PaleyFest LA 2026: Shrinking

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:04]When I was watching uh um the finale backstage and and crying quietly to myself, the uh something struck me about Michael that I I didn't know I was going to ask. I love your physicality as an actor. And um uh it's just fascinating to me because even if it's you lounging around on Alice's bed while you don't pack, you know, which we just saw, or you going down and finding, you know, the joy in your daughter is being born and going down that kind of walk and dancing, that it's in every scene you're in you kind of uh uh uh bring, you know, that physical attribute of the character to it. Is that a conscious decision, or is it from your background in theater? Because to me, you've managed to somehow perform to the back row without performing to the back row, if that makes sense.

[00:00:48]>> Wow. That Thank you. That that um >> [cheering] [applause] >> Um Well, yeah. I mean, in in the in the theater you you are playing to the back row. So, I've never felt more at home >> [laughter] >> in a room like this.

[00:01:07]But >> [cheering] >> also also, you know, like yeah, I mean, God, they're all you're all the way up there.

[00:01:14]It's really amazing. Yeah.

[00:01:17]When So so for so long when I was first, you know, an actor, I would be told do less. And, you know, they would see me on camera for an a television audition, and I would be doing, you know, I'd be doing Much Ado About Nothing for my Law & Order audition, and they would be like, "Do less. Do less.

[00:01:36]That's too much. That's That's way too much." And and and and I've never been told that on this show. No one's ever said "Do less." And um >> [applause and cheering] >> I There's something about this group of people and and that that we're so different from each other. Every one of us is so different, and And I feel so privileged as an actor that does um bigger things that I get to be I get to play in this a smaller playground sometimes. And I think that Brian, this character that I play, he he is a he is a big personality and he has a lot of uh he has a he has a a lot of exterior limbs that that go akimbo when when when he feels things and uh and and in this chosen family, that's that's the that's him and they love him for it. They they they don't judge Well, maybe they judge him for it, but they they love him for it and and uh I I I'm so when I read this script, how long do you have? No, when I read this [laughter] When I read When I read the first script, I my my character's not in the first episode.

[00:02:45]You see me very briefly and I thought, "Oh, I wonder how someone like me is going to fit into this sweet like the um quieter world where people are talking about their feelings and going through real things." And then and then here comes, you know, back back at the house Yuri to to like [laughter] And and I and I didn't know. And I thought, "Whatever it is, I can tell by how delicately this show weaves the comedy and the drama that I'm going to get to do some really funny stuff and then I'm going to get to go to the the the heart of this guy." When we started the show, I like my character's Yeah, would always say, "Everything goes my way." And then like right away, it didn't. And I'm so glad because I get to I get to fall and um and and I have it's a it's a very lucky thing. And who knew that I would get to be on prestige television?

[00:03:35]>> [laughter] >> You know?

[00:03:38]Back at the house, Yuri. Back at the house, Yuri. Back at the house.

[00:03:56]>> Mhm.