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Harvey Guillen
You made it with. You made it with. You made it with. Oh, yeah, you made it with. Yes, you made it weird.
Pete Holmes
You made it weird with Pete Holmes. What's happening, weirdos? This is Harvey Guillen, one of the funniest people I've ever met in my entire life. We just did a movie together, and he had me dying, ruining takes, laughing constantly. Just a true delight. And I'm so glad that he came onto the program. You may know program. You may know him from a TV program called what we do in Shadows. He was also in Blue Beetle, the Garfield movie. He's been in so many things, and I'm so glad he's here. And if you're here, you probably already know who he is. So I'm glad. I'm glad you're here to enjoy. Only a couple things to plug up top. I'm currently touring. Go to peteholmes.com for tickets. The next shows are Washington, D.C. but Boston, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Washington state, St. Louis, Cleveland, Florida, just all of Florida. Doral, Florida, at the Miami Improv. Chicago, Pennsylvania, New York, New York at Town hall on November 14th, and then November 15th in Atlantic City. Hope to see you out there, guys. Peteholmes.com it's my favorite tour that I've ever done, and I really hope you can make a show. And thank you to everybody who's been coming out. In the meantime, enjoy my wonderful chat with the wonderful Harvey Guillen. Get into it. You know, like, you've been helpful to be like, hey, that's interesting. Let's record it for the podcast.
Harvey Guillen
Oh, no.
Milana Vayntrub
Oh, no.
Pete Holmes
You guys are just chatting it. Nothing for nothing.
Milana Vayntrub
Nothing for nothing. Yeah.
Pete Holmes
T. No, it's two too. But is it para or por? No, it's too.
Harvey Guillen
It's for. It's Bayou Parati is for you.
Pete Holmes
Okay. Seems like you're not sure.
Harvey Guillen
Is like, I gave you this.
Milana Vayntrub
Okay.
Harvey Guillen
But is the proper way and is more laid back.
Pete Holmes
Okay.
Harvey Guillen
Like, we're buddies.
Pete Holmes
Is like Larry David had a great bit where he goes, et tu, Brute? And he's like, shouldn't it be usted? Like, if someone's stabbing you, shouldn't you do the formal usted Brute, we're so happy you're here. Use your micromophone. Yes, because we want every gem. We want every. I'm so happy you slept in your house for the first time.
Harvey Guillen
For the first time.
Pete Holmes
That's amazing.
Harvey Guillen
In six months. It felt weird.
Pete Holmes
And what were you saying? That you put your sprinklers on and it fought off the blade.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah. So Before I got out, they didn't evacuate our side of the town, I guess. You know, they forgot. But they're.
Pete Holmes
We forget.
Harvey Guillen
Who do we forget to? We'll figure it out. Not cool. But they forgot. And I. I was like, you know, the fire. I was at rehearsal that day for a musical at the playhouse, and they're like, is your house going to be okay, Harvey? I was like, what are you talking about? I had no idea that this fire had. I was still thinking about the Palisade. They're like, oh, the Palisade fire, right? And they're like, no, this is a fire that started here down the street. And I was like, well, surely they're going to. It's fine. Like, they're not gonna. Like, you know. And then I went home, and I hear the sirens, and I hear, like. I was like, oh, this is bad. Like, it's getting bad. But, you know, I also don't drive, so I don't have a car. So I was, like, at home, and I was like. And then I looked out through my kitchen, and I saw this, like, red ball just, like, glowing in the distance. Like, what is. Is that a helic. Oh, my God. And it was literally the hillside on fire. And it was. And I could see that in my kitchen. I was like, I gotta go. Like, what? Yeah, I was like, I gotta go. So I was walking out, and I saw my neighbor, and he's 80 years old, and he's hosing his house down. And I was like, you know, Ronald, we should go. Like, he's 18. He's like. He's. I've been here 53 years. I'm not going anywhere. And I was like, we should probably go. The flyer's right there. He said, if I were you, I wet the. Out of your house, Harvey. And I was like, ronald's old and he's wise. So I ran into another.
Pete Holmes
Could have been. Ronald's old, and he's crazy.
Harvey Guillen
But, yeah, I chose. I made a choice. Ronald's old and he's.
Milana Vayntrub
He knows. Well, you know, and water does water.
Harvey Guillen
And then by the time I made that realization, the fire was there. It just took me a while really thinking about it. Poppy, watch out. What?
Pete Holmes
Did you wet your house?
Harvey Guillen
I did. I got like, you know, I wet the house, and we put sprinklers on the corners, but I didn't have enough sprinklers. So literally, the one side of the house that didn't get sprinklers was the side they caught on fire.
Pete Holmes
Oh, wow.
Harvey Guillen
And before I Left. I turned on the sprinklers in the front and the backs just drenched everything. I was like, that'll do something.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
And they still didn't evacuate us. And then, like, around. I was at my friend's house, at April's house. Like, you know, she let me crash there. And I was looking at the cameras, like, the whole time, and I was like, please. Just like, I just got this house like a year ago. And it's like my dream was a Craftsman. And so I was just like, I. You know, it's like historic original wood floors and windows. And I was like, that's all. Just protect the house, you know? And it was just 100 mile winds that day, so it was really strong winds. And then eventually, like, I just. My camera turns on and there's just fire falling from the sky. And I was like, oh, no. The palm trees around had caught on fire. And they were falling, like, down, and they're like, burning or pieces were falling down. And I'm looking at this like, oh, my God, my fire. Like, the house is gone. Like, I'm sure this is in the middle of that. And in the middle of that, you see a cop car. You need to evacuate. You need to evacuate.
Milana Vayntrub
I was like, now the trees in your yard are on fire. Fire.
Harvey Guillen
Are you sure? Like, the.
Pete Holmes
The car is on fire, the tires are on fire.
Harvey Guillen
You need to. The speaker melts. It's like.
Pete Holmes
And did it go. Did your house go?
Harvey Guillen
No, it caught on fire in the kitchen and the garden in the back caught on fire. And his house partially caught on fire. But it was by luck that, like, you know, thank you for the firefighters who came and, like, were at his house, you know, controlling his house. And he's like, harvey's house is on fire too. And he told him, like, so they were there like this, like, oh, like, turned it.
Pete Holmes
Did he have a private department?
Harvey Guillen
No, like, they were just like, he. He been there and he called. Since he saw it, he was like, this is the address. And he kept insisting, like, because he wasn't leaving.
Milana Vayntrub
He was not leaving.
Harvey Guillen
He was calling and telling, like, this is what. I'm not leaving. There's people here. I'm not leaving. So if something happens, I'm not leaving. I'm here.
Pete Holmes
So wait, he, like, used himself as ransom kind of like, to be like, have to come because I'm here.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And then they find out it's a Ferris Bueller. Like a balloon under the bed?
Harvey Guillen
Yeah, yeah. Which was originally his plan.
Pete Holmes
I think I'm going to Bueller this. Yeah, you got to Bueller it.
Harvey Guillen
You got to Safer. But then he. So the firemen were already there. So they were like the camera caught like them going to the back. And when I tell you, the flames got right to the. Like, it was right there and it was just like, ah. And like could see it happening as live, you know, on the camera. And they're hosing it and there's smoke and then the smoke, it covers the camera. It's really dramatic. And I was like, I can't see what's happening. And then eventually I can't tell what happens. So I'm talking through the camera, like, hello, Hello. And then this fireman's like, what? I'm like, hi, I. I'm the owner of this house. How is he? Like, your house is going to be okay. And I was like, oh. Crying.
Milana Vayntrub
I'm just like, oh, my God.
Harvey Guillen
So. But I'm very lucky. And no, that's not the. You know, the city is pretty much, you know, my favorite place that we used to get coffee and brunch and stuff. Like Foxes was right. You know, on lake. And like, that's gone. And the stores and restaurants like this just this. It was. There's so much life to Altadena and there's just like, there's a lot of artists who live there and it's just like, it's so sad to see like this community that's been built on artists who lived there in the past who, you know, their offspring took over the home and lived there now this community. But we're rebuilding and I'm happy that, you know, they're not skipping Pride this week, you know, so. Or we're having Pride this year still.
Pete Holmes
Like, Altadena has their own.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah. Right. And we're doing a walk through. So if you want to join Altina Pride, you should definitely go and support. And it's a walkthrough starts the library and we walk around the neighborhood that, you know, still is there and even parts that are rebuilding. But that's just the whole point. Like, we're going to rebuild and we're not going to let something, you know, stop us from continuing to be a community.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah, it's such a beautiful community that a lot of my closest friends live there. And it's like it. I mean, it just like seemed like it brought everyone together even more and people really are fighting for it.
Harvey Guillen
Something about it just like, it's. You're right. It's like that's. It's a beautiful community. It's just, like.
Milana Vayntrub
It's got, like, its own energy.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah. That's a good way to put it.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah. And we definitely, like, would feel it anytime we went there. And there's, like, the theater there. Right. There's like, a community theater in altitude.
Harvey Guillen
To have, like, you know, stuff that has been there for hundreds of years. Like, just the homes itself. Like, I was just, like, so much history in that town. That was just, like, Spanish style, craftsman style. Like, you know, like, they don't build them like that anymore.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah. Yeah.
Pete Holmes
This house was built in 1907 or something.
Harvey Guillen
Totally sounds about.
Pete Holmes
And it's crazy.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And you could, like, hit it with an ax in certain parts, and it would just be like, what else you got?
Harvey Guillen
But it's totally fine. Yeah.
Pete Holmes
You go in these modern. I sound like an old man, but who would go in, like, a modern house?
Harvey Guillen
They're not like that anymore. Yeah. Or like, river rock. Like, the. Like, my house has river rock. And, like, that's. That's been there since 1912. And I was like, what is river rock? It's, like, used, like, as the. Like, the actual beam for the house. Like, it's, like, to hold it up and to. And then put the wood on top of that.
Pete Holmes
Well, I'm so happy you're here. You're the funniest person alive.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
Okay. Talking to.
Pete Holmes
Just gonna say that right off the bat.
Milana Vayntrub
Oh, that's what I see. You've been talking to no one. You have no friends.
Pete Holmes
We're just blown away. I don't want to make you uncomfortable, but I'm just saying, like, we just couldn't handle how fun.
Milana Vayntrub
I do. I want to make you uncomfortable.
Pete Holmes
Genuinely hilarious and, like, just overflowing with talent person. And I'm honored that you're here.
Harvey Guillen
Well, thanks for that.
Pete Holmes
I'm glad your house didn't burn down.
Milana Vayntrub
I know.
Pete Holmes
Would it have been the talent?
Harvey Guillen
Yeah, you're right.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
I credit that there's a moisture.
Milana Vayntrub
I think a talent protected you. I know. I was, like, sitting, like, waiting through all of that tragic story to tell you that your hair looks excellent right now.
Pete Holmes
Yeah, hair looks excellent.
Milana Vayntrub
Get to the point.
Harvey Guillen
Get to the point.
Milana Vayntrub
How long do I have to wait until it's probably, like, what's going on with your hair?
Pete Holmes
When did fabulousness start? And I'm not even saying that in a cute way. Like, like, oh, I'm a straight guy saying fabulousness. I really mean it.
Harvey Guillen
You can't say that.
Pete Holmes
I can't.
Milana Vayntrub
You can't.
Pete Holmes
Farah Tee say that.
Harvey Guillen
No, Farah.
Pete Holmes
I just mean, like, at what age did you start figuring out feeling fabulous of expression and looking right? Whenever I see you on a late night show, you're decked out, you're going for it, but the only word for it is fabulous. Like, you're going for a fabulous thing. When we were at that party, you were dressed in a fabulous way. When did that start to express?
Harvey Guillen
I think I wore overalls to that party.
Milana Vayntrub
You were fabulous.
Harvey Guillen
Overalls and, like, off your shoulder. Off naturally.
Pete Holmes
And you had a choke necklace that had, like, an accent. It wasn't just overalls. Come on. And the bit was. Are you guys more.
Milana Vayntrub
Did any. Did anyone say morm.
Harvey Guillen
We were talking about.
Pete Holmes
Yes. And how fun it might be to go around and just kind of go to the.
Harvey Guillen
No one said that. You know, like. No one said.
Milana Vayntrub
No one said Mormon.
Harvey Guillen
That was a conversation starter.
Pete Holmes
I don't know why Mormon. Like, really? Was that the bit turned you on? Like.
Harvey Guillen
Mormons?
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah, they make my overalls fall right off.
Pete Holmes
Somebody out there has a Mormon thing. You say Mormon.
Harvey Guillen
But just overalls. I had me wearing overalls.
Milana Vayntrub
It's only overalls.
Harvey Guillen
Only overalls.
Milana Vayntrub
The rest of my clothes will stay put.
Harvey Guillen
I don't know how I got to that. I think we're talking about someone who is in. The crew was Mormon. They were talking about something to do with Mormon. Ooh, did someone say that's how the event started?
Pete Holmes
It's funny because the way I interpreted it was you were a man who was very turned on by the idea that there were Mormons around.
Harvey Guillen
That's the only reason I took the job. We should have used it.
Milana Vayntrub
Yes.
Harvey Guillen
We're like, I don't know about this.
Milana Vayntrub
Yes. Salt Lake City. Okay, I'll do it. It's not, like, pretty.
Harvey Guillen
Yes, I'll do it. No, it's a very fun script, actually. We had a really good time.
Pete Holmes
Edit that out.
Milana Vayntrub
Do not promote.
Pete Holmes
When you were a little kid, did you want.
Harvey Guillen
Did I want to wear overalls?
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah. Did you wear overalls when you were a kid?
Harvey Guillen
Mom didn't believe in those.
Milana Vayntrub
Oh, no, it does. It makes it harder to pee at an age where that already.
Harvey Guillen
Already is a problem. Like.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah, I gotta go. You can't make it late because you're playing right up to emergency status access. Yeah. You don't need it.
Harvey Guillen
Even as an adult. I gotta say, even going to, like, a year as an adult, you're like, oh, I have to take both. I just follow your knees and you're. You're like, maybe I Should use a stall or worn underwear.
Pete Holmes
That is rough. Wait, there are no overalls that have a zipper that. Like, another way in. It's just the full fold down.
Harvey Guillen
I think it's like, especially, like, if I put something in the front pocket, like my phone or something. It's heavy, and you're just, like, completely fall down. So that happens a lot.
Milana Vayntrub
I just got an Instagram ad for a jumpsuit that, like, has kind of a cutout in the back so that you can pull down from there, come.
Harvey Guillen
Off, or you just stretch it.
Milana Vayntrub
It's like a way that you don't have to take the whole thing off. It's like somehow you pull it down. And I was like, this is. This is making me feel like, so seen. It's invasive.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Milana Vayntrub
Like, I don't want. I don't want you to know that I.
Harvey Guillen
Sounds like a malfunction waiting to happen.
Milana Vayntrub
And it also looked really weird. Like, I was like, I know I'm the. No one will see it, but I'll know that I look strange doing that.
Harvey Guillen
I don't know. I know.
Milana Vayntrub
I don't know. I'm not ready for it. I'm not ready for that.
Harvey Guillen
Go in a stall and take your.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah, just take your time. Don't y.
Harvey Guillen
Wait.
Milana Vayntrub
Do the sound again. I can't do it.
Pete Holmes
A stall is an office if you're an introvert. I love a stall. I love a standalone bathroom with a lock. I want it to be a towel. I want it to have its own shower. I want it to be recently hosed.
Harvey Guillen
Down, which is a sink. For me, the shower is a sink. So I want its own shower. To answer your question, fabulousness.
Pete Holmes
Well, also just kind of like, what kind of kid were you? A. A song and dance, even as a kid.
Harvey Guillen
But I didn't know what I was doing. I was just like that kid who talked to everyone, you know, like animals, anything, everyone. And I was friends with everyone. And my mom said, you can't. You know, you can't do that. You can't go up to a stranger. I was like, why not? You know, it's like, because they'll take you.
Milana Vayntrub
You're so cute.
Harvey Guillen
And I was like, I don't think I would get kidnapped because where are we growing up?
Pete Holmes
Where is this?
Harvey Guillen
This is. I was born in Orange county, and then we moved to El Monte and San San Gabriel and all, like, the SGV area. But, yeah, growing up, I was that kid. I don't think I would have been kidnapped. I would have been that kid who's like, so why did you kidnap me?
Pete Holmes
They would have returned you.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
This kid's doing bits.
Harvey Guillen
Get out me. Like, bye.
Pete Holmes
Yeah, it's a hard cut, and the van is falling away.
Milana Vayntrub
You have all the candy. They actually did have candy.
Pete Holmes
You got it. But you were outgoing. You talked to animals as well.
Harvey Guillen
I talked to animals. I thought the animals could talk. If no one was around, I'd be like, you could talk to me. No one's around.
Pete Holmes
I had that with my stuffies.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
I was like. We got locked out of my house, and I was asking my Tigger to unlock the door, and I was praying to him as earnestly as you could pray. And I was like, I won't tell anyone. I won't tell. And he did it. And then he's just there on the floor.
Harvey Guillen
I did talk to my, you know, toys and dolls and whatnot. But it freaked me out because my cousins showed me Child's Play, the Chucky movie, when I was little, and that freaked me out. I should not watch that. I was. I think I was 4.
Milana Vayntrub
Oh, my God.
Harvey Guillen
They're like, it's Chucky. It's a doll. It's really fun. And I was like, okay. And I was, like, watching, like, no. And then I remember that night in my room. I was, like, looking at my dolls, like, plushies and dolls. And they're like. I can just imagine, like, their eyes.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah. That's a true betrayal.
Pete Holmes
For a kid's play is not child's play.
Harvey Guillen
It's no child's play.
Milana Vayntrub
It's not for. It's a. It should call adults play.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah. And I grabbed those toys and put them in the closet, and I was like. And then I got. You know, like, a week later, I was like, it's fine. It would have killed me by now.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah. I think. I think these ones are good.
Harvey Guillen
These are good. I tested it. I tested it out.
Milana Vayntrub
I was just, like, waiting for them to kill me, and then they didn't, so they're approved.
Pete Holmes
I remember being a kid and really taking so much comfort in, like, nothing changed. I watched a movie, but it doesn't mean my dolls are evil now. Like, that was a big breakthrough.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
Like, I watched Nightmare before Nightmare before Nightmare on Elm Street.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
Jack Skellington and Nightmare Before Elm Street. What's this now?
Harvey Guillen
Oh, my God. It's got.
Pete Holmes
Nightmare Before Elm Street.
Harvey Guillen
I think you got something we're on to.
Pete Holmes
But anyway, I would go to bed, and I'd be so scared that Freddy Krueger was gonna get me, and it was. Changed my life. I was like, nothing's different. If I hadn't watched it, I wouldn't have been scared. You know what I mean?
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Milana Vayntrub
And that worked when you were a kid even.
Pete Holmes
It still works.
Milana Vayntrub
It doesn't work for me. It never did. But, like, especially as a kid, to grasp that concept seems really advanced.
Pete Holmes
Yes.
Milana Vayntrub
I had to. I was so freaked out by the ring when I was 14.
Pete Holmes
The ring isn't fair.
Milana Vayntrub
The ring is so scary. And I. I think for a year, I pictured.
Pete Holmes
I thought you meant the movie the Proposal. So scared.
Harvey Guillen
Commitment terrifies me. Just so scared. That's the ring.
Pete Holmes
When he gets down on one knee and Sandra Bullock is like, do it. I'm like, whoa. Sorry. Was that worth interrupting? I'm sorry.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah. No, I liked it. I liked it.
Pete Holmes
That was a good riff. Good riff.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah. No, And I would picture the, like, that woman.
Harvey Guillen
The hair.
Milana Vayntrub
The hair, the girl. And, like, standing at my bed every night. And the only thing that. After a year. I'm not exaggerating, it was a year. After a year of that, the only thing that worked was I would picture her farting, and that would make me laugh.
Pete Holmes
That's a real thing.
Milana Vayntrub
Like. Yeah, it's a good thing, right? Like, you're just like. So she's just like. And then it's like, imagine that when.
Harvey Guillen
You go on stage. Something like that. Just imagine everyone in their underwear. That's another one.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah. Just imagine everyone's farting, stinging up the joint.
Pete Holmes
I heard it.
Milana Vayntrub
And it's playing a beautiful song.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah, you.
Pete Holmes
There's that Tony Robbins thing where he's like. If you have a traumatic incident, like, as an adult, like, you're. You get fired. He's like, play it again as a cartoon. Play it backwards, play it forward. Make everybody into, like, a caricature of themselves. It, like, shakes it loose from your brain.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah. No, that is a type of older trauma therapy is you think of the thing that happened, but you, like, imagine that you're in a movie theater watching it, and if it still seems too scary, you imagine that you're, like, even further and the screen is smaller, or it's in black and white, or it's.
Pete Holmes
That's what it is.
Milana Vayntrub
It's like a way of sort of detaching yourself from the thing that happened.
Harvey Guillen
It's that. What happened in the past, and that's. I see it from afar. It's not a part of.
Milana Vayntrub
Exactly. It's not a part of me. It's an event that happened that, like, doesn't have to be my whole identity.
Harvey Guillen
Oh, never thought of it like that.
Milana Vayntrub
It's pretty cool. Let's do it right now.
Harvey Guillen
Okay.
Pete Holmes
So you're growing up in Orange County.
Milana Vayntrub
You start sobbing and shaking. We made a mistake.
Harvey Guillen
Why did you have this?
Milana Vayntrub
Picture it farting.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
I do not know when to jump in to steer us back to things I keep.
Milana Vayntrub
Okay, go ahead. I'm sorry.
Pete Holmes
No, it's fine. I do not want control. I'm just letting you know that everyone listening to this podcast is going to hear me every once in a while. Be like, so you grew up in Orange? And then you take the thing off the back and that's how you poop. I don't know.
Harvey Guillen
And that's how you make scrambled legs.
Milana Vayntrub
That's how. Okay. I don't know what I've been to.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah, yeah. Grew up in Orange County. Grew up in LA talking to dogs. Talking to dogs and animals. And I just. Was always just that personality, you know, like, just like that. I want everyone to have a good time. And just like. Cuz I don't know. I think I fell in love with acting when I watched Annie as a kid. And I was like, what are they doing? Like, singing and dancing. And so I told my mom, mom, I want to be that when I grow up, up, I want to be an orphan. And I was like, well, I want to be that other actors. And that's how I was like an actor. And that's how I just. That's how I knew I wanted to be an actor as a kid. And I was like. And fabulousness was just like. I don't know, like, I just put on costumes and walked around and my mom never questioned it. Like, I put on like, her heels and like, put on like a wig or like, what? Or like, make like some kind of like, you know, throne or like make a cape and be like, you know, I'm the king of Santa Ana, you know, whatever. And just like, it was just.
Pete Holmes
Yeah, it was fine.
Harvey Guillen
It was fine.
Pete Holmes
Like, do people assume, oh, it had to have been strange or your parents must have been weirded out?
Harvey Guillen
Well, like, I read a lot of books as a kid. I like, remember we had a contest and I just like, you know, all the. Amelia Bedelia, like, all the books that, like, could like, make your head just like, yeah, what if and whatnot. So I remember just reading a lot of books. The kid just. I was an only child basically until I was like. Like I was. I thought I was the only child until I was like 8. And then my mom was like, you have a brother? And I was like, what? I was like, yeah. I was like, okay. And then it was an older brother, but I never met him. Like, it was like, because he had lived with my grandma and whatnot. So I was like, oh. And so I didn't.
Pete Holmes
Same parents or stepbrother?
Harvey Guillen
Same mom, same dad, same.
Pete Holmes
Okay.
Harvey Guillen
And then so I was like, oh. And I was like, how cool. But we're such an age gap, you know? Just like. So it was like, oh, I thought I was. But it was good to have a sibling. So then right after that, when I.
Pete Holmes
But you did get close those.
Harvey Guillen
Well, he came. He was already 16 or something, so we got closer for when he can visit and whatnot. But he, like, was already an adult by the time. Like, I was like, did that shake your.
Pete Holmes
I mean, you found out the secret. Did you kind of look at your parents differently? Like, what else?
Harvey Guillen
Kinda Like, I was like, what? And it's like, well, you're too young, too. I was like, I'm like six. Like, I was like, I should know. Especially because I've always was begging for a sibling. Like, I was like. I was like, oh, no. My mom was like, single mom living here. That's what. She couldn't really have both kids with her, so she was like, single mom working with several jobs. And then she remarried with my stepdad when I was, like, around 7. And so he was the best stepdad. Like, he was the one who's like. He encouraged me to do acting. And I. When I had my first audition, I was like, oh, my mom's like, absolutely. No, that's for, you know, that's for gypsies, you know, or something. I was like, well, I'm gonna be a gypsy then. And then orphan.
Pete Holmes
And I'm an orphan. And I'm a gypsy.
Harvey Guillen
Gypsy. See?
Milana Vayntrub
In overalls with no underwear.
Harvey Guillen
Exactly. I'll show you overalls every time. But I. My dad was the kind of guy who was like. He saw that I was really passionate about this. So my mom said, no. He was a very quiet man, very subtle. He said, like. Like, it was like, go in the car. I'll meet you in 15 minutes. Like, it was like, I'd go to the garage and went in the car, and then he. Like, 15 minutes ago, so mom wouldn't suspect, he'd go to the car and drive me to the audition.
Milana Vayntrub
What?
Harvey Guillen
And then he would deal with her later. Like, he'd come back. And I come back to the house. I come. Like, she's gonna get mad, she's gonna get mad. And then she would just be like, how was it? You know, just like that. Like she had been talked to by that and like. So my dad was very cool that way. I was very lucky.
Pete Holmes
Obviously he loved you and he was supporting you.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah. And he was my stepdad and I never considered my stepdad because he raised me. Like, you know, like I was just like, he's just my dad and he was a lovely father and he was a simple man. Like he worked construction his whole life. He was no frills. Like he, his diet consisted of like beans, rice tortillas, like salt and that was the perfect balance. He like jogged every day. Like, he was like the healthiest man in the world that I knew. But he started smoking when he was 12 and that was his like vice was smoking. Ultimately that was the demise of, you know, his health was smoking, but he was otherwise the healthiest person. Like, it was just like. So he was the nicest guy and he gave, you know, me three other siblings. Like he just like, I had two younger brothers and a younger sister who I absolutely love. And so I got my wish. I was like, I only want siblings. So I literally. But then my brother was born when I was like 8 and I was like, yay. Like, help me with the baby and that's what I wanted. And then like, like A little, like 14 months later, my mom got pregnant again. I was like, oh yay.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
And then there's another baby.
Milana Vayntrub
Okay, so this is real. Okay, cool.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's cool. Because in Mexican culture you help out and you're like. So I thought we could, could. Sorry, I'm just trying to hold on to both baby and you're, and you're going to work. Okay. I got, I got two babies. That's what I wanted. That's what I wanted.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So careful what you wish for. Sort of I wish.
Harvey Guillen
And then I was like, should have been specific. Like I want baby brothers, like when they're five so we can like play outside. But I took care. Like, I basically co parented with my parents because they had to go to work and blah blah. So after school, like I was in charge of like making sure they're okay. And while they're working late, like I take them to like the boys and girls club and like basically like babysit after school while still trying to do theater.
Pete Holmes
Wow.
Harvey Guillen
You know, single mom who works too, you know, I'm Rio McIntyre. So then as I got older, I was really good with like, scheduling, like, structure. Like, I was like, okay, so I'll take care. She goes to school, blah, blah, blah. And I go to school and then come back after school. We fit in lunch, Right. But then I dropped them off so I can go rehearse and then pick them up after. Like, it was like, a schedule.
Pete Holmes
So you did book some of the things that you were auditioning for?
Harvey Guillen
Well, I was doing theater stuff. Like, community theater was the stuff that I was doing and stuff at the junior high. Like, they were like, we're doing a play. And I was like, great. Can my siblings come and hang out? Like, so while we're rehearsal, like, my siblings will be hanging out, like, nearby in the playground because they're at school. So they could be outside playing for hours and hours and hours. And then by the time rehearsal was over, I could take them home with me or something.
Milana Vayntrub
Wow. So you, like, did this while raising kids?
Harvey Guillen
Literally, yeah. People would say, don't you want to have children? I was like, my only regret is I had no children, but I helped raise three. So, you know.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
So in a way, I was like, I kind of, like, feel like, you know, I had my parent. I was a teenage dad. I was a teenage dad. Yeah. I was a teenage dad. Yeah. But I managed to do it. And I look back and. And for a while, it was kind of, like, made our relationship, like, more parental than, like, sibling, which was not great for me because I was like, I wanted hang out with my siblings, and it wasn't. Now that we're adults, we totally hang out and totally, like, have drinks and then, like, you know, and, like, go on vacation, like, party and whatnot. But that wasn't like, before, because I needed them to respect me. So I needed, like, to be an authority and be like, you can. Okay, don't stop, like. And I was like, I hate, because I would want to do it, too, you know? So I became a parental figure when I was like, like, I'm just trying to be a kid, but it's the norm. It's normalized in a lot, like, Mexican culture because you have to help out, you know, and if you can, it's usually unfortunately passed on, like, to the girl in the family. Like, it's like, if you're a girl in the family, you automatically have to be, like, the parental figure. You have to help clean the house. And it's usually the boy who gets away with, like, not doing that stuff. But since mom didn't have any girls, he has, like, oh, so boy, boy, boy, boy, and the last one was a girl. So, like, it was like. Unfortunately, it was like the next in line was like, yeah, you gotta take responsibility. And it's like, you're right, you're right. I'm gonna be the daughter. So I was like, gotta be fabulous, you know? Yeah. So that's what I was like. I'm. If I'm gonna do something, I'm gonna do it full out, you know? So if I'm gonna be doing a play, I do it full out. Am I gonna be helping you with the kids? I'm gonna be the best helper.
Pete Holmes
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
If I'm gonna, you know, discipline the kids, I'm gonna be the best discipline, you know.
Pete Holmes
Instruction. Beans, tortilla, salt. Basic, basic, simple, straightforward, kind of seeming. Dad. And song and dance, son. Support. All this support.
Harvey Guillen
It's really beautiful.
Pete Holmes
I feel like that deserves a lot of another round of attention. I mean, like.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
Did you feel that the whole. I know your mom was kind of not.
Harvey Guillen
My mom was going to be like that regardless, because, you know, her dream was, like, to have, you know, her kids go and be lawyers and doctors. And I was like, well, I could play one, I could play both. I played scientists, you know. Yeah. So she was more of that, like, and also product of her time. Like, she's like, you know, you go to school to get a degree in, like, something that, like, is considered by society, like, you know, status of, you know, you made it. And I was like, you could do that with the arts, which is not. I get it. As a parent, you know, everyone says I tend to, like, let their kids go into the arts because it's not a steady job. The highs are high and the lows are low. But my mom was like, I think for her, I made it pretty early on when I was the spokesperson for Metro PCs, the phone, but in Spanish, I won the Oscar. I remembered at that moment, like, she was like, literally, I would go home on the weekends, and then she'd be having coffee with the neighbors, like, es mijo el demetro PCs. Like, literally, like, she was so proud. And I did, like. We did a lot of spots in Spanish. Like 30 spots or something in Spanish for, like, three, four years.
Pete Holmes
Wow.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah, it was a lot. And then for her, I was like, I made it.
Pete Holmes
How long did you audition for it? Was it laborious or did they know?
Harvey Guillen
Well, it was a Spanish market, which is not as lucrative as the. Because we had counterparts in English. So we shoot the same day that they did. And so I was like, I should have done both, you know, but.
Pete Holmes
So there'd be, like, a white guy.
Harvey Guillen
No, actually, it was two Indian actors who did the English version, which.
Pete Holmes
I'm sorry, it was more. It wasn't the race. It was the language.
Harvey Guillen
It was the language.
Pete Holmes
I could have done the English one, but then I just assumed it was a white guy. Why didn't they have you do both?
Harvey Guillen
I don't know what you're telling me. I know.
Milana Vayntrub
Let's get them on the phone.
Harvey Guillen
Let's get the column up. But I just did, you know, the spots, and they were great, and they were super nice to me. And, you know, I would go anywhere, and whoever spoke Spanish anywhere in Southern California, I was like, you were getting recognized as the guy from Metropolis. And I was like, oh, cool. And I was like, great. And then I realized, okay, that's done. Time to move on to something else. Because then you'll only be known as that. Because I was thinking about, like, insurance commercials where you see someone like, that's the guy from the insurance, that's the girl from that insurance. That's all you know them for, which is great. It's a great gig, you know. Sure make a lot of money off of it. But I was like, I think I want to do, like, more, like, more stuff and be, like, more legit, you.
Pete Holmes
Know, I heard a story about the can you hear me now? Guy, and somebody was like, what do you do? They didn't recognize him. And he's like, I used to be an actor. That was a snarky way of saying, like, I've been swallowed by this campaign.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And that could have happened. Right. I mean, it was the rest. But you didn't. Did you walk away or did it just end?
Harvey Guillen
I think I was offered another contract, and I was also offered a series regular at the same time. And so I did two campaigns. And then as I was shooting the series, I was like. I was like, okay, if it comes out again, I probably won't. And as luck would have it, like, they saw that I was on the show, and they're like, ah, Maybe won't be smart to, like, like, connect these two. So I was like, I think they did two more campaigns with the English guys.
Pete Holmes
Okay.
Harvey Guillen
And then they stopped the Spanish one, like, go together. Which is unfortunate because I think it was partnered up with someone.
Pete Holmes
Do you still get people going metropecias?
Harvey Guillen
Yeah, I do, actually. I still do. Yeah. I was at a restaurant, and I think the chef was like, oh. And I was like, yeah. It was like, such a Long time ago. But it was. They did a good job. It was brand recognition, you know, so. But I did that for a while, and my mom just loved it, so. But the sad part was that after that, I went on to do other stuff and, like, you know, win other awards and stuff. And I came home one day and I was like, mom, I won a Glad award for Blah blah, which was like, the gay Oscars, you know, she goes, oh, pero metropic. There's like, no more Pedro. She's like, no, no, more like. It was so, like, she was just like, I could come back with an Oscar in my hand, she'd be really happy. But she's like, pero metro pisier.
Pete Holmes
Because that's in her.
Harvey Guillen
In her language, in her culture.
Pete Holmes
She understands the culture.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Milana Vayntrub
That's what she.
Harvey Guillen
So it's Spanish. So she always pushes me to do more Spanish stuff, and I was like, it's just. It's not that much to do, you know?
Pete Holmes
Are you sure it's Spanish and not just like. Because I did the E Trade, baby. And that was the coolest thing in the world to my parents, because they would see it during Jeopardy.
Harvey Guillen
It would be, yes, that too.
Pete Holmes
In their life.
Harvey Guillen
Would play every commercial she will. Any channel, like, any Spanish speaking station would play that commercial. Every commercial.
Pete Holmes
There you are.
Harvey Guillen
There I am. There's the proof there. He's succeeding. There he is.
Pete Holmes
He's okay. He's okay.
Harvey Guillen
And then after that, she still, like. She goes, are you doing all right? And it's like, yeah, I'm fine. Like, this is like when I'm a series regular on a show. Yeah, but are you okay? And I was like, no, I'm good right now. I'm good right now. Thank you. Okay. But if you let me know.
Pete Holmes
And what did you win with Rob Lowe? You won a GLAD Award?
Harvey Guillen
Rob Lowe.
Milana Vayntrub
I don't know. I don't know. I was like, wow, I missed Rob Lowe. Oh, no, no.
Pete Holmes
Somebody else listening.
Harvey Guillen
Heard you say Rob Low.
Pete Holmes
We're gonna drop in the audio.
Milana Vayntrub
Yay, Oscars.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah. No, no, you won a Glad award for. No, no one said Rob Lowe. Stop saying Rob is gay and Rob.
Milana Vayntrub
Lowe is your lover.
Harvey Guillen
My lover. I went for Raising Hope.
Pete Holmes
Okay.
Harvey Guillen
And then years later for Shadows. And then. So every time it does happen, she's really lovely and supportive. Oh, she has a couple my awards and things. But the ongoing joke, it's like, you know, Metropcias, you know, just like, just checking, just making sure you made the right choice, you know? But because of that I was set. I mentioned this story when I was doing campaign for Companion the movie. And metropcs saw the clip and they sent her a brand new iPhone 16 and a watch and a mug with my. All my character pictures on it and socks with all my pictures on it.
Milana Vayntrub
What?
Harvey Guillen
And a lifetime, like, phone line.
Pete Holmes
What?
Milana Vayntrub
That is really sweet for Metro Boost.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah. And I was like, I did the commercials too.
Milana Vayntrub
Totally.
Pete Holmes
I have a phone bill.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Milana Vayntrub
That's why she wants you to have this job. She gets all the swag and the benefit.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah. Well, the funny thing is she's so not materialistic that she does. She's like, I don't need a phone. I have a phone right here.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
And it's like my mom was like the iPhone like 10 or something. She's like, still works. You know, just like. So that's very like. But then we convinced her, we're like, just switch over to the phone. I don't. Okay. You know, just like, it's new. A way to look at the phone. It's a bigger one.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah. Learn it all over and even.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah. But, you know, she still thinks about it. So that means that the commercial worked. She still thinks about that. It's in her brain.
Pete Holmes
Yeah. I like that very much.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah. Tell. Will you tell the story of your audition? Like how you got what we do in the shadows? I feel like somebody told us the. Your audition story, but it wasn't you. It was like somebody on the other side of things, but I can't remember. Oh, but it was like that you just blew everybody away.
Harvey Guillen
So I. Well, I was at home and it was like the early January of 2019, I think it was. And it was, you know, it was slow because of December. Nothing's filming. And you're like, I was just like at home and my friend Mimi texted me and said, hey, I'm here because there was a storm or storm's coming to New York and I don't want the baby there. So she brought the baby to see her brother and family in LA and said, come over to Wine and Cheese night. I was like, okay. And I was in my pajamas already. I was like, well, when's the next time I'm gonna see the baby? And her. The baby's name's Miles. And I was like, okay, I'm go see Miles. And like, so I get dressed, go to the Wine and cheese dine. It's her family that I know, so it's her husband, her brother, and usually that was who I thought was gonna be at this Wine and cheese. And this one girl who I don't know there. And she introduced me. Hey, this is my friend Yvonne. And I was like, oh, nice to meet you. And we, you know, start chatting, having wine and cheese, and just being whatever ourselves. And then the next day, I get a text from unknown number, and it's Yvonne. She goes, hey, I got your number from Mimi. You're so fucking funny. I think you should audition for my fiance's new show. And I was like, I didn't do those kind of films. Thank you, but. And she's like, what? And I was like, I understand the answer. Yeah, thank you. But I don't this a lot, actually. Not into group stuff. And so please, no, thank you. So she basically said, no, no, it's a real thing. He's. But you have to hurry. They've cast everyone. And they had been auditioning for months, and they cast all the vampires. Kayvon, Matt, Natasha. And everyone had been cast except for this one character. And I was like, well, who's casting returns? Allison Jones. I was like. I was like, I've never gone in for Alison Jones, which has been a dream of mine. And she cast everything under the sun. So I was like, I need to go in. I'm gonna use this moment and, like, call my agents. Like, I have. I want to get an audition for what we do in the shadows. And they're like, where'd you get that? From this girl I met. And I was like, what's her name? Yvonne. Yvonne what? One second. And, like, text her. And I was like, hey, babe, who's your fiance and who are you? She tells me her last name and who her fiance is. And Garrett Bash was the producer on the show. And then so they're like, okay, we'll. We'll see you tomorrow. It was a complimentary audition. Like, no one was there. Like, I walked in, literally walked in, and there was like, no one in the office. And I was like, hello, I'm here to audition. And for Allison Jones. Like, oh, she's not here. And I was like, where is she? And she's like, she's in London auditioning for Guillermo's. And I was like, but I'm auditioning for Guillermo. And mind you, the character of Guillermo was 25.
Pete Holmes
This is feeling kind of metro PC. You're doing, like, this other version. Like, I want Allison Jones. Yeah, she's in London, not doing the spot here.
Harvey Guillen
I want to impress her. And Ben's there, lovely casting associate. And like, he says, well, we're gonna put you on tape. I'm gonna send it to her. I was like, okay. And mind you, the character's 25 years older than I am. So already I'm like going up against like it's not even written for me. And I was like, but I gotta look older. So before I went, I went in my closet and got this like gross brown sweater vest and a long orange sleeve shirt collar shirt. And I found these Harry Potter glasses and I popped them out and I never like, you know, you say wear something that might be adjacent to the character. You don't supposed to dress up like the character. And I was like, but this is like close to like an older, you know, guy. And I don't know any Guillermo's, but I was at my writing partner's house the night before and I saw in the picture she had a monster book from Guillermo del Toro. And I was his hair. And he has glasses and he's part of his hair in the middle with curls. And that's what I did. I parted my hair, I curled it like him wore the glasses. And I was like, cuz I know there's a Guillermo who looks like that. I know there is.
Pete Holmes
You can't tell me there isn't.
Harvey Guillen
Tell me there isn't. So I walked in and I dressed, you know, the hair at least in the glasses. And I remember Ben put the microphone on me. And you know, it was one of those moments, you know, as an actor you're like. And then when you do it, you're like, what did I do? Like, it's because it was such a nice place to fall into. Like I fell into Guillermo so nicely that I was like. When I was done, I remember Ben going, Harvey going. And he goes, we're done. And I go, oh, thank you. And I walk away almost like into.
Pete Holmes
A fugue, like a.
Harvey Guillen
Like into the point where like I had fallen into Guillermo so nice that it felt so comfortable that I was just like the dialogue was coming out so effortless that I was just like. And when he said Harvey, like it was just like me still snapping. Yeah, snapping back of like just being like that moment. And it's one of those like. And it happened. It's just rare moments that happens. That's when you have happened a couple of times, you know, when you complete. I get this character. I totally. And you fall completely. You know, as opposed to the insecurities of an actor who's like, I hope I did that right. You know, I hope that. Okay. I hope that was. It was that moment where I was like, that's it. You know, at that age. Because I know he's not that, you know my age. He's 25 years older. So I remember when he. When he said, we're done, I was like, thank you. And I walked out. He goes, harvey, wait. And I go. I thought he was gonna go, you're going to Hollywood. He goes, the microphone takes the microphone off of me. And I literally go, thank you. And I walk out and my agent goes, how did you do? I was like, I don't know. Cause I don't remember. So two hours go by. They sent it to Taika and Jermaine and Allison in London, and they had all voted unanimously to test me that I was too young. I was a wild card. They're like, he's too young for the role. That's not the age we want. And I was like, oh. And I've done a lot of wildcard, like, on my IMDb, a lot of roles are wild cards. Like, they were not written for me at all. Not written.
Pete Holmes
The term just means that you're not.
Harvey Guillen
What we saw envisioned. And because, you know Gareth on the Office. Yes.
Pete Holmes
The British Office.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
Skinny. Skinny. Yes. He was supposed to be like a jacked military guy, and they ended up booking, like, a Meeker looking person.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah. So a lot of those. The wild card. A lot of the roles that I go out for are. It was a taller, like, slimmer, you know, different color hair. Never was. Oh, this is perfect for me when I read something, because it goes to show that it wasn't. There was a time, and there still is, when, like, a lot of characters are not written for different body types and different backgrounds and sexuality. It's just like, pretty cookie cutter. And so a lot of the times I go out for the cookie cutter stuff, that's definitely on paper, not written for me. But I go in, I'm like, what if he was like this? And they go like, what if? Oh, right, Put him in the back burner, you know, and it's usually like, on hold. Pin him. That's usually my trajectory of, like, my career has been that until now. But, like, it's just. It was always like, what is if? What if? You know? And then so they said, you're gonna test. You're not right for it. 100. So you're a wild card. I was like, okay, I just want to meet Allison. You know, I'm gonna test and I'll test Kavon and me together. And weeks go by. They're still auditioning. They Open it up to females. They're auditioning for females for the roles. Like, damn, they really don't want me. They really want someone out. They're like. They're like. They'd open up to, you know, dogs, animal, anyone.
Pete Holmes
Could it be a puppet?
Harvey Guillen
Could it be a puppet? Puppets. Yeah, we need puppets. Puppets, yeah. At one point, someone auditioning with just their hand.
Pete Holmes
And it's close.
Harvey Guillen
You and the hand. He's closer in age. He's closer in age.
Milana Vayntrub
It's an older. Older hand.
Pete Holmes
Show me the hand one more time. Profile slide, please. And you're next to it. I'm a full person.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah. Quiet.
Harvey Guillen
But it's my hand audition. You pan out. It's both of us like this. I'm competing with my own hand. Have you noticed?
Milana Vayntrub
We go out for a lot of. Give it to her. I think this guy's good.
Harvey Guillen
Like, thank you. That was a very kind hand. You're in the lead.
Pete Holmes
We opened it to women and. And then.
Harvey Guillen
And then time ran out. Like, it was MLK Weekend by then. And they started, like, in January. Ninth was the first audition process. And now it's like, MLK Weekend. They start production on Tuesday. MLK is on Monday and it's Sunday and I haven't heard anything. And I was like, I didn't get it. I didn't get it. And I was like, damn it.
Pete Holmes
But when you did the test, it went well.
Harvey Guillen
There was no test.
Pete Holmes
There was no test.
Harvey Guillen
It's Sunday and they start on Tuesday and we haven't tested.
Pete Holmes
Oh, my God. I missed the key part.
Harvey Guillen
Roblo. We never. No one said rob stops.
Pete Holmes
So when did Rob Low come into this? No. So there wasn't.
Harvey Guillen
I think you said, shut up, hand. Shut up. Always try to ruin this for me.
Pete Holmes
They didn't test you.
Harvey Guillen
They didn't test you. That's why Sunday came around afternoon. I knew that the chances were like, it's Monday. It's a holiday. They start production on Tuesday. When am I going to test if I am still testing? At that point, I was like, I'm out. Like, I'm out. And my sister saw how bummed I was like, hey, you want to go to the mall? Cheer me up. I was like, yeah, and we'll go to the mall. And so we went to the mall and it's like, you know, January and it's like, cold, and we're just walking around and my phone keeps ringing, but it's like a 16. I was like, telemarketer number. And I was like, ugh. I Was like, whatever. And it keeps ringing again. And then we're in the car going home and keeps ringing. Will you pick up the fucking phone? You know? And she gets. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, I just think it's. Hello? I was like, hey, this Javi. Yeah, hey, it's Taka and Jemaine. Oh, yes. I'm testing for you. No, I was calling, let you know you're not testing. And I was like, thank you so much for the opportunity. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors. You know, just like, thinking they're giving me a complimentary, like, sorry. Just whatever. Because sometimes they do call casting or tell you they sorry to pin you for so long. It's not going to go that way.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
And they go, no, you're. You're it. You're Guillermo. And I'm like, just want to let.
Pete Holmes
You know that you are Gil.
Harvey Guillen
Yo, I'm sorry, what?
Pete Holmes
And Gil Yamo.
Harvey Guillen
Rob Lowe. Rob Low. I heard Rob Kill.
Milana Vayntrub
Rob Low.
Harvey Guillen
Kill Rob Low.
Pete Holmes
I just want to let you know that you're not testing because you are it, my friend.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah, that's pretty good.
Milana Vayntrub
And you were in the mall.
Harvey Guillen
I was. No, that's when we're driving home from the mall. We had spent so much time in the mall, and I had gotten three missed calls. They had been trying to call me, and they weren't going to leave a voicemail. Thank God. The two guys are angels. And on the way home, and they're like, oh, we'll see you on set. And I was like. I looked at my sister, who's a big, like, Thor fan. She likes Taika. She loves all their work. And she's like. Like, oh, my God. And I was like. And I just remember crying, just like crying. And just like, oh, my God, I have to call my agents. And I was like, I had to call them on a weekend and be like, I get it again. They're like, harvey, where are you? Are you okay? I got the part. Like, I must sound insane. They didn't believe me. And they're like, that's not how it works. They call us. And I was like, well, they called me and they're like, find out you're insane. And Rob Lowe was there.
Milana Vayntrub
Hand was all, God damn it.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah, it was insane. And then they didn't get back to me. It's a holiday weekend, too. So no one's like, you know, at the office, it's Sunday. Monday is a holiday. No one's in the office by Monday night. They finally get confirmation. They called me. Almost hesitant. They're like, yeah, you. You got it. Like, they were almost as if I'm like, you should be more. A little more happy. They're just mad that they. They didn't get the call first when I called up. They didn't break this at that point. They're like, whatever, you know, what was.
Milana Vayntrub
That period of time like for you then? Like, doubt.
Harvey Guillen
Doubt that I had dreamt it. Doubt. But I had evidence of myself. Maybe you dreamt it. Well, just like it wasn't. I was afraid to go to sleep on Sunday night because I was like, what if this is not. No, they called me and I looked at my phone. I was like, no, they called me. I got it. And also like, but nothing set in stone. Nothing. Hollywood's until sign on the dotted line. I was like, oh, no. And started thinking like, what if they're just calling everyone saying that they'll fight to the day. Oh, my God, something, You know, what if it was, you know, kind of experimental show, you know, like, what's that show with the. The rehearsal or another rehearsal?
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, the rehearsal.
Harvey Guillen
Thinking, what if that's that before that.
Milana Vayntrub
Show involved in this.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah, but I was thinking like all those things and I was like, the Monday came and I was like, anxiety of not hearing from them and I was like, oh my God, just make this official. And also, like, I was down to like my last like 25 in my bank account. Like, I was literally like, did not know how I was going to pay, like rent that month because it was a slow prior season.
Milana Vayntrub
Right.
Harvey Guillen
And like, it was just like I was living in downtown in a studio apartment and it was just like, I don't know, I might have to. I might have to move in back with my mom and like, you know, and then it would like, you should have stayed with metrops, you know, that would have proven everything. Right? She would have been like.
Pete Holmes
She goes, no one says no.
Harvey Guillen
No.
Pete Holmes
She holds up her new phone.
Harvey Guillen
She calls me the old phone that she. Since then. But yeah, so it was official Monday night. I didn't test. I went to a fitting. And then I was so nervous because I was like, what if I don't have chemistry with Kayvon, the guy who plays Nandor? Oh my God, I was so having anxiety about those. Like, oh, because they have to have. Like they have. He's been as familiar for 10 years.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
I was like, oh, they have to have chemistry and blah, blah. And like, I got to set and like, I saw Cave Run in the distance. And I was like, oh, my God. All right. And as he goes, goes, hey, man. And then he just gave me this big old hag. And I was like, oh, my God. I was like, my friend. I have a friend here. I have a friend here. And it was the most lovely. And now Kevon's, you know, one of my best friends.
Milana Vayntrub
And you two do have, like, some of the best on screen chemistry of anyone ever.
Pete Holmes
Edit that out.
Harvey Guillen
No, keep it in.
Milana Vayntrub
Certainly anything I've ever seen.
Harvey Guillen
Okay, edit it back in.
Pete Holmes
It was worth it for the burn. I'm curious. I. Watching you perform in Saint Peter, the movie that we did together, and also coming soon, and also watching you improvise on shadows. Everybody knows you just call it shadows. How do you prepare to be the most, Harvey, you can be like, do you have some sort of routine that you do if you know you're going to be improvising if you know, you want to, like, really show up? Are you just showing up? You seem like a kind of guy that doesn't think too much about that.
Harvey Guillen
I don't think so. I don't think too much at all. I think that I discovered the best version of myself is the version that's present and the version that's here and with acting and with people. Because if you go into anything with, you know, misconceptions or plan or not that you shouldn't, obviously you learn your lines and you. That. That's the structure, the minutiae of, like, you know, putting a character together, those lines and getting what you get from those and saying, I see why that's coming out that way, but also not to overcome, overdo it. Because if you over. You're controlling and you. You want to make sure you control this narrative, this character, and that becomes so stiff for me, and it becomes like. So I like to learn my lines that are back in my head. You can ask me and I'll tell them, but also don't burn them out. And then don't, like, don't over rehearse. Don't over rehearse it. Because then when you get to set the times that I've overheard, because I don't want to get it wrong and I want. I want to be taking this as this serious actor is those are the times that I fumble them because I doubt myself in my head and I'm doing the character, and I know the character, and I doubt that I know the character, because I want to make sure I just went even more above and beyond and that's too much like be present. Just give it everything you have in that moment. And that is what the character is, and that is where the character lives in this moment. So even though you would have said that line differently last night, when you would have said it in that moment, that was yesterday. The character lives in today in this moment. So you can only give that. That.
Pete Holmes
Yeah, I love that. I really think you're. You're bringing back to the movie we just did where I'm like trying to remember like a word, like a specific word. I'm like, I keep forgetting this word and I'm never doing a great performance if I'm just trying to nail the word leverage. Yeah, whatever. And I'm like, maybe just don't worry about that so much and just be in the scene with your partner and maybe say leverage. And maybe you don't. Are they. It seems like they're very cool with that approach.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah, they know the. The show was, you know, we got spoiled because we have amazing writers already and the script is fantastic the way it's by itself on page. But Tyke and Jermaine were like, they pushed us to improvise a lot, but they were like, the first season was like, go ahead. So we had what, you know, we do the take, the scripted. We have note from upstairs, and then we do look that way. And then at the end, Taika would be like, let's do, you know, a fun one. And then I would go, funsies, you know. Yeah, funsies. And so now funsies became the tag for when we're out of the clear. Like, we got what you wanted. You got your word leverage. Because those certain words, like you have to say that word because we need it and that's okay. We'll do it as a pickup. Just that word.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
So you didn't ruin your whole performance. We just cut away to a picture or something else and then went to back to what you said, leverage, and picked up from that area.
Pete Holmes
Why did I cut to that vase?
Harvey Guillen
Yeah, leverage. And you know, whatever. And there's so you forget there's so many tricks to make it work. And we forget that editing is such a powerful thing that don't like unless you need that word in that non stop continuous scene. And the director's gonna tell you, I need that word because it's. That's the word that tells us who the murderer is, you know, for the play or the movie or whatever. But for us, it was like improvise and very fortunate. Like Tak and Jermaine. Everyone's like, so we had funsies. So everyone would look forward to funsies. And the joke would be sometimes towards the end of the seasons, we have a director, someone who would like, have us do it, like several times. And the. When the cast is like, I think we got it. And then in character, someone like, you know, Kayvon would be like, funsies. Like, letting them know, like, can we move on to funsies? Yeah. So it was like a fun way.
Pete Holmes
Honestly, being on an ensemble show where you improvise is a dream of mine. I think that's gotta be one of the best gigs.
Harvey Guillen
It's the best gig ever.
Pete Holmes
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
I don't know how anything could ever top it. And just like, very fortunate, lucky. And like, your mom knows. My mom knows. Yeah, she reminds me. So it's just. It's, you know, you look back and you're like, I don't know how you can top that. You know, and it's like when you're with an ensemble and you find pockets of it in different projects. Like when you're on movies and you're like, with, you know, Judy, and you, like, you find pockets of people who. This. You. You gravitate towards each other and you're like in the corner by a crafty. And you're jumping up each other, like bouncing up and yeah, everyone's just hilarious. And you're just like, this is. This is cool too. And I wanna. Yeah, let's make a movie from that. You know what I mean? Like, as well, because. But movies like the movie that we just did, everyone in the cast can't be doing that, you know, because we're telling a story and we need that, like, you know, protagonist who's grounded and like, is really like, you know, there's a tone to it. And I feel like it's rare that you find a show or a movie where everyone can bring be energy and funsies.
Pete Holmes
Before we go to the break here, will you please. We were doing this scene in St. Peter. It's a small ask. And. And the camera was going around this table. It's this big happy dinner table scene. And every time the camera was on me, you would make a face at me. Pretty simple face. But this is when I was like, I don't understand how somebody could just be so simply funny. Would you please just make it would.
Harvey Guillen
Be doing the scene like we're eating dinner, you know, and just be talking. He's like, yeah, so blah, blah, blah. And what happened was. And I was like, I just heard. That's really Nice. And then the camera would go to him and I go. He just start laughing hysterically. And I just like.
Pete Holmes
And we start behind the camera.
Harvey Guillen
Camera would pass by me right here and I go like that. Just like, look at him. And it would ruin the take cuz he'd be like. But it actually didn't ruin it cuz.
Pete Holmes
I, I think it was okay that I was laughing.
Harvey Guillen
They weren't getting the audio, but they would use our reaction. And in that moment, it's supposed to be Christmas dinner and we're all having fun, friendly.
Pete Holmes
And they work out, see this movie and they see this real moment of joy. It's because you're making. I think about it sometimes.
Harvey Guillen
I'll just be driving and it happened. I'd be like, I'm not gonna do it anymore. I'm not gonna do it anymore. And it'd be like the last ones are like, okay. And then.
Pete Holmes
Okay, when we come back, we'll talk about if you've seen ghosts or almost died or something weird with a psychic or all that sort of Jap Japan. We're gonna talk about all these things.
Harvey Guillen
I'm not talking about that.
Pete Holmes
We'll just be right back. And Rob Lowe will be the guest when we come back.
Harvey Guillen
Welcome back, Ro.
Pete Holmes
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Harvey Guillen
We come back from commercial.
Milana Vayntrub
Welcome back.
Pete Holmes
You've been recast with the hand.
Harvey Guillen
I've never seen a ghost.
Pete Holmes
Have you ever seen a ghost?
Harvey Guillen
I have.
Pete Holmes
You seem like a guy who's seen a ghost.
Milana Vayntrub
I literally just got scared just asking the question.
Harvey Guillen
You got scared of me? Have you seen. He goes, I have. She runs at you.
Pete Holmes
She's not scared of.
Harvey Guillen
I'm not the ghost. I'm not the ghost.
Pete Holmes
She's scared of people who have seen.
Milana Vayntrub
Well, I just like sometimes I do skip this question. Like do the 10 second question when Pete asks people because sometimes it will scare me. But I want you to tell it full force.
Pete Holmes
Well, now you're here.
Harvey Guillen
Well, now, yeah, now I'm here and.
Milana Vayntrub
It'Ll maybe make me know and you.
Pete Holmes
Get to interject with bits that kind of soften it yeah.
Milana Vayntrub
Okay, tell it.
Harvey Guillen
So this. So, like, going back to. I. I just bought a house, and it's an old house, and it has energy. You know, I feel like, you know, this is just tangible. Feel like we're here.
Pete Holmes
It's in your lap house.
Harvey Guillen
Well, let me tell the story.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah. Okay.
Harvey Guillen
So anyways, Rob Lowe was there.
Pete Holmes
I just feel like Val's gonna hate it because we lived in this house for a really long time.
Harvey Guillen
So the thing is, I feel like the energy, you know, like our bodies are tangible. They're like, you know, temporary. Like, so there's energy. And that energy goes somewhere, I think there crosses to wherever you believe in another world or like another universe, or pass on to whatever that is. Or sometimes that energy lingers. It doesn't mean that energy is here to be negative.
Milana Vayntrub
Right.
Harvey Guillen
Sometimes it's here to just like. Like, I like this room, you know, just like. Or sometimes it's unfinished business, you know? But I think that we coexist with energy all the time. You know, it's like every time you feel a breeze or something, it's like maybe an ancestor visiting you and saying, I'm looking after you. And that's a good energy. That, like, they're here to look after you and they're behind you. And then there's energy when you're walking down, you know, at night and the cemetery. And then you're like, I think someone's looking at me. You know, that kind of energy. So it's what. You stop breaking into cemeteries at night, right?
Milana Vayntrub
And that's like your number one message.
Pete Holmes
Three flowers, hours. It's not worth it.
Harvey Guillen
I just moved into this house. My sister's really sensitive to energy as well. And she kept. I. Before that, I had lived in downtown in this apartment complex. And she's really sensitive that. She was like, your neighbor always, like, looks at me when I come into your apartment. I was like, ew, who? It's like the guy crossing. I was like, oh, that's not even an apartment. It's like a. They called it a bachelor pad because it was a walk in, like, closet, basically. And it had a bathroom and a floor. And it was like in the 20s and a bachelor could live there because you don't need a lot of space. You don't need it. You don't cook, right? And that apartment had not been rented because. And I was like, there's no one who lives there. And it was like she had seen a guy with a fedora and a coat every time.
Pete Holmes
Carmen Sandiego.
Harvey Guillen
Carmen Sandiego multiple times. And it's like he always wears that stupid hat. And I was like, oh.
Pete Holmes
So okay, now we're gonna now work.
Harvey Guillen
Out if I'm confusing my sister saying that or a friend who had come to visit me and said they saw the same person. So it might have been both or combination of both. But anyways, I move into this new house. Definitely, like I love the house. Definitely. I feel it. There's energy, like a little like, you know, like that's positive energy, I think. And my sister says, did you hire someone to clean the house? And I was like, what do you mean? Cuz she's walking down, she calls me from the phone and I can see the camera. She's in the driveway. And I was like, what's wrong? She's like, did someone in the house? And I was like, what? Did you hire someone to clean the house? Like, no, what are you talking about? She goes, I was going up to the back of the house to open cabinet where the washer and dryer is, like the little, you know, cleaning room, whatever. And I was opening. And before I opened the door, she hears like that inside the house.
Milana Vayntrub
Peed a little bit, but go ahead.
Harvey Guillen
Keep going inside the house. And I. That's what she thought. Something like a creek or whatever. That's what I. Okay. So she said she heard someone talking and that I made that noise. The noise I made. Because I went back to the camera that catches her opening the door. And that's the noise that the camera catches. She's opening the door and she says she heard someone talking and she looked in and she heard someone go like talking. Like a soft like talk. And what the microphone picked up on the camera was this.
Pete Holmes
And you skipped this part.
Harvey Guillen
It's you. No, I wanted to bring you back because.
Pete Holmes
No, not you, but.
Milana Vayntrub
Like my palms are sweaty. I feel very alone. Lies. Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
Oh. Oh my gosh.
Pete Holmes
She could put out a candle.
Harvey Guillen
Val.
Pete Holmes
And she peed a little. You're wet in every way. I'm all.
Milana Vayntrub
I'm all water over here. I'm just.
Pete Holmes
You're all liquid right now.
Harvey Guillen
All liquid. Okay.
Pete Holmes
That's terrifying, you know, in the video.
Harvey Guillen
And they. To see her face. Cuz it's all glass. It's all glass through the. And there's no one there. So she went like this. And the noise comes. She goes. And she just walks away and picks up the phone and calls me. That's what the camera catches.
Milana Vayntrub
Whoa.
Harvey Guillen
So I go, look at your cameras. Is someone in house?
Pete Holmes
Your house?
Harvey Guillen
Someone's in your house. And I looked at the camera, and I was like, no one's in the house. And what are you talking about? And then I looked at the camera, and I showed, and I was like, oh, my. I don't want to show her this, because what she heard was talking, like a human voice.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
And what I got on my end was a demon.
Pete Holmes
The demon upgrade.
Harvey Guillen
So we actually have it professionally, like, cleansed and, like, come in.
Pete Holmes
Oh, really?
Harvey Guillen
Yeah. And you have to go. You have to do it. And I think it helped. I really do think it helped, because whatever was there had never been asked to leave. Leave, like, whatever was there. I was like, this is my property, you know? And I was like, it's not. I have the paperwork.
Milana Vayntrub
These are my boundaries. I know that didn't exist when you were alive, but we have boundaries now.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah. And it was just like, the. The history of the house is really interesting. Like, the first person who lived there was this, like, just. Just a. A. A permanent bachelor who was.
Pete Holmes
Well, we have a closet for him.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah, he was a permanent. A permanent bachelor. And in that same sense, he put peacocks around. And in the 1920s, peacocks were a symbol of letting people know you're a homosexual. So, like, I didn't know that until, like, recently. So there is signs of peacocks around the house, and he's, like, a bachelor. He never got married. I was like, whoa. He was this gentleman. And so I wonder if. Yeah, he's a gentleman who did, you know, couldn't live his life as out as he wanted to.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
So he would wear, like, little handkerchief with a peacock and whatnot. And it's just, like, the idea. And so. So to let him know that it was like, if it was them, that was the energy that was being trapped there because he felt like he couldn't live his authentic life. And I don't know how his life ended, but I wanted to show that we respect that. So we did the windows on the dining room. We had this really awesome artist who does stained glass. Do a peacock out of stained glass. It's almost like a.
Pete Holmes
Please be peacock.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah. We're like, we honor you.
Pete Holmes
This is how you want me to leave?
Harvey Guillen
We're so sorry. Happen. But look, you aren't forgotten, but you don't need to be here. So, like, wow.
Milana Vayntrub
I love that, Harvey.
Harvey Guillen
And it was. It. It worked like, the energy, I think, go just, like, pass on, you know?
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah. Well, when we first. When we were living in this house, when we first moved in, they gave us this black and white photo from like 19. Maybe it was 1920. Even though the house was built in 1907. And it had. I'm. It was just kids standing in front of our house. House. And I'm not even kidding you. There were shining. Twins.
Pete Holmes
They were twins.
Milana Vayntrub
There were two. Lanky, pale, scary.
Pete Holmes
Don't insult them. They're listening.
Harvey Guillen
They're probably.
Milana Vayntrub
No, no. Because we have a very similar story. So that used to freak me out, like. Yes. You don't remember. Okay.
Harvey Guillen
He's blocked it out. He's blocked that thing. The TV or the screen where it gets.
Milana Vayntrub
Oh, yeah, he did that.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
So just picturing that story. Are you about to tell.
Milana Vayntrub
Oh, my God. I. I'm excited to tell you. So we. We've. When we first moved in, you know, like, the first night in a house is already kind of.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah. The noises. You get used to the noises.
Milana Vayntrub
And it's an old house and. And I was thinking about that picture. I. I ended up putting that picture, like, deep in. In like a credenzo. Under books.
Harvey Guillen
Because I would just wake up. It's right there.
Milana Vayntrub
And like, when I. I mean, we lived here for nine years, and when I would be alone in the house, I. I would literally be like, don't think about the picture. Just don't think about that. But anyway, our first night, we were sleeping. We didn't have a lot of furniture, and we were just like, sleeping in the bed, and all of a sudden the light came on. Like, the. It was like a ceiling fan installed light. It wasn't like a lamp or anything. And it just came on in the middle of the night. And I call Pete pants. And I very seriously went, pants.
Pete Holmes
I do remember.
Harvey Guillen
I do remember.
Pete Holmes
Serious pants.
Milana Vayntrub
Okay. I'm sure it's like the wiring or whatever.
Pete Holmes
It never.
Harvey Guillen
It's not.
Milana Vayntrub
And then it went.
Harvey Guillen
No. Wow. Very similar.
Milana Vayntrub
Very similar crafts. It must be a Craftsman thing. Yeah, no. And so then we ended up, like, pretty. That week at least when we moved in, we just did our own, like, burning sage. And our. That house, as I'm sure yours does too, like, has great energy. Like, it really does feel like a beautiful. That was one of the first things that struck us is, like, we're also very sensitive to energy. And we walked in that house and we were like, this is a great. This is a very good vibe. But it definitely did feel like something was going on there. And so we, like, burned sage. And I. I remember saying, really? Similarly, I was like, like, like, I value and honor your time here. This is our time here. And, like. So please, like, we opened all the windows, and we're like, go ahead and. And we'll take care of it. And. Yeah, and then I did actually say, or, if you're gonna stay, just like, you do your thing, we'll do our thing. Let's never cross paths.
Pete Holmes
That is the most bargain.
Harvey Guillen
Compromise.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
If you're gonna stay, I'm going to use a shower first. Then you can use it. Do not be in Canadian.
Milana Vayntrub
Very polite.
Harvey Guillen
You're very polite. Or you can just cut to you guys leaving the house. He wins. Like, just like with you, Val.
Pete Holmes
That is the most Val thing I've ever heard.
Milana Vayntrub
Well, I really was like, I don't know, maybe you really feel like it's your house, too, and I don't want to kick you out, but, like, can you not scare me?
Pete Holmes
Have you ever had something happen with, like, a psychic or something of that?
Harvey Guillen
No.
Pete Holmes
Strange.
Milana Vayntrub
Are you. Do you believe? Do you believe?
Harvey Guillen
I think I used to go to psychics, like, like, years and years ago, just to see. I think I went to psychic when I was in high school. And they weren't like. I don't think they were getting anywhere close. Like, they were like, you're gonna marry this beautiful woman.
Milana Vayntrub
You have your peacock pin.
Harvey Guillen
I have my Britney Spears shirt on. I might look like her.
Pete Holmes
When did you come out?
Harvey Guillen
I came out in high school.
Pete Holmes
Okay, how'd it go?
Harvey Guillen
Or, like, officially came out. Like, I came to my, like, parents in high school, which was, like, the important thing.
Pete Holmes
But your friends already knew.
Harvey Guillen
My friends already kind of knew. Like, I think it was. I always say that. But it's also like, no, I guess not. Because even in high school, I got asked to Sadie Hawkins by this beautiful girl, and I was like, yeah, girl, let's do it. You know? And then we went to the dance, and I was dancing with her, and then my lesbian friend came and danced with me. And then she came just, hey, I'm here with him. And I was like, oh. And I think some people were like, no, she's clearly. She's lesbian. I'm. Oh, wow. I guess we gotta be. Okay, we'll carry a flag and we'll hold a parade. Yeah, we have to do a whole goddamn parade.
Pete Holmes
Parade is necessary. It's actually not for the gays. It's for the confused straights, for everyone straight.
Harvey Guillen
So then, like, they're at the parade.
Milana Vayntrub
Oh.
Harvey Guillen
Oh, my God.
Pete Holmes
Flags are traditionally to tell other people, like, you should recognize us. You know what I mean? So it Is for the straights.
Harvey Guillen
It was for the straights. And the idea of, like, you know, coming out, it's always been, like, such a weird, like, thing to say coming out. I don't think that when people come out, like, when it's like, you know, coming out, people who are queer don't wake up one day and go, I think I'm gay.
Milana Vayntrub
Right?
Harvey Guillen
I'm gonna tell everyone today. Coming out sounds like you have just realized this and are making a choice or, like, it Coming out is something that, like, doesn't feel right to me. Because when someone tells you that they're queer, gay, bi, trans, look, it's not them coming out. It's letting you in. Someone's letting you in. It's not the first time they discover that day that they're like, I think I'm gay. No, they are nervous because of the reaction that might happen by letting you.
Milana Vayntrub
Right?
Harvey Guillen
And when people let you in, it's what you do with that information that determines how they continue to share that information.
Milana Vayntrub
Right.
Harvey Guillen
So when people let you in, like, when you let your parents in and they kick you out of the house, right. You are more hesitant to open your door and have visitors and say, I'm letting you in, so it's not coming out. I like to call it, I'm letting you in.
Milana Vayntrub
I love that.
Pete Holmes
I like that so much. I've never heard that, Right? Yeah, it sounds perfect. And how was it your parents, when you let them in?
Harvey Guillen
They were, like, so funny. It was almost like my mom just needed to know. She always kind of knew, but she would, like. She would hint like, oh, you see that? Oh, Adriana, like, my friend who's a lesbian, she was like, do you see that girl? I was like, yeah, Adriana. I was like, oh, she's so pretty. I was like, yeah, this is a boyfriend. Nope, no boyfriend. But I'm also not gonna, like, you know, tell her business to my mom. So, like, she's so pretty. You should have a boyfriend. It's up to her. It's like, you should date her. And I was like, mom, you know I'm queer, right? And she. She goes, well, I don't care, as long as you're happy. And then she just needed for peace of mind.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
It was never for me.
Pete Holmes
Is that really how it happened? You should date her, and you're like, I'm queer.
Harvey Guillen
And she was like, yeah, because you just needed to know. She wanted me to verbally say, so we. It was not being around the bush kind of, like moments of like, and did you.
Pete Holmes
Sorry.
Harvey Guillen
That's what it was. I was not being around the bush. I was just like, oh, you just need to know so we don't have to have this, like, these conversations again. So we don't. So she doesn't have to. Because she was like. She just wanted to know. And she was like, you know, she's really pretty. You should date her. And it's like, no, I think she's gonna date whoever she wants. You know, it's like, but you should date her. Someone like her. And it's like, I don't want to date her. You know? And then she was just like, oh. And then it was done.
Milana Vayntrub
Do you think she. That was her way of trying to feel it out? Like, she said that to you, too?
Harvey Guillen
Absolutely. Absolutely. Let's test. Yeah. Let's just say it. I think she was frustrated, like, you know, as the time was going by and years were going by, it's like a mother knows, I think, like, you know, pretty early on she knew, but it was just like, when are you gonna. It might have been like, a few. Maybe I can speak for my mom, but, like, it might have been to feel the comfort of, like, do you trust me enough? Yeah. So it might have been more like a. You don't know. You don't even trust me because you don't even feel comfortable telling me this. And you're already in your teens, you know, and you're like. It was like junior year in high school.
Pete Holmes
So let's have it off.
Harvey Guillen
Just have it. It's just like, everything's more like for her to feel maybe that I don't want to feel, that my son doesn't feel comfortable enough to tell me.
Pete Holmes
What about your step. Stepdad?
Harvey Guillen
My stepdad also, like, he was just like, no, no problem with it. Like, he was a chill and, like, he was. And he's a product of, like, old date. You know what I mean? So he was just, like, cool about it. He was just like, yeah, it was just like, I was very, very, very lucky. That's not the norm in a lot of, like, Latin, you know, families. That's not usually. It's, like, get kicked out, right? You're, like, you know, ostracized from the group or, like, told you, you know, don't come to the family. Don't tell people. Keep it to yourself. Like, you're giving rules and instructions. Like, just don't, you know, just don't let your grandma know. Show it in front of your uncle. Just don't let. Right Where I've heard stories like that, and it's like, oh, man. And that really upsets me because people already have a hard time letting you in.
Pete Holmes
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
And when you do, you're told, just close the blinds. Just don't. Don't leave the door open.
Milana Vayntrub
Right. Yeah. I'm fine with it as long as no one else knows about it or.
Harvey Guillen
Whatever that visual is. Like, you know, imagine going and like opening your door and someone comes in like, this is it. This is who I am. And they look at your art and they go, oh, cover that up. Then it's like, do not show. That's too much. And that.
Pete Holmes
Well, that's why pride is so. Every time I've been to a pride parade in New York or otherwise, it's always very emotional. It looks so whimsy. But I find it to be this, like, freeing and deep freedom.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And that's very stirring. And it's in correction, or this is my leading question. It seems like it's in correction of that tightness, that energy.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah. And it's also funny because, you know, lately, especially what's going on on in our nation, like, people are like, well, why don't we have like a, you know the joke of, like, we don't have straight. It's like, you have the rest of the year. It's like. Because that's like the one month that people can feel like authentically themselves. And you have. You're surrounded with people who are like minded, who are allies, who are like you, and you get to be, you know, and you should live with pride every day. Not just in the month of June, but it is a month that people go full out because it's like, yes. And like fabulous. You know, you have to live that fabulousness.
Pete Holmes
It's. It's paving it with truth.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
Pride. I know it. I didn't make up the word pride, but I mean, like an important pride.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah. And it feels so good to, you know, and what doesn't feel good is when you see a lot of, like, companies back away after, you know, like the fear of, like, being connected to this community. And it's like, were you just an ally because it was a number, you know, or a tax write up, or you're an ally because you do believe that everyone should live open, freely and happy, whatever sexuality, you know, and so that was like a. There's that kind of going on, you know. But I love pride. I love, you know, Altadena Pride. We're continuing to celebrate, going to New York Pride later. Yeah. So it's just. It's just fun because you have to remember that there's also that kid who lives in middle America who's looking at the TV secretly and being like, oh, man, I wish I was there. And they can't, because if they let people in, they won't have a home to live in like they literally are. In moments. You have to remember that we still have all those kids who are coming after us. Yeah.
Pete Holmes
It's a sacred thing. It is Forgive, and I'm trusting that you'll have boundaries. It's not a weird question, identifying as queer as opposed to gay. Would you educate me or help me understand that?
Harvey Guillen
Yeah. So when I say queer, it's like only compass. Because I. I grew up thinking, oh, I'm gay and I am gay. But I'm also like, oh, you know what? But that person's beautiful. If I'm attracted to someone who's beautiful and they are trans, it's like, oh, or that person's pan, or that person is bi. So I like to say, because I'm attracted to a lot of people, but gay being the main one. But I like to say queer because I think when we say queer, it's all encompassing.
Pete Holmes
I see.
Harvey Guillen
So I love all of my community.
Pete Holmes
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
So when I say I'm queer, I'm part of this community. I am queer. I am queer because I'm part of this community with primarily, you know, identifying as gay. But I like to say queer because I'm including all of us. I feel like sometimes there's seclusion, like, with. With our. With our own community. You know, like, it's like sometimes you go to West Hollywood and West Hollywood pride is a little different than going to, like, a pride like, you know, in Altadena or in downtown la because they have an image kind of sometimes that you're like, oh, that's what queer looks like, which is Adonis six pack, you know, muscles. And it's like. And that is a part of our community. But then it. There's also a division because, you know, a couple years ago, until this day, you know, you see like, people on dating apps like, no fats, no femmes. Like, the idea that even in your own community is like, it's. You're saying you're discriminating because you're like, this is what you're supposed to look like.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
And you have to be queer, but not, you know, no, femme. Do not be femme. And it's like, what? It's like. So when you say you're queer. You are part of a group. And, you know, and we are all accepting of this group from all of the letters and all of our groups. And so when you start dividing us, you're no different than the people around the world who's already doing that to us in general. You're doing it to your own community. And I feel like that's hurtful because singers are saying, everyone, gay rights. Ew, not if you're fat. You know, gay. Right. Ew, not if you're fat. Gay. Ew, not if you're Asian. Like, it's like, what are you doing?
Milana Vayntrub
Right.
Harvey Guillen
Like, you're just. You're literally dividing us from the inside. So it's like I'm saying queer because it's like, I'm queer because I'm part of a group. And I. And I. I continue to be part of a group and I support everyone in our group.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
When did that really blur into one thing for a time? Which, if you were a gay man, obviously this isn't true, but it started to seem like you are ripped and hyper masculine.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
Like, what was that correcting? I think it was putting that to everybody.
Harvey Guillen
Queer, like media sometimes, sometimes shows that as being the overall, you know, like when I did, like, I did a cover for the Advocate and they asked what I want to do and I was like, I want to do the COVID that Britney Spears did on Rolling Stones with a Teletubby.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
And I was like, midriff, stomach showing. And then I was like, how are they going to react to that? Because they. For historically, a lot of publications in queer media show the same guy in a speedo. Gay guy in a speedo. If it's someone in entertainment, it's them and a speeder, you know, or something. And I was like, great, let's do it. Let's. Let's show midriff. Blah, blah. I'll be wearing like a little about. And I'll be looking like Britney Spears. The Teletubby in my hand. And they went with it. They're like, yeah. And then I'm not even being funny.
Pete Holmes
Tinky winky.
Harvey Guillen
Was it Tinky Winky? Yeah. Well, no, I didn't do the. I think I did.
Pete Holmes
It wasn't Tinky Winky.
Harvey Guillen
It was a purple one, Right?
Milana Vayntrub
It was the purple one.
Harvey Guillen
I don't know. For the photo shoot, I used a nutcracker.
Pete Holmes
Is this real?
Harvey Guillen
Yeah. So I use a nutcracker on the phone like that. And like on a pink sheet. A bed sheet and. Yeah. And so it was received really well. Like it was like the most viewed like cover like that year or something. It could have been also because of both sides of someone. Be like, I love this and be like, what are you doing? You know? Yeah. And it could have been that, but I like to think that it was because people liked it and then. But also because that's not the norm. Like you don't usually see that on a cover of a, quote, queer magazine. So I was really like happy that they let me do that.
Pete Holmes
That's so fun.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah. I love that it says the representation matters thing, like with body.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Milana Vayntrub
Type especially too. I mean, like, that's, that still is like an area where we have to grow, where it's not just this limited view of like what's beautiful.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah. You know, and don't get me wrong, like I, you know, my type is like, I like everything across the board. Like bears, like big guys. Like, see, there's all these terminologies, you know, just like, what are you? A bear? You know?
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah. Category.
Harvey Guillen
Category and chaser. And like I just said. Yeah. Someone say, what did you do with the Marian boys? That's what it was. Yeah. Like, it was like I turned into Marilyn Monroe with overalls.
Milana Vayntrub
I know.
Harvey Guillen
Just like, that's what it was.
Milana Vayntrub
That voice is so good. And then you were just like shaking.
Harvey Guillen
At one point, like, oh yeah. Cuz it was like it was. The sun was going down and say, sure, he's getting chilly out here.
Milana Vayntrub
Perfect. Maryland again.
Harvey Guillen
But I should do that for pride. I should go Monroe in overalls. White overalls and they just don't flow.
Milana Vayntrub
Moran Monroe or Marilyn? Marilyn Mormone.
Harvey Guillen
Marilyn Mon Mor.
Pete Holmes
Very good. Very, very good.
Harvey Guillen
Oh God, yeah. So love it. Yeah.
Pete Holmes
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Harvey Guillen
Yes. In high school, my friend Roby and I, who are still one of my best friends now, we went, we ditched. Sorry. We, we played hooky from school because it was like, it was. Ditching was not okay. And they, it was my birthday week and I was like, let's go to the beach, you know? And I was like, yeah. And it's like, so us and two other friends, Tyler and Adriana. We went to the beach and we went to. Our favorite beach was in Corona del Mar, which is, like, in the OC. The crown of the ocean. And then. So it was really pretty, and the water's crystal clear. Not like when you go, like. You know, sometimes you go to Santa Monica, like, don't swim in that water, you know, just like. But when you go a bit little south, the water looks nicer, you know?
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
So we went there, but it was overcast, and there was, like, no one on the beach. And we're like, wow. The beach starts out, it's, like, cool. Unbeknownst to us, it was a storm, like, off the coast. And so we were like. We got in the water. It was hot and humid, but overcast. I was like, that's still weird, you know, like, storm weather, like that. Like, it's a summer storm. And we're in the water, and, like, we got in the water, and our friends were reading the Great Gatsby on the sand. And it was just us on the beach. No lifegirl was on duty. And so we go in, and the water's like, upturn. Next, we're like, well, this fun. And out of nowhere, the water just dropped to our knees, and we just went, like. And we looked at each other, and we. Like this, and we hear. And this giant wave just goes. When splashes as. And we go underwater, and I remember, like, getting cuts on the sand and, like, tumbling and, like, underwater and coming out, and there was just white foam everywhere. And it was like a. Like, it was a night. Nice. Wham. Like, it knocked us into the water. And I came back, and there was another one coming and another one. And I looked at Romy, and she's, like, spitting out water. I'm like, oh, my God. And I'm trying to gas for air, and I'm like, oh, my God. And I'm a pretty good swimmer. And so, like, another one comes and, like, pushes me out towards the. The coastline. And then I look back, and I'm like. I'm looking around, and she's got sucked in. She's got into the. Where the V is, so it's like, where it sucks you again. And I'm like, oh, my God. And I look out in the water. I'm like, oh, my God. And I'm starting to yell at our friends because I'm like. Because I'm halfway out, and I'm halfway in, and I'm like, oh, my God. Oh, my God. And I.
Milana Vayntrub
Hey.
Harvey Guillen
Hey. And, like, I can't even hear my own scream because it's like the fizzle from the white foam is so loud. It's like, hey. And, like, I'm, like, screaming. And then look at her, and I'm like, oh, my God. And I start swimming back to her, and then she. Look, the look in her eyes. She's getting hit. I go under again. I come out, and I'm swimming her, and she just goes, just get out. And she's, like, crying. And I was just like, oh, God. It's like, no. And so now I'm crying. I'm crying in the water. Salt in my eyes, like, crying in the water. I go back, I literally get her, and I Holding her hand. We get swiped again, under, but I can feel like we're twisting underwater, and I'm just trying to hold on. And I. I have to let her go because we're, like, completely getting tangled. And we come back up, but she's still there. So then I go back, and she's wearing a sports bra. Like, a top sports bra with a little thing in the back. So I hooked my hand in her sports bra like that, and I just start dragging her with me. And, like, at one point, she just stopped. She's just like. She gave up, and she's just not swimming. And, like, we're being pushed underwater, but I'm not letting her go. We're tumbling around. She gets cuts on her knees because she hits a rock in the bottom. And then, like, we came out, and I'm literally pulling her out. I drag her all the way out. We both fall in the sand. We're spitting up water, and we look up at her friends, and they're like, hey, guys.
Milana Vayntrub
What?
Pete Holmes
Like, they didn't even notice.
Harvey Guillen
They did not notice that we were dying. Oh. And they're like, literally like this. And they go, hi. Like, it was just, like, the most. I'm like, what? Like blood?
Pete Holmes
Like, that's how good the Great Gats feels. It will pull you in.
Harvey Guillen
Then imagine somebody dying in water. That's crazy. Wow.
Milana Vayntrub
That is unbelievable.
Harvey Guillen
We didn't go back in the water for six years.
Milana Vayntrub
Whoa.
Harvey Guillen
And the next time we did go back together, we went out together, we held hands. Like, we Back into the ocean. We're like, are you ready? Like, let's do it.
Milana Vayntrub
Oh, my God. You saved your friend's life.
Pete Holmes
You're grabbing her sports brush, gives up. You swim her in.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Milana Vayntrub
But it's also.
Harvey Guillen
Some people say, oh, my God.
Milana Vayntrub
Holy cow, what a good friend you are. And what bad friends your other friends got?
Pete Holmes
Well, the worst book nuts.
Harvey Guillen
They. Neither of them. The reason they didn't go in is because they don't swim. And it would have been worse if they actually did go in, because now we would have three bodies in the water. There was no way we would have all made it out of that. Like, it was like, oh, my God. So the two people who did swim, and Romy, who's a pretty good swimmer, but she's always said, like, you're a better swimmer than I am. Because I was like, thank God. Like, just that moment was really, like, I never want to be in that situation. So, like, you know now, like, make sure my nieces aren't gonna swim class, you know, like, it's just, like, never want anybody to be in that situation. We're like, imagine if they. We would have been all four of us on a boat, and something would have happened.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
Two of us can't swim, you know, and it's up to the other two people to be like, oh, my God. Like, it's like, I have to. What do I do? You know, just like.
Pete Holmes
And if two of you can't swim now, you guys half can't swim, you know, so automatically you're a 50% swimmer.
Harvey Guillen
So when they come over or, like, if we just have a pool day or something, you stay over there, you stand outside, just like, wow, what an intense story.
Pete Holmes
Yet I'm glad I heard it. What a. What did you know?
Milana Vayntrub
It is an incredible story. How old were you?
Harvey Guillen
We were juniors in high school, and this was the group that was queer, so all of us in the group were queer. And we're all friends since high school, and we all felt comfortable, and we formed this, like, it was two boys and two girls, and just like, we formed this lifelong friendship to this day. I just had dinner with them two nights ago. We had pride. Yeah. So, like, it's just like you find your. You find your group.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And you save their ass.
Milana Vayntrub
There's.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah, but they saved me in many other ways, you know, so that's not what Rob Lowe said.
Milana Vayntrub
Physically, actually.
Pete Holmes
How did they save you?
Harvey Guillen
I mean, just, like, they're always there for me and, like, friendship that, like, you know, when you go through a breakup or when you go through, like, something hard or death in the family, you know, they're. We've always been there for each other, so it's always like, they've saved me in different ways. So. Yeah, it's always nice. I can save you physically. Physically.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah. I'll save you physically, emotionally. Please, please save me emotionally.
Pete Holmes
And where are you? We talked a little bit about the afterlife potentialities and energies and stuff. Do you have any, like, overarching take on what reality is? Any sort of God? Any sort of.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah, I feel like, you know, this is like. It's so crazy to think that, like, just, like, what's going on in LA and across the country and like, the way we treat human beings where it's like, like that's. It's such a waste of time to treat people and dehumanize them when our time on Earth is so limited that it feels like a waste of time and it feels cruel and it feels intentional and out of cruelty. I can't imagine you going to any afterlife or universe where that is welcome. So it's like, remind yourself that this is temporary. We're on Earth for a short period of time, even 100 years short, you know, and think about what you want to leave behind is the way that you. You left, you know, this Earth or the way that you treated people. And if you think of that for just a second, maybe you should rethink the choices you're making and the way you're treating people. And that goes across for anyone who. Who's. Who's mean and treats people less than a human being.
Milana Vayntrub
Right. Yeah.
Pete Holmes
I'm forgetting who said it because I think Father Greg Bole said it, but I think he's quoting Mother Teresa and she said, the problem is we forgot we belong to each other.
Milana Vayntrub
That's right.
Pete Holmes
And everything comes back to that lack of kinship and that cherished belonging.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah. It's a huge.
Pete Holmes
I think you're right on the money.
Milana Vayntrub
Misunderstanding when we're cruel to each other. It's like you're doing that to yourself, essentially.
Pete Holmes
And the answer then is remembering that we belong to each other, obviously. Yeah, I think that's beautiful. So when you. I know that's a very practical. We were on the Earth, and now I'm kind of asking you to zoom out. Like, you think maybe when we die, it goes on or there's something else.
Harvey Guillen
Like I said, energy is just, you know, in essence is tangible. Your intentions are gonna go forward with positivity or negativity. So what kind of energy are gonna be for the next person who's into your home, or the energy for the next person who needs positive energy around them to overlook them like ancestors? And are you gonna be a positive energy that helps guide people who are living, or you're gonna be. Be still an asshole? And jerk and be negative even in the afterlife. So for me, it's like, do the positive things, so then it comes natural. Then if you do, you know, present yourself to someone in the future, you're positive energy and they're not scared of, you know.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah. Please no more.
Pete Holmes
Well, that's where Richard Rohre, he goes, it's heaven all the way to heaven. It's like. It's not like heaven or union with God starts when we die. It's something that we not can just practice, but experience now and create together.
Harvey Guillen
Why wait to get to heaven?
Pete Holmes
Why wait?
Harvey Guillen
Creating it now and living also.
Pete Holmes
Where are you right now? I. I don't mean we're in heaven. I just mean like the idea that you could unite with an infinite God later. I think we're being sustained by that right now. And you can get in touch. Because if I'm being sustained by it, you are. Which means deep down, we're exactly the same. I like to think of it like wind in all these different sails, but the same wind. Yeah, that's what love is. Is recognizing there shared existence the same exact thing as what we are.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah, I love that.
Pete Holmes
Beautiful.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
Where's Rob Low?
Milana Vayntrub
Where is Roblo?
Pete Holmes
Is not aging somewhere perfect? Well, we do have another final question. Other than the God stuff, can you remember a time in your life that you laughed really, really, really, really, really, really hard? Which is so funny, Harvey, because my. By the way, what is your actual name? I know Harvey is what you told people.
Harvey Guillen
Harvey's my stage name. Because my legal name is Javier.
Pete Holmes
Javier.
Harvey Guillen
My first agent ever, who was Mexican himself was like, I don't know, your name might be like, it'll typecast you into playing only like, certain parts. And like, maybe you'll try. What do people call you? And I was like, well, everyone calls me Javi. And like, Javi became Harvey. So Javi was like. And I kind of like that. At first I was really against it, cuz I was like, no, I like my name. Javier was my biological father's name. And I was like, I like my name and whatnot. And then they're like, well, you're not gonna work. And he. I was like, I guess, you know, Hollywood, you know, cuz this is a man who, you know, has four clients. So like, I'm sure you know, like.
Pete Holmes
Look, you and your three other clients all agree.
Harvey Guillen
I don't think they exist yet. Two of them were dogs and they.
Milana Vayntrub
Were all named Ruby.
Pete Holmes
Actually.
Harvey Guillen
Watch me.
Pete Holmes
One was Rob Lowe. Killing it for him.
Harvey Guillen
He was killing It. But I was like. At first, I was really kind of upset, and I had turmoil with it. And then I was talking to someone who was. Whose mom was friends with, like, Brad Pitt's mom or something. And they were. The person who was mom was friends with Brad Pitt's mom. They're an actor, a wannabe actor. They're up and coming. And they said, hey, can you have them ask their son when he had advice? And their advice was, change your name. It's because when you're in a crowded room, when someone calls you by your legal name, you know you have a rooted connection, like a family or friend or real lifelong friend, as opposed to when someone calls you by a stage name that, you know, they know you as a personality and an entertainer. And I actually love that now. So when I'm in a credit room and some people have tried it. Don't try it. I'm telling you. Don't. Because people try it, and they try to use my legal name to get my attention. They go, javi. And I'm like, I don't know you.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah. Sacred Special.
Harvey Guillen
And they know. They did that. Yeah. Because if I use y'.
Pete Holmes
All.
Harvey Guillen
Get your. And I was like, that's what we do.
Pete Holmes
That's my exact philosophy with nicknames. Every single friend I have has a nickname.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And I feel very strongly about it. I. When I went, this is.
Harvey Guillen
So what's my nickname?
Pete Holmes
We haven't known each other that long.
Harvey Guillen
Oh, wow.
Milana Vayntrub
Wow. Rude.
Pete Holmes
Also, Harvey's already a fun name, but we'll get there.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Milana Vayntrub
Oh, yeah.
Pete Holmes
It's gonna be something dumb, though. It's gonna be Har Har or something dumb. They're not good nicknames. Even in distress, she called me Pants.
Harvey Guillen
Because that's the connection.
Pete Holmes
Cop pulls you over, they know your name.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
But she knows that I'm Pants, and I like that.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And she. You know, you're a million different things, and my daughter is a million different things. I also just like reminding people that, like, we can call each other whatever we want.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
There's this sort of freedom. I call my daughter Better Mama. Sometimes it makes absolute nose.
Milana Vayntrub
I call you Mama or you'll call me L.J. but, like, on purpose, which is her name. Like, we'll call some. Especially if one of us is being sweet or endearing, we'll call each other her name.
Pete Holmes
Yeah.
Milana Vayntrub
It's like this way.
Harvey Guillen
I don't know.
Milana Vayntrub
It's sort of this way of like, I'm calling you the name of the thing that I love the Most right now. Or you're just sort of like, we're all this sort of unit. I don't know.
Pete Holmes
Because when I was a kid and went from Peter to Pete, I remember going like, oh, I have some agency in this world. My parents named me Peter, which I wasn't. I don't have an issue with Peter. I like being called Peter. But I was like. I remember when I was like, wait, I decide. Yeah, I can tell people my name is Pete. And it felt like this. The first little mark on the canvas was that I could change my name. I've always wanted Leela, who we call Lee, who we call lj, who we call a million different things. To have that power to name things. It feels so special to me. So we'll get there. Har.
Harvey Guillen
Harvey. Har Har.
Milana Vayntrub
It probably is that. Look at how he's lighting up. Yeah.
Pete Holmes
I love it so much.
Milana Vayntrub
But wait, the hardest.
Pete Holmes
The hardest. No, we're not. Yeah.
Milana Vayntrub
I wouldn't forget. I thought you were the hardest laugh.
Pete Holmes
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
The hardest laugh in your life.
Pete Holmes
The time you laugh the hardest.
Harvey Guillen
Oh, man.
Pete Holmes
But I do want to stress this. It doesn't have to be a good story.
Milana Vayntrub
It doesn't have to be a good story.
Pete Holmes
The way I like to go into it is like, maybe you were a kid, maybe you fell. Maybe someone fell, maybe someone farted. Like, these are common things. Maybe it was in a place you're not supposed to laugh.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
Like a church or a library. And also, who were you with? Who made you laugh when you were little? Can help you in oftentimes people are on drugs.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
But it doesn't have to be that.
Harvey Guillen
I think the hardest I laugh has been, like, reliving stories with my friend Romy. The one from the beach.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
Just.
Pete Holmes
You saved.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Milana Vayntrub
Whose life I saved.
Harvey Guillen
Forgot that part. But whose life I saved. We just have had a connection where, like, she's. Her humor is so. Like, she'll relive a story. Like, she would tell that story in the way that I would be laughing about us almost dying. Like, she would tell the story and then tell me how her nipples were hanging out or something. She would tell a story where it's. It makes light of it. It makes it so laugh. Because sometimes the scariest things in life you have to laugh at. And then that's the funniest thing, because it's the complete opposite of where you were. You were in this fearful place of death and terror. And now we can be light about it and be like, oh, my God. But recently we're doing something. And she reminded me of a trip we took to Portland and we stayed in a hotel. And I was so mad that, like, we went to the bathroom. Went to the bathroom, and the. This thing was like, loose. The flush on the toilet. I was like. And I was like. And I got us a good room. And I was so mad. And. And I was. I called and I was like, excuse me. And I. I made exaggerated story. Like, I'm like, you know, the toilet's, like, not flushing, get clogged up and blah, blah. And then, like, I was like. And I was so mad. And this was, like, years and years ago because I get so mad. Like, when you envision what you paid for, you're like, I got this really cool room. And when she tells the story, it's like, remember that one time, Portland, you called and said, hello, yes, the toilet's clogged up and it's all your fault. She changed the story where I have to laugh at it because I was like, that's pretty much what I came across. I was just upset because I was so mad that I had gotten us this room and it was supposed to be really cool, like, you know, best friends getaway, and the toilet's not flushing and not the view that I had paid for and blah, blah. And I was like, that's not fair. I asked for blah, blah, blah, blah. And that's, you know, me just being like, you know, huffing, puffing, and the way she was. She could just look at me and just laugh because she. It rolls off her back matter to her, you know, but then she looks back. So I remember that one time because she's my makeup artist now. Like, she does all my makeup events. Like, she's a professional makeup artist, so she's doing makeup. Remember that one time when you call the front desk, you're like, hello, the toilet's clogged up and it's all your fault.
Pete Holmes
The essence of it. Yeah, it helps you see yourself as almost like a parody. I love that.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah, it's the zooming out.
Harvey Guillen
And she zooms out the whole story. Yeah, she does it for me. And I'm like, that's a gift. I'm ridiculous. And she's like, yeah. And then we start laughing.
Pete Holmes
You know, usually that's the last question, but I'm. I'm compelled to ask you. I feel like I. I'm inspired by you. I feel like I want to know what you would tell the young people. Let's get a lot of them all at once. That want to be in show business, that want to be an improviser, that want to be an actor, be a comedian, all these wonderful things that you are. Is there one general piece of advice that you would give? You already said be present, which is so wonderful. So you can expound on that or maybe something. Yeah, but I feel those people going, like, I mean, you did it. You're doing this incredible thing. What do you want to say to these folks?
Harvey Guillen
I think that, you know, for anyone who wants to get into entertainment or the arts in any way, just remember that it's, you know, of course it's tough, you know, and you have to work hard, but always, always be ready. Like, always be, you know, people always ask me, what should I do? I was like, then be taking improv classes. We take. We, you know, be part of. Of a theater class. We part. Always be learning, if you can, especially when you're younger, because no one teaches you the things that you need to know when you get to set or when you get, you know, back to 1 marks, which is the minutiae of, like, entertainment for.
Pete Holmes
You're right. When you get there, they think.
Harvey Guillen
You think you already know because you got your big break. My first time on tv. Okay, back to one. What's that?
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
No one tells you those things.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
I would recommend spend a day on set if you can. Even if it's. It's like on a student film.
Pete Holmes
This advice you're giving, I read it in a book. It's like the geography of success. It's like, where do you go? You're saying, like, go to set. Go to a theater. Be with.
Harvey Guillen
Be around the verbiage and the actors and what they're saying and talking geography. Yeah. Be around it and be consumed by it. So you know the language and you know what they're talking about. Even if you're not on that mark, you are adjacent listening to it. And be like. That's what that means. Be on your mark. Back to what? Got it. Got it. Got it Back. Oh, that sucks. No one teaches you that. When you get to set and then you look like you're green and you are green, but you don't. You already feel self conscious about being green on a set that you don't know anybody you're expected to be in front of. Never been in front of the camera. Wow. It's a lot of people behind that camera that. Boom, guys. Pretty close. Those lights are pretty hot. And you start getting this idea of like, oh, my God, was I ready for this? You were ready. You are ready if you were prepared. And if you were prepared, you're just waiting for your shot to stand on that mark. And once you stand on that mark, it's just a breeze for you to tap into it.
Pete Holmes
You're so right. I just did another movie last week where it flex and then we'll edit that out. It's good for the goose. But the. I was talking to the script supervisor about how we both love Paul Thomas Anderson and how he wants to be a director and that's his hero. It's my hero, too. And I was like. And here he is, the script supervisor. Not that that's like, this demeaning thing, but it was an independent movie. He's doing script supervisor. Why? Because he wants to be on set. And they'll let you be on set if you monitor the lines and make sure everybody's getting them right. So, like, it's not his dream to be the script supervisor, but he wanted to be in the mix.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
It's also reminding me, when I was in Chicago and I was obsessed with improv, I had a little bit too much of this. Where I went to. It was this group called Baby Wants Camp that I was obsessed with, and Peter Gwynn and all these great improvisers were on the team. And I went in, and I was with my first wife at the time. And I walked in.
Milana Vayntrub
Can I talk to you for a second?
Harvey Guillen
We'll be right back. A dog with, like, the plug in its mouth. Insert here.
Pete Holmes
But I just walked in because I just wanted to watch them rehearse. Rehearse. And that. That had worked enough times that, like, I would go somewhere and just be like, I just want to watch. And that day, rightfully, they were like, you can't. Like, that's insane. This is a closed rehearsal. So it wouldn't work every once in a while, but, like. Yeah, a lot of times it would.
Harvey Guillen
But find a way that it does work.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
And also remember that, like, embarrassment. Yes. Risk the embarrassment. And also ask questions, because people are afraid to ask questions. No one told you where to look to get an agent, where to submit your stuff to, like, you know, be seen. And I remember going back to my college and me doing a whole class and my professor, like, thank you. Because even then, like, they. All they taught you was the acting portion, but they didn't even know where to send you off to go get an agent or where to be doing student films or where to look for, you know, potential auditions. And the idea is that you know, and also another thing that we do is we always compare ourselves to other people. You have to stop comparing yourself to other people. Because if I compare myself to other person, I know people can dance circles around me. People can sing better than me. But this business is not about talent, because talent is. Is a dime a dozen. We have so much talent around us at all times. This business is about tenacity. The other two, not about talent necessarily. You have to have talent. You got to be, you know, something. You gotta have something there. But it's about tenacity, because every step is a stepping stone in the right direction. So when those lows are really low, just remember that you have tenacity and you got to take other stepping stone.
Pete Holmes
Edit that out.
Milana Vayntrub
I love.
Pete Holmes
I loved that so much. Because sometimes I'm disturbed. I'll go on the Internet. You ever been on the Internet?
Harvey Guillen
What's that?
Pete Holmes
I go on the interweb and. Valen, we were just talking about this. Like, so many people can sing. I'm not trying to put down singing, but you'll see on YouTube. Oh, my God.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
This is the best singer in the world. Or a lot. Most people can do a little bit of acting, and a lot of people are incredible at acting. So. You're absolutely right. Talent is, like, only kind of part of it.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
There has to be. I would almost add the, like, a weird delusion that I had when I was young where I was like, this is inevitable.
Harvey Guillen
I was like, felt like, well, the talent is. Remember that your talent is not my talent. Like, your talent is so unique to you. I can't replicate you. So when your talents shine is because no one can do what you can do and no one can do what I can do. No one can do what you do, because that's your talent. You added yourself into what your art is. And then people. You got to get someone like, you know, Pete, you got to get someone like, you know, become a type. You have to become where everybody. Everyone's looking at you. They want that for this character. And they know you can create something in this world that's your talent. Your talent is that you can do your art in your vessel, and it's so rare that it has to be you.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah. I also wonder if you feel like another piece of the pie is like, being someone people want to work with. That's why I love the story. And I'm remembering now it was our friend Milana Vayntrub who told the ME the story of your audition and the way she Basically told it because we were so excited after we met you and we came back home and we were like, we met Harvey and we laughed and he was so fun. And she was like, yeah, Harvey basically got what we do in the shadows because he's so fun at a party.
Harvey Guillen
Literally. Yeah.
Milana Vayntrub
Like that's how it started. Of course you worked really hard, got.
Pete Holmes
That element of the story.
Harvey Guillen
So when the opportunity comes, it could have been gone sour. I could have gone an audition and not been prepared. Of course I would have been funny at a party and then gone to the audition and be like, wow, right?
Milana Vayntrub
You have to have both. Yeah, you have to, you have to have the goods to back it up for sure.
Pete Holmes
But I was just talking. Sorry, we.
Milana Vayntrub
Well, just that, that. And it wasn't even just that you were fun. It was that like you are, you, you are so present when you're with someone. So that, and that is like a good, that's good acting. Like you were saying, like being present. So I'm sure they saw something in you.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah. I also remember reading Tina Fey's book about something that popped out is like, you never want to work with someone that you wouldn't mind bumping into after 16 hour days on set at 4am in the morning on the hallway.
Milana Vayntrub
Yes.
Harvey Guillen
You always want to work with your friends. You always work with people that you're like, I know it's going to be tough. The hours are long.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Harvey Guillen
Hours along on set. And then you just want to be. Yes, you can like make. Here we go. You know, whatever. But like never to be that energy that brings the morale down. You know, I'm the opposite. I go the extreme of like, you know, cheer, like dance. Because, because it's, it starts from like the top. Even though the director's like, ah, here we go. But usually the director's pretty good about controlling that narrative. And then it goes to the actors and if the actors are showing like, then the makeup and hair department, like, oh man, I don't want to touch them up. They're in a bad mood. And then it goes down to the grip and then it goes down and everyone is just like on edge. And then the set becomes.
Pete Holmes
Yeah. Where they're doing surgery.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah. And we're not doing surgery. Yeah.
Pete Holmes
And you're not doing surgery. We're very similar in that way. I've been on shows and I'm like, why are we doing, doing this this way?
Milana Vayntrub
So serious.
Harvey Guillen
And even like with Judy did that, you know, we're on set, like, it's just like having fun and being light about like the table scene. And just like if something goes wrong and the light doesn't work, like, we're just like, it'll get fixed and it'll be fun. Let's just have fun. And then making you laugh across the stage. It was my favorite.
Pete Holmes
I wish we were in more scenes.
Harvey Guillen
I know that was our only scene together.
Pete Holmes
The last thing I was gonna say about showbiz because I was just talking to a friend who's had a lot of success is it's like it's about doing. Because you see said it a couple things in a row. Meaning you were charming at a party. Great. That's one thing. The next thing is to do to stack that with a good audition.
Harvey Guillen
Right?
Pete Holmes
Meaning like anybody, not anybody, but a lot of people get lucky with one good audition or one good pitch. But it's like you have to nail five things in a row and then everybody goes, okay, there's some reliability here. And that's what I hear. Charming at a party. Great. Got you in the door. Good at the audition and then nailed it at the show.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're right.
Milana Vayntrub
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
Love it. Need it.
Milana Vayntrub
Good job.
Harvey Guillen
Trajectory.
Pete Holmes
Do it.
Harvey Guillen
Trajectory.
Pete Holmes
Grab that sports bra and bring that career.
Harvey Guillen
Bring it home.
Pete Holmes
Right to the shore.
Harvey Guillen
Yeah.
Pete Holmes
Dragging it by the bra.
Harvey Guillen
We'll be right back after these messages.
Pete Holmes
Harvey, thank you. You are a delight.
Harvey Guillen
Thank you.
Pete Holmes
My treasure. Dammit.
Harvey Guillen
Damn it.
Milana Vayntrub
Damn it. We're gonna find you a nickname. Cause we love you.
Harvey Guillen
Hearty Har Harv.
Milana Vayntrub
Hearty Har har.
Harvey Guillen
Oh my God.
Pete Holmes
It we have the guests say keep it crispy at the end. That's how we end the show. Doesn't mean anything strange. It's just written over there was like.
Milana Vayntrub
Why is it here?
Pete Holmes
Keep it crispy so you can say it. I would ask you to say it in Spanish but nobody knows how to say it in Spanish. There's no way to say it.
Milana Vayntrub
Oh, it's great.
Harvey Guillen
Nobody knows in Spanish. I do. You're the first.
Pete Holmes
Everyone has been like. Like you can say like. What does that mean? Literally, keep it.
Harvey Guillen
Keep it crispy.
Pete Holmes
Why did this whole time I've thought you Katie's been here. Every Spanish speaking guest has been like that. You can say I guess I am.
Harvey Guillen
One of a kind.
Pete Holmes
Crunchy.
Harvey Guillen
I guess you're pretty special guy. Me and my friends the ghost are leaving.
Pete Holmes
Would you had once in an Eng.
Harvey Guillen
Okay. Keep it crispy. De. Keep it crispy.
Pete Holmes
Metro PCs.
Harvey Guillen
Metro P. We did it. We did it.
Milana Vayntrub
Fun chat.
Pete Holmes
I loved every second of it.
Pete Holmes welcomes comedian and actor Harvey Guillén to his podcast, praising him as "one of the funniest people" he's ever met. Known for his roles in What We Do in the Shadows and Blue Beetle, Harvey shares personal stories, insights into his career, and deep reflections on life, community, and identity.
Harvey opens up about a harrowing experience involving a house fire that narrowly spared his home. He recounts how the lack of timely evacuation notices led to the fire reaching his neighborhood unexpectedly while he was at a musical rehearsal.
Notable Quote:
"I looked out through my kitchen, and I saw this, like, red ball just, like, glowing in the distance. Like, what is that?" ([04:43])
Despite his initial disbelief, Harvey took swift action to protect his house by activating sprinklers, which successfully contained part of the blaze. His neighbor, Ronald, an 80-year-old, fought the fire fiercely, but Harvey made the critical decision to flee, ultimately saving his home from total destruction.
Harvey expresses immense pride in the Altadena community's resilience following the fire. He highlights the ongoing efforts to rebuild and maintain vibrant community events like Altadena Pride, emphasizing that such initiatives help preserve the artistic and cultural fabric of the area.
Notable Quote:
"We're going to rebuild and we're not going to let something stop us from continuing to be a community." ([07:54])
Harvey invites listeners to join in supporting Altadena Pride, showcasing the community’s dedication to unity and celebration despite adversity.
The conversation shifts to Harvey’s childhood, revealing his imaginative nature and early love for acting. Growing up in Orange County, he was the outgoing kid who talked to everyone and everything, including animals. Harvey describes how watching musicals like Annie inspired him to pursue acting, leading him to create elaborate pretend scenarios with costumes and props.
He discusses the challenges of revealing his legal name, Javier, and adopting his stage name, Harvey, to avoid typecasting in Hollywood. His supportive stepdad played a crucial role in nurturing his acting ambitions, often driving him to auditions without raising suspicion with his busy single mother.
Notable Quote:
"I fell in love with acting when I watched Annie as a kid. I was like, what are they doing? Singing and dancing." ([21:15])
Harvey also touches on his responsibilities growing up, especially after discovering he had a sibling he never met until age eight. Balancing his passion for acting with caretaking his younger brothers and sister showcased his early maturity and commitment.
Harvey shares an engaging and humorous account of his audition process for the popular series What We Do in the Shadows. Invited by a new acquaintance, Yvonne, Harvey seized the opportunity to audition for the role of Guillermo.
During the audition, Harvey fully embodied the character by altering his appearance with a sweater vest, Harry Potter glasses, and styling his hair to match Guillermo del Toro’s vision. The process was seamless, but initially, the casting team felt he was too young for the role of Guillermo.
However, after persisting and demonstrating his compatibility with the show's dynamic, Harvey was eventually cast. This story underscores the importance of preparation, adaptability, and perseverance in the acting industry.
Notable Quote:
"You have to be present. Just give it everything you have in that moment." ([50:34])
Harvey delves into his approach to acting, emphasizing being present and avoiding over-rehearsal to maintain authenticity in performances. On What We Do in the Shadows, the show heavily incorporates improvisation, allowing actors to bring spontaneity and genuine reactions to their roles.
He highlights the camaraderie on set, particularly his friendship with co-star Kayvan Novak, and how this bond enhances their on-screen chemistry. Harvey credits the show's creators, Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, for fostering an environment that encourages fun and creativity, making the acting experience both enjoyable and enriching.
Notable Quote:
"The character lives in today in this moment. So you can only give that." ([50:34])
Harvey shares his contemplative views on life, energy, and the afterlife. He believes that energy is a tangible essence that persists beyond physical existence, influencing and coexisting with the living. This perspective shapes his interactions and his understanding of the interconnectedness of all beings.
He recounts his move into a new house and the subsequent eerie experiences that led him to believe in lingering energies from past inhabitants. Through rituals like burning sage and installing stained glass with peacock motifs—symbolic of a past bachelor who perhaps struggled with his identity—Harvey sought to harmonize the house’s energy, making it a positive and welcoming space.
Notable Quote:
"Energy is just, you know, in essence is tangible. Your intentions are gonna go forward with positivity or negativity." ([90:20])
Harvey narrates a terrifying near-death experience from his high school years. While celebrating his birthday at Corona del Mar beach with friends, an unexpected summer storm unleashed powerful waves that endangered their lives.
During the ordeal, Harvey demonstrated remarkable bravery by saving his friend Romy, whom he and others nearly lost to the relentless waves. This incident not only solidified his bond with his friends but also profoundly impacted his outlook on life and the importance of loyalty and courage.
Notable Quote:
"We didn't go back in the water for six years." ([87:40])
The discussion shifts to Harvey’s personal journey of embracing his queer identity. He differentiates between identifying as gay and using the broader term "queer," which encompasses a diverse range of sexual orientations and identities within the LGBTQ+ community.
Harvey explains that "queer" allows him to acknowledge his attraction to various identities without limiting himself to a single label. He emphasizes the importance of unity and inclusivity within the community, critiquing the internal divisions that sometimes arise based on superficial attributes like body type.
Notable Quote:
"When I say queer, it's like, I'm queer because I'm part of this community with primarily, you know, identifying as gay." ([76:15])
Harvey also shares his experience of coming out to his parents during high school, highlighting their supportive and accepting reactions. This acceptance from both his biological mother and his stepdad played a crucial role in his ability to live authentically.
Notable Quote:
"When you let your parents in, it's what you do with that information that determines how they continue to share that information." ([71:19])
Towards the end of the episode, Harvey offers heartfelt advice to those aspiring to enter the entertainment industry. He stresses the importance of perseverance, continuous learning, and being present. Harvey encourages future actors to immerse themselves in the environment—such as spending time on sets, taking improv classes, and understanding the intricacies of acting beyond just the performance aspects.
He also advises against comparing oneself to others, emphasizing that each person’s talent is unique and invaluable. According to Harvey, success in the arts requires tenacity and a willingness to embrace opportunities, even when they seem unconventional or challenging.
Notable Quote:
"This business is about tenacity. The other two, not about talent necessarily." ([101:19])
The episode concludes with playful banter about nicknames and personal anecdotes, showcasing the camaraderie and genuine friendship between Pete, Harvey, and co-host Milana Vayntrub. They joke about creating affectionate nicknames and share amusing interactions from their professional collaborations, highlighting the joy and laughter that define their relationship.
The episode of You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes featuring Harvey Guillén is a rich tapestry of personal stories, professional insights, and profound reflections. From overcoming personal trauma and embracing community resilience to navigating the complexities of identity and the entertainment industry, Harvey's candid conversation offers listeners both inspiration and relatability. His emphasis on presence, authenticity, and tenacity serves as valuable guidance for aspiring artists and anyone seeking to live authentically.
Notable Closing Quote:
"It's a very fun show. We just couldn't handle how fun." ([00:00])
This comprehensive summary captures the essence of Harvey Guillén's engaging discussion on the podcast, providing valuable takeaways and memorable moments for those who haven't yet listened.