[IMG:L]Jack McBrayer quickly became a fan favorite as the eager-to-please page on 30 Rock, with his toothy perma-grin, soft southern lilt and unconditional love for NBC. Although he came on the scene as a fresh new face for the network last season, McBrayer actually started working in comedy more than 10 years ago. The Georgia-born actor (yes that southern lilt is the real deal), who attended the University of Evansville in Indiana, packed up right after college and headed for Chicago. It was in the windy city that he first met his now costar Tina Fey and her husband Jeff Richmond at the Second City comedy club.
With his career in funny business underway, McBrayer went on to join ImprovOlympic and Upright Citizens Brigade in Chicago, L.A. and New York, followed by sketch comedy roles on The Late Show with Conan O’Brien, appearances on Arrested Development and the role of Glenn in Talladega Nights.
With 30 Rock Season 1 on DVD Sept. 4, Hollywood.com had a chance to chat with the actor about his Emmy nominated show, hypothetically joining Tracy Morgan’s entourage, watching out for Alec Baldwin’s lit cigars and seeing Tina Fey play a man.
Hollywood.com: Have you ever been mistaken as a page at Rockefeller Center?
Jim McBrayer: Oh yes, definitely, especially during the pilot… It just became easier for all parties involved if I was like “I’ll call that person’s extension for you.”
HW: Do you have a fan base among the New York NBC pages now?
JM: It is pretty crazy because they are just all over Rockefeller Center, and it is funny too because a lot of the civilians in Rockefeller don’t recognize me at all. So I’ll just be walking through there in my t-shirt and blue jeans and I’ll see a page giving a tour and they are not allowed to stop the tour and point at me so I’ll just give them a wink or a head nod, it’s like a secret handshake sort of thing. At first they’d come over and we would like compare and contrast outfits…Mine has been heightened a little bit for TV purposes. I get a wool blazer and they get polyester.
HW: What are some of the characteristics that you and Kenneth share? Are you a mama’s boy too?
JM: Oh gosh, no, but please don’t tell my mama. Well, you know, I’m not a bad guy and I do like to see jobs to completion. I am a bit of a people pleaser, but other than that we both look good in navy and we are loyal to the people who got us the jobs. Whatever Tina Fey wants, Tina Fey gets!
HW: I understand you first met Tina and her husband Jeff in Chicago. What was your first impression of Tina?
JM: This was a couple years ago, this was back in 1996…the first time I ever saw her it was a little confusing to me because she was replacing a male cast member on the Second City Main Stage in Chicago, but for a little while she had to continue to do his part and so it was confusing that this little woman was saying these lines that I had seen a man do prior…once they started creating their own material the cast saw just how brilliant she was. So being able to watch her on the Second City Main Stage and getting to know her husband Jeff Richmond who was my director at Second City it was kind of cool just to be associated with comedy royalty. And those guys have taken care of me ever since. Even when I first moved to New York in 2002 they made sure that the people over at Conan knew that I was in town and they would let me do bits and sketches and stuff, so those guys have always taken care of me.
HW: Did you consider trying out for Saturday Night Live when Tina and Jeff started working there?
JM: It is SNL. It is not like you say “Well now that my friends are over at SNL…” It is a little more out of your control than that. With that being said, SNL has seen me a couple of times and that was just a huge deal, it is like a comedian’s dream and even though you don’t get hired, you know I’ve always been confident that I’m going to land on my feet somewhere and as it turns out I love, love, love where I’m at now so I’m very, very pleased how things did work out.
HW: What have your fan encounters been like since starring in Talladega Nights and 30 Rock?
JM: I guess the first time it happened was in California…what I have found is that the Nascar fan base is huge, because for someone in California to recognize me from Talladega Nights, don’t know if it was my signature ugly bangs or what it might have been. What has been really crazy is that when I go back home to Georgia people go on and on and on about Talladega Nights and I don’t even know if they know I’m on a TV show called 30 Rock. Like my friends and family they go on and on about Talladega Nights and once again you don’t want to bring up “Uh, yeah I’m on an Emmy nominated show called 30 Rock,” because they really don’t care.
HW: Have you had a chance to celebrate those 10 Emmy nominations yet?
JM: We really truly just got into the groove…we’ll start shooting this week so we haven’t seen the entire crew or anything like that, but I’m sure once we get going we’ll be celebrating.
[IMG:R]HW: What do you think this means for the show?
JM: Hopefully that more people will start watching. That was one thing that we were really, really worried about and that the ratings were so low because people weren’t watching it. It was critically getting some good praise, but nobody was watching it. So I think along the lines of Arrested Development, the people who watched it really, really enjoyed it but nobody was watching it so I think we want to get a little more visibility out there and hopefully just get a bigger audience.
HW: Do you plan to have everyone over to your apartment for viewing parties again this season?
JM: I’m hoping to…It is just some of the cast like Jane Krakowski and Judah Friedlander and Lonny Ross and Keith Powell, Katrina Bowden, some of the more junior actors. It is very fancy. I don’t know if you’ve had Lipton onion dip with Ruffles [laughs]. It is just fun. We just chill out and watch the show and kind of talk shop too, like “I can’t believe they used that take” or “Wow they really chopped that scene up.” Then we pat each other on the back and say congratulations Emmy nominated 30 Rock. [Laughs]
HW: With the failure of Kenneth’s game show idea Gold Case, what do you think his next career move will be?
JM: I think he wants to stay involved with NBC as long as he can. That’s what, another two or three years? Maybe development or maybe some sort of recruitment program for NBC, like “We need to go door to door to tell people about NBC.”
HW: Will he find love in the next season?
JM: Well, episode two gets a little racy. I don’t know if you could call it love, but Kenneth’s got some game!
HW: Do you find any parallels between Tracy Morgan and his character Tracy Jordan?
JM: Well, we were just catching up earlier this week about everybody’s summer and stuff and of course he’s got the ankle bracelet and of course he’s been in all the tabloids so he was telling us a lot about his personal life, which has made it into some of the script. I was like “I got to go to Hawaii for a little while and I got a nice tan in L.A.” and that literally paled in comparison to Tracy’s exploits.
HW: So if you were to join Tracy Morgan’s entourage like Kenneth joined Tracy Jordan’s would you predict a similar outcome?
JM: Where we get to harmonize? Absolutely, I think that is exactly how it would be. I would probably be in charge of posting bail bonds. I would be like the treasurer. I would be buying everyone in the entourage end tables for their home offices. [Laughs]
HW: Is Alec Baldwin as intimidating to work with as we all think?
JM: He was very intimidating to me when we first started, but once you get to know him and just know his mode of operandi he’s great. The thing is I really have just learned a lot by watching him and being in scenes with him. He is always 100 percent to his other actors even when the shot isn’t on him he’ll give you whatever you need.
HW: Do you guys goof around on set, any good stories?
JM: [Alec] did accidentally burn an actor when he extinguished a cigar in this dude’s mouth. [Laughs]
HW: How did that happen?
JM: It was an accident. It was just such a great story for that actor who could say “Alec Baldwin put his cigar out in my face”…The gentleman was standing right behind him and Alec, this was out on the golf course, and Alec had a lit cigar and the dude was behind him and when Alec swung his arm back to gesture backwards it went out right in his mouth [laughs]. There was ash all over his face and it’s like what are you going to say when Alec Baldwin puts a cigar out in your mouth? “Oh, I’m fine, I’m fine.” Mr. Baldwin was very apologetic and I did have to ask permission to share that story.
HW: You have a new movie coming out soon, tell me about your part in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the new Judd Apatow flick.
JM: I play a virginal newlywed who is at a Hawaiian resort so I got to spend a month in Hawaii, which I had never been to before and it was perfect. It was the best thing ever. It was awesome, it was so awesome.
[IMG:L]HW: Who plays your new bride?
JM: An actress named Maria Thayer, she was in Accepted and she was in Strangers with Candy. Very pretty girl and I had known her for like five years, which was good because we had to have a love scene. That was a first…I mean on a film! [Laughs]…I licked Katrina‘s face on 30 Rock…this was more than kissing.
HW: So this was a first for you?
JM: Yeah, oh my God, we had to wear the little nude panties and everything. It was rough…you are more humiliated then anything…I will admit though that we both had a couple of Bud Lights before the scene!
