Oscar Nunez is best known as Oscar Martinez the recently outed accountant on NBCs The Office. But before getting on that hit show, Nunez honed his improvisational skills in both New York and Los Angeles improv troupes and appeared in episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Reno 911. Nunez co-created, stars and executive produces the new improvised sitcom, Halfway Home. Nunez plays a former homosexual prostitute Eulogio Pla now in a halfway home with four other ex-cons and their pot smoking house supervisor.
Halfway Home premieres March 14th
Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you doing today?
Oscar Nunez: Today I was watching Anthony Bourdains No Reservations. Are you familiar with the show?
DRE: Yeah, I love it. Anthonys great.
ON: Its awesome. So Im watching like four episodes back-to-back. Then Im going to go out to do some exercise and run errands.
DRE: Are you working on The Office this week?
ON: Not this week, were off. Were on hiatus and well be back Monday.
DRE: Did you meet much of the Halfway Home cast through The Groundlings?
ON: Kevin [Ruf] and I met at the Groundlings. [director] Damon [Jones] was there also. Regan Burns was also at The Groundlings with us and also Jordan Black was there at some point. Most of these people I have known for years. The Groundlings is like a high school so people are in different classes, in different years. Regan and I were together and so was Kevin. Damon [Jones] was in another year and with Jordan Black. Octavia [Spencer] I met through Damon. Jessica Makinson was in Trigger Happy TV and I know her through my manager.
DRE: Halfway Home is such a great idea for a comedy show that Im surprised that no one had thought of it before. How did you guys come up with it?
ON: I did Reno 911 and the people from Reno were so nice like Tom [Lennon], Ben [Garant] and Kerri [Kenney]. They went to [Senior Vice-President of Original Programming and Development] Jim [Sharp] at Comedy Central and said Why dont you have a show with Oscar Nunez in it? They were like Oh we know him, lets have a meeting with him. So my manger Bruce [Smith] and I thought about it and we decided to make videos to pitch our ideas. So I got Damon because Damon had shot out short films and edited them himself in his house. Hes a guy who gets things done. So Damon and I got together and we shot a video with Regan and Jessica and a couple of friends. Cheryl Hines and Shane Nickerson helped us. We showed it to Comedy Central and they loved it. They said You guys are funny. We dont want this particular idea but now you guys have an open door where you can come in and pitch whatever you want. So weve been going back and forth with them for years, shooting videos, I think we did three in total. But they were always like Oh this is great, but its not the one. So we had a meeting about three years ago and Kevin Ruf was there. People started throwing out ideas. Kevin, who is a lawyer, had the idea for Halfway Home because he works with criminals. We were like, Okay, whatever. The meeting ended and nothing happened. Then a couple years later, when Damon and I were finally going to crack this nut. Comedy Central was like Were close. Just give us an idea, were ready to go with you guys. We remembered Halfway Home. We got everyone together, went in as a cast and pitched it and thats the one they liked.
DRE: Were you always set to play the character you played?
ON: We try to throw out ideas about funny characters and the characters we do best. Then we gravitate to the characters. Weve done this for years. Weve all played with these characters before in the past be it at The Groundlings or in New York City or whatever.
DRE: Is it just a coincidence that you are playing another gay character after The Office?
ON: Its not a coincidence. Bruce, for some reason, put it in my contract that I can only play gay characters. Why he did that, I have no idea. Its the weirdest thing [laughs]. It is just an odd coincidence.
DRE: Is the show an all improvised show, like other improvised shows?
ON: Yeah, I would liken it to Curb Your Enthusiasm, which I think is a great show and a lot of the people on our show have been on Curb. Like Reno 911 we have a theme and then we have to fill in the information and the dialogue is open to improv. We let the actors do whatever.
DRE: So you do an outline for each scene or do you do one for each show?
ON: Both. We do one for each episode and then we break it down into scenes. Then everything else is improvised. Theres no dialogue written out.
DRE: In shows like Reno 911 and Lovespring International, there always seems to be a lot of humor making fun of racism. Halfway Home does that as well, does that just come out of the characters?
ON: When you throw characters together and the characters are criminals therefore by their very nature they are not the brightest people, hence their criminal activity and going back to jail over and over and over again. So it comes out of their characters.
DRE: Is it ever tough to say some of these more cringe worthy lines, which also happen on The Office?
ON: Nah, its just fun and games. It doesnt mean a thing.
DRE: On The 40 Year Old Virgin DVD, I saw some behind the scenes stuff where the producers and the director would throw lines to the actors on camera. Do you do something similar like that on Halfway Home?
ON: Only sometimes, it only happened a couple of times.
DRE: Who comes up with the storylines?
ON: Its a combination of everyone, but this particular season Kevin Ruf had a huge part. He wrote most, if not all of the episodes. Hes just such a workhorse. Ive never met anyone who could just write so much. Hes an attorney and its just part of his nature, hes just a hard-working fellow. Most of the writing and ideas were generated by Kevin.
DRE: With other peoples characters, do they come from the actors that you hired or do you write stuff for them?
ON: Its a combination of both. Weve known these actors for a long time. Theyre stellar, each and every one of them. We have tremendous trust in all of them so they come up with storylines, they come up with attitudes, they take the ball and run with it. Its very easy to write. We just need to write the idea and the funny just comes.
DRE: Jordan is probably one of the skinniest people Ive ever seen in my life. I thought you guys had gotten a method actor to play a criminal.
ON: Jordan has been hooked on crack cocaine for the past five years, and we encourage it.
I dont know how he stays so skinny. It is amazing. Its his incredible metabolism. Ive known him for years and hes always been that way.
DRE: How much freedom did Comedy Central give you guys?
ON: They give us buckets full of freedom. Their notes are, for the most part, right on. Its a great working relationship. So far, knock on wood, it has been completely painless and quite a learning experience. Weve never produced a show like this before and we feel very welcomed and very lucky to be there.
DRE: How many episodes did you guys do for the first season?
ON: We did ten.
DRE: Do you want to keep doing it?
ON: I want to do other things. I miss waiting tables so I want to try to get back into that. [laughs] We would like to get picked up for a second season. That would be a good thing.
DRE: Of course, working on a Comedy Central show must be different than working on an NBC show like The Office. But I would imagine that the process of the writers room and creating the material is similar.
ON: The process is similar. You use the same techniques and the same methods but everything is bigger on The Office. Halfway Home feels more guerrilla but I like it that way. Its not a huge show to produce.
DRE: I saw the first three episodes of Halfway Home and it was great to see Garrett Morris guest star in one of them. Did he get to improvise as well?
ON: Yes, he did. That was improvised. It was funny because I dont think Garrett knows how to drive and he had to drive that mail truck about five feet or six feet. [laughs] In the episode, youll see that the truck just jumped around a little bit. When Garrett gets out of the truck he says something like Im getting too old for this. I think he meant the actual driving the truck but it worked because hes the old mailman anyway.
DRE: Will there be extended storylines or will you keep to the one episode at a time idea?
ON: We havent thought that far ahead yet. Right now everyones just taking it easy and Damon is working, Kevin is pitching all this stuff and Im on The Office so were not thinking about it right now. Weve got our fingers crossed and if we get picked up, well address that. But I can see us stringing some episodes together.
DRE: How did you like executive producing the show?
ON: It was a great experience. Im quite proud of everyone. Its a great feeling to say to the whole crew We sold something and you dont have to audition because youre on the show.
DRE: Your characters outfits are pretty outrageous.
ON: Annie Bloom is our costume designer and she is really great. All that stuff really is another character in the show. They get a little crazy with my character sometimes. Im like Im not a woman; hes a gay guy. Dont buy me womens clothes. Other than that [laughs] I think theyve done a great job.
DRE: Have you always wanted to generate your own comedy material for television?
ON: Yeah, my buddy Michael Player who is in the [comedy troupe] The Gay Mafia now, started a troupe in New York called The Shock of the Funny and I was in it for five years in New York before I came out here. I started auditioning when I came out here but I knew that if I just kept auditioning, I would possibly get work, but it would always be as a valet or a security guard or a janitor. In the back of my head I knew that I had to create something. So I thought that we should create a vehicle for ourselves, pitch that, and have it on our terms.
DRE: I read that Ian Roberts will be guest starring this season. Did you meet him when you were working back in New York?
ON: I dont think I met him in New York. I met him out in LA. Ian is the writing partner of Jay Martel, who is our showrunner.
DRE: Im a fan of Jays too, how did he get to showrun Halfway Home?
ON: Comedy Central said Well give you a show thats great, but you need a showrunner because you guys have never done this before. We met with a couple of people and Jays the guy we liked.
DRE: Was your audition for The Groundlings a tough process?
ON: No, not at all. As I said, I was doing the same thing in New York City. When I came out to LA, people were like You have to go to the Groundlings. I auditioned and they accepted me. I became the lead in 1998 in the Sunday Company for a year but the great thing about the Groundlings is the people you meet there.
DRE: Did you get The Office through an audition?
ON: Yeah, I went in for a specific part and I didnt get it. They called back and told Bruce Listen, he didnt get this part but theres going to be other people in the office so wed like him to come back for a call back. So I went there and lo and behold theyre like Hes on the show. I said, Thats great, but I love the British version and this is going to suck. Then I find out Steve Carell was the lead, and then I said to myself well, okay, this could work and here we are.
DRE: Was Oscar gay right from the beginning?
ON: No, he was just regular. Then they came and said Do you mind if we make him gay? I was like What? and they made him gay.
DRE: Is there another Oscar-centric episode coming up soon, like when he got outed by Michael?
ON: I would hope so, but I havent got a clue. The writers dont talk about that. Its actually very professional. No ones running around gossiping.
DRE: Are you working anything else or are you just waiting for Halfway Home to come on the air?
ON: My buddys writing something for me, but nothing to speak of. Just waiting for Halfway Home to air and waiting to finish shooting The Office.
DRE: Are you coming back next year on The Office?
ON: If our show gets picked up by Comedy Central, I would love to be able to do both things. Well see what happens.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Halfway Home premieres March 14th
Daniel Robert Epstein: What are you doing today?
Oscar Nunez: Today I was watching Anthony Bourdains No Reservations. Are you familiar with the show?
DRE: Yeah, I love it. Anthonys great.
ON: Its awesome. So Im watching like four episodes back-to-back. Then Im going to go out to do some exercise and run errands.
DRE: Are you working on The Office this week?
ON: Not this week, were off. Were on hiatus and well be back Monday.
DRE: Did you meet much of the Halfway Home cast through The Groundlings?
ON: Kevin [Ruf] and I met at the Groundlings. [director] Damon [Jones] was there also. Regan Burns was also at The Groundlings with us and also Jordan Black was there at some point. Most of these people I have known for years. The Groundlings is like a high school so people are in different classes, in different years. Regan and I were together and so was Kevin. Damon [Jones] was in another year and with Jordan Black. Octavia [Spencer] I met through Damon. Jessica Makinson was in Trigger Happy TV and I know her through my manager.
DRE: Halfway Home is such a great idea for a comedy show that Im surprised that no one had thought of it before. How did you guys come up with it?
ON: I did Reno 911 and the people from Reno were so nice like Tom [Lennon], Ben [Garant] and Kerri [Kenney]. They went to [Senior Vice-President of Original Programming and Development] Jim [Sharp] at Comedy Central and said Why dont you have a show with Oscar Nunez in it? They were like Oh we know him, lets have a meeting with him. So my manger Bruce [Smith] and I thought about it and we decided to make videos to pitch our ideas. So I got Damon because Damon had shot out short films and edited them himself in his house. Hes a guy who gets things done. So Damon and I got together and we shot a video with Regan and Jessica and a couple of friends. Cheryl Hines and Shane Nickerson helped us. We showed it to Comedy Central and they loved it. They said You guys are funny. We dont want this particular idea but now you guys have an open door where you can come in and pitch whatever you want. So weve been going back and forth with them for years, shooting videos, I think we did three in total. But they were always like Oh this is great, but its not the one. So we had a meeting about three years ago and Kevin Ruf was there. People started throwing out ideas. Kevin, who is a lawyer, had the idea for Halfway Home because he works with criminals. We were like, Okay, whatever. The meeting ended and nothing happened. Then a couple years later, when Damon and I were finally going to crack this nut. Comedy Central was like Were close. Just give us an idea, were ready to go with you guys. We remembered Halfway Home. We got everyone together, went in as a cast and pitched it and thats the one they liked.
DRE: Were you always set to play the character you played?
ON: We try to throw out ideas about funny characters and the characters we do best. Then we gravitate to the characters. Weve done this for years. Weve all played with these characters before in the past be it at The Groundlings or in New York City or whatever.
DRE: Is it just a coincidence that you are playing another gay character after The Office?
ON: Its not a coincidence. Bruce, for some reason, put it in my contract that I can only play gay characters. Why he did that, I have no idea. Its the weirdest thing [laughs]. It is just an odd coincidence.
DRE: Is the show an all improvised show, like other improvised shows?
ON: Yeah, I would liken it to Curb Your Enthusiasm, which I think is a great show and a lot of the people on our show have been on Curb. Like Reno 911 we have a theme and then we have to fill in the information and the dialogue is open to improv. We let the actors do whatever.
DRE: So you do an outline for each scene or do you do one for each show?
ON: Both. We do one for each episode and then we break it down into scenes. Then everything else is improvised. Theres no dialogue written out.
DRE: In shows like Reno 911 and Lovespring International, there always seems to be a lot of humor making fun of racism. Halfway Home does that as well, does that just come out of the characters?
ON: When you throw characters together and the characters are criminals therefore by their very nature they are not the brightest people, hence their criminal activity and going back to jail over and over and over again. So it comes out of their characters.
DRE: Is it ever tough to say some of these more cringe worthy lines, which also happen on The Office?
ON: Nah, its just fun and games. It doesnt mean a thing.
DRE: On The 40 Year Old Virgin DVD, I saw some behind the scenes stuff where the producers and the director would throw lines to the actors on camera. Do you do something similar like that on Halfway Home?
ON: Only sometimes, it only happened a couple of times.
DRE: Who comes up with the storylines?
ON: Its a combination of everyone, but this particular season Kevin Ruf had a huge part. He wrote most, if not all of the episodes. Hes just such a workhorse. Ive never met anyone who could just write so much. Hes an attorney and its just part of his nature, hes just a hard-working fellow. Most of the writing and ideas were generated by Kevin.
DRE: With other peoples characters, do they come from the actors that you hired or do you write stuff for them?
ON: Its a combination of both. Weve known these actors for a long time. Theyre stellar, each and every one of them. We have tremendous trust in all of them so they come up with storylines, they come up with attitudes, they take the ball and run with it. Its very easy to write. We just need to write the idea and the funny just comes.
DRE: Jordan is probably one of the skinniest people Ive ever seen in my life. I thought you guys had gotten a method actor to play a criminal.
ON: Jordan has been hooked on crack cocaine for the past five years, and we encourage it.
I dont know how he stays so skinny. It is amazing. Its his incredible metabolism. Ive known him for years and hes always been that way.
DRE: How much freedom did Comedy Central give you guys?
ON: They give us buckets full of freedom. Their notes are, for the most part, right on. Its a great working relationship. So far, knock on wood, it has been completely painless and quite a learning experience. Weve never produced a show like this before and we feel very welcomed and very lucky to be there.
DRE: How many episodes did you guys do for the first season?
ON: We did ten.
DRE: Do you want to keep doing it?
ON: I want to do other things. I miss waiting tables so I want to try to get back into that. [laughs] We would like to get picked up for a second season. That would be a good thing.
DRE: Of course, working on a Comedy Central show must be different than working on an NBC show like The Office. But I would imagine that the process of the writers room and creating the material is similar.
ON: The process is similar. You use the same techniques and the same methods but everything is bigger on The Office. Halfway Home feels more guerrilla but I like it that way. Its not a huge show to produce.
DRE: I saw the first three episodes of Halfway Home and it was great to see Garrett Morris guest star in one of them. Did he get to improvise as well?
ON: Yes, he did. That was improvised. It was funny because I dont think Garrett knows how to drive and he had to drive that mail truck about five feet or six feet. [laughs] In the episode, youll see that the truck just jumped around a little bit. When Garrett gets out of the truck he says something like Im getting too old for this. I think he meant the actual driving the truck but it worked because hes the old mailman anyway.
DRE: Will there be extended storylines or will you keep to the one episode at a time idea?
ON: We havent thought that far ahead yet. Right now everyones just taking it easy and Damon is working, Kevin is pitching all this stuff and Im on The Office so were not thinking about it right now. Weve got our fingers crossed and if we get picked up, well address that. But I can see us stringing some episodes together.
DRE: How did you like executive producing the show?
ON: It was a great experience. Im quite proud of everyone. Its a great feeling to say to the whole crew We sold something and you dont have to audition because youre on the show.
DRE: Your characters outfits are pretty outrageous.
ON: Annie Bloom is our costume designer and she is really great. All that stuff really is another character in the show. They get a little crazy with my character sometimes. Im like Im not a woman; hes a gay guy. Dont buy me womens clothes. Other than that [laughs] I think theyve done a great job.
DRE: Have you always wanted to generate your own comedy material for television?
ON: Yeah, my buddy Michael Player who is in the [comedy troupe] The Gay Mafia now, started a troupe in New York called The Shock of the Funny and I was in it for five years in New York before I came out here. I started auditioning when I came out here but I knew that if I just kept auditioning, I would possibly get work, but it would always be as a valet or a security guard or a janitor. In the back of my head I knew that I had to create something. So I thought that we should create a vehicle for ourselves, pitch that, and have it on our terms.
DRE: I read that Ian Roberts will be guest starring this season. Did you meet him when you were working back in New York?
ON: I dont think I met him in New York. I met him out in LA. Ian is the writing partner of Jay Martel, who is our showrunner.
DRE: Im a fan of Jays too, how did he get to showrun Halfway Home?
ON: Comedy Central said Well give you a show thats great, but you need a showrunner because you guys have never done this before. We met with a couple of people and Jays the guy we liked.
DRE: Was your audition for The Groundlings a tough process?
ON: No, not at all. As I said, I was doing the same thing in New York City. When I came out to LA, people were like You have to go to the Groundlings. I auditioned and they accepted me. I became the lead in 1998 in the Sunday Company for a year but the great thing about the Groundlings is the people you meet there.
DRE: Did you get The Office through an audition?
ON: Yeah, I went in for a specific part and I didnt get it. They called back and told Bruce Listen, he didnt get this part but theres going to be other people in the office so wed like him to come back for a call back. So I went there and lo and behold theyre like Hes on the show. I said, Thats great, but I love the British version and this is going to suck. Then I find out Steve Carell was the lead, and then I said to myself well, okay, this could work and here we are.
DRE: Was Oscar gay right from the beginning?
ON: No, he was just regular. Then they came and said Do you mind if we make him gay? I was like What? and they made him gay.
DRE: Is there another Oscar-centric episode coming up soon, like when he got outed by Michael?
ON: I would hope so, but I havent got a clue. The writers dont talk about that. Its actually very professional. No ones running around gossiping.
DRE: Are you working anything else or are you just waiting for Halfway Home to come on the air?
ON: My buddys writing something for me, but nothing to speak of. Just waiting for Halfway Home to air and waiting to finish shooting The Office.
DRE: Are you coming back next year on The Office?
ON: If our show gets picked up by Comedy Central, I would love to be able to do both things. Well see what happens.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
zoetica:
Oscar Nunez is best known as Oscar Martinez the recently outed accountant on NBCs The Office. But before getting on that hit show, Nunez honed his improvisational skills in both New York and Los Angeles improv troupes and appeared in episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Reno 911. Nunez co-created,...