- I've been seeing you post some pictures on the old Insta,
looking all fit, getting that bikini body ready for summer.
- Yeah, thank you so much for saying that.
It's so important and so meaningful.
(Tom and Fortune laugh) Yeah, I've decided
to come out as hot.
Previously, I was a hot ally,
but now I think I'm firmly in the mix.
- Firmly, firmly hot. (Tom laughs)
- This is "What a Joke." - With Tom Papa
and Fortune Feimster. - On Netflix Is a Joke Radio.
- Very impressive, Season Two of "Special."
How do you write it, how do you star in it,
how do you get it made, what is your secrets?
- I think being a Type-A Virgo from hell helps
a lot. (Fortune laughs)
I put the troll in control.
I really like putting all my fingers in every fucking pot,
and this Season was actually a lot easier
because I actually had a writer's room.
Season One I wrote entirely myself
in some- - Wow.
- Cafe on Beverly Boulevard with this giant billboard
of Kevin James in "Kevin Can Wait,"
(Tom laughs) which was good inspiration
for all the gay sex scenes I wrote.
(Tom and Fortune laugh)
So Season Two, I had an actual writer's room,
which was amazing,
and I could actually delegate some responsibilities
and I think the show could be less myopic
and broaden perspectives and stuff like that.
- Ryan, it's been weeks
since you wrote about your disability,
AKA, anyone cared what you had to say.
What are you working on?
- I'm actually having a writer's block moment right now.
- But our new workspace has an inspiration teepee.
Have you not been?
- Oh, yes, many times, I love it there.
I guess it's just true what they say.
It's harder to create when you're happy.
- You're not happy.
- No, I am, I'm very happy. - Really?
- Because it's been two months
since you spoke to your mother. (scoffs)
- How do you know? - Samantha told me.
She tells me everything.
- You don't see me, but I see you.
- So are you okay?
Do you miss Mommy? - I'm fine.
- Oh, you don't need Mommy? - Drop it, Olivia.
- Why don't you just write about your disability again?
You can be the new, hot marginalized group of people.
- I would, but I just feel like I've already done that.
I don't know what else there is to say.
I guess my CP is just NBD.
- (groans) Okay, then.
- Well, you're definitely telling such a unique story.
It's your story, have you gotten a lot of feedback?
What's been some of the response?
- There's a lot of gay, disabled people.
(laughs) I thought we didn't grow on trees,
but I think we do. (Tom and Fortune laugh)
That response has been overwhelming
and probably the most meaningful because I think,
when you're one of the first people
to get the keys to the castle and tell this story
that is a large swath of the population,
of course, you get really nervous
because you also know, as a storyteller,
that you can only really speak to your own experience.
If you try to speak to everyone's experience,
you end up like a CBS multi-cam,
which no one cares about and no one watches.
It's this tightrope that you have to walk
with wanting to do right by the disabled community,
but also knowing that you have to stick to your own lane
and you can't worry so much about everybody.
Otherwise, you end up with analysis paralysis.
So seeing the response from the disabled community be
so positive is the ultimate cherry
on the gay, disabled sundae. (Tom laughing)
- (laughing) Gay disabled sundae.
- The best kind of sundae to have!
- Where did you grow up, Ryan, where are you from?
- Ventura, which is an hour north of here.
I always say it's like a blue-collar beach town,
like Laguna Beach, but with a sprinkle of meth,
(Tom and Fortune laugh) and, I mean, growing up,
I felt so oppressed by the beautiful weather
and the beach and the sunshine.
I was like, "Get me out of this hellhole!"
And now I'm like, "Wait, that was actually chic."
I loved growing up there,
and I definitely was ready to get the fuck out of there,
like skid marks on the driveway when I turned 18.
(Tom laughs) - So did you move
down to LA at that point?
- No, I did my time in New York.
I served my sentence in New York,
which I always say New York is fun
if you're 21 or you have $21 million,
- Right. - And once I aged
out of the former and didn't get the ladder,
I decided to leave. (Tom and Fortune laugh)
- Smart. - Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.
And I lived in LA writing for TV since 2013.
- So the memoir that you wrote, that was 2015?
- Yeah, yeah, so I started writing that,
half in New York, half when I was writing for TV
for a show called "Awkward" in Los Angeles.
We sold the rights in 2015,
and it took four years to get made.
- Wow. - Wow.
- Oh, yes. - Did you have the idea
that you would bring it
to television when you were writing it
or were you just- - Yes, oh,
I was always a TV bitch, TV was my medium of choice.
I loved it, I also wanted to be rich,
so that was important, too. (everyone laughs)
- Of course. - So I was like, "Gee,
"being a writer doesn't make you a lot of money?
"Dot, dot, dot."
So I always wanted to bring it to TV.
I mean, I wrote my first book and it's not chic.
I got a book deal to write about my life at 25,
which just should be illegal.
It should. (Tom and Fortune laugh)
I wanna pass laws- - Right.
- So it doesn't happen to someone else.
So I feel like that book isn't even representative
of my thinking and feeling, especially around disability.
I mean, I came out about my disability through the book.
I sold a book that had nothing to do with my disability
'cause I was still closeted about it,
and then I, tail between my legs,
came to Simon and Schuster for the kickoff meeting
and was like, "Actually, I think I wanna write
"about me CPE," which of course,
they were addicted and supportive, but looking back at it,
I think I was unpacking and processing in real time,
which made the book feel not chic.
The show is definitely a more evolved way of thinking
and it's more radicalized.
I think I used offensive words like retarded,
to be vice-ironic.
I mean, it was so embarrassing, I just didn't understand.
I didn't even know what ableism meant.
I was just really, really in the beginning of my journey
with disability, and I still feel
like I get more radicalized every day.
There's a scene in Episode Four
where the character of Ryan as a toddler begins to walk,
and it's this big triumphant, emotional moment,
and everyone's incredible.
Jessica Hecht, who plays my mom, is amazing,
and the actor who played little me is amazing,
but now I think if I showed that,
I would be like, "Okay, why is it so important
"that this character learns how to walk?
Why it is so important that
"Why are you crying
"that this character's becoming less disabled?
"Why is becoming less disabled the goal?"
Well, liberal arts girl alert, checking in for duty.
It's because we live in an ableist hellhole of a society
(Tom and Fortune laugh) and we fundamentally know
that if someone's gonna learn how to walk
and actually be able to walk,
as opposed to being in a wheelchair,
they will have a much easier life navigating spaces
and just making their way through the world,
but that is fucked up
and we should just live in a more accessible world.
So every day is a winding road. (laughs)
- Right. - That's right, we all evolve,
even with our own journeys.
Well, I know your show is so good.
I really enjoyed Season One
and I look forward- - Great.
- To Season Two. - Season Two is a banger.
If you like Season One, look.
I like Season One, I'm proud of it.
I think there's some really good moments,
but I feel like we made a good show,
despite our limitations and resources.
I did not like the 15-minute format, the short form.
That was non-consensh.
We had no money, it was two dollars rubbing together.
So Season One, I look at
and I'm like, "We fucking pulled that off,"
but there's so many things I would have done differently
if we had been given the time and resources to do it.
Season Two feels such a perfect distillation
of what I wanted to say and what I wanted to do,
but also given the actual time and resources to make it.
- That's great, yeah. - Right, right.
- Look, I'm sorry, mom. - It's fine.
- You know what, maybe Kim should have gotten
the dress. - What?
- I'm just saying she wouldn't have screwed it up.
- Stop being so childish.
Oh, hello, Tanya. - Oh, hi, hello, hi.
- Oh my God, she's wearing a red dress.
- Of course she is. - Hello.
- Look at you, wearing that.
That's so, wow, good for you.
- Could you possibly hand these out?
- I can't do that, I have carpal tunnel.
I thought you knew that, I'm sorry.
I know today's hard.
- Oh, Kim, thank you for coming.
(Kim's lips smack)
Oh, could you hand out these programs?
- Of course. - Thank you.
- Hey. - Hi.
Mom, I'm not being childish.
I'm just saying you and Kim clearly have a bond
and you trust her to do things more than you trust me.
- Please do not make this day about you.
This is my mother's funeral, please.
- Oh, my God, Grandma knew another gay guy?
How? - Hello, thank you for coming.
We're gonna start in just a moment.
- Enjoy. (laughs)
- So when you think about where you're headed,
is writing the thing that always drives you?
Is that the first step
of whatever your next projects will be?
- Yeah, I'm a total slut for writing.
I like acting a lot.
I've gone on a journey with acting
'cause I'd never acted before.
"Special" was my first job
and I never intended to star in it.
Like that was
That was not the plan at all.
- Oh, wow. - I'm probably the only person
in Los Angeles who had no dreams of becoming an actor
and then casually became the lead of their own Netflix show.
It's hard when you've been in control
and you've been able to make your own work,
and sometimes they get sent.
I don't audition, I just don't
'cause life is too short and I would never,
(Tom and Fortune laugh)
'cause I get these auditions and it's horrible.
It's really bad.
It's a gay guy being like,
"You should tell him you love him, yes!"
It's literally like what?
Why would I be the stupid little appetizer
when I've been the main course?
- Right, right. - Why would I be
just the gay best friend
that's giving Lucy Hale advice over chopped salads?
(Tom and Fortune laugh) I don't wanna do that.
I don't need to see that.
I don't need to be in that!
So my acting agents are delighted with me
'cause I keep just saying, "No, no, no, no,"
to literally everything. - Well, unfortunately,
you seem to have integrity. (laughs)
- I know! (Fortune laughs)
It's so annoying! - That's not gonna do well.
- Well, you have a vision.
Stick to it, I love it. - Oh, yes, I do, honey,
(Tom and Fortune laugh) and I got a prescription.
- Cut to next year, you're on "Dancing with the Stars."
What happened to Ryan?
- I know, I'm on CBS, "Man with Another Plan."
(Tom laughs) - You offered a lot of money.
What do you want from me?
- I'm the gay, disabled neighbor
that has a crush on Matt LeBlanc,
(Tom and Fortune laugh) and I'm like,
"How did I get here?"
"Help, help," but also buying a house in Malibu, so yeah.
- Yeah. (laughs) - Yeah. (laughs)
(smooth synthesizer music)