{"id":490737,"date":"2026-03-23T10:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T10:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/490737\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T10:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T10:13:09","slug":"im-a-big-bear-i-lumber-showbiz-superstar-richard-kind-on-delivering-performances-you-can-see-from-space-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/490737\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I\u2019m a big bear. I lumber\u2019: showbiz superstar Richard Kind on delivering performances you can see from space | Theatre"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richard Kind has played everything from a child\u2019s imaginary friend in the Pixar fantasy Inside Out to a neighbour with antibiotic-resistant pinkeye in Only Murders in the Building. He was a physics savant with a sebaceous cyst in the Coen brothers\u2019 A Serious Man, Joaquin Phoenix\u2019s final tormentor in the nightmarish Beau Is Afraid and Larry David\u2019s insufferable cousin Andy in Curb Your Enthusiasm<\/a>, where he squabbled over the correct direction of travel for a Lazy Susan and became an accessory to the murder of a swan. \u201cUbiquitous?\u201d splutters Kind, his letterbox mouth agape. \u201cI\u2019m all over the fucking place! Nobody works more than me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Guardian\u2019s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link.\u00a0Learn more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We meet at the Garrick theatre in London, where the genial 69-year-old is beginning a seven-week stint in Mel Brooks\u2019 bad-taste, Nazi-spoofing musical The Producers<\/a>. Kind is temporarily taking over from Andy Nyman in the role of Broadway huckster Max Bialystock, who plans to swindle his backers by staging a surefire stinker called Springtime for Hitler and pocketing their investments when it closes prematurely.<\/p>\n

double quotation markI’m parsley. Really good parsley<\/p>\n

Today, the actor is doing a flawless impression of Goldilocks. Unhappy with the dimly lit room in which we begin our conversation, he decides we need to relocate. \u201cIf it\u2019s too dingy, I fall asleep,\u201d he says in his New Jersey whine, \u201cand then it\u2019ll only be you doing the talking.\u201d He marches us into the deserted foyer, where we perch on the stairs for a few minutes, only to be drowned out by the racket from rehearsals. \u201cToo noisy,\u201d he says, heading off again. Finally, he settles on the alley outside the fire exit, where benches and potted plants make the drab space hospitable.<\/p>\n

Dane Cook as Franz Liebkind and Kind as Max Bialystock at the Hollywood Bowl in 2012. Photograph: Lawrence K Ho\/Los Angeles Times\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Kind played Max on Broadway in 2004 and again at the 17,500-capacity Hollywood Bowl eight years later. \u201cThis role is a workout,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen I first did it, I lost 30lb. I call it The Producers diet. It\u2019s better than those shots.\u201d He has been reacquainting himself with the show\u2019s breakneck musical numbers such as The King of Broadway, where the lyrics come thick, fast and vulgar: \u201cI always had the biggest hits \/ The biggest bathrooms at the Ritz \/ My showgirls had the biggest tits \/ I never was the pits in any way.\u201d Kind reaches for an Exorcist image: \u201cOnce you\u2019ve learned it all, the words pour out of your mouth like pea soup out of Linda Blair.\u201d<\/p>\n

His interpretation of Max is closer to the bulldozer energy of Zero Mostel, who originated the part in the Oscar-winning 1967 film, than to the more elegant Nathan Lane, who was the first to play it on Broadway. \u201cNathan glides,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m a big bear. I lumber.\u201d<\/p>\n

A friend once told him that only two things on Earth are visible from space: the Great Wall of China and every acting choice that Kind ever made. \u201cI\u2019ve become a better actor in the past 20 years,\u201d he says. \u201cBut this is an outsized show, so my choices are enormous. Max is fun to play because he has appetites that cannot be sated. The more he has, the more he wants.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m all over the place!\u2019 \u2026 Kind in the Coen brothers\u2019 A Serious Man. Photograph: Everett Collection\/Alamy<\/p>\n

That\u2019s very un-Kind behaviour. In film and TV, the actor is content with small but idiosyncratic roles. \u201cI\u2019m parsley on a plate of meat and potatoes. Really good parsley. As green and fresh as parsley can get.\u201d Theatre<\/a> is different. \u201cI\u2019m at the point where I can say \u2018no\u2019 to a stage role unless it\u2019s challenging.\u201d Doesn\u2019t he crave being the main dish on screen, too? \u201cSure. I\u2019ve got an ego. But look. People may say, \u2018Oh, I like that guy. Everything he does is good.\u2019 Nobody says, \u2018I\u2019m going to spend \u00a320 to go see Richard Kind in a movie.\u2019 If you accept that, you can be happy and satisfied.\u201d<\/p>\n

He cut his teeth with Second City, the Chicago improvisational troupe<\/a>. Later came TV work with the comedy titan Carol Burnett and roles in sitcoms including Spin City alongside Michael J Fox. One failed comedy pilot co-starred George Clooney, who briefly became Kind\u2019s flatmate and remains a close pal. I don\u2019t ask him about this \u2013 Kind is a born trouper but the light fades in his eyes whenever an interviewer brings up his famous BFF \u2013 though I wonder how it feels to have a dear friend insulted publicly by the US president, as Clooney has been<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHorrible,\u201d he sighs. \u201cI\u2019m very protective of George always. I don\u2019t even like critics to talk about him badly. And I don\u2019t want to take Trump seriously.\u201d He launches into a diatribe against the president, laced with expletives and unrepeatable accusations. \u201cListen to how ugly I\u2019m talking,\u201d he says, tutting at himself. Though at least this outburst suggests he has what it takes to tackle the role he hopes to play one day: Roy Cohn, Trump\u2019s vile mentor, in Angels in America. Is there anything Kind couldn\u2019t do? \u201cI\u2019d make a terrible Blanche DuBois.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richard Kind is in The Producers<\/a> at the Garrick theatre, London, from 23 March-9 May. Andy Nyman returns from 11 May<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Richard Kind has played everything from a child\u2019s imaginary friend in the Pixar fantasy Inside Out to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490738,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-490737","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}