- [Interviewer] In these characters
that you are currently inhabiting,
what are the pieces of yourselves,
consciously or not, that you have,
sort of, infused into them?
- Demon, that I play, the eternal demon?
- [Laughing] Yes, that one.
- That seems like a one to one thing,
having met you a few times.
- When people ask, you know, what's your process
nowadays I try the words out,
over and over and over again,
and slowly, if the words are really
well written words, which I've been blessed with,
the words start to inform me.
It becomes a dance that comes out of,
doing the words enough times,
that you then form...
I get to play this character Michael,
and if I do the words well,
then some sort of character comes out,
and I'm enjoying it in the moment,
so I guess I'm there in the moment,
but I can't say that I...
- There are pieces of you in it.
- I just found out this week that
underneath my human skin suit,
that I have made to make myself more palatable
to the humans,
I'm a two story fiery squid.
So!
[Laughing]
- What draws you to that role?
What do you see?
- It wasn't the role.
We signed on to Mike Schur's idea.
He literally talked to us for two hours
in a room, there was no script,
and we went, "Okay,"
and I'm really glad I did because
it's about something, it's about decency,
it's about our ripple effects,
there are consequences to your actions,
and in this kind of day and age,
it's really, it's a lovely,
it's disguised in nine year old fart humor,
and lots of visual magic,
but we are talking about something that matters.
[Techno Music]
Whatever the comfort level I've gotten,
either 'cause I'm 71, or some degree of success,
or whatever it is, I like that I'm
actually having fun at a table like this,
whereas years ago I wouldn't have,
I would have been too full of ego,
full of embarrassment, or full of,
I'm now finally enough to be able to
sit at a table like this and enjoy people.
- When did that happen?
- A couple years ago.
Almost literally, when people started
calling me Mr. Danson.
It was like, oh. All right.
- What do you wish somebody had told you earlier on?
- Relax and enjoy it,
this is an amazing ride.
- Ted is exactly correct.
About last Tuesday, you find out that,
just relax and enjoy, and
you actually fit at the table.
That's a great feeling.
- This side, probably more than that side.
[ Techno Music]
- I think it's a balancing act,
because if you celebrate your career
in the moment,
then it feels like you're slowing down.
So, you're always looking for what's next,
or what can I do better,
one of these days, literally,
I'm gonna be good, you know,
that kind of thinking,
you know, as opposed to celebrating.
But, you also don't want to be a schmole
and not go, thank you, look at this, thank you.
- Absolutely.
- It's a delicate balancing act.
- Sooner or later, you have to pick up the
crown and wear it well,
you know, whatever that crown is
whatever that price of fame is,
it's like, there's two choices.
You reject it, you push it away,
you don't think you deserve it,
or you go, you know what,
I'm gonna wear this as well as I can.
- It's usually in the eye of the beholder.
Fame is not, you don't sit around
going fame, someone comes up and says
you're famous, and you are gracious,
and you meet them at whatever level
they're talking about.
- Was there a pinch me moment for you?
- No, but I'm gonna have one, I swear,
by the time I'm through acting.
[Laughing]
- It's coming for you.
- Can I go back and celebrate
Dick Van Dyke for a second?
- Yes.
- Because I grew up with no television,
in the country.
- I'm still doing his stuff.
By the way, Sonic is coming out,
and I've got moves in there,
that I can't wait for him to see.
- That's one!
- So the first thing, I got a black and white TV,
Stanford University, freshman,
and it was my first TV, literally ever.
You'd watch something at a motel
when you were driving with your parents,
but basically, that was it.
So, I tapped into a teacher's cable,
crawled out, turned it on, and it was
11 o'clock in the morning, and it was
a re-run of Dick Van Dyke, and that was my first,
and I fell madly in love
with Dick Van Dyke, and then years later
on Becker, he played my father,
and it was just this full circle.
He was my hero, my physical comedian.