Psych [USA, Wednesdays, 10/9C] returns for its winter premiere tonight – a new night – and minus the lead-in of perennial favorite, Monk, which ended its eight-year run in December. I took part in a teleconference Q&A session with series star James Roday and John Cena, who guest stars in the premiere. Unfortunately, their schedules where such that there was no overlap, so Mr. Cena was onboard for the first twenty minutes, then had to get on an airplane and Mr. Roday joined, us for the last half-hour, from the studio. It was an unusual situation that allowed for some interesting questions.
Also on the call were: Joshua Maloney [Niagara Frontier Publications], David Martindale [Hearst Newspapers], Rosa Cordero [AccidentalSexiness.com], Sammy Torino [TV Grapevine], Troy Rogers [thedeadbolt.com], Kristyn Clark [Pop Culture Madness], Laura Tucker [Small Screen Monthly], Earl Dittman [Wireless Magazine], Lisa Sternberg [Starry Constellation], Whitney Sedgwick [TwoSuns.com], Lena Lamoray [LenaLamoray.com], Travis Tidmore [The CineManiac], Monica Garsky [Flash News], Icess Fernandez, and Martin Sternberg [SmallScreenScoop.com].
Hey, John. Thanks for your time today.
John Cena: Hey no problem man.
So were you a fan of the show? Had you seen it prior to guest starring in it?
JC: Well just because of the relationship with the network I’ve seen bits and pieces, I’ve never been involved and dedicated for the seasons and everything, but really kind of saw that it was my sense of humor and definitely when I got on set I knew I would fit right in.
The show’s very well written and it’s very, those guys certainly (unintelligible) themselves and with their personality I, I love how it’s put together and I, I wasn’t a die hard fan but have since become one.
It’s… I really do like what they’re doing with the show and I’m happy that I can help kick off the new season, the new time slot but it was it was an educational experience but one that I certainly, I made some new friends and certainly had a newfound respect for what those guys (unintelligible).
I watched the screener of the episode last week, enjoyed it. You’re really quite good in it. Yeah your character, your character kind of as a super agent kind of does it all you know, whether he’s you know, being smart or you know, whether it’s you know, man of action. We didn’t get to see this side of him but I bet you he’s catnip to the ladies too. How much, how much fun was it to play a character like that?
JC: It was really cool but at the same time to have, have a bit of a mercenary type feel. It wasn’t the Johnny-do-good sort of baddest man on the planet style. This guy, the guy that I play is a, is a true mercenary, you know, he’s very good at what he does but at the same time is certainly out to make money and knows he has to compromise some morality issues to get the job done sometimes, and I think that’s what leads up to a very interesting ending.
Yeah. Speaking of which it kind of left it open a little bit, might we see, might we see you come back?
JC: I would, I would certainly love to make another appearance. I’m so glad that they didn’t (unintelligible) ending to my character and I would certainly love to come back if, let’s hope we get some good ratings for the premier episode and if we do then hopefully I’ll be seen again.
Is it hard to keep a straight face on the set of that show?
JC: No. They take everything in stride, those guys you know, like I said they got a great sense of humor, they’re willing to laugh at themselves and wink at the camera and that’s, that’s really what I like to do. So we held it together just about until they said cut and then yeah, we had a bunch of laughs, but those guys have a wonderful sense of humor.
How do you think wrestling’s changed over the years?
JC: It’s, I, this is something that can be as long or as short of answer as you like, but really quickly I’ve watched it as a child in the ‘80s and then kind of grew up with it in the ‘90s and watch it now. It’s, it’s almost come full circle, it’s back to it’s (unintelligible) PG format. The production value is second to none to any live television show out there that includes all live news, all live sport shows.
We really know how to shoot what we do very, very well, we’re very effective at it. I think it is constantly improving and giving it’s consumers the best value it can for the money. But at the same time it went through a very, very radical phase in the late ‘90s and is now since kind of found its own in an entertainment block that is okay for pretty much everyone to enjoy, not just a set demographic, the over 18.
I have a lot of friends who have children that want to get into wrestling, what age do you think it’s appropriate to start in schools and for them to actually start wrestling? Should they start early or?
JC: Well, I mean if you ask me I can just use my own success as a template. I knew very little about professional wrestling and sports entertainment and got my primary and secondary education, I graduated from high school and graduated from college without ever having stepped foot in a ring.
So is there an exact age? I can’t, I really can’t tell you, I can tell you what I’ve done and I had a lot of success and I still hopefully, barring any physical disaster have a long life left in my career.
So I don’t think there is a prime age or even a prime way to, you know, prepare yourself for the WWE I think you kind of got to take everything in stride. I can emphasize first and foremost that it is very, very difficult to become a WWE superstar, so it certainly doesn’t hurt to have education to fall back on.
Now, I wanted to know how much of your role from The Marine did you use for this role?
JC: This was a little bit different because The Marine role was more punch you in the face and see how big the explosion can be type of thing, but this it certainly was, I think this was that kind of spin off. They wanted that kind of super badass, you know, toughest man alive, that type of, that type of stick.
But I didn’t want to give the same thing. I wanted to be able to show just a, you know, a little bit of the humor, a little bit of more, a little bit more depth just because the people who have already seen The Marine have kind of already seen that. So I tried to take what we did in that movie so that it would be relative and kind of add a little bit to it.
The reason I asked is I was surprised to see Robert Patrick. What was it like working with him again?
JC: Yeah. It was awesome man. We, it was really, really good to see him. He’s one of my favorites. We have some good times together, it was, what a pleasure it was that he was just coincidentally he was on set at the same time and there we are in more scenes together, it was really something special.
So, you’ve done TV and movies along with everything with WWE. My curiosity is how do you keep everything so balanced? Is there one medium that you prefer over others?
JC: No. I mean obviously I’m a, I really love what I do for the WWE and I’m, and all these opportunities have spawned from my success in the WWE.
So that’s, I guess that’s where my allegiance lies, but everything I do is pretty much the, to promote the extension of our brand, all the movies, all the TV spots are all pretty much to let everybody know that we you know, I like what I do in WWE they should tune in.
But I don’t know. I guess maybe sacrificing sleep is the way I make it all work, but somehow it all balances out. I haven’t broke down yet, so I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing because I do like everything, I do the TV the movies and of course WWE I don’t ever dread going to the office.
And between Gus and Shawn, the characters on Psych, who do you think would win in the ring?
JC: You know what I just, because of his kooky quirkiness I like, I like James. He’s a fun dude to be around, extremely, extremely witty and that can get you miles and miles in the WWE ring.
First off, as soon as my son found out I was participating in this call today he immediately texted all his buddies on the wrestling team to let them know his mom was going to be talking to John Cena. So thanks for making me a hero to a bunch of high school boys.
JC: Awesome.
How do you handle the fame when it comes to kids? Do you treat them like you would any other fan or do you take that role extra seriously because you’re making impressions on a bunch of young guys or what?
JC: No. That’s, I think that’s something that you have to take seriously, and I think that’s something in today’s day and age that isn’t taken quite seriously enough to be frank, especially with us really promoting the fact that we’re TV PG and we’re kind of welcoming our youth audience. It goes without saying that you have to be able to, if you’re in a position where you’re supposed to be a positive influence on these young people that you are a positive influence on these young people.
And it does, once again it takes extra time but it’s one thing that can really, really pay off in the long run. I think we all have experiences when we were young where we either had an interaction with someone we admired or you know, had a vision of how they were and found out that they weren’t necessarily that and that it tends to be a big let down sometimes.
So if I’m supposed to be the person that a lot of these young people believe in I just, I try to do the best I can to be that guy. And then my personality on television is not a far stretch from who I am in real life, so it’s not, it’s not that hard it just takes a lot more time.
Okay. So who was your hero when you were growing up?
JC: My favorite athletic hero was Don Mattingly of the New York Yankees and fortunately had a chance to meet him this past year when I threw out the first pitch for the Los Angeles Dodgers and I was very, very pleased to say that he was nothing but a gentleman. That was somebody that I looked up to as a kid and in that one brief meeting that I had with him this summer it was solidified that he was the right guy to be rooting for.
Well I… they say you’re in the airport heading off to do a film. What are you working on?
JC: I’m actually wrapping a film that’s tentatively titled Brother’s Keeper but the title will change, it most likely will be released in August.
Oh, who are you doing it with? Who are your co-stars?
JC: Patricia Clarkson is in it as a female [lead], mother of the boy, the boy star. Danny Glover is also in it.
Wow.
JC: Yeah. It’s actually, it’s going to pan out to be a really, really good movie. It’s a drama about a young man who uses amateur wrestling as a backdrop to kind of bring a family closer together.
Wow. Even though this is a change it still has the wrestling in it, that’s great.
JC: Yeah it’s amateur stuff so it’s a little bit different but it still has an element of pure sport so it’s nice.
Doing a show like this and doing these films did you, was it always your intention to become an actor or was it always going to be an actor/wrestler? I mean, what was your game plan?
JC: No. There really hasn’t been a game plan it’s just, I’ve learned since the first day I came on board in the WWE be ready for anything. You know I’m a gold recording artist, we came out with an album and I sold over half a million copies of that.
I’ve done a couple movies now, I’ve had some TV spots, and all of this is opportunity is literally developed out of nowhere but it’s all been from the WWE, you just have to be ready for your opportunity and just make the best of it when it comes.
And so what is next? Is there any desires, anything you really want to do that’s left to do?
JC: I’ll be quite honest what’s left for me is… Psych on the 27th and after that I’ll just take it one at a time (unintelligible).
After that anything’s possible.
JC: Yep.
So, did you enjoy doing the comedy, I mean and Psych is such a great show, I mean did, was it, a different step for you?
JC: Yeah. No I did have a good time doing that. I think everybody you know, we all have a sense of humor and I’m not one to take myself too seriously but I very rarely can feel that side with the nature of WWE programming, so I was really, really excited about doing it.
So you’re a funny guy in normal life?
JC: I’d say that, that depends on who you ask. I’d like to think I don’t bring the party down.
…This will have to be my last question because I’m boarding as we speak.
For those of us who might not have seen the episode yet we love the psych outs at the end of the show if you’re not familiar with that since you’ve seen bits and pieces of the show, did you get involved with any of the psych outs at the end?
JC: I don’t know which one they used because there’s the episode I have, the version I saw didn’t have it, but they’ve got some good material and whenever they show it on TV I’m sure they’ll have the extra stuff on the Web, so it’s something that you’re going to want to see, I’ll put it to you that way.
Great. And if you [don’t mind] a real quick extra follow-up question is the guys have such amazing comedy duo together, what do you think it is that keep that comedy and comedic timing together with the guys since you’ve gotten to know them?
JC: Certainly it’s a yin and yang, you know, Dule is very slapstick, Dule’s over the top and James is very, very witty and he’s got that dry sense of humor that just matches well.
Thank you so much John and have a safe flight and good luck.
JC: Thank you guys, but I do, I do have to go so I’m going to board the plane right now. Thank you guys for your time, I appreciate it.
*** James Roday joins the call***
James Roday: Hello.
James?
JR: Yes. I’m so sorry, I simply couldn’t figure out how to get on this call.
That’s (unintelligible) James if you can hear me I was wondering, we love the theme song to the show Psych and certainly you got Boys to Men to remix it up a bit, is there somebody else that you’d really love to see take a turn at the Psych theme song?
JR: Yeah there’s actually a couple people I’d love to see take a turn. I think the Chipmunks should do it. I think that maybe we could, maybe we could structure like a, a holiday episode or something where the Chipmunks just come in and blast it and do their thing. And then I think David, a David Bowie cover of our theme song would probably go over pretty, pretty nicely as well.
Yeah I was waiting for you to say like maybe you get a Pat Benatar in there because we’ve seen a psych out with Pat Benatar songs… maybe Tears for Fears reunion.
JR: Well I mean I thought, if you’re saying what would be, what if you’re asking me like what would be great for the show I could, you know I could make a list of every sort of one hit wonder that ever came out on any ‘80s compilation imaginable.
For me selfishly I would want it to be Bowie so that I could hang out with Bowie and I would actually request that he come dressed as the character from Labyrinth and I would hang out with him while he did it and then I don’t know, who doesn’t want to hear their theme song sung by the Chipmunks? Am I crazy? Am I wrong on this?
No. That would be great, it would be a wonderful follow-up to the film. And speaking of songs…
JR: Yeah. You wouldn’t be able to understand what they’re saying it would be awesome.
Just to hear it in their tiny voices would be magical.
JR: I know it’s all squeaky and we could get Theodore like a solo but nobody would know it was Theodore because they all sound the same when they sing, but we would know, I don’t know.
Well we’ll…
JR: But yeah (unintelligible).
…have you work on that.
JR: Tears for Fears would be great. Depeche Mode would be great. The Cure would be great, the Smiths. How about this, we beg the Smiths to finally reunite because they’ll get to sing the Psych theme song?
Well the people from the network are tuning in here too so we’ll, hopefully they’re passing the word along right now.
JR: Everybody’s pens and pencils are scribbling, you can hear them.
Well the whole task is huge music fans, I’m wondering are you guys watching Glee, are you watching American Idol?
JR:You know what my girlfriend, my dear girlfriend who also works on the show with us is addicted to both of those shows. And it took me a little while but she got me on the Idol train, so now I watch that and I haven’t, I’m not fully aboard the Glee train but I have seen two or three episodes and they, they really do look like they’re just having almost as much fun as we do.
Maybe we can get them in for the next psych out or new theme song, you never know, anything for you guys.
JR: (Unintelligible) networks love to work with other networks, you know what I mean? Fox, USA done deal, it would be like a gentleman’s handshake.
It’s the hands across network America.
JR: That’s what I’m talking about.
Well thank you so much James. It’s wonderful speaking to you again.
JR: I’m sorry, I’m sorry I bounced on so late. I feel a little mentally challenged. I think we may discover after today that I have special needs, and that’s sad. But I was good to catch you at the end there and have a fantastic day.
I just wanted to ask, since you guys have been off the air for the winter hiatus and of course Monk has ended you guys are now kind of that flagship original series for USA or the longest running original series right now. What’s that like? Has that changed the way that you guys look at the show now?
JR: I feel older and my knees feel older. You know what, it’s a testament I think to, to the sort of little engine that could mentality that we’ve had from the very beginning with the show, that we have sort of stuck around long enough to be anybody’s flagship.
USA does such a great job sort of branding and packaging their shows and you know, they move and they sort of you got to keep up, you’ve really got to keep up with the train. And we’ve managed to sort of kind of continuously reinvent ourselves and become this sort of hybrid show that can stick around hopefully no matter what else is going on around it.
So it feels good for us, I’m not sure if it makes any difference to anyone else, but it, but it feels good to have lasted, to have lasted this long and still be standing for sure.
You have some really great guest stars in this episode and I was just wondering are there any guest stars that you’ve really wanted to get that you haven’t yet that maybe you’re looking forward to?
JR: I always say David Bowie, that’s sort of like my stock answer to every question regarding who I’d like to have come on the show, who I’d like to sing our theme song, who I’d like to meet for coffee in a completely unrelated non-Psych atmosphere. He’s just the God, he’s the man and I think we could probably make really good use of him on our show.
In addition to him there’s sort of like a, a little like mini-Psych dream that before it’s all said and done we would be able to have all five members of the Breakfast Club. We’re only, you know, we’ve only nailed two of the five, so we’ve got our work… we’ve got our work cut out for us. And I think Emilio is going to prove especially tricky but these are the kinds of goals that we’ve set on our show.
If Shawn and Gus were a wrestling duo what would their names be and what would your stage attire be?
JR: Wow. That’s, it’s thought out, it’s intent, it’s thorough, it’s timely, it’s appropriate and my answer is going to be rather rudimentary.
I’m going to go ahead and call us Black and Tan, me of course being Black and Gus being Tan. And I’m going to say that we come to the ring in our Black and Tan want-to-be-male-model attire and that we are what is known in the WWE universe as jobbers, meaning that it is our job to come in and get our asses beat by whatever tag team that they’re trying to push at the time.
There it is, there’s my estimation of Shawn and Gus as wrestlers.
That works. Now in the episode Let’s Get Harry we get to meet Shawn and Gus’ wrestling dolls. Will they be making a comeback and in real life do you own any dolls?
JR: I think we sort of, I think if I remember correctly we kind of retired the dolls right then and there in the moment in the episode because we sort of had the epiphany that we were a little too old and they were actually a little creepy. So I don’t know if the dolls are making a comeback.
In real life I don’t have any dolls, but the Robert doll, the Robert doll that we used in Tuesday the 17th is floating around somewhere and I think (Steve Franks) took it and I might try and get it from him.
I’ve been rewatching the show with my son, he’s almost two and he runs around yelling psych, I know all the time and is a big fan of Shawn and Gus and the theme song. And I had forgotten about the close talking scene from I think it was in season two with you and Juliet where you almost kiss…
JR: Yes.
…and I was wondering if we were going to get any more scenes like that. I know Abigail’s coming back and I was wondering if you were going to move forward with her or if we’d see you getting closer to Juliet?
JR: Well, I can tell you that our, our dear show creator Mr. Franks has sort of ambiguously informed us that he does have, that he does have sort of definitive plans for Shawn and Juliet in season five, which we haven’t started yet.
As far as the stretch run here in season four, I think it’s a little more tangled up and there’s lots of different moving pieces and like you said Abigail’s floating around in there and we’re going to, well it’s complicated you know, it’s, it’s complicated for a little while longer.
I love the fact that your two-year-old son watches our show. I challenge anyone on cable that at 10:00 to say that their fan base reaches casts that wide of a net.
Well I have a video from last year when he was one dancing to the theme song so he’s been a fan for awhile now.
JR: He’s the star, he’s a rock star and it’s time we put him on a shirt of something.
I was just wondering, this is my favorite episode since Ghosts and I really like the idea of this mercenary-type of guy, who also happens to have a pass from the government that will get him in anywhere, and the mysterious boss and all that. Do you have plans to do more with that if John is available?
JR: Absolutely. That’s a no-brainer, because of everything you just said, which is what an interesting, like what a truly interesting character to explore. And I mean there’s almost nowhere that you can’t go with that guy, you know.
His moral code is ambiguously pointing North but in sort of a gray way and you know, he’s got every physical tool you could possibly imagine and he can get in just about anywhere you can possibly need to get in, and he has an emotional investment in Juliet, who is one of our regulars.
So for me it’s, it’s an absolute no-brainer to bring him back and because the way we left things the way that we did there are countless ways that we could do that. And we had a blast with John and I think he’s great in the episode and you know, unless he’s lying to us I would suspect that he would be up for coming back as well, so.
I think he did mention that. He did say he would be.
JR: And yes is my answer to that.
What was it like working in that environment that the episode presented to you?
JR: Well first and foremost it was interesting because there is no military base where we shoot in Vancouver. So we managed to sort of transform an old asylum for the mentally and criminally insane into a, into a military base, and when you watch the episode like, I mean I’m sure military experts you know, will probably be cringing but I’d buy it.
So props to our production design team for that. And then you know, anytime you put on fatigues and you know, you sort of get yourself into that military mindset, especially in these our times it, you take a, you have to take a moment to reflect, I mean we’re obviously silly and we don’t take ourselves very seriously and we’re a comedy.
But you know the truth is there are, there are a lot of young men and women out there wearing those uniforms that put their lives on the line every day. So there was that, there was that element going on as well where we would just stop and look at each other and be like wow. Here we are making jokes but there are other people that don’t get to make jokes. So it was interesting.
I have a couple questions, first of all a comment. Psych USA just tweeted out a Chipmunk version of the Psych intro. You might want to catch that. It’s hilarious.
JR: That’s awesome.
It’s great. Next question, no limits, no boundaries, what story line would you like to write or see in the show that has not been explored enough yet?
JR: I would, my gut would be to go to a place that hasn’t been explored at all, and that would be, well actually okay, I have one and 1A. One is you know, we do so much singing on our show and everybody sings, it just seems like we’re way overdue for a musical, we just got to come up with a clever way to do it.
And now that Glee has sort of, you know, captured the country’s sort of attention and is in everyone’s subconscious I think it’s probably the best time ever because they do it so well that I think the expectation for us would be to just, just do it okay, and I know we can pull that off.
So we should do, we should do a musical episode. Beyond that I think a dream therapy episode where Gus and, or Shawn and Gus agree to sort of participate in some sort of dream therapy experiment where they could actually go into each other’s dreams. That’s been, to me that’s no boundaries, that’s like Shawn walking around Gus’ dream world and everybody being able to see what Gus dreams about. I don’t know if we could top that.
Okay. I’m already laughing at the possibilities of what could be in Gus’ dreams, so I’m going to move on.
JR: You’d get, you’d get like a giant foot locker organized like it’s a mile long like where everything is organized and color tabbed just so, and then like Halle Berry is in charge of keeping it like safe.
Absolutely. And there would be, everything would be like card cataloged.
JR: Yes.
So he could totally find anything at any time and there’d be like a “No Shawn” sign somewhere.
JR: And it would, it might be that all the women are Halle Berry, like there’s just Halle Berrys walking around.
That would be fun.
That would be fun, you should write that, absolutely you should write it.
JR: It’s on the, it’s sort of been in the (unintelligible) for a while, it’s just a matter of whether or not we can convince Franks to go there.
I’ve been tweeting as I’ve been hearing the interview and just kind of getting snippets and all of my followers, a lot of my followers are not only Psych fans but also New Kids on the Block fans.
And so the one question that has been coming back to me over and over again I have to ask, they were wondering New Kids on the Block may be singing the theme song? This is the one question everybody’s asking me, I don’t understand it but okay.
JR: NKOTB singing the theme song, maybe. I mean I guess those guys got together again recently. I mean they certainly are solid representatives of the era that we sort of have fun with the most. I think it could be fun. I, I’m open to just about anything, I mean I think Stacey Q singing our theme song is cool so it, sure.
All right. I will tweet it back out to them because they’re all asking and thank you very, very much. Good (unintelligible).
So was there ever a serious thought of being, when you were a kid, of being a wrestler when you grew up?
JR: Not a serious thought no, I watched it enough and I watched, you know I watched it religiously to know how much risk those guys are at on a nightly basis…
…and how many injuries they suffer and you know, you watch all the documentaries and it’s, it is a very, very sort of specific journey that these guys choose to go on for our entertainment.
And I prefer to be one of the entertained.
Easily. So you must have, but honestly for you it, this must’ve been a real thrill to have John on this show to do this.
JR: You know what…
Is it like a dream come true for you?
JR: Well yeah, I mean it is, it is just because you know, to be able to sort of rub shoulders with these guys and get a sense of their, of their culture after being a fan for so many years is, it is, it’s a bizarre dream, childhood dream come to life.
And I can’t imagine a better catalyst for all of that than John, just because you know, not only is he bigger than life in the ring he’s bigger than life outside the ring. And he’s such a nice fellow – I just said fellow, don’t say, don’t write that I said fellow, he’s a nice guy, you know what I mean?
He’s just, he’s so genuine and he’s so grounded and he was so happy to be with us, which is why you know for us it was an absolute no brainer to go be with him.
And yeah, I mean he’s, I can’t you know, I don’t have enough nice things to say about the guy except that most of his pants are custom, are custom made. Because it’s impossible, it’s impossible to find stuff that has like 27” waist but also enough room in the caboose for this giant sculpted ham, ham hock buttocks, you know what I mean?
He can’t just walk into the Gap and buy a pair of 1969, you know, boot cut jeans, like that’s not an option for him.
I was, I’m still cracking up over listening to that Chipmunk song by the way. But are there any concerns about the show moving to a new night?
JR: You know we’re all just sort of cautiously optimistic that it’s going to be a good thing. We, we’ve been in a kind of a you know, what, what the industry would consider a tough time slot for our whole run, you know a lot of our sort of loyal fan base I would suspect are not always home Friday’s at 10:00 (unintelligible).
So the idea that a lot of those fans that usually have to TIVO us and watch us you know, on Saturdays or later in the week might actually be home to watch us live I think is a good thing. And yeah that’s, we’re, that’s sort of what we’re going with and a move to Wednesday can only be good.
Awesome. And I had previously asked this question to John Cena as well but from you between Gus and Shawn who you think would win in the wrestling ring?
JR: Between Shawn and Gus?
Yes.
JR: I think Shawn takes that because he, he wouldn’t think twice about cheating. In the words, in the immortal words of Jesse “The Body” Ventura, “Win if you can, lose if you must but always, always cheat.” And I think while Gus would, would come in with his ideals and attempt to win a fair and square match, you know, Shawn would go to any lengths necessary to walk out of there with the victory even if it was painted.
I have to say we’re all huge Psych fans in my house, to the point where we have to have a pineapple for every holiday. One of my best friends actually gives me pineapples for my birthday now.
JR: You know what? If it’s juicy and it’s crisp you can eat that stuff 365.
Yep. You see, see I’m telling you, you started a good thing, a good tradition in my family.
JR: I feel it, I’m happy.
Good I’m glad. … how much of the stuff that you guys do on the show how much of it is real, how much of it is improv? I mean is it mostly you go by the script or you do improv?
JR: I think the balance is, I think we started off in the beginning much heavier on the improv side. And I think as we sort of found our groove and we’ve been lucky enough to continuously sort of improve and supplement our writing staff with each season I think is a really, I think we’ve sort of come full circle now and it’s like our scripts are really, really, really solid and any improv-ing that happens is just icing. So yeah.
That’s amazing, and maybe you can finally settle this to us, what is the deal with the pineapple, I mean everyone always, you know we always described how that whole thing came about.
JR: Really arbitrarily, which I think is the fun of it. If you, if you remember all the way back to the pilot episode there’s the scene where we’re about to leave Gus’ apartment and there’s a pineapple sitting on top of his refrigerator and I grabbed it and (unintelligible).
Slices for the road.
JR: Unintelligible) stuff for the road or yeah, yeah, that’s it, that’s the line. Anyway it was in and out of that cut to the very, very end and the director had lifted it and Steve went back in at the last second and put it back in there.
And then over the course of the series it sort of, it’s become the insignia for the show. So the irony is that, A, if the scene had been cut there would be no pineapple, and B, if it had been a coconut or some bananas or you know, a dragon fruit sitting on top if his refrigerator it would probably mean that we’re talking about coconuts or dragon fruit right now.
Probably yeah. And do you expect to put any more ‘80s references into the series as it goes on?
JR: Always, that’s sort of, we’ve created the expectation and you know, I think our fans enjoy it and the good thing about the ‘80s is that it’s a bottomless vault of good and bad pop culture. So I think we’ll probably be able to, to keep it going for however long we’re lucky enough to be on the air.
(Unintelligible) good, I mean I’m even dating myself so of course I love it, I remember all that stuff so it’s exciting.
JR: Yeah it is, we’re keeping it alive man.
What’s your favorite nickname you ever came up with for Gus?
JR: That’s, you know I’m just going to, I’m just going to be a traditionalist and say that Silly Pants Jackson is the one that started, started the whole ridiculous thing, it’s just my favorite just because it was the first one.
I’m the guilty party that posted those pictures of you in Canada.
JR: The pictures of me in Canada, what pictures are those?
You were wearing, all I remember is you were wearing socks and sandals, and even though it’s a fashion no-no it’s okay because it was you. You were going to the store or something and I posted pictures and we barely ever get paparazzi pictures of you, I don’t know where you hide.
JR: You know what I think it’s a mixture of being very race-like and nimble and the paparazzi not really caring. I think it’s a nice mixture of those two things.
Oh but we really care your fans, we love you.
JR: Thank you. Thank you, very much.
When you did the telenovela episode your Spanish didn’t sound like it was great, was that on purpose or, because I know that you’re part Hispanic, do you speak fluent Spanish.
JR: I was… I speak semi-fluent Spanish, enough to get by if people are speaking to me really slow, but I can tell you that for the purpose of the episode I was, you know, I was speaking silly Shawn Spanish, so you know part of the comedy came from the fact that it didn’t sound great.
Although, because there weren’t any Spanish speakers on set, I was able to sneak in a few jokes in Spanish that made it simply because no one knew what I was saying.
Yeah, but us Spanish speaking ones did catch them.
JR: Thank you so much, that’s awesome.
I’m a huge fan, just have to get that out first and it seems everybody asked you everything that I was going to ask you about the show so I’m going to ask you about Extinction, you have, it’s opening next month in Manhattan right?
JR: Dude that’s true, that’s awesome. Thank you for mentioning that. And it is sort of, it does come back to Psych actually. It’s a play that I did in Los Angeles opposite Michael Weston, who played Adam Hornstock, Esq., in Cloudy Chance of Murder. And Amanda Detmer, who played Ciaobella Masterson in Black and Time, Crime of Fashion.
And the play is moving off Broadway to the Cherry Lane Theater starting next month and Dule Hill, my generous co-star has also joined the team as a producer. So there’s Psych all over this thing and it opens on February 17 and it’s a limited engagement, it’ll run through the middle of March and possibly extend to the end of March if people are actually coming to see the play.
But thank you so much for mentioning that.
I just got done watching the fall finale again and there was a scene where Juliet was in the office with Gus and she asks Gus how he thought Abigail and Shawn’s relationship was going and Gus responded with he didn’t know. If someone else besides Juliet would obviously would ask Shawn the same question how do you think he would answer?
JR: Well since it’s still pretty new to Shawn I think he would probably say that it’s – it’s going okay. I think the fallacy there would be that he would say that it was going okay if she had just broken up with him as well because he’s, I don’t think he would realize that that, that that means that things are rocky.
So you know, I think you know it’s a pretty semi-fluid kind of relationship that he’s just sort of going along with and, and we’ll see I mean I think he’s, he’s one of those guys that might have to have an anvil dropped on his head to be like what, we’re done, really? I thought we were doing great. So we’ll see. We’ll see and I say that as if I don’t know even though I do know. But I’ll just say that we’ll see.
[Note: This Q&A has been edited to exclude some material that was no longer timely.]