Steve Carell is not your typical Hollywood success story.  While he is currently enjoying great success in both television (The Office) and film (Date Night), it took him well into his 30s to catch his break as a regular contributor on The Daily Show in 1999.  Before that he was appearing in obscure (and critically maligned) sitcoms and polishing his comedic chops with The Second City improv company.  Here he chats about some of his early struggles and how he's handling the hard-earned fame that's finally come his way.




How do you keep finding depth in a character like The Office boss Michael Scott, who seems very shallow at the surface?

I just model it after my own shallow self (laughs). I think I attribute it to the writing. I think that the writers are always finding ways to make the character evolve, to enable him to change or to get a little more self-perspective. And that's fun, over the course of doing a few seasons to figure out what else makes this guy tick and how he might change and grow.

Do you think viewers began to see Michael as more of a sympathetic character this season because he's up against the big bad corporation? Did you?

Well, I've always sort of seen him as a sympathetic character. Even people who are obnoxious and in your face or unlikable to most, I believe that there are other sides and other gray areas to everybody. I always felt that he was a kind of guy whose intentions were good and his heart was in the right place, but he has a disconnect socially, sort of an emotional blind spot. That's kind of how I've proceeded with the character.

Are you at all surprised with all the success - both on television and in movies - that you are enjoying these days?

No. I'm not surprised at all about my own success. I always knew that it was right around the corner. I just kept waiting and waiting and waiting (laughs). Of course, I'm joking. I think that anyone would be. I'm certainly as surprised as anyone would be at the success that I've had, but I don't take it for granted. I don't assume that it will continue this way either. It's been fun and I'm trying to enjoy it, but I try not to put too much stock in it, because I think that's a very slippery slope.

Once you stop doing The Office, are you going to concentrate strictly on your movie career?

I am going to move towards voicing video games. That is where it's at (laughs). Seriously, I am always just happy to be employed, so that is sort of what I am looking for.

Do you have a motto that you live by these days?

Be sure to use a washcloth because that is a good way to exfoliate.

I  hear you recently bought the local general store in Marshfield, Massachusetts, where you have a home.  What's it like when people walk in and see you? Do they do a double take?

They freak out (laughs). Yeah, I was there last summer, and we're redoing the outside. It's 150 years old. We're just trying to do enough to keep it standing. But, it will never make a penny. And the reason my wife (Nancy) and I bought it was to preserve it, because I grew up with a general store like that that has since closed. And places like than don't really exist. It's on the south shore of Concord, Massachusetts. My family and my wife's family are from that area. I just wanted to preserve it and have it as a gathering place for families. You know, it's the local barber shop. It's a community spot, which I think is important. And they're few and far between these days.

How much of your Second City Theater Group training do you still carry around with you when you act?

Second City? I carry that experience with me always. Alan Arkin is a huge idol for me, especially as one of the originators at the genesis of Second City. Obviously, he is legendary. The best thing for me about Second City was having that freedom to fail night after night. It felt good to be able to try things and experiment and to attempt things without being too precious about it. You knew if it didn't work you could always try something different the next day. That is a very freeing kind of thing to have.

What were some of the things you did before starring on The Daily Show?

I was on a failed TV series called Over The Top in which I played an outrageous Greek chef in a hotel (named Yorgo Galfanikos). One of the reviews referred to me as 'the Heinrich Himmler of comedy.' They said that, 'Tim Curry was Hitler, and Hitler needs his henchman.' You know who pointed this review out to me? Steven Colbert -- much to his delight. It was years later, when we were working on The Daily Show, he said, 'Did you ever see this?' and he brought it up online. It was the funniest review, because the reviewer went on to say, 'I have experienced pain and suffering in my life, I have witnessed the agony of child birth' and it went on and on and then likened the premiere episode of Over The Top to all of those things. That's what I was doing before The Daily Show.

There's been talk that you might be doing some more animated movies in the near future. Since you are such a visual comedian, isn't it limiting doing animated films?

Yeah, but I think there is a freedom within the limitations. I think when you are given a structure, and you can do anything within that structure, there is something freeing in that as opposed to 'You can do anything, anytime, anywhere.' Sometimes you just don't know where to focus, at least for me. The animators do the heavy lifting, the actors provide as much as we can vocally, but then you see it and you see where they have taken whatever you have done vocally. It's remarkable.

In the past, you have turned down a couple of big animated films. Can agreeing to do an animated film sometimes be a tougher decision to make than doing regular, live-action films?

Sometimes, because doing them is this huge leap of faith. There you are, you don't know how anything you do will sync up with what anyone else is doing. It's all based on how the director sees it and cues it. He's the one threading all of these performances together. You give him 1000 different variations on a scene, and then he tracks it with the rest of the performances.
 
With all these film opportunities that have come your way, have you given yourself a time limit on how long you'll continue doing The Office?

I have at least a couple more seasons in me.

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The Office airs Thursday nights at 9.00 pm

By: Earl Dittman