Letting Them Talk with Will Harris

willharrisinva
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Longtime pop culture journalist Will Harris, perhaps best known for his work at the A.V. Club (or, more specifically, for his Random Roles interviews), finally embarks on a straightforward interview podcast, chatting with actors, writers, musicians, political pundits, comic book artists... The world is his oyster, and he's planning to make the most of it!

  1. 3d ago

    Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 41 - Bill Lawrence (Scrubs / Ted Lasso / Shrinking / Bad Monkey / Rooster)

    Today I’m letting Bill Lawrence talk. I first interviewed Bill because of his ties to my area: he’s an alumnus of the College of William & Mary, which provided me with a local angle and an excuse to talk to him for The Virginian-Pilot. Or was the first time for PortFolio Weekly? Either way, I’ve known Bill Lawrence for quite some time at this point, and yet despite that, it somehow always surprises me that he still remembers me. But he does, in fact, remember me, and when I shot him a line on Facebook a few months back and suggested that he should do this podcast, he promptly wrote back and said, “Will, I’d be a bad guy if I didn’t.” The thing is, Bill Lawrence is a very busy man. But if you watch much TV, then you probably already knew that. You know him from SCRUBS, of course, but lately you might also know him for TED LASSO. Or perhaps SHRINKING. Or most recently for HBO’s ROOSTER. He’s also executive producer of BAD MONKEY. So as you might imagine, just because Bill’s willing to do your podcast doesn’t mean that he’s necessarily available to do your podcast. And when one of the reasons why he’s not available is because he’s busy directing the first episode of the next season of SHRINKING, then by God, you can accept that. And when you find yourself waiting for him to pop on the line for the interview and you discover that he’s still in the writers room and that he’s got a call scheduled for as soon as your interview is over, you start wondering if maybe this interview isn’t actually going to happen today after all. And that’s when Bill pops onto the Zoom call, and he’s ready and willing to talk up everything he’s got in the pipeline at the moment, things he’s done in the past that you might remember fondly, and he even offers up a George Clooney story that a) he realizes he’s never actually told before, and b) tells you that it makes him happy that he was able to tell it to you. So, yeah, long story short, Bill Lawrence is a pretty swell guy. And when you listen to this conversation, you’d never guess that it’d been years since the last time we actually talked, because he’s one of the best talkers in the business. Okay, that’s enough of an intro. It’s time to let Bill Lawrence talk.

    41 min

  2. 6d ago

    Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 40 - Jamie Hector (The Wire / Bosch / Heroes / The Strain / Cape Fear / Wu-Tang Clan))

    This time I’m letting Jamie Hector talk. Funny thing is, I actually interviewed Jamie for the AV Club, even if I didn’t entirely remember it at first. In my defense, I’ve done so freaking many Random Roles interviews over the years that the relatively few non-Random Roles interviews I’ve done with actors often slip past me, although I really should’ve remembered the fact that I interviewed Marlo from the freakin’ WIRE! Yes, that’s right: Jamie played Marlo on HBO’s THE WIRE, and he so quickly became a defining figure of the series that you may not even remember that he wasn’t even an original cast member. These days his character is so closely associated with the show that Marlo came in at #2 on Rolling Stone’s Greatest TV Villains of All Time in 2016. That’s a pretty bad guy right there. Currently, however, Jamie back on the side of the good, playing Ray Rawlins on the Apple TV+ adaptation of CAPE FEAR, which continues to unfold until its 10th and final episode airs on July 31. And it’s not as if he wasn’t keeping busy between these projects, y’know. After THE WIRE, he stepped straight into an arc on HEROES, and he also did a stint on FX’s THE STRAIN. More recently, he’s been busy playing Jerry Edgar on BOSCH as well as reprising his role on the various spinoffs of the series. And we also talked about how exciting it was for him to appear in WU-TANG: AN AMERICAN SAGA, how he enjoyed the rare opportunity to do comedy in an episode of ARE WE THERE YET? (where he played a character named Arlo, which, y’know, probably just a coincidence), and oh, yes, we talked a lot about THE WIRE, too. Well, that’s probably enough of an intro. It’s time to let Jamie Hector talk.

    52 min

  3. Jun 29

    Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 39 - Graham Parker (Howlin' Wind / Quality Footwear / Judd Apatow / This Is 40)

    This time, I’m letting Graham Parker talk. Graham is a singer-songwriter who’s been plying his trade since the ‘70s, steadily touring and regularly writing, recording, and releasing new music. He tends to get lumped in with such so-called “angry young men” as Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson, but as it happens, he was already out there with his debut album before either of those guys…and thanks to author Jay Nachman, there’s now a book that properly documents it. Appropriately, the book is called “Graham Parker’s Howlin’ Wind,” and Nachman had full access to Graham while he was putting it together…and, indeed, it was Nachman who helped set up this interview. We actually did it a few months ago, as you’ll be able to tell from a few remarks that he makes during the course of the conversation, but I wanted to hold off on releasing it until Graham released his latest live album, Quality Footwear (Live at the Brook), and it finds him teamed with his road-tested backing band, the Goldtops, as well as backing vocals from the Lady Bugs. The end result is 11 solid performances that are available now through the fine folks at Big Stir Records. So of course we talk about his live shows during our conversation, and we start off by doing a deep dive into his early years, including how he went through a prog period and his thoughts on being labeled “pub rock.” God forbid I should’ve actually asked him that question, but I did tell him that someone suggested that I ask him that question if I wanted it to be a short interview, and as a result I got a much more amusing answer than I know would’ve gotten if I’d asked it outright. Plus, I actually got to ask more questions afterwards rather than just receiving a flurry of obscenities I also asked him about some of the other records from throughout his career, including the one that got me started as a Graham Parker fan (the very ‘80s Steady Nerves), and I got him to regale me with the tale of how he got Bruce Springsteen to provide backing vocals for him. It’s a fun conversation that goes all over the place, but if you’ve ever been a Graham Parker fan, it’ll remind you to go back and listen to his music, and if you’ve never been a Graham Parker fan, well, hopefully this’ll be the kick in the ass you need to make you one. Well, that’s probably enough of an intro. It’s time to let Graham Parker talk.

    57 min

  4. Jun 26

    Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 38 - Jon Cryer (Pretty in Pink / Superman IV / Lex Luthor / Two and a Half Men)

    This time I’m letting Jon Cryer talk. I’ve interviewed Jon more than a few times over the course of the past decade or so, and  I’m always pleased to have a chance to talk to him again. That’s mostly because he’s a swell guy and we have a nice chemistry whenever we chat, but if I’m being honest, there’s always that little voice in the back of my head that’s going, “Dude, you’re talking to Duckie.” Yes, Jon Cryer was Duckie in PRETTY IN PINK, and he was arguably the most relatable movie character of my teenage years, the poster boy for guys who were perpetually enduring unrequited love. I mean, I once made a mix tape that started out with a snippet of dialogue that still echoes in my head even now…   “I love this woman, and I have to tell her…and if she laughs, she laughs…and if she doesn’t love me, then she doesn’t love me. But if I don’t find out… Oh, I love her too much!”   But Jon Cryer is about so much more than PRETTY IN PINK, obviously, which is why – although of course we talked about it – we talked about a wide range of topics during the course of our conversation, starting with his current endeavor: a production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, in which he plays Vice Principal Douglas Panch. As of this recording, you can catch him at the New World Stages – Stage 3, located at 340 West 50th Street in New York. So if you’re going to be in NYC this summer, check and see if tickets are available, because I have it on good authority that it is a hoot. Beyond that, we talked about his Broadway origins, how his movie HIDING OUT ended up having a duet between Roy Orbison and k.d. lang, why so few people saw MORGAN STEWART'S COMING HOME, how his big plans for a specific career arc led him from a punk rock western into what turned out to be the lowest-budgeted SUPERMAN movie ever, and how the latter experience kinda sorta resulted in him getting to play the baddest, baldest DC villain of them all. He also regaled me with stories of being up for Ferris Bueller, auditioning for BACK TO THE FUTURE, and not auditioning for RESERVOIR DOGS. And,  yes, we talked about PRETTY IN PINK, including his audition for Howard Deutch, his first meeting with John Hughes, how he and James Spader planned out their quote – fight scene – unquote, and, yes, how Duckie was robbed. Well, that’s probably enough of an intro. It’s time to let Jon Cryer talk.

    1h 2m

  5. Jun 24

    Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 37 - Sally Timms (Mekons / Marc Almond / Pete Shelley / Cowboy Sally)

    This time I’m letting Sally Timms talk. Sally is a singer-songwriter who – since 1985 – has been a member and one of the lead singers of one of the longest-running bands to emerge during the UK punk explosion, even if it’s been quite a while since one would readily describe their sound as “punk.” She recorded her first album in 1980 with the help of Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks – if you’re curious about how it sounds, you’re in luck, because it’s out there for streaming – but even after she released that record, it still never occurred to her that she might actually end up pursuing a proper career in music. That situation changed after she joined the Mekons in ’85, but even then, she probably never imagined that she’d still be part of the band’s lineup more than 40 years later. Granted, the band’s tendency toward cult status means that she hasn’t always been able to make music her full-time career, but she’s certainly been continuing to make music ever since. Last year, the Mekons released HORROR, and this year they released an album of dub remixes called HORRORble (mekons v.s Tony Maimone in Dub Conference). If Tony’s name rings a bell, it’s because he’s a member of Pere Ubu, and he’s really transformed the songs in some unique ways. We talked about that collaboration, and we talked about some of Sally’s other work with the Mekons, too, of course, including the differences between major and indie label life and her thoughts about the documentary about the band. But beyond the Mekons, we also discussed her work with the Aluminum Group, her duet with Marc Almond, being Cowboy Sally, and even when she provided a voice for Cartoon Network’s Toonami. That’s probably enough of an intro. It’s time to let Sally Timms talk.

    44 min

  6. Jun 19

    Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 36 - Lukas Haas (Spider-Noir / Witness / Mars Attacks! / Criminal Minds / The Righteous Gemstones))

    This time I'm letting Lukas Haas talk. Lukas was still in single digits when he made his film debut, managed to make it through his teen years without succumbing to any sort of scandal, and is currently in the cast of a series that’s sitting at a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes…and that’s on both the Tomato-Meter and the Popcorn-Meter. Not bad for a guy who – given that he only just turned 50 a couple of months ago – ostensibly still has an awful lot of acting ahead of him. Lukas made his aforementioned film debut in the 1983 film TESTAMENT, starring alongside my former podcast guest Jane Alexander and our guest star on Jane’s episode, Ross Harris, who I met as a result of his work in AIRPLANE! When I told Jane that I was going to be talking to Lukas, I half-jokingly offered her the Zoom link, saying that if she was free at the time of recording, I’d love to have her do a pop-in. As it happened, she’d already gotten a better offer: at almost the same time as we were going to be recording, she was going to be doing a TESTAMENT panel with the film’s director, Lynne Littman. By an even more enjoyable coincidence, the panel ended up being moderated by another acquaintance of mine – fellow journalist Tim Grierson – so Letting Them Talk got a shout-out. What are the odds? I bring all of this up because, as you might expect, the first thing I mentioned to Lukas when he hopped on the call was that I’d had Jane as a guest and Ross as a guest star, and when I explained how Ross and I had first met, I discovered that Lukas is a huge AIRPLANE! fan himself. Instant bond achieved. And just as a quick sidebar, after the interview I texted Ross to tell him how well it had gone, and he wrote back, “Brilliant human. Just straight out of the gate an incredible artist.” And then after a few minutes, he added, “Okay, maybe his drawing needed work straight out of the gate…” And with that, Ross sent me a drawing that Lukas had done for him when they were working together on TESTAMENT. Naturally, I instantly wrote back and said, “Holy shit, can I post that when I release the episode?” He said, “Absolutely.” In other words, if you’re not currently subscribed to my Patreon or Substack, then you’re probably going to want to remedy that… Getting back to the episode, Lukas can currently be seen in SPIDER-NOIR on Prime Video, so of course we started out by discussing his work on the series with co-stars Nicolas Cage and Brendan Gleeson, but from there his whole career was fair game. Lukas admitted that he often found himself remembering more about his early work than his later work, so we talked about working with Harrison Ford on WITNESS without having any idea who he was at first (and then revealing the moment when he really figured it out), having Alex Rocco play his dad in THE LADY IN WHITE, roller-skating his way through SOLARBABIES, and having an amazing time working with Steven Spielberg. We discussed BRICK a bit, as well as CRIMINAL MINDS including the role he initially auditioned for on that series; how he basked in the big-budget bizarreness of MARS ATTACKS! and the more reasonably budgeted bizarreness of BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS; being on Broadway with Steve Martin and Robin Williams; getting a rare chance to do comedy on THE RIGHTEOUS GEMSTONES; having a close encounter with Paul McCartney; and, yes, we even discuss RAMBLING ROSE and his feelings on how a particular scene probably wouldn’t play today…and why that’s not necessarily a good thing. Okay, I’m not sure I could possibly do any more teasing on this thing. It’s time to let Lukas Haas talk.

    58 min

  7. Jun 14

    Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 35 - Kevin Rowland (Dexys Midnight Runners)

    This time I’m letting Kevin Rowland talk. He's been a recurring figure on the UK charts since the early ‘80s, and on the US charts… Well, okay, he hasn’t exactly made any headway there in quite some time, but even in 2026, the sheer inevitability of “Come on Eileen” has continued to keep the name “Dexys Midnight Runners” a familiar one. Rowland founded Dexys Midnight Runners in 1978, with the band releasing their debut album, Searching for the Young Soul Rebels in 1980. It was a massive success in the UK, climbing into the top 10 and spawning the #1 hit “Geno,” but neither managed to chart in the States. Knowing this makes it a little more startling that the band’s next album, 1982’s Too-Rye-Aye, spawned a song that topped the Billboard Hot 100…and, yes, of course, I’m talking about “Come On Eileen.” The album even made it to #14 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart…and they haven’t had another album hit the charts since. There’s just no accounting for taste, is there, folks? But just because Dexys’ albums haven’t charted doesn’t mean that they haven’t continued releasing them, albeit with some gaps in there while Rowland was recording solo LPs. During the course of our conversation, we talked about all of them at least briefly, including their latest album, Love, which is due for release later this year. You can check out the first single, “My Life in England, Pt. 1” right now, and it’ll give you an idea of what to expect from the band’s sound nowadays…which, to be fair, isn’t so dramatically different than it’s ever been. Yes, there’ve been some changes along the way, but Rowland’s voice is still immediately familiar even after all these decades. I’ve talked to Kevin a couple of times in the past, but it’s been long enough that I’d kind of forgotten that sometimes he’s got quick answers to questions and sometimes, if you ask the right one, he’s got lengthy answers to questions. Thankfully, I managed to ask enough in the latter category to result in an interesting conversation…but with that said, brace yourself for the occasional moments of silence as well, mostly because I wanted to make sure there wasn’t more to come. Well, that’s probably enough of an intro. It’s time to let Kevin Rowland talk.

    44 min

  8. Jun 1

    Letting Them Talk with Will Harris - Ep. 34 - John C. McGinley (Scrubs / Rooster / Office Space / Platoon)

    This time, I’m letting John C. McGinley talk. I’ve wanted to interview John for many years, so the fact that that dream came true just as he’s delivered not one but two Emmy-worthy performances made it all the more exciting. I no longer remember where I first saw Mr. McGinley, mostly because he was in so many films throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, but like most people, he made the jump from “character actor” to “actor I know by name” when he picked up the role of Dr. Cox on  Scrubs. It’s a role he recently picked back up when the series was revived for a new season on ABC, and it’s since been renewed for a second season, thank the lord, but what’s also been keeping him busy is another Bill Lawrence-created series, HBO’s Rooster, where he plays Walter Mann, president of Ludlow College and boss to Steve Carell’s character, Greg Russo. I’m not kidding around about McGinley’s performances being Emmy-worthy, either; he’s great on Rooster – as well he should be, as you’ll soon hear – and Scrubs has taken Dr. Cox in a direction we haven’t seen before, giving McGinley a chance to flex his acting muscles in a different way with the character. As I mentioned, however, McGinley was acting well before he got that first full-time prime-time gig with Scrubs, and we talk about as much of that career as time would allow…and when time started to run out, I read him all of the various things that you folks wanted me to ask him about, and it’s clear that he’s got stories yet to tell. During this conversation, however, we managed to discuss Stan Against Evil, Platoon and his relationship with Oliver Stone, Watch It (a personal favorite of mine), Car 54, Where Are You?, Office Space, and Three to Tango. Oh, yes, and we sort of talked about Point Break and On Deadly Ground, but…you’ll, uh, have to listen to find out what I mean by that. Okay, that’s enough of an intro. It’s time to let John C. McGinley talk.

    1h 3m
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

Longtime pop culture journalist Will Harris, perhaps best known for his work at the A.V. Club (or, more specifically, for his Random Roles interviews), finally embarks on a straightforward interview podcast, chatting with actors, writers, musicians, political pundits, comic book artists... The world is his oyster, and he's planning to make the most of it!

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