Q & A
WHAT KIND OF PLANNING GOES INTOEACHEPISODE? Jerry, our executive producer and I are involved in choosing which guests Jerry wants to invite onto the show. And then at that point, Ireach out to them or their reps and get them on the phone with Jerry so he can officially invite them. I deal with booking their dates, helping to choose the locations that we use, and then I’ m the producer who sort of keeps in touch with them up to the shoot date. Ishow upat their house 15 minutes before the production staff does to get them ready for Jerry. Because when Jerry and production pull up to pick the guests up, shooting starts immediately. We shoot each show for four hours, and we edit it down to15 minutes, give or take, a piece. So, they are short little pieces of candy. We don’ t really have the guests promoting anything. They’ re just talking about everything— life, comedy, family, the guy walking down the street. It’ s really about the“ hang.” It’ s Jerry and someone just hanging out, and naturally the conversation is very funny.
HOWDOYOU CHOOSE THE RESTAURANT AND DINER LOCA- TIONS? Once in awhile, we will ask a guest what they prefer, especially when we have an older guest who is comfortable in a specific restaurant. In general, we choose a place that is not the closest. We like the drive to be of a certain length because if it’ s too long, it kills the energy, and if it’ s too short, we don’ t get enough of an in-car conversation. We have to get permission from the restaurant. We don’ t close them down, ever.
WHO SELECTS THE VINTAGE CARS? Jerry always chooses the cars. He’ s the car guy; he knows everything about cars. He likes to match the guests to the car.
DO YOURECALL A SHOWWHERE EVERYTHING FELL INTO PLACE? The perfect scenario for us is when something unexpected and really funny
ON BOARD FOR ACURA Seinfeld, Miller, Comedians in Cars executive producer Tammy Johnston and film director Barry Sonnenfeld go over script changes for acar commercial.
happens. For instance, when we were shooting with Michael Richards [ Seinfeld’ s Kramer ], they were driving through his neighborhood and he said that he wanted to stop bySugar Ray Leonard’ s house. He just picked a random house in his neighborhood. He was joking— hehad no idea where Sugar Ray Leonard lived. They went and knocked on the door, and coincidentally, it ended up being comedian Jay Mohr.
WHATABOUT A SHOWWHERE THINGS DID NOTWORK OUT AS PLANNED? One thing that is not frequent, but has happened several times, is car issues. Some of these old cars have amind of their own. When we were shooting with Amy Schumer, the car started smoking on the highway, and they sort of had to pull over and come up with alastminute alternative. One time when we had car problems, we had a camera guy go in ataxi with Jerry and his guest. And on other episodes, we have had them walk home, and made it part of the show.
WHATWAS DOING THEEPISODE WITH BARACK OBAMA LIKE? It was the only time I was really nervous going into a shoot day; Jerry, too. He rarely gets nervous, but that day was different. Getting to shake hands and make small talk with the coolest president— the president when both my kids were born— was the highlight of my entire career. He was as incredibly nice and funny and handsome in person as he seems.
WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO MONTCLAIR? I was living in Brooklyn when we filmed the episode with Stephen Colbert. We left him with the choice of picking him up at this studio inthe city or picking him up from home in Montclair. That was actually the first time I was ever there, or even really heard of Montclair. He preferred to shoot closer to home. And Bluestone was his choice. Bluestone was the coffee spot that he loved. So, that was my introduction to Montclair. I was so surprised there was this cool little suburb so close to the city. It is refreshing living in a place where our neighbors have a variety of careers, and especially many that work in the arts. Also, people smile and say hello to me walking down the street— people Idon’ t even know. ■
COURTESY OF MELISSA MILLER
46 MAY 2018 MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE