G33K Out: 2014 LA Times Festival of Books: Stephen Tobolowsky
{Header image by Renee Fabian.}
Note: this article was also posted on Contents May Vary.
Episode 23: 2014 LA Times Festival of Books: Stephen Tobolowsky
“Hey: it’s that one guy!”
It’s the cry of many a character actor (so much so that it’s got its own page on TV Tropes, and for actor Stephen Tobolowsky, that’s fine with him. Appearing in over 200 films and/or television episodes, you may know him as the insurance salesman in Groundhog Day, the substitute teacher Sandy Ryerson in Glee, or from any number of various roles. For me, the role that moved him from ‘it’s that one guy’ to knowing his name was as a guest star on The Lone Gunmen, the short-lived sequel series to The X-Files.
His experiences in television, film and theater are varied, and he has a wide range of stories about those experiences. Back in 2005, he and his stories became the subject of Stephen Tobolowsky’s Birthday Party, a movie whereby he captivates his friends and family (and the audience) with these stories of his life. This film led to the podcast The Tobolowsky Files, which I’ve recommended both back in 2011 and again in February of this year.
In 2014, I had the chance to interview him. He was going to be at that year’s LA Times Festival of Books, promoting his book The Dangerous Animals Club, which is a series of some of those tales. He’s coming back to this year’s LA Times Festival of Books, promoting his newest book, My Adventures with God, and so I thought it was a great chance to bring this interview out from storage.
Basic show notes:
- Running time is 43 minutes, 15 seconds.
- The main interview was recorded on April 28, 2014.
- Mid-show plug is from Jen Morris (my co-host from my old Stage Savvy podcast) and her husband Chuck Smith, who we had interviewed in episode 11. His band, Ben Franklinstein, has an album on Bandcamp – for free.
- For more information about Stephen Tobolowsky, including his podcast and where to buy his books, you can visit his website.
- Theme music is “Schoolyard Haze”, by Jari Pitkanen, available via the Free Music Archive.
- This podcast is released under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike License.
- Interested in hearing other episodes of G33K Out? Check them out here.
And now, it’s time to geek out.
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You can see more of Angie’s work (and her social media connections) over at her website.
