In a career that includes 11 Emmy nominations, Manhattan-raised actor, best-selling author and comedian Paul Reiser has helped us navigate early manhood (“Diner”), marriage (“Mad About You”), middle-age craziness (“The Kominsky Method”) and monsters (“Aliens” and “Stranger Things”).
Reiser will be in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday for an appearance at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival with his recent film “The Problem With People,” co-starring Colm Meaney, a comedy of ill-mannered cousins from New York and Ireland, set in a small Irish town. Reiser, who also co-wrote the screenplay, will attend the sold-out 7:30 p.m. screening at Savor Cinema, including an Irish-themed pre-party at 6:30 p.m. and a post-film discussion with comedian Wil Shriner.
While he’s here, Reiser also will return to his “first love” — stand-up comedy — with a set at The Parker in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
In a recent phone interview from his home in Los Angeles, Reiser, 69, answered questions about filming in Ireland, working with a comedy hero, and what really happened to Dr. Owens on “Stranger Things.” The interview has been condensed and edited for brevity and clarity.
On his film at FLIFF
Q: “The Problem With People,” about a fish-out-of-water New Yorker navigating the social byways of a small town in Ireland, is reminiscent of one of my favorite movies, “Local Hero.” (The 1983 British comedy-drama, starring Peter Riegert and Burt Lancaster, follows a Texas oil executive sent to a coastal village in Scotland to buy the town to make way for a refinery.) Where did the idea come from?
A: It actually came from “Local Hero.” I always wanted to have that experience. I mean, the idea of an American dropped in this beautiful, pastoral piece of heaven. I once met Peter Riegert, and I said, “Well, what was it like filming that?” He looked at me, like, “Exactly like you think.” It was like asking somebody who went to bed with the most beautiful model in the world: “How was that? Nice?” [Laughs] About 30 years ago, we went to Ireland, my wife and I and another couple, and I just loved it. It just pulled me in. For years I was looking for a project that would get me to Ireland. So I … finally said, “All right, nobody’s offering me something, I’ll have to write it.”
On Ireland
Q: Do you have a favorite memory of filming in Ireland?
A: It was all memorable and kind of perfect. We aimed for the summer, and we had unbelievably beautiful weather. And all the locals said, “It’s not like this. It rains every day.” But for some reason, the gods were smiling on us. … We shot it a little inland, below Dublin in County Wicklow, in the mountains. We were based out of Dublin, and my family, we rented this house that was right on the Irish Sea. We’d wake up and just be literally on the sea. And so I’d stare out the window and go, “Oh, if I go straight, there’s Liverpool.” I mean, it was just so beautiful.
And the locals, all of the crew, everybody was just so warm and friendly. My whole family was there, my younger son was working as a PA (production assistant) … and that was a first for him and that was a lot of fun. During the summer, it’s really light all day, and we’d come home from work at 7 o’clock and then walk into town and have a pint at the pub. It’s a really lovely way to live. You sit in the pub and you chat with whoever is sitting next to you. It is just so different than what I’m used to.
On stand-up comedy
Q: You will be doing some stand-up while you are in Fort Lauderdale. What creative itch does stand-up comedy scratch that your other pursuits do not?
A: Oh, that’s a good question. First of all, when I started, you know, 100 years ago, my goal was just to be a stand-up. I didn’t really foresee TV, films, any of that. I grew up watching George Carlin and Robert Klein and David Brenner, and I thought that was cool. So it’s always been my first love. And it’s interesting — and this is certainly not a complaint — but for people who know me, it would be for “Mad About You” or “Stranger Things” or “Beverly Hills Cop” or “Aliens.” And I did take a long time off, not doing stand-up, and in that time, people understandably forgot or didn’t know. My favorite is when my friend told me that his daughter said, “Wait a minute, Dr. Owens from ‘Stranger Things’ is going to try to be funny?”
What I’ve come to appreciate even more now that I’ve done all these TV shows and movies is the immediacy of it and the simplicity of it. You know, you think of something funny and you say it that night, and then you go home. You don’t have to run it by 12 executives, you don’t have to raise the money, you don’t have to get a team together. It’s just simple. It’s not easy, but it’s simple. And you see live faces, you know, people are sitting there, and they came to laugh. It’s a very communal experience. You’re not watching, you know, Netflix at your house. You’re sitting in a theater with 1,000 people, and you’re all laughing together. It’s a very comforting feeling.
On his comedy hero
Q: Do you have a comedy idol, if that’s the right word?
A: Oh, well, I’m in the middle of watching this Mel Brooks documentary [“Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!”] that Judd Apatow did, and he was very much sort of my Rosetta Stone, you know? So much of who I am, comedically and just instinctively, it’s just from listening to “The 2000 Year Old Man” records over and over again for years. It just became part of my DNA. So then when we got to work together on “Mad About You,” it was a dream come true. The first one he did, I’m on camera very little, because I was just staring at him with my mouth open or laughing hysterically. I was useless. I was the least professional actor ever. And so they kept cutting away to [co-star Helen Hunt] or whoever else they could get, because I was of no help.
On ‘Stranger Things’
Q: There is a conversation on social media about why you were not in the final season of “Stranger Things.” What happened to Dr. Owens?
A: Nobody knows what happened, least of all me. [Laughs] At the end of Season 4, they left me beaten and tied to a table. And then I’d say, “So what happens?” And they’d say, “We don’t know.” It’s over, so you can make up whatever you want to. I could still be chained to a table somewhere in the basement, or I’m dead, or I’m gonna come back in my own spin-off. Whatever you want.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: “The Problem With People” screening
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24; with Irish-themed pre-party at 6:30 p.m. and a post-film discussion with comedian Wil Shriner
WHERE: Savor Cinema, 503 SE Sixth St., Fort Lauderdale
COST: $40
INFORMATION: 954-525-3456; FLIFF.com
WHAT: Paul Reiser comedy set
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25
WHERE: The Parker, 707 NE Eighth St., Fort Lauderdale
COST: Tickets start at $30.98
INFORMATION: ParkerPlayhouse.com