Stephen Presents: Harvey Guillén

Summary

The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert Episode: "Stephen Presents: Harvey Guillen" Release Date: November 27, 2024

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Introduction

In this engaging episode of The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert, host Stephen Colbert welcomes the versatile actor Harvey Guillen. Known for his roles in animated and live-action projects such as Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Blue Beetle, Garfield, and most recently as Guillermo in the final season of What We Do in the Shadows, Guillen offers listeners a deep dive into his acting journey, personal anecdotes, and the nuances of his craft.

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Early Inspirations and Pursuit of Acting

Harvey Guillen reminisces about his early fascination with acting, tracing it back to his childhood. At [09:02], he shares:

"I was 6 years old, and I grew up single mom, very poor. And I was watching this new TV show. It was Annie the Musical, the movie from 1984. And I remember watching it and saying, oh, my gosh, I want to be that, mom. I want to be that when I grow up. I want to be an orphan."

Guillen's passion for performing led him to seek out improv classes despite financial constraints. As he explains at [11:24]:

"I ran into her closet, got a wire hanger and hooked it to a long finger, and went and got a plastic bag underneath the sink. And I went through trash cans to collect enough trash to pay for my first improv class."

This resourcefulness highlights his determination to pursue his dreams against the odds.

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Breaking into Acting and Memorable Auditions

Guillen recounts his first foray into professional acting with a humorous anecdote about his audition for Universal Studios in Japan. At [13:05], he admits:

"I didn't know you were supposed to have a monologue ready. It was only like 16 bars of music. And so, like, what's your monologue? And I was like, uh. And the only monologue that I had memorized was the monologue that you wrote for Strangers with Candy, 'Packing a Musket by Jerry Blank.'"

His spontaneous choice to perform a cheeky monologue showcases his unique approach to auditions and his ability to bring humor into unexpected situations.

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Role as Jorge Santos and Character Development

Harvey discusses his portrayal of Jorge Santos, a character he has embodied multiple times on The Late Show. At [09:09], he reflects on the character's persona:

"I was trying to be as despicable as possible, and I just fell into it."

Guillen describes the seamless fit of the character, emphasizing his commitment to bringing depth and authenticity to Jorge Santos. His performance not only adds layers to the show but also resonates with audiences, showcasing his range as an actor.

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Personal Life and Interests

Beyond his professional life, Guillen shares personal interests that offer a glimpse into his life off-camera. At [04:35], he mentions his and his spouse Evie's penchant for British crime procedurals, detailing their journey through various series:

"Our gateway drug was a very, very soft, gentle, like, 1970s kind of pot, you know, joint, which is Foyle's War, which is in the town of Hastings in England... And now we're on season six of Shetland with Jimmy Perez."

This conversation not only humanizes Guillen but also connects him with listeners who share similar viewing habits.

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Behind the Scenes: The Making of the Podcast Episode

Stephen Colbert and producer Becca engage in a relaxed conversation before transitioning to the main interview. They share light-hearted banter about their favorite shows and personal preferences, setting a comfortable tone for Guillen's appearance. Notably, at [14:37], Guillen humorously interacts with an off-script moment:

"Hey, Colter, we have a job for you. Send me the info."

This snippet underscores the spontaneous and personable nature of the podcast, creating an inviting atmosphere for both the guest and the audience.

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Conclusion

The episode culminates with Guillen's memorable performance and reflections on his career trajectory. His ability to intertwine humor with heartfelt storytelling makes for a compelling listen, providing both entertainment and inspiration. Listeners are left with a deeper appreciation of Harvey Guillen's talents and his journey in the entertainment industry.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Guillen on Character Immersion ([09:09])

  "I was trying to be as despicable as possible, and I just fell into it."

• Guillen on Resourcefulness ([11:24])

  "I ran into her closet, got a wire hanger and hooked it to a long finger, and went and got a plastic bag underneath the sink. And I went through trash cans to collect enough trash to pay for my first improv class."

• Guillen on Early Performances ([12:25])

  "Do you mind if I have a chase?" "I couldn't poss love my tiger."

• Guillen on Auditioning for Universal Studios ([13:10])

  "So I went in, and I didn't know you were supposed to have monologue ready... I go ahead and when you work from home and John's call on the phone, you're a call girl..."

These quotes encapsulate the essence of Guillen's experiences and his humorous take on the challenges he faced while building his career.

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This detailed summary captures the essence of Harvey Guillen's appearance on The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert, highlighting key discussions, personal stories, and his professional insights. Whether you're a longtime fan or new to his work, this episode offers valuable perspectives into the life of a dedicated actor.

Transcript

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[Stephen Colbert]

Hi, it's Tuesday. I'm Stephen Colbert and I'm here with my podcast producer, Becca. Hi, Becca.

[Becca]

Hi, Stephen. Thanks so much for coming on the pods for this.

[Stephen Colbert]

Always enjoy our little quiet break. We take. We get. We go down to a lower floor in the Ed Sullivan building and we put on the headphones and it's almost like we're not working.

[Becca]

Yeah, almost. But thank you so much for doing these. I love getting to talk to you about guests that we've had on the last couple weeks. And we just get to sort of recap what they were like, what's going on? And this was a really fun one. I could tell you were having fun during the taping. This is someone who's been on the Late show before, but this is their first interview. They were coming on to do impressions of a very wacky congressperson. And then this is Harvey Guillen.

[Stephen Colbert]

Oh, Harvey Guillen. Sure, sure, sure. Cause he came on as. Oh, gosh, what was that guy?

[Becca]

George Santos.

[Stephen Colbert]

I already forgot his name. There you go. And just like that, he's gone.

[Becca]

Beautiful.

[Stephen Colbert]

George Santos. Yeah. Harvey Guillen. A really enjoy Harvey's work.

[Becca]

Yeah. Yeah. It's really nice. And he. What I love is he came on with a memorized. He recited a Jerry Blank poem for you.

[Stephen Colbert]

Jerry Blank being the main character of Strangers with Candy that Paul Dinello, Amy Sedaris and I wrote and performed in and produced 24 years ago was when we went off the air.

[Becca]

Yeah. So good.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yep.

[Becca]

So good.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah. And he used a Jerry Blank monologue for his audition for Disney World Tokyo.

[Becca]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

Is that crazy?

[Becca]

Yeah. So crazy. So cool. Yeah. I love Strangers with the Candy available in Paramount plus a fantastic streaming service. Please go check it out. If you've never seen it. It's really the most unlike the Colbert.

[Stephen Colbert]

Is the Colbert Available on Paramount Plus.

[Becca]

No, but it's on, I don't think.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah, but it's not available anywhere. You can't get on YouTube. I think it's totally gone.

[Becca]

There's clips on comedycentral.com but they're organ.

[Stephen Colbert]

In a chaotic way, which was always the [e-mail].

[Becca]

Yeah, but it's harder. It's harder with a Daily Show, I think, to keep an archive available on a streaming service like that. Just put it on.

[Harvey Guillen]

Just put it on the server and.

[Stephen Colbert]

Just put a button you can click on. I don't understand why you can't get the Colbert Report.

[Becca]

I know. No, you're right.

[Stephen Colbert]

Or the Daily show from the first John.

[Becca]

Yeah. Or a DVD box set. Everybody loves a DVD box set.

[Stephen Colbert]

I've got a DVD box set of every Daily show and every Colbert Report.

[Becca]

Exactly.

[Stephen Colbert]

Crate.

[Becca]

Yeah. In a vault. Yeah. I got a hard drive. I watch them sometimes.

[Stephen Colbert]

I have every Colbert Report on a four terabyte. A four terabyte hard drive. Which has all the original musical performances, too. Yeah, because we only licensed those for a couple of months. So even when you could get the old Colbert Report online, you couldn't get any of the music because we no longer had the license to the performance.

[Becca]

When was the last time you went back on a hard drive and watched something from that?

[Stephen Colbert]

I have never. Well, but the show has.

[Becca]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

Like this show has. And other people have said, can I borrow that? To like, get a high quality version of it if we're making reference to some old joke or something. But I've never gone back to watch. I mean, since I left the Colbert poor. I've never purposefully to watch an episode. I think I may have watched a clip or something, but that's it.

[Becca]

We have a great memory of all of it. You know, you can.

[Stephen Colbert]

Well, I was there.

[Becca]

Yeah, exactly. I know, but there was a lot of shows. Yeah. Well, Harvey Guillen is great. I love what we do in the shadows. It's such a silly show. And it's so necessary to be watching a silly show right now.

[Stephen Colbert]

Sillier the better.

[Becca]

Are you watching anything? You watching anything? Now that the election's over, Any fun stuff?

[Stephen Colbert]

Well, I don't know if you define fun this way, but Evie and I are very into British crime procedurals.

[Becca]

Oh.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah. Our. You know, our gateway drug was a very, very soft, gentle, like, 1970s kind of pot, you know, joint, which is Foyle's War, which is in the town of Hastings in England. A guy named. He's Detective Chief Inspector Foyle. And it's leading up to World War II and he's basically solving crimes in that. In that town. And it's delightful and light and fluffy. And then we did Endeavor. And then after that we did Slow Horses. And then after that we did Manchester. And then Grantchester. We did Grantchester and I think that's a priest who's solving crimes. And then we tried Father Brown. A little too soft for us. Then we did Prime Suspect, which was beautiful, but was a little brutal for us. So now we want. We're moving on to Shetland. And so now we're on season six of Shetland with Jimmy. With Jimmy Perez.

[Becca]

Cool.

[Stephen Colbert]

Like up there in the Shetland Islands, just a bleak. Impossible. It's impossible to really do a crime show there because you can't tail somebody on the Shetinel Islands because there's one road. There's like one road on each side of the island and you just like. If someone's following you, they're the only other person crossing this heath with you. Like this peat bog. Yeah. So it's impossible that when they do stakeouts, I'm like, the car's right there. There's a farm. There's a farm, there's a field, and your car is right there. How does the criminal not know you're watching him?

[Becca]

That's really funny, man.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah.

[Becca]

Small town. Yeah. That's cool.

[Stephen Colbert]

It does make me. Just watching Shetland makes me want to get a nice thirsty sweater for Christmas.

[Becca]

Yes. Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

I want a big old. Big old. Like just almost like scratchy wool. Like you can still smell the sheep. Like the lanolin, kind of like a barnyard smell over.

[Becca]

It doesn't really lay on you. It just sort of has a box shape. Yeah, exactly.

[Stephen Colbert]

Which I love. Cause it gives me. It will give my torso a definition that mine doesn't have. Yes, I see. I just wanna get a sweater that's wider at the shoulders than the hips.

[Becca]

Absolutely.

[Stephen Colbert]

And it will impose. It'll oppose a secondary male sex characteristic on my body.

[Becca]

Oh, man. Yeah. Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

Okay.

[Becca]

Crime procedurals. That's. Yeah, I. I mean, I watch Bad Sisters and it gets. It gets me a little. It gets me a little stressed out if I watch too close to bedtime.

[Stephen Colbert]

I love the Bad Sisters. There's a lot of anxiety about getting caught in Bad Sisters. Like what the ramifications gonna be as we're going back and forth in time in it. Evie's not into it, so I can't.

[Becca]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

I, like, I only have. The only time I have Time to watch TV is when we come, and I'm like, okay, what would you like to watch?

[Becca]

Totally.

[Stephen Colbert]

You know, like last night I watched Gladiator 2 because of the. Of the lovely and talented Paul Mescal.

[Becca]

Oh, yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

Being on the show.

[Becca]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah.

[Becca]

Cool.

[Stephen Colbert]

Who I've been informed is very sexy.

[Becca]

Yes, I would agree. I would. I think your sources are correct for that. Great. Well, today we have Harvey Guillen on the Late Show. Pod Show. Let's queue it up. Let's listen to it.

[Stephen Colbert]

Very similar to Paul Mescal.

[Becca]

All right, enjoy. Thanks for listening. Late Show. Pacho.

[Host]

Hello, friends. Welcome back. You know my next guest from Puss in Boots, the Last Wish, Blue Beetle, and the Garfield movie. He now returns as Guillermo in the final season of what we do in the Shadows.

[Harvey Guillen]

I started a new job today. Kind of a funny story, actually. I'll make this quick because I'm running late. So I'm at Panera Bread and I get this call from this guy named Rob. He's over at Cannon Capital now. He's yelling profanity. A lot of bad words about his order that we got wrong. I'm so sorry. He's like a regular. He always gets the same thing. The Napa Almond Chicken Sammy. Sorry about yelling. He got the Green Goddess instead, which are totally different sandwiches. If you know, you know. So I offered it corrected and bring it down here myself. I meet Lamar in the lobby. He's from the mail room. And we start chatting. He asks me if I graduated high school. And I say, yeah. And he says, how much do you make a Panera? And I tell him, and he says, how would you like to make $3 more an hour? And I say, what? And, well, fairy talenting. I'm a finance guy now.

[Host]

Please welcome Harvey Guillen.

[Harvey Guillen]

That's the good crowd.

[Host]

That is nice. That is nice.

[Harvey Guillen]

That's nice.

[Host]

It's lovely to have you on as the real, the actual Harvey Guillen because you've been on here many times before, but every time you've been on before, you have been here as Jorge Santos.

[Becca]

Yes.

[Host]

Former congressman, president, incarcerated.

[Harvey Guillen]

I believe those are my new headshots.

[Host]

It shows your range.

[Harvey Guillen]

Thank you.

[Host]

Well done. Was it hard to get into character for him?

[Harvey Guillen]

What character? It was just put it on like a glove. It just fit like a glove. No, I was just trying to be as despicable as possible, and I just fell into it.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah.

[Host]

Do you remember the first time that you wanted to be an actor? What was the thing that got you?

[Harvey Guillen]

Yeah, I remember that. I was 6 years old, and I grew up single mom, very poor. And I was watching this new TV show. I thought it was a TV show. It was Annie the Musical, the movie from 1984. And I remember watching it and saying, oh, my gosh, I want to be that, mom. I want to be that when I grow up. I want to be an orphan.

[Host]

You just thought orphans just sang a lot?

[Harvey Guillen]

And, yeah, I was like, they sing, they dance, they're poor. I'm all of that. And my mom was like, quesas local? And I was like, what, are you crazy? And I was like, I want to be an orphan. No sonatores. And I was like, oh, they're actors. What's an actor? And she's like, oh, you have to get trained to sing and dance and act. I was like, I want to do that. But we didn't have any money. So she said, no, I can't pay for those classes. And I was like, oh, so I can't do this? And she's like, no, I didn't say that. You can do whatever you want. This is America. You just have to find your own way. And I did. Yes. I mean, look at me.

[Host]

I'm looking at you right now.

[Stephen Colbert]

Looking at you right now.

[Host]

So how did you find your own way?

[Harvey Guillen]

Well, I found out that the local community center was doing, like, an improv class for kids, you know, between like, 6 to 9 and 9 to 16 or something. And it was like $12.50. And I asked my mom for the money, and she said, absolutely not. And then my friend went and asked her mom, she'd give her 20 and let her keep the change. And so I was walking in, I saw the difference, all right. Growing up. And I remember asking her, well, I really want to do this. You have to find your own way. And we're walking home from school. We walked by a park, and there was a man going through a trash can. I assumed they'd have a home. They were just going through trash cans, collecting trash. And I was like, mom, what is he doing? And she says, bendelos botes. So he sells the cans. And I was like, you make money from trash? And she goes like, yes, this is America.

[Stephen Colbert]

Welcome to show business.

[Harvey Guillen]

And I ran into her closet, got a wire hanger and hooked it to a long finger, and went and got a plastic bag underneath the sink. And I went through trash cans to collect enough trash to pay for my first improv class.

[Stephen Colbert]

Wow.

[Host]

How old are you when you're doing this? You're six. You're Six. That's pretty resourceful.

[Harvey Guillen]

Yeah.

[Host]

Pretty resourceful.

[Harvey Guillen]

Yeah.

[Host]

So what'd you think of the first improv class?

[Harvey Guillen]

I loved it. I mean, it was more babysitting than anything. They just. They hired us and they were like, okay, you guys, so you guys are gonna be in this group. And the older kids did, like, a real scene, and we were just told, guys, walk around and be a tiger. You're tigers. And I was walking around being a tiger, and everyone kept looking and laughing at my choices. And I was like, why are they laughing at me? And it's like the choices I was making, the choices I made made them laugh. So that crackle, that instant rapport with an audience that I never felt before, like, I was hooked.

[Host]

Do you still have a tiger?

[Harvey Guillen]

I still have a tiger.

[Host]

Do you mind if I have a chase?

[Harvey Guillen]

I couldn't poss love my tiger.

[Host]

Is it true? I'd be very honored if this is true. Is it true that I played some small part in your first professional gig?

[Harvey Guillen]

Yes. Oh, my gosh. So when I was in school, we weren't supposed to audition for anything because you weren't ready until, you know, you pay your full tuition. And. And I said, well, screw that, I'm gonna audition. And I auditioned. I got an audition behind closed doors. That sounds bad. Behind closed doors?

[Host]

Yes.

[Harvey Guillen]

No, behind them. Their backs. Behind my faculty knowing. And I went to the audition for what? For Universal Studios. In Japan? Yeah.

[Host]

You never had a professional job. And you went, you know what? I'll start in Japan.

[Harvey Guillen]

I'll start in Japan. Because I thought my chances were like, I'm not gonna get it, but I wanna know what it feels like to audition.

[Host]

Oh, that's smart.

[Harvey Guillen]

So I went in, and I didn't know you were supposed to have monologue ready. It was only like 16 bars of music. And so, like, what's your monologue? And I was like, uh. And the only monologue that I had memorized was the monologue that you wrote for Strangers with Candy, Packing a Musket by Jerry Blake.

[Host]

That's a really, really dirty poem.

[Harvey Guillen]

Exactly. So I'm auditioning for this family friendly theme park. And they go, do you have a monologue? And I go, I sure do. And so what's it called? Packing a Musket by Jerry Blank that I go ahead and when you work from home and John's call on the phone, you're a call girl. When you walk with a limp and give a cut to a pimp, you're a street whore. When they're begging you please to get down on your knees near the groinage? Don't you see? Don't you touch where they pee without coinage when I straddle to shut your mouth.

[Host]

Thank you, Jerry. Thank you, Jerry. Have a seat. This is Shut your dirty little mouth. The final season of what we do in the Shadows premieres Monday on FX and streams on Hulu the next eight. Thank you for listening to the Late.

[Stephen Colbert]

Show pod show with Stephen Colbert.

[Host]

Just one more thing. If you want to see more of me, come to The Late Show YouTube.

[Stephen Colbert]

Channel for more clips and exclusives.

[Harvey Guillen]

Hey, Colter, we have a job for you. Send me the info.

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[Harvey Guillen]

If it were any one of us.

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[Harvey Guillen]

Do everything I can.

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[Harvey Guillen]

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[Harvey Guillen]

People assume I'm a harmless old lady.

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[Harvey Guillen]

Back when I tried cases, we just prayed the horse and buggy got to court on time. Maddie, I appreciate your honesty. Well, that's me.

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