2011

Après l'épisode de Psych , This episode sucks, les fans ont eu la chance de pouvoir faire un t'chat avec James Roday sur Facebook, voici les questions réponses.

James Roday's Responses to Character Chatter Questions!
James: Salutations Psychos! I am here and I am ready to write words.

xcQ1: Did you have a favorite Halloween costume growing up?
James: Hey Liz — One year I went as Juwan Howard in a sweater.

Q2: What is your favorite book?
James: To Kill A Mockingbird. Boom.

Q3: Would you ever consider doing some theater in NYC? (I’m still irrationally upset that I didn’t get to see Greedy.)
James: I’d love to do some theater in NYC. This hiatus it looks like I’ll be living vicariously through Dule. Everybody check him out in Stickfly!

Q4: Since you are a fellow Titans fan, what do you think is up with the running game?
James: As much as I hate to admit it, I think a lot of it falls in Cj2K. It’s essentially the same personnel up front — he’s just not hitting his cuts with the same burst he used to hit them with. I guess he has about 30 million reasons why…

Q5: Who do you really want to be a guest star on Psych?
James: Val Kilmer. It’s a moral imperative.

Q6: Do you have a favorite hockey team?…more
James: I grew up in Texas playing football. What is this “hockey” you speak of? Seriously, I’ve adopted the Canucks in honor of our crew in Vancouver. That stuff was crazy this year — saw the rioting up close.

Q7: Planning to do anything with Red Dog Squadron again soon?
James: Looking for our next piece — it’s tough finding new material and we don’t want to rush. Maybe a workshop in the meantime but we’re on it and we’re motivated. Thanks for caring.

Q8: Do you use more hair products as Shawn or yourself?
James: Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more as Shawn.

Q9: What was the inspiration for the show and for Shawn?
James: I think for Steve it was a combination of his his childhood, Moonlighting and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The first time I read it I thought of Real Genius.

Q10: ah James you have to answer what the hell was with the 3 hole punch. It cracked me up the way it made you guys laugh but would love to know what it was about
James: hehe. One of our writers, Tim Meltrigger (not to name any names) made a point on set once to tell us that “three hole punch” was much funnier than “three hole puncher” — and we’ve never let him forget that.

Q11: What’s on your MP3 player?
James: Soundtrack for the movie DRIVE. Check it out.

Q12: What’s your favorite snack?
James: Chips. Salsa. Bang.

Q13: Have you ever watched an episode of Psych when it premieres on the USA Network? If so, was it weird seeing yourself acting as Shawn?
James: I generally avoid watching myself if possible.

Q14: If the entire cast of Psych was trapped on an island, who would get eaten first?
James: I’ll say Henry — on account of his declining foot speed.

Q15: How in the world did you become a Titans fan???
James: Lifelong Oiler fan — bleed Oiler blue. So when they went to Nashville (well first Memphis actually), I followed.

Q16: If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
James: That’s tough — I was obsessed with Possession by Sarah McLachlan in high school — I had the cassette single and listened to over and over until it basically turned into dust. Hmmm. Questionable on my part.

Q17: In the episode “Shawn Rescues Darth Vader” you delivered the line “Forget about him, or her, or it, if it’s transgendered.” That line offended a lot of people, myself included. We would like an apology. It is never ok to refer to a human being as an it.
James: Hey Tina — I honestly don’t remember the joke but reading it I agree it was irresponsible and, quite frankly, not funny. I’ll apologize on behalf of everyone. It must have been very early in the morning. Shame on me for saying that.

Q18: What is your favorite Clint Eastwood movie?…more
James: Probably Unforgiven, though I think A Perfect World is underrated.

Q20: Favorite concert you’ve ever been to?
James: The Sundays at the Supper Club in NYC. I was two feet from the stage watching my favorite band tour for the last time. Great memory. Harriet Wheeler is a goddess.

Q21: On Last Night Gus, who was your favorite character?
James: Gotta be Woody.

Q22: What’s your take on Nutella?
James: That it’s dangerously delicious and rich.

Q23: What’s your favorite vampire movie?
James: Mindel in the housssssssssssse! It has just recently become Let the Right One In. Previously I’d say The Hunger or Near Dark.

Q24: Peas or carrots?
James: Carrots, generally….unless it’s an inspired split pea soup. And Linda Blair isn’t around.

Q25: What is your favorite type of aquatic mammal?
James: Dolphins are geniuses that you just wanna hang out with and otters are like little men floating around and scratching their bellies. It’s a tie.

Q26: What do you miss the most about the 80’s?
James: Honestly (and I know I’m in the minority here)….NEW WAVE.

Q27: Any advice for surviving my SENIOR YEAR of high school? I’m kinda dying from stress at the moment and would love any advice, especially from my favorite actor ever.
James: Try to relax. Things will undoubtedly get more complicated and more stressful when you get older. You’re only young once. Remember to stop and smell the roses….and whatever else the kids are smelling these days.

Q28: If you could be any character from The Breakfast Club who would it be?
Why no Rocky Horror references?
James: John Bender. And yes, we’re waaaay overdue for some Rocky Horror — Tim Curry should be back next season and your wish shall be granted in a most proper fashion.

Q29: Ok, be honest. Llamas or Alpacas?
James: Llamas. C’mon son.

Q30: James, I love your show! Around here there isn’t much to smile about, but you and Dule always come through with a smile! Thank you! My question is what do you enjoy more, being in front of the camera or behind it? If both, do you find it at all overwhelming at times?
James: Thank YOU for making ME smile. I’ll say this — I find that when I’m directing I’m suddenly not very interested in acting.

Q31: How much improv is in the show?
James: A fair amount but we also have great writers so it’s win-win most of the time.

Q32: Favorite movie made this year would be……?
James: So far…I’ll say The Skin I Live In.

Q33: Hey James, Do you have any advice for a theatre major that is graduating in Spring? I’m wondering what the best route is.
James: Stay focused and make your own work if you can’t find any. I can’t stress this enough — perseverance is a huge part of success in this business.

Q34: Favorite Bowie song?
James: Erin! How the heck are ya? The Man Who Sold the World.

Q35: Since S1 I have wanted to see Tony Shalhoub guest star as Monk. Would it be possible to make this happen?
James: That makes two of us. Love Tony, we will be forever indebted to him for paving the way…but not nearly as indebted as we are to you guys. Whaaaaaat? PSYCHOOOOOOOOS!!!!

Q36: We all know you did the Hitchcock episode, would you ever consider doing a Kubrick episode? Too dark?
James: As it happens, we did The Shining this season — so look out for that. I directed and believe me when I say I tried to get away with as much as I could.

Q37: If you had a pet armadillo, what would you name it???
James: After much deliberation, I’m going to go with Esai.

Q38: What’s more important: doing homework or watching Psych?
James: They are almost equally important so try to do both.

Q39: I loved the Twin Peaks episode, how about an L.A. Law reunion?
James: Thank you and yes, that would be fun. I’m sure Corbin could stir something up. I’m on it.

Q40: What is your favorite song by The Smiths? Mine is How Soon Is Now.
James: Girlfriend in a Coma — it’s my go to for karaoke. Check out Janice Whaley’s cover on The Smiths Project. While you’re at it, check out every song on The Smiths Project.

Q40: What’s your favorite foreign film?
James: Speaking of Janice….word. Favorite foreign film? I really did flip for Let the Right One In a few years back — but part of that was because it was so heavily influenced by the work of Bergman. I don’t think I can choose just one of his films so I’ll cheat and say his entire body of work. Okay everyone — gotta jump. This was compelling and rich and thank you all so much for making Psych what it is and staying with us over the years. xoxoxoxo

James Roday parlent de l'émission dans laquel il est apparu, Tough Enough, de la WWE,  il parlent aussi de la saison 6 de Psych, de jouer avec des acteurs venant de la WWE, de chanter avec Curt Smith, de ses débuts comme serveur a New York, de son arrivé dans Psych, de ce que les fans igonrent sur lui, d'un possible hommage a Alf et de son méchant préféré, Yang.

by: Jamie Steinberg

Q) You’ve worked with various WWE superstars on Psych. What was it like to go into their house and work with them?

A) , it was pretty cool, man. You know, I’ve been a WWE fan for most of my life. Sometimes I own up to it more than others, but the truth is I’ve been watching wrestling since I was a kid. And, you know, all - the superstars that we’ve had on the show have been so gracious and so respectful, and it was very - it was actually pretty easy to sort of to do the little flip flop and sort of pay them back and give them the sort of same due that they gave to us. They’re really a bunch of really good people over there. I’ve yet to meet a bad apple in that bunch, and I had a good time.

Q) I also think the premise of Tough Enough is really cool, why do you think WWE didn’t get into reality TV sooner?

A) Well, you know, if you remember they did tough enough, you know, the first time around, you know, like almost a decade ago. That’s, you know, how John Morrison got into WWE, so they kind of had it going on. Then, they sort of abandoned it for a while and started doing like this scripted reality, which is why I think bringing back Tough Enough is so refreshing because it’s an honest competition show again, and those are fun. It’s - you know, the deck isn’t stacked and you really don’t know what the outcome is going to be. It’s based on performance. And I’m glad, I’m glad they got back into that.

Q) Can you talk about what your part’s going to be on WWE, what you’re going to be doing?

A) Sure. I believe like the lesson of the week for the episode is about charisma, so they brought me in to clearly show these kids what it means to have charisma. And I think the challenge is they all have to sort of give an impromptu bus tour on Hollywood Boulevard. So, that was sort of the premise and we gave them some pointers about how you kind of always have to be on, even when you’re not because you never know when you’re going to see a fan and that sort of thing, and that was my role.

Q) Are you tough enough?

A) Me personally? No. No, not even close. I feel like if I got body slammed once my body would break like a vase into like a bunch of different parts, and then I could actually be swept into a dustpan, so I’m not tough.

Q) What do you think Shawn and Gus’s wrestling characters would be like?

A) Oh, well, if you’re familiar with the WWE at all there are sort of - there are characters that are in the company for - solely for entertainment purposes, not because of their in-ring abilities. I would point to the likes of Santino Marella. The crowd loves them and goes crazy for them, but the truth is they’re just sort of like Shakespearean clowns whose purpose it is to entertain, and then usually get pinned cleanly in the center of the ring. Shawn and Gus would be that as a tag team. They would be beloved by the fans, and their record would probably be something like 3 and 94 when it was all said and done.

Q) If you were a contestant on Tough Enough, how far do you think you would get, and how about Shawn?

A) I think Shawn would probably get to the final just by talking a really good game and being just passable enough in the ring that they’d say, “We’ve got to keep this guy around because he’s so good on the mic.” If I was in Tough Enough I would fake an injury and be eliminated first.

Q) With Season 6 coming up, can you talk about the evolution of the relationship between Shawn and Gus and how it’s different compared to Season 1?

A) Well, I think they’re probably a little bit more aware of their own mortality. We were just talking about this the other day actually that we’ve reached a point now where we’ll probably have to start using our heads a little bit more than our bodies. Because you know Gus and Shawn aren’t getting any younger and these foot chases are getting tougher and tougher, and jumping into water, and all that crazy stuff. So, I think in terms of evolution, I think they’ve - they are starting to sort of feel the difference between being a couple of wacky kids in their 20s and being grown ass men.

Q) Obviously, you guys had a really fun time filming Psych and a lot of times they show outtakes or whatever after the show’s done. What’s been one of the funniest things that’s happened, maybe a blooper or maybe a prank or something on the show that you remember?

A) Wow, well we’ve laughed a lot over the years, but I would say, you know, sometimes we do these little psych outs where we sing - we the rights to songs and sing them in ridiculous ways. But for me, when Curt Smith from Tears for Fears did our show two seasons ago and we actually did a psych out of Head Over Heels with Curt Smith on guitar. It was ridiculous because he was pretending like he was drunk, but it was also just awesome; we were singing with Curt Smith.

Q) People want to know if you’re coming to Comic-Con this year and also if you’re going to come back to Texas? There’s a media Texas Comic-Con?

A) Well, I feel like I’m facetiously serious. You know, we all sort of have to fill a slot, right, and balance it all out? But just for that particular fan, I will come out with a giant Cheshire Cat poop-eating grin this year.

Q) People were having a rumor that maybe this’ll be Psych’s last season. Is there any truth to that?

A) don’t know, you know? I mean, I feel like, you know, we all sort of know that Psych is closer to the end than the beginning, but I certainly haven’t heard anything definitively that this is it. So until I do, you know, it could be this season, it could be next season. Fortunately, we’re not really in charge of making those decisions.

Q) Who are some of the guest stars we can expect to see this coming Psych season?

A) Well, we’re off to a pretty good start. We’re about 1/3 of the way through and we’ve already welcomed Molly Ringwald and Brad Dourif and Kristie Swanson and Corey Feldman, and that’s a pretty good smattering for a 1/3 of the season. Danny Glover’s on his way up for the next one.

Q) I want to know if the world did end tomorrow at 6:00 pm what would you do? What kind of last things would you take care of or go out and do before the word ended?

A) Isn’t this kind of bush league? I thought we were all waiting on like the Mayan Calendar Rapture, which is in 2012? Who came up with - like who came up with this one? Yes, man, I can’t keep up with different ends of the world. I think you’ve got to be bigger than, you know, Jim Prufrock and his small parish, you know, to get me to start thinking about how I’m going to spend my last days. You know what I’m saying? I’m still working out what I’m going to do for 2012, which means I should have a year to like figure out what I’m doing. But, I guess just on the off chance that we’re all toast tomorrow at 6:00, I’ll probably have more Pinkberry than I should. That’s frozen yogurt, for all of you who are on the West Coast, and watch some basketball.

Q) So Psych College Tour, big hit last fall. Are you guys planning on doing another one seeing as the show comes back in October?

A) You know, it’s a good question and it would probably make some sense. Again, other people make those decisions and I guess the way out, how much value it actually had and if it’s worth it, but regardless we had a great time and all those kids at all those stops were genuinely cool kids. And I don’t know, it was very refreshing, not only to sort of get to interact with our fans, but also to just see at each stop, like some hope for the future, you know that this crop - this generation actually has a - some kids in it that might be okay. They might turn out okay.

Q) Now, at the end of the Season 5 Finale, I had this inkling feeling that we might see Allison Cowley again. What are the chances of that happening?

A) Well, I if it was up to me we would have gone even further than that and let you know for sure that we’d be seeing Allison Cowley again, but I was one man on an island against many, many other decision-makers who were not on said island. So, I wouldn’t get your hopes up too high, but you’re smart in thinking that that was going through the writer’s heads, because it certainly was. And it was hard to let go of that trilogy for me and Andy Berman because that was sort of our baby from the beginning, and we didn’t want it to be over, so obviously Allison was an opportunity to keep it going. I just don’ know if anyone else wants to see it keep going, so good for you for picking up on that. I’ll tell you right now, we wanted to do a bit where, you know, we cut back to us and yadi, yadi, yada, and then like the last thing you see is here in the back of the car and she still has that retainer that she used to supposedly get free the first time, and we’d see her go to work on her handcuffs, which we thought was amazing, but no one else did.

Q) Why do you think people keep tuning in to watch Psych?

A) Well, I think some of it’s just habit, right? People lock into something and then even if the show gets crummy they - forever, it’s just sort of like a sweater that’s so comfortable it smells like you; you can’t take it off. But, I also see - I also think that more than the average show that hangs around for more than a couple seasons, we’ve done a pretty good job of keeping ourselves from getting complacent. I still think we’re pumping out pretty fresh scripts and we’re bringing in pretty (good) guest stars and I think Shawn and Gus’s relationship is still pretty rich and alive. So, I think we’re pretty honest with ourselves and I think we don’t look at each other and think that we’re starting to slide, so maybe that’s why the audience keeps tuning in as well.

Q) Maybe could you tease us a little bit of Gus’s nicknames for the season?

A) You know what, we’ve gotten a little - we’ve gotten away from the nicknames a little bit, and this is a good reminder that we need to come back because we do enjoy the nicknames. But, we’re a little light on nicknames for Season 6 so far, so mark my words I’ll go back to Vancouver and just jam a bunch in for the next couple of episodes.

Q) Any chance of you getting Twitter?

A) I tell you, man, I feel like right now Dulé is more than Tweeting for the entire cast and most of Vancouver. I think I’m probably going to lean on him for a little while longer while I try to wrap my brain around what all this social media stuff means. I’m still a little bit of a dinosaur, but you know he’s poking me and prodding me every day, so know that he’s doing his job.

Q) Can you talk about how you got started in acting?

A) Well, I went to NYU and studied theater. Somehow I made it through all four years and, you know, started the thing that you do when you’re done with college and horrified that real life is starting. I had a bartending job in New York, I got an agent a very tiny agency, and - that mostly represented opera singers, if I remember correctly. And started getting sent out, mostly television stuff, and you know I have one of those 1 in 100,000 stories where I actually got the first job that I auditioned for, which you know it was a TV Pilot, which sent me to L.A., which you know ultimately got me a much bigger agent, and then I was sort of off and running. It’s not the most popular story to tell in a room full of actors, but the truth is I got really, really lucky and I was very blessed and, you know, after about a year of living the life of a struggling actor in New York, I was in L.A. with a job.

Q) How’d you get involved with Psych?

A) Psych was a script that came to me that I thought was pretty funny and had some potential. And I was kind of soured on TV at the time and my then agent convinced me to sit down with Steve Franks, and I did, and the rest, as they say, is history. We - you know, we really hit it off and I sort of asked him a lot of questions and he asked me a lot of questions, and we sort of came to the conclusion that if we did this show together it would be like what it is and we were both cool with that. And we said, you know, “Let’s give it a shot.” And then, I had to wait for Matthew Perry to pass, but then he did and then we were on.

Q) What’s something fans would be surprised to know about you?

A) People would be surprised to know about me? Let’s see, I guess - I mean, I was sort of an academic in high school. I mean, I played sports because that’s what you do in Texas, you play sports. But, you know, I actually was - had a bunch of offers to go to engineering schools, like really good engineering schools all over the country, which sort of broke my mother’s heart when I decided to go and - go into debt to go to theater school. But for a while there, and I don’t - I can’t really explain to you how, I guess I was pretty decent at math.

Q) What’s the one thing you’re looking most forward to doing this season? The one storyline you’re most excited about, without giving too much away?

A) Well, this is relatively a new development, which I can tease now, which is fun, but I think we’re going to pay homage, which I know is showing because we rarely do that on our show, to the movie Clue, which is another big favorite of mine from that wonderful decade that is the 80s. So, looking forward to the Clue episode, which may have a fun gimmick or two that perhaps everyone can participate in, I don’t know, we’ll have to see.

Q) There’s a rumor going around that there’s going to be a sequel to the Twin Peaks episode, how do you think you can top how great that episode was?

A) In a sentence, I don’t think we can top how great that episode is, so I don’t know if there’s going to be a sequel. I think we got a little excited because of the success and because of how great it came out, but I think it would be a great injustice both to the fans and to Twin Peaks, and to ourselves if we put something out there that wasn’t at least as good. And like you said, that is - that would be quite a feat to pull off, so I think we’re sort of back to the drawing board to make sure that if we do go for it, you know, we can knock it out of the park. And if we can’t, then let’s let it live as it was because it was a truly special episode.

Q) Since you did do the Twin Peaks episode, is there any other TV show you would like to do that was similar - in a similar episode like that?

A) I mean Gilligan’s Island has been up there for a couple years now, if we can figure out how to make that work. I think it’d be great to do a Manimal tribute, but I’m not sure we could turn anybody into a hawk or a snake or a panther, so you know it’s got inherent challenges, the Manimal episode. Plus, I’m not sure if anyone knows where Simon MacCorkindale is. These are like serious creative problems that we’re dealing with up in Vancouver, man. And I don’t know, Alf? Maybe we could do some sort of hybrid episode where there’s a stuffed critter or puppet of some kind, which would be fund because A, we’d be like, “Oh, my gosh, they’re paying tribute Alf,” and also like, “Oh, my gosh, this show’s almost over,” so there you go.

Q) Will you be writing or directing any upcoming episodes of Psych, and if so what do we have to look forward to?

A) Yes, I directed the first episode this year. It is our long awaited vampire episode, and I think it’s - I’m pretty happy with it. It’s certainly kind of a rompy Halloween-type episode. We’ve got a great guest cast let by Kristie Swanson, of course the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There’s Gus and Shawn in costumes, which you know you can never go wrong with that, and a little bit of romance for Lassiter, so a nice bowl of goodness.

Q) Over the seasons you have taken on a lot of bad guys, so who was your favorite so far and what challenges await Shawn and Gus in Season 6?

A) My favorite bad guy? Well, I’m a little biased because Andy and I sort of created her, but I’ve got a soft spot for Yang, even though she turned out to not be as bad as we thought she was. And also, I’m just a big fan of Ally Sheedy and what she did with that role, so she would be my favorite bad guy. And this year, you know, we’ve got more crimes to solve. We’ve got more wrongs to right. We’ve got baseball and super heroes and our sort of attempt at a Hangover-type episode and vampires, and as I said, a little bit of Clue. We’re still bringing it, man. We’re still bringing it six years in. Don’t ask me how, but we are.

Q) What changes we’re going to see in their relationship and what we have to look forward to

A) You know what, it’s a slippery slope isn’t it? I mean, we’ve sort of dangled that carrot for so long, and now that we’ve kind of given you the carrot we have to do something with it. You know, we’re trying very hard to kind of modulate this so that, you know, it doesn’t take over the show, but it also doesn’t feel like we’re not giving it its due. And I think - you know, I think where we landed was let’s just - you know, let’s just keep it as organic as possible and, you know, they’re still sort of figuring each other out a little bit. But, they are in this relationship and, you know, the work together great and now they’ve got to figure out how to be with each other great and, you know, kind of let their wrinkles happen naturally, as opposed to, you know, trying to force kind of TV - the TV version of couple problems on them. So, that’s kind of where - that’s kind of the road that we’re headed down now and we’ll see where it takes us. But, organic is a word that gets thrown around a lot. We just want it to sort of feel real.

The star of USA's 'Psych' is directing Red Dog Squadron's play 'Greedy' at El Centro Theatre.