Diedrich Bader used to play best friend. He did it for nine seasons of The Drew Carey Show. Twenty years later, he did just that in Pamela Adlon’s meditation Better Things. During this period, he also did it many times. But about being Bob Odenkirk in Lucky Hank Wingman, an AMC series based on Richard Russo’s 1930 Fiction Straight guy , makes Bader feel different – his current IMDb rating is 1997 Performance credits.
“I don’t feel like an artist anymore, I feel more like a cabinet maker,” Budd says before taking on the dark comedy about an aging academic. to their state of mind. “There’s a lot of artistic skill to making cabinets, but maybe once you’ve done too much, it’s like ‘Here’s another cabinet! With this, I was like “This is all I have. I can bring comedy, but I can also bring some reality.”
in late April Speaking via Zoom, Bader explained why Lucky Hank — the Sunday airing the season one finale on AMC and AMC+ — came at the right time. He also delves into family history (his late father, William B. Bader, was a spy), the hurdles he encountered when considering a switch to screenwriting, and the two minor roles he almost always touches in public.
Well, we’re speaking shortly after the news that Fox News fired Tucker Carlson broke of. Do I deserve your instant response for posterity?
I am very happy. I really hate that guy. This was a few years ago, but I wrote a tweet saying, “Hey Tucker, my mother-in-law watches your show every night and she’s an anti-vaccine because of your show.” I just really I want him to admit that he got his chance, everyone at Fox got his chance, they just didn’t talk about it. It went a little crazy on Twitter . A group of lawyers contacted me saying we could file a class action lawsuit with other parents whose parents have been watching Fox but have not been vaccinated due to misinformation. CNN somehow got my own phone number. I was like, “How did that happen?” I didn’t make the list. But the producers said, “Would you like Sunday morning?”
escalated so quickly? I was like, “I’m not a politician. I just tweeted that I wish my mother-in-law would get vaccinated.” Anyway, on Monday, all of the Fox hosts except Carlson said they had been vaccinated. I’ve always wondered if I caused it. Anyway, I’m very happy. I mean he’s a modern koughlin from 1930 priest. In terms of political expression, the reason for the whole idea of regulating airlines is Father Coughlin – because of his misinformation and anti-Semitism. It’s also for ratings. It’s just a coward.
You’re not a politician, but you grew up with politics – right? I’m from outside Washington DC. My father worked in politics. He’s also a spy, which is funny, and then he becomes a professor. He does many things.
There is more than a little information about your father on the Internet – but what do you know about his spy career? I know some, but he Keep it a secret. He didn’t really say where he went. Sometimes he would come back with a hat that came from Uzbekistan – this was in Soviet times. He’s an interesting guy. You can google him. His obituary covers him well. I mean, he worked in the CIA and then he left and became a professor…but did he really leave? This is where the problem lies. In his later years, he basically said he never really left. He was the one who brought down [Secretary of Defense] Robert McNamara for his lies about the Gulf of Tonkin — because he was working for Senator Fulbright at the time. That’s when we moved to Paris because we basically had to leave the city.
Oh wow. Crazy, right? He found out through his old friends in the CIA that they had coordinated the first attack and then lied about the second attack – which is basically how we got into the war. When confronted with the information, McNamara said he would give the committee an answer tomorrow. Before he really got into trouble, he resigned to his fate and got out of the car to dodge. It was a smart move, but then McNamara set out on his business finding out who was screwing him. Dad was basically persona non grata for a while. But life in Paris was really interesting because we met a group of artists and educators. That’s why I became an actor. Would you like to hear my origin story?
sure! when we moved there , I probably only have three people. I should learn French – they say kids are born with language geniuses, but that’s not me. My siblings are doing well, but I am doing poorly. So I was a very quiet kid, and the language thing kind of put me off. My mom and my siblings made a deal that they could take as many friends as they wanted to the movies if they took me along. So, I’d go to Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers – I still love them so much – and the Marx Brothers – I like Harpo because he’s quiet and an anarchist – and Charlie Chaplin. I did the whole Charlie Chaplin trick in my bedroom. My favorite theater in Paris plays silent films because they have a pipe organ from the era. One day the movie got caught and burned, and everyone was booing, and I was like, “Nobody’s booing Charlie Chaplin!” I ran up to the audience on the screen and started doing Charlie Chaplin’s Performing, the organist said, “I might as well play my little thing.” I ended up exaggerating a little, took off my pantomime hat, and got a standing ovation. That was my start. Otherwise, I’d be a college professor like my siblings.
asked “Why didn’t you take advantage of This?” was a very Hollywood impulse. But, between your father being a spy and this time in Paris, did you ever think about writing something? Oh, his story is good. I thought about it, but he ended up with Alzheimer’s, which was painful for me. it still is. This is also a very interesting thing. He was admitted to the ward of CIA agents with Alzheimer’s because the people who worked there had security clearances.
I never thought about it. I mean, they carry State secrets, they have no idea who they are talking to. So yeah, I started writing movies, but I found it too painful to write about. I came up with a whole plot, but when I started the dialogue… I was crying all over the place. I thought, “Well, this should be interesting?” [laughs] Maybe someone else could write it. Maybe at some point when I’m older, I’ll finally be able to deal with it.
You’ve been around for such a long time and you exude multifaceted vibes so I’m amazed to watch Until you have no writing credit. Is this the path you’ve considered? No credits, but I love writing. I write with my wife. We write comedy. The thing I don’t want to do is be in the writer’s room. I’d rather write it down and turn it in. I don’t think this is an environment where I would thrive, but I’m not entirely sure. I’m open to it. The last few years since COVID have been really interesting for me in terms of reevaluating what I want to do. I don’t really like auditioning at home in front of a screen. I really don’t like it. I’m one of the few actors who likes to audition. I like working in a room. I like figuring out people. I love the vibe.
What are your thoughts on this re-evaluation? For a strange looking Personally, my career has been pretty good. I’ve been perfectly content telling other people’s jokes 05 Year. But I was like, “Yeah?” I’d lose energy doing that. There are a lot of things I don’t want to do anymore, and it comes down to – and this sounds a bit snobby – I want to do something smart. I want to do something that people can think about. I’ve been making marshmallows for so long. There is nothing wrong with marshmallows. It’s great, but when you enjoy it for a long time, it can get a little gross. [Lucky Hank] basically landed on my lap and it was awesome to be part of the chorus and be there. I love families so much that I will keep a set home. I work hard to maintain my friendships, I work hard to take care of my kids, and to be a lover to my wife. at last years, I really don’t want to work out of town.
you for 2023 Veep, though, right? I do this for Veep because it is Veep! (laughs. But if I could do more of this, I’d keep doing it forever and be totally happy. If I go back and do wider comedy here and There, then I’ll pick up writing and work harder. I’m keeping my options open, but I’m absolutely in love with acting again doing Lucky Hank.
Do you feel like performing Better Things ? Better Things is a magical act. Every day something special happens to that scene. [Pamela Adlon] is literally a witch or wizard, whatever you want to call it. Eulogy episodes, for example, when the youngest says , “no one talks about me at all, we only talk about mom.” We were comforting her, and then I don’t even know who started it…but we started dancing around her. It wasn’t in the script, we just finished the whole Dance. DP Paul Koestner followed us and took a great shot. Something like this rarely happens on set. It was alchemy and I really enjoyed it. Better Things and Veep really get me excited and uplifted.
You play gay on Better Things which is a starting point. This is going to sound a bit weird, but I’m in Miss Congeniality 2. I do a wide range of roles. I’m basically doing Isaac Mizrahi. I just watched that great documentary about him, Unzipped, I just thought this was what I wanted to do. Very interesting, but when I saw all of this edited together, I thought… maybe it was going too far. I might have almost drawn A grotesque caricature. Of the gay men I know, I’m friends with a lot of them, but I don’t know anyone. I made up my mind that if I could play another gay character, I’d play him as another A person – a real person, not a vehicle for jokes.
What job makes you sorry See the end? I like to go long lens. Everyone was talking about how they wanted the multicam show back, but they did all these pilots and none of them got accepted. So I have to be realistic and stop accepting those pilots.
That’s not what I want you to say. I kind of support multi-camera. The Beverly Hillbillies After [the movie], I thought I’d be a movie star. This didn’t happen for a variety of reasons – some out of my control, some out of my control. But then I got The Drew Carey Show . The first year of Tor, I wanted to quit the show. I love Drew. I love actors. But I don’t want to do this show. Thank God, Bruce Helford [showrunner] won’t let me go. So, in the second year, after I realized it was going to last a while, I really fell in love with the format. This is an unrehearsed play, with immediate feedback from the live audience.when i was in that theater in paris , that’s the kind of love I got. That instant feedback is fantastic, and it’s not as clinical as a one-cam comedy. People laugh!
Are you watching Lucky Hank season 2 or are you doing anything else? I keep messing with my statement because it’s my daughter Last year at home – she’s graduating high school – and I’m very lucky to have us in a financial situation where I can just do voiceover. So, I don’t want to work right now. I can’t do another series because of committing to Hank — I’m not just contractually committed, by the way! I don’t want to be an estranged father. I thoroughly enjoy driving my daughter to school every day even though she can drive herself. I pick her up and we listen to music. We listen to Mamma Mia soundtrack. I had a great time.
Well, this is cute. Thank you so much for speaking with me. Wait, we didn’t Standard point questions instead had a real conversation. This doesn’t happen very often.
What are the standard questions you get? Oh, what is Bob people?” Everyone wanted to know what Bob liked. I mean, what am I going to say? “He’s a monster. What a jerk! First of all, Bob is great! But people want to talk about the biggest hits. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked about Lawrence.
Neighbor in
office space ? Not that I don’t enjoy talking about Lawrence. God bless that part, it’s awesome, but that’s my life Three days. Napoleon Dynamite is a day. One day I work on Napoleon Dynamite and people always Wanted to talk about it. I’m glad it was a success, don’t get me wrong, but I had a day at work. I have another life, you guys. [laughs ]
Few things resonate as much as a smaller part of a cult comedy. totally. To this day, people still ask me if I What would I do with a million dollars 2021. I Will be in the parking lot and they want an answer. I hate being disappointed. I’m an actor. 1416134246305918976
141613424630591897614161342463059189761416134246305918976
