Inside the Actors Studio

             Not long ago I was watching a marathon of Inside the Actors Studio and I realized I have never written about it.  How could this happen?  I have watched and enjoyed this show for years.  It does not make sense that I would not have written about it.  Well, somehow I hadn’t.  So now I am.           

                In essence, Inside the Actors Studio is an interview show.  Host James Lipton sits behind his desk with a stack of blue cards full of information and questions about his guest’s life.  For the most part, except for the size of the stack of cards, this is a pretty normal sight.  The difference is that with Mr. Lipton’s interviews the questions are not intended for gossip, have his guest spill the beans about something, or promotion.  Instead, they are to educate. 

                Each guest is an actor, director, or musician.  They sit on stage and answer questions about their early life and how they got to where they are now.  Then they go through their career and what each experience was like for them.  All this is done to teach the students that are in the audience; and they are actually students.  The Actors Studio Drama School is part of Pace University and the Inside the Actors Studio interviews are conducted in front of the students of that school.  Composed of aspiring actors, directors, and playwrights, the students are able to see how other people got to where they want to be and apply it to their own lives.  Unfortunately for the playwrights, I have yet to see one as a guest on the show.  I keep waiting for one to show up, but so far I have not had any luck.

                After the life and career part of the interview, Mr. Lipton asks his guest a series of questions that never change no matter who he is on stage with.  It is a questionnaire created by Bernard Pivot, a French television host.  There are ten questions and one never quite knows what answers will come out.  Some answers are expected, but others, I don’t know where they come from.

                Once the questionnaire is over, Mr. Lipton turns his guest over to the students.  They are able to ask the guest pretty much whatever they want, or so it seems.  While most of the questions are about technique, experiences, or flat out advice, there have been some moments that went a lot farther.  In one interview, a student stood up and asked if he could do a particular scene with the guest (I believe it was Kevin Spacey), and the guest agreed.  Another time, when the cast of How I Met Your Mother was on, a student asked Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Segal to do a rendition of a Les Mis song.  They did it, and it was a lot of fun to see.

                While I have seen many of the Inside the Actors Studio episodes, there are quite a few I have never seen.  Some are because I’m not interested in whom the guest is, but most often it’s because the episode is so old it is not shown anymore.  That’s really disappointing because there are people who I know have been on who I would like to see.  Then there are episodes that I wish would come out in an extended edition.  The Robin Williams one, for example, was not nearly long enough.  A man as hilarious as he needs far more than one hour.

                Inside the Actors Studio is not a show that has a lot of episodes throughout the year.  A new interview just kind of pops up all of a sudden.  I can usually bet on one around the Oscars, but other than that all I can do is wait for a commercial to let me know a new interview has been conducted.  When I do see a commercial, I am always excited to find out who the guest is.  Sometimes I’m interested in the guest and sometimes I’m not, but I am always happy that a new episode has been created.  This show has been around for over twenty years and I want to see it continue for many, many more.