On paper, Drew Tarver and his The other two The characters have a few things in common: Tarver also grew up in a small town and moved to New York to pursue an acting career, but their personalities are decidedly different, a comparison that feels especially important when season three viewers watch. to Cary becoming a complete villain. territory. But, throughout a recent interview, there’s one similarity that stands out: They both love to see people look at their work.
“There are so many jokes every minute, and when I’m with friends and family, I have to say, ‘Wait, they were laughing at another joke that just happened and I want you guys to listen to it.’ the actor said with a laugh over Zoom on a recent gloomy Los Angeles day. “I am very needy.”
Tarver, 37, has been working the improv scenes in New York and Los Angeles for more than a decade, but Max’s (formerly HBO Max) comedy about often-stray 30-something brothers (sister de Cary, Brooke, is played by Helene Yorke) from super-famous pop star Chase Dreams, was her first project to break out on a grand scale. He stars alongside his former comedy heroes Molly Shannon and Ken Marino (who also acts as his occasional roommate, later on) in the series that has become a critical darling for its ability to skewer the Hollywood machine. in such a specific and elegant way.
As its third season draws to a close, Tarver’s Cary finds himself at a career apex (he recently voiced the first openly queer character, a glob named Globby, in a Disney film; his fantasy series windweaver recently certified on Rotten Tomatoes), but personally he’s hit rock bottom (he’s alienated the queer community after exploiting his role as Globby, which didn’t even turn out to be openly gay as promised; he’s abandoned his friends in his quest for fame; your relationship is falling apart). Here, Tarver talks to the hollywood reporter about what he learned from Cary’s mistakes, his favorite moments from filming, and that time we incorrectly reported that his starring role in how i met your dad it was greenlit when, in fact, it was not.
What was it like getting back into the swing of things this season? Are you guys able to get into a rhythm easily enough by now?
The first thing I shot this season was a phone call, a walk and talk, which sounds like it would be easy. And maybe it is for most actors (laughs). But there’s something about talking to someone walking backwards holding a script behind a camera four feet to your right that was hard for me. But as soon as I’m back in a scene with everyone, it clicks pretty quickly. Unless I have a 4:45 am pickup, I’m back on that horse, baby.
In Succession, the actors will be available for the telephone scenes. Matthew Macfadyen spoke to Sarah Snook in the middle of the night in London…
(laughs.) I guess now I stand out for not showing up as much as the actors in Succession. But for the most part, when it comes to a phone call from someone, the other person is asleep. I guess if there was a big death scene, I’d stay on set and chill off camera with a fake phone to help out my co-stars.
Greg Endries/HBO Max
Has the show changed your comic senses in any way?
Chris and Sarah’s writing is so good that I want to be as funny as it is. And this season, after playing a guy who’s kind of sad for months, you go home and it takes a second to recalibrate and say, oh yeah, I’m not mad at my friends’ successes. I’m definitely aware of more pop culture references than I would otherwise be.
As someone who came up through UCB, do you think that process would have been helpful to Cary? Would he have kept his ego in check a little longer?
This season you’re going to see some of his decline in how he relates to fame. I think he’s struggling to catch up with how quickly they came into the spotlight, like how do I blend in with my personality and what do I do if a lot of people are staring at me? For me, UCB gave me a place to go and fail before anyone was looking, and that was really helpful. Cary doesn’t know how to make mistakes now that people are looking at him.
How easy or difficult is it for you to empathize with him during this period?
Cary is at his worst this season and he’s taking all the wrong turns. The writers have done a good job laying the groundwork for how she got there. Her despair has been building up. I don’t agree with him here, but I can see how much he wants it and how tightly he clings to things, trying to control them. He is crossing these milestones like he always wanted to, but they don’t feel like he thought they would. I think we can all relate, to some degree, to the feeling that I’ve reached my goal and now what? Am I taking the time to process it, am I realizing where he was three years ago compared to now, am I telling myself that he did a good job? I think it’s fun to play the idea that your career is technically going well, but why are you so miserable right now?
Do you allow yourself to do what you just described? Do you think about, shit, am I doing X or Y?
I try. I downloaded all the meditation apps and did them for four days and I didn’t finish. The entire last page on my phone is meditation apps that I’ve been on for 3.5 minutes. I feel like I can grasp gratitude, but I can never hold on to it long enough. You get it for a few minutes and it’s like, oh, if only I could keep this feeling going for days.
For me, the best way to tap into that feeling is to stand outside an old apartment, specifically the shitty NYU summer rental I had during my first internship.
That should be an app. You meditate for a minute and then a van comes and picks you up and takes you to an apartment you used to have. Then you go and sit in your old room for 10 minutes and say, OK, I’m grateful.
Greg Endries/HBO Max
What are some of the best things you’ve done thanks to this program?
See what happens live It was amazing. Being there with Molly and Helene while they were referencing Bravo shows that he didn’t know anything. Fortunately, Molly knows a lot about this recent feud between, uh, Raquel and whoever. The fact that I’m able to do panels where I’m sitting next to Molly Shannon is really cool. Like, wow, people are here to hear us talk about this thing that we did that they like. Or when people stop me on the street and tell me they like it The other two. I have to restrain myself from saying, “Do you want to hang out?” I mean, “Wow, that’s very nice of you, let’s chill out for the next three hours.”
That reminds me of the episode where Cary makes a cameo and then shows up at the guys’ meeting at Kettle of Fish…
God, that was so devastating. That was a difficult moment. Now I can say, look, don’t do that.
Some of the moments on the show seem to be drawn from his own experiences, like the episode where Cary has that hellish tape. Do Chris and Sarah talk to you to get stuff, or do they just connect automatically?
It’s not necessarily based on us. The writers who work on the show are also artists, so they are familiar with the experiences Cary would have. A lot of times we read the script and think, wow, you did it. She was just doing that, trying to make a tape and get the lighting right or whatever. I think because they come from snlThey handle something that’s grounded and real and heighten it so well, like putting me in a gentleman’s outfit in a museum. That’s what it is, right? A costume. It is definitely not armor.
How much of the current strike situation do you think will make it into season four, given that moments like COVID and the insurrection have worked their way into the two others universe?
Well, first of all, have you heard about a fourth season? Is there something you know that I don’t?
Ha! I guess I’m speaking hypothetically. HE hollywood reporter was the outlet that first reported that how i met your dad got the green light, so we’ve definitely burned you before on this…
That’s how it is! My life changed from seven to 12 minutes with that. But I remember Chris and Sarah discussing their process in referencing the pandemic at the end of this season, and it was because we left season two with the big joke about night nurse Starting production the day the lockdown hit. So I think it gives us the idea that the show takes place in the same realm as us. It’s a bit behind in our timeline, from what I could see a reference to the strike in season four. Or maybe it jumps ahead five years in our timeline and we’re making jokes about what the world would be like. Just get real science fiction.
Have you ever had a meta moment where you met someone who was in on a joke on the show? I’m thinking about the way Beanie Feldstein was in Night nurse…
Good. I haven’t met Beanie Feldstein, but obviously I would love it, and it would probably consist of getting close to her and being like we’re fake co-stars. I’m trying to think if something like this has happened. We did that fake episode of WWHL before continuing in real life. That was a funny moment, because years ago he did us a huge favor by letting us come in and film after he had done an actual episode. He was like, what is this show?
you mentioned in WWHL that you lived with Ken Marino during filming, and I wanted to ask you to explain that.
We both live in Los Angeles and it started when we were wrapping up the second season. He usually flew back and forth all the time, because his family is here, but we had to quarantine for a bit, so we decided to find a place together. We became very close during the first season. It’s crazy to have someone who I’ve admired for so long and loved their work, and then all of a sudden I’m like, “Should we get this cereal? What cereal do you like, comedy icon? What are we going to order for eat dinner later?
They still haven’t given me the screener for the finale, so I’m going to use a tactic from my interviews with him. Succession cast: when i watch the episode, what is something i wish i would have asked you?
I guess it would be, does Cary finally understand what he deserves? Comeuppance: is that the right word? Brooke is called, and after episode seven you’ve seen a part. And Curtis calls out to Cary, but it doesn’t seem like she’s learning anything from that moment. The lesson is there and he is not listening. I think at the end of the season you’ll see him, with this train that he’s been on, finally make it to the station.
