SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Alex Novak is separated from his wife, Tess, and after a brief reunion with friends, he looks for a diversion in New York City. He finds a bar where he can avoid paying the cover charge if he signs up for an open mic stand-up set. His name is called. Let's just say Alex Novak is no George Carlin.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "IS THIS THING ON?")
WILL ARNETT: I don't have a ton of jokes. What am I going to tell you? I think I'm getting a divorce.
SIMON: Wow. But he keeps coming back. Will Arnett stars as Alex Novak, and he co-wrote the new movie "Is This Thing On?" It's directed by Bradley Cooper and also stars Laura Dern, Andra Day, Amy Sedaris and Christine Ebersole.
Will Arnett joins us now from our studios in Culver City, California. Thanks so much for being with us.
ARNETT: Good morning. It's great to be here.
SIMON: This movie is drawn from the story - real-life story, I guess we have to say these days - of John Bishop, a British man. And you came across the story personally, didn't you?
ARNETT: I did, yeah. The film was inspired by some true events in John's life on his journey to becoming a stand-up, which is that he was going through a divorce and stumbled into a bar and didn't want to pay the cover charge that they were asking for because they were doing an open mic. So he put his name down, what he claims now is the best 4 pounds he never spent. And I just - he told me this story. We were at a luncheon on a boat in Amsterdam, of all places, in a social setting. And he told me this story, and I - it really gripped me.
SIMON: What drew you in, and how do you get from that to making a movie?
ARNETT: You know, he talked about - there are a lot of themes here that I think are pretty universal. You know, first of all, the disintegration of a family and his inability to not just talk about it with other people, but kind of really admit it to himself, what he's going through. We find our character, Alex, effectively numb at the start of the film, and he's not able to talk about - he doesn't even have the language to talk about what's going on. And by going up on stage and being forced to say something, he sort of reveals where he's at in his life. And...
SIMON: You know the line that gets me - and I have particular compliments if you wrote it - when he says, boy, I wish I had a punch line.
ARNETT: Yeah (laughter). I did (laughter). And (laughter), yeah. There's (laughter) - well, it's - and it's funny because also, his life is the punch line, right? And it really struck me, the - going through finding something that is so far out of his comfort zone ends up ultimately being this thing that kind of saves him.
SIMON: You had not done stand-up before. How did you work it out for this film? I mean, I - I'm - what, YouTube clips of Buddy Hackett and Richard Pryor?
ARNETT: (Laughter) I wish. I should have done that. You know, we had all this stand-up that we had written for the character of Alex, and there was no other way to do it other than jump right in. So I started going to the Comedy Cellar in New York down on MacPherson Street when we were in preproduction every night for about six weeks, and going up a few times a night and working on these various sets. You know, it was a way to kind of rehearse the process of what it was like, to try to see - doing stand-up through the eyes of somebody who's never done it before and using these - the stuff that we had written in the film, and also a way to kind of help us continue to write the stand-up that we were - ultimately would use when we were shooting.
SIMON: You were going to the Comedy Cellar, and you were actually getting up on stage, right?
ARNETT: Yeah. Oh, yeah. As Alex Novak.
SIMON: So - well, there's a part of me that has to wonder - no doubt people recognized who you were.
ARNETT: Well, I wouldn't say no doubt, but I - there were...
SIMON: Well, the most informed.
ARNETT: (Laughter) Sure. Sure. Thank you. There were people for sure who, when they'd say, please welcome to the stage, for the - for his first time doing stand-up ever, Alex Novak, and I'd get up, and you'd hear people kind of laugh or maybe some people were fans and might be excited that I was there. And then I'd say, hi. I'm Alex Novak. And they'd have kind of - their laughter would turn into confused laughter, at which point I'd start talking and doing some of the sets, talking about a breakup of a marriage. And, you know, you had people probably googling me in real time, trying to figure, like, wait. Wait. I've not been up to date on this dude's life. What's going on? You know?
SIMON: Alex has separated from his wife, Tess, who's so beautifully played by Laura Dern. They still share a lot, don't they?
ARNETT: They do. There's not a villain in this relationship. It's a relationship that's disintegrated because of a lack of communication, the inability to see things from the other person's perspective. And I think that that can happen. People sort of - what we refer to sometimes as growing apart or whatever. But these are people who do love each other.
SIMON: Any desire to get back up on the stage?
ARNETT: You know, I hadn't done it since we wrapped earlier this year. And a couple weeks ago, I texted Liz. I don't know why. And I said, if I show up tonight at 10 o'clock at the Cellar, could I go up? And she said, yeah. And so immediately, I was kind of overcome with fear and, you know, panic and then thinking, why did I do that? But I went, and I went down there to the Cellar about 10 o'clock. And I went - I didn't have a chance to think about it. I went up. And I had written some jokes and stuff that I'd had over the course of the last year that I'd sort of jotted down and did about 12 minutes. And it was gratifying. I don't know if it was the best stand-up set, but it was exhilarating.
SIMON: Well, why did you do that, do you think?
ARNETT: I don't know. It's a good question. Well, I'll tell you, actually. I was in the middle of - you know, we've been doing all this press for this film. And that particular day was right in the heart of doing a ton of press during the day and then going to Q&As at night after screenings in New York. And I was quite tired and really, actually, sick of my own voice, to be honest. And for some reason, weirdly enough, and I'm just kind of putting this together right now in real time, I felt a sense of relief at the idea of going and doing it. It felt exciting, and it felt like I was actually doing something that felt good, not, probably, unlike what my character did. I don't know. And I did. As soon as I - I was excited at the end. I - like I said, I was nervous. And then I went in and I did it, and afterwards, I felt almost rejuvenated by the experience.
SIMON: Will Arnett, who co-wrote and stars in the new movie "Is This Thing On?" And I got to say, from one Golden Globe podcast nominee to another...
ARNETT: Yes (laughter).
SIMON: ...Yours, of course, is called SmartLess - thanks. Thanks for joining us.
ARNETT: Thank you so much. This has been great, really fun and a thrill for me. Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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