Canada Files | Eugene Levy

♪ >> Valerie Pringle: Welcome to Canada Files.

I'm Valerie Pringle in Los Angeles.

My guest today is Eugene Levy, the Grammy and Emmy-winning actor and writer.

Over a remarkable 53 plus-years career, he's created so many memorable roles.

In SCTV , movies like Best in Showand A Mighty Wind .

Best known for co-creating and starring in the tv series, Schitt's Creek .

His son, Dan Levy, calls him an example of how to be a human being and an actor.

>> Hi Eugene.

>> Hello Valerie.

>> Your amazing career just seems to have gotten better.

In your 70s!

Schitt's Creek swept the Emmys in 2020.

You've got a new travel show.

Did you think this would happen to you now?

>> No, I did not.

I've been plugging away for years and years.

Kind of the go-to guy for getting the little comedy spot that you're in a few scenes in a movie.

That was good and I loved it!

That's what I've been doing for much of my whole life.

Then my son says, "You want to work on an idea with me... for a tv show?""

And that was it.

>> So Daniel approached you.

Was it a big deal for him to come to you?

What did he and you say?

>> He just said I've got an idea for a show.

Do you want to work on it with me?

That had never happened before.

He wouldn't come to me for literally anything.

So I said no matter what this is, yes, I'll work on it with you.

Thinking this is something I never thought would happen.

We started working on it.

Then initially I got frightened because I thought wait a minute-- what if he doesn't have it.

What if he's not a great writer?

What if he doesn't have the talent to do what it is we're about to do.

Do we just continue working and not say anything?

Knowing nothing will happen with this and what's the point.

Or do I tell him this is really not something you excel in.

So maybe you should be looking at something else.

But...he just came right out of the gate, blowing me away.

In every capacity--writing, directing, producing, acting.

>> Wow.

But you couldn't have had any idea that it would turn out to be such a gift.

>> No, listen.

Just getting it on the air was something.

We pitched it everywhere and got turned down all over the place.

Then somebody said what about Canada.

Have you thought about Canada?

I went...um...no.

But I guess.

That would be a good thing.

Yeah, you should look into that.

We did and had a lot of interest.

CBC will give you 13 shows.

That was that.

Getting it on the air was the thing.

That was everything.

So we started doing the show.

I knew it was good, better than I ever thought it could possibly be.

When we were doing it.

But would we get a 2nd season?

um....I don't know.

>> 2nd, 3rd, 4th.

>> Then one rolled into another.

>> 5th, 6th.

>> Then that was great.

Look what we have here.

It didn't really explode until the 4th or 5th season.

Our last season was during COVID.

That's how people got to, really see it.

>> You say you're not a naturally funny person.

People say Eugene Levy-- he's a comedian and so funny.

You say no, there's a difference.

I'm a comic actor.

I'm an actor ,nota comedian.

How do you explain the difference to people?

>> The difference is I'm not comfortable being myself.

The closer a character came to being me, the more nervous and apprehensive I got.

So my roles over the years have been characters where I can put on hats, moustaches and glasses.

>> Two Left Feet.

>> That's it exactly.

Getting away from being myself.

Because I never found myself that interesting as a person.

I know it sounds kinda sad.

>> Pathetic.

>> I guess it is.

That was the case.

Schitt's Creek was... a challenge for me.

Because it was a character that was pretty close to me.

>> I'm curious.

You grew up in Hamilton.

Did you ever think you could be a performer?

When did that strike you as a possibility-- something fun or interesting?

>> I loved doing it in school.

Loved doing plays.

Going back to public school, being in a class play.

I loved putting on the rings and the crown.

Whatever it was, I really did love it.

High school, I was in a couple of Shakespearean plays.

Loved it and when I got to McMaster...

I was in my 2nd year.

First year Mac, I was just going to class like everybody.

Alright, that was good.

Second year, I discovered drama.

Discovered the film club, kinda stopped going to class.

But was having a great time.

I didn't know acting was what I wanted to do until it hit me in the face.

>> But you were so attracted to it.

Enough that you auditioned for Godspell .

Which was the big show in Toronto at the time.

The musical that had come.

You had enough sense of yourself that you could sing, perform on stage.

>> I went out to audition for it.

I did.

And Marty Short.

I was going to school with Marty as well.

We'd done a lot of stuff at McMaster together as well.

When we auditioned for Godspell , I called Marty to say you've got to come out and audition for this.

It's a musical.

You'd be great for it.

He was writing his finals at Mac at the time.

So then he came out to audition for it.

The two little nibs from Hamilton got into the show.

>> I've heard Tom Hanks told Conan O'Brien once that if he could be a fly on the wall, go back anywhere and watch something, it would the 1972 production of Godspell.

With you, Marty Short, Gilda Radner, Andrea Martin and Victor Garber.

I saw that show!

Awesome.

>> Paul Schaffer.

It was an amazing production, really funny.

Vocals, unbelievable.

The music was insane.

With Victor, my gawd.

And Marty...very strong cast.

>> From there, you went to Second City .

Which was like the school of comedy.

>> Well, Second City was the greatest class for comedy.

It taught you to always work at the top of your intelligence level.

No matter what you're doing comedically.

No matter how cheap, whatever it is, do it as smart as you can do it.

That seems obvious but it's not.

People don't always work at the top of their intelligence level.

But that was good.

Never underestimate your audience.

Always work for the scene.

>> That evolved into SCTV.

Which again, look at that cast.

What a gift that was-- Emmy-winning.

Learning to be on camera and perform that way.

>> Yes, they started SCTV.

Because SNL has started the year before, in 1975.

Bernie Sahlins who had owned Second City said all the talent is going to SNL now.

So we all came up with and hammered out this idea that a television network where you get to parody the television shows of the day.

It was Bernie who actually said there should be a through line going the show as well, should have a through line.

Some story line that weaves everything together.

So we came up with our station characters to work behind the scenes.

That's pretty much how SCTV got off the ground.

We were a local show when we started, just airing in Toronto.

Our first year.

Around our 2nd or 3rd year-- I can't remember, we got picked up for syndication.

It played in maybe 40 cities-- markets in the states.

>> It was brilliant-- Emmy winning.

You think of John Candy, what a guy and actor.

You spent time with him.

Catherine O'Hara.

That was the first time you'd worked with her.

>> Yeah.

>> Could you love this woman more?

>> She's quite amazing, gifted and talented.

If she was here, she'd be walking out of the room.

You can't...compliment her when she's present.

She won't stand for it.

>> Funny, that was a time when all these Canadians were huge stars in comedy.

Whether it was Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, Dan Akroyd.

You, that whole cast.

What was that?

>> It was just the time and the place.

Somebody referred to it as the Paris of the twenties.

Everybody was there at the same time.

They were incredibly talented-- John was... >> John Candy.

He just makes you weep when you see him.

>> Amazing.

And Akroyd, how his mind worked.

I don't know.

Almost like a Robin Williams rat-a-tat-tat going on in the brain.

Really fun to watch-- Valri Bromfield and Gilda.

Andrea Martin.

It was incredible.

Then of course,the Mike Myers and Jim Carreys kinda rolled in.

Kids in the Hall .

Back then, that's what it was.

We were very lucky.

As I said before, we were lucky that these shows came to town.

Lucky that Second City came to town right then and there.

Because we were there!

>> How did the collaboration with Christopher Guest get going You guys sitting around, thinking up three of the greatest movies ever.

Hilarious-- Waiting for Guffman , Best in Show and Mighty Wind .

>> I was at home in Toronto and I get a phone call.

It's Chris Guest and I'm ...

He said I have an idea for a movie and I'm wondering if you'd want to come down and work on it with me.

Work on the script.

My heart was kinda palpitating a bit.

He said I have a cabin in the country, up in Idaho.

We could work on it there.

Now my heart's palpitating even more.

I could actually see it coming out of my shirt.

I said wow...sure.

That's great.

I'm thinking, in a millisecond, I love this guy.

I think he's great.

I don't know him.

Being in a cabin writing, what's the worst that can happen?

If it doesn't work, I just get back on the plane.

I said sure, I'd love to, Chris.

I got there and he met me at the little airport.

We basically met and on the ride back to his cabin, I was in stitches.

I was laughing, I had him laughing.

It was an amazing thing.

Then we get to the cabin.

That was great.

>> That was Waiting for Guffman .

>> Yeah One of the total gifts to come out of those movies was, A Mighty Wind , the song.

You won a Grammy and you were up for Best Song at the Oscars.

You performed with Catherine O'Hara at the Oscars on-stage.

>> The idea of singing at the Oscars... when I was standing backstage with Catherine, and Jamie Lee Curtis was giving the introduction to the song, it then hit me what are we doing here?

I'm not a musician!

I look over to Catherine on the other side of the stage.

She looked at me going... here we go.

That's it.

You go out there and every face you're looking at is the most famous face in the world.

That was an experience.

>> You wrote after Schitt's Creek, I want to thank Daniel who took this fish-out-of-water story and transformed it into a story of inclusivity, a castigation of homophobia and a declaration of the power of love.

You'd always played charming characters.

Your humour was never mean.

This was different, a message.

It was like you wanted to tell people stuff.

>> Well Daniel did an amazing job on that show.

Because when he really developed and hit his peak as a writer and producer, he sculpted what that show was.

By the time we reached our final season, I have to credit him for what he was able to do.

What he was able to do in his story-telling was, in fact, that.

We were presenting this town as an all-inclusive town.

People didn't look at you because you were gay or Jewish or Black.

There was no commenting on any of that.

That made it disappear.

That was story-telling for what it was.

It was a romantic story with two people told as the romantic story, whether heterosexual or homosexual.

The story was the story and that's how it was told.

>> Love is love is love.

>> Pretty much it.

>> You had a huge response to that-- a lot of letters from people.

>> It touched a nerve with a lot of people.

There were a lot of letters we got from gay kids who said this show helped me come out with my family.

A lot of them used the analogy that was in one of the scenes that Daniel had written.

Which was the wine scene.

I kinda like red wine, I kinda like white wine.

I used to drink a Chardonnay that used to be a rosé.

>> And the label doesn't matter.

>> It's not about the label.

A lot of kids actually used that scene as a way to come out.

Very helpful.

That letter from the Mama Bears, the group of mothers of gay kids was just an incredible letter.

Signed by, I don't know how many thousands moms.

It hit a chord.

>> Are you most proud of your acting, writing or singing.

>> Not my singing.

No, I wouldn't say that.

I don't know.

Most proud, I can't honestly look at what I do and use it in conjunction with the word proud .

I think the fact that I'm still around, able to make a living out of this.

I know some very talented people.

A lot of my friends are extremely talented.

The most talented in the business.

Quite honestly, the fact that I've been able to make a living out of this with a modicom of talent.

Doing what it is I do and make a relatively good living out of it, for that...

I'm proud of myself for that .

I was able to do it and have great fun along the way.

In this business, honestly if you're not having fun, you're really hanging with the wrong people.

You're doing something... something's not right here.

It's been a great life.

For that I can pat myself on the back.

>> Not many people hit the pinnacle at the pinnacle.

You could have just gone and played golf.

But you took on a travel show, Reluctant Traveller .

Where you have to be yourself which you never wanted to play.

Why did you do that?

>> I didn't really.

Luckily the powers that be didn't listen to me.

Because I did my damndest to talk myself out of it when I got the call.

I'm not the guy for this because it's not that I hate travelling.

I just don't love travelling.

I'm not a chatty guy.

I don't have a great sense of adventure.

I'm not the person for a travel show.

Tell them that.

Well, they want to talk to you.

They want to have a call.

So I got to explain to them why I'm not the person for this show.

And everything I was saying was getting laughs on the phone.

Because I was trying to keep it light and not make it a heavy conversation.

So that call ended.

I said, "Great!

I made my point."

And it was a nice light call.

What I didn't know on the other end, the producer and the Apple executive called each other and said, "That's the show!"

Because initially it was about hotels called The Great...Room with a View.

That's the show.

It's somebody that doesn't want to travel!

So they called back and pitched that.

And I said, okay, I get that.

Nevertheless it's still me.

So the great thing about this show is what I had to overcome.

How cathartic this show has been for me, as a person.

To be able to do what I think-- >> The reluctant traveller.

>> ...the show actually needs.

Which is keeping it entertaining and...it's me that's doing it.

>> There's a wonderful scene of you in Costa Rica doing forest therapy.

Shouting out at the trees what you're grateful for.

You say your wife, Deb, your two kids, your brother & sister, Your family.

You're grateful for your family.

I feel like this is your strength--your family.

>> It's the most important thing in the world, family & friends.

My wife, Deb.

You know Deb.

She's without question the funniest person in the family.

We all know that.

Everybody knows that.

>> She is.

>> And what she's done.

And my kids--getting a chance to work with both Daniel and Sarah on the show for six years on a weekly show.

Being on camera with my own kids is an experience that ..I'm glad I did it.

I'm glad I got it.

Might not ever happen again.

But that's something that not every parent can say.

That they got a chance to work with their kids for six years.

>> The one question we ask at the end of these shows is, what does being Canadian mean to you.

>> Well, being Canadian to me is ...I always consider myself as a person who would rather be in the back of the crowd watching somebody who loves being in the front of the crowd as being Canadian.

That's almost the definition of Canadiana to me.

Don't put yourself out there.

It's not 'hey, look at me'.

That's really not what it is.

It's about doing it.

Making sure you're doing a good job.

Do it right and everything will kinda take care of itself.

That's...feeling Canadian every single day.

No question about it.

Because, you know what, not too much of a spotlight.

Thank you very much.

>> Thank you so much, Eugene.

What a treat.

>> My pleasure.

This was fun.

>> We'll be back next week with another edition of Canada Files .

♪