Jersey Arts Podcast

'Ben Schwartz and Friends' Tour Stops at NJPAC for First Ever Performance in New Jersey!

• ArtPride New Jersey

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Today's episode is all about Ben Schwartz, improv, and his first ever performance in New Jersey.

You may know him as Jean Ralphio in “Parks and Rec,” Yasper in “The After Party,” Josh Bath in “The Earliest Show,” (which is coming back soon!) Clyde in “House of Lies” or maybe as the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog. That barely grazes the surface. His portfolio is long and varied. With roots in improv, he is an alumnus of the Upright Citizens Brigade, and known for his quick wit and high energy.

For the first time ever, he is bringing his improvisational show “Ben Schwartz & Friends” to the NJPAC this November.

Stay tuned to hear our host Gina's "super chill" chat with Ben Schwartz.

Thanks for listening!

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The Jersey Arts Podcast is one medium of Feature Stories on Discover Jersey Arts (jerseyarts.com), where articles and videos also cover New Jersey’s vibrant arts and entertainment scene.

Discover Jersey Arts is presented by ArtPride New Jersey. The program was co-founded by, and is currently supported by funds from, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Additional support for JerseyArts.com content is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

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Gina Marie Rodriguez:

I focus the one that has pretty crashes for the longest time. So one that's quite a bit of a question. I remember how to ask the questions. Don't worry. It was very kind of a good question. It's okay to meet your heroes. You may know him as John Ralphio and Facts. We just coming back to five supplies. Or maybe it's the point of stuff like that. And those five. Now, all things considered, I think I had my question. But as always, I'll let you be the judge. Stay tuned to hear my super chill chat with Ben Schwartz. I just wanted to start maybe on a weird note. I'm not really sure. I just wanted to say that I happen to think that comedians are like saving the world one day at a time, one laugh at a time, right? So thank you for your service.

Ben Schwartz:

I don't think you can say service.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

I don't yeah, I don't what do we call that? Thank you for your um improvisational.

Ben Schwartz:

You know what's funny? I we were just talking about it the other day. I feel like part of the reason why, if we're really doing this right off the bat, which is hilarious, I feel like part of the reason why I'm around is to try to make people laugh and make people's days a little better. And I feel like um I'm feeling it way more when we're going out now that people really just want to laugh. People are, it's a lot going on right now. Regardless who you are, what are regardless what you believe in, there's a lot going on. And I think just people want to release pretty bad. I can feel it when we're on tour that people just are so excited to laugh and have an experience together and look at each other and have a moment together. And so improv seems to really be connecting with them right now, which makes me really happy.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Yeah, I'm I'm glad that it makes you happy. It's making us happy, but I I believe everything that you're saying because I'm feeling it, so I can only imagine that other people are feeling that too. The world is just crazy, and it doesn't, I don't want to talk about like politics or which way you're going. I think anybody can realize the world is a little bit weird right now.

Ben Schwartz:

There's a lot going on right now, everywhere. There's uh it's like everybody's got their own personal stuff they have to deal with, and then there's so much world too that it's like um, yeah, there's just like we're all juggling so much. I wonder what this time will be looked back upon going in the history books.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

I do wonder what it's gonna look like in the history books. What with the advent of social media and like everybody posting their own form of news, and how do you parse through like what's real and what's not? And I we can't even do that now. We can't tell what's real and what's not. So that's another thing. But I I'm I guess I wasn't sure if I should start on that note. I just I did want to bring it up, and I wanted to thank you because I think that comedy is often overlooked, and I think it's one of the harder things to do. And yeah, I just wanted to say thank you because it isn't I love that.

Ben Schwartz:

That's so kind of you. I appreciate it. Of course, you're welcome. I don't think I should say that, but I appreciate your I appreciate the sentiment very much.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Yeah, I will accept either of those answers now.

Ben Schwartz:

Okay, good, good, good, good. I haven't failed yet.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

No, not yet. I don't think you're going to. I don't think you're capable of failure.

Ben Schwartz:

Okay, okay, okay, okay.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

You're gonna be in New Jersey very soon. You're gonna be at the NJ Pack. I'm looking forward to that. Um, I don't live too far from there, so I'm looking forward to the show.

Ben Schwartz:

But I've just been in, I've been filming a movie in Jersey too. So I've been there, I was there for a I was in Jersey City for a week, and we filmed and we filmed like four different parts of Jersey. Um it's been lovely. So I'm I've been in and out of Newark more in the past month than I have in my entire life.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

That's actually amazing. But you're from the East Coast, right?

Ben Schwartz:

Yeah, I grew up in Riverdale, um, which is like the northern tip of the Bronx, and then moved to Westchester. So uh and then went to school in upstate New York. So I'm a very New York kid, but um I have so many friends from New Jersey, and especially in like in um improv in our community in Upright Citizens Brigade. There's a bunch of people from Jersey over there, uh famously so. So um yeah, so I'm over, I've been in Jersey quite a bit.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

That's amazing. Are you allowed to say what you were filming in Jersey?

Ben Schwartz:

Yeah, it was a movie called I think I am, right? The movie called Bad Day with Cameron Diaz.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Okay, awesome. I mean it's on IMDB, but I don't know what people tell you if you love so many things are filming in Jersey now.

Ben Schwartz:

The tax incentive is so beautiful and gorgeous. I have I have gotten scripts, like maybe four things filming in Jersey. And even in the production office, there's like seven different things, and there's so many things filming right now there. It's kind of wonderful.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

It's beyond wonderful. We're all very excited about it, very proud. People are finally realizing Jersey is kind of awesome.

Ben Schwartz:

I love it. I love it.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Absolutely. I would love to talk to you just about improvisation in general, because not that I'm here to promote myself, I'm not, but I I am an actor, but the one thing that terrifies me more than anything else is improv. So I my question for you is after having done it all these years, do you get nervous? Do you still get nervous before you go on stage or have you moved past that?

Ben Schwartz:

I don't really get nervous anymore. There's specific things that make me nervous. Like if someone enormous is in the like if someone told me Steven Spielberg was in the audience, I'd be like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Or like, you know, Bill Murray was coming to a show, or like, or somebody, you know, like somebody huge in the comedy world. Um, but usually what happens when I'm uh anxious or nervous, you're right, it doesn't really happen much anymore because we've done so many shows and Steven Spielberg just hasn't showed up yet. But usually what happens is loss. Yeah, yes. But usually what happens is once I get my first laugh, I'm fine and I'm back to normal. I just gotta make sure, like, okay, does this audience get what we're doing? There's a little different thing with improv where it's like people, a lot of, you know, we're playing these houses that are like 3,600, or we play Radio City, which was 6,000. And so it's the what we do usually is for 90 people, that's what the theater at UCB was in New York for when I was coming up. Uh 90 to 120, I think it was. So a lot of times we're introducing this art form to people for the first time. And so it's just it that's another thing that makes me so happy. We're spreading what this could be, and you know, like inspiring other people, kids and adults, to try to do this and showing them that it doesn't have to be in a little theater. You can do these big, big theaters. Um, so um, but for in terms of um nerves, once I get that first laugh, I'm pretty good, and after a while, you just you know, you get excited. I got I got to play the Chicago Theater, which is so fun for the sixth time, or you it you know, all these, or we played Sydney Opera House. I was probably nervous before Sydney Opera House because it was such a big it was such an important venue, and it was introducing improv to so many people, and I wanted I wanted to us to kill. Do you know what I mean? I just wanted us to be so good that when we left, it was undeniable that people would be like, Whoa, I saw these guys at the Sydney Opera House, and that they've never done long form improv on that stage before, and they did it and it worked, and it was awesome. So I think that's the last time I was nervous, but probably this tour that was that was probably it. Yeah. You just do it's like a muscle. I've done it so long 23 years now that I've done it so long that you know you kind of like I got my 10,000 hours plus another 10,000 hours in.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

I guess that makes sense. I don't exercise enough to understand how muscles can accommodate, I guess. Can you actually talk me through like what is long form improv? Like, what's the difference between long form and short pro short form? Oh, I speak English sometimes.

Ben Schwartz:

Absolutely. It would be my honor. I started off in college doing short form improv, which usually is little games, quick little games. And you know, a lot of people are there's a lot of people are very funny at it, and uh oftentimes you could play the same type of things in those games to get laughs. It'd be like the A-Z game where like every sentence has to start with A and then B then C, or like head in the bucket game, where like someone can't hear a scene and then comes up out of the bucket and does this like, but it's usually like little quick things, which is beautiful and funny way, and whose lines it anyway does it the best. They're so good at it, you know what I mean. And um, there's aspects of it in Freestyle Love Supreme, which is an incredible musical improv group that Lynn Manuel put together with Tommy Cale and Chris Jackson and and uh Shockwave and all those people. So um they theirs is insanely impressive. Uh but there's also uh something called long form improv, which is what we do. It was a form developed by Dell Close in Chicago, and then the way that I learned it is that uh the UCB4, which is Amy Polar, uh Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh, Matt Besser, had a group in um Chicago after learning from Dell. They brought it to New York and they started teaching people in New York, and then I was the generation after that that got taught by one or two of them, but then mostly the people they taught. What it is at the beginning of our show is I ask an audience member, or I ask all the audience members, um, I want to know this is what we're gonna do in New Jersey. This is the prompt for this year, is I want to know about the most exciting day or night of your life. Tell me about the most exciting day or night, and people raise their hands, and then we'll pick somebody, we'll talk to them about that thing, and then we'll hear their whole story, then everybody puts their hands down, nobody talks, and then we almost do like a play for like the first half is 45 minutes, then we take a break, then we come back and we do a whole nother show for you, and then if we do it right, things in the second show should be connecting with the first show and should feel like a whole piece, but all the scenes run into each other and the characters keep coming back, and we're almost making like a series of scenes, almost like a play for you, but like a comedic, uh comedic series of scenes that all intertwine.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

I love that. I mean, I've seen I personally have seen some of your clips online. I haven't been to one of your shows uh cool yet, but I'm looking forward to it. Like I said, you're gonna be at the pack. But I was kind of relieved to hear you say that people raise their hands and you call on them, because like we just discussed, I get very nervous. So my fear is like, you know, when you're in class. Never.

Ben Schwartz:

I told I'm the same way. I'm the same way. If I'm in a crowd, I don't I don't want anybody, I want to be, I want to escape into the crowd. Uh so you also have to remember, you know what's funny though? Sometimes people hear the first story, and then the second story, those people that were too nervous to raise their hand but might have had a cool story, they see that we're on their side, we're not making fun of them, we're there to like support them, and they get a whole show based off their story. Then for the second half, we almost always get better stories because all of a sudden more people raising their hands. They see they're not nervous anymore, they're comfortable with what's going on stage, they get a vibe, you know what I mean. Uh, but this is my it's crazy. I've lived I lived in New York for you know the majority of my life, and I've never played New Jersey. This is the first time because we always just play the beacon in New York, or I did Carnegie Hall and I did Town Hall and I did Radio City, and I've never done New Jersey. So this is my first ever New Jersey show. So I'm hoping that Jersey represents.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Yeah. Oh my gosh. So this is your first time at NJ Pack. I I mean, have you attended as a patron before?

Ben Schwartz:

No, I mean, I'm talking about the whole state of New Jersey. I've never done a show anywhere in the whole state of New Jersey. So this is the first time ever. I know, which is crazy. We're right across the street from you guys. We're at where it starts. We're hoping that the people, you know, I'm I'm hoping that people love it enough there that we get to keep coming back.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Yeah, I'm like I said, I will be there. I am looking forward to it. I am so fascinated by people who are able to improv because my brain just does not work that quickly. And trust me, I've tried. I've been in acting classes and they're like, you can do it. No, no, I cannot. Like, I promise you, I just I freeze up entirely. And I I know the game, I know yes, and you always say yes, but my impulse is always to say no because I just want to shut it down. I'm like, get me off the stage, please, please let me.

Ben Schwartz:

But you love, but you love acting. But you wish if you had lines, you would love it.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

I yeah, I love lines. I love being able to rehearse it. I love lines. Like, well, that's gonna be an interesting um clip if we take that out by itself. Yeah, I love wrote memorization because uh that soothes my anxiety because I'm like, okay, I know where this is going, I know what's coming, but you don't know what's coming with improv, and that terrifies me beyond words.

Ben Schwartz:

So I talked to a couple very, very uh wonderfully successful singers or musicians who who play like the same venues we play, like Chicago Theater or like the Beacon or Radio City, and they said, like, the idea that you go on that stage in front of all those people and have no idea what's gonna happen is all of their worst nightmares. Literally all of them were like, why would you do that to me? What a we like we must have some idea. And they're like, no, no, we have literally no idea. We know that we've done a billion shows, so we know we're gonna give a good show, but we have no idea what's gonna happen in the show. And it it got my friends so anxious, those singers being like, that would be that would be crazy. That would be insane. Um, but you kind of can't think about it, you know what I mean? Just we just kind of go up there and do our thing like little little dummies.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Well, I mean, I guess it helps it, you know, it's Ben Schwartz and friends, so you're comfortable with the people that you're performing with and you've you've been doing it for a while.

Ben Schwartz:

That's right. I have like a list of 10 people, and uh most of those people I've been performing with for 20 years or 10, 15 years. So I'm only bringing the people that I think are the best improvisers, and also I kind of pick them like teams where it's like uh almost like a basketball team where like there's a point guard or there's like someone who's really good at characters, really good straight man, you know what I mean? Like if you're in a scene with this person, um they're really brain forward and really good at like, you know, if I'm the crazy person in the scene, they can be the straight person at the scene making it make sense. And so I kind of try to build it, and I also try to show represent as much representation as I can. The goal is to get someone in the LGBT LGBTQ community, uh, someone who is not white, uh, a woman, and then myself on stage. So if someone's in the audience that wants to do this, they can kind of see a version or a piece of something that isn't uh as white as a lot of the comedy stuff looks. Um, so they can see that you know we we're all kind of doing it. I forget who I'm bringing to that show, but I think I think we hit all the yeah, we hit we hit all those things for the show coming up.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

That's awesome. I mean, uh it's really thoughtful, actually, that you consider that. So thank you. I mean, I you know, I present white, right? But I am a a Latina, so I kind of fall in two worlds, which is always weird for me, but I get really excited when I see, you know, like J-Lo was huge for me when I was younger. Of course. You can be a Latina and you can do this too. That's awesome.

Ben Schwartz:

But representative when Selena came out, huge, enormous, enormous.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Yeah, that's still one of my favorite movies. I can't watch the ending, but I love that movie.

Ben Schwartz:

You don't know how it ends, that would be crazy. Like, but no, I never got to the end. I never got to the end.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Oh gosh, I just forgot what I was gonna say, though.

Ben Schwartz:

You said you uh you that means a lot to you, the idea of representation, even though you don't sometimes you may not people may not think that you are a Latina.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Thank you for bringing me back. And that's how we know you improv, you pay attention. So I the website and and what I'm allowed to hear from NJ Pack, I guess, is that you have surprise guests. So I don't know if you're we're like a week out. I don't know if you're allowed to say who you're bringing with you yet.

Ben Schwartz:

I know I never I never do. I always love the idea that nobody knows who's gonna come on stage until you come to my show and I introduce them on stage. So for no show have I ever announced anybody. Oh, okay. Um, but it's but it is like it it is, you know, it's from my group of you're not everybody's been on TV, everybody's awesome. You know, I I never really bring any duds. It's all like everybody's so excited that improv is performing in such a large format that I I'm very fortunate. I get my pick of anybody who, you know, everybody can't wait to jump on stage and go to New Jersey, so it's exciting.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

I love that. I'm I mean, because this is a Jersey podcast, I want to ask you a little bit about New Jersey since you grew up, you know, right across the river. Sure. So do you have any favorite Jersey haunts, or or did you really just kind of stick to New York?

Ben Schwartz:

Man, you know what's so funny? I've uh was it Marlborough or Cherry Hill? I forget where I was at I had a we had a couple friends that lived there. One friend had a pool. I didn't know anybody had a pool my entire life, but someone in Jersey had a pool. So um um, but we had a couple family friends. The Greenbergs lived over there, and we went over there all the time to visit them, and we'd always find different spots to eat along the way from Westchester to New Jersey, like we find fun spots in Jersey or there. But it wasn't we didn't really go to Jersey all that much, um, unless we were visiting our family friends.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Um that makes sense. I mean, if you're in New York, that's pretty cool. So why why come to Jersey?

Ben Schwartz:

But I will say I love Jersey City. I was in Jersey City for a week and a half for this movie. I thought it was awesome. I went to a pizza place called Raza, that was awesome. I went like uh there was there was like great food stuff, it felt beautiful. Able to walk at night, you're able to get in the city and back if you want to. I totally get the um appeal. And I have a feeling that all of us in this industry are gonna be spending a lot of time in Jersey in the next few years because that incentive I think you guys have locked down for a bunch of years coming up, so it's gonna be very exciting.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Absolutely. I'm looking forward to it. I mean, we've got Netflix coming here, we've got a bunch of stuff. It's crazy right now. There's it's booming. The industry is booming in New Jersey.

Ben Schwartz:

It is, it's New Jersey. Everything is New Jersey.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Yes, everything's coming up Jersey. I think I heard something recently. Maybe you were on you were on a podcast, maybe it was off menu, um, where you might have. Yeah, I think you said that you do fancy restaurants every time you go on tour now.

Ben Schwartz:

I do.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

So do you have one lined up for Newark or for in Jersey?

Ben Schwartz:

No, because a lot of the places close by the time we're leaving, and we leave I leave at like eight in the morning the next night. So we're going back our hotels in New York, so we gotta go back to New York. Um, there weren't a ton of uh hotel choices near this venue. Um not as many as I thought there would be.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Yeah, that's kind of disappointing. Darn. I'm I'm sorry.

Ben Schwartz:

Um we're do you have a do you have a spot? What's a good what's a good Jersey spot where around uh uh NJ Pack?

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

What a great question that I don't have an answer to.

Ben Schwartz:

What's your favorite Jersey restaurant? That's a great question, and it's on your podcast. We cannot disappoint. I want to know the next time I'm in Jersey, which is now often, what is what is the restaurant I have to eat at?

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Do you know what's happening right now? This feels like an improv test to me. So my brain and my body are shut up. This isn't even an improv test.

Ben Schwartz:

I'm just asking you a real question.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

I know. That's what's crazy about it. Um, what is my favorite restaurant? I don't leave the house much, Ben.

Ben Schwartz:

Um, where would you go?

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

That's so such a good question. You just asked me. I'm I'm honestly embarrassed that I'm not prepared for this question because I did just ask you and I'm totally unprepared. This is why I'd be terrible at improv.

Ben Schwartz:

I guess I'm gonna see if they sometimes um uh uh one of my friends gives me places to look at restaurant-wise. Okay, ready? These are the ones they said for Jersey.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Okay.

Ben Schwartz:

Casa de Paco. Oh no, I guess, or don Don Pepe. They gave me two Spanish places and a Portuguese seafood place. I think those are the ones that's from the venue. That's like 10 minutes from the venue.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

To be fair, that makes sense because Newark is gonna be really big on the Portuguese and the uh Brazilian and Spanish food.

Ben Schwartz:

So that doesn't make sense. Love it all. I mean, if you heard that podcast, you know how much I love eating food.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

So well, what's crazy is so do I, but like I said, right now I'm completely you can't think of one restaurant, Gina. I honestly I what's coming to mind is Cheesecake Factory, which is terrible because that is a shit. I'm not gonna talk about Cheesecake Factory. I mean, there's a there's a place by me um that I like, but uh that's in Rawway. Uh it's called Lucianos, and it's uh a small Italian restaurant. Um, so we'll we'll start with them, but I'm gonna think of more. You know, hopefully by the end of this podcast, I will have thought of more.

Ben Schwartz:

Lucianos.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Because dear lord, yes, it's called Lucianos, and it's on a train line, so we're not far from it.

Ben Schwartz:

There you go. If we were leaving out of Newark, we would have we would have stayed there, but we're leaving out of I think a different airport.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Oh, okay, that makes sense.

Ben Schwartz:

Yeah, I mean, right now Oh, Newark, by the way, cleaner that I mean way better than when I was a kid. It's so much nicer now. I was like, when I was a kid, I feel like it wasn't nearly as beautiful as it is now.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Oh, we're talking about Newark the city, not the airport.

Ben Schwartz:

No, the airport.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Oh, we are talking about the airport. Okay, yeah. I mean, I think they've done a nicer job with it because they didn't they just like do a reno recently?

Ben Schwartz:

They must have but it looks a lot nicer now. I came in the United two different times and everything was really nice. I was like, this is beautiful. Same with LaGuardia. LaGuardia is gorgeous now, also. What's happening?

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Well, now the problem is just like the delays and I know.

Ben Schwartz:

I know.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

I wanted to talk to you about something else that you mentioned in another interview, and I'm just borrowing from other people at this point. Right. I feel like there is a stigma when it comes to comedians who want to branch out and perform dramatic roles. And I know you talked about when you saw Robin Williams do it and Jim Carrey do it, and the impact that that had on you. So what what are your thoughts on that bias? Why do you think people feel that we need to be boxed into, oh, well, you can only do the one thing. You're you're the guy who makes me laugh. That's that's all you're allowed to do. Oh, yeah.

Ben Schwartz:

That's interesting. I think sometimes when you do a character, like when I did um, I was on Parks and Rec and I did this character named John Ralphio.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Yeah, that's my favorite, by the way, I have to say.

Ben Schwartz:

Oh, God, the best like my one of my favorite experiences of my life and helped me in my whole career. But after that role, because that role became popular, a lot of the roles that people wanted me to play were that over and over again. You know what I mean? And you have to kind of break the cycle by being like, oh, I can do this too, or I could do this. Um, but I think with comedy, sometimes people I think what you started with, like comedy is very hard. I think it's you know, it's kind of after a while it becomes math to someone who does comedy, you kind of like feel it in your bones a little bit. But I think sometimes when people see someone being goofy or something like that, they don't think that maybe they can get to an emotional place to hit dramatic beats. Um, and so that's why it was so important for me to like see Truman Show or to see like you know, any any Goodwill Hunting or any uh Robin Williams movie. It just showed me and felt confident that you know, like, oh, I should try that and give that a shot too. And the times that I've been able to try it, it's been so wonderful. And um, it never makes me want to be like, I'm never like, I don't want to do comedy anymore. Comedy's so fun. And also on a set, comedy's so much more fun than a dramatic dramatic. Oh my god, yeah. Yeah, when you're trying to make people laugh. And but I love the idea that that opened up for me and made me feel like, oh, you know what? I can do this too. I don't have to be just this thing. And I think the more you watch, I mean like Brian Cranson started on Malcolm in the Middle, I mean that's that's the start there, but he got pretty big off that, and then he was one of the most explosive dramatic actors of of all time. But it always gets me excited when I see a comedian uh do a dramatic role and crush it. It always makes me happy. It just shows people that we can do kind of we can do kind of everything. And also, uh, it also makes me happy when I see a dramatic person get into uh comedy and crush. I was like, oh my god, I didn't know they could do that. It's that makes me so happy.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Um, react to when I saw De Niro. De Niro flipped into comedy when he did like Meet the Pairs.

Ben Schwartz:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and also the Lombard Billy Crystal Analyze This. That one crushed me. I loved him in that.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Yeah, same, same.

Ben Schwartz:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, loved him. I did a movie De Niro wasn't in New Jersey, I think it was in Connecticut. My third movie I ever did. It was it was like that. It was so exciting, so exciting.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Yeah, I can imagine. I mean, that's that's like a dream for most actors, you know.

Ben Schwartz:

Crazy. I was such a kid. It was him, Kate Beckinsale, Drew Barrymore, Sam Rockwell was in it, I think. It was like so many hugely famous people, and I was like, huh, I couldn't believe it. At the table read, I was like, I couldn't believe it. Yeah.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

We'll talk about anxiety. How how how does that feel when you're like the new guy at a table with these giants? Like, how do you overcome that? Same thing.

Ben Schwartz:

I same thing. I'm terrified up until I get that first laugh, and then people look at me like, oh, he knows what he's doing. Then I'm then I feel comfortable. But you're right, it's it's it's always gonna be scary when you see like your hero or somebody like that. Or I did a movie Billy Crystal, Long Island, Billy Crystal, and um, you know, before meeting him, I was like, Man, I really want to do well. I love him. I love his comedy, I love his acting.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Um Standing Up, Falling Down, is that yeah, that was that.

Ben Schwartz:

That was that, uh, which was super fun to make. But um, yeah, I think it's very much that like you get so nervous, and then when they're and then when you start to show what you can do, you you start to you know get your competence, gets back. And you're like, all right, I'm here because they thought I was good enough to do this.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Yeah, exactly. I mean, that's a really good point. Like, you were cast, you got the role, there was a reason that you got the role. Right. Something you know important to remind. I guess we all need to remind ourselves of that sometimes. Like, did you get the job? Great, that means you can do it.

Ben Schwartz:

So right, right, right, right, right.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

I think that's great. I I have to say that you have been lovely, but I'm a I'm a huge fan of yours, so I was you know nervous to to go into this, but you've you've put me at ease, and I do appreciate it.

Ben Schwartz:

You don't seem nervous at all.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Oh, thank god I am a good actor.

Ben Schwartz:

You don't seem nervous at all.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Well, I'm I'm glad, but I am because I mean Parks and Wreck was one of my favorite shows. It still is. It's I use comedy as medicine, and that's that's why I wanted to start by saying, like, I think what you do is really important because I do suffer from anxiety. So shows like that or or movies that are very funny and that I have like grown up with are very important to me. So if sometimes if I'm having a panic attack, I will have to put on Parks and Rec or I will put on, you know, while you were sleeping is a big one for me too.

Ben Schwartz:

But I I literally use it as while you were sleeping, the dramatic film.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Oh no, we're talking about Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman, the rom com from the 90s.

Ben Schwartz:

Oh, rom-com, okay. Jesus, okay. I'm thinking about the Robert Zemeckis movie. What was that called? I'll figure that out later on. That's not true.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Yeah, no, that's not that one. No, I can't do drama. That's crazy, Ben.

Ben Schwartz:

I have I have those things too. I have like it used to be for me that I had I watched a Simpsons episode every night when I went to sleep.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Yeah.

Ben Schwartz:

Um, but yeah, you know what's so funny? I was just talking to my therapist about I don't remember who it was, maybe my therapist. But he was like, I was like, man, I find myself so drawn to movies and stuff from when I was a kid, like um toys or video games, or like I'll I'll find myself re-watching films. Like I just re- I just watched Clueless again on the plane yesterday, as opposed to going, yeah, so instead of going to like and the music and the things make my I have such a visceral reaction because I think it just connects me to a time when I was younger and there was no responsibility, you know what I mean? And there wasn't the idea of having to make money and having to take care of uh friends and family, and you know what I mean? And I think uh it just you know, that time in your life is so free and new, and da-da-da-da. I think sometimes, and maybe you're having that with parks too, is is just connecting with that version of yourself that was a little bit younger and just makes you happy or something like that. I think I've seen the movie Back to the Future 150,000 times. Yeah.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Yeah, I mean that's a great one too. I think I this might be like you know, pop psychology from Instagram or something, but I think I saw that the reason that anxious people tend to re-watch things over and over is because it sues their nervous system because they know what's going to happen. So there's no jump scares, there's no oh, is it gonna be okay? Yeah, so yeah, a lot of that for me, like I know that everyone ends up, you know, happy and safe on parks and rec. So it's okay and I can watch that show.

Ben Schwartz:

Nothing there's no twists and turns.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Exactly. There's gonna be an episode where Leslie cries and you know her and Ben don't get together, but it's it will end up okay eventually. And that's the thing that kind of like switches something off in my brain and says, if it's okay for them, maybe it'll be okay for me, right?

Ben Schwartz:

Love it, love it.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

But anyway, I don't want to take up any more of your time. You really have been lovely. If I think of any more restaurants, though, I'll send it to your people.

Ben Schwartz:

Yes, please. It's kind of embarrassing. You couldn't think of one restaurant in all of New Jersey.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

No, it's fully embarrassing. I did give you Lucianos, though. So Lucianos, we're gonna count that one. I told you I was gonna have improv. I told you I just shut down.

Ben Schwartz:

That's not improv. I just asked you a question about what your favorite restaurant is. That's like if two people were hanging out like friends and being like, hey man, what do you like? What restaurants do you like in New Jersey?

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

But remember how I was nervous to talk to you? Remember that part about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ben Schwartz:

You're right, you're right, you're right. It was too it was too much. I gave you I gave you too too hard of a question.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Well, as a fan, yes, you can't you can't ask me questions because now I'm like, oh my god, what's gonna impress him? I don't know.

Ben Schwartz:

What's your favorite movie? Is it while you were sleeping? Oh, 1000%, yes, while you were sleeping. You've never is that when Sandra Bullock one of them loses their memory or forgets?

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Yeah, it's that she has a crush on a guy that she's never met and he falls into a coma and she kind of gets adopted by his family due to a case of mistaken identity as being his fiance.

Ben Schwartz:

Sounds great. Sounds great.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

It really is. It's like such a weird premise, but no, I can't wait.

Ben Schwartz:

I feel I must have seen it. I must have seen it. I went on a Sandra Bullock uh like movie sweep like two years ago where I was just like watching every it's I think it started with speed and then missed congeniality, and then I was like, I guess I'm just gonna watch all these uh and then just watch.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Have you seen practical magic? Because I feel like it's practical magic season still.

Ben Schwartz:

Great. I mean, we're we just missed practical magic season. It just ended practical magical season.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

It goes through fall, it goes through fall. That's my girl, and we can watch her through fall. I love that. Yeah, thank you so much. I really, really, really do appreciate it. Thank you. I'm so excited.

Ben Schwartz:

You're gonna come to the show. I hope you I hope you enjoy it.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Yeah, I'm gonna go.

Ben Schwartz:

Jersey doesn't sell like New York for some reason. So I gotta I gotta show these Jersey folks what we do. So they get excited and they come again.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Exactly. So rejectedjokes.com andor njpack uh.org. Yeah, and we'll see you there. Yeah.

Ben Schwartz:

I can't wait. I can't wait to see what a jersey crowd's like. I've heard only amazing things.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

We're pretty great.

Ben Schwartz:

I hear you're pretty great.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

I think we are, but I'm biased.

Ben Schwartz:

I can't wait.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

All right, Jersey. Let's show up and show out. Ben Schwartz and friends will be at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark on Saturday, November 22nd at 7 p.m. And it's up to us to show them what a Jersey crowd is like. Come prepared with your best story about the most exciting day or night of your life. For tickets and more information, be sure to visit njpac.org or Ben's website, rejectedjokes.com. If you liked this episode, be sure to review, subscribe, and tell your friends. A transcript of this podcast, links relevant to the story, and more about the arts in New Jersey can be found at jerseyarts.com. The JerseyArts Podcast is presented by Art Pride New Jersey, advancing a state of creativity since 1986. The show was co-founded by and currently supported by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by me, Gina Marie Rodriguez. Executive producers are Jim Atkinson and Isaac Serna-Diez. And my thanks, of course, to the very gracious Ben Schwartz for speaking with me today. I'm Gina Marie Rodriguez for the Jersey Arts Podcast. Thanks for listening.

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Gina Marie Rodriguez

Host
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Maddie Orton

Host