Kyle Meredith with... Bill Lawrence, Charlotte Lawrence, and the cast of Bad Monkey

[Music] hey welcome to another edition of Kyle meith with it's the interview series presented by wfpk and wfpk toorgle quence and the consequence podcast Network thanks as always making you way here for checking out the episode uh hit that subscribe button of course so you can keep up with all the interviews that we put out every single week new and every Monday Wednesday and Friday it's three a week just like this to keep you up to date on your favorite artists and discover some new ones as well you can grab us anywhere you get podcasts from uh Spotify Apple podcast NPR wfp.org consequence YouTube for the video versions or anywhere you get your podcast from you can subscribe to Kyle mirth with and today I am so excited because we're talking with the cast of the new Apple TV series Bad Monkey uh all right Bad Monkey it tells a story of Andrew yansy played by Vince vaugh a one-time detective demoted to restaurant inspector in Southern Florida a severed arm found by a tourist out fishing pulls yansy into the world of greed and Corruption that decimates the land and environment in both Florida and the Bahamas and yes there's a monkey uh we're going to be talking today with showrunner Bill Lawrence who by the way Bill Lawrence Legend scrubs Cougar Town Ted lasso shrinking just to name the ones off the top of my head uh he's back as the showrunner executive producer and writer on on this one we're also talking with Meredith hagner Charlotte Lawrence Charlotte is Bill's daughter in her first starring role Natalie Martinez is here and Ronald Pete who plays Neville in the show so let's jump into this as we talk Bad Monkey out now on Apple TV plus it's Kyle Meredith with the stars of Bad Monkey hi Kyle how you doing hello Kyle you got a good wall behind you man I always love looking at that stuff I like your posters I love Prince I like your Vibe I love Bowie I love you we marry thank you very much I should also bring up this little Tom Petty thing here because I'm definitely going to be asking about that here dude you're going to be the first one that lets me talk about you know I'm I'm a psycho if if you want to talk about Tom after this I will okay you can just get my publist snip I watched all 10 episodes and I immediately wanted to watch all 10 episodes of this again by the way oh that's awesome uh it's you you've done it again but that's the thing right so so we've got this great situation happening and and Vince Von's doing his thing but then I started hearing all these Tom Petty covers by all these amazing people out there vet's doing it Nathaniel riff you've got Charlotte doing it I I want to ask though how did that happen why Tom Petty and and how out you're a a rockstar man so look um music has driven a ton of my shows you know uh scrubs back in the day was this reciprocal relationship that we would pop bands you know or we'd get a Young Band on there with a huge fan base and Their audience would come to us our audience would go to them it was awesome um uh I don't have any background in music I've been dragged there kicking and screaming by my wife who's a music supervisor and by my daughter who ended up being a musician but the one thing that we all connected on was even my daughter my favorite artist since I was a kid was Tom Petty a lot of people don't know this but every Cougar Town uh episode was uh titled after a Tom Petty song uh go back and look and uh uh and because it took place in Florida my family's from Florida Tom Petty is Iconic there much like Carl H and so that mix on this show like Florida's a character uh hi uh is a uh uh Florida icon Tom Petty's a Florida icon and I'm like it should be Petty's music and I wonder if we could get uh Tony Von perview is one of my music supervisors with Christa so wonder if we can get great artists to cover Tom's stuff and the one thing I can tell you is he is probably there's others I'm sure but he's one of those artists that any artist you go to will either say I was influenced by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers or I was a fan and so then we can go to Jason Isbell or Sharon Von etton or Weezer you know and uh and you say will you do a cover of Tom P yes it was so fun I've never released an album before we're definitely gonna release a soundtrack album of this man and eventually try to figure out a way we can get some of these uh folks to uh uh play live somewhere it's so cool well I tell you there was never a celebration after Tom's passing and I've bothered Mike and Benmont about it a lot so I would love for you to maybe be the uh the thing that makes that happen it would be so fun we got to know his daughter because she we wanted to make sure she was supportive of this you know and and and played all the all the covers for her and she dug them you know she had different favorite everybody has a different favorite which is part of the fun yeah and Charlotte s a great doing wild flowers maybe arguably Tom Petty's greatest creation it's uh it's hard always hard you know by the way is is such a a a guy that grew up with the pop music of the 80s I always used to say in those discussions the writers room I'm like American Girl is the greatest pop song pop rock song of all time because the lyrics are poetry and it's still kind of a pop rock song yeah uh I based on promises man what a great line are you a big Petty fan who's not a big Petty fan I know that's true that's a litmus test right like that's the one like we can all agree right it's Tom Petty everybody agrees everybody feel Christopher gas right you know I I was going to get to this later but uh you know that's one of the big parts for me I I should say this is such a great series I haven't stopped thinking about it watch the 10 episodes one immediately watching again but those songs on top of it and Charlotte you got to do maybe maybe Tom's greatest accomplishment with wild flowers right like what's the story there what did you say sorry what's the story there like did you get to pick that one um no actually I it's I have forever been a fan of Tom Petty's he's my dad's favorite artist so I grew up with in a very big Tom Petty household and I remember when I was told that they were doing a Tom Petty You Know cover soundtrack for this show I got overly excited and literally begged to be a part of it in any way shape or form and they came to me and we're like honestly we want you know a soft female voice for wild flowers if you if you down and I was like yes it's the best one yes I would love to and I got to do it and um I love that you noticed that it's it's honestly one of my favorite things I've ever done I love the song so deeply I have such a crazy connection to it and we got to record it in such a fun way I did it with my friend Marshall Vore who's an incredible musician and producer and we recorded it live with um Harrison Whitford a guitarist and Cat Matthews a Pianist and we were all in the room and recorded live and it's just like has just such a magical meaning to me I never kind of worked like that before so yeah it was really fun to do sorry for the longwinded answer I loved it I love the performance it was definitely noticeable you know while we're talking music the zezy top thing which I do that that all the time and here is that in the script how where it's not in the script uh we do stuff like that in the aftermath uh uh a lot and uh in this one the coolest thing for us is when we go to the actors or the characters or different writers and that was from a uh a writer's ringtone that just tickled me every time his phone rang so I'm like ah that should be Vincent's too plus by the way it fits with the character it fits with the vibe it fits with the time you know yeah and now it's in my head every single time I'm sorry no it's it's the best thing right like my wife's got MGMT as her ringtone she's had it for like 15 years there you go somehow I don't hate it you know you know what it is though it's like it's one of those things it's it's cool at first and then it's annoying for the next hundred times but then it comes back to cool again right on MTH I'll switch it over to you um this is one of my favorite what I don't know you say villains that I mean you could go toe-to-toe with the joker I think going on here I just start sobbing I'm like thank you desperately smart thank and batshit crazy at the same time what's it like for you playing sort of it almost feels like a dual character God bless you you're an angel that made me feel so good we're actors need reinforcements we run on complim I I got them all day I you know what it's like you it's so in the writing the scripts were so good I every day felt like a make a wish experience because because it doesn't I I mean not to sound like you know I've been in this business for 4 seven years I've Hollywood but like you know these these roles actually do not come around all the time and so I I knew it was a gift I knew I I I worked really hard in my prep of the my homework aspect of it but the reality was the scripts were really good the writing was rock solid so um I I just there was so much there like episode 104 we get a lot of evees backstory um which I kept kind of fighting for imbuing like there was a line I pitched at some point of like she came from really like just I I don't want to go back from where I came from I wanted to elude that like trauma and abuse and this idea that like sociopaths can be helped along the way by bad experiences so I I had fun and then also thinking about like how some of the worst people in the world are the most charming and I enjoyed playing with that kind of but it was all in the writing but thank you and and for it to be a comedy and scary at the same time I mean that's not that's not easy and you do no it's what I want to do it's like writing was phenomenal but Meredith is selling herself short Eve she is one of the most phenomenal actresses ever and is my personal favorite watch so is she Contin your answer yeah I agree uh charl on your side I mean you're jumping in the deep end now like what was that experience to be on this set you grew up around it but this has got to be different to a point oh my gosh it I did grow up around it which was such a weird incredible childhood but I never grew up you know properly in front of the camera like this and I always loved musical theater as a kid I was always going out for all the plays and getting like third tier you know second tree rolls because I was just a shy little weirdo just a shy super model just a shy little weirdo if you can tell but um yeah I loved it so much I I felt like I I keep saying I wish I did this sooner um because as a kid you know you want to rebel against your parents so growing up on set and in world I was like I want to do something completely different from them I'm only going to focus on music like I will never act like you blah and obviously I love it so much it's in my jeans and I just I had the best experience ever I felt like uh I don't know it's it's a newfound dream I don't want to sound pretentious and say like oh it's what I'm meant to do but I do think in a way alongside music it's what I want to be able to do forever and I really did yeah dive into the deep end St thank you but I feel really grateful for the opportunity that was given to me obviously with my parents being who they are and the size of this show which is immaculate with the cast that it has like it's it's a dream come true I still can't believe that I'm like even just sitting here doing this press as Meri said I also feel like a make A- wish kid on such an insane level the two of us were like we would go and be like we love you thank you like dying a burito you know Neville's uh he's a really fascinating character too the more I watched him I thought how is it that he seems so nice and yet seems to have pissed everyone off like how did you want to play this guy because it is it feels like like there story that we pick up and you start to feel like these people are really pulling for him they're just angry that maybe he's not pulling for himself is that yeah you're accurate I think that's absolutely accurate and For Better or For Worse I kind of know what that's like you know where everyone is is is is such an advocate for you and they're like can you advocate for yourself too a little bit more and and I hope that that resonates with with people I think maybe everyone has some somebody like that in their life or has an element of that inside of them that they're working on and it was really a gift to be able to explore the truth of that with Neville while we were shooting yeah was it there was there's a line maybe it's in the production notes I was trying to remember but was says a philosophical philosophical men who don't quite fit their lives I think talking about Neville and and Vince's character too but uh but to kind of find Neville in there like that that is it's it's you find out as you go along like I'm not saying he's smarter than what he's letting on because I think that intelligence is always there but something isn't quite the puzzle piece isn't snapped in with him yeah yeah and he's not I mean this is too easy to call him like a lost boy but he's I think he's part of the Lost tribe the kind of the in betweene tribe and you see like his sister kind of calling him on that and Donnie his love interest calling him on that and like a lot of people who are like we want you to be as great as you can be please do the work do the work it's a it's a different Lane for you this type of Comedy is it is that right like what was his experience for you I mean look for it being my first comedy I'm in a show with Vince going head-to-head with one of the kings of comedy and Bill Lawrence I mean it was it was a dream job it definitely was a dream job yeah what what did you have to adapt I mean this type of Comedy if you never done it like not everybody can do comedy but it looks very very natural on you thank you I appreciate that's a great compliment so I love it I um I did have to you at first going into it I was a little nervous cuz it's like you know it it is a different pace it's a different speed but one of the things I I love why I'm such a big fan of Bill Lawrence is that it's kind of my comedic tone like this is my sense of humor you know a little bit it's a little dark it's kind of on the nose you know it's uncomfortably on the nose and I love that kind of stuff so it actually worked out great and it and it was pretty easy and I love too that in some scenes you know and I was definitely having a moment I had Vince he was such a great scene partner and he was so helpful and collaborative and I told him I'm like listen if you see something if you think I can do something better like shoot let me know and he did and I'm like you know getting lessons from one of the great so it was really like the best first like comedy experience I could have ever asked for yeah and for him to be such a legend at improv and that that that that style that everybody knows from him like when you're standing opposite of that do you keep up can you keep up with it like how long can he go I think I did I think I could keep up a little bit but there I mean again keeping up is you know it definitely was a task at hand and it was just it's really brilliant to see how his mind works cuz he's really like he'll just you'll say one word and he'll take that word and just run with it you know and it's just really funny and amazing how quick he is but I I learned a lot and then once I kind of got his tone it's kind of just like you know it's a little it's a friendly banter is what it is so you just got to play tennis with him yeah you are opposite to Vince vaugh in in plenty of this and for him to be so known Mo for the offthe cuff you know the Improv and everything what is that experience like to work across from someone like that and and you know are you able to keep up um I I kind of pride myself on on uh whittling life down to momentto moment bite-sized pieces or else I would completely be an anxious wreck so I didn't really get into my head about the lore of Vince V I was like this is my partner let's be in front of them right now as Neville and be open and be present and play the truth of the thing and obviously you know there was another part of myself being like this is so cool and this is so wild but I think that my path through it was just Moment by moment Breath by breath oh that was funny and then rather than you know spiraling out and thinking about wedding FR and like this is really happen and uh so I to be honest probably watching it was when I really saw like oh that's what happened like that was so cool cuz while I was in it I was in the reality of it rather than thinking of how cool and and unique a situation it was um how did you find the voice is that is that just uh did you go with a coach I I did there was a coach that helped us a little bit um I'm from the Bahamas I'm from NASA I was born and raised there the the uh voice the accent dialect that I use for Neville isn't my bamian isn't my authentic bamian and isn't really like indicative of people in my immed Med family but is indicative of people I know and so I I went to some recordings of like extended family uh and I I I tried to make it as honest as I could yeah and then you get to go sort of back home right so I mean you're from the area where this is I I've heard you talk a little bit about like being able to use your own accents or the the accent is like I would think in one side that would make things easier but also it might make it harder if you're trying to find a character no it actually made it at least for me it made it easy it was really kind of an honor to be able to play someone that is like me you know especially being first generation born in the states I feel like there's this kind of identification that we have where we feel you know just as La as someone born let's say for example I'm Cuban so bored in Cuba but we were raised by Cuban parents so we have the same culture we grew up eating the same food we grew up listening to the music you know all of our culture is embedded into us but we're American you know and I can speak perfect English or somewhat perfect English and I can also speak Spanish but I don't have the accent you know so it's there's this like there's a group of us out here where you know we want to be represented too and I and I loved being able to bring that to this role and Miami is a very unique place I mean we say things and the way we talk the accents that we have that it's very unique to South Florida especially Miami and I loved being able to bring that the you know my sister also brought that into the role like everybody a lot of the people who we in my family were locals as well so it was just beautiful to be able to show that side of South Florida with my you know cubid American generation and be able to portray that well I say on that language most Americans can't speak proper English either myself included so you're you're in it Stu in the middle of both you know I'm like not great at Spanish I'm not great at English but in the middle you know we figure it out uh when you've got a severed arm on Set uh are you told like don't play with the armor there's got to be some hij Janks involved here oh no we play with the arm it's so it's kind of like it's a lot of it's just fun if you ever love texture things like that like any of the Play-Doh or you know it's kind of like a big shiny button where like you just can't help it but to push it or touch it you know so that definitely happened they did such a great job with it because it looked really really great and you know my character being a corner I definitely got to play with it a lot more well I'll wrap up with this one because I've got to ask I'm sure everyone does though I'll say it this way when you're reading the script when you're auditioning at what point do you realize you have to work with a monkey um pretty much as soon as I started reading the script I think like the first scene that um that Neville's in there's the monkey and so I thought okay if this if I get this project that's going to be part of it it's gonna there's going to be an accent there's going to be a monkey there's going to be Vince Von there's going to be Bill Lawrence there's going to be Miami there's going to be a lot of stuff going on and all that stuff happened and it was pretty incredible uh this series is so good thank you all for taking the time that was such a thought interview you're awesome thank you for actually watching and being lovely thank you so much thank you thank you and thanks to my guest also thanks to you for for checking out the episode in the series before you get out of here hit that subscribe button again you get three brand new interviews every single week new and every Monday Wednesday and Friday at right here on YouTube or of course anywhere in podcast land including iTunes Apple podcast Spotify podchaser NPR or w wfpk dog as well a great way to keep up with your favorite artists and discover new ones as well then after that actually head over to wfpk toorgle of song premieres music news anniversary spins bonus interviews Monday through Friday 6 PM Eastern at wfpk dog consequence has your music and film news you can also find me on the social media spots Facebook Instagram mostly on Twitter all three of them the addresses Kyle Meredith do hope you like and follow along that that's it for another Edition I'm Kyle Meredith I'll see you next time [Music]