The cast of '3rd Rock From the Sun' reunited at VultureFestival to chat about the joys of table reads with John Lithgow, “hostile” April Fools’ pranks with William Shatner, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s very special interview with Tiger Beat
Photo: Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Vulture You’ve heard it a million times: There’s no reason a show like 3rd Rock From the Sun — which chronicles the hijinks of four aliens masquerading as humans on planet Earth — should’ve survived beyond a discarded pilot. And yet, when you get John Lithgow , Joseph Gordon-Levitt , Kristen Johnson , and French Stewart in the same room, the chemistry speaks for itself.
JL: This whole Frasier thing, I actually didn’t even remember it being offered to me. I was never going to do a sitcom. I was sort of ambushed by Bonnie and Terry Turner and Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner and Caryn Mandabach at this historic breakfast. I thought I was just having a chummy breakfast with Bonnie and Terry, my old friends from their SNL writing days. I sat down and saw the whole power structure of Carsey-Werner and I suddenly realized, “I’m being pitched.
JL: I was there when French went in to audition for this, and we’d already seen about 20 people for the role of Harry. He walked in, and we suddenly understood what was funny about Harry. It was completely his creation, and the writers, many of whom I believe are here tonight — raise your hands, writers! — they just knew so brilliantly how to write for him. And I will tell you, the exact same thing happened with him [points to Joseph] and with her [points to Kristen].
JGL: Yeah, I’m sure there were. But this speaks to what you were asking about before, about how much French brought to it, and I think how much everybody brought to it. The writing was incredible, but — and I don’t mean to say “but” after that clause — the rehearsal process on 3rd Rock taught me so much about what you could do as an actor, because you’re not just showing up and shooting that day.
Clockwise from top left: John Lithgow, Kristen Johnston, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and French Stewart. Photo: Bobby Doherty. Clockwise from top left: John Lithgow, Kristen Johnston, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and French Stewart. Photo: Bobby Doherty. You also spend a lot of time with the incredible Wayne Knight, who plays Don.
WK: It’s strange, in that first scene, just like [growling sound]. What we figured out is that it’s like pheromones. You could get into a room and just sense that she was in the room.John, you were on Conan last year and mentioned that one of your favorite scenes was this incredible choreographed “Lord of the Dance” scene. How long did it take you to learn this dance?
WK: And they didn’t mention a damn thing about him being the big giant head when he went into space! Did you notice that?JL: Yes, it’s disgraceful, because in the course of those six years it dawned on me that April Fools’ jokes are essentially hostile acts.JL: I got them every year to the point where I really had to work hard. The Shatner argument was the great one because it was like a brushfire that burst into flames at three on Friday afternoon, which was the network run-through.
JL: Yes. There was a lovely actress who played my assistant, and there was a bit of a potential love relationship there, but she was a shy, tremulous wallflower. We shot the pilot, we all had a good look at it, it didn’t quite work, and Bonnie’s analysis was, “Dick Solomon is a tennis ball. He needs a hard wall to bounce off or he will not bounce.”
KJ: We never laughed going, “Ooh, that’s a stinker!” — like, ever, right? Every time we were like, “Oh, that’s the funniest thing!” JL: Oh, God bless you, Joe. But I tell you, there was a real method to that. I’ve always felt you have to give writers the best possible version of what they’ve written immediately because they don’t have a minute to waste. They have to run out and fix whatever doesn’t work. And these are the best comedy writers — I mean, the best comedy writers.JL: I just felt that this table read is a lot of fun for us, but it’s essential for them. They had to have everything when they left that.
Were there moments between the two of you when you were like, This is the most absurd thing I can ever imagine? It had to have happened constantly. There’s so much physical comedy — pratfalls and dances and these huge, physical scenes. Particularly when you were younger, it seems like one episode out of four, they were throwing you across the set.How did you rehearse? Did you get hurt? What was the process of developing the physical language of the show?
JGL: I remember noticing like, Whoa, did you actually hurt yourself? And you saying, “Yeah man. This is comedy! Let me tell you about an actor named Buster Keaton. You ever heard of him?” I had never heard of him! These guys taught me so much. He told me about who Buster Keaton was, and I went home and watched Buster Keaton movies. By the way — I don’t know if anybody had the pleasure of seeing French in his Buster Keaton show. I saw it twice. It’s brilliant.
KJ: We came up with that. One of the first five episodes, John and I were like, “How should we do this?” I think it was in the writing. And then John said, “What if we do a backward one?” or something like that. You did the head, and I did the arm. We came up with it in rehearsals. KJ: Joe was amazing as a 13-year-old. I mean, he was so mature, so funny, so smart. He was right there with me the whole time.KJ: And he also was cool off the set. If you’d recommend a book to him, he’d come a week later having read it and wanting to talk to you about it. Just a great kid. We would have been so screwed if he had not been, if there was some horrible stage mother and some little diva kid. Ugh. It would’ve been horrible.
The guy keeps trying to ask Joe questions, and Joe keeps giving him the same thing! And finally, he gets to the end, and he’s like, “All right, one more question, I’ll just throw a fastball down the middle. Joey, what’s your favorite color?” I hear all the air leave Joe’s body, and he goes, “Ah, let’s go with blue. What the fuck?” [Laughs.]French, I know one of the things that is so intensely important about your character is the clothing you would have him in.
FS: We started trading music. We became brothers because a lot of times we were on the B or the C story together, where you’ve got a scene, a scene, and then another scene. It was always really fun.KJ: Shut up! They only fit for like six months after the show, and then I had to give them away. But I loved her clothes. I’d still wear them today if I could fit into them. She was a badass.JL: As a matter of fact, I do have something.
JL: There’re so many of them. I love examining things that we as human beings completely take for granted, like dreaming. Aliens discovering, “What’s this thing that happens when we’re asleep?”JL: It won Emmy awards for cinematography and design and lighting. It was just extraordinary. Or mentioning Simbi — I’m not sure exactly how the plot worked. I guess we enacted my sexual fantasies with Simbi. And then the episode, “Tipping.
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