RK: The Kennedy Center is a wonderful place, but that’s really a group of theaters. They’ll do touring companies or they’ll do short runs of a play. But not a lot of times do they do new works. It’s too difficult. But they have symphonies—but I don’t need symphonies, I don’t need ballets, I don’t need operas. I want a theater company!
3. What discontinued food or beverage would you like to see brought back?
RK: Oooh. What an interesting question that is! Let’s come back to that. Actually, give me some things that other people have said, maybe that’ll rattle something in my head.
AVC: Eric McCormack said a candy bar that he’s only seen in Canada called Eat-More. I haven’t heard of that one.
RK: Yeah, but it exists.
AVC: It does exist. I guess he played a little fast and loose with the question.
RK: Okay, here’s what I would like then. I would like Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews to be more popular. You know what they are? They’re the best. And I would like Tastykakes to be all over the country. You know Tastykake? It’s a Philadelphia product.
4. Who was your first pop culture crush?
RK: Probably Barbara Eden, from I Dream Of Jeanie. Or Betty in the Archie comic books.
AVC: The comic version of her?
RK: Yeah. I like the blondes.
5. What would you consider your biggest pop culture blindspot?
RK: Rap music. I get all of those guys confused. Their songs sound the same to me. I know that they’re not. I try to listen to the lyrics, but I don’t entirely understand them. And it’s all my fault. I’m just one of those “these kids with the long hair” type of guys when it comes to rap. I wish I got it more, but I don’t. My kids sing it all the time, and I don’t know what it is.
AVC: Do you know any of the ones your kids like?
RK: No! I couldn’t even name the artist. But my son has very eclectic taste, all kinds of rock. To be honest, I don’t know much rock music today either. I met Selena Carpenter. No, Sabrina Carpenter, right? She was so nice. Very kind to me. You could sing me two songs and ask me which one is hers and I wouldn’t know. It would be a 50/50 guess.
AVC: But you met her?
RK: I met her at a Grammy party. She even took a picture of her and me, and she posted it. That did wonders for me! Don’t ask me her songs, but I know she’s a great big talent.
6. When were you the most starstruck and by whom?
RK: I would have to say… you want an eclectic answer? Okay, I got three. When I was a kid I went to see Woody Allen at Michael’s Pub, to see him play clarinet. I brought my book along because I was so scared. All in all, it was very disappointing because I saw a great comic play the clarinet. You know, I was a 16-year-old kid, what the hell did I want that for? But I was very starstruck by Woody Allen.
When I was a kid and wanting to be an actor, not [yet] seriously but loving acting and loving character actors, I saw a play on Broadway called That Championship Season. All five of the actors were the type of actors that I really love, and I stood outside the stage door and I got all of their autographs. You wouldn’t know any of them, but—well, you would know Paul Sorvino, maybe you’d know Richard Dysart. They’re not stars, they’re character actors. And I was so excited to meet them.
And the third one is I met Sandy Koufax at The Hole In Wall, Paul Newman’s charity? I met him at a fundraiser, and he knew who I was, and I knew him. He was a hero of mine since I was a kid. I was really starstruck.
7. What piece of advice that you received coming up in the industry would you say is no longer applicable to new artists?
RK: Great question. Be good before you become famous. Nowadays, you can become famous so quickly, it’s so easy on YouTube or anything like that. Well, that’s really not a good one, because they’re not actors. How about: Ratings matter. Ratings and quality matter.
AVC: You think that’s not applicable anymore?
RK: No. I was on a great TV show where our ratings were pretty good, the quality was really good. It was called East New York. We were doing great. We did everything they wanted us to. Our cast was great, the scripts were great, we [were] against the number-one TV show of the week, Sunday Night Football, and still we held our own. We were a really great show, and it didn’t matter. We weren’t produced by the company that was distributing the thing. Ratings didn’t matter, the quality of the show didn’t matter, and they knew it. The people at CBS, you know, they knew how good it was and they just dismissed it and took it off the air. Ratings and quality don’t matter anymore. It’s all about streaming money and what platform it’s on.
AVC: That doesn’t make a ton of sense to me.
RK: It doesn’t make sense to me, but obviously there is dollar business sense to it. I just don’t understand it. I can’t wrap my head around it. You know, you make an investment. Seinfeld would have been off the air if you didn’t have champions. Or Cheers, famously! Seinfeld was on for two and half years before it started getting any ratings.
8. Who’s someone new in your field that everyone should be paying attention to?
RK: There’s a girl on Saturday Night Live…get the cast for me. You pull up this year’s cast. Is Chloe Fineman new? I think Chloe Fineman and Heidi Gardner are two superior actors who are incredibly pretty and incredibly funny and I think that they’ll be huge.
AVC: Heidi Gardner has something where she can just deliver any line and it’ll crack me up.
RK: She’s good! And I believe every word they say. And they’re funny. And I know them, and they’re very smart.
Photo: Nicole Weingart/NBC
9. What is your biggest travel pet peeve?
RK: Having to pay for luggage carts at an American airport. I think they should be free. In Europe, they’re free.
10. Who was the last person that you FaceTimed?
RK: My children. My son Max in London. Although when we get off the phone I’m going to FaceTime my daughter, who’s in college.
AVC: Does your son live in London or is he just visiting?
RK: No, he’s doing a semester abroad, from Tufts University.
11. What is your earliest memory?
RK: My earliest memory was sitting on my great-grandparents’ lap in Brooklyn, New York. It could have been the Fourth Of July, but it was a summer night…and seeing all the lights strung across their patio or balcony. That’s my earliest memory.
AVC: How old do you think you were?
RK: Geez, what was I? Maybe two years old? Maybe two and a half? Three maybe? Could I have been three? I don’t know.
12: From Eric McCormack: When you were 14 years old, what musician did you want to be?
RK: Does an actor or singer count?
AVC: I’ll allow it.
RK: Robert Preston or Zero Mostel. I wanted to sing like them.
AVC: Good answer.
RK: Yeah, some of the other answers are a little dull, aren’t they? Should I spruce them up?
AVC: No, they’re good!
Without knowing who’s going to be our next guest, what would you like to ask them?
RK: Your last meal. You’re going to death row. What is your last meal and/or where is it from? What restaurant? I know what I would do.
AVC: What would yours be?
RK: It would be Carson’s, for ribs. The original. With potatoes au gratin, garden salad. Burnt on the outside, rare on the inside.
AVC: Is Carson’s a New York place?
RK: It’s a rib and chicken place [from Chicago]. It’s a good restaurant. You know, they’re like $29 for the ribs.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
