Detective Dan everybody, Detective Dan.
I'm not a cheater. I did not cheat!
I knew it the whole time.
This week, I'm sitting down with All That star Josh Server
on Throwback with Nickelodeon.
I'm Anthony Padilla and today I'm here to figure it out
with the All That star Josh Server
- Josh, are you ready to throwback? - Let's do it.
Let's do it. Thank you for having me.
Huge fan of All That, I would watch it every weekend.
It was habitual... A habitual ritual.
Wow, you're coining that phrase? That's a new thing.
That's my new thing, you heard it here. Habitual ritual.
It was my habitual ritual to watch All That.
I loved Big Ear Boy.
That's the one everybody loves, Big Ear Boy.
When you Google search your name, you see you with big ears.
Yes. Yes, I have said no matter what I achieve in my life,
Ear Boy is never going away.
And I had to just, you know, be okay with that at one point.
- Yeah, yeah. - You know, now it's great.
And you're okay with it?
Yeah, great like tombstone Earn Boy, that picture. Ears.
What was your motivation for getting into acting?
I think it was like always something that I just was.
- Just going into the world-- - No, I just mean I had a lot of energy
when I was a kid. And my mom...
Like I have an amazing family, that nobody's really an actor.
I'm the only actor in the family. But they did...
You know she really encouraged like the arts and my sister's a writer and a poet.
You know, they encouraged our creativity and allowed us to do that.
And I just always had a lot of energy and I kinda gravitated towards that.
Started doing school plays really early on.
And it was just a great outlet for all that energy.
Were you the funny kid in class or like,
did you know that you were gonna end up doing something in comedy?
- Definitely the class clown. Yeah. - Yeah?
I think it was more like I had problems focusing so...
[both laughing]
You couldn't focus on something so you made jokes?
Yeah, yeah.
That kid needs to be on some kind of medication,
- or... yeah. - On TV.
I was a good student,
but I definitely like probably made other students around me bad.
I'm sorry guys, I apologize.
You made these other kids laugh at jokes instead.
I apologize, yeah.
So what was the audition process like for All That?
- Rigorous. I remember that. Yeah! - Rigorous?
It was um... You know it's always hard to get a job as an actor.
Doesn't matter, it's always a process,
but I do remember that there were a lot of auditions,
they went to a lot of different cities.
Pretty much like a nationwide talent search.
Me and Kel were the two that got picked out of--
That were lucky enough to get picked out of Chicago.
Right, yeah. So you met Kel in Chicago during the audition process?
We did and then we definitely had like run into each other.
Our moms had chatted and stuff like that so it was cool to see him like,
even in the audition. Yeah.
And then when you got on set you're like oh, dude!
- I know you. - Yeah, exactly.
What was your reaction like when you first found out
that you actually made the cut and that you were casted?
I remember we were really excited. I also had...
I did a pilot for Nickelodeon that didn't get picked up,
like even before All That.
- And so-- - Oh you already had--
Yeah, even like at a young age you kind of had already
felt the ups and downs of the business, which is weird.
That's at 13 you were like things aren't good for me this month.
Yeah, yeah. Don't get too high off the highs, right? At 13.
- You already knew. - But I remember going okay this is...
it felt like another chance at like a Nickelodeon show.
So I remember being elated.
How were you feeling when you first made it on set?
So we actually met in Los Angeles first.
I remember like Brian and all the producers,
like we had a big party at Brian's house.
And so everyone was there and that was the first time we met all the cast members.
And then we met again in Orlando.
And when we were in Orlando I do remember feeling like this like,
it was something special.
I feel like there'd be a lot of pressure there. Was there a lot of pressure?
I'm sure there was pressure to, you know, to do a good job.
- Yeah, of course. - Yeah, and I remember it.
Hard hitting commentary.
At what point did you crack? Jeez, I don't know.
Maybe halfway through?
How involved were you guys in the writing process?
They wrote for us. We had amazing producers, amazing writers.
I think over the years, like in seasons one and season two
they did start to trust us a little bit more,
and they started to write specifically for us, like Kel would be like,
Kel goes in and does what Kel does, right?
And they really gave us the freedom to do that.
Did you have any characters that were your own
that ended up making it onto the screen?
Yeah, there was one character called Tandy.
I don't know if you remember. She was like this insane character.
It was like me in a red wig and a dress,
and when I read the script the night before we were doing the table read.
And it literally just said, "Josh enters in a dress."
And so they didn't have a character,
and I just did this like weird laugh.
I remember that, I remember that.
And it just ended up like where she didn't really talk,
she just did that insane laugh the entire time,
but they loved it and it made it on the show.
And then it became like a recurring character.
When did you realize All That was a big deal?
It was a different, you know, people couldn't instantly connect right,
with their fanbase and like people, the feedback wasn't so direct.
Right, so people would...
You'd have to like travel to the show or that you'd find them at like...
people would be like at live tapings.
So I think the first time I really realized the show was a big deal
was like maybe midway through the first season, end of first season
where people would come to the tapings,
and you'd interact live with the kids and like the fans.
You influence so many kids I feel like in a positive way by giving them
hope that they could also make other people laugh and,
you know, maybe reach for the stars themselves.
I think one of the coolest compliments that you get nowadays,
because like nobody knew that we'd be talking about the show 25 years later.
- Is it 25 years? Whoa. Whoa! - Yeah, I literally think today.
So when people, you know,
actors, writers, producers, creators like they come
and they tell you that the show inspired them,
I think that's the coolest compliment.
So, I watched All That all the time and started doing sketch comedy
on the internet in 2005 and I feel like I didn't know I was being influenced,
but I feel like that influence is really clear
when I look back at some of the stuff you and all everyone else on All That
was doing and I'm like oh, of course, this show that I loved, I was emulating,
whether I knew it or not.
Yeah, it's starting to come back around in the work.
I mean, again, that's a high compliment. And here we are.
- And here we are man. - And here we are man.
Actually, All That is coming back, is that right?
- I know, yeah, rebooting it. So excited. - Yeah.
And you're gonna take part in that in some way?
Yeah, yeah I'm gonna be doing some guest star stuff and yeah,
I'm really excited.
It looks like they're really marrying the old parts of the show and the new,
and so I'm very excited to be part of it.
Very excited for like the new generation. You know a lot of people have kids.
Hopefully they're sitting down and, you know, they're watching it with their kids.
And I'm obviously excited for the new cast.
It's gonna be awesome for them.
Yeah, and just I can't get it out of my head how
this is gonna be such a big moment for this generation of kids.
I feel like there was a hole missing in the market when All That went off air.
You know, again, shout out to Brian who's bringing it back
and Nickelodeon who's, yeah, filling that void. I think so too,
so hopefully everybody loves it.
And you know, it becomes like multi-generational at that point.
And you know, who knew at the time we were doing it,
that we would be talking about the reboot at this point? So...
I'm excited and honored to be a part of it.
So I feel like we can't do an interview with you
without talking about
your amazing fashion sense, especially in the 90's.
- when you were on All That. - Thank you for having me, it was great.
We do have some photos that I'd like you to take a look at.
- Oh-no. - Tell me what you think
- about the fashion sense. - Sure, sure let's do it.
Here we go, we got this one here.
What would you call this look?
I think that's classic 90's middle part right there.
- It is. Yeah-- - Right. My girlfriend jokes with me
- that my hair just like that-- - It naturally falls middle?
It just naturally fell that way. I've tried to work away from it.
- We got more pictures here. - I don't know what I would call that look.
It's just all vest.
- Yes it's-- - All vest.
And this look here is a classic.
- Is there a person in there? - I see a head.
Is there a human boy inside that giant shirt?
- Your hair looks really good here though. - Thank you. Thank you.
Again, classic middle part, that shirt is clearly too big for me.
And what is, is that flannel?
Is that flannel on the bottom of your pants
or is that another shirt or is that like wrapped around your waist?
Listen it was all about layering in the 90's.
- There's lots of layers here. - I'm so sorry.
- That's so baggy. - I do just feel like I have to apologize.
- You're gonna apologize for that? - Just do it, well.
- I think this period needed to happen. - Not a good look.
It needed to happen to get us to where we are today.
You were probably like some of your most comfortable years though, right?
If we could circle back around for that 90's fashion,
I think everyone would be more comfortable.
We wouldn't look good, but we would feel great.
All right, so, I have a few names that I'm gonna throw out,
and I'd like to hear the first thing that comes to your mind.
- Ooh, like word association. - Yes.
Like look it's a butterfly.
So let's start with some names of your castmates from All That.
- Lori Beth Denberg. - One of the wittiest
people you'll ever meet. Perfect comedic timing.
Literally just one-liner after one-liner.
She's one of the funniest people you'll ever be around.
- Angelique Bates. - Angelique's awesome.
She stood out from a very young age.
I remember on the pilot in the early season,
she would do really great impressions.
Like I remember her Urkel and things like that.
And she's also just a great heart. She's really just a great person.
- Katrina Johnson. - Katrina, such a dry,
sarcastic sense of humor.
Even like, she was like the young kid on the show
and she was very like had that like witty dryness.
I feel like that's way ahead of her time.
Very much so, and she crushed her sketches and would always get like amazing laughs.
Alisa Reyes.
High energy, great physical comedian.
Alisa had that same energy in her sketches that, kinda like me a little bit,
like where we just had that same...
She would just bring it. Alisa would bring it.
Again, awesome, just awesome person.
Amanda Bynes.
When Amanda came on the show, she was, I think, 10.
- What? - And I remember the first time she did
Ask Ashley, you knew you were watching
like the next biggest thing in Nickelodeon and beyond.
- You're like a star is being born. - Like, she just oozed talent.
And you knew it, like you knew it on set that day, which was crazy.
I remember watching like the producers and people react to the sketch.
- Like behind camera, like. - Yeah, yeah.
Like you just knew you're witnessing something like really pretty cool.
Nick Cannon.
Mogul mindset. Entrepreneurial. Insane work ethic.
Nick is like good at so many things, right.
And Nick has an amazing story about how he got on the show
and like he was like our warm up guy.
Like he would do our warm up during our tapings.
I believe he also wrote like an episode of Keenan and Kel
with like a few of the other people I know really well.
And then he got on the show and I mean now he's, you know, he's crushing it. So...
So he kinda just climbed the ranks through being a warm up man?
Yeah, he's just grinding always.
- God, that's-- Yeah. - Like as a young guy. Yeah, really cool.
Kenan Thompson.
Sketch comedy legend.
Right like he's literally been doing sketch between All That and SNL...
decades.
And doing it at such a high level.
And Kenan is one of the best people in the world, like he's one of my best friends
and just a great guy.
Kenan's like, he's a brother.
- Oh. - Yeah.
- Kel Mitchell. - Same.
Family. The guys and I were all really close over the years.
Kel's like kind of a comedic genius. Like,
I think Kel has created some of the best moments in Nickelodeon history
and some of the best characters. And they're timeless.
All right so now for a few of your characters.
- Okay. - Ear Boy.
[music playing]
Never going away. Again, not that I wouldn't want it.
Like I said, it's like a word association for other people.
People see All That or me, they're like yo, Ear Boy.
- Ear Boy. - And those pictures on the internet
- are just-- They're gonna be there. - Always there.
Whether we like it or not.
But Ear Boy was a fun character.
It was also like a really young character,
meaning like we did it very early in the show and he just kept coming back.
Mumbly Spice.
That one was fun just because you tried to like make it work,
because you really wouldn't have words to use.
Right, you'd be... mumbling.
What would it say in the script?
I mean, it would just be gibberish. It would literally be jibber-jabber.
The Dairy Godfather.
Don't think that's one of my characters. Who's done research?
Did I do The Dairy Godfather?
- What you don't remember? - Did I do it?
By the way I could have easily forgotten and thrown you under the bus.
So, it was you apparently.
Oh, I blacked out.
It was... Thank you so much for having me.
Thank you so much for having me.
- My bad. My bad. - It's hard.
I was embarrassed, I was like, I guess I gotta throw in my towel here.
Well that's cool, because I've done enough characters that I have forgot.
That's good. That's a good place to be in.
Speaking of which do you remember Bernie Kibbitz?
Bernie Kibbitz, uh, yes.
I'm Bernie Kibbitz!
I'd like to welcome you to our 100th high school reunion.
[audience laughing]
I'm gonna go change my pants!
Words that come to my mind are my family.
It's obviously a very heightened version of like aunts and uncles and grandpas
and those types of things. Bernie Kibbitz was always screaming.
Hurry up! I'm not getting any younger!
Getting older!
Still getting older!
- Always screaming. Very loud. - Always screaming.
And he was at least two hours of makeup. Shout out to the makeup people
and special effects people. They were amazing.
What advice would Bernie Kibbitz give to kids today?
Be quiet!
That's it.
He would just yell at the children, which is probably not good. He'd be like, hey!
He would just yell. I just don't know if that's the best character to give advice
to the youth of America.
Who chose that?
My crotchety old Jewish relatives yelling at people like,
Ah, shut up!
It's not good advice.
Follow your dreams, find your voice. That's probably more sound advice.
Don't listen to Bernie Kibbitz.
Yeah, the advice that we found, that we've circled back around to Anthony,
is don't listen to Bernie Kibbitz.
Detective Dan.
I loved it. He was always one of my favorites.
Detective Dan was a lot of fun.
It was like based on the like the Columbo voice. Like he was like, wah, right?
And then he was... I kind of meshed a couple of like detective-y people
that I had seen on TV together and just kind of came up with it.
And then I did it for the run though and the producers really liked what we did.
Then we kept bringing it back and it got more,
just like all the other characters on All That, they got more and more insane.
Like just third season it wasn't, it was like--
- It was completely different. - Yeah, it was...
There wasn't any format to the sketches anymore.
It would just come in and just pure insanity.
- Yeah. - Like page two.
I'm really sorry this had to have happened sir.
I'll see that she goes to prison for a long, long time.
Well thank you sir.
Case closed.
Let's get out of here.
But it worked.
- Thank you. Thank you-- - For me as a child.
I loved it though.
I'm Detective Dan. I'm Detective Dan.
- So you can still do Detective Dan. - Yeah.
Do you think you'd have the skills to help me solve a mystery today?
I think I might have something down here
to get you a little bit more into character.
Wow.
And then a mustache. I brought my own.
I brought my own.
I'll put this on you last.
Okay, are we... We're doing this? We're doing this now?
- All right, let's do it. - Yeah, and I have a very important
mystery here and I would like your help solving it.
I'll do my best, son.
- Is this-- - All right.
May I? Oh wow.
It definitely... You can definitely tell it apart from your...
Yeah.
You've never seen someone double mustache, like that's...
Has this ever been done in television?
Double mustaching, has it ever been done in television history? I don't think so.
- Should I just do it like this? - If it falls off, it'll fall off.
Should I just do it like this?
- If it falls off, it falls off. - Two mustaches in one.
I need your help solving a case.
[laughing]
We're improv-ing in the moment.
- It was all, it was meant to be. - We're swinging kid, we're swinging.
- What's the mystery? - Detective Dan,
are you ready to hear what the case is?
I sure am.
I'm not wearing pants.
A killer forces their victim to take one of two pills.
No matter which pill the victim takes, the killer takes the other one.
This isn't the Matrix? Okay.
After the victim takes their pill with water, they die.
The killer always survives.
How does the killer always make it out alive?
[crickets chirping]
I don't know, but is that your real hair? It looks great.
Is that a wig?
[squeaking]
That's a mystery.
Looks fantastic. Can...
I'm sorry I wasn't listening. Let me read the cue card.
Sure.
So you can get a better read on it?
- Uh-huh. Uh-huh. - Mm-hmm.
Both the pills were harmless.
- Did you read ahead, Detective Dan? - I did.
I'm Detective Dan and I know how to read.
- You got it right. - Thank you.
Detective Dan everybody, Detective Dan.
I'm not a cheater. I did not cheat!
- I knew it the whole time, Anthony. - Always knew it.
The whole time. I'm Detective Dan.
Yay.
Well I feel like my childhood has reached an elevated level
that I didn't think was possible, so thank you for giving that to me,
and everyone at home
that tirelessly requested to see you dress up as Detective Dan.
- That was based on requests? Amazing. - Based on requests.
You made everyone's dreams come true.
You're welcome, thank you so much.
And thank you so much for watching. We'll see you next time on Throw Back.
Thank you for being here, this is great.
Honored, brother. Thank you for having me.
Of course. That was good. I feel like my...
Honestly, just seeing you perform that live I was like,
every bit of me went back to being a child again and I feel like I blossomed.
I don't really know how to react to that.
[laughing]
- Blossoming on... As we stream on, yeah. -I blossomed on air. I blossomed.
You're blossoming.