The folks at AppleTV+ asked if I’d like a one-on-one with Eugene Levy. Before you could say Schitt’s Creek, I said yes!
Levy – beloved in Canada for decades as part of the legendary SCTV cast – had just been inducted into the Canadian Comedy Hall of Fame. The interview took place in February in Pasadena, CA. I also took part in a press conference with Levy a day earlier while attending the winter edition of the Television Critics Association semi-annual press tour.
What I didn’t know at the time is that Levy will be a recurring character on the fourth season of Only Murders in the Building. There he will join friend and fellow SCTV cast mate Martin Short. Another SCTV alum, Andrea Martin, was a recurring character on season three. Steve Martin and Selina Gomez, of course, also star on the series.
I’ve spoken with the 76-year-old Emmy winner in the past. He is a quiet gentleman by nature, nothing like zany Bobby Bittman from his “SCTV” days, or the nerdy dad from the “American Pie” films. A devoted family man, he’d rather talk about his son and “Schitt’s Creek” partner Daniel Levy’s success, and brightens to the suggestion that a father-and-son episode of “The Reluctant Traveller” would be a blast.
“Unlike me he’s an extremely curious person and loves to experience everything a city or country has to offer. It would be kind of an education for me to actually travel with Daniel.”
Make no mistake, however: Levy may be understated in person, but he is a comedy master. He is wonderful on this second season of the reluctant traveller, especially, as we discuss, in the episode where he goes, for the first time, to the homeland of his late mother, Scotland. My mom was born there as well, so enjoy this double scotch, or double half-scotch, podcast episode.
Our conversation is supplimented by an additional few minutes of the TCA Reluctant Traveller press conference from the day before. That audio is courtesey friend and fellow press tour veteran Howard Benjamin, whose company, The Interview Factory, has archived over 85,000 interviews with the biggest stars of film, television and music over the past 40 years. Many thanks, therefore, to Howard.
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To read more about Levy and Season Two of The Reluctant Traveller, follow this link to my feature for The Canadian Press appearing in outlets across Canada, including here at The Toronto Star. To listen to Levy, please click on the whote arrow in the blue dot, above.
