Stephen Tobolowsky
Even if you don't know his name, you probably know actor Stephen Tobolowsky by his face, and, likely, his voice, as well.
He has well over 200 credits, spanning TV & movies, including Spaceballs, and Groundhog Day.
More recently, you've probably seen him as Principal Ball on The Goldbergs or Dr. Leslie Berkowitz on One Day at a Time. Or you might know him from his podcast, The Tobolowsky Files.
To listen to the interview with Stephen Tobolowsky, click the play button below (or click here to open the audio player in a new tab/window).
Mike Reflects
I went into this interview expecting to talk about The Tobolowsky Files and One Day at a Time, as well as things like The Goldbergs, Groundhog Day, and Spaceballs.
You probably expected to click "play" and hear about The Tobolowsky Files, One Day at a Time, The Goldbergs, Groundhog Day, and Spaceballs.
There are no words in the English language to express just how happy, overjoyed, thrilled, [coin new word here] I am about that not being the case.
One of the things I love about interviewing, especially the way I do it, is that there is no script. I can often plot out a very general outline to get from Point A to Point B to Point C, maneuver through it in a way that sounds conversational, and be quite pleased with the result.
But I love having the freedom to just throw all of that out the window on the occasion that something more interesting comes up, then just follow that wherever it goes.
This was one of those times.
Going into it, I didn't expect the conversation to take the direction it took. But I'm [insert previously coined new word] that it did.
Stephen Tobolowsky has been in the business for a while. And he's done roles, like Groundhog Day and Spaceballs, that almost every interviewer he's talked to has probably wanted to talk about.
And those interviewers have probably asked him a lot of the same questions about those roles—probably the same questions I would've asked, if I'm being completely honest.
He's probably answered those same questions, about those same roles, so often that he can do it in his sleep.
To be clear, there's nothing wrong with interviews like that. As I said, I've done interviews like that & I probably would've done it myself here. Everyone asks the questions because everyone wants the answers, and not every listener would've heard one of the previous interviews, so the information would've been new to them. And, more often than not, the answers to those questions are generally going to be fun, funny, and entertaining.
But, for me, as an interviewer, there's nothing better than the feeling of talking to someone like Stephen Tobolowsky, who's done many an interview, and asking him a question or follow up that's on point, but so rare that he doesn't see it coming & has to pause to come up with an answer.
Actually, I take that back.
There's nothing better than the above, but where I learn something about the craft or industry that I didn't know before.
And that happened here in spades.
So, while it's probably safe to say that the conversation didn't take the direction that anyone expected, hopefully you had as much fun as I did & learned something as well.