And Dan Erickson, the creator of Severance, was there working on his own stuff.
I remember, in passing, hearing about the pilot and thinking “oh man, that sounds brilliant.” Years later, when it came to me from my agents. I didn’t initially piece it together that it was that Dan from the water cooler those many moons ago. Then, called Dan and was like, “Hey.” He was like, “let’s go get a beer.” And we did.Īre you L.A.- or New York-based at the moment? So I read with Ben and Adam a couple of times. I have a big, gay Subaru, and I have a tiny P.O. How does growing up in Kentucky influence your artistic aspirations? Box where all my bills go that I’m ignoring. Now that I’m in my thirties, there’s so much about working class Midwest/Southern - Kentucky doesn’t really know which one it is - culture that I have a fondness for now. When you’re latchkey kids, and you’re desperate for art but don’t have access to any art of any kind, you’re forced to create a world for yourselves. We were desperate to get our hands on any VHS of old recordings of PBS Masterpiece Theater or a Björk Concert or Cirque du Soleil. At the time we bemoaned it, because we wanted to get out so desperately. But, now that we have, I’m so grateful for it.
My friends that grew up on the coasts, or at least in communities where they has easier access to the art that they loved, they’ll always say things to me like, “Why did you and your brother learn to play these instruments?” Because we had to! That’s all we had. When you have access to every aspect of a culture, it’s almost easier to find your lane early in life. When you don’t have that access, you’re grabbing at anything in the buffet you can. It’s like, “well, if music doesn’t work, I better become a decent writer. Maybe I’ll try to paint a little.” I’m really quite shit at all those things, but I love doing them. Had I not grown up in a carpeted basement, eating generic Lunchables, I don’t think that I would’ve had quite the playground to have to develop all of those things.