Danny Pudi

Feb 11, 2011

Tags: community, Danny Pudi, abed, NBC

The ultimate Community fan encounter might be to be a guest on “Troy and Abed in the Morning” at Greendale Community College. I’ll settle for evening empanadas with Danny Pudi. At NBC’s party for the Television Critics Association, I found Pudi mingling early in the night. We found a corner table to sit at for an interview, and grabbed the hors d’oeuvres that came by.
Very quickly into Community’s premiere, Abed became a scene stealer. His socially awkward deadpan comments pointed out any TV cliché the show would fall into. By episode two, he and Donald Glover made Troy and Abed the standout duo who would close each show during the credits.
Abed remains responsible for much of the show’s meta humor. Abed’s perspective turned the show into stop motion animation for the Christmas episode, and he explained the term “bottle episode” for audiences. It meant the entire cast stays in one location, often used by shows to save costs on other sets.
The sit down interview with Pudi quickly became a meta analysis of interviews. I had some questions prepared but his tangents were more interesting so I followed them. He asked me several questions about my week covering the new TV lineup and yes, he really does talk that fast in real life.

Danny Pudi: You’re named after one of my favorite characters. Well, favorite people.

SG:

Wait, a real person or a fictional character?

DP:

Well, it’s a real person who plays a role in one of my favorite TV shows from the ‘80s.

SG:

Fred from the ‘80s. Is it Fred Dryer?

DP:

Yeah, Hunter. I love Hunter.

SG:

Fred Willard once told me there’s a Fred club for people named Fred.

DP:

Like Flintstone?

SG:

No, for real people.

DP:

Like everyone? There’s a Fred Club. Wow, there’s not that many Freds. There’s a lot of Dannys. A Danny club would be always to the max.

SG:

You spell it differently though, don’t you?

DP:

I spell it D-A-N-N-Y. People spell it D-A-N-I frequently because I think they see P-U-D-I and symmetrically they think D-A-N-I P-U-D-U. It’s fine. I actually like both. I think it’s creative and I don’t mind. You can call me Dani Pudi all you want, with an I.

SG:

Have you always been a rapid talker?

DP:

You know, a little bit, yeah. I think that that’s sort of my energy. I’ve always been a little bit of running around a little bit, can’t sit down, can’t sit still. “Lack of focus” was frequently stated by my teachers through grade school, that kind of stuff. I think also through the show right now, I’m in a rhythm too playing Abed that to me that’s a very fun thing about playing Abed. Not just the world around him but his rapid speech, or the rapid speech patterns because there isn’t a filter and it’s very much processing and stating, a lot of that.

SG:

Do you think they mistake lack of focus for just not caring?

DP:

Teachers? [Laughs] Here’s the thing. I do care. I think that people do care, but I don't think they’re like, “Oh, I just don’t care about social studies. Who cares about the Byzantine Empire? I don’t care about them.” It’s more of like, “Oh my gosh, did you see that flower? I care more about that.” Constantly looking for that thing that you can connect with.

SG:

You’re a better student than I was. I just didn’t care about history or English. Give me music or movies and I’ll focus.

DP:

[Laughs] I completely agree and I think that’s a real struggle. For me I always had a good time in school but a lot of it, I was not doing great in class, not fulfilling potential because I had more fun learning from friends or talking to buddies or reading something else or talking about a TV show, that kind of stuff. Until you find the one thing that you really like, there’s a lot of aimless kind of stuff that can be like not caring, but it can also be like teachers can be like, “God, just get him out of my class.”

SG:

I know ADD is true because they play music in between press sessions here, because God forbid we should be alone with our thoughts for 10 minutes. Then it’s hard for me to focus on writing during the breaks.

DP:

[Laughs] What was the music, anything good?

SG:

NBC was better than others. They had a Rooney song.

DP:

Oh, okay, that’s pretty good. So every network gets their own playlist? Oh wow.

SG:

I noticed a lot of Disney artists at
ABC.

DP:

So subtle, like Disney sense coming in, Mickey’s running in serving you stuff. I’m trying to think of what my good play list would be for a day like this. Today I’d need some adrenaline.

SG:

It still repeats. Even when it’s good there's only maybe an hour's worth of songs.

DP:

Awww, and then you’re just like, “Okay, this is the third time I’ve listened to…" I don't know, I’m trying to think what would be good today. I like XX. Do you like The XX?

SG:

I don't know them.

DP:

“Heart Skips a Beat,” great song. “VCRs.” It’s good, it’s a British band. I’m into them right now. That would be good because there’s some mellow stuff sprinkled with enough stuff that you’re just like, “Oh yeah, get me going a little bit.” So look for that one your next playlist.

SG:

Oxygen gave us an iTunes gift card so I can download them.

DP:

Nice, well get The XX, get Jones Street Station. They’re really good if you like bluegrass music. Then Kanye’s new album, right? Come on.

SG:

I’d peg you for more of a collector that you’d want the actual CD.

DP:

I have Kanye’s CD. I have The XX CD. I have Jones Street’s CD but I don’t
recommend people go get the CD. I understand the nature of the world right now and I understand people are busy, but I also understand that you can do it right now. You can
literally download it right now with your phone.

SG:

But if I get the CD and put it on iPod, I can sell the used CD to someone else.

DP:

Uh-oh, I am not endorsing this. I am not endorsing this behavior.

SG:

That’s not illegal. You’re allowed to sell your used items.

DP:

Here’s what you can do with that too. You can take that CD, put it in your car,
use it as your car playlist but first download it into your iTunes or whatever. Then you have it on your laptop. Then you can buy other CDs, blank CDs, burn them, burn that for your friends and be like, “Hey, have you heard Robyn’s new CD, the Swedish pop artist? She’s excellent. Here, have that.” But you still have Robyn in your car, you still have Robyn on your laptop and now your friend has Robyn. Everyone wants some Robyn.

SG:

Now I have to look her up.

DP:

She’s really great, with a Y.

SG:

What was the moment that you and Donald Glover realized something clicked about Troy and Abed?

DP:

It was pretty early. I mean, a lot of this as Dan [Harmon] says, there’s not a
lot of planning out here. Things are just happening and Dan and the writers are incredibly gifted and geniuses at capturing that. They’re capturing what’s happening right now and I think Donald and I just kinda clicked. We got each other, we had fun and we like making
each other laugh and we like not paying attention and talking about something. All of a
sudden we were doing a hobo bit or whatever it is. We would just sit there and for the next 15 minutes we’d be doing a bit while we should’ve been working, but we also realize this is valuable. That time spent goofing around with your friends is so valuable, it’s just as valuable as the time on screen because you’re building a relationship that’s going to be shown on television. I think people see it. All my friends or people I run into are just like, “Dude, Troy and Abed, you guys gotta be real friends in real life.” And I’m like, yeah. You can feel that through the TV when people get along. We just like to get along.

SG:

You hear that about Donald Faison and Zach Braff on Scrubs too.

DP:

And it shows. It really shows. It just makes it so much easier when you’re shooting long episodes and doing crazy stuff when you trust each other, number one. When we’re doing an episode about zombies and we’re chasing zombies, things like that and we don’t really know what’s going on, but when I’m with Donald, there’s such a level of trust where I’m like we’ll figure it out. We’ll figure it out whatever we’re going to do and at the end of the day, it’ll be funny. We’ll eventually figure it out. The tags too at the end of every episode, I feel like there’s an extra day or half day where Donald and I get to work together where we get to just really goof around. That’s awesome when we’re working a lot of hours, it can be tiring, to be able to just be a kid for 10 minutes is incredible.

SG:

Do you hang out off the set?

DP:

We do. I helped him move when he moved initially. I just saw his
I Am Donald show in Los Angeles at the
El Rey which is great. I mean, he is an incredibly busy guy so Donald’s touring a lot doing his standup comedy and I’m married so my wife gets mad at me if I’m not at home when I’m off set. But we do find time to hang out but the majority of time is we’re on set because we see each other more than anybody. We’re on set together five days a week, 15 hour days. It’s fun but we spend most of our lives together so it’s a true, real bromance.

SG:

The knowledge at Abed’s disposal makes me wonder: What is your DVD collection like? What’s in heavy rotation?

DP:

Okay, so right now in my DVD collection I have Shaun of the Dead, one of my all time favorite comedies. Huge fan of that movie. I have the Indiana Jones trilogy. I don’t have it on Blu-ray but I think it’s going to be out on Blu-ray soon hopefully. And I saw Back to the Future’s out on Blu-ray by the way which is awesome, but Indiana Jones is my favorite movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark. That whole trilogy was monumental to me and I wish there were more movies like that that blended action, comedy, everything together. There’s so many beautiful moments in Raiders of the Lost Ark that I’m in awe of. What else? Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I have a Polish trilogy called Blue, White, Red which is really great. I have Almost Famous, big fan of that movie.

SG:

And these are movies you pop in every now and then?

DP:

Yeah, these are all movies I can watch repeatedly. Those are off the top of my
head that I love. And of course Dark Knight because that’s just incredible, one of my favorite movies.

SG:

Isn’t it amazing to watch a recent movie become that classic as we live through
it?

DP:

Completely. The first time I saw that movie it was one of those movies where you’re turning your head to look to someone next to you the whole time. The sweeping shots on the rooftop, the joker, the quotes. There’s so many moments where you’re looking around being like, “Did you see that?” where I knew immediately after I saw it in a theater, I was like, “I need to watch this again and again.”

SG:

Do you have it on Blu-ray?

DP:

I don’t, no.

SG:

Oh, you need that because the Imax scenes open up to the full TV frame.

DP:

Wow. I need to get that. That’s a definite. I have to confess, I actually just hooked up my Blu-ray player only about a month ago. I just watched another one of my
favorite movies I actually have on Blu-ray, Children of Men. Have you seen that?

SG:

Of course!

DP:

One of the best movies ever, so that and City of God kind of rotate on my “best hard movie to watch” list. They’re very difficult movies to watch, with very difficult subject matter but god, do I love both of them.

SG:

Do you have any DVDs that you don’t really like but you can’t get rid of it?

DP:

Hmm. Probably. Movies that I don’t know about, that’s a really good question. I don’t know if I have any. If I buy a movie, it tends to be a movie that I really connect with and I can watch repeatedly.

SG:

If you’re married, how often can you have Danny’s movie night?

DP:

[Laughs] Well, I can have it any night I want but it has to be after my wife goes to bed, so it’s always at like two in the morning. I just watched True Grit the other day after my wife went to sleep. I thought I was going to fall asleep but I was awake the whole time and I’m a huge Coen Brothers fan.

SG:

So that was a screener of the new version.

DP:

I got my hands on the screener. The whole time I was watching I was like, “This is great.” I also know the movies that my wife will not like. She’s not really big into westerns. She’s not really big into movies that I actually kind of like, there are some good ones like The Mummy.

SG:

The Brendan Fraser Mummy?

DP:

Uh-huh.

SG:

I thought that was the second coming of Indiana Jones, the first one.

DP:

I did too. I’m a fan of that. Even National Treasure. That movie’s just a
fun movie. I just thought it was fun. What else? Matrix. There’s a lot of good ones.
I could talk about movies all day.

SG:

Are you a Tron guy? Were you excited when Tron Legacy came out?

DP:

Haven’t seen Tron yet actually. I have a list. We’ve been working a lot through the holidays. We had a couple weeks off at the holidays so I’m kind of at a backlog right now. I saw Black Swan which I really enjoyed. I saw True Grit, I saw Winter’s Bone. I’m trying to think of any other award contenders. I haven’t seen Tron yet but I can’t wait to see it. I saw the trailer for it like a billion times which is interesting, to already go into a movie like I’ve seen the trailer so many times, but I can’t wait.

SG:

I missed your whole background episode. What didn’t I see?

DP:

You missed Abed giving birth. You missed the whole backstory with Abed and the girl and her boyfriend and the delivery. There’s a little bit of confusion as to are they fighting over who’s the boyfriend or are they fighting over who’s delivering the baby? It becomes this really fun background story which is another one of those things that the writers sprinkle in to be like hey, there’s always stuff going on in Greendale’s campus.

SG:

Was the religion episode profound for you to film?

DP:

It really was. I grew up catholic. I was an altar boy. To me that was terrifying to play Jesus because I was like oh, man, my mom’s going to be very angry.

SG:

Well, it wasn’t necessarily Jesus.

DP:

Exactly but I just thought it was a beautiful thing to see Abed kind of get immersed in this whole film within the film and embrace the meta thing to also realize, there are just some wonderful lines in that where Shirley’s like, “Yeah, I love Charlie Kaufman but some of have to go to work” or “some of us have to go to sleep” or whatever it is. That to me was just really fun and I think any time I get Abed just to play a character like that, it’s just really a freeing kind of fun thing.
Community airs Thursday nights on NBC.

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