Allison Jones

Um, and it, it got into festivals, and he started getting some attention, and he got an agent, and he wrote a script.

And I went in to audition for the script, and the casting director, Allison Jones, who I love very much, said, "I didn't know that you had a brother in the business." And I said, "I didn't.

He just got here."

[laughs]

And it was during the pandemic.

And I get this self-tape request from Alison Jones, who I had booked something for 15, 15 years ago.

And I thought, okay, I'm on her radar.

Maybe she'll bring me in.

Thanks a lot.

But my manager called and called and called Allison Jones, and I went in and I met with Phyllis, and I read.

And then she passed me on to Allison Jones, and I read with her.

And, um, I got an appointment for the role of Stanley, and I knew that was not the part for me.

I knew that the part for me was, uh, the, in the British version, his name was Keith, and I was like, "That, I get that comedy." So I went into this big call, and I read the role of Stanley as though I were Kevin.

Um, I can't remember who all else, but I, I know that they were there.

And, um, so I did it.

They said, "Thank you," and I left and thought, "Well, that was a failed experiment." And Allison Jones ran down the hall and she said, "Hey, you know, they actually wanna look at this other character." And I, in my head I went, "Bingo." And, uh, went in, read that, and, um, and that's, that's how it happened.

Oh my god.

Alison Jones cooked.

Cooked with this cast.

Alison Jones is a fucking legend and we all know it, but this might be low-key one of her greatest, like, amalgamations of a cast.

I just can't believe she did this.

Like, she plucked Aubrey Plaza out of, like, pretty much obscurity and it's like all these

Yeah, he lived in the same apartment building that I lived in right behind me.

And the casting director, Allison Jones, moved into that apartment that Herve was in.

And, you know, right in Hollywood, right smack dab in Hollywood.

And that was my first place.

[laughs] And they're incredible, and they are one of the only casting companies...

M- There was a couple of other, uh, Allison Jones, that just did not pigeonhole you as a sitcom actress.

But it was a difficult time for a while.

I could not get called into a drama, uh, to save my life.

And I, I'll just always be so grateful to these casting directors who go to little theaters and see plays.

And early on, one of the first times I hung out with them, and they, much like Allison Jones did for me later, just said, "You know, we think you got something unique, and we really want to see you get work." This was probably 1999.

They said, "Have you ever heard of a guy named Garrett Dillahunt?" I was like, "No." They said, "You guys should, should get together." And so we, we e- we eventually met, uh, working on Deadwood, but I, once I found out who he was and saw his work, I, I've always held that as a feather in my cap, that they thought I was in the same drawer as Garrett, 'cause-

Oh, that's great

Yeah.

And it was watching Rainn...

It's funny, because I auditioned, because of Allison Jones, I auditioned for Michael Scott with, you know, with dozens of us.

Yes.

Like, like, did you feel like on this one in particular, like everybody was in the same sandbox, everybody was making the same show?

Because Allison Jones cast it perfectly.

Yeah.

You know, that's, that's one of the big reasons, but everybody was immediately on the same page when we did the table read, which was with everybody.