美国国家公共电台 NPR Behind 'The Kominsky Method,' A Sitcom King (He Prefers 'Court Jester')

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The sitcom¹ king is back with a series in which both the sit and the com may be unexpected. Chuck Lorre, the mind behind huge hits that include "Two And A Half Men," "Mike & Molly" and "The Big Bang Theory," has created a series for Netflix that's set in Hollywood, but it's really about the biggest show of all - growing old. It stars a matinee idol² who's now in his 70s; Michael Douglas as Sandy Kominsky, an old star who now gets turned down for sitcoms³, but he keeps working as an acting⁴ teacher. Alan Arkin plays his friend, agent and a recent widower⁵.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE KOMINSKY METHOD")

MICHAEL DOUGLAS: (As Sandy Kominsky) Listen to me. We're all scared, but we get through it because we're not alone. You're not alone.

ALAN ARKIN: (As Norman) Who do I have?

DOUGLAS: (As Sandy Kominsky) Can you see me? I'm right here in front of you.

SIMON: Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin. Nancy Travis also stars, and the show has guests that range from Ann-Margret to Jay Leno to Patti LaBelle to Danny DeVito. Chuck Lorre joins us now from NPR West. Thanks so much for being with us.

CHUCK LORRE: Thanks for having me.

SIMON: When the series opens, Sandy Kominsky has a problem confronting mortality, doesn't he?

LORRE: Yes. Yeah. He's - you know, there's a certain self-involvement in the character that has to be overcome. That's part of his journey. And the wife of his friend Norman, who is terminally ill, she has a big impact on him and opens him up to being close to mortality, to being close to the reality of getting older.

SIMON: Well, let me ask you, sitcom king...

LORRE: No, don't use that word. Kings get their heads chopped off. Let's go with something else.

SIMON: Oh, all right.

LORRE: Court jester would be fine.

SIMON: All right. Court jester then, Mr. Lorre. Is this a show that people will watch in part because it is about Hollywood? I mean, it's different than if you - if, let's say, your principal characters were all teachers at a high school in Oregon.

LORRE: I wasn't really that interested in spoofing or doing a show about show business. What was interesting about this in the world of Hollywood and acting is first and foremost he's teaching a class of kids that are several generations removed from him. And that gulf⁶ between his perception of the world and a 22-year-old's perception of the world was something that was interesting to me. I wanted to write about that. And I also wanted to avoid the pitfall⁷ of making fun of acting and have a character like Sandy Kominsky who is trying to imbue⁸ his love for the craft to these students. And some of the students you see as you watch this thing have real chops. They really can act.

SIMON: All that being noted⁹ and the respect for the craft of acting, there are some hilarious¹⁰ moments in those acting classes.

LORRE: Boy, I hope so.

(LAUGHTER)

SIMON: Mr. Lorre, you used to play cruise ships and bat mitzvahs...

LORRE: You bet (laughter).

SIMON: ...In your days as a musician.

LORRE: Yeah, about 17, 18 years. I've played saloons in Alaska and cruise ships in the Caribbean and all points in between, you know, a journeyman guitar player.

SIMON: And what do you think you learned from that?

LORRE: I think playing in front of a live audience every night, you have an obligation to a live audience. And the obligation in most bars is the band is there to help the patrons dance, actually, believe it or not, to make them perspire¹¹ so they'll drink more.

SIMON: Oh, my gosh. That never occurred to me.

LORRE: You bet. And if the band doesn't do that, the band gets fired.

SIMON: The guy - the person who owns the bar doesn't want to hear and now a slow, romantic ballad¹² that's a favorite of mine.

LORRE: And we're going to do a little song in 7/4 that's impossible to dance to, but it's very interesting. Yeah, no, they don't want it - they don't want that. "Sweet Home Alabama" will be fine. Thank you. So when I started doing situation comedies in front of a live audience - and that's been, for the most part, all I've done for the last 30 years - there's that obligation to the audience. Now, the obligation is not to cause them to dance but to cause laughter. And once again, it's not a bar owner this time. It's a network. If the audience isn't laughing, you're packing your belongings¹³ in a cardboard box, and you're going home. But I think the more relevant part is playing music impacted on the way I listen to words. There's rhythm in dialogue. There's pauses like there's rests in music. There's pauses that make comedy possible. Everything plays almost musically but with words.

SIMON: I'm afraid I have to ask you about - as I read about it, it struck me as what might be the low point of your career.

LORRE: There were several. Which one are you talking about?

SIMON: Well, I read that you were fired from the staff of "My Little Pony¹⁴."

LORRE: (Laughter) I was drinking coffee when you said that. I almost - you almost got a spit take. Oh...

SIMON: Oh, darn.

LORRE: (Laughter).

SIMON: I live to - do you realize what pleasure it would give me to cause Chuck Lorre to have a spit take?

LORRE: It was close.

SIMON: All right.

LORRE: (Laughter) Yeah, I guess - I remember the CBS president of children's programming said I just don't have the pony's voice.

SIMON: (Laughter) Oh, Twinkle.

LORRE: Yeah. And I've got to tell you, I worked really hard on that. I was kind of devastated¹⁵. I was going to take the pony project and bring it up a notch¹⁶, you know (laughter)?

SIMON: Well, you've done OK.

LORRE: I've done OK. You know, that which doesn't kill us makes us bitter, right?

SIMON: (Laughter) I hadn't heard that. There's a moment in "The Kominsky Method" where Alan Arkin bursts into Sandy Kominsky's acting class. He just can't stay silent, and he sees a lot of people who are four or five generations younger than him, and he says, you know, to be human is to be hurt. And I saw that scene and found myself thinking this isn't a situation comedy. This is a situation dramedy.

LORRE: One of the great advantages of doing this was I had the freedom to just write and chase the characters where it felt appropriate to go. I guess I've been doing this long enough to where I reached a point where I just - I'm going to trust that this is appropriate and do it and not worry about what category it falls into.

SIMON: Chuck Lorre - his new show, "The Kominsky Method," streaming on Netflix - thanks so much for being with us.

LORRE: It was fun. Thank you very much.

(SOUNDBITE OF JEFF BECK'S "ROSEBUD")