Entertainment :: Television
Talking ’30 Rock’ :: Hello, Cheyenne Jackson by Jim Halterman
EDGE ContributorThursday Oct 15, 2009
Even though 30 Rock won the Best Comedy series Emmy last month, it’s business as usual as the fourth season prepares to kick off this week with more zaniness and poking of fun at the Hollywood community. To get the scoop on what is coming with the new season, EDGE’s Jim Halterman talked with Jack McBrayer (who plays Kenneth, the NBC page) and Executive Producer Robert Carlock about the fine line between McBrayer and his character, Cheyenne Jackson’s upcoming appearance and how much they all owe to 30 Rock creator Tina Fey.
It’s no secret that Tina Fey created the role of Kenneth, the loyal, often-naïve NBC page, with McBrayer in mind. How close is he to the beloved character?
"I think just very generally kind of being a people pleaser and always wanting to do good at my job. And, you know, I will be the first to admit sometimes I’m not exactly sure how this big world works. But I just try to cope with it as well as I can."
One thing is for sure, the accent of Kenneth is not phony. "Well I lived in Macon [Georgia] until I was 15," he said, "and then I went to high school in Conyers which is a little suburb right outside Atlanta."
Staying Peppy
One thing that McBrayer sometimes needs a little help with is Kenneth’s high energy level. "Sometimes I just have to have a lot of caffeine to be that peppy, you know, un-Godly hours in the morning or at night or anything. Sometimes I’m like ’Oh Daddy needs a nap.’ That’s where the Diet Mt. Dew comes in and all is well.’
McBrayer is also aware that his Southern accent might make people think this is all he can do but the actor admitted "It was one of those things where it’s like this is what I got, this is what I have to work with. And, you know, if they said ’Oh boy, I wish you were shorter!’ there’s not really a lot I can do about that either. So you just maximize your assets and minimize your liabilities and hope that something will stick to the wall at one point."
While McBrayer’s talents may seem effortless, he explained that he has a team on the show that helps make it easier. "I always did enjoy making people laugh just growing up and being in school and stuff. But I spent several years at the Second City in Chicago and Improve Olympic and that’s kind of where I honed my skills. But also I’m telling you the writing here on 30 Rock makes it so easy even if I had the worst timing in the world these guys will make you look funny and they do week to week."
The writers are also given credit for keeping things seem natural even when the actors do not veer far from the scripts. "There’s very little improv involved with this," McBrayer explained, "mainly because the writers do such a good job in the first place. And then also what I didn’t realize getting into this is a 30-minute sitcom is actually 21.5 minutes so there ain’t a lot of breathing room. And so you kind of just... if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. So we’ve just been trusting the writers for the most part."
|
|
|
Email
Print
Share