Eugene Levy is ‘as honest as I can be’ on ‘The Reluctant Traveler’ | GOLD DERBY

[Music] Eugene Levy and David Brinley our executive producers of The Reluctant traveler with Eugene Levy I'm at Noble of gold Derby and I wanted to start by asking e Jean are have you become more or less reluctant to be a traveler as the series has gone on um I I don't think I'm I I don't think I'm definitely not more reluctant um I think my uh I I I think I've kind of maintained a a lovely level in terms of reluctance uh during the course of most of my life um but I'm definitely enjoying the show I'm I'm enjoying the show and I'm enjoying what I'm getting out of it um so you would think that might tilt L reluctant um jury still out what do what do you think David is you gone more or less reluctant I think that's right Eugene I think sort of maybe tipping towards less reluctant but that doesn't mean that uh you've become a Bonafide day traveler at the moment I would say I think you you you've described it before as sort of getting halfway there but never require reaching the destination I think uh yeah taking yeah that's half the distance to a wall you you know every time you take half the distance to a wall you get closer and closer you're never going to get there listen I don't know if I'm ever going to get there you know I just I just know I honestly you know I you know I travel and I see a you know a 12200 year old Cathedral and I honestly I'm wow for the first four or five seconds and then what now I mean you know it's uh you know it's another old church or or maybe a museum um that that's kind of still there but I'm loving the fact that I'm actually getting out and and giving it a go I think the amazing thing is that now we've been on what we've been on 15 trips I think uh for the for this series uh and and to many many different countries and uh and you've enjoyed you know an awful lot them but then if we ask you now is there a single country that you're really desperate to get to what would your answer be E I mean no I mean yeah well it's like where where now you've been out for two years where in the world do you really now want to go nowhere there's not one there's not one place that I'm that I'm dying to get to there's not one place that I'm dying to see and I with that says a lot and that's as honest as I can be I mean you know um so I mean really thank goodness the show is is I mean it's actually getting me out and getting me doing things I never would have um would have done and I think that's a very positive thing and like uh David what for you is important about the show or like important about the show other than getting you jene out of the house I think we want to you know we basically want to transport the viewer off the couch to be in the places that Eugene is in Eugene is an is an amazing travel companion and uh and I think we want people to feel like they H are are really there and or as close to be being there as they as they can do so um you know that's why the cinematography is so luscious that's why you know uh um we try to take Eugene to lots of different locations that have got very distinct looks about them as well um uh and whe so ultimately what we're trying to do is whether you're an experienced traveler and and a globe Trotter or whether you've never left the country that you're born in uh that vicariously you're enjoying the travel through Eugene and that you might think by the end of it you know what I should give that a try I think that's what we'd really like people to feel is that maybe I maybe if if if you've been someone like Eugene uh be you know before in your life and not and not really been that open to travel I I hope that you might watch one of these episodes and think maybe maybe I should maybe I should just give it a go you you Eugene like our reluctant traveler as the as the tot suggest like why did you agree to do this show well I I I I agree well once the the the or the the original premise of this show was a show about hotels right when they approached me and my thing was what why me what have I done I mean what what why you know I I don't I don't really this is not my thing get somebody that's really good at this and you know we had it back and forth and for some reason uh you know David and the uh the ACC Apple executive Al Allison uh anyway they were they were having some good laughs and I and I and I and I thought I was making my point and um you know so it was a good conversation and it was uh it was Allison and David who who then got together and I think I think it was David that was saying no no that's the show that's the show that's you know the guy that doesn't want to travel that's a much better angle than just the hotel anyway they called me back and I they pitched that idea to me and I I got it I mean I got why it could have a great deal of humor because um because I don't love to travel but but also because I I could actually do it and be honest you know the humor is coming from me we're not trying to make necessarily a funny show we're trying to make a good travel show that appeals to experienced Travelers and people who don't travel that much so as long as I could be honest on camera I said well I'll give it a go you know I've never done this before I've never been on cameras as myself that was a whole other thing I had to deal with um you know I'm a character actor as long as I'm in character and not really looking like me uh I was quite comfortable you know but you know uh put Eugene Levy in front of a camera and you know it's just me talking that that was a tough one for me and I and I thought millions of other people that might be watching so um that's uh that was pretty much it that's that I I agreed to do it because I I understood yeah I can see why this could be an interesting show David this interesting did you say it more as like a comedy show or a travel show uh I I personally think it's a travel show with a very funny man rather than a setting out to make a funny travel show if you like it's not a not a comedic travel show because there are it it really you know the joy of the show I think and probably even more so in season two um that's just passed is that it it it has the ability to range in tone really quite significantly from the very very funny and slightly absurd through to the very poignant and the very personal and um uh and so it it it's too reductive to say that it's a it's a a funny travel show I think it's a I think it's a travel show with uh you know who is now one of the best companions in the world to go traveling with uh and he happens to be a very funny man so that's sort of how that's how we approach it yeah yeah I've always said if they want if the intent was to make a really funny travel show there's a thousand people that could do it uh you know in a better way to make it funny to have funny bits and funny you know make it genuinely comedic and I think that you know sadly for me uh the humor in the show is coming you know from who I am and I don't know that's that's something I can discuss with a good psychiatrist but I I think um I think that's the difference you know it it the intent is to make a a a really good interesting travel show and um and as long as I can be who I am I guess that's um that's where the chuckles come from yeah like that that's a good distinction to make Eugene and I wonder like even though you're not seeking out to make a comedy show be funny your background in improv and comedy does that help you with with this show in terms of not maybe delivering jokes but being a good listener and being in the moment and sort of responding to the situations around you in the show yeah yes it I I would say yes in a way but everything I was doing uh in on the stage improvising um was not done as me yeah it was done in character and that that really made it kind of easy so um there was a there was a bit of a learning curve for me when I started this show which is can I can I engage with other people while you know on these travels and and and make it interesting you know because I'm I'm you know I'm not generally a big chitch chatter in life um and I think I I thought that's the way you had to be when you're doing a show like this um so I had to um I had to do you know I mean I had to push myself a little bit and get some cobwebs off the brain and and um and learn to relax as myself on on camera uh so I I I think it's I and I I I am much more relaxed I mean certainly second season you know after two seasons I'm I'm finding I I actually can do this on camera and that's um that's a good thing and and what like eug jene what is the like what's the thing about comedy that you've been able to reh harness um for this for this role and for this show I think it's just being honest with people you know in a way and sometimes when I'm being honest with people it comes out in a somewhat you know humorous uh humorous way you know uh but it's really not it's not actively trying to be funny um it's relaxing enough so that I can honestly be myself and let the let the humor come out in a very natural genuine way um and you know a lot of times I'm I'm like anybody else listening to the people I'm dealing with and learning something and wanting to find out about them and you know and what they do and what they're talking about um you know and chunk chunks of time can go by without uh you know without a uh necessarily without a laugh but that's I mean that's fine I think it just keeps everything on a nice natural plane David what's been like a favorite moment of yours from season two I think I probably choose two so and they're very very different tonally so um I think the first one uh would be in Spain when Hector bellerin scores his goal and Eugene is watching in the Pena the the the supporters club and the day before Eugene has met Hector and he's given him a celebration uh to do that if he scores a goal and the chances of Hector scoring a goal are minute he's a Defender Defenders don't score goals that often in soccer and and anyway Eugene is watching and Hector scores the goal in the big Grand Derby in in um in Seville uh and and the place erupts but the just sheer sort of joy and shock on Eugene's face when Hector pulls off his move in the middle of this 70,000 sea stadium is one of the purest moments of sort of authentic joy in the whole in in anything we've ever filmed I think it was one of the most exciting moments in my life I mean I that that was an incredible thing that you know the celebratory move that I gave him he actually does when he when he scores the goal in that game that was that was crazy crazy exciting and and those kind of things you know when you're a documentary maker a film maker like you can't predict those things those things can't that's a lot of luck that's happening there to bring all those things together and so to to be able to capture that moment was extraordinary uh and then the other the other for me is right at the other end of the spectrum and that was taking Eugene to to Glasco to to walk in the footsteps of of of his mother you know particularly in the tenement Museum uh where he was able to see the sort of living conditions that your your your your mom would have lived in and then to take you to the synagogue as well where your mom would have actually walked um just felt like an incredibly special and and privileged thing to be able to do well The Reluctant traveler has been nominated for to Emmy Awards so congratulations a non-fiction series award and writing for that episode that you mentioned David Eugene going to Scotland getting to see uh Glasgow places your your mother you say in the show that she would have um been proud of you you feel being there how do you think like more broadly how do you think your mom would have felt about you going back and revisiting Glasgow I think uh uh she would have been what's the word tickled I think she would have been tickled that I was in Glasgow and went to the spot where the goral once stood uh the neighborhood where she was running around as a as as a kid that that I was you know actually there um um seeing the kind of uh you know tenement situation that that she grew up in with her uh eight brothers and sisters um and parents and a border I mean you know in these three tiny rooms um I'm not entirely I I don't I I can't honestly say what her reaction would have been to to no if she would if she was here when I got back from that trip and I was able to say this is I saw exactly how you grew up as a as a as a kid and how did you do it how did you sleep four people in a in a you know in in in a in a bed and how there were it was so small how I we we never really heard about that you know I I I'm not sure what her reaction wouldn't would have been being in Glasgow and seeing the garbles I think she would have been tickled seeing the kind of situation that she actually grew up in um to be honest I I I don't know whether that would have sparked more stories that we never heard before whether that would have triggered things we never heard before um it's hard to say but I'm glad I did it yeah you know I'm glad I got to go there because I I really never had the urge to go to Scotland only because she she always said no I don't really care to go back she Pro she probably would any surprised that you made the trick um she probably would have been surprised you went to Scotland you know yes we went to Scotland we we saw it all we're an awards website at Gold Derby we love uh we love the entertainment Awards we love the Emmy Awards which you guys are nominated for this year and this is the first time Eugene we've spoken since uh you won the Emmy for shits Creek um and you sort of when you won that Emmy you sort of said in a little bit of jest I think um that it's an ironic uh it's ironic that the straightest role you've ever ever played lands you in Emmy for a comedy performance and you might need to do some rethinking from the past 50 years what what did you Eugene seriously learn about comedy from that role on shitz Creek well it was um it was a uh it was a role again the one of the first character roles that I've played where I was closest to being me where I kind of looked like me without the glasses uh that was it and um so it was It was kind of working in that context that that was a kind of a real Challenge and and um and that I I kind of picked up on that and and uh and it seemed to be working out incredibly well the shows you know went on in that in that first season like this show I mean it was that was the big heart Thumper what I'm not wearing a mustache I'm not uh I can't wear a hat I can't wear you know uh so it was um and again it was you know just bringing you know kind of fatherhood a a my own take and and the character's take on what fatherhood is and over and above that you know working with my own kids on the show was um was also something that just uh you know kind of threw a a lovely Hue over the uh uh over over the entire production um uh and just I think that the biggest thing was you know just keep it honest keep it honest keep everything you're doing honest keep your performance honest and keep everything that comes out of your mouth as honest as it can be um and that was it this was an important show in terms of um the audience having an um an emotional connection to the characters right that that that was what we set out we set out to make a character comedy and all the characters had to be you know genuine believable and grounded and I just had to make sure that my character was doing its job along with everybody else's I think like the thing the one of the little through lines between The Reluctant traveler and what you did so well on jitz Creek is just your reactions and how you listened and responded to things that were that were happening uh that sometimes absurd or different unusual or you're out of your out of your depth out of your element and that was like a a lot of fun do you do you have for that can you just off the toy minor in break just quick reaction from shits Creek like some absurd thing where it was like you reacted to something oh on the show yeah H well I boy I gotta think about this I you know reactive reactive com yeah which is a good point because I love reactive comedy and that's that's kind of what I lean toward when I was growing up you know what watching television in the 50s Jack Benny was one of the big uh you know comedy icons back then and I loved watching Benny because he wasn't the guy that came out with the jokes he was the guy that reacted to the jokes um so I I just love that and he got a bigger laugh than the person coming out with the joke so I I that that kind of stayed with me and uh um uh and I kind of carried that through reactions are are kind of very important in terms of what I do but um trying to remember a specific reaction that's fun it would probably have to be you know anything working with with Chris Elliott because uh uh we we loved kind of toying with each other on camera and uh it was really hard let alone to have a good reaction hard to keep a straight face when I was working with Chris but yeah there there's a really nice thing in in reluct in reluctant traveling now as well because Eugene can you know usually he's talking off camera to to producer asking the questions but there are moments and they're really joyful when he connects with the people at home and looks straight down the barrel with a with a reaction you know whether that's when an oyster comes out and you know exactly what's about to happen but those moments of real connection now and so we're play playing with that grammar because you know I mean but also that's really fascinating Eugene because you will have done that hundreds of times in your Christopher yours and Christopher's guest films um because that documentary grammar is the same isn't it so when you connect with an audience and you can look straight down the barrel um they're really electric lovely moments where you feel like you're just talking directly to one member of the yeah yeah those are amazing and again it's just it's about just it's keeping everything honest I I I wanted to quickly in with a bit of a bit of a biased question Here season 3 uh I think you're going to look at the bucket list items for traveling for The Reluctant traveler um any plans to come to Australia um I I don't know whether it's actually G to happen this year yeah not not sure yet we're still we're still locking down locations but in fact in fact we had we had an invite from another Australian journalist last time we were doing some interviews there there there is quite the lobby to get us to Australia it would be great to see The Reluctant traveler down here uh CL climb the Harbor Bridge get on a ferry like the ferry on Sydney Harbor like and there's lots of other exciting prickly things to you're writing the episode for us wait yeah oh anyway uh well thank you so much for your time today both of you um all the best of luck with the Emmy Awards Let me just make sure I get the categories right uh you were nominated for best hosted non-fiction series or special and for writing for the Scotland my mother's country in the uh program writing category for that discipline um all the best for that Eugene you know you know a thing or two about for your consideration and award campaigns so hopefully uh hope you're in a movie listen I I can't I'm just uh I I'm always shocked I'm always shocked getting a nomination or when anybody you know when there's an honor that's coming my way and I think it's the Canadian iny about that you know so I was kind of surprised with that but then again I wasn't surprised because the you know the production on this show is just stellar and that's uh you know that's David and and and the entire team at at two4 it's an amazing looking show so I I wasn't surprised in that regard um I'm always surprised when I'm included but uh you know here we go onward and upward there we go all the best people can go to goldderby.com to follow the Emmys and other Awards races and just thanks so much for your time this has been such a lovely chat it has been thank you Matt [Music]