Transcript of Hugh Laurie's interview with Tavis Smiley...
Just sharing... XD...
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Tavis: Pleased to welcome Hugh Laurie to this program. The six-time Emmy nominee continues his role on one of TV's most populaire and unique dramas, "House." The montrer just kicked off its seventh season earlier this week. It airs, of course, every Monday at 8:00 on Fox. Here now, a scene from "House."
[Clip]
Tavis: Hugh Laurie, good to have toi on the program, sir.
Hugh Laurie: Thank toi very much, good to be here.
Tavis: toi doing all right?
Laurie: I'm fine, I'm fine.
Tavis: So I'm going to tell on you. There's a monitor over my shoulder here.
Laurie: Right. (Laughs)
Tavis: And while the clip was playing, featuring one Hugh Laurie (laughs) toi had them turn the monitor around.
Laurie: Turn, turn, turn it away.
Tavis: Yeah. (Laughs) So toi have a problem watching yourself?
Laurie: I do. I do have a huge problem, a huge problem. In fact, worse than watching is hearing. I cannot stand to hear my own voice. When it's coming out of my mouth right now it sounds fantastically interesting to me. (Laughter) It's rich in light and shade, it goes up and down. But when I hear it either on TV ou even on someone's answering machine, I just sound like I've had half my brain removed. It's just so - I can't ours it.
Tavis: Every actor has his ou her own process. If toi don't want to hear yourself and toi don't want to see yourself, then how do toi critique yourself?
Laurie: Yes, that's a good question, although I would say even before that question I would say, "Why am I even an actor?" But anyway, let's just leapfrog over that one.
Tavis: No, no, no, hold up, wait a minute. (Laughter) I'll follow your lead here. We will start with the actor question. So why are toi an actor?
Laurie: No, well, that's only - why has that only just occurred to me, that question? Because if it's really that unbearable, what am I doing? And I don't know the answer to it. It's some deep-seated need that I can't explain. I wish I could. I wish I could. I'm going to have to come up with something right now.
Tavis: (Laughs) No, toi can marinate it on it and come back on the montrer again.
Laurie: Yeah, yeah. I don't know. I suppose actors crave attention of some kind ou they have suffered some form of arrested development and are still living in a sort of child's fantaisie existence at some level in their psyche. I don't know.
Tavis: Why can't it be as simple as this is your gift, this is your calling, this is your vocation, and you're awfully good at it? toi are, indeed.
Laurie: Well, thank you, Tavis. Thank toi very much for rising to my bait. (Laughter) Thank you. Well, maybe that's what it is. I won't deny that I did know from a very young age that this was something I could do when school Friends would think about appearing on stage as the most frightening, the most awful, intimidating experience ever, I knew that it was something I could do.
I don't know why that is but I just did, and so maybe in that sense there is some sort of sense of calling there. Anything toi know at a very young age. I also - let's be honest, it's a way of montrer off to girls. (Laughter) Let's not skip that part.
When I did it for fun, when I did it at school and university, it was definitely a way of montrer off to girls. When I started doing it professionally, the odd thing is that in my mind the audience changed from being predominately female, ou female in character, I don't mean made up in women, I just mean female in character, it changed and became male.
The professional audience was a lot of guys like this, going "Okay, then. Okay, what have toi got?" And then the audience was something to be outwitted. They had to be beaten somehow. toi had to trick them ou fool them ou overwhelm them, which was not as enjoyable an experience.
The montrer off to girls is a much better way of thinking of it, and I've sort of lately come back to that. I'm not talking about really montrer off, I just mean having in one's mind the audience as a female entity, as a female character.
Tavis: Do toi recall, since toi were so good at this so early on, beyond the montrer off part, do toi recall what play toi were in, what toi were doing when toi felt something plus than just montrer off? But toi know, like, "I really enjoy this and I'm pretty good at this, and this means something to me."
Laurie: I do.
Tavis: What was it?
Laurie: I do, and it was - actually, it wasn't even a play, it was a short sketch, and it wasn't the moment on stage that I remember. What I do remember is that I won a prize. It was a school - everyone in school had to do something and I did this little sketch, and my parents were supposed to come to the show; they were late. Often happened. Oh, woe is me. They arrived late, so they missed me doing the sketch but they were there in time to her my name read out as the winner of this prize.
Tavis: That's all that matters.
Laurie: (Laughter) That's what matters, right. I was sort of peeking through the curtain and I saw them smile at each other when my name was read out, and I will never forget that. That was a very big thing. I had sort of brought them pleasure and satisfaction, and that was a good feeling, to feel that I had not let the side down. That was a very good feeling. Although what I was actually doing on stage I don't remember, but I do remember that moment very clearly.
Tavis: So now that we've figured out how it is and why it is that toi are an actor, we will go back to the initial question.
Laurie: Okay.
Tavis: That I think I still remember, which is if toi don't like to hear yourself and don't like to watch yourself, what's your - this is like one of those "Inside the Actor's Studio" questions.
Laurie: Right.
Tavis: How, then, do toi know whether you're hitting the mark, whether you're delivering what toi want to deliver? Do toi rely on others for that?
Laurie: To a degree, but I'm also watching myself at the time when I do it. I'm watching myself and listening to myself. I feel slightly embarrassed saying this, because I know that some actors, some part of me feels that a proper actor is so subsumed into the character, so immersed in the moment that they are unconscious of any other consideration, not even aware of a camera, not even aware of the fiction.
That's not me. I am very, very aware at all times. I'm watching myself, I'm listening to myself, I'm judging myself, critiquing myself all the time, and I will know when I do something and I will immediately say, "Can I do another one, because I didn't quite get that thing," ou that I wanted to do something there and it didn't quite work.
So I'm doing that on the spot. When the montrer is actually done, there's nothing plus I can do. I think that's what it is, is that feeling of powerlessness. I can't reach into the TV and change it and redo - I wish I could, but I can't. So that feeling of being out of control means that I just can't - I find it really hard to look at.
Tavis: Your commentaire now makes me think of something. I was just lire a piece the other jour about Frank Sinatra, and Sinatra - I'm paraphrasing Sinatra's quote, but I'm pretty close to it. Sinatra made the commentaire that toi should never ignore an inner voice that tells toi that something can be better, even when everybody else says it's okay.
Laurie: Right.
Tavis: So obviously, toi have that inner thing. So on the set they're like, "Okay, moving on," and you're like, "Well, wait, let's do that one plus time." So toi obviously have this inner voice, when toi know that it can be -
Laurie: I do. Of course, I'm hesitating to ally myself with Frank Sinatra, because the chairman of the board, and we'll all hail. But what the heck, toi raised it. (Laughter) toi raised it, so I'm going to go with it. Yeah, me and Sinatra, we're sort of like that.
Yes, I would agree with that. I would agree with that. I think that voice, which is there all the time, it's a really peculiar thing, psychologically, that one is able to be within the drama, within the scene, within the character and yet have another part of one's brain that is actually outside and judging and saying no, that could be better, that could be better, why did toi do it like that? That's not the way to go, go the other way.
That voice is always there. It's a strange thing that those things are - but then the brain is a peculiar thing in itself.
Tavis: Since we've struck a musique chord here, let me stay with this and we'll get back to "House" in just a seconde here. So I mentioned Frank Sinatra. We owe this conversation to a mutual friend of ours, James Taylor.
Laurie: Right.
Tavis: We've been trying to get toi on this montrer for a while now and your schedule's busy and you're always ripping and running and doing a bunch of stuff, including music, which we'll get to in a second. But obviously, you're a James Taylor fan, as I am.
Laurie: Yes. That was a great night. Was that not a great night? We saw -
Tavis: Yeah. I had a blast, as I always do.
Laurie: It was absolutely fantastic, and he was so - well, the songs are so beautiful, but his - the vibe that he gives out, he's so - he's so funny, and yet at the same time there's something so romantic about him. There's a great nobility about him, which is a hard thing to pull off, that someone could be - he's sort of self-deprecating and he kind of clowns around a little bit, but there's always that beautiful strain of melancholy in his songs. That was a great night. It was a terrific night.
Tavis: He's a great artist.
Laurie: Was that the last night? That was the last night.
Tavis: He and Carole had been on tour together.
Laurie: Right, and they said, I think, that they had no plans to do that again. I felt like we were witnessing the last night of a piece of American history, really.
Tavis: I felt the same way. It was a great tour. I saw them I think two ou three times on that tour, and I was there for the last night, so it was great. So Sinatra, Taylor, Laurie.
Laurie: Right, right. (Laughter) It's a natural.
Tavis: toi are a musician as well.
Laurie: Well, I'm a fantasist, is what I am. I fantasize about being a musician, yes. Whether I am, that's not for -
Tavis: I've got a picture right there that says toi are.
Laurie: Oh, really?
Tavis: Yeah, it's on - toi can't see this because toi don't believe in watching yourself. But on the monitor I can see toi playing keyboard.
Laurie: But that's not - that might be plugged in. (Laughter) In fact, there are some nights when I strongly suspect it was not plugged in. They just -
Tavis: How did the musique thing happen for you?
Laurie: Well, it's something I've always loved. I didn't l’amour when I was a kid and I went through the normal piano lessons that people go through. That I hated, I don't deny it. I hated that part of it. I think classical musique tuition is, well, was when I was a child, was an abomination.
I still think in some ways it is one of life's great tragedies for everybody who gives up an instrument. I think everybody who gives up an instrument has Lost a big part of their -
Tavis: You're making me feel really bad now.
Laurie: Oh, no, no, no, I don't mean - I'm sorry, I don't mean to do that.
Tavis: toi took me back 35 years.
Laurie: I don't mean to do that.
Tavis: I'm about to slit my wrists. (Laughter)
Laurie: I'm sorry.
Tavis: I should have never stopped taking piano lessons. I should have never stopped taking saxophone lessons.
Laurie: But answer me this - is there anyone toi can think of who is glad they gave up learning the piano? No such human being exists, right?
Tavis: I bow down, toi are correct. I think you're right. Anybody who's ever played an instrument, as they get older, they regret that they ever stopped playing.
Laurie: Absolutely. Which is not to say that they didn't have extremely good reasons for giving up. Everybody does. In fact, I gave up. I went on hunger strike, I hated it so much. I actually didn't eat for four days.
Tavis: I didn't do that.
Laurie: Well, at the age of 12, it's quite a lot time. Although I did actually have a bar of chocolate, but my mother didn't know that. (Laughter) So as far as she knew it was four straight days without eating. Eventually, she cracked, so I won that one.
I gave up and I didn't touch the piano for probably - actually, nearly 10 years after that and then sort of came back to it.
Tavis: What brought toi back?
Laurie: Well, I just would hear - I would just hear piano players and I would hear music, and just think - I don't just want to sit here and passively listen; I want to get inside it. I want to climb inside this and understand how it works and be able to do it myself and be able to express these same emotions, these same feelings that I hear on a record. I want to climb inside that and do it myself.
Tavis: How often do toi get a chance to do that?
Laurie: Well, I played the - those pictures toi have of me with the unplugged keyboard I do a couple of times a an with a band from TV, which is a terrific outfit and I must say has got pretty darn good. We started four ou five years ago, and in the early days we were loud and enthusiastic. (Laughter)
But lately, the last few that I played, I have to say if I'd been in the audience I would have actually really enjoyed these shows. They were not embarrassing shows at all. They were really, really good. But plus recently than that I've actually started - amazingly - I've started making a record. A record company came and said, "Do toi want to do this?" and I sort of beat down that natural response I've had for most of my life, which is, "Oh, I'm not ready, I could never do that, I need 10 years of," and I thought, oh, to hell with it, I'm going to go for it.
Because in this life - well, I only know this life; I don't know other lives. But in this life toi tend not to regret the things toi do; only the things toi don't do. I thought if 10 years go par and I don't get this chance again, that will hurt me a lot. So I'm going to seize this one, and I have, and we're about halfway through now. We've done five ou six tracks.
Tavis: I knew this, I must confess. I knew toi were working on an album before toi just told me and the world that toi were doing this, because in that chair just some weeks il y a was a great artist who was rushing out of my studio to get to a recording studio to spend some time with you.
Laurie: That's right.
Tavis: I said, "You're going to play with who?"
Laurie: That's right.
Tavis: "You're going to do what?" And that artist was -
Laurie: That was Dr. John.
Tavis: - Dr. John.
Laurie: Although I didn't - the weird thing is I didn't know he'd come from here. (Laughter) I knew that he was in town one day. We'd got like two hours with him, we could get him, so this is the actual chair he sat in.
Tavis: Dr. John was here, yeah.
Laurie: Well, that was an - because I worshipped that guy for about - well, as long as I can remember, 30-odd years, and that was an amazing experience. In fact -
Tavis: How was the session?
Laurie: Well, the session was great. I'd planned to get there before him so I could rehearse with the basse, bass player and everything would be - and he could just sort of sweep in, in a regal fashion, as is his due. I don't know, maybe he cut the interview short, because he was there early. (Laughter) toi were too quick. He was there early, before I got there.
He was already sitting at the piano and I had to kick him off and say, "Look, I'm going to play this. You're just going to sing." And to kick -
Tavis: I was about to ask. Hold up, hold up - how do toi kick Dr. John off of a piano.
Laurie: I know, I know. Well, he was actually, bless him, he was very relieved, because he just said, "Oh, that's great, I don't have to learn it." He was so - because let's face it, there's a man who has nothing else to prove on the piano. But even just hearing him play those chords, I just melt.
Tavis: toi have an affinity for New Orleans and the musique it has birthed, obviously.
Laurie: I do, yeah, yeah, and he is to my mind really the great - well, I can't say - one can never really say so-and-so is the greatest. It just happens to be my favori sort of living exponent of that particular form, which happens to also be my favorite. My favori all the way back to Jellyroll Morton and - whose birthday it is today, ou a few days ago, depending on (unintelligible).
Tavis: Exactly, yeah.
Laurie: Yeah, this week.
Tavis: Great artist, to be sure. Let me cercle back to "House" now, as I promised. Your life is so fascinating, so I'm glad we got some of that out of the way, but I want to get back to "House," though. Speaking of this chair, months before Dr. John was here another great actor on "CSI," Robert David Hall, plays the coroner, in real life walks on a cane, was on this program, and your name came up in the conversation, and he was saying how grateful he was to toi and the producers of "House" for putting toi on that cane, because he is a national spokesperson for Americans with these disabilities and these kind of challenges.
He was saying how grateful he was to toi that toi all put that character on a cane. I suspect toi must hear that from time to time - people who are grateful to see that.
Laurie: I do, I do, but in some ways it's a very difficult subject because - it's a very complex issue. There's no denying the fact that House's reliance on the cane has somehow affected his character. He is a man who - well, he's a man in physical pain, for one thing, and he's also a man who yearns for a physical wholeness that has been denied him.
At the same time, the outside world, and I think this is undeniably true, give him a kind of license that he might not otherwise get were he not to walk with a cane. That the cane is a sort of - it's almost a sort of cane of truth. While I'm holding this thing, toi can't touch me.
Now, toi may say that that's hypocritical and it should make no difference, and why would people treat a man with a cane any differently. Well, yes, those are all valid questions. The fact is, they do. They just do, and it's a very complicated thing that it's bound up both in what has made him the character he is and what allows him to get away with the behavior he gets away with.
I don't know if that seconde part of it is a good thing, but it's a real thing, and it operates both as a dramatic device as a character on television, but also in real life. I think people sort of defer. They feel a kind of awkwardness that means that they will allow things to be done and a dit that they wouldn't otherwise do. It's a peculiar and complicated subject.
Tavis: What's peculiar for me, although I'm a part of the group that loves the montrer so I bought into this peculiar, strange craziness of this character House, what is it about him - toi guys are starting this week, just started season number seven, so obviously people l’amour the show. You've been nominated for Emmys a multiple number of times.
People l’amour the show, they l’amour you, they l’amour the character, and yet this guy is cranky, he's weird, he's - toi can describe him a variety of ways. What is it about this character that keeps us coming back season after season?
Laurie: I'm really nervous of trying to deconstruct it and work out what are the successful ingredients and what are the less successful ones in case that one, because I think as soon as toi consciously try to lean on particular things it's - is it like opening an four door before the soufflé is risen, then it won't rise?
That's a really hopeless analogy. (Laughter) I don't know why I chose that, and I don't even cook soufflé, so why did I even bring that up?
Tavis: It worked, though.
Laurie: But toi know what I mean.
Tavis: toi got your point across.
Laurie: If one starts to examine too closely. But I suppose I personally like the character. I know he's cranky, people describe him as mean and all kinds of things, which he is, but I nonetheless like him. I find him extremely funny. I find a sort of - there's an exhilaration I find in inhabiting someone ou spending time with someone who doesn't care, who doesn't care about the social consequences.
It's both frightening, but also very exciting to have someone just unconstrained par well, being liked, for one thing. He doesn't care if he's liked, doesn't care if he's applauded ou booed. That's a thrilling thing. But also the fact that that allows him to get at truths that other people would not dare confront I think is -
Tavis: toi used two words I want to pick up on - frightened and excited. I can confess this to toi now that we're chums and you're on the montrer here. When I saw toi at that James Taylor concert backstage in James' dressing room, I wanted to immediately run up and speak to toi because I'm such a huge fan, and toi would think that as one who does this every night, I should know better.
But I was excited to meet toi and frightened because I didn't know whether Hugh Laurie was like House.
Laurie: Oh, that I was going to start getting all sort of mean and sarcastic?
Tavis: (Laughs) I didn't know what to expect in that moment. When I saw how nice toi were to James, I said, "Well, let me just venture out and introduce myself to Hugh Laurie."
Laurie: No, I am -
Tavis: People ask toi - do toi get this sometimes from people on the street?
Laurie: I am sweetness and light and chiot dogs' ears, that's me. (Laughter)
Tavis: People tend to confuse actors with characters.
Laurie: They do, they do, yes. I suppose there may be - but of course I wouldn't be aware of it that much, because that means people would simply avoid me. Come to think of it, they do. (Laughter) That may be for a whole radeau of reasons that I'm not - yes, I suppose they might do. If that's the case, I suppose I should be able to turn that to my advantage somehow. (Laughter) I should be able to use that to propel myself into - I could intimidate people into various situations.
Tavis: I should know better, though, so I'm glad I got past that fear.
Laurie: Well, thank you.
Tavis: I know how these things work - you're not going to tell me too much about the new season, but what are toi going to tell me about why we should tune in this year?
Laurie: Well, we've taken a bold move. We're having sort of teased a relationship between these two characters, between House and his boss, Lisa Cuddy. We've teased this thing and played with it and flirted with it for six years now. We've finally taken the leap and it's a gamble with the audience. Some people will like it, some people won't.
I think we had to do it because I don't think toi can just go do the same thing year-in, year-out, particularly when part of what you're doing is about characters. We're not about just solving crimes, where toi can sort of process endless fingerprints and DNA results have come back and all that sort of stuff.
We are actually telling stories about characters, and I think eventually we had to do something of this nature. But it's a gamble, and that in itself is frightening and exciting. People may say, "I won't have anything to do with it," and other people may say, "This is where it was always headed."
Tavis: House and Cuddy - Huddy.
Laurie: Huddy is (unintelligible) yeah.
Tavis: We'll see how that works out.
Laurie: Right.
Tavis: I'm so glad toi came on. It's an honor to meet you.
Laurie: Thank you; it's a real pleasure, a real pleasure.
Tavis: Oh, I've enjoyed the conversation immensely. Good to have toi here.
Laurie: Thanks.
Tavis: Hugh Laurie from "House," Mondays at 8:00 on Fox.
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Hope toi enjoyed... XD
*dances around*
Just sharing... XD...
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Tavis: Pleased to welcome Hugh Laurie to this program. The six-time Emmy nominee continues his role on one of TV's most populaire and unique dramas, "House." The montrer just kicked off its seventh season earlier this week. It airs, of course, every Monday at 8:00 on Fox. Here now, a scene from "House."
[Clip]
Tavis: Hugh Laurie, good to have toi on the program, sir.
Hugh Laurie: Thank toi very much, good to be here.
Tavis: toi doing all right?
Laurie: I'm fine, I'm fine.
Tavis: So I'm going to tell on you. There's a monitor over my shoulder here.
Laurie: Right. (Laughs)
Tavis: And while the clip was playing, featuring one Hugh Laurie (laughs) toi had them turn the monitor around.
Laurie: Turn, turn, turn it away.
Tavis: Yeah. (Laughs) So toi have a problem watching yourself?
Laurie: I do. I do have a huge problem, a huge problem. In fact, worse than watching is hearing. I cannot stand to hear my own voice. When it's coming out of my mouth right now it sounds fantastically interesting to me. (Laughter) It's rich in light and shade, it goes up and down. But when I hear it either on TV ou even on someone's answering machine, I just sound like I've had half my brain removed. It's just so - I can't ours it.
Tavis: Every actor has his ou her own process. If toi don't want to hear yourself and toi don't want to see yourself, then how do toi critique yourself?
Laurie: Yes, that's a good question, although I would say even before that question I would say, "Why am I even an actor?" But anyway, let's just leapfrog over that one.
Tavis: No, no, no, hold up, wait a minute. (Laughter) I'll follow your lead here. We will start with the actor question. So why are toi an actor?
Laurie: No, well, that's only - why has that only just occurred to me, that question? Because if it's really that unbearable, what am I doing? And I don't know the answer to it. It's some deep-seated need that I can't explain. I wish I could. I wish I could. I'm going to have to come up with something right now.
Tavis: (Laughs) No, toi can marinate it on it and come back on the montrer again.
Laurie: Yeah, yeah. I don't know. I suppose actors crave attention of some kind ou they have suffered some form of arrested development and are still living in a sort of child's fantaisie existence at some level in their psyche. I don't know.
Tavis: Why can't it be as simple as this is your gift, this is your calling, this is your vocation, and you're awfully good at it? toi are, indeed.
Laurie: Well, thank you, Tavis. Thank toi very much for rising to my bait. (Laughter) Thank you. Well, maybe that's what it is. I won't deny that I did know from a very young age that this was something I could do when school Friends would think about appearing on stage as the most frightening, the most awful, intimidating experience ever, I knew that it was something I could do.
I don't know why that is but I just did, and so maybe in that sense there is some sort of sense of calling there. Anything toi know at a very young age. I also - let's be honest, it's a way of montrer off to girls. (Laughter) Let's not skip that part.
When I did it for fun, when I did it at school and university, it was definitely a way of montrer off to girls. When I started doing it professionally, the odd thing is that in my mind the audience changed from being predominately female, ou female in character, I don't mean made up in women, I just mean female in character, it changed and became male.
The professional audience was a lot of guys like this, going "Okay, then. Okay, what have toi got?" And then the audience was something to be outwitted. They had to be beaten somehow. toi had to trick them ou fool them ou overwhelm them, which was not as enjoyable an experience.
The montrer off to girls is a much better way of thinking of it, and I've sort of lately come back to that. I'm not talking about really montrer off, I just mean having in one's mind the audience as a female entity, as a female character.
Tavis: Do toi recall, since toi were so good at this so early on, beyond the montrer off part, do toi recall what play toi were in, what toi were doing when toi felt something plus than just montrer off? But toi know, like, "I really enjoy this and I'm pretty good at this, and this means something to me."
Laurie: I do.
Tavis: What was it?
Laurie: I do, and it was - actually, it wasn't even a play, it was a short sketch, and it wasn't the moment on stage that I remember. What I do remember is that I won a prize. It was a school - everyone in school had to do something and I did this little sketch, and my parents were supposed to come to the show; they were late. Often happened. Oh, woe is me. They arrived late, so they missed me doing the sketch but they were there in time to her my name read out as the winner of this prize.
Tavis: That's all that matters.
Laurie: (Laughter) That's what matters, right. I was sort of peeking through the curtain and I saw them smile at each other when my name was read out, and I will never forget that. That was a very big thing. I had sort of brought them pleasure and satisfaction, and that was a good feeling, to feel that I had not let the side down. That was a very good feeling. Although what I was actually doing on stage I don't remember, but I do remember that moment very clearly.
Tavis: So now that we've figured out how it is and why it is that toi are an actor, we will go back to the initial question.
Laurie: Okay.
Tavis: That I think I still remember, which is if toi don't like to hear yourself and don't like to watch yourself, what's your - this is like one of those "Inside the Actor's Studio" questions.
Laurie: Right.
Tavis: How, then, do toi know whether you're hitting the mark, whether you're delivering what toi want to deliver? Do toi rely on others for that?
Laurie: To a degree, but I'm also watching myself at the time when I do it. I'm watching myself and listening to myself. I feel slightly embarrassed saying this, because I know that some actors, some part of me feels that a proper actor is so subsumed into the character, so immersed in the moment that they are unconscious of any other consideration, not even aware of a camera, not even aware of the fiction.
That's not me. I am very, very aware at all times. I'm watching myself, I'm listening to myself, I'm judging myself, critiquing myself all the time, and I will know when I do something and I will immediately say, "Can I do another one, because I didn't quite get that thing," ou that I wanted to do something there and it didn't quite work.
So I'm doing that on the spot. When the montrer is actually done, there's nothing plus I can do. I think that's what it is, is that feeling of powerlessness. I can't reach into the TV and change it and redo - I wish I could, but I can't. So that feeling of being out of control means that I just can't - I find it really hard to look at.
Tavis: Your commentaire now makes me think of something. I was just lire a piece the other jour about Frank Sinatra, and Sinatra - I'm paraphrasing Sinatra's quote, but I'm pretty close to it. Sinatra made the commentaire that toi should never ignore an inner voice that tells toi that something can be better, even when everybody else says it's okay.
Laurie: Right.
Tavis: So obviously, toi have that inner thing. So on the set they're like, "Okay, moving on," and you're like, "Well, wait, let's do that one plus time." So toi obviously have this inner voice, when toi know that it can be -
Laurie: I do. Of course, I'm hesitating to ally myself with Frank Sinatra, because the chairman of the board, and we'll all hail. But what the heck, toi raised it. (Laughter) toi raised it, so I'm going to go with it. Yeah, me and Sinatra, we're sort of like that.
Yes, I would agree with that. I would agree with that. I think that voice, which is there all the time, it's a really peculiar thing, psychologically, that one is able to be within the drama, within the scene, within the character and yet have another part of one's brain that is actually outside and judging and saying no, that could be better, that could be better, why did toi do it like that? That's not the way to go, go the other way.
That voice is always there. It's a strange thing that those things are - but then the brain is a peculiar thing in itself.
Tavis: Since we've struck a musique chord here, let me stay with this and we'll get back to "House" in just a seconde here. So I mentioned Frank Sinatra. We owe this conversation to a mutual friend of ours, James Taylor.
Laurie: Right.
Tavis: We've been trying to get toi on this montrer for a while now and your schedule's busy and you're always ripping and running and doing a bunch of stuff, including music, which we'll get to in a second. But obviously, you're a James Taylor fan, as I am.
Laurie: Yes. That was a great night. Was that not a great night? We saw -
Tavis: Yeah. I had a blast, as I always do.
Laurie: It was absolutely fantastic, and he was so - well, the songs are so beautiful, but his - the vibe that he gives out, he's so - he's so funny, and yet at the same time there's something so romantic about him. There's a great nobility about him, which is a hard thing to pull off, that someone could be - he's sort of self-deprecating and he kind of clowns around a little bit, but there's always that beautiful strain of melancholy in his songs. That was a great night. It was a terrific night.
Tavis: He's a great artist.
Laurie: Was that the last night? That was the last night.
Tavis: He and Carole had been on tour together.
Laurie: Right, and they said, I think, that they had no plans to do that again. I felt like we were witnessing the last night of a piece of American history, really.
Tavis: I felt the same way. It was a great tour. I saw them I think two ou three times on that tour, and I was there for the last night, so it was great. So Sinatra, Taylor, Laurie.
Laurie: Right, right. (Laughter) It's a natural.
Tavis: toi are a musician as well.
Laurie: Well, I'm a fantasist, is what I am. I fantasize about being a musician, yes. Whether I am, that's not for -
Tavis: I've got a picture right there that says toi are.
Laurie: Oh, really?
Tavis: Yeah, it's on - toi can't see this because toi don't believe in watching yourself. But on the monitor I can see toi playing keyboard.
Laurie: But that's not - that might be plugged in. (Laughter) In fact, there are some nights when I strongly suspect it was not plugged in. They just -
Tavis: How did the musique thing happen for you?
Laurie: Well, it's something I've always loved. I didn't l’amour when I was a kid and I went through the normal piano lessons that people go through. That I hated, I don't deny it. I hated that part of it. I think classical musique tuition is, well, was when I was a child, was an abomination.
I still think in some ways it is one of life's great tragedies for everybody who gives up an instrument. I think everybody who gives up an instrument has Lost a big part of their -
Tavis: You're making me feel really bad now.
Laurie: Oh, no, no, no, I don't mean - I'm sorry, I don't mean to do that.
Tavis: toi took me back 35 years.
Laurie: I don't mean to do that.
Tavis: I'm about to slit my wrists. (Laughter)
Laurie: I'm sorry.
Tavis: I should have never stopped taking piano lessons. I should have never stopped taking saxophone lessons.
Laurie: But answer me this - is there anyone toi can think of who is glad they gave up learning the piano? No such human being exists, right?
Tavis: I bow down, toi are correct. I think you're right. Anybody who's ever played an instrument, as they get older, they regret that they ever stopped playing.
Laurie: Absolutely. Which is not to say that they didn't have extremely good reasons for giving up. Everybody does. In fact, I gave up. I went on hunger strike, I hated it so much. I actually didn't eat for four days.
Tavis: I didn't do that.
Laurie: Well, at the age of 12, it's quite a lot time. Although I did actually have a bar of chocolate, but my mother didn't know that. (Laughter) So as far as she knew it was four straight days without eating. Eventually, she cracked, so I won that one.
I gave up and I didn't touch the piano for probably - actually, nearly 10 years after that and then sort of came back to it.
Tavis: What brought toi back?
Laurie: Well, I just would hear - I would just hear piano players and I would hear music, and just think - I don't just want to sit here and passively listen; I want to get inside it. I want to climb inside this and understand how it works and be able to do it myself and be able to express these same emotions, these same feelings that I hear on a record. I want to climb inside that and do it myself.
Tavis: How often do toi get a chance to do that?
Laurie: Well, I played the - those pictures toi have of me with the unplugged keyboard I do a couple of times a an with a band from TV, which is a terrific outfit and I must say has got pretty darn good. We started four ou five years ago, and in the early days we were loud and enthusiastic. (Laughter)
But lately, the last few that I played, I have to say if I'd been in the audience I would have actually really enjoyed these shows. They were not embarrassing shows at all. They were really, really good. But plus recently than that I've actually started - amazingly - I've started making a record. A record company came and said, "Do toi want to do this?" and I sort of beat down that natural response I've had for most of my life, which is, "Oh, I'm not ready, I could never do that, I need 10 years of," and I thought, oh, to hell with it, I'm going to go for it.
Because in this life - well, I only know this life; I don't know other lives. But in this life toi tend not to regret the things toi do; only the things toi don't do. I thought if 10 years go par and I don't get this chance again, that will hurt me a lot. So I'm going to seize this one, and I have, and we're about halfway through now. We've done five ou six tracks.
Tavis: I knew this, I must confess. I knew toi were working on an album before toi just told me and the world that toi were doing this, because in that chair just some weeks il y a was a great artist who was rushing out of my studio to get to a recording studio to spend some time with you.
Laurie: That's right.
Tavis: I said, "You're going to play with who?"
Laurie: That's right.
Tavis: "You're going to do what?" And that artist was -
Laurie: That was Dr. John.
Tavis: - Dr. John.
Laurie: Although I didn't - the weird thing is I didn't know he'd come from here. (Laughter) I knew that he was in town one day. We'd got like two hours with him, we could get him, so this is the actual chair he sat in.
Tavis: Dr. John was here, yeah.
Laurie: Well, that was an - because I worshipped that guy for about - well, as long as I can remember, 30-odd years, and that was an amazing experience. In fact -
Tavis: How was the session?
Laurie: Well, the session was great. I'd planned to get there before him so I could rehearse with the basse, bass player and everything would be - and he could just sort of sweep in, in a regal fashion, as is his due. I don't know, maybe he cut the interview short, because he was there early. (Laughter) toi were too quick. He was there early, before I got there.
He was already sitting at the piano and I had to kick him off and say, "Look, I'm going to play this. You're just going to sing." And to kick -
Tavis: I was about to ask. Hold up, hold up - how do toi kick Dr. John off of a piano.
Laurie: I know, I know. Well, he was actually, bless him, he was very relieved, because he just said, "Oh, that's great, I don't have to learn it." He was so - because let's face it, there's a man who has nothing else to prove on the piano. But even just hearing him play those chords, I just melt.
Tavis: toi have an affinity for New Orleans and the musique it has birthed, obviously.
Laurie: I do, yeah, yeah, and he is to my mind really the great - well, I can't say - one can never really say so-and-so is the greatest. It just happens to be my favori sort of living exponent of that particular form, which happens to also be my favorite. My favori all the way back to Jellyroll Morton and - whose birthday it is today, ou a few days ago, depending on (unintelligible).
Tavis: Exactly, yeah.
Laurie: Yeah, this week.
Tavis: Great artist, to be sure. Let me cercle back to "House" now, as I promised. Your life is so fascinating, so I'm glad we got some of that out of the way, but I want to get back to "House," though. Speaking of this chair, months before Dr. John was here another great actor on "CSI," Robert David Hall, plays the coroner, in real life walks on a cane, was on this program, and your name came up in the conversation, and he was saying how grateful he was to toi and the producers of "House" for putting toi on that cane, because he is a national spokesperson for Americans with these disabilities and these kind of challenges.
He was saying how grateful he was to toi that toi all put that character on a cane. I suspect toi must hear that from time to time - people who are grateful to see that.
Laurie: I do, I do, but in some ways it's a very difficult subject because - it's a very complex issue. There's no denying the fact that House's reliance on the cane has somehow affected his character. He is a man who - well, he's a man in physical pain, for one thing, and he's also a man who yearns for a physical wholeness that has been denied him.
At the same time, the outside world, and I think this is undeniably true, give him a kind of license that he might not otherwise get were he not to walk with a cane. That the cane is a sort of - it's almost a sort of cane of truth. While I'm holding this thing, toi can't touch me.
Now, toi may say that that's hypocritical and it should make no difference, and why would people treat a man with a cane any differently. Well, yes, those are all valid questions. The fact is, they do. They just do, and it's a very complicated thing that it's bound up both in what has made him the character he is and what allows him to get away with the behavior he gets away with.
I don't know if that seconde part of it is a good thing, but it's a real thing, and it operates both as a dramatic device as a character on television, but also in real life. I think people sort of defer. They feel a kind of awkwardness that means that they will allow things to be done and a dit that they wouldn't otherwise do. It's a peculiar and complicated subject.
Tavis: What's peculiar for me, although I'm a part of the group that loves the montrer so I bought into this peculiar, strange craziness of this character House, what is it about him - toi guys are starting this week, just started season number seven, so obviously people l’amour the show. You've been nominated for Emmys a multiple number of times.
People l’amour the show, they l’amour you, they l’amour the character, and yet this guy is cranky, he's weird, he's - toi can describe him a variety of ways. What is it about this character that keeps us coming back season after season?
Laurie: I'm really nervous of trying to deconstruct it and work out what are the successful ingredients and what are the less successful ones in case that one, because I think as soon as toi consciously try to lean on particular things it's - is it like opening an four door before the soufflé is risen, then it won't rise?
That's a really hopeless analogy. (Laughter) I don't know why I chose that, and I don't even cook soufflé, so why did I even bring that up?
Tavis: It worked, though.
Laurie: But toi know what I mean.
Tavis: toi got your point across.
Laurie: If one starts to examine too closely. But I suppose I personally like the character. I know he's cranky, people describe him as mean and all kinds of things, which he is, but I nonetheless like him. I find him extremely funny. I find a sort of - there's an exhilaration I find in inhabiting someone ou spending time with someone who doesn't care, who doesn't care about the social consequences.
It's both frightening, but also very exciting to have someone just unconstrained par well, being liked, for one thing. He doesn't care if he's liked, doesn't care if he's applauded ou booed. That's a thrilling thing. But also the fact that that allows him to get at truths that other people would not dare confront I think is -
Tavis: toi used two words I want to pick up on - frightened and excited. I can confess this to toi now that we're chums and you're on the montrer here. When I saw toi at that James Taylor concert backstage in James' dressing room, I wanted to immediately run up and speak to toi because I'm such a huge fan, and toi would think that as one who does this every night, I should know better.
But I was excited to meet toi and frightened because I didn't know whether Hugh Laurie was like House.
Laurie: Oh, that I was going to start getting all sort of mean and sarcastic?
Tavis: (Laughs) I didn't know what to expect in that moment. When I saw how nice toi were to James, I said, "Well, let me just venture out and introduce myself to Hugh Laurie."
Laurie: No, I am -
Tavis: People ask toi - do toi get this sometimes from people on the street?
Laurie: I am sweetness and light and chiot dogs' ears, that's me. (Laughter)
Tavis: People tend to confuse actors with characters.
Laurie: They do, they do, yes. I suppose there may be - but of course I wouldn't be aware of it that much, because that means people would simply avoid me. Come to think of it, they do. (Laughter) That may be for a whole radeau of reasons that I'm not - yes, I suppose they might do. If that's the case, I suppose I should be able to turn that to my advantage somehow. (Laughter) I should be able to use that to propel myself into - I could intimidate people into various situations.
Tavis: I should know better, though, so I'm glad I got past that fear.
Laurie: Well, thank you.
Tavis: I know how these things work - you're not going to tell me too much about the new season, but what are toi going to tell me about why we should tune in this year?
Laurie: Well, we've taken a bold move. We're having sort of teased a relationship between these two characters, between House and his boss, Lisa Cuddy. We've teased this thing and played with it and flirted with it for six years now. We've finally taken the leap and it's a gamble with the audience. Some people will like it, some people won't.
I think we had to do it because I don't think toi can just go do the same thing year-in, year-out, particularly when part of what you're doing is about characters. We're not about just solving crimes, where toi can sort of process endless fingerprints and DNA results have come back and all that sort of stuff.
We are actually telling stories about characters, and I think eventually we had to do something of this nature. But it's a gamble, and that in itself is frightening and exciting. People may say, "I won't have anything to do with it," and other people may say, "This is where it was always headed."
Tavis: House and Cuddy - Huddy.
Laurie: Huddy is (unintelligible) yeah.
Tavis: We'll see how that works out.
Laurie: Right.
Tavis: I'm so glad toi came on. It's an honor to meet you.
Laurie: Thank you; it's a real pleasure, a real pleasure.
Tavis: Oh, I've enjoyed the conversation immensely. Good to have toi here.
Laurie: Thanks.
Tavis: Hugh Laurie from "House," Mondays at 8:00 on Fox.
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Hope toi enjoyed... XD
*dances around*
