Interviews from the world of film and television!

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Claudia Wells – Future Girl

Written By: Michael D. McClellan | The on-again, off-again, on-again role of Jennifer Parker happened for Claudia Wells the way many Hollywood roles do, the recipe well-documented and often followed, her place in one of America’s most beloved films immortalized by a pinch of chance, a dash of luck, and a heaping helping of hard work. Back to the Future, concocted by the wildly successful writer-director team of Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis, had plenty going for it – Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, Stephen Spielberg as executive producer, and the plutonium-powered DeLorean that transports Marty back in time to 1955 Hill Valley, California. As if that weren’t enough, it also had Christopher Lloyd’s hilarious star turn as Dr. Emmett Brown, his eccentricities as supercharged as the 1.21 gigawatts needed to make time travel possible; Biff’s raw-boned, dim-witted, make-like-a-tree-and-get-out-of-here bullying; and Crispin Glover, unforgettable as the oily-haired nerd who clobbers Biff and resets history at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance.

Back to the Future has only gotten better with time. (No pun intended.) It is a four-star classic, and arguably on the same plain as It’s a Wonderful Life. The film is so respected that, in 2007, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Wells, cast as Marty’s warmhearted girlfriend, initially found herself set to play opposite Eric Stoltz, not Fox. Problem was, she was also signed to act in ABC’s Off the Rack, and the network refused to share her with Amblin Entertainment, who moved on with another girl for the role. Stoltz then found himself jettisoned 8 weeks into production, his version of Marty McFly deemed to dark and brooding for the film being made. Enter Fox, a megastar on the hit sitcom Family Ties, and an actor with a more natural comedic vibe.

“By the time all of this transition happened,” says Wells from her highly regarded Los Angeles men’s fashion store, Armani Wells, “my work at Off the Rack had wrapped up. They considered the other girl too tall for Michael, so they recast the role and reached out. The rest, as they say, is history!”

Claudia Wells in Back to the Future

The chemistry between Fox and Wells is apparent from the jump. The clock tower scene in downtown Hill Valley, her character’s support of Marty’s passion for Rock and Roll, her desire to keep Marty out of trouble with Principal Strickland…it all sets the stage for what happens next.

“We had so much fun making that movie,” Wells says with a smile. “We weren’t trying to make a blockbuster, but it become one anyway. No one was thinking that it would be classic, but Back to the Future is a movie that is universally loved. To be a part of it has been a blessing in so many ways.”

Wells’ acting career didn’t start with Back to the Future – she had been acting in a range of television shows and specials – but it did, in many ways, signal the end. “My mother got very sick, so I decided to step away,” she says. “I was signed for the sequels, but needed to be there for her. It was the right decision, and one that I don’t regret. Being a part of Back to the Future is something I’ll treasure for the rest of my life.”

Take me back to the beginning. When did you develop an interest in acting?

We lived in San Francisco at the time, and I wanted to be an actress for as long as I could remember, even when I was two years old. I remember crying to my mother as a toddler because I didn’t think I was small enough to fit into the television set [laughs]. I had a cultured upbringing – I actually learned French before I learned English – and I can remember going to symphonies with my mother when I was five. My mother used to have me draw straws with my sister and brother to see who would go with her to the opera on Friday nights. I started performing children’s roles in opera when I was eight. I was in ten operas between the ages of 8 and 12, and I was a founding member of the San Francisco Girls Chorus. I continued to do whatever I could in San Francisco, whether that was modeling or acting, and then I convinced my mother to move to Los Angeles right before high school. That’s how determined I was to become a professional actor.

You’d started out in television in late ‘70s, doing everything from Fame to Trapper John, M.D. Do you have any favorite memories that stand out?

I was on Simon & Simon during Gerald McRaney’s directorial debut. I played a runaway who ended up getting involved in drugs, so it was very dramatic and fabulous. I did the Babies Having Babies episode of the CBS Schoolbreak Special, which was Martin Sheen’s directorial debut. That was an extraordinary experience.

Because you acted in so many shows during the ‘80s, I’m sure that you auditioned a lot.

Oh, I did a ton of them! There was a period of time during the ‘80s when the auditions came down to me, Elisabeth Shue and Phoebe Cates. It didn’t matter if it were Adventures in Babysitting or Gremlins, or anything in between. We were always competing for the same jobs. I won some and I lost others, but I never lost faith because acting was my favorite thing to do. In Fast Times [a TV show based on Fast Times at Ridgemont High], I played teenager working at a hot-dog-on-a-stick joint and hanging out with kids from school. That was pretty much how I spent my real teenage years [laughs]!

What do you remember about your Back to the Future audition?

I remember everything. I had one audition for the film, and that was it. I think that had something to do with me being a known commodity by that point, because I had been on a short list for the starring role in Goonies, Gremlins and Young Sherlock Holmes. They were all Amblin projects. By the time I auditioned for Back to the Future they all knew me.

My audition was with Bob Gale, Bob Zemeckis, Neil Canton, Steven Spielberg, and Kathleen Kennedy. Everyone was in the room. I was in there for two-and-a-half hours reading with a guy who was on his eleventh callback for the role of Marty.

Jennifer Parker (Wells) supports Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) at the band audition

Were you nervous about auditioning in front heavy hitters like Spielberg and Zemeckis?

No, not really. I was accustomed to auditioning. By then I was doing a pilot series every year, and in between I was doing guest starring roles on episodic shows, movies-of-the-week, after-school specials, stuff like that. Because all of the casting directors knew me at that point in my career, my first audition was usually with the top executives anyway.

How secretive was the auditioning process for Back to the Future?

It was very secretive. I hadn’t been sent the script, so I didn’t really know anything about the part. They gave me the scene in advance to study, but they wouldn’t tell me the story or anything. I was given the scene where Marty and Lorraine are in the car, and she’s smoking and drinking during what turned out to be the “Enchantment Under The Sea” dance. I did that scene so many times that day! Steven Spielberg talked to me the whole time, and he asked me so many personal questions. I remember saying, “If you promise me you won’t tell my mom, I’ll answer them.” And then towards the end of the audition, Steven said, “Oh my goodness, I didn’t realize the camera was still rolling this whole time, I guess your mother is going to find out after all.” He’s a really funny man!

Did you think you had a shot at landing the role of Jennifer Parker?

I didn’t really have any thoughts about it one way or the other. I just went in and went through the audition process, and after it was over I had to prepare for a commercial audition later that afternoon. If you can believe it, I was more nervous about the callback for the commercial than I was for the Back to the Future audition, because I wasn’t as accustomed to the commercial side of the business. Thankfully it all worked out and I got the role of Jennifer Parker. Today, all these years later, it’s still such a huge aspect of my life. I get to be the Jennifer who travels the world and gets to do these interviews. It’s amazing, and I can’t be more honored or excited about it. I have nothing but love for Back to the Future and all of the people involved with it. I love them with all of my heart.

Once you landed the role and were given a script, do you recall your reaction to it?

When I was finally given a script, Bob Gale told me that each page had a secret number imprinted on it. He said that if the script was ever Xeroxed, that number would come out really bright, and everyone would know whose script wound up in someone else’s hands. It wasn’t until recently when we were on a panel discussion that I mentioned that, when Bob smiled, looked at me, and said, “Did you actually believe that?” I was like, “Yeah, I did!”

Jennifer Parker and Marty McFly, Clock Tower scene

What was your first impression after reading the script?

When I did read the script, I had a full two pages of questions. Things like, “If Marty’s here at this point in the film, and then later he’s over there…” I wanted to make sure it all made sense in my head. Watching the movie today, it all absolutely makes sense, but when you’re reading the script for the first time, and the movie has yet to be made, it could be hard to visualize. I would call Bob with all of my questions and he’d answer them, but sometimes he’d say, “You know, you shouldn’t think about it that much. Just do it.” He wanted me to trust my instincts.

Did you think Back to the Future would be a blockbuster?

I didn’t look at Back to the Future as this big, blockbuster movie, and I don’t think anyone else on the set did, either. It was an amazing script and I loved it, and I did feel blessed to be working with people like Michael J. Fox and Stephen Spielberg, but I was focused on the actual work involved and the part that I played. My thought process was that I was an actress on set, and I was going to do the best job that I could. Only after it was released did it hit me, because when you do television, it’s over right after it airs. I remember thinking, “This movie is going to be shown all day every day, all over the world. I sure hope I do a good job!”

Was Bob Gale as approachable as I’ve read?

Bob Gale made himself completely accessible from the very beginning. We connected instantly. He was the one I always called, and he always made time to answer my questions. We’ve kept in touch through the years. To this day, I email him every time I take a trip related to Back to the Future. I’ve been blessed to travel the world because of the film’s popularity, so I’m always emailing him and saying, “I’m going on a trip next week. Thank you for casting me.” I’ve been doing that for years.

The other thing about Bob is that he always tells me the truth. He’s in my inner circle of friends, and those are the ones who always tell me the straight-up truth, good or bad. I saw him at an event a couple of years ago – I’d always wanted to try being blonde, and the first thing he said to me when he saw it was, “Your hair looks terrible. Change it.” I thought, “Okay, that hurt.” But, you know what? He was right. It wasn’t said to hurt my feelings. We’ve had fun with it since then. Whenever I see him, I always ask, “How’s my hair cut? What do you think about the color?” He’ll be my friend to the day I die.

Let’s get this straight: You were selected for the role of Jennifer Parker, but you had to turn around and back out?

I had done a pilot for the ABC series Off The Rack with Edward Asner, Eileen Brennan and Dennis Haysbert, and then I got the role of Jennifer Parker in Back to the Future. Well, Off The Rack got picked up at the same time I was supposed to play Jennifer, and ABC would not share me with Amblin. The contract was straightforward. I had to back out of being Jennifer. It was not up to me. I had no choice in the matter. Even Ed Asner was like, “Let the kid do the Spielberg movie.” But ABC was pretty clear about not wanting to share me.

I didn’t feel awkward about it, and I wasn’t upset with ABC’s decision. I remember sitting in the living room of my mother’s tiny Beverly Hills apartment when she came in and said, “Claudia, you’ve just been released from the movie.” I just said, “Okay.” That was it, and then I went ahead and did 6 episodes of Off The Rack. Meanwhile, they recast my role in Back to the Future and went with another girl. Her name is Melora Hardin. You probably know her better as Jan from The Office.

Claudia Wells as Jennifer Parker

Michael J. Fox wasn’t the first choice to play Marty McFly?

Eric Stoltz was originally cast to play Marty. I knew Eric prior to Back to the Future because we took acting classes together when he first came to Hollywood to be an actor. In fact, we had both taken one of the last master classes that Stella Adler ever taught. I’ve always been so impressed with his acting. He’s brilliant. He was very “method” during the time we spent together for Back to the Future. He always called me Jennifer. He would even call me at home and ask to speak to Jennifer [laughs].

How much did you work with Eric on the movie?

I didn’t actually work with him on set. I got to know him from hanging out at functions, and from talking to him on the phone. I never did a single line with him, and we never went over any scenes together or anything. We did do a photo shoot on the backlot at Universal Studios, and we also took some photos that supposed to be in Marty’s wallet in the film. After I had to drop out, they shot other scenes for the next eight weeks.

What happened next?

Things didn’t work out with Eric Stoltz, so Michael J. Fox was brought in to play Marty. The producers felt that Melora Hardin was too tall to play opposite the new Marty and, as fate would have it, I had finished my work on Off the Rack, so I was recast to play Jennifer Parker. I literally got my part twice!

Claudia Wells as Jennifer Parker

Both you and Michael J. Fox were latecomers to Back to the Future, and the shooting had been going on for several weeks. Did you have any time for rehearsal?

Not at all. We rehearsed on set before we did each scene. The pace was very relaxed, and that was all new to me. What’s interesting was that I was used to doing as many as 25 pages of dialogue a day, which was pretty typical with my TV experience. Going from that to half a scene every day on Back to the Future was very unusual for me. I felt like I should be doing more.

What did you do with the free time?

Michael and I would hang out in a BMW in the driveway and just listen to music. It was a relaxed, easygoing experience – except during the clock tower scene, because there were so many things that had to be perfect at the same time. The girls doing their aerobics, and all of those pan shots – that was all one scene. That was the only time that I perceived stress on set, but it wasn’t with us. It was with the technical guys wanting it to be absolutely perfect. Other than that, I never noticed anyone stressed ever, on any level.

Did you know Michael J. Fox prior to filming Back to the Future?

No. I knew that Michael was a pretty big deal from Family Ties. I really felt sheltered compared to him because the way that I was raised was very “un-Los Angeles.” Being a normal teenager wasn’t really me. Hanging out with Michael and listening to music from the radio stations he liked, that was a whole new world for me because I was always working and with adults. Getting to hang out with someone close to my age made me feel like a real teenager for the first time.

Do you have a favorite on-set memory?

Because I was always filming or working, I never really had a boyfriend in high school or any of the things that go along with that. So, when Michael and I were walking together and he’d stick his hand in my back pocket like a boyfriend would, I just felt like I’d reached the pinnacle of, “Wow, this must be what it’s like to be a girlfriend!” That might seem silly, but I’d never really experienced that normal, relationship experience that everyone else had experienced by the age of 18. To me, that was very special.

How did you prepare for the role of Jennifer Parker?

I gave Jennifer a complete background. I had notes on Jennifer – how she did in school, who her parents were, who she was as a person, how she grew up. I had a whole background on her as a human being. She was a full and complete person to me. She and I had a lot in common. Our natural personality traits were very similar. I was shy and innocent like she was. She was based on who I was in a lot of ways.

Jennifer Parker and Marty McFly - Back to the Future

What do you remember about getting to see the movie for the first time?

I saw Back to the Future at the screening, and I was nervous, nervous, nervous! I’d never seen myself on a huge screen up to that point, just on TV screens. The movie was getting a lot of buzz. I went to the screening with one of my best friends at the time, and he said I squeezed his hand so tightly he almost scream bloody murder in the darkened theater. One of my favorite moments was when they filled the whole screen with the clock tower flyer. It was my handwriting: “I love you, 555-4823.” I had gone to a private French elementary school, and they had never taught us normal writing, only cursive, and when I saw my handwriting on the screen, my heart started pounding. And then I thought: “Wow, if I had known, I would have written it much more carefully!”

The first movie was such a gigantic hit that two sequels were quickly planned, but you made a decision not to reprise your role as Jennifer Parker.

When we saw the film, my mother elbowed me and said, “Get ready, there is going to be a sequel.” She really wanted me to do the sequels, but she was diagnosed with cancer not long after that and she became very ill. There was so much turmoil at home at the time that I completely backed out of the industry. It was my decision. I wanted to be there for my mother.

Did you go to see the sequels?

I did! I went to see Part II and Part III all by myself. I got my popcorn and I slumped down in my seat and I watched both movies just like everyone else. It was an odd experience, because I was like, “Wow, that’s the movie that I should be in!” It’s funny that Elizabeth Shue got the part, because I’d screen tested for Adventures in Babysitting. That role had come down to her, me, and Phoebe Cates. So, the fact that she wound up getting my role in Back to the Future has its own funny synchronicity.

Looking back, what does it mean to be part of such a beloved film?

It’s hard to put into words. The fans have been so loving and supportive through the years, and it’s only gotten to be more so as time as passed. People all over the world have been so loving and generous with their comments and hugs and beautiful memories of what the film has meant to them. Looking back, Jennifer Parker was exactly who I was at the time. The movie was so beautifully written, and I just fell into the part. It came natural to me. I think the core value of the movie is that love conquers everything, and that dreams can come true. As Marty himself said, “If you put your mind to it, you can do anything.”

All grown up - Claudia Wells in front of her L.A. men's shop, Armani Wells

What do you think the legacy of Back to the Future will be?

The legacy is that it’s still loved, and loved by new generations. I get little kids coming up to me recognizing it. To me, Back to the Future is in the same class as It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s timeless, which is ironic since the move is based on time travel.

Final Question: If you could jump in that DeLorean and transport yourself back to the young girl who snagged the role of Jennifer Parker, not once, but twice, what would you say?

I would tell her not to put so much pressure on herself. I would tell her that she’s a good, decent, and honest person, and that God loves her unconditionally.

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Patrick Creery – Class Act

Written By: Michael D. McClellan | Patrick Creery is a pro’s pro, which is to say that he’s the kind of actor who commands respect simply by the way he goes about his business, unwavering in his reverence for his craft and those in its orbit, his passion to perform trumped only by his desire to do the right thing. How would you respond if you had a sure thing in one hand, only to have Jason Priestley, he of Beverly Hills, 90210 fame, offer you a key role alongside Amy Acker and David Haydn-Jones in a prime time TV movie? Would you dump the lesser background work without giving it a second thought? Or would you do everything in your power to keep from burning a bridge? Spoiler alert: Doing anything less than the right thing isn’t in Creery’s DNA. It’s how this rank-and-file actor has forged a successful acting career in a maddeningly fickle profession.

“Acting is a relationship business,” says the Canadian-born Creery, who currently resides in Toronto. “You have to develop trust with the people you work with – producers, directors, other actors – because there are only so many jobs to go around.”

Like many journeyman actors, Creery has built his career brick-by-brick, pouring the foundation in theatre and framing it up with film. He’s taken on roles big and small, and he’s expanded his reach with social media, using it to promote his cleverly written and superbly acted pilot, The Parent Council.

“I was the producer, co-writer and lead,” Creery says, “so this project really stretched me in a lot of different ways. It also gave me a chance to explore traditional parental roles and what happens when those roles are reversed. Trust me, there was a lot of comedy to mine out of those situations.”

Meet the Council!
From left to right: Charles Andrew Payne (Malik Samuels), Filson Filsan Dualeh (Jen), Patrick Creery (Connor McPherson), Lydia Lau (Leticia), Roberta Mauer Phillips (Ruth) and Stacy Da Silva (Kate Williams)

In The Parent Council, Creery plays Connor McPherson, a stay-at-home dad who decides to join his daughter’s elementary school Parent Council. When he gets there, he finds a diverse group of people (and personalities) who are all passionate about doing what they can for their kids and for the school –but who have very different ideas about what’s best for all. Hardly a group that would hang together socially, they connect because they all share something in common: Being parents and loving their kids. Creery’s character, as it turns out, brings a little extra to the table.

“As a stay-at-home dad, Connor is getting more-and-more lonely,” Creery explains. “His wife is a superstar at the brokerage where she works, so as a result she is home less-and-less, and he’s starting to feel isolated. He’s a fish out of water when he gets to that first Parent Council meeting. He bumbles his way through it, because, after staying how with his child for three years, he’s still trying to figure out how to reconnect with adults and operate on an adult level.”

In Dear Santa, Creery plays Pete Kennedy, the flamboyant soup kitchen chef who befriends Crystal Carruthers, played by Acker. A modern fairytale with a Christmas theme, Dear Santa originally appeared on Lifetime before landing on Netflix. It remains in heavy rotation on Hallmark Channel during the holiday season.

Patrick Creery and Amy Acker share screen time in the 2011 Lifetime movie, Dear Santa

“It’s a fun movie for me to go back and watch,” Creery says. “That’s the beauty of film. With theatre, you have the energy of performing in front of a live audience for three weeks, and then it goes away. I enjoy them both, but I prefer film because of its lasting power.”

These days, Creery has embraced the power of social media platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo. He digs the egalitarianism that comes with producing content with nothing more than a smartphone and a tripod. It’s a liberating step that opens the door for artists who previously had only the traditional avenues available – community theatre, perhaps, or the rough road leading to film and television. Now, content is produced much more freely, and it’s up to the viewer to decide the success of each upload. Creery’s success with The Parent Council is directly tied to an online program called STORYHIVE, in which viewers vote on the best content, and filmmakers are rewarded with funding, distribution and support from TELUS. It’s a door that wasn’t available just a few short years ago, and for creatives like Creery, it’s a match made in heaven.

“STORYHIVE is a great platform for artists like myself,” he says with a smile. “Whether you’re an actor, director, or producer, we’re living in a Golden Age of Filmmaking.”

What led you into acting?

I grew up in Calgary, which is located in the Canadian province of Alberta. I was the class clown in secondary school, the kid who enjoyed entertaining his classmates and who was happiest just goofing around. Drama and math were the two main extracurricular activities at school, and you would think that I’d be naturally attracted to the stage, but back then I was a math guy. I never really did anything drama-related until I ended up at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. At the time I was doing poorly in physics, and as luck would have it, I happened to take a drama elective that semester and really enjoyed the experience. Four years later I ended up with a degree in drama.

I went back to Calgary and I applied to law school, because that’s what I wanted to do when I was a kid. My LSAT score was good, but my university grades weren’t strong enough to get in, so I took a year off and lived in Banff, Ontario. It was during this time that I decided to give acting a go. Funnily enough, I bounced between Vancouver, which is a film-focused town where I did theatre, and Calgary, which I thought had better theatre opportunities, but I ended up doing more work in film and television instead. Go figure. And around the ’98 timeframe, I spent a year in England at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, which is otherwise known as LAMDA. I did a one-year post-graduate in classical theatre there.

Patrick Creery
A Christmas Carol – 2003 – Citadel Theatre, Edmonton

Did you immerse yourself in British culture?

It was a fantastic year. Culture-wise I enjoyed the experience, but not overly so. When you’re a student and you’re do a program like that, you’re so focused on “the program.” But I did get to see my fair share of shows. I got to see Alan Rickman and Helen Mirren do a production of Antony and Cleopatra at the National Theatre. I got to see Kathleen Turner in a production of The Graduate. So, even though those things weren’t a part of my formal theatre education, they were still very instrumental in terms of leading me into acting.

Which do you prefer, theater or film acting?

I like them both, and they are complimentary in some respects. If you have a theater background, you learn how to work at developing a character in chronological order. You can then translate those skills over to film, where you are filming out of sequence. There’s also a great, immediate response from the audience when you do theater, and you can feel the energy. I felt it when I did a show at Theatre Calgary right before we moved to Toronto. It was called The Audience, and I played Prime Minister David Cameron, opposite Seana McKenna, who is an amazing human being, performer, and actor. In fact, she was recently named to the Order of Canada. Working with her was an absolute career highlight for me.

What I like about film and television acting is that that stuff is around forever. You don’t have the immediate response that you get with a theatre audience, but you do have something that you can look back on and watch whenever you want.

You play the character Pete Kennedy, a flamboyant soup kitchen chef, in the 2011 Jason Priestley romantic drama, Dear Santa.

I have good memories of that film and that time in my life. My daughter Zoë was just about to turn one when I did Dear Santa. Funnily enough, when I first auditioned they wanted me to audition for the part of a radio announcer, which was only one line. My agent called to let me know that they had cut that part, but that they wanted me to come back and read for the supporting lead role. And I was like, “Okay!” That’s kind of how it works in Calgary. They will audition a lot of the locals when films like that are being shot, and I was one of the locals who auditioned a fair bit.

Dear Santa
From left to right: David Haydn-Jones (Derek Gowen), Patrick Creery (Pete Kennedy), Emma Duke (Olivia Gowen) and Amy Acker (Crystal Carruthers)

Tell me about your audition for Dear Santa.

I went in and I did the first scene for Jackie Lind, who was the casting director. She stopped me midway through the reading and said, “I don’t even need to see the next scene, just come back in tomorrow for the director and producer.” So, I went in to audition for Jason Priestley, who directed that movie, and he was great. I did the first scene again and he said, “Yeah, it’s really good.” I did the second scene, and he smiled and said, “Yeah, that’s really good too.” And that was it, so I left. The next day my agent called me and said, “Congratulations, you booked it.” And I said, “Booked what?” She said, “Dear Santa. Jason Priestley really liked you. You got that part.”

In Calgary, if you’re trying to make it as an actor, then you’re doing anything that you can, which means that you’re frequently auditioning for more than one job at a time. As it turns out, I had also submitted myself to do background work on another project, so my short reaction was, “I’ve got to call you back, because I’ve got to call the background casting director and let him know that I can’t do that project anymore.” Don’t get me wrong. I was ecstatic to get the part and to be part of a cast that included amazing actors like Amy Acker and David Haydn-Jones, but in that moment my first thought was about being a professional. That was my big concern, because I didn’t want to burn a bridge.

Please tell me about your co-stars in the movie. Let’s start with Amy Acker.

Amy is a great actor, beautiful, and so talented. She’s done both film and television, and has acted in a wide variety of roles. She was a villain opposite Jennifer Garner in Alias during its final season, had a main role in Happy Town, which I thought was outstanding, and has appeared in everything from Supernatural to The Good Wife.

We had a great time on the set of Dear Santa, a lot of laughs. It was a lot of fun to do. My character works in David Haydn-Jones’s soup kitchen, and he wears a pink chef’s outfit. Amy plays Crystal Carruthers, a frivolous thirty-year-old woman drifting through life in New York City and shopping with her wealthy parents’ money – until they threaten to cut her off if she doesn’t get her act together by Christmas. Funnily enough, fate intervenes when Crystal discovers a letter written to Santa Claus from a seven-year-old girl, Olivia – played brilliantly by Emma Duke, I might add – asking him to send her widowed father a new wife for Christmas. Inspired by the young girl’s letter, Crystal tracks them down and vows to win over father and daughter. She ends up working in the soup kitchen with me, and we both have dreamy crushes on David’s character, Derek Gowen [laughs].

Amy Acker and Patrick Creery in the 2011 Lifetime movie, Dear Santa

David Haydn-Jones has been in a lot of stuff.

David continues to have a great acting career. His focus has been primarily on TV, and he’s been on shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, Judging Amy, NCIS, and Supernatural. He was great to work with as well. In fact, the whole Dear Santa experience was a blast, and it sort of led me in another direction as an actor. Zoë was one at the time, my second daughter was sort of in the works as it were, and I thought if I wanted to pursue acting that I needed to get a little more serious about it. That’s when I sat down and talked to Jason Priestley. He’d been such a big star on Beverly Hills, 90210. He suggested that I move to Toronto because he thought it would be a good center to be based out of, so that’s how we ended up here in Toronto.

Let’s talk about your smart and witty series pilot, The Parent Council. You play Connor McPherson, a stay-at-home dad who decides to join his daughter’s elementary school parent council. Where did the idea come from?

I do some standup comedy, and part of the standup that I do is that my wife is very much a guy’s guy. Like, she used to work on cars, she buys season tickets to the hockey games, she likes to work with tools…and I’m a flight attendant who cooks [laughs]. So, a lot of my standup is based on the fact that we seem to have some of the stereotypical roles reversed in our household. She has been making more money than me, and I’ve been trying to take care of the house more, so I just kind of magnified those roles for The Parent Council. Since she’s a super strong woman, and she gets along well with the guys, I thought, “What if the female lead in the show was a high-powered woman who decides that I would stay home and look after the kids. What would that be like?”

Patrick Creery

And paternity leave isn’t that uncommon in Canada.

In Canada, you can take up to 18 months off. The government will subsidize a year of that leave. My wife went back to work early, and was kind enough to let me take the second six months off with Zoë, so I was busy taking care of the house. It was awesome, but it was also very isolating. When you only have a six month old to talk to, and then you are trying to hang out with some other moms, and you need to have adult conversations…it can play tricks on your mind [laughs]. And then there’s also a thing in my world where you have to consider what it means to be a middle-aged white guy [laughs]. In today’s world, with middle-aged white guy guilt about a lot of stuff that other middle-aged white guys have done in generations before, so you find yourself thinking about how you interact with people. All of this played into the idea for The Parent Council.

Let’s talk about your co-writer and co-star, Charles Andrew Payne.

Charles Andrew Payne plays Malik Samuels in the show. He’s just a brilliant actor, and I was incredibly fortunate to have him come aboard, both in front of the camera and also in helping to develop the script. From the beginning I said that I wanted to have a diverse cast, and he hates that word. He said, “The word you should be using is representative.” And I thought, “You know what, you are absolutely right.” Because that is actually what I wanted – a representation of what my world looks like, and beyond that, answers to questions like, “How do you interact with those people?” I wanted to explore whether or not my thinking is motivated by how I feel about their background, or by them just being dicks. Am I being a racist, or is that person just being a jerk? So, I thought there was some really good comedy to mine in that subject matter. At the same time, I also wanted it to be representative that we all have one thing in common, which is our kids, and our love for our kids. All of our decisions are usually based out of the place of wanting to do the best for our kids. So, how does that manifest itself in people who may not be doing exactly what they want to be doing in the rest of their lives, but in this little fiefdom of a Parent Council, they try and control as much as they can. That’s sort of where the genesis of that idea came from.

How were you able to put together a pilot on your own dime?

TELUS sponsored us through a program called STORYHIVE, which has funded productions, supported filmmakers, and brought hundreds of films to life online and around the world. They get people from Alberta, Canada and British Columbia to submit a pitch video. There is a voting period where viewers watch the streams and choose their favorites. With ours, we were successful and received $5,000 toward producing the pilot for the web series. I, along with Naddine Madell, who was my producing partner and the director on The Parent Council, put in $5,000 each of our own money, and that is how we were able to fund this pilot. We were trying to pitch it and sell it, but it’s gone on the back burner a bit because of my move from Calgary to Toronto. Now that my family is settled a bit more, we’re going to revisit The Parent Council and see if we want to redevelop it.

Anyone visiting your IMDb page will quickly learn that you wear multiple hats – writer, actor, director, producer.

Acting is my first love and passion, and it’s where I focus a lot of my time, but unless you’re producing or creating your own work, you’re very much at the mercy of the phone. There are people who can make a living as an actor because they are gifted, talented people, and they have really worked hard at it. I am a journeyman actor who is still trying to develop his craft, so part of the reason we moved to Toronto was that there’s more opportunity here. The Parent Council back in Alberta was directly related to me trying to create work, so that I could do my own work and try and stretch. If someone’s not calling you and offering you work, at a certain point you have got to do your thing.

Producing is always about solving problems, because no matter how much you plan something out, problems will come up. I don’t like a lot of problems, and I don’t want to solve a lot of problems, so it’s a bit of a challenge for me to step into that role. A lot of professional development books share a variation of the same theme, and that is if you are the smartest person in the room, then you are in the wrong room. As a producer, I try to surround myself with people who have more expertise than I do, or better skillsets in the areas where I am lacking, so that they can share the load.

Patrick Creery
Best Left Buried – 2003 – TheatreOne, Nanaimo

Was that the case in The Parent Council?

Very much so. In The Parent Council, I brought Charles in to co-write with me. I had a basic story, but I thought it would be great to work with him, and he brought some great laughs to the table. And right before we went into production I realized that it was too much for me to be the producer, the production manager, the writer, and also the lead. So I called my friend Jillian and said that I need you to come and be the production manager for a few days. She showed up and made sure that everything ran smoothly, so that I could focus on doing the acting and trying to do the best I could for that.

Who are some of the actors that you admire?

Stanley Tucci is a great example of a great actor who created his own work. Big Night is one of my favorite films and he wrote that, and he acted in it as well. I have always been a big fan of Tom Hanks. And then you go to the other end of the spectrum and you’ve got people like Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins, you know, guys with big theater backgrounds. Daniel Craig has done a lot of theater as well.

How important is it to be prepared?

The job is finding the job. As an actor, you are constantly working on your craft. And being specific about what you want to do is important. For example, my focus right now is on comedy. I’m narrowing the focus down, so The Parent Council is sort of where I want to be going at this point in my career. A sitcom, or romantic comedy movie, those things are where I feel comfortable and where I want to contribute to the world, because I want people to laugh.

It’s a tough business. All actors face rejection.

I think Bryan Cranston had a great of comment on rejection. He’s like, “Go and audition. If you audition, that is a chance for you to act for two minutes, and any chance that you can get to do your work is an opportunity that you should be grateful for.”

How important are agents in the acting business?

Very important. And it’s not easy to get a good agent. Bruce Ward is the agent who I really wanted to be with when I first got to Vancouver, and it took me five years to get on with him. That was me persistently keeping in touch with him, inviting him to everything that I did. It didn’t matter if it were plays or community theatre. When I moved to Toronto I joined ACTRA, which is a film and television union in Canada that is similar to SAG. As a member, I used those connections to talk about who the agents were in Toronto…who the good ones were, and who to stay away from. I also used IMDb Pro to research all of the agencies that had been referred to me. Then I went through the agency rosters looking for actors that I knew, and I would reach out to them and say, “I want to apply to this agency, can you have a look at my demo and my headshot, and if you are comfortable referring me to your agent, can you do that to get me off of the pile?” That helps, because these agents get so many demos and resumes that you’ve got to figure out how to get noticed. And then you have to interview with them, and you both have to feel comfortable with each other before you enter into that actor/agent relationship.

The Meryl Streeps of the acting world are few and far between. As an actor, how important is it to be both realistic and self-aware when it comes to your acting talent?

That’s really one of the first things that aspiring actors need to come to terms with, but also one of the hardest. You see this all the time with actors who first come out of university. They think they can do everything. It is great that they feel that way, but the reality is that that’s not true. A good agent can help in that regard, because a good agent is going to tell you the truth. You need that outside voice to tell you where you fit, so that you can know what your wheelhouse is and then play to that. Then, once you’ve established yourself and you start getting more parts, you can start leveraging that to try other projects. So, being typecast is not actually a bad thing, because it gets you work, which builds momentum, which opens doors and allows you to try other things. Robin Williams is known for comedy, but then he also did Insomnia.

Patrick Creery

Does networking help open doors?

It’s absolutely important – it’s a people business, right? There are two examples that come to mind – one is Judd Apatow, who is been working with the same people since Freaks and Geeks. Why? Because he likes these people, he knows they’re good, and he knows they are all going to get along. The other is Ian Prinsloo was the Artistic Director of Theatre Calgary a number of years ago when I went and did a workshop with him. He said, “I have a million-dollar budget in my theater company, and if I don’t know you I’m not going to risk my budget. So get to know me, because if it’s between you and someone that I’ve worked with in the past and have a trust with, then I’m going to spend two-and-a-half weeks in a room with somebody that I already know and who I know will deliver.” That really stuck with me. It’s your job to get to know people.

Last Question: If you had one piece of advice for other aspiring actors, what would that be?

Do it. If you’re talking about wanting to do a film, then go film stuff. If you want to do comedy, then go do comedy. There are literally no more barriers to getting your stuff out there anymore. Gary Vaynerchuk is someone that I listen to a lot, and is a prime example of someone who has taken it upon himself to create content. There are no excuses. If you are making an excuse that you cannot do something, then you don’t really want to do it. It’s like someone saying, “I don’t have the money to buy the gear.” If you know someone who has an iPhone, you can make incredible quality stuff. You can get a library card and access Lynda.com through the library and learn how to do all these things, and it costs you nothing. The whole 10,000 hour concept is a real thing, so you can’t get discouraged. Some of what you do is going to be awful. Some of it is going to be great. I know standup comedian in Calgary, and he’s put out to albums. Is he the best comedian ever? No, but he’s got two more albums out and I got, and for that he has my absolute respect.

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Ben Gleib – Comic-in-Chief

Written By: Michael D. McClellan | Ben Gleib is running for president. Seriously. The stand-up comic who scored his own Showtime special, Ben Gleib: Neurotic Gangster, has announced his very serious intentions to seek the 2020 Democratic nomination for President of the United States. The celebrity candidate may be best known for hosting Idiotest on Game Show Network, throwing back drinks with Hoda Kotb and former host Kathie Lee Gifford on the fourth hour of Today or, if you’re a fan from way back, serving as a regular panelist on Chelsea Lately. But Ben Gleib is all business when it comes to his run for the country’s top office.

“I’m running because the nation I grew up loving is in jeopardy,” Gleib says, without even a hint of a punchline forthcoming. “The values that we stand for are now being challenged. I’m driven by my desire to see the people I perform for have easier lives.”

Beginning in August 2014, Gleib hosted four seasons of Idiotest on the Game Show Network

Recognized by TBS as one of the “funniest comedians working today,” Gleib possesses the indefatigable quality of a presidential candidate. He has toured sold-out arenas all over North America with both Chelsea Handler and Dane Cook, headlined comedy clubs around the globe since 2007, and performed on an array of television shows including The Late Late Show, The Arsenio Hall Show, Last Comic Standing, and Last Call with Carson Daly. He’s a regular political contributor for The Huffington Post. An accomplished voice-over actor, Gleib has starred in Kevin Smith’s Jay and Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie, provided the voice of Marshall the Sloth in Ice Age: Continental Drift, and voiced Dali in The Book of Life starring Channing Tatum. His wildly popular podcast, Last Week on Earth with Ben Gleib, includes a steady stream of celebrity guests like Bryan Cranston, Meghan McCain, Bob Odenkirk, Sam Donaldson, Moby, Blake Griffin, Adam Devine, General Wesley Clark, political pundits, standup comedians, and…wait for it…his parents.

“They are always there for me, even when I run out of guests.”

Ben Gleib performs during his Showtime special, Ben Gleib: Neurotic Gangster

On the radio, Gleib is a regular on the hugely popular shows The Bob and Tom Show, Kevin and Bean, The Jason Ellis Show and Sirius XM’s You Up? With Nikki Glaser. He’s been guest co-anchor for ABC News Digital, a frequent on-air contributor on CNN, and an NPR Golden Mic Award-winner for his work on Patt Morrison’s Comedy Congress. With such a dizzying schedule, how does this comedian/actor/ commentator/podcaster/game show host spend his spare time?

Try producing and co-hosting The Telethon for America, announcing his presidential bid, and campaigning nonstop on massive amounts of caffeine.

“People frequently ask me for the one thing I wish someone had told me before I decided to run for office,” Gleib says. “The answer is simple: How little sleep I get. I’m already someone who stays up very late and works long hours, but this is a non-stop, around-the-clock mission, often requiring 18–22 hour work days. Luckily, I love it, and operate well on no sleep.”

Fortunately for the rest of us, Gleib was able to slow down – and stay awake – long enough for this interview.

You’re running for president. Of the United States. Is this real, or an elaborate hoax?

The first question people ask me is, “Are you for real?” People think that this must be a publicity stunt because I’m a comedian. Nothing could be further from the truth. When you hear me talk for two minutes, it’s very clear how serious I am about this.

Are we ready for a comedian in the White House?

I think people misremember the impact that comedy has on our national discourse. People need to remind themselves of the fact that we turn to comedians these days more than we turn to news anchors for our news. Why? Because we trust them more. So we should start doing the exact same thing with our politicians. Our leaders are known for lying, and being self-interested only. Comedians are known for keeping it real, and calling out hypocrisy. That’s what we need now more than ever. And that’s what I will bring to our government, and what I will bring to the White House.

Presidential Candidate Ben Gleib

What’s behind your decision to go from the Hollywood Improv stage to the podium?

Two things: First, watching our democracy get eroded daily by forces that don’t want ordinary people to have a voice. These forces want to tilt the balance of power and money increasingly in favor of the ultra-rich. The second is Donald Trump. I feel he’s an existential crisis in our country, and we have to do all that we can to stop him. I’m not convinced that cautious, career politicians have the skills to do that. It did not work in 2016, and I don’t think our country can survive four more years of Donald Trump in the White House. So, I had the thought that a comedian might be exactly what we need to beat the greatest heckler in American political history. That’s what comedians do best, they take down hecklers.

How does “President Elect Ben Gleib” sound to you?

It sounds pretty good, man. To be able to represent this country that has given me so much, and that I love so much, would definitely be the most insane honor possible. It would be a beautiful moment, mostly because we would be putting our country back on the right track.

Let’s talk about the issues. Do you think we’ve reached the tipping point with the environment?  Is it too late to save the planet?

I don’t think it’s too late, but I do think it’s the most dire issue of our time. We literally have one Earth that we can live on. Everybody keeps saying that we’ve got to colonize Mars to save our species. I don’t know if you are aware of this fact, but we cannot breathe on Mars. No, we have to save our planet now.

The political right doesn’t seem to have the same sense of urgency.

The way I like to frame the discussion with conservatives is like this: One of your core principle beliefs is to be prudent. Your whole philosophy is based on protecting what we currently have, the most important being Earth. You have no place to live, or shoot your guns, or enjoy all of the freedoms that you enjoy if you don’t have clean air to breathe or clean water to drink. I challenge conservatives by asking them if they are tough enough to make some hard decisions. This is the fight of our lives. Let’s step up. We must move toward the principles of the Green New Deal, where we get off of fossil fuels as soon as humanly possible. We need to reduce our meat consumption, and we need to try our best to get rid of single use plastics.

Presidential Candidate Ben Gleib

What’s your take on climate change?

The United Nations climate report, and the consensus of planet scientists says that we have 12 years to reverse course. That window is going to disappear quickly if we keep denying it, and if we keep voting people into our government like Jim Inhofe, who brought a snowball to the Senate floor to disprove climate change. That kind of ignorance must be voted the hell out of office.

On your website, you talk about not letting the robots take over, and fighting to protect American jobs from the onslaught of automation.

I think it’s a scary prospect that we as a nation are not even discussing or debating whether to allow entire industries, let alone public-facing industries, to be run by robots. I personally value the human workforce. Aside from the novelty of having a burger made by a robot, which might be fun to have in one or two spots, to actually get rid of human beings being our servers, being our retail employees, being our truck drivers…I just don’t think it’s the right path to take. I’m not comfortable having a society where human work becomes obsolete. I think we should discuss whether we want that. If we don’t, under my administration we would give large tax incentives to companies that maintain a vast majority of their output being generated by human labor. And, in the instances where jobs do have to go to robots due to the large advances in productivity that they would bring, then we would make sure to let employees participate in that, so that they still have the dignity and the benefit of participating in the work produced by the robot that might take their job. And, when their job goes away, we make sure that it’s the highest priority to help them land on their feet and help them find another job, and not just let their job automate them away.

While we’re on the political front, take me back to the 2018 mid-term elections. Where did the idea for The Telethon for America come from?

I was disappointed in our tragically low voter turnout in this country. The only way we can express our voice in our democracy is by voting. We have to use our voice. I wanted to do my part to help turn that around, especially with all of the incredibly important midterm elections that we just had. So, I decided that my goal was to try to help our country create an historic voter turnout in those midterms.

The idea came to me about seven weeks before the elections, which was in incredibly tight window of time. It normally takes six months to a year to produce a TV show of that magnitude, and requires budgets far bigger than the almost nothing that we had to work with – in fact, we actually had nothing at the time, not a penny.

Ben Gleib and Olivia Munn co-host The Telethon for America

How were you able to pull together The Telethon for America with very little time and no money?

It was all about trying to get people on board, so I started making calls and talking about the importance of the first telethon ever conducted with the goal of raising zero dollars. My friend and media strategist Rick Sorkin agreed first. Then I pitched the idea to Hannah Linkenhoker, who is a Senior Political Strategist at ICM Partners, and her firm wanted to be a part of it. Then a friend connected me with Michelle Obama’s When We All Vote, and they partnered with us. From there we started making partnerships with other places like Comedy Central and Funny or Die. Ellen DeGeneres jumped in, and she ended up carrying it on her YouTube channel. Chelsea Handler – my old friend from Chelsea Lately – helped a great deal. I had texted her about the idea at the very beginning but didn’t hear back, and then, all of a sudden, she replied and was like, “Are you still planning on doing this telethon?” She was an enormous help.

You wore many hats for the telethon – creator executive producer, head writer, and co-host. Where did you get the chutzpah to take all of this on?

It goes back to a pilot for a talk show hosted by Kevin Smith. The guests were Seth Rogan, Arden Myrin, and myself. Kevin and I skipped the entire wrap party and shared a joint together, and he asked me to tell him my life story. I explained that I’d spent many years producing and writing my own shows, and I had been a panelist on other people shows, and he said to me, “Well, what are you doing being a panelist on my show? You are a production guy like me. You should be doing your own thing.” That’s the thought that helped me take the bull by the horns and do things like The Telethon for America and The Last Week on Earth.

You recruited a Who’s Who of A-List Hollywood actors to answer the phones.

A lot of that was Chelsea Handler. She helped us get some of our biggest names, like Charlize Theron, Jane Fonda, and Debra Messing. And then I got all of these different, amazing people that I know to participate, people like Judd Apatow, Amy Schumer, and Kevin Smith. In a bit of a coup, Olivia Munn co-hosted with me.

Actresses Amy Schumer left Jane Fonda and Charlize Theron participated in Ben Gleib’s The Telethon for America on November 5, 2018

That says a lot about the state of politics in this country.

I think it was such an important cause, and people care about this country so much, that we were able to get all of these amazing people to come and participate. Comedians, actors, movie stars…the response was overwhelming. We had almost one million people tune in and pledge to vote, and to form voting squads to exponentially increase the reach of those that this broadcast reached. The next day, to whatever part we played in that, America ended up having its best midterm voter turnout since 1914, and a record ever among youth. The Telethon for America is the thing that I’m most proud of doing in my entire life.

Last talk about Last Week on Earth with Ben Gleib.  Love the podcast.

Thank you. The idea for a weekly, topical news podcast came to me because I wanted to do a show that hooked people who never really cared about the news or politics. I wanted to make it funny, dirty, and edgy, and hopefully make it appealing to people who found traditional news boring or over their head. I mentioned it to [friend and comedian] Joe Rogan. He said, “Are you sure you want to do that, buddy? It’s going to be an enormous amount of work. This is one creative endeavor you can’t bank.” He was right. I took on an enormous amount of work, and I’ve been trying to do it as consistently as I can, sometimes successfully, and sometimes not, over the last eight years.

Did Last Week on Earth come together as quickly as The Telethon for America?

It was a gradual thing. Kevin invited me to be a guest on his own podcast, and then he asked me to co-host with him. Then he asked me if I wanted my own show on his network. I told him my idea for the show and he said, “Oh my God, The Last Week on Earth is a brilliant title. It’s more brilliant than Hollywood Babylon. You’ve got to do it. I’ll help you launch the show.” And he did. It debuted at the No. 9 spot in all of iTunes comedy. I’ve been off and running ever since.

Comedian/actor Wayne Federman has been a guest on your podcast. He’s a friend of mine, and was my second interview on FifteenMinutesWith.

I love Wayne. He’s one of the great people in this business. He made a hilarious cameo appearance in Judd Apatow’s video for the telethon. Wayne is one of the loveliest people in comedy, and such a heartfelt dude. He loves basketball. I used to organize a weekly basketball game for comedians, and Wayne always showed up in his Chuck Taylors, which hasn’t been used as a basketball shoes in about 300 years. But he still had a great jump shot that he was able to pull off. And little known fact – Wayne also loves to swim. He always shows up at my birthday party, and he’s one of the few who actually jumps in the pool.

Magic Johnson has also appeared on FifteenMinutesWith. Wayne tells me that you have a story?

Growing up in L.A., Magic Johnson was my hero. I met him when I was a young boy at an event and got a photo of him – that was a huge thrill. And then, many years later, I ended up getting to play basketball with Magic, which was one of the most insane moments of my life. It was at the Sports Club/LA, which is a luxury health club in Los Angeles, and he was there one morning in the gym named after him. I ended up waiting for three games, and then I got to go in and play against Magic Johnson. Magic Johnson! I’m not physically guarding him, but at one point I set a screen that he couldn’t get around, and my guy hit a three-pointer. That felt pretty good. And then, at another point, Magic got a rebound and tried to make a cross-court pass, but I reached out and got my hand on the ball. And then, on another play, Magic was the first one down court and I was the first one back on defense. I tried to stop him from driving into the hoop and he just knocked me on my butt [laughs].

After all of that came the most insane moment of my athletic life: Magic turned under the guy guarding him to make a move to the basket. I see Magic coming from down low, and I’m right under the basket. With all of my muster, I jumped as hard as I could and I blocked Magic’s shot so hard that the ball flew out of bounds! I couldn’t believe what had just happened – I felt on top of the world – and then Magic Johnson calls a foul. I said, “BS, that is not a foul, I got all ball!” So now I’m arguing with my sports hero over him calling a bullshit foul. I’m calling him out on it, telling him that that was a load of crap, and Magic just lets me go on and get it out of my system. Then he smiles and says, “Son, son, son, it was already a foul. Your guy fouled me, I called foul, you didn’t hear me, and you smacked my ball when I was just messing around. The play was dead.” We both had a big laugh over that.

Wayne says that you’ve met some of your other NBA heroes.

I ended up on an airplane seated next to Kareem. I left him alone for the whole flight, and when the flight landed I had a chance to say something to him. The movie Airplane is one of the great comedies, and Kareem of course played the co-pilot in the movie. I leaned over and said to him, “I’m pretty relieved to see that you weren’t flying the plane.” And without blinking, he says, “Brother, the only thing I fly on is the 405 [laughs].”

Another true story: I’m a basketball fan growing up, and Chris Webber is one of the all-time greats. I travel to New York for an appearance on the Today Show, and I’m staying at the same hotel as Charles Barkley and Chris Webber. They are both at the bar hanging out. I go up to Charles Barkley, and I tell him that he’s so funny on Inside the NBA that he should be a comedian. And looks at me without smiling, and he says, “I would never do that, I don’t want to work that hard.” His timing and delivery were perfect. I laughed for days.

I then go over to Chris Webber, and his eyes get wide. Hey says, “Oh my God, it’s the guy from Idiotest! I love you, man. Can I get a photo with you?” He’s one of my favorite basketball players, and he takes a photo and tweets it out to all of his followers, and then he asks for my number and tells me he’s going to keep in touch! For an NBA fan, that’s a pretty insane moment.

Speaking of Idiotest, what was the transition to game show host like?

I didn’t have to prepare for it too much. I’m a fan of TV, and I grew up on game shows. Plus, Game Show Network was very supportive of me being me. They kept saying, “Don’t cut your hair, don’t change who you are.” I got to improvise every episode. I got to be me, to be playful and make fun of people. The hardest part was just shooting all the episodes very rapidly and wrapping my head around learning all the tests every day.

Beginning in August 2014, Gleib hosted four seasons of Idiotest on the Game Show Network

Let’s go back to the beginning. How old were you when you knew you wanted to do comedy?

Ever since I was five or six years old I knew that I was going to grow up to become a comedian. I just felt some weird kinship with the comics that I would see on television, and I’ve always viewed the world in a skewed, weird, funny way.

Were you the class clown?

Not really. I would do sketches as a young kid, videos for my school projects, things like that. I really wanted to do school plays all the way through high school, but I had a severe speech problem – it was a stutter, but also combined with a dysfluency where I couldn’t make sounds come out of my vocal cords. Oftentimes I couldn’t even say hello to a friend passing me in the hallway, so that kind of ruled out school plays. But I had such a desire to communicate and entertain that I wasn’t going to let it derail my dream of being a comedian.

How did you get your start in comedy?

There was an opening for a radio show during my senior year of high school. I went to the station and auditioned, and I had some of my funny friends co-host with me. I figured radio would be good, because if I hit a block in my speech they could just jump in and fill the gap, and the home audience would not know that I was unable to speak at the moment. It worked out so well that the station offered me the show. I did that through the end of my senior year. The college I went to had a TV station, so I started doing it on camera.

Ben Gleib (No animals were harmed in the shooting of this photo)

Did you stutter on camera?

People were able to see me hit speech blocks and stutter on the air, so it was embarrassing, but I wanted to do it so badly that I was willing to deal with the humiliation just to get my comedy out to people. I slowly learned to conquer my speech problem, and the show ended up becoming such a big thing on campus that I started booking Hollywood guests. I ended up getting Carmen Electra my senior year. We had 3,000 students in the crowd, and the Marines brought me into my show on a tank. I was actually sponsored and paid money to do that, which still blows my mind to this day. It’s one of the great thrills of my life.

Tell me about the transition from college TV show to standup comedian.

It turned out that I graduated with the manager of one of my Hollywood guests, who became my manager as well. So right out of the gate I was represented by the manager of people like Tom Green, Jimmy Kimmel, and Adam Corolla. That was a big head start. From there I began pursuing the business of acting, hosting, and standup comedy.

Did you do improv?

I was actually doing improv before I got deep into standup. I got my start with an improv troupe at a place called the Empty Stage. Kristen Wiig was in that troupe with me. She was brilliant. It was so cool to be able to perform in the same troupe as her, and then later see what she became.

Why the switch from improv to standup?

I began pursuing standup because it seemed more suited to my skill set. I have a unique speaking voice, and I was able to use it without having to take suggestions from the audience. And I could speak my own mind. Standup was the right decision. After two-and-a-half years of standup I was asked to perform on the Late Late Show on CBS. From there, it just all kind of spiraled. I opened for Dane Cook on his arena tour, which meant we were performing in NBA and NHL arenas all over North America. I ended up being a regular panelist on Chelsea Handler’s show for seven years, and she frequently invited me to open for her in arenas and in enormous theaters. All of that from a boy who wasn’t able to talk in the hallways at school. That is something that I will always be proud of.

And then comes your Showtime comedy special, Ben Gleib – Neurotic Gangster.

A comedian’s first special is always an incredibly special thing, because it’s the culmination of your entire career up until that point, boiled down into one hour. Neurotic Gangster is now available on Amazon Prime, so people are still watching it. First Neurotic Gangster, and then getting my own game show, Idiotest. It’s just been amazing to see my dreams come true.

My best friend Jason thinks that I have some very unique ability to manifest my visions and make them come true almost exactly as I picture them. To whatever degree that is true, I hope that I am now able to do that with the country, because there’s nothing more that I love than this country. I want to help turn our country towards the future, and to reject some of the darkness that has been unleashed recently. If my comedy and my passion can help set us on a better course, then nothing would make me happier.

How did Neurotic Gangster come together?

By the time I was offered that Showtime special I already had about three hours of material. I needed to figure out how to cull that down into one hour. And, as often seems to be the case in my life and career, I don’t always get as much time to pull these things off as most people do. Normally a comic knows they have a special taping coming at least six months in advance, and they have plenty of time to prepare. I was given the opportunity and had just under three weeks to pull it together.

All of this was going on just as Idiotest premiered on the Game Show Network, and as Chelsea Lately ended. I had already planned a five-day Burning Man vacation to decompress from this great whirlwind phase of my life, and I decided to go even though the Showtime clock was ticking. When I returned to L.A., I ran the 80 minute set five times in four days. Then I went to the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara and did the shoot.

Did you film multiple shows?

No, I only had one shot to get it right. Normally, a comedian gets two attempts to record their hour. Luckily, I had the best set of my life, and that’s what you see on that show.

How did you decide on the material for Neurotic Gangster?

Your first special is usually a best-of from your career. I brought back some old jokes that I hadn’t done in a long time. Then, when the special actually came out a few months later, I decided that I was going to retire all of that material.

How come?

Because I want to be one of the greats. There are plenty comedians that tell the same jokes forever, but they don’t become the best comedians to ever live. If you want to be known as one of the best and the most prolific, you must follow through and write new jokes. So the moment that special aired, I never told those jokes again.

You have a well-deserved reputation as a workaholic.

I’m very lucky that I have always had a huge amount of energy. I’m so passionate about what I do that it is very rare that I ever fall asleep at a normal hour. If I’m actually focused on something, I can stay up indefinitely. When I’m working on a project, I’m very comfortable not sleeping. I can work for 25 hours straight, sleep for three hours, and then work for another 18 hours. With The Telethon for America I barely slept those three-and-a-half weeks leading up to the event, and then I still managed to host it.

Ben Gleib

That energy reserve will serve you well if elected president.

Running for president is something entirely different. I’ve always worked hard, but I’ve never done something before where I’ve had to burn the candle at both ends with no end in sight. It’s quite a challenge. Every day there are major things that I have not yet been able to find the time to take on – important emails that I haven’t been able to read or respond to, for example. I’m constantly trying to get out from behind the eight ball. I now understand why presidents go completely gray during their first term. I am 41, and just three months ago I barely had a gray hair in my head. Now all of the sudden I’m going gray. That’s just a few months into campaigning, so I can’t imagine what happens once you’re actually in the White House.

Something tells me that you’re okay with a few gray hairs.

The thing that keeps me going is the fact that so many people have been inspired by this campaign. I constant get messages from people telling me that they believe in what I am saying. They want me to become their president. They feel that they need someone like me to help turn the ship around. It’s so humbling and moving that, if I have to sacrifice a little bit of my health or sleep in the process, then I’m more than happy to do that.

Tell me how your role in Ice Age: Continental Drift came about.

Getting to do voice-overs and cartoons has been one of the great surprises of my career. Growing up I loved cartoons, like most children do, but I never had a goal of being in them myself. Then, after one of my standup shows, Maureen Rose of the Osbrink Agency came up to me and said she loved my voice. She said she could see me working in cartoons, and offered to represent me. It has been a wonderful business relationship. Suddenly, I’m in these huge movies that entertain so many millions of people and children around the world, movies like Ice Age and The Book of Life. It has been a real treat for me to be able to do that. And, as an added benefit, it turns out that voice-overs pay pretty decently in terms of residual checks. Getting those residual checks on a consistent basis makes it a little bit easier to succeed in this crazy business.

Ben Gleib provides the voice of Marshall the Sloth in Ice Age: Continental Drift

You’ve mentioned being a frequent guest on Chelsea Lately, and you appeared on the last episode. What do you miss most about the show?

It was the time of my life doing Chelsea Lately for the last seven years. I miss the privilege of going on international television and introducing my comedy to the world. It was so immediate and unscripted and raw, and it’s such a rare thing to have. Chelsea [Handler] has the fastest wit on TV; she’s such a raw, honest and unforgiving person. It was a lot of fun to spar with her. And to take my fair share of abuse, which kept me humble.

Backstage with Ben Gleib and Chelsea Handler

Next to last question – If you had one piece of advice to give to aspiring comedians, what would that be?

The advice that I would give to any up-and-coming stand-up comedian is this: You should not do it unless you have to. You can have a hobby of making people laugh – you can do it online, you can do it on a YouTube channel – but if you’re going to try to become a standup comedian, you should only do it if there is something in your soul that you cannot avoid, and you are willing to work harder than you could ever possibly imagine to make it happen.

You need to go into it with eyes wide open, knowing that becoming a comedian will not be handed to you. It is an absolute grind. You will work for years with no pay, and then when you get the pay, the pay will be horrible. You’ll think it’s a joke, or you’ll think you’re on some kind of prank show – especially when you see that check. And then you’ll work many more years as a host or a feature act, making very little money. Only then, if you are lucky, will you become a part of one of the most exclusive clubs in the industry, and become a headliner comedian. Even then, you’re still not going to get paid great most of the time…unless you become one of the top ten comedians on earth. If you’re willing to do all of that just because you love being able to bring your weird thoughts onto a stage and give people a break from the madness of their days, then you have passed the seriousness test that I think qualifies you to give it a go as a career.

Last question – Is there anything you want to share with the voters? If there is anybody reading this who likes what I have to say, and agrees that we need an outside voice to challenge Donald Trump, then I ask you to go to Gleib2020.com and donate whatever you can afford. We want to keep this campaign moving and challenge the powers that be in a very needed way.

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Tijana Petrović – Camera Ready

Written By: Michael D. McClellan | Tijana Petrović is in the public eye, and for all of the right reasons. The Belgrade-born filmmaker, cinematographer and lecturer is one of the featured artists in The Hudson Eye, the inaugural new program presented by the Jonah Bokaer Arts Foundation and arranged by curator Aaron Levi Garvey. The series, which aims to stimulate cultural and economic diversity in the area, takes place August 23rd through September 2nd, 2019, timed through Labor Day Weekend in historic downtown Hudson, NY.

The Hudson Eye is the perfect vehicle for Petrović’s mesmerizing, monumental work Canyon, a 45-minute video projection of a continuous traveling shot of a winding canyon wall in Glen Canyon, Arizona. Equal parts ambitious, artistic, and thought-provoking, Canyon re-introduces the world to the fabled lost beauty of Glen Canyon, documenting the imprint of time and changes it carves into nature’s terrain. The film is especially timely, given the extreme weather and climate change the world now experiences as the new normal.

Canyon is also a history lesson of sorts, a reminder of man’s indelible imprint on the environment: In 1963, the floodgates closed on the newly constructed Glen Canyon Dam near the Arizona-Utah border, locking the waters of the Colorado River behind its concrete face. The water pooled behind the dam, slowly filling in the vast canyon – and the maze of slot canyons and grottoes feathering around its edges. Seemingly lost forever was the magnificent natural splendor of Glen Canyon, as well as oases like Cathedral of the Desert, Ribbon Canyon, and Dungeon Canyon. But now, after a decade-long drought that has reduced the 254 square mile reservoir to half of its 9-trillion gallon high-water mark, Glen Canyon is once again revealing itself to the world.

Petrović brings all of this into focus through her intriguing views of a winding canyon wall in Glen Canyon, taking the viewer on a contemplative journey that will screen on loop throughout the festival at the corner of 8th and Warren in Hudson.

FifteenMinutesWith caught up with the filmmaker born and raised in the former Yugoslavia.

Please tell me about growing up in Belgrade.  What memories stand out most, and how did this region, still healing from war, influence your filmmaking?

Growing up as a teenager in the 1990s in Belgrade (then Yugoslavia, now Serbia) meant that we lived through two wars, sanctions that lasted an entire decade, long teacher strikes, extreme economic inflation, and a period of transition from socialism to capitalism that has been slow and painful in many ways. In terms of filmmaking this period had a very strong impact on my love of cinema as an artistic medium. Living in a big city meant that I had access to the cinematheque which showed foreign and classic films by most important film directors. I spent a lot of evenings there watching films by Kurosawa, Bergman, Chaplin, Tarkovsky, and many others. Cinema provided an escape world. We had accepted the absurdity of things happening around us and the senselessness of the war. But these films were dealing with big questions and ideas about humanity and their attention to the subtleties of human existence was very much needed in our lives.

You studied filmmaking at The New School in New York.  How did the school’s multidimensional approach to education help shape you as an artist?

It was during my studies at The New School that I decided I wanted to focus on documentary film, so my experience there was foundational in terms of what I wanted to continue doing with film. I was part of the very first class of the documentary certificate program at The New School. We had great professors and were exposed to really accomplished and talented guest filmmakers. We took classes in the Media Arts department and I also worked at the Parsons School of Art and Design’s Photography lab as a student which allowed me to use their photography facilities and continue my photo work.

An MFA in Documentary Film and Video from Stanford University is next level stuff. What was this experience like for you, and what aspect of this journey did you enjoy the most?

It is an intensive program that has strong educational goals in terms of preparing you to work as a professional in the documentary film world. You are immersed in working on your own films during the two-year program and I think this aspect appealed to me the most. Having to make a film in a very short period of time and move on to the next one. Even though it felt overwhelming at times it gave me an opportunity to explore different approaches to filmmaking.

Let’s talk about the technical aspects of documentary filmmaking. What were some of the more difficult techniques or concepts for you to master, and what type of equipment are you using in your documentaries today?  What cameras do you shoot with most?

I use whatever camera and format are best for the project I’m working on. I still shoot 16mm film with a Bolex camera, and I recently shot a project on an Arri SR2 16mm camera. But most often I shoot on digital cameras of various sizes. In certain situations I use very small cameras, like the Black Magic Pocket Cinema camera in order to have a smaller footprint and be less conspicuous in public. In other cases, where I am able to move slowly and take my time, as in a current project where I’m shooting desert landscapes that I plan to manipulate in post-production I’ve used a RED Dragon camera and shot on a very high resolution.

Is lighting as difficult to get right as it appears?

Yes, definitely.

Documentaries tell stories. You strike me as a natural storyteller.  What draws you to documentary filmmaking?

What appeals to me the most is the documentary process itself which for me is one of exploration, digging, revealing. I don’t know very much about the subject of the film at the start, usually a film is born out of some instinctive attraction, an idea that seems appealing to me and resonates with themes I’m interested in. But it’s the process of making the film that then generates new ideas and creates itself, and this process is one that always has to be very open in the beginning and remain open for a while in order for some new element to be revealed. I love that documentaries allow for spontaneity and surprise and I love when these elements are included in a film. It feels like you are collaborating with reality.

You also teach and lecture. What are some of the common mistakes that beginning filmmakers make?

Most early mistakes have to do with technical issues and the general lack of experience with using the equipment. But this is just a part of the process and the best approach is to try to embrace the mistakes and find a way to integrate them into the project. This is a truly creative approach to documentary filmmaking, to always be responding to your material, rather than trying to control it tightly. Often times these ‘mistakes’ allow you to discover something new or end up being an important element in the film.

I love the concept behind Changed Landscape. You have the mundane overlaid with reminders that the world in which we live has become far more complicated and chaotic than ever before.  Where did you draw your inspiration for this film?

I was interested in making a film that didn’t have any kind of story but was rather shaped by an imposed structure and was conceptual in nature. I also wanted to work with image and sound in a way that created new content when juxtaposed together. But in terms of content I think the film is concerned with a feeling that was very familiar to me as a young person growing up in post-war Yugoslavia – a sense of absurdity of everyday life in light of extreme circumstances, the banal and the tragic put together.

Let’s talk about The Hudson Eye. How did you get involved in Jonah Bokaer’s inaugural 10-day public program?

Jonah Bokaer had seen a few of my recent works and was interested in including something in the festival. He asked me to send them to the curator of The Hudson Eye, Aaron Levi Garvey who decided to include Canyon, the video projection that will be shown at the festival.

I’ve watched the 7:58 excerpt of Canyon, and it is brilliant.  Please provide me with the genesis of this project.

I was interested in landscapes that were altered in some extreme ways for human use and over time couldn’t be controlled any longer. Instances where our predictions about a place were no longer valid and our ability to control it was lost. I came across an article by Rebecca Solnit about Lake Powell and the declining water levels which revealed the canyon walls that were under water for many decades. She writes with such brilliant insight about the circumstances of the formation of this man-made lake and its precarious future in light of environmental change, that I was immediately drawn to this geography.

Canyon – Tijana Petrović

The idea about a single traveling shot came once I had spent some time at the lake. I am very much drawn to films that use long duration to express ideas – films of James Benning, Sharon Lockhart, Chantal Akerman, and others who are concerned with the element of time in their films and how it can shape our seeing. 

I wanted to create a visceral relationship between the viewer and the place and I didn’t think that would happen by explaining the story of the lake. I wanted to create an experience in which the viewer could have a very intimate engagement with the piece and its subject. I felt that by filming it in this way I was placing a magnifying glass in front of the viewer, and that gesture I felt spoke for itself.

From a technical standpoint, what were some of the biggest challenges faced in shooting Canyon?

There were many technical challenges. Doing a single take is always a difficult task and in this case there were many parameters we had to figure out before shooting the actual piece – time of day to shoot in, getting to know the actual route, and many other more technical issues related to in-camera settings. We ended up doing many iterations of the shot over a 10-day period.

Last question: If you had one piece of advice for aspiring filmmakers, what would that be?

To keep making work, look for support and community and watch a lot of films.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Tijana Petrović is a filmmaker born and raised in the former Yugoslavia. Her films have screened at festivals and screening venues internationally including True/False, Ann Arbor, Anthology Film Archives and Dok Leipzig among others. Her work has received support from various institutions including The Enersen Foundation, University Film and Video Association, RI Council for the Humanities among others. Tijana studied documentary film at The New School in NY and holds an MFA in Documentary Film and Video from Stanford University. She is a lecturer at San Francisco State University and Stanford University. Currently she is a Resident at the SFFILM FilmHouse for 2019.
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL: The Hudson Eye is an artist-driven 10-day public program and urban showcase, with a focus on Dance, Music, Performance, Film, Visual Art, Dining Out, and Nightlife. Works by the following artists will be featured during the First Edition of Hudson Eye: Jonah Bokaer Choreography, Ryder Cooley, Laura Gutierrez, Patrick Higgins, Rachel Libeskind, Elena Mosely, Tony Orrico, Tijana Petrovic´, Matthew Placek, Davon, Betti Rollo, Erika Schipa, Sheida Soleimani, Timothy Stanley, J.M. Tate, Alexander Turnquist and others.

The Hudson Eye will also feature daily Hot Topic Talks hosted by guest speakers whose professional affiliations represent the diversity of Hudson. Speakers include Dr. Carrie Wilkens, Dr. Jeff Foote of Center for Motivation and Change, Sean Kelly founder of Sean Kelly Gallery, Dr. Gidon Eshel of Bard College, Ned Sullivan of Scenic Hudson, Jon Bowemaster and others.

Visit the festival website for the full line-up: https://www.thehudsoneye.com/