“The fact that this silly-ass character got noticed and appreciated is actually really sweet.”
“This was a total surprise,” Reiser tells EW of his seventh Emmy nomination.
His previous six were forMad About You, but he’s never won.
Michael Douglas and Paul Reiser in ‘The Kominsky Method’.Michael Yarish/Netflix
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY How did your role onThe Kominsky Methodcome about?
PAUL REISER:It started with a call from me.
When I saw the first season ofThe Kaminsky Method,I just was so happy for him.
Sarah Baker, Kathleen Turner, and Paul Reiser in season 3 of ‘The Kominsky Method.'.ANNE MARIE FOX/NETFLIX
I thought it was something new and unique.
I literally emailed him to tell him what a great job he did.
And then I said, “Let’s do something like that.
Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser on ‘Mad About You’.Trae Patton/Sony Pictures Television/Spectrum
Two guys sitting in a car complaining about their body ailments?
I could do that all day.”
In fact, I already am.
He said, “How would you feel about maybe coming on board this show?
You don’t have to tell me now.”
I said, “I’m going to tell you now.
Yes, yo.”
He’s an irritant to Sandy.
Whose idea was it for your character to have the ponytail?That was Chuck.
Believe me, I would never have dreamt of that.
I said, “Okay, whatever you want.”
He said, “We’re going to give you a little padding.
We’re going to give you a bald cap.
And one more thing.
We’re giving you a ponytail.”
I said, “Well, that’s kind of genius.”
It’s a great character choice because he’s not just a guy who lost his hair.
He’s a guy who’s holding onto some memory of his youth."
Something needs to go wrong.
If things are too rosy, that’s not funny.
Sandy doesn’t like his daughter’s choice of an old guy.
And then most of the horror comes from how Martin and his daughter actually get along too well.
So, somebody has to be irritated, right?
And then you don’t win for whatever reason.
I never took it too literally.
I didn’t feel too sad if I didn’t win.
We had such fun onMad About Youand wrote the shows we wanted to write.
I got to play with Helen Hunt every day for seven years.
I was aware that it was a unique experience, but I never really thought about the awards.
I’ve long since stopped following it.
It just wasn’t on my mind at all.
I went, “What’s going on?
Did somebody die?”
There’s so much content out there to watch, it felt even more special.
I assume you didn’t campaign at all then?No.
I can honestly tell you, I didn’t have a publicist.
I didn’t have anybody do anything.
I’m telling you, I didn’t know the Emmys were going on this year!
We said, ‘What would be the worst time?"
That’s my business acronym.
It wasn’t the pandemic.
It came out in two halves November of 2019 and December of 2019.
So we can’t blame the pandemic.
it’s possible for you to blame Spectrum if you want.
Spectrum isn’t Netflix it isn’t in every house.
But you know, the excitement had waned.
I still have people go, “What happened?
You guys were talking about doing that?”
I was like, “It’s been out for a year.”
So it was frustrating.
The good news is, you might go find it.
We had no desire to do it.
We were very content and proud of the way we ended the show.
We stuck the landing.
So we thought long and hard: “Is there any reason to do it?”
Then we realized the timing of our story.
It lands 19 years later.
That little baby we had in 1999 would be heading to college now.
That’s an interesting moment to investigate.
So what are you expecting from this Emmys ceremony?Nobody has a clear answer.
If you have to wear a mask, that’s actually great.
I think that’s going to be a huge plus.
So I embrace the pandemic to that extent.
All three seasons ofThe Kominsky Methodare streaming now on Netflix.
