I'm trying not to hang out with Taylor anymore and I call him and I'm like hey man I don't think we should like that was I've had to fire a trainer and I fully ended up like hiring them for another like month because I just was food and I went into the writers room I was like and I go do fire do you fire that guy and I was like no I was like I told him like hey man you're great you're this and low and then it was like okay what are we working on a day okay Baria Taylor I'm like oh I should just do that right you know because that's a thing idea you know and so I don't know it kind of works so I'm in the screenwriting program oh cool it is pretty cool he says it like it isn't he's like it is pretty cool I was wondering and this is a question you kind of answered earlier I was wondering what your process is with writing Barry's a new hat we're seeing you under and yeah we just go through like all these different phases were like this instructor has this way and just yeah everyone has their own ways of doing and you just you have to kind of do it what feels right for you you know but you have to kind of try all those things with the year that's like I've written so many bad screenplays you guys I've written so many screenplays that will never see the light of day cuz they're terrible and they just make zero sense but I learned a little something and the thing that helped help me over the years was just being able to say is you have to just kind of evaluate it was like we were saying earlier about acting where you kind of go okay what did I do wrong on this you know there's a great book that Steve Martin wrote called born standing up and he talks about that where he would just do you know a stand-up set and then kind of try to evaluate like why go wrong or why did this work and that didn't work and it's a lot of math writing in a weird way Alec Berg and I will say that a lot the math of the scene isn't right you know where it's like these people are kind of agreeing you kind of look at a scene and you go well the scene starts with a bunch of people green and it ends with a lot of people agreeing like something needs to happen you know and and if not then let's lose it and the other the easiest thing I've learned in writing is we'll come in the writers room and I'll say alright you just walked you just watch the new episode of Barry what happened well Barry did this but all of the vine you walk through the whole episode you go aha cool but we never mentioned the acting class when you just said that so clearly we're not servicing them right like it's not inherent to the story do you know what I'm saying like you got it you know like so you're always just it's like telling us it's like for me it it's sometimes as simple as just telling a story like something just happened to you do you know what I mean like you read a grocery store and a guy acted crazy and they threw him out of the grocery store and you run home and you tell your friend like do you will not believe what happened I was just in rouse and this guy went totally insane about and you don't think about the structure that you say that you just tell it right yeah and that's kind of what writing is you're just you're just explaining you're just telling that story and that inherently kind of has you you might find that you inherently kind of just give it some emotion like we were hearing we heard a sound and we didn't know what that sound was and I turn around the aisle and there was this guy and he was screaming at this other person and people wait what you know and I was leaning in right and that's that's all screenwriting is and so I read Robert McKee I read all that stuff and I it made me so confused and I did and I read Syd field and that like some nice stuff in there but I was still a little confused and then when I just kind of was like all right this guy he okay so he's despond yes go to LA and then this and then he so he goes LA and then he meets a guy and a guy so he he'll kill you and then do you know and then you start telling it to people before I even wrote it I was like I'm working on this thing we're a guy you know and you kind of just figured out as you tell it to people were they kind of oh yeah okay okay so maybe you know cuz initially in the pilot we spent a lot more time in Cleveland at the top you saw his life more and I would like you see that he's this you feel like you have this need of like I need to show that he has no girlfriend and I'm gonna show that he's totally sad and he show all his stuff like right at the beginning and you don't because people are smart you know what I mean like you do not need to do that yeah I got watch stripes the other day and the whole opener stripes is like extra you know it's all expose the whole scene you know and you just go like you don't need any of this weight just like you all you need is like Bill Murray sitting with like a can of beer and be like oh hey man you're like that guy doesn't work he's a slob and then that guy has to go to the army that's hilarious I don't need to see his girlfriend breaking up with him and I don't need to see all this you know thanks a lot how you doing bill my name is James Khaleesi how's it going now when I'm playing comedy when you're playing a scene skit or a sketch how do you find the truth in it when and trying not to be funny trying to find the truth of it and not trying to be funny I don't know this answer you quit but are you talking about like put like like trying to like push it too much is that it or trying to be too funny is that kind of what you're saying yeah like just trying to just find the truth of it without like a rule right yeah go for the comedy that's really good and you should never go for comedy in a scene you shouldn't I did it I do it a lot on SNL because and if I'm doing it it's because I am insecure I really am I'm it just you just get insecure so you go alright you know like it's a laughing like but the better thing is to do it straight you know you're right and don't and find the truth of it a good example that I will say is actually a scene in trainwreck when I play basketball LeBron James because when we did that scene I think initially conceived it was like a funny scene of like you know your air balling right yeah air ball yes he's doing you know and music underneath it and I don't know whatever and then I we were talking about it it was like wouldn't be funny if it's just like you never mention it and it's just two guys talking a scene you've seen and it's really about him wanting to talk about Amy and what you know confiding in a friend what should I do about this girl I like and he's just shooting hoops with his friend and then just make it that it's LeBron James and he's not holding back but don't call it out don't draw any attention to it and it was I thought a thousand times funnier because it's just like it's never abroad I know I'm never like hey man come on then it's like all the air just goes out of it but if I'm just trying like the insinuation you just want to make the make it simple and trust that people are smart enough to understand what you're going for you know and simplicity is key to this stay with this story stay with the story and stay with what's happening the emotions of the story and not like hey Bill how you doing hey how's it going Congrats on the show by the way oh thank you um I thought a question so I in your amazing career how have you done maybe in the early stages when you were discouraged maybe doubting if you're gonna make it like what did you like tell yourself to keep going oh man it was hard it happens all the time and it and it and the to be honest is still can happen I mean I was you know like I was saying earlier you could still get really discouraged the thing you have to try to do is again that thing I was saying earlier just like oh I can control the work I can control this I can control making this thing and everyone might hate it and always but I can't really worry about that you know what I mean like we make Barry and like I still have friends like oh man AV Club hated the episode last night in LA I can what am I gonna do about that you know or SNL Jesus you'd have people come up to you on the street and just be like you and your show suck New York cab driver fully did that to me like you and your show sock thing what am I supposed to do about that and but you know there's a thing I read once that helped me is that persistence plus talent equals luck and that's a good thing of like if I'm persistent and you're talented you'll get lucky I have a friend she was my nanny forever and she was a hard-working actress and she was her nanny and just could not catch a break and she was doing all this work and I thought she was really funny and but it just wasn't happening for and now she's is Darcy Cardin she's on the good place and she's Janet on the good place and she's on Barry and that was my nanny so in darkness he was sitting here like you guys going I can't you know I remember going to a show with my a manager back in 2000 and like 2005 I got a manager because I got a meeting with Lorne Michaels I got a manager off that so it was like I came back to LA and people were like wait who are you how did you get a meeting with Lorne Michaels so I went to my managers house to meet her and she was super nice and she's like oh we're waiting on the again the nanny the nanny shows up I meet the nanny hi nice to meet you banana watching the kids nannies why and she's like oh she's you know this actress we're trying to figure it out it was Kristen Wiig oh my gosh she was my managers knee anyone that's how I met her I was like hey how are you she was the hi ru you know she was waitressing earlier and she was do you know what I mean do you just have to keep everyone has that like people who don't have that I'm like off you don't have you haven't lived life do you know what I mean like you need to get to give your heart something you know what I mean it's like it has to have something you know so I just keep at it as much as you can and that persistence let's tell people look I would say that to myself I'm like I just have to be really persistent and something happened you know and it takes a long time that all happened hello bill hey amazing show brilliantly written just incredible um so my question to you is what advice would you give to younger self I would say two things one I would say you don't need to figure it all out this millisecond you know it's gonna it takes time I remember being like young and reading about like Steven Spielberg made his first movie when he was 25 or why didn't you you put this weird pressure on yourself that means nothing if you don't have any experience you know and and just relax and just do it just do it fail that's the big thing I was terrified of failing I didn't want to fail you fail you if you know you screen a thing for people and they're only yeah man there was a thing now and you go what didn't work you know ask that should be the question what would you guys think then work about it and take it and puff you know and and that I would just I would watch one cut of something I did and be like why I'm not showing this to anybody because I don't I'm embarrassed and and you have to fail you have to learn from that and keep doing it and keep doing it and just keep doing it and then suddenly it's like that thing that was hard becomes a little easier and then this new thing will become hard and then I'll become a little easier and so I think that that is like don't be afraid of failing and just I wish I would have stuck with certain things like writing certain things or kept making things it buries the first thing I ever like actually directed I directed all these short films but that pilot you saw that was like the the shot of Hank coming out going hey you must be buried that was the first thing like I'm a director on set like accident and I was terrified you know and I'm like you know but you just have to do it you have to just be late I'm gonna try this and it's all process and it's all just a conversation it's all a process hi good evening I'm an SEO have a short question you are with a lot of directors who's the one that you have the most fun and you think that was the best to work with yeah oh my gosh too many people well doing skeleton twins with Kristen was a blast she was really really fun to work with on that the cast of Barrie everybody on that is just I can't watching Tom Cruise work on traffic Thunder was pretty crazy yeah Hannah's Les Grossman I was like holy that guy's going for it and just like four people forget I'm in that movie because I'm in scenes with Tom Cruise no one's watching no one's watching me I'll be like I was in Tropic Thunder like we're and I'm like I'm like Tom Cruise is like right-hand man they're like he had a right hand man there I'm like I know I know you're not watching me I was on that movie for like five months and no one knows I'm in it cuz they're late who were you in it I'm like I was always in scenes with time all right forget it and on SNL I think Martin Short was pretty amazing to work with he's one of the funniest most brilliant guys on earth yeah but you know get all these people though that you kind of like and you watch they all have that kind of same hang-ups that you do that's the thing I learned is like you would go oh my gosh you're like this person that's just amazing you know how do you attain that and they're going okay you know what I mean everybody does you know so thank you and those that microphone just reminds people how short yeah yeah yeah it's like oh I have to lower it hold on the guy the microphone guys like hold on let me lower it for this one my class demeaning congratulations for season three oh thanks oh my gosh made my life oh the question is I want to know as an actor how is it different from working on something like Barry to SNL to sausage party I fully forgot I was in sausage party until you guys I know I did two characters and I only remember doing one I was not stoned or anything it was just like it was like one day and Seth and Evan were like oh yeah you're playing this guy wait the difference between players it's all it's all kind of the same thing you know you just you know it's like when you watch something on TV and you just get the tone of it or watch a movie and just go oh this is the tone of this thing all right I get that I've seen this thing let me try this let me try that you know what I mean it's all kind of trial and error you know you just have to try to maintain your confidence while you're doing it you know but it's all similar you know muscles that you're using you know hi hi uh I'm Linea hi and I was wondering how would you describe your experience like producing writing and in acting and directing like how the balance was and what advice would you give to someone who wants to create their own content and act in it well are you I was saying you you just you try to just treat it like it's one job and you just go all this I'm doing all these things but if you if you think of it as all those things together you could get really discouraged you know so to me it's and there's what worked for me it was just thinking like oh this is the idea this is ok bury this story this thing I'm gonna try you that you know but it can be very very overwhelming you know my I saw Henry Winkler today Expedia to do a press thing and he said you know you you mouth you are like when I'm doing scenes with him I'm mouthing his dialogue as I wrote it and and Stephen root said the same thing that I'm always like [Laughter] that's annoying but it's because in my head I'm we're doing a scene but in my head I'm going okay no this works yeah you know this this works because then later we're doing this thing and then oh no this is good this is good you know so yeah you gotta lay back off of it and try to be in the moment and honestly I couldn't do any of this if it wasn't for Alec Berg having a good partner I couldn't do any of it I couldn't do it all by myself I would I have to be able to go that that makes sense right and he goes yeah but he's a great you know sounding board and and all of this so yeah that's that's if you can have so on whether it's a good you know a teacher or a friend doesn't mean you have to be fully in business with them but again it's like I was saying earlier that thing if we could show it to people and you know they'll be real with you you're gonna be good good luck my name is safe and I'd like to know what is your take on theatre versus film and do you think you need experience in a little bit of both to progress in this career that's a good question I have never really done theatre I did theater like in high school but I mean I did SNL but that's not real fear I think what they did like real theater actors like circle where go plays Sally is a big Broadway actress like I don't know how you do that I just don't I don't know I do it I've gone to friends have been in plays and I'm just like yeah I don't know you do them and I think it's because I tend to gravitate towards things that are more behavior you know like acting that's a little bit more like you're watching behavior and the at Racal stuff is just a different thing that I don't have the you're having to project and play it a certain way that I just I don't have that I don't know how you do that so I guess the answer's no cuz I'm doing pretty well so I don't know that I think it's good to have feeder trainer I wish honestly I wish I did have that training because when I'm around them I feel like there's so much better I'm honestly like well-rounded actors you know Henry has deer training Anthony Kerrigan oh please know Hank is deer training you know and Steven route has theater training so any time I'm in scenes with them you can feel it you know when you just go I I you know I say it all the time I'm only as you're only as good as your the company that you're in you're only as good with you as your fellow actors like if they're good and that brings you up and if you're good then that means I'm oh you know so hi my name is curry Barker um and I'm a I'm an actor so I study acting when I watch TV and movies and stuff like that and there's a specific scene in kind of like farther in season one of Barry that I don't want to spoil it for anybody but there's there's a scene where you punch the glass yeah and you kind of do this with your hands and me and my friend we watch that scene like three or four times because we just thought it was so good and what what is your process for a scene like that that requires so much emotion what was what was going through your head during that I you know I again it's like you know I'm sitting there we're talking with the shot Alec Berg's talking about the scene and everything and and I'm kind of think of what just happened and I'm and you're just you know you don't really put it into words or whatever but you just kind of its kind of I was saying earlier you know like the first kind of take of it you try something and it feels weird but that thing you're talking about yeah that came honestly from watching my daughter really my daughter when she got she started doing this when she was like angry about something that's cool yeah so I just started like you know it's like and it is it feels like he's a bit like a kid right it's kind of a kid you know this thing and so it I remember you just pick up little things from stuff I remember what my daughter when she wouldn't she was a kid she get mad she would just like you knew that means like I was about to but yeah so I mean but again it's it's it's not it's not ok I'll do this and I'll go this and I'll hit this and I'll scream at this point or whatever it has to be it has to be organic you have to kind of just throw yourself into it and not think like at all that's awesome so yeah sweet I've gone after thing Joe now how do you know you're doing the right thing like in your path of of your career your career choice yeah you never know you got instinct it's all instinct it's like what do you like what draws you into this thing you know like I turned down a lot of I don't do a lot of scripts cuz I get real like ants you know and then you you know I read skeleton twins and just was like yeah you know i I've done jobs for money you know I'm moving you know I need any money you know and but then there's the thing like big movies you know I go to big movies I'm in the sequel to it Richie I'm there all grown up it's Richie Tozier the Finn character and I heard that and they're like did you see Italy yeah well that movie they're like well there I was like yes is it are you are they offering me a thing cuz it yes no you gotta go meet with the director who knows like ogen I just when I was like I want to do this you know cuz it was just like instinctually yeah that would be Brad I'd be what an experience you know and it was it was so much fun the movies incredibly scary they showed me one scene from it I wasn't in and I was like alright alright cool I don't need an Andy machete directs they say yeah pretty up on man it's like this going to make people themselves all right he calls me bleed I bleed or bleed oh that man don't you wish you were in that scene man I can't act scared too I'm always smiling them what can I get nervous I smile what so I'm like oh my god Pennywise is here no way hey little man you're gonna be smiling man go on why are you smiling you can't be smiling man you're gonna die and the crown man what the it's all in a god Mike by the way so it's my mom and what you're doing but instinct that's the thing just PNC instinct well what do you like you know when you're watching I mean it sounds reductive but it is like when you're at a bookstore and you're like I want to be that you know or you're watching this something off yeah watch this this seems good you know like you don't question those things you just you instinctual you're drawn to that you know so if you're lucky you can do that but also sometimes you get a t-shirt for you cuz you have a make the money hey thank you thank you okay last question he's so nervous hi how'd you know you were funny my name is Benjamin letter I'm an actor here at NYFA oh my god he did for many years I've been a very artsy kid trying to make my own things yeah with animations and side projects on my own and I'm currently working on trying to write my own scripts to cast myself and others that you know I feel I could bring them up with me I don't want to leave my class is there anything we're friends but one problem that I seem to have is that when I have an idea I I have many ideas but I always happen to find myself let's say if I were to partner up with somebody who would help me out work on the script or something I'd have a specific set idea and they try to they try to kind of change it in a way where I want to I want to be able to create without being hit without having the restriction right of not just what people think of course I want to be open to the audience and their information and things that they want to give but I also want to be able to to make my own things without feeling like I didn't do it properly no I told that's a great question that's a great thing because that happens every day and you'll never go away that that happens all the time it's like creative that thing we just did an episode of berry this season it's episode five when it comes out where I felt that way where I was like I see this in a super specific way and everyone was kind of going you know and then people were on Ballack was always like this is rad but other people were kind of like not like don't do it but just like I don't get it you know and you know and the the daydreams and barians he doesn't want all those daydreams I remember pitching that in the writers room appealed one wait there what so it's like no no it's no it's it's a it's you feel like reality you know and it was a thing that you constantly feel like you're trying to not like be like a like feel like you're you're being overprotective or two or not collaborative you know but when you have a very strict vision a very clear vision about something that's it's hard to do that and so I don't know what thing it I haven't figured that out yet I don't know I don't know what that is I mean I I like having creative discussions and when you're young and coming up and no one really knows kind of what they're doing it's hard sometimes to have those you know because you're all figuring it out and so it's kind of like it quickly turns into like well you you know and then it's I know I because I'm using sucks your thing sucks you yeah I'm serious that is like the conversations I would have with my friends and then it's like I'm not talking to Nick anymore whatever you know or and but it's like when everybody is I guess my my thing is like I don't I don't know how to it's like you either create things on your own and kind of like show it to people and say do you guys see this is kind of like what I'm doing here's how you guys maybe could plus it or we can do it you know together but I haven't figured that out yet it's a thing everybody it's constant well you know what you gotta do is you just I mean I don't the only advice I could really give is like sometimes those things could be right you know like sometimes like I try to do stuff on as a sketch forever and everyone was like it should be an update because it doesn't work as a sketch and I was like no works as a sketch and everyone was like bill it does not work as this guy and so once I want an update it was like okay you know I was I am I understand what you're saying you know you know what I mean so sometimes it's good to hear that and sometimes you're not always liked this episode 5 I'm telling you about there are days there's moments where I'm like I see it like this and everyone's like we just look at it the other way and I'm like oh oh yeah you're right you know what I mean and being a director and stuff doesn't mean I'm always right you know it doesn't like I very Bible all the time go I don't know what the answer is guys you know or I don't understand what I'm doing you know but that's freeing that kind of you're just being honest you know so I think just would be honest with them and try to make a thing because sometimes they can plus it and they can't make it better you know and sometimes they could take it away and so maybe it's just evaluating like oh that's what that if your thing is less about what you want and like and letting go a little bit you can go oh that actually does make it cooler and put it in a place that I didn't think of you know I'm saying it's like that HBO note of like buried that like this the Hitman world makes no sense and I was like and then I was like oh yeah I know they're totally right you know and then it made it a thousand times better you know thank you good language the scale of awesomeness how great was he and he came here after a whole day of press and clearly I just had a coffee cuz I'm like I know you guys are doing the cool thing and just like keep keep battling I wish someone had just told me when I was like starting out and everything like that was just like fail and keep failing and just it's gonna be okay just if you keep failing to make it about the work cuz I saw was like it has to be perfect and it won't be it won't be perfect for a while you know but each one it gave incrementally better that means you're on the right track [Applause] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: New York Film Academy

Views: 116,961

Rating: 4.9586258 out of 5

Keywords: nyfa, new york film academy, bill hader, nyfa bill hader, nyfa alum, nyfa alumni, nyfa alum bill hader, nyfa filmmaking, new york film academy bill hader, nyfa los angeles, nyfa LA, Barry bill hader, barry, emmy awards, bill hader emmy awards, tova laiter, nyfa guest speaker, nyfa guest speaker series, new york film academy guest speaker, nyfa tova later, nyfa Q&A, actor, writer, producer, director, nyfa events

Id: VaNoL5rydVw

Length: 65min 29sec (3929 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 30 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/liltrixxy]

This was lovely. I had no idea that Janet from The Good Place was his FREAKING nanny. Blew my mind.