H. Jon Benjamin, the veteran voice actor who is the mouthpiece for FX's Archer, is first and foremost a comedian. So when he got on the phone this morning to talk with reporters about his role as the chauvinist superspy Sterling Archer, serious answers weren't on the menu.
Benjamin's regular-Joe voice is about an octave above Sterling's, but the laugh-inducing chatter is pretty much the same. His deadpan is so good that most of the other reporters couldn't tell if he was being serious or not with his outer-space answers. Which led to one of the most awkward, yet entertaining, conference calls I've ever listened in on.
The call started with this question (paraphrased): "How do you say your lines without laughing?" To which Benjamin appropriately responded with thinly veiled disdain. "I don't find them funny at all," he said. "It's very easy to just... I just plow through it."
The ridiculous questions got even more ridiculouser with a twist on the requisite "dinner party" query: "If you could go for a night out on the town with three people, living or dead, who would you choose?" Once again, Benjamin stabbed back playfully. "Uhhh, Hitler. No, don't write that. (editor's note: oops!) What town? That's really a ridiculous question. Would it be me, or Sterling Archer? I guess it would be... well, I'm Jewish so... Franklin Roosevelt, was he Jewish? I love to party so... it would have to be three pretty severe partiers. John Belushi, Jerry Lewis, and... Gandhi."
Later in the call, Benjamin discussed his favorite voice-acting role—Jason on Home Movies—which he voiced by using a little trick. "I got to hold my finger to my nose," he explained. "It's a very long recording session, it's just fun to do that." He also said he'd love to see his pal David Cross guest star on Archer, and would also welcome the Olsen Twins, whom he worked with briefly. Now that Archer's in the off-season, Benjamin is working on a pilot for Comedy Central, but he was cagey about details and self-deprecating about its chances. "It involves me owning a van and making it into a sort of news van. Yeah, it's a cool van. I don't think it will get picked up. I have a bad attitude."
Finally, I asked what we could expect from the Archer season finale, which is one week away. "Holy s***, I don't remember," he said. "I know I did a lot of telling, so there will be a lot of yelling. [FX] didn't tell me I couldn't talk about it, I just forgot."
Continuing my Dia de los Archer, I popped in the screener for tonight's episode, "Job Offer." Here's what's on tap: Archer takes a job at ISIS' rival agency, ODIN, where he gets awfully friendly with the HR lady ("She's the Pele of anal!") and smacks croquet/golf balls out of a high-rise. And Malory does the whole Burn Notice thing with Archer while she's on an Absinthe binge. Just your standard, awesome Archer fare.
Archer airs Thursday nights at 10pm on FX with an encore of the prior week's episode at 10:30pm.
I've been a fan of Benjamin's since Dr Katz. He probably looks the most like his character from that show. I've always been able to pick him out by face or voice whether it's Wet Hot American Summer or Not Another Teen Movie.
Why waste your time with NBC's boring Thursday comedy line-up when you need to save your energy for a show that will actually make you laugh for 23 minutes that comes on a little later? "Archer" is brilliant and has been, by far, the best new comedy of this season.
That dude looks nothing like Archer LOL however he does look a lot like the character he plays the voice in Family Guy but I digress. Desperately waiting for tonight's Archer episode though!
The single best show on TV this year!
That's the guy that does Archer's voice? I recognize him from Demetri Martin's show. Never would have guess that. Both are great shows, this guy is hilarious.
Just seeing a picture of Archer makes me laugh. I can't stop watching these episodes over & over; I'm going to know them line for line soon.
Some of these shows are pretty damn funny. Some of them, I can tell, were struggling to make it not suck. We'll see how they do long term. Lots of possibilities.One suggestion. If you do political jokes, do conservative jokes. Be different than the limp wristed fruitcakes you're surrounded with. It'll pay off.