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The Wayne Brady Show March 19, 2003 |
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Wayne Brady: Our next guest starred with Tom Cruise in Minority
Report and currently plays Deputy District Attorney David McNorris in the
critically-acclaimed NBC show, Boomtown. It's a great show. Let's see him in action. (Same clip they showed on Craig Kilborn. It starts a little earlier with Tom telling McNorris he should finish his beer and leave, and ends when McNorris tells Ray "Start swinging, I'll catch up".) Neal walks out in a black suit with a blue shirt; the jacket is buttoned all the way up and stays that way. WB: Man! I'm so happy to have you here, man. NM: Nice to be here, man. Absolutely. WB: Wow! I love Minority Report. NM: Thank you very much. WB: I'm a little miffed that it's called Minority Report - I didn't see a brother, but that's beside the point. WB: That's all right. It's true; you know, I've been waiting for a whole year to say that. Just amazing, man. I love you on Boomtown, as well. NM: Thank you. Yeah, I'm having a great time on Boomtown. You know, the last few years have been really kind of a magical time for me. It's been fantastic. WB: So, what was Minority Report like - you, Tom Cruise, big cast! NM: It's amazing. For the last couple of years, I've gotten to work with these really amazing people. But, Tom is definitely at the top of the list. He couldn't be a nicer guy; he couldn't be a better actor. And as a Dad, he's just, like, the most amazing person. So, I was very fortunate to work with him for a while. WB: Now, when did you know that you wanted to act? NM: Wow...When I was a kid, I had older brothers and an older sister who were in everything - all the plays and sports and whatnot. And from 1st grade through 8th grade, I was cut from every play, every audition I ever tried. They said, no, he's too fat or his head's too big or whatever. So, finally, my freshman year, I auditioned for this thing called "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown". I was the character of Snoopy. And I was the only freshman in the play - it was a Senior play and the director gave me the opportunity to play Snoopy. And for the first three weeks of rehearsals, they laughed at me - every day. The seniors picked on me and picked on me. And, finally, one day, my Mom said 'Here's what you're going to do. You're going to go there tomorrow. You're going to tell the director that you'll show up for the first night and you're going to rehearse with me every night, now.' So, I rehearsed with my Mom for two or three weeks, showed up the first night - the sound cue comes and I'm supposed to sing my first song and...I froze - right on stage. And all of a sudden, I hear all the seniors laughing at me. And the sound cue comes up again...and I froze again. They're laughing at me and I look in the front row and there's my Mom. She gave me this big "thumbs up"; I sang, got a standing ovation... And right then and there, I said, okay, this is something I'd like to do for a long time. So...I owe my Mom a lot. WB: That's great, man. NM: Yeah, it was cool. It was very cool. WB: Very nice beginning. All the way from Snoopy... NM: And here I am, 20 years later, doing Boomtown and starring with guys like Tom Cruise. And Steven Spielberg - he's been great to me. I'm a very fortunate man. WB: He's been like a guardian angel to you, actually. NM: It was interesting...in any business...in this...I had done several years doing small movies or episodic TV and not really getting anywhere. And then, finally, it was in 1999 - nothing was going my way. I couldn't make a living. I was doing these independent films that no one was seeing. I did this one film called Ravenous that didn't do very well at the box office. And then I went home and I was back on Cape Cod - my parents have these motels on Cape Cod - and I was just wondering, you know, it's such a struggle... what am I going to do? WB: So, you were going to give it up? NM: I was really contemplating giving it up. I mean, the first few years were great but I wasn't making a great living at it. And then a buddy of mine I went to college with, Glenn Rigberg, who's now my manager, called me up and said, 'Hey, there's this great show called Band of Brothers coming. Why don't you come out and audition for it?' So, I auditioned for it. And it was this small little part and Tom Hanks was in the room and he said 'Hey, you did a great job. Come back tomorrow and audition for this character called Buck Compton.' One of the lead characters. And before you knew it - I was in London doing the show. And it was the single greatest experience of my life. Because, as an actor, you love to play characters that are wonderful and beautiful and I got to play this guy who was a hero. And playing amongst a bunch of other guys doing the show, it was a phenomenal experience. Plus, the first night I got to town on St. Paddy's Day, I got to meet my fiancee now, Ruve. So, Band of Brothers was a really fantastic thing for me. WB: Not only was it a great character, but the subject matter - I mean, you were playing real people. NM: Yeah, you know, it's tough to play...You know, Buck Compton's still alive; he's 83 years old and this big, tough as nails type of guy. So, I had the pressure of always making sure that I was telling the truth with my performance. And anytime I'd have a problem, I'd call Buck and he'd say, 'Hey, what are we doing?' And Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg were very strong about 'call your guy, see what's going on and always tell the truth'. Because, we, as actors, owe it to these servicemen who gave their lives for us 50, 60 years ago and we wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for those guys. Applause and cheers. NM: Yeah! WB: And if you get the chance, Band of Brothers is actually out on DVD in this really cool case. I've seen it; love it. NM: Yeah, it's great stuff. WB: So, we were talking about Steven Spielberg being a guardian angel to you. You have a story about the Golden Globes. I've been told it's really cool. NM: Oh, yeah. In fact, I never met Steven Spielberg doing Band of Brothers. He was the executive producer but I never had the chance to meet him. And it was about two or three months after we'd finished the show in London - I came back here and we were all invited to the Golden Globes. And all of us and my fiancee, we tried to get into the big room at the Golden Globes and no, Band of Brothers hadn't come out yet and the bodyguards were having none of it. And we look across the room and there was Steven and he starts coming towards us. And Ruve says 'Steven's coming this way'. And I'm so...'Wow, Steven Sielberg'. He comes up and he parts his way and says 'Hey, Neal, I think you did a great job in Band of Brothers. Do you want to play Tom Cruise's best friend in Minority Report?' No, no, I'm telling you - I had Ruve's hand right here and I'm trying to act so cool and I say, "yes, Steven, that would be really great'. Meanwhile, I thought I had crushed every bone in her hand and he walks away and I'm 'Honey, did I look cool?' 'No, you didn't cool at all.' It was a fantastic moment. WB raises his hand with the fingers all bent and says in a pain-filled feminine voice 'Honey, congratulations'. NM: Exactly...her fingers are all broken up... But, it was a great night. I got to work for him doing Minority Report. It was a wonderful experience and then he cast me in Boomtown. I owe a lot to that guy, no doubt. WB: Well...no doubt. He just gave you the role...Good for you, man! NM: Yeah, it's been a great run. I owe a lot to the man upstairs and certainly a lot to Steven Spielberg. WB: Well, you definitely are doing a great job. I'm a huge fan. I told my wife that you were coming on the show - we just watched Boomtown... NM: Oh, awesome! WB: The episode where - it's my favorite so far - there's a gentleman being executed... NM: And he was great. Bob was just great! WB: Yeah, he did a great job. NM: I mean, Emmy time...You guys are winning all the Emmys - you guys get nominated for stuff. But, when it comes to our Emmys, I hope to God they nominate him. Because I don't know if you (the audience) saw the episode, Execution - it was on this last weekend. He was just phenomenal. WB: Well, if you get the chance, please catch Boomtown. NM: Yeah. WB: But, before I let you go. Besides being a talented actor - you know, I do a lot of digging on our guests and I found out you are a bit of a muscician. So, we like to have our guests do a little special something for the audience. So, before you leave, I've got this harmonica... NM: Oh, man. Oh, man! On the spot... WB: If you play us out, I'll go ahead and tell everyone to watch Boomtown. If you don't play us out, I'll tell everyone to watch...not Boomtown. NM: Boomtown, it is! (He picks up the harmonica.) WB: Neal McDonough on Boomtown. Pre-empted this Sunday, but comes back on March 30th at 10:00 p.m. on NBC. Play us out! The band starts up and Neal plays the harmonica. He's VERY good! THE END |