Drink & Ink w/ Delocated Creator Jon Glaser - VICE Meets

[ROCK MUSIC PLAYING]
THOBEY CAMPION: Hey, this is Thobey.
We're here in Brooklyn to meet up with ski-masked star and
Delocated mastermind, Jon Glaser.

THOBEY CAMPION: Cheers by the way.
JON GLASER: Cheers.
And cheers on this one.

I gave mine wings real quick.
I hope everyone notices that.
Let's get it for both cameras.
Wings.
[MAKING AIRPLANE NOISES]
JON GLASER: I'm just going to be doing that the whole
interview, so everyone get used to that.
If you're not cool with that, I advise to stop watching now.
THOBEY CAMPION: It'll be pretty
helpful for the editors.
[VIDEO PLAYING]
-Don't worry.
Your friends are right here, John.

-No, you guys don't count.
You're professional relationships.
-I'm a professional relationship?
-David, I have to hang out with you.
All right?
I'm obligated to.
I can't just call you up and be all like, "was-sup bra?
Let's go grab a couple o' fa-laff sandies.
Wash 'em down with some ice cold 'ronas.
Check out some tush." You're my son.
I can't be all like, "was-sup bra?
Da
bra." -I get it.
[END VIDEO PLAYBACK]
[MAKING AIRPLANE NOISES]
THOBEY CAMPION: I feel like a shithead for just drinking
beers normally.
JON GLASER: Make your wings.
Make some wings and have some fun.
Here's what you should do.
You should make wings and then after this interview post a
link on the site, like, show us your wings.
And then get people to send in photos.
THOBEY CAMPION: What's interesting about your career
to me is that you're almost more accomplished as, I mean
you're definitely more accomplished as a writer than
someone who's in front of the camera.
Was it inevitable that you would go into writing?
JON GLASER: I never thought I would, honestly.
I love David Rakoff's book Fraud just because that's how
I've always envisioned myself.
I'm not a writer.
And I still don't feel like I necessarily am
even though I do.
But it's not something I envision doing at all.
And even when I got The Dana Carvey Show job I felt like,
this will be cool for now and I'm still
going to pursue acting.
But it's the greatest thing that ever happened to me,
getting that job and opening up a whole other
world of just jobs.
And a second career or even a first career.
But I still feel like I'm an actor, a better actor than I
am a writer but I love doing both.
And especially jobs where I can do both, like Conan, or my
own show now.
THOBEY CAMPION: That was kind of the dream
job at Conan, right?
JON GLASER: Conan was like the dream job, at
least at the time.
Doing Delocated is the ultimate, but Conan was really
just the best job.
So much fun.
Just a great group of people that work there.
But also getting to write and perform and do your
own stuff or not.
To also not perform was great.
You know, you're writing for another
person, of course, Conan.
But the nature of the show, doing all the sketchy bits and
getting to be in them, it was awesome.
Really fun.
THOBEY CAMPION: So, one of the ideas we had for--
JON GLASER: What's the better idea you have?
THOBEY CAMPION: --It was to go and get tattoos.
JON GLASER: Well, we'll see.
I doubt I'm going to get a tattoo but I will be happy to
watch you get a tattoo and--
THOBEY CAMPION: Help me.
JON GLASER: --give input, and give suggestions, and make it
a really good one.
THOBEY CAMPION: Great, great.
I'm excited for it.
JON GLASER: But I agree with you that perhaps these flying
bottles will be a part.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
THOBEY CAMPION: We were thinking that or that bird,
which is actually kind of an amazing, it's just a really
angry pheasant.
JON GLASER: Jesus Christ, this thing?
This one is nice because he certainly looks like he's
angry but you're right he also could be like, hey
ladies, how we doin'?
Right?
He's like, that's what he's doing.
THOBEY CAMPION: What's up?
JON GLASER: He just looks angry.
But once you get to know him you know that's just his face.
[LAUGHTER]
THOBEY CAMPION: That's his normal body structure.
JON GLASER: Yeah, hey guys.
These guys are all psyched.
This is the still photo and they're all kind of like
looking nervous but in the next photo, they're all like,
oh yeah, Larry's here.
THOBEY CAMPION: [INAUDIBLE]
[VIDEO PLAYBACK]
-Yeah.
So what happens from here?
We get some ninja dudes to follow me around, or what?
-The less you know, the better.
-Let's do that.
That's smarter.
Call of the day, right there.
All right, I'm gonna take off.
I'm out-skies.
So, sayonara.
And I'll see ya "ta-ma-ra."
[END VIDEO PLAYBACK]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JON GLASER: Very excited to not get a tattoo here.
THOBEY CAMPION: What's up guys?
Thobey.
MALE SPEAKER: Nice to meet you, Thobey.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
THOBEY CAMPION: Nice to meet you.
This is Jon.
CHUCK: Chuck.
Nice to meet you.
JON GLASER: Nice to meet you.
THOBEY CAMPION: We've been doing some light
brainstorming already.
But none of them are as well-thought-out or as
beautiful as these.
I'm still into the whole hawk or falcon from the bar.
CHUCK: These are kind of like the more [INAUDIBLE] ideas.
Some of them will kind of get the juices flowing.
THOBEY CAMPION: What's battling
that snake right there?
CHUCK: That's a good question.
Or you get the lady in the bottle, have
it say mom, or something.
THOBEY CAMPION: Jon.
CHUCK: Jon, yeah.
THOBEY CAMPION: I do like the party hawk idea.
JON GLASER: Party hawk is pretty good.
To me, the funniest thing is, you don't know if this bird is
coming in for the kill or if he's coming in, to put his
arms around his buddies.
MALE SPEAKER: 'Cause that face is good too.
That looks like an angry face or it could easily be a really
intense, what's up man?
THOBEY CAMPION: Yeah, that guy's kinda got it going on.
I like that guy.
CHUCK: OK.
That's cool.
JON GLASER: Here's the three party bird's buddies.
One, two, three.
THOBEY CAMPION: All right, cool.
Let's do it.
CHUCK: You wanna do it?
THOBEY CAMPION: Yeah.
CHUCK: Yeah?
Chris?
THOBEY CAMPION: So now you're into your third season as
executive producer and star of the Adult
Swim TV show, Delocated.
Where did the idea come from for the character?
JON GLASER: The original idea, I had done an incarnation of
this character, before I got hired at Conan, which is an
impressionist who is in the witness protection program,
who really still wanted to perform and get himself out
there so he wore a ski mask and altered his voice.
And the joke was that the impressions
all sounded the same.
It was that stupid voice.
You know, when you hear someone on the news doing a
hidden identity interview.
But so, it was just really as dumb as can be.
Really shitty impressions.
Super hackey comedy.
But he was very confident in it.
So I like that archetype of just this
smug, confident dick.
THOBEY CAMPION: Yeah, he's a dickhead.
JON GLASER: Yeah, real asshole.
[VIDEO PLAYBACK]
-What the [BLEEP]
are you doing in there, man?
-What are you talking about?
-I'm trying to grandpa my granddaughter, that's what.
This is my weekend, TB.
Just stay outta grandpa time.
[END VIDEO PLAYBACK]
THOBEY CAMPION (OFFSCREEN): You know, the other thing that
struck me right off the bat, was you've essentially limited
your vocal and facial range to your eyes and mouth and a very
small spectrum of vocal inflection.
JON GLASER: Basically, I think the key to it actually is the
mask we have.
Because the eye holes are really big, as
is the mouth hole.
So I still feel like you get a sense of a face and you do get
a sense of expression with the eyes and the mouth.
So I don't think you lose too much.
And for me it was never an issue, like the ski
mask and the voice.
I always looked at it as, this is just how he looks and this
is how he talks.
Like that's his face.
That's his voice.
THOBEY CAMPION: And what's in store for season three?
JON GLASER: My character just decides to play pro-ball.
And he dedicates himself to trying out for teams, working
on his dunks, shoots about 1,000 free throws a day.
So if you like basketball, and if you like the art of
training for basketball, you're
gonna love season three.
THOBEY CAMPION: So it's part of the structural--
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
JON GLASER: You gotta learn to go to your left.
You gotta learn to go to your left.
And if you're a lefty, you gotta learn
to go to your right.
Use your opposite hand.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
CHUCK: Sorry, but you wanna continue the interview but you
wanna stand up and then I'll put the stencil on you?
THOBEY CAMPION: Yeah.
CHUCK: Is that all right?
JON GLASER: Here we go.
THOBEY CAMPION: All right.
JON GLASER: Buddies.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
JON GLASER: Yeah.
Oh, you have to shave.
THOBEY CAMPION: It's my favorite part of the tattoo.
JON GLASER: Fuck, that's awesome.
CHUCK: That's a bird of prey.
It's an eagle, right?
This is what makes you a man today.
JON GLASER: We don't know what it is.
That's the tattoo.
Is it an eagle?
Is it a hawk?
Is it a falcon?
That's fucking cool.
CHUCK: What do you think, though?
It that the right spot for it?
JON GLASER: My input is that, looking real good.
Now what I'm going to do, and I'm going to give you guys,
this is for free, I'm gonna give you guys a hotshot.
I'm gonna say looking good and what would be nice is if you
could frame it and shoot right through this
signal and see the bird.
Looking good.
THOBEY CAMPION: It makes my skinny arm
look fucking bad ass.
JON GLASER: This is a pretty good tattoo.
Buddies?
That should be a sports bar.
Buddies, question mark.
Where you walk in like, Hmm, what's going to happen.
Fuck, man.
CHUCK: Are you still good for the interview, right?
THOBEY CAMPION: Yeah, I'm all right.
CHUCK: There we go.
[TATTOO GUN BUZZING]
THOBEY CAMPION: There was a great article that was talking
about the accessibility of the show.
In comparison to the general slate of
programming on Adult Swim.
Which I think is hilarious considering the main
character--
they're calling it accessible and the main character is
wearing a mask.
JON GLASER: It mirrors the most traditional sitcom as far
as accessibility goes.
And it's 30 minutes also, which allows it to be a little
more expanded and breathe a little bit as opposed to the
shorter form shows they do predominantly, which are just
shorter, faster, and tighter, and crazier.
But I also agree, for good and not for bad.
This is pretty painful, right?
THOBEY CAMPION: When, I talk to you--
JON GLASER: I'm watching your face and I'm seeing--
THOBEY CAMPION: When I talk to you, I forget about it.
And when I look down, it hits me.
CHUCK: How's it looking?
All right?
Everybody good?
I'm doing a little thing.
His talons are doing the thing.
JON GLASER: Wanna get this?
So that is supposed to be the talon-claw version of this.
MALE SPEAKER: We're going to have to tattoo
some dots right there.
CHUCK: That could've gone horribly wrong by the way.
JON GLASER: It went horribly right.
THOBEY CAMPION: Is your son a fan of the show?
JON GLASER: He's not even six.
So he knows what the show is and he's come
to visit the set.
He gets into it.
And he's pretty funny.
THOBEY CAMPION: Does he get the concept of it?
JON GLASER: I don't know if he gets the concept
but he enjoys it.
They made these great billboards for the show.
And it was me in my underwear and the ski mask and we took
him into the city to show it to him and take some pictures.
And we showed him these billboards.
And said, who's that?
And he said, Daddy.
That was his reaction to a guy in a ski mask and his
underwear on a billboard, with these dead eyes.
Daddy!
It was really cute and hilarious.
Very funny.
CHUCK: Yeah, it looks good, huh?
Like that shading.
THOBEY CAMPION: How do you do those lines like that?
CHUCK: It's all whip shading actually.
THOBEY CAMPION: Whip shading?
CHUCK: Yep.
Whipping it.
Whipping it out.
THOBEY CAMPION: Is it basically skipping over my
skin right now?
CHUCK: Yeah.
JON GLASER: Buddies?
[LAUGHTER]
MALE SPEAKER: Hey, buddies.
JON GLASER: Just cut to a month from now.
Hi, so, my girlfriend and I were sitting at the bar and we
just wanted to ask you about your tattoo of
the eagle and buddies?
THOBEY CAMPION: Well, I met this guy, Jon Glaser.
JON GLASER: Buddies?
That's awesome man, that's really funny.
THOBEY CAMPION: You did a great job with
the creative direction.
And good luck on season three of Delocated.
JON GLASER: Thanks very much.
THOBEY CAMPION: Cheers, man.
JON GLASER: It turned out awesome.
THOBEY CAMPION: Buddies?
JON GLASER: Buddies?
THOBEY CAMPION: Buddies?
[ROCK MUSIC PLAYING]