kp: What was the most surprising thing that happened while filming TO LIFE!?
jlt: Elizabeth the P.A. turned me onto the Shins which I think are a very, very good band.

kp: And you met Corn Mo...
jlt: And I met Corn Mo. Great guy. Haircut, maybe. The other surprising thing was Jerry Grayson not killing anyone. I love Jerry. He and I became very good friends doing the movie. Old school, that guy. I like old school.

kp: What was the most fun thing?
jlt: Hanging with Kuba and the crew in NY was great. Riffing with Todd Barry and Caitlin about how employees might answer the phone at Joblot...

kp: Example?
jlt: It involved them affirming that, yes, you can buy 2,000 Styrofoam cups for ten cents, but it’s not gonna translate here. One of those you-had-to-be-there deals. We were sleep deprived. We just played keno at a bar. We got an FYI from the bartender that she hates making margaritas with salt. Didn’t order any with salt. Don’t think we even ordered margaritas. But, you know, she wanted to share. Sharing’s nice. So anyway we were giddy. Pinch your nose and telemarket something in a bad Boston accent. That might give you an idea. Or maybe not.

kp: Have you been on a set where more things went wrong?
jlt: Things go wrong on every shoot. The other day, I was shooting a Stella video for David Wain in Englewood, NJ. You know, soft core dry-humping and face-licking on a picnic blanket, standard Stella fare. Anyway, cops were called. They asked for IDs. Turns out, we were shooting right behind Englewood Elementary School. Yay! I tell them we're shooting a student film. The cop says, "What school?" At the same time, David says "Columbia" and I say, "NYU."

kp: Wow, it's good to know that kind of thing happens outside of the sit-com world.
jlt: Well, the cops were Richard Kline and Conrad Bain so let’s not jump the gun.

kp: So tell me more about this State road trip - who went, and where did you go, and why?
jlt: It was just Marino, Showalter, Black, And I. We did a five week tour. Just vacation, road tripping with friends (that’s Ben Folds Five’s next album, by the way. Might just be “Roadtripping”, not sure). Anyway, the second season just started and we were trying to exploit our minor cable celebrity. New Orleans, Austin, Santa Fe, Boulder, Breckinridge, CO (where we learned blackjack) Grand Canyon, Vegas, San Franscisco, Portland, Seattle, Bozeman, The Badlands, Madison, Pittsburgh. Met some great people who bought us drinks and let us crash at their pads. I think in five weeks, we stayed at hotels maybe six or seven nights. MTV was very gracious when we crashed the van, too. It was on their dime. The four of us went back to the crash site the next day with a camera, just to survey the impromptu off-roading. Still got the video; it’s pretty unnerving.

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