Welcome to Random Roles, wherein we talk to actors about the characters that defined their careers. The catch: They don't know beforehand what roles we'll ask them to talk about.
The actor: Tim Meadows, who's essentially synonymous with Saturday Night Live: His decade-long tenure at the sketch-comedy show made him one of the longest-running cast members there. Aside from appearing in a number of films based on Saturday Night Live sketches, the Michigan-born comedian has memorably popped up in everything from The Colbert Report and Curb Your Enthusiasm to The Office and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. The second season of his TBS sitcom The Bill Engvall Show is slated to première June 12.
The Ladies Man (2000)—"Leon Phelps"
The A.V. Club: You've reprised the character a number of times since you left Saturday Night Live. You must really enjoy performing as him.
Tim Meadows: Well, it's not really that I enjoy doing it. It's a go-to thing for me. It's something that everybody knows. Even if I didn't want to do it, people would ask me to do it, or do it for me. It happens every day.
AVC: How does a sketch get selected to become a movie?
TM: Well, with ours, it was a bit of—we were sort of reluctant to do it. It was [written by] Dennis McNicholas and Andrew Steele and myself, who wrote the character and created it together. We were of the same mind that we didn't want to burn out the character, once we realized people liked it. So we would only do it once every four shows, and never back-to-back.
When Lorne [Michaels] came to us and said "They're interested in doing a movie," we said we should do it, because you don't get that opportunity a lot. We didn't go to them and ask them to do a movie, they came to us. So we just decided to really expand the world. We realized we didn't just have to do radio-show sketches; we could explore his world.
AVC: You've said in interviews there were many changes you would have made to the movie, if you'd had the power.
TM: There are a lot of things I'd do differently, but I didn't have the power to do the things we wanted to do. Sometimes it was the studio's decision. I don't want to take anything away from the people that worked on the movie. It would have been edited a little differently.
Originally, we wanted to have a mixed relationship [in the movie], which I don't think [the studio] was crazy about. And the other thing is, I wish we could have given Will Ferrell complete control over everything on his side of the movie. 'Cause we were both kind of new to it, so we both didn't know we could improvise and do whatever we want: "This is our movie." We were sort of like, "Well, let's stick to this script, and improvise a little bit, but basically, let's just do what we've gotta do."
AVC: How involved were you in the writing process?
TM: Very much.
AVC: But there were still things you wanted to change?
TM: Yeah. I mean, it's hard, looking back. The studio would ask us for certain things, for marketing reasons or for the story. Like, we had a scene with David Wells, the pitcher. He was a fan of the character. We ended up having to write a thing for him, and it turned out okay, but I don't think it totally made it into the movie.
AVC: For now, it's the last character-driven Saturday Night Live movie. Why do you think they haven't returned to that well?
TM: I don't know.
Saturday Night Live (1991-2000)—Various characters
TM: My favorite memory from SNL is, I used to write promos for the show, where the host and the musical guest talk for basically 10 seconds. At first, I was just a writer, but then me and [David] Spade were in charge of producing the promos and writing them. One week I was doing it, and Spade, for whatever reason, wasn't there. It was Paul McCartney and Alec Baldwin [on the show]. So I got to go up and sit in Lorne's office and read my promos, or have those guys read my promos to me. Paul McCartney was reading the promos quietly and making two piles. Then he goes, "I'll do these. I don't want to do these." And I go "Oh, okay." Every one he read, I'd written. So I said, "I wrote those." And he goes, "Nice job, young man. Nice job." [Laughs.]
AVC: Did you ever get intimidated by the constant stream of celebrities coming through?
TM: No, not intimidated. Overwhelmed. Like, to see Mick Jagger or Tina Turner performing, somebody I saw when I was a kid? Those moments are surreal.
AVC: What do you remember about your first day there?
TM: Well, the first day I went there, I went to see Mike Myers. I was just a guest. Tom Hanks was performing, and it was the week they did the Five-Timer's Club. Actually, I think that was the week I went for my meeting with Lorne. I was in Lorne's office, and Tom Hanks came up there, and Lorne introduced me. I was like, "Wow, Tom Hanks!" [Laughs.]
They brought in the sketch, and Conan O'Brien, whom I'd met briefly, came in to read. He wrote it with Robert Smigel and [Bob] Odenkirk, I believe. And they came in and read it. And somebody wasn't there to read one of the roles, so Lorne asked me to read it in the room. So it was me, Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Paul Simon, Conan, Robert, Bob Odenkirk, and Lorne Michaels. And this was my first time; I didn't even know I had the job.
AVC: That's surreal.
TM: It was some of my favorite people, like Steve Martin, who was one of my gods. Earlier in the day, I had met Tom Hanks down on the floor at [Studio] 8H, and then later, I saw him again in Lorne's office, and he said, "Hey, Tim, you're moving up pretty quick in show business!"
AVC: How do you think the show has changed since you left?
TM: I don't think it's much different. The people and the times are different. Occasionally it's a great show; occasionally it can be soft in some places. I've never seen a horrible show that I thought was god-awful. I've seen sketches that I thought, "Well, this is not great." But we had that too.
AVC: Well, by it's nature it's tough to—
TM: To be consistent. And comedy is kind of subjective. Not everybody agrees on what's funny, obviously.
I think they're good. I think when that cast is good, they're as good as any cast that's been there. They do great impressions, they have great political comedy, they have really funny characters, and they have the digital shorts, which are great. They have a cool, conceptual comedy that they do with some of those videos, and some of the sketches. They look like they're having fun, and they look comfortable. I like that.
AVC: Whose idea was it to sort of make a gag out of how long you've been on the show? Did that bother you?
TM: No, it didn't bother me. Well, I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me. There were times when people would make a joke in read-through without asking my permission. I think [writer] Steve Higgins probably was the one who started it. I'm not sure. I may have even started it. But I kind of remember Steve doing that a little bit. I didn't like it when people did it without asking me if it was okay. I wasn't sensitive about it, but I didn't want it to become this out-of-control thing where it became this sad joke that I was on the show so long. Darrell Hammond has been on the show for 12 years, and they don't make jokes about him being on the show forever.
AVC: Why do you think that is?
TM: I think because I said it was okay. That's the only reason I can think of. And I think maybe because I was one of the first people to stay for a long period of time. Kevin Nealon did, then I was the second one. I don't know why they don't [make fun of that].
AVC: Is it a double standard?
TM: No, I think I'm probably more a part of the cast then Darrell is a part of that cast. He's sort of a home-run hitter on that show. I don't know. Maybe people didn't like me.
AVC: Should comic actors should still strive to be on SNL?
TM: Yeah. It is the best training for a first show-business job. There's no job like that. The other thing is, coming from SNL, you totally get spoiled about having control over your sketches. When you leave there, unless you're producing or writing, you never have as much power as you did there. You learn how to produce and direct, you learn how to work with actors, and you learn how to work with writers. You learn how to talk to people to get things you want done. You learn to compromise to get something done. If Friends had been my first sitcom, I don't think I'd have had that kind of—you just show up, learn your lines. That's not to say those guys don't have any directing stuff or producing stuff, I'm sure they all do. They're obviously more successful than me. But I think as a first job, it's a great job to have.
AVC: Jay Mohr wrote a nasty account of his time there: Gasping For Airtime. Have you read it?
TM: I have it, but I have not read it. I heard that it was mainly about him going through panic attacks. I remember that pretty vividly, because we were both going through the same thing. We talked about it at one time, and I don't know what he did. I don't know if he saw someone or got medication.
AVC: Are panic attacks pretty typical for SNL newcomers?
TM: I don't know if it's something that everybody goes through. I know I was going through the same thing he was going through. Mine would start when I would get on the train to go to work. I felt like I was going to have a heart attack. I would end up getting off the train before I got to work, and walking until I felt better.
Then I talked to my doctor, and he said the thing to remember about panic attacks is that nothing is going to happen. You feel like you're going to have a heart attack or can't catch your breath, but it's just your mind. Once he told me that, I was able to deal with it better. I stopped taking the train to work, and I started taking cabs or walking. After a certain point it didn't bother me any more.
The Michael Richards Show (2000)—"Kevin Blakeley"
TM: [Laughs.] Well, that was a very disappointing experience in my life. The great thing about that year is, my first son, Isaiah, was born. We moved out to Los Angeles for [the show]. But everything about it was the worst experience; to go from SNL to go to that.
AVC: You were basically right back at NBC.
TM: Right back at NBC. To go from working at a show where you had hands-on creativity to working on a show where you were working with somewhat of a dictator.
AVC: And who would that be?
TM: [Laughs.] I'm not naming names. He has since apologized to me. We ran into each other on the street, and he apologized. This was before his big comedy stand-up breakdown.
AVC: Did you see that breakdown coming?
TM: I did not see that coming. I don't think he saw it coming. I think he lost his temper.
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