John LithgowandJoseph Gordon-Levittare getting the3rd Rock from the Sunfamily back together.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: John, what inspired you to write this darker follow-up book of satirical political poetry?
JOHN LITHGOW:Things are getting darker by the day.
Credit: Vera Anderson/WireImage; Noam Galai/Getty Images
And it absolutely killed.
I’ve never heard a public theater audience laugh and cheer so hard.
They were so primed for a little piece of Trump satire.
I’m the least likely Bull satirist in the world, but this really captured my imagination.
And of course, I had amuse.
What did you learn from writing the first book that you applied to this follow-up?
LITHGOW:These are the first books I’ve ever illustrated myself.
[Laughs] It was something to look forward to every year.
LITHGOW:Thats right!
The second one is much better illustrated than the first.
Beyond that, my confidence grew.
I got a little bolder as the events grew darker, and the subjects grew more urgent.
I got a little more courageous with it.
Joe, what did you think of Johns poetry when you first read both books?
These last four years have sometimes felt like a comedy in the saddest ways.
So I found it quite cathartic.
How did you two come together for this collaboration, bringing the poems to life in videos?
He put it out there, and it had a fantastic effect.
The things they came up with were brilliant.
They’re like Joseph Gordon-Levitt acolytes.
And Joe, of course, is one of my favorites.
John gave some tips on dramatic reading of poetry which was wonderful to get.
We ended up with these two great short films.
[Laughs] Im just so proud of Joe, its the surrogate dad in me.
Hes just created something so wonderful and unusual with HITRECORD.
You were such a consummate leader; you were a knight in shining armor on3rd Rock.
LITHGOW:You really do know how to deeply embarrass me during interviews.
How did you guys feel about the way the show ended when the series finale aired back in 2001?
LITHGOW:Oh, there were plenty of tears.
God, it was an incredibly sentimental moment.
Realistically, it was a good time to wrap up3rd Rock.
In fact, we shot an entire episode in New York just so we could go to Joe.
It was a fabulous parody ofSex in the City,just to get us all back together.
But doing that final episode, it was just overwhelmingly nostalgic.
But looking back at it in retrospect, it was lightning in a bottle.
We wouldn’t want to have it any different, including having to go on any longer.
GORDON-LEVITT:Like John said, I went away to college for the sixth year.
They could have said, youre on contract, youll have to wait for college.
We really didnt know how lucky we were back then.
GORDON-LEVITT:Yeah, I did.
LITHGOW:I don’t know how much realistic talk there has been.
And there’s nothing worse than trying to regain the comedy of something that was magic.
Joes particular comedy story was that he was an old man in a young boys body.
Look at this venerable, grizzled, old 39-year-old.
GORDON-LEVITT:[Laughs] I am getting old, its true!
LITHGOW:If you think youre old now, just wait until you turn 75.
GORDON-LEVITT:Im feeling older by the minute.
LITHGOW:Yeah, you and I have got to cook something up quick, Joe.
It was wonderful being back in touch with you.
I just downloaded the Peacock app and you could see all the old3rd Rockepisodes there.
GORDON-LEVITT:you’re able to?
LITHGOW:I watched a few and they are just so f—ing funny.
They hold up so magnificently!
I was so relieved that I hadnt just mythologized it in my own mind.
[Laughs] I’ll have to go back and watch some now!
