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| Undateable's Ron Funches (l) and David Fynn |
According to his posts on Twitter, on tonight's live episode of
Undateable -- the second installment of
Undateable's all-live third season on NBC -- actor
David Fynn, who plays gay British bartender Brett, will be periscoping live from within a scene. It's one of the many ways
Undateable is reinventing the live broadcast, and folding viewers into the experience via a variety of social media.
Last week, just in advance of the show's season premiere, I sat down with David and co-star
Ron Funches, whose character Shelly has a way of imbuing even the most edgy of remarks with his trademark cuddliness and likeability. I talked with the two about everything from Ron's weight loss -- 75 pounds since last season! -- and their biggest fears about what could happen live, tonight at 8PM Eastern (rebroadcast for other time zones) tonight on NBC.
Must-Hear TV: Ron, you look a little different from last year. How did you do it?
Ron Funches: Just working
out. Exercises with a trainer. And I hate
it.
MHTV: How is the show going to explain Shelly's new appearance?
RF: I don’t think
they’re going to have to. I lost 75
pounds, but I’m magically still fat! So it
works! I think they’ll just let it go.
MHTV: Come on, with all the live stuff that could happen on the show? Last year, Chris D'Elia's Danny commented on Brent Morin's character Justin's weight. So you think they’re just going to let it go for
Shelly?
RF: That would be fine! Great, bring it up, get me more dates!
MHTV: When you were told you were going to do live shows all year,
were you intimidated?
David Fynn: No. I think this is a cast that embraces pressure
like that. The four boys come from
standup backgrounds, Bridgit [Mendler] is a live performer, and I’ve done theater and
stuff. I think if any cast is going to
embrace live TV, I think it’s going to be us.
I think we kind of get off on the adrenaline of it as well. Like on our tape nights, when things were kind of
coming out a bit crazy and the improv was going a bit crazy, you could really feel
that energy from the audience. And I think
to have that in a live scenario suits our cast very well.
MHTV: What’s your worst nightmare of what could happen?
DF: Cursing, for
sure.
RF: Cursing is the
worst nightmare. But also, because the show will be doing some things where they unexpectedly put the camera on other [audience] people, what if that person curses? That’s my worst nightmare, where it’s someone out of our control.
DF: I guess dropping
a line would be pretty bad. But someone
would save you, though. You’d be fine.
MHTV: You’re all skilled enough in working without a net that you
can cover for each other.
DF: Sure. And because we rehearse quite a lot now, we know the story so well that if a line goes, the most important thing is that
you’re tuned into the story, so someone will bail you out.
MHTV: Do you have a dream guest star you’d like this season?
RF: I like The
Rock. The Rock would come here, and be
like, "Oh man, I’m not feeling confident. Shelly, teach me how to be so
cool!" That would be great.
DF: I’d like Ricky
Gervais.
MHTV: He could play your dad!
DF: That would be
amazing! And he’s lovely, too. I think he’d embrace it. Let’s get Ricky Gervais!
RF: Let’s make Ricky
Gervais MY dad!
MHTV: He might be one of those people who could drop the
F-bomb. He’s a little
unpredictable. Maybe he’s the one who’d
get the show fined by the FCC!
DF: And he’d love it
as well!
MHTV: Do you think comedies like Undateable have a specific
advantage in addressing stories about race and class, as compared to TV dramas?
RF: Yes, of
course! The advantage is, you get to
tell jokes. Or more exactly, you can say exactly what you mean, and people will
think it’s a joke. And those are usually
the best jokes, when you’re really just saying what you truly believe, but
because it’s an uncomfortable truth, people are going to laugh at their
reaction. When you’re doing it in a
drama, you have a tendency to be whiny or preachy. But when you’re using humor, you can diffuse
the situation and make light of it, and be very honest without people really
holding you to it.
MHTV: Do you guys have in the back of your heads some lines that
you would throw out there in a nervous moment, or just to mess with your
costars? Are you banking stuff to play
with in the scenes?
RF: No, because I feel like that’s
cheating. That’s taking away the live
atmosphere. What will happen is when we’re
live, because we’re very funny people we’ll play the situation. And if something comes up, we’ll say it.
DF: I think we all
had moments in the [live season 2] finale that we improv’d something. I think the first [East Coast broadcast] was a little tighter
on the script, and the second show [for the West Coast] everyone was a little bit more loose. I felt like in the first show people were
spotting opportunities, but not taking them as much as in the second. And then in the second, people were having little gos and still
improvising. So I still think that
spontaneous thing will still be there this season.
MHTV: What are this seasons's character arcs for Shelly and Brett.
Will Brett get a boyfriend?
DF: It’s already
talked about that I’m possibly seeing a guy, so hopefully we’ll bring him in at
some point.
MHTV: Do you know who they’ll cast?
DF: I’m pretty sure
it’s going to be Anthony Hopkins.
[laughs]
MHTV: Or, another possible dad!
DF: Yeah! My dad actually looks like Anthony Hopkins a
bit.
RF: I know a specific
thing but I can’t talk about it. But I can
say that Shelly’s going to have some trials in his life that he’ll have to deal
with, coming up. And we’ll get to watch
him deal with them.
MHTV: Any special ladies?
RF: I hope so. I hope so in the show, and in my real life.
MHTV: What kind of social media things will you be doing to tie
into the live performances?
RF: Every day at 4:30, we’re all going
to be doing periscope. We’ll all have our own individual shows: David will be doing some actor challenges, and I will be doing a thing called
Funches’ Favorites, which is basically a lifestyle magazine about being a
modern man, just showing you the things that I love. And then we’ll be live tweeting during the
shows. We’ll be all over social media.
DF: During scenes, if we’re not speaking, we’ll be on our phones,
tweeting. We’ve been told to do it
during scenes.
MHTV: Just to make it harder, to have more things to juggle! Are we going to meet any of your family
members? We were joking about your
possible dads.
RF: I haven’t heard
anything yet. I know we’ve been talking
about my cousin, who’s meth-addicted. So
hopefully he’ll show up!
Undateable
Airs LIVE for the East Coast, Friday October 16 at 8PM,
Replayed from live broadcast in other time zones
NBC
