TCB Infomercial: Tim Baltz

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How do you do that? Well, in my head, I just say, like, you know, you're a good boy, and I'm a good boy. What? You say, I'm a good boy? Yeah, well, I am.
I'm a good boy. Yeah, but why do you need to tell the dog that? Because I want the dog to believe that I'm a good boy, too.
We're both good boys. We're going to get along.
You know? On this episode of the Commercial Break. It fit really quickly.
And I think that was another interesting thing because, you know, Eastbound was really centered around danny's character and vice principals was a two-hander with him and walk and goggins yeah and this all of a sudden is their take on an ensemble show and they did kind of prove that they could move up i don't know if you would call that an evolution but it's just different style and they took on that ensemble style and they gave everyone this was key they gave everyone ownership over their parts yeah and they trusted everyone like i'm not going to come in and change everything but if the syntax feels weird in my mouth they're like change it say it how you think the character would say it you know the next episode of The Commercial Break starts now. Yeah, boy! Oh, yeah, Cass and Kittens, welcome back to The Commercial Break.
I'm Brian Green. This is my dear friend and the co-host of this show, Chris and Joy Hoadley.
Best to you, Chris. Best to you, Brian.
Best to you out there in the podcast universe. Thanks for joining us on a TCB Infomercial Tuesday.
Coming at you with our new best friend, who I'm sure we just become buddy-buddy with everybody, Chrissy. I know, I love it.
Tim Baltz is here. And if you don't know that name, you know that face.
You know that guy. He's been in some rather prestigious television shows.
The Righteous Gemstones. Yes, in its fourth season.
In its fourth season and its final season. Better Call Saul.
He made a guest appearance that was great. I just re-watched it last night.
It's a little appearance, but a big impact. Little appearance, big impact.
Yeah. Better Call Saul.
He now has Shrink, which is available, I believe, on Peacock. Yes.
And Deli Boys, which is getting really good reviews on Hulu. I haven't seen it, but I look forward to watching it.
Yeah, I've started watching it. It's good.
He plays a great character. Oh, he does? What's his character in the show? He's like the investigator, but he also stormed the Capitol or something.
It's funny. Like I said, I've watched the first two.
Oh, really? Of the show, yeah. Okay.
I'm interested to see this show. Isn't this about like a group of like gas station guys who turn into a gang or something like that? No, well, it's- Or they own a deli? It's two sons who had, their father kind of kept them shielded, but he had a big, you know- Organized crime.
He did. Yeah.
They didn't know that. Okay.
They just thought he owned delis. Ah, okay.
There's the deli boys. Yeah, I read a summary of it.
And then he dies and then now they're kind of brought into the fold. Very fascinating.
With the auntie. Very good.
Alright, well Tim plays, what is the name of his character on Righteous Gemstones? BJ. Oh yeah, that's right.
He is the husband of um what's her name Patterson that's right her um actress name and I can't remember BJ Barnes he's BJ Barnes on the show that's hilarious he is so good in this show everybody is great in this show they are all just scene stealers it's hard Chrissy and I were talking beforehand and we made the we came to the conclusion that Righteous Gemstones and that whole line of Danny McBride ensemble cast stuff is similar to the 80s and 90s when Christopher Guest was knocking it out of the park on every single improv movie that he did. And Christopher Guest, all those movies I think are like 95% improv.
They have a bullet point and they're trying to get there, but the rest is improv. And I know Danny has scripts, but it's so funny and so good and so well done that it reminds me of the gut-busting movies.
Oh, yeah, the parodies. The parodies.
Yes, it's so good. And Righteous Gemstones is so on point.
It's so prescient. We've done so many of those, you know.
Preachers. The preacher features, yeah.
It's hard to preach on a full dick. That's right, Carl.
Good old Carl. I was watching some videos of Carl the other day.
Oh, yeah. Carl's back on the scene.
He is? Yeah, but he's like a reformed man now. He believes in Jesus, but not without all the pomp and circumstance.
And I don't believe any of it. It's just another way for him to try and make money.
I'm sure there's a money grab somewhere here. It's the year of our Lord, the money grab.
That's what it is. Everyone's trying to fuck everybody else over so we can all make an extra buck because the end of the world is right around the corner and we all want to live a little bit of luxury before we die.
That's how I feel. That's how I feel.
You know, so anyway, so Tim's here. He's also from Joliet, Illinois, which is near Chicago and very close to my hometown.
So I feel like we're already friends in some way. Chicago is this weird place.
There's a line in West Wing where the president is talking to his chief of staff and says something about Chicago. And the chief of staff goes, or the president goes, Chicago is one of those weird places that everybody who has ever been there is from Chicago and they love Chicago, but they don't live there currently.
It's so true. It's so true.
Well, you would spend a winter in Chicago and see how it goes down with you. It's a bonding thing.
It's a bonding thing. When you're a Chicago kid, you're a Chicago kid.
You'll always be a Chicago kid. I have friends who lived there for college years or right after college, or they took a job or whatever.
And it's like, they claim they're from Chicago. Even though they got there when they were 20 and left when they were 22, they claim they're from Chicago for the rest of your life.
Because if you've ever been to Chicago, it's just one of the coolest fucking places on earth. I have been quite a few times.
I love it. It is like New York without the sharp elbows.
It is in a lot of ways. Got the whole water part of it.
Yeah, it's on the water. It's a big city.
It's got a lot of personality. There are a lot of flavors water uh part of it yeah you it's on the water it's a big city it's got a lot of personality there are a lot of flavors of human beings that live there irish polish all everything you know it's all there it's a big melting pot and it's got almost a little bit of southern hospitality like people aren't gonna like say hi to you when you're walking down the street but if you get into a conversation conversation with them, they're going to be very nice.
Yeah. Because that's just how Chicago is.
Chicago, we're nice people. Well, it's Midwest, right? That's right.
We all suffered the same winter. So let us be nice to each other now that we can actually go outdoors.
And if you don't think Chicago's cold in the winter, go to Chicago in the winter. It's fucking cold, man.
It's fucking cold. Anyway, so Tim from Chicago, then he moved to L.A.
winter it's fucking cold man it's fucking cold anyway so tim uh from chicago then he moved to la and he's what else has he done he's been in so many episodes of comedy bang bang which is he's got uh and we talked about shrink yeah he's been in he's he he wrote produced and i think directed some of the episodes of shrink he uh when he was in chicago he wrote that and then he moved off to la um better call salt veep he was in veep he was in parks and recreation he's in drunk history uh he's in a a web comedy series that's called bajillion dollar properties which i watched an episode of it's really funny it's kind of mocking those million dollar mansion whatever those shows are the Those ridiculous shows. You know those real estate agents that are on those shows? They are like certified millionaire.
Those people are celebrities, number one. Number two, they're certified millionaires.
Number three, they get a lot of press coverage. Those people who are in those television shows, especially that one that's on Bravo.
The million dollar listing. Yeah, the million dollar listing.
They're like certified celebrities in their own right now.

I would guess so.

Yeah, and that seems to be like it's too much for one person.

Like you can have a job where you make a couple million dollars a year

or you can be a D-list celebrity, but you can't have both.

And if the Real Housewives of Atlanta has taught us anything,

it's that you can't have both. You can't be rich and somewhat famous.
You have to be one or the other. Because all of those women in the Real Housewives of Atlanta are one or the other.
I'm telling you that right now. They're not both.
Except Candy. Except Candy.
Is Candy both rich and famous? Oh, yeah. She's rich? Oh, yeah.
What does she do? Oh, God. Well, she was in all the girl.
She's done a lot with music. she's rich oh yeah what does she do oh god well she was in you know all

the the girl uh the she's done a lot with music let's she's huge in the music industry oh she is for one yeah and then for oh yeah okay yeah you're right businesses candy what candy burris yeah candy burris yeah she used to come up to the studio toy line she's got a lot of different She does movie stuff.

Oh.

So yeah, she's big.

Okay, so Candy's out there. Candy used to come up to the studio.
Yeah. And remember there was a studio next to the studio? There was like an actual music studio next to the studio called 12 Music or something like that? She would always be in there.
There'd be a lot of celebrities would go in and out of that, the real studio. And then there was the fake studio where we were doing an internet radio show to no one, to no one.
You were ahead of your time. Yes.
I remember the first day we actually broadcast, we had like 1,300 people on the stream. And I was so excited.
I'm like, this is going to go straight to the moon. And every day we lost 100 people.
Every day. We lost 100 people for 13 days in a row till we had no one.
I mean, sometimes I would look on that stream and it would say two. And I'd realize that there were two people downstairs watching the stream to make sure that it was on.
And I was like, well, I guess tomorrow I could come in late. My friend Kimmy did the show with you sometimes.
She did. Kimmy and Allie did it for a while.
I mean, like on occasion, you'd have a couple hundred people that would be watching, but it wasn't very often that that would happen. And most of the time it was in the tens or maybe a hundred people.
But then there was sometimes, like on a Monday, where it would just be nobody. Nobody.
I'm talking about Scam Call FM. You have to listen to every episode of the commercial break to know what I'm talking about.
So get started right now. Please, go ahead.
There's a lady on the telephone that's saying she's going through the entire catalog of the commercial break. Wow.
And I'm like, that's going to take you five years. And that's if you listen to them back to back.
I don't know how you're going to do that. Do you have kids or a job? Because that's not going to work.
It's just not going to work. Okay, anyway, Tim Baltz is here with us.
Why don't we do this? Let's take a short break. And when we get back through the magic of telepodcasting, Chrissy, we're going to have Tim right here on this big screen in front of us so that we can talk to him and interrupt him every five seconds, according to most people on the internet.
How's that? Sounds good. All right.
We'll take a break. We'll be back with Tim.
Let me do something Brian has never done. Be brief.
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Tim's here with us now. Tim, thanks so much for joining us today.
You are in the middle of a whirlwind of you. There's an embarrassment of television with Tim Bol in it because you've got deli boys you've got righteous gemstones deli boys getting great reviews righteous gemstones you have to have your head in a hole not to know what a funny fantastic show that is christy and i were were you know making comparisons is how human beings sometimes get through life And we were saying that we feel like Righteous Gemstones is like the Christopher guest of our time.
Like Righteous Gemstones and that crew doing such great comedic work is like the Christopher guest of our time. You guys are just a group of human beings that are so fucking funny.
Are you sad? I don't feel like you don't laugh. Yeah.
How do you not laugh? Every time you get on set. Yeah.
I mean, just looking at everybody. You know, the days are like, you know, 14, 15 hours long.
So, you get the laughs out like pretty early with your first, second cup of coffee. And then like when the work starts, you know that if you laugh, it adds time to the day.
So, yeah yeah something can be funny but it's eventually like your brain gets hardwired to be like yeah that's good but if you ruin that take that's 10 more minutes you know good point but yeah that's i mean that's very nice to you those guys i i was a huge fan of mcbride and jody hill and david gordon green and the whole Rough House production team going into this. And had obviously like a lot of people devoured he spouting down.
And I'd actually auditioned for Vice Principals and hadn't gotten. Another great show by Danny McBride.
Fantastic show. And like, I mean, I think when I first got an iPad, the first thing that I, the first movie that I bought was Foot Fist Way.
Yeah. And I was like, oh, this is great.

I haven't seen this. It's like the one thing of theirs that I haven't seen.
And it was the start of all of it. And I'm watching it on the plane.
I'm like halfway back in economy watching it on the plane. And huge tits are on the screen.
And I'm like, whoa, whoa. Whoa, wait a minute.
so I felt very honored

because I think as a huge fan of comedy too and this is not something where i'm like you know hey uh compliment me for being part of this but i really felt like i love you know i've watched a ton of comedy i've devoured like british comedy um my mom's France, so I've watched a ton of French and European comedies and things like that.

Anything that I could get my hands on.

Sure.

And I think that a lot of mainstream stuff, it relies on casting stars. And that's always been the case.
But I think what makes McBride's and their team's comedy so enduring and and and why it stands out is that they cast in a way where the the ensembles just always feel perfect you know there's no one sticking out where you're like well that person's really good and i really know them i've been following their career but what are they doing in this yeah yeah yeah yeah they never do. And even when they do cast names, they're, they're perfectly cast.
And so, um, just getting cast in it. I thought like, wow, it's an honor that they think that I would fit into a world like that.
And, uh, and you know, I got, I mean, from the second that I auditioned, I got to test when I did the HBO test, I got to test with Edie Patterson and the way that we were improvising, I'm like, this is going to be a great. This is great.
You know, I think you're right about something in these shows, specifically this line, this lineage of shows with Danny McBride. Obviously, Danny is a showstopper.
He's a scene stealer. But there are no scene stealers in the ensemble.
They're all scene stealers. You guys are all doing these nuggets where it's like, that is so fucking funny.
And you're right about this. Sometimes in the comedic ensemble, there's one standout like, oh, Steve Carell's really good in that movie, you know, in 40-Year-Old Virgin.
Then there's a couple other throwaway lines. But in this ensemble specifically, so many seasons, so good, everybody is comedically on point.
And I think that's what makes the show so brilliant, much like a Christopher Guest movie, is that everybody is stealing the scenes. And I think that's a testament to the writers and a testament to you and the team who are gelling so well.
And I,

yeah,

again,

I don't know how you,

I know that it takes an extra,

it'll get an extra 10 minutes.

I don't know how you don't just giggle your way through it.

I mean,

I mean,

there are a lot of,

there are a lot of days where we do.

I'm not,

I'm not going to lie.

You guys filmed in Charleston?

We filmed in Charleston,

South Carolina.

Yeah.

Nice.

Yeah.

Not far from us.

No,

not far at all.

I mean,

it's, it's a gorgeous town and, know, the food and the hospitality scene down there is unparalleled. It really is kind of shocking how high the bar is for restaurants.
That's a great city. Oh, man.
Yeah, it's one of the first, I think, foodie towns. It really puts the southeast on the map.
And if you, I mean, Charleston is one of my favorite cities in the country for so many reasons. It's quaint, but it's large enough that you've got everything.
The food scene is there. It's one of the most visually appealing cities in the country.
Yeah, and the history. Does HBO give you a nice mansion on the island over there? Yeah, or downtown.
What's the scene for, how do they, do they hook you up with a nice condo on rainbow row and what goes on you know it was it was fascinating because we were you know we filmed the pilot there in 2018 and then we came back in 2019 to to start season one and so we saw so much growth while we were there i remember in 2018 being like this is kind of a sleepy town, you can get if you're in Mount Pleasant, you know, you're zooming off to Sullivan's Island or IOP or whatever and it doesn't take long. You know, it's like eight minutes.
And then by the time we were finishing last year, there's massive traffic jams. You know, like you get on Ben Coleman.
I mean, this is all for the locals, but you get on Ben Coleman and you're like, where the fuck are all these people going? Where did they come from? And the locals have two attitudes about it. You know, they're like, they're like, ah, it's terrible.
It's changed. It's gotten so busy.
And then the others are like, this is a sign of a thriving city and we love it. And it helps, you know, prop up so many businesses.
The first season though, I actually lived with Edie Patterson and Cassidy Freeman on Salt Lake Island in kind of a beach mansion. And it was like summer camp the whole season.
We were riding our bikes to dinner. I mean, it was really like the type of experience, like I'm on location right now in Wilmington.
I'm in an Airbnb and, you know, no offense to this Airbnb, but it ain't what we were used to in Charleston. Yeah.
It's not the same vibe. Wilmington and Charleston, not the same vibe.
Wilmington, beautiful in its own way. Yeah.
I love it. Yeah.
Yeah. I love that idea.
I love the idea that you're like at Sullivan's Island filming what will become one of the best comedy television series of generation.

That's just that.

And I think probably I got to imagine. And we have so many comedians on this show.
And obviously, you're a comedian, a comedic actor. But we don't talk to many actors like proper, right? People who are doing these big shows.
that must lend to the vibe on set when it feels like we're in a nice place we're having fun we're riding our bikes to work we're going out to dinner with each other there must be something magical that's happening in on and off set and that must lend to what happened what you see on the screen that vibe i would imagine yeah absolutely there was synergy from day one too from the first time we did the table read you're looking around and it was like a rogues gallery you know you're like john goodman's here you know and like uh adam divine's here and edie's here and cassidy has been working since she was like 19 you know and skylar jazondo has been working since he was like seven um it was really greg allen martin i mean he was yeah he was on he was on baywatch like that's true yeah and the amount of like small world connections that we had between us um it fit really quickly and i think that was another interesting thing because you know east bound was really centered around danny's character and then vice principals was a two-hander with him and walton gogg. And then this all of a sudden is their take on an ensemble show.
And they did kind of prove that they could move up. I don't know if you would call that an evolution, but it's just different style.
And they took on that ensemble style and they gave everyone, this was key, they gave everyone ownership over their parts. Yeah.
And they trusted everyone. Like, I'm not going to come in and change everything but if the syntax feels weird in my mouth they're like change it say it how you think the character would say it you know or if you know we got the script then do this take for you guys you know uh you know say whatever you want on this one or you can go off feel free to go off page or whatever.
So we would always kind of find new things through that process.

And also it just empowers you to own the character.

And then you're seeing everyone else do it and you think, okay, well,

everybody really knows who they are.

And the truth is like in most seasons of a show, you're halfway through and you're like, is it good? Are we doing it? Because you're figuring it out, especially in the first season. And that one was just razor sharp from the beginning.
Everyone knew who they were, what their role was, and you had a sense that something special was happening from the pilot. Have you worked with directors or on shows or in whatever it is where the directors the writers the producers really have an iron grip over their vision and it's like i hear i hear it in my head this way you need to play it this way and then you get to uh righteous gemstones and they say you own the character and if it doesn't feel right to you then I want to hear what you have to say or i want to i want to hear how you would interpret what's on the page is there does it feel better one way or the other just depend on this situation do you like that as an actor for someone to tell you this is how it is and i envision it this way and this is my vision i want you to follow it and then the you know you're having the opposite experience what feels better to you or just depends on the situation um i mean that's a great question because you really do that's a that's a spectrum those two things are on either side you know uh i've had i've come in as the toughest thing to do is come in as a guest star during the the filming of a season whether it's the first one or later.
Better Call Saul. Well, yeah.
Well, that one, that's like the best audition I ever got. I literally got an audition that said, please prepare a voice for a talking toilet.
And I was like, what? And then when I did the audition, they literally like, I did the audition as the character. And then they're like, can you please step off camera and do the toilet? And I was like, okay.
So, I like step off camera and I'm like, gosh, you're so big. Give it to me, Chandler.
And they're all laughing. It's just a blank wall that they're recording and laughing.
But that one was, I think when casting is doing its job and you feel like they have and you're walking into a situation where they all think you're the right person for the job, then you don't really have those. When you walk into a situation and you feel like two of the executive producers want me there and the director and another executive producer don't want me there.
That's the tricky part. That's the part where you're like, I can feel that they're fighting and their visions are not aligned.
And I'm going to get squeezed by this.

Disagree.

Yeah.

You know?

You're going to get pulled.

Yeah.

And I, in those situations, like if I can feel a director, I'm not giving a director something.

I'll just be like, give me a line read.

Like, I don't, I'm not precious about that.

It's going to make everyone's job easier.

Just tell me how you want it to say, because I came in with a vision.

I got cast and now it's not's not working so let's problem solve and figure it out so it's probably i do like it when um i i do like the the other side a little bit more i think anybody would where you show up and they're like what do you got whatever you do it's going to be great and then we'll tweak it and we'll get it there because then you feel like your decision making is part of the process and uh and i've seen that on the you know because the the show shrink which is on peacock it i was one of the co-creators and i wrote on the season it was one of the eps and was the lead actor and when someone would come in um making a strong choice you you'd have this relief you're like oh thank god thank god they don't have a choice we don't have to mold them in the moment because time is time is money you know yeah so when they would make a choice to be like okay great they're like 95 percent there this is going to be fine and that that feels that feels good it makes everyone feel safe so if you're casting and you know that this person already made the choice then they're showing up and you have way less to worry about yeah it's like they're moving in a direction so i don't have to babysit them and they're giving color to this character that i created and maybe you know i don't i don't know because i've never been on a set but you know I know you hear the stories that there are people like James Cameron who it's my way or it's the highway and I don't give a shit and he's not tactful about it and then there's very collaborative you know uh directors and writers who say I see it this way but I you but I hired you for the part and so you tell me how you see it. I love that.
I want to be in the next Avatar.

So I love that.

I want to be on Avatar.

You just want those points on the back end.

That's what you want.

Or whatever.

Absolutely.

Are you kidding?

Avatar back end?

Yes.

Yeah.

That's amazing that that guy has just had a strength.

I mean, just a run.

Everything he does.

Yeah.

Everything he does turns to a billion dollar gold. I know.
I saw this on Instagram the other day. There was this post that was like, his wife watched Avatar, Air and Fire, or whatever it's called, and cried for four hours afterwards.
And you're like, come on. She needs medication.
What are you talking about? Yeah, sir. You're trying about something else.
Yeah. You're not crying about billion dollar opportunity well she hasn't done too bad herself either so um so tell me about um the deli boys because so shrink critically acclaimed uh righteous gemstones critically acclaimed very funny and then now Deli Boys is getting great reviews also.

So tell us about Deli Boys, because this just dropped along with Righteous Gemstones also. Yeah, what, like less than two weeks ago or something? Yeah, they dropped three days apart, which is rare.
Like those things line up so rarely. I think the last time it happened for me, this episode of Chicago PD and Veep came out.
Like, yeah is amazing yeah um the uh the deli boys was shot in chicago and cheated for philadelphia so for me it was like a homecoming i got to come back and there was a lot of crew that i worked on shrink that was working on deli boys and i hadn't seen them in like eight or nine years um oh nice that. That was really lovely.
Yeah. Some people from the camera department and art department and wardrobe.
And it was really special because shrink was the thing that moved me out to L.A. back in 2014.
And I never thought I'd live in L.A., but we sold a show from Chicago, which is super rare, and then just had to go. So, Deli Boys got to come back and like spend time with family and friends.
And the, the cast was amazing. It was just, it was another one of those things.
You walk in and you don't know what the vibe is and you're a little hesitant, you know, you're like, I don't know what it is. I'm coming as a guest star for six episodes.
That's a long time if the vibe is bad. And the vibe was immaculate.
It was incredible. Asfali, Sagar Shai, Pornadjaganathan, Brian George, like the whole cast, they were just phenomenal.
Allie Ruddy was my scene partner and she crushed it. And we had a great time and it flew by.
That's the other thing. That was like season one of Gemstones.
it just flew by and the next thing you know you're like man give our audience give our audience a flavor of what deli boys is about for those who haven't seen it so i saw this in one of the reviews which i thought was a great way to describe it they said it was guy richie meets succession uh i'm about that all day long guy richie meets succession yeah and people there were so many people i think it dropped on like a thursday or friday and there were so many people that by that first weekend they had binged the whole thing or they said i watched everything in two days um so it's very bingeable i watched personally i watched the whole thing in two days um and i have a lot of friends that are like oh it kind of feels like coen brothers but when they they came to me with it they said gemstones was a comp for them because it lives in this world of you know it's a family drama like that's the conflict that's driving the story but it has a lot of heart along with the comedy and the violence and the gore. And there's a lot of kind of like suspense and intrigue.
And I was just really, really impressed. It was the executive producers were Jenny Connor, Nora Silver, Michelle Nader.
And they were incredible. I mean, Nora is legendary.
Yeah. And Jenny Connor did Girls on HBO and a ton of other things other things and they're they're i mean really like all of them are kind of like it was again like a rogues gallery and the cool thing about the cast is you know a lot of these people you've seen work for a long time but they've never had a cast that's all the leads are south asian you know they're indian pakistani and they all now are like the leads of the show as opposed to the side characters.
And so, the vibe on set was just everyone was so grateful. And we would go film and you'd see the South Asian community come out like extras or whatever.
And they're like everyone. I mean, my heart was just bursting seeing how appreciative and excited everybody was.
And it was cool to be part of something really special. And then I got to meet Chris Elliott and work with him for a day.
Oh, my God. Oh, really? What? That blew my fucking mind.
He's in the last episode or the second to last episode? Really? Yeah. And he, this was crazy did how is he getting involved so uh the bear films in chicago yeah yeah his daughter abby elliott is on the bear she plays the sister and he was there he and his wife were there babysitting and jenny connor had reached out to me she was like hey you know everybody in chicago so like can you recommend some people that would be would be good for this part or that part? Who do you know? So, I'm sending her reams of paper with different things.
I love everybody there. And I'm like, this person would be great.
That person would be great. And then she said, okay, well, for this one part, hold off.
I think we got someone. I was like, oh, okay.
All right. And then she comes back.
She like it was chris elliott he's here babysitting and he really had been like since covet he had kind of like just taken a break and and been like on grandpa duty and chilling in maine and he is one of my all-time heroes so i spent an entire day just kind of like teetering behind him and then be like um so um so on letterman um

he is brilliant he's a genius and you haven't seen much of him lately and so that's crazy that

he just pops out of the woodwork hey i'm babysitting i don't mind coming in and doing

a day worth of work and have you i'm sure you've had this too like you ever meet someone and you're

like you've been a fan for so long they're like like ubiquitous in your brain. And then you meet them and you're like, it's them.
And they're doing their thing like right here, right in front of me. He was doing like Chris Elliott stuff right in front of me.
And we had a take and they, I think Jenny Connor was directing that episode and she's like, you know, you guys say whatever you want. Like you guys just go wild.
Okay. Um, I know, I trust that you'll get the scene.
And then I like really kind of stuck to the script and came back and she's like, you okay. You didn't really improvise.
I was like, I'm just stunned. It's Chris.
I'm Chris. I just, sorry.
I'll, I'll shake it off. But like, I had one take.
Yeah, jaw on the floor. We have those moments all the time here, because, and you know, it can be a little bit surreal.
You know, they say there's like an old saying that never meets your heroes, right? Because they may not be what you they're all they're never going to be what you see on TV or whatever. That's the character that they're playing, or that's the the jo part of them on stage.
But so many times I've found that when the person is sitting in front of us and we're kind of fanboying or fangirling, or we really like their work, that they end up being so much cooler than we ever thought they would be. And we've met so many of our heroes already here, but 90% of the time, I have to say, I find myself engaged in just like a normal man's conversation, normal person's conversation with them.
And I'm like, wow, they really are cool on the outside of their character or outside of whatever they're doing. They're doing on stage.
I want to talk to you about Shrink a little bit because this show, Critically Acclaimed, how did you come up with the idea? And it's streaming on Peacock right now. Is that right? Came out on Peacock, right? Yeah.
Yeah. I think it was, I mean, it bounced around.
It was on Hulu for, for a little while. It was, it was on the NBC app.
It was originally on CISO. But we, we originally made it a friend and I as an improvised web series in like 2011.
And then there was this thing that used to happen called the New York Television Festival. This is right when like kind of indie TV is exploding, you know, end of the 2000s, early 2010s.
Okay. The kind of tech behind, you know, the production of stuff had been so democratized that you could get footage, you could get the gear together and you could film your own stuff and it could look pretty good you know and i didn't really have any experience in that and um the co-creator ted he had a friend who was uh who had gone through medical school and then he hadn't matched with a university hospital so like when you graduate medical school you have to match with a university hospital and that's where you go do your your residency yeah yeah and he didn't so he was half a million dollars in debt and he was living in his parents basement and so our the genesis of the show is that a character like that is um he decides to defer his student loans by starting to do clinical therapy uh but for clinical therapy you have to register,000 hours of free therapy.
Like you have to administer those sessions. 2,000 hours.
2,000 hours. And then you can start getting paid.
But while you're doing that, you defer the half a million dollars in debt. So, this character that happens to him and his basically like, you know, his parents co-signed on his loan.
So, they need it to happen. And he's doing these sessions out of his parents' garage.
Yeah. And he finds a therapist to supervise his hours.
And it's the story of like him kind of trying to get better. And he's doing all these unconventional things.
And he's trying to do therapy outside of the garage with his patients, which is unethical. Right.
But it was great. And it was this thing that organically developed.
And we turned it into a pilot in 2012. And we took it to New York Television Festival.
And we ended up winning Best Comedy and Critics Award. And then Gene Domanian Productions picked it up and helped us develop it.
And we pitched it in 2013. And we sold it to this place called Pivot, which doesn't exist anymore.
And then it sat in development for two and a half years there, which was very frustrating.

And then they gave it back.

And then I was working on this other show,

bajillion dollar properties on CISO.

And Oh yeah,

yeah,

yeah.

Yeah.

So then they,

they,

they knew who I was.

And so we went in there and we're like,

well,

look,

we have this thing and we had made a pilot and the pilot was really good.

Um,

and so it was this calling card that kept kind of like people

would pass it around uh in these indie circles um and because we were like a vimeo staff pick i mean it picked up like all the awards that you could on that little circuit yeah sure and we sold it to them and then the next thing we knew we were we were writing it uh we wrote eight episode season and came out in Chicago. We filmed it and then it came

out. And then like

two months after... And the next thing we knew, we were writing it.
We wrote eight-episode season and came out to Chicago.

We filmed it and then it came out.

And then like two months after it came out, we found out that all of CISO was going away. So, we're like, what the? And they had just ordered a season two.
That was the tough part. Oh, my God.
Yeah. But that also is like – that was kind of like the canary in the coal mine, so to speak, of the streaming age, you know? Yes.
That now people are seeing that happen all the time. You'll see an entire series just get disappeared, even though it was a fan favorite.
You'll see entire movies never get released, even though they're, you know, $ dollars um for some tax write-off and yeah and you don't own the licensing so right now we're we're just thrilled that it's on peacock and people can see it um and it was i mean people were like you know when it was orphaned when it wasn't on any platforms um people would reach out and be like, hey, just so you know, people pirated it and it's over here now. Yeah.
Wow, that must be an amazing feeling and an amazingly frustrating feeling, right? It's like, wow, I know I have a good product and it just can't find a home that will run with it in the way that it needs to be run with. And Chrissy and I have talked about this all the time.
We've talked about this just with so many people who have come on the show. I have this feeling, this like, I know this is kind of contrarian, but my feeling is that in some ways the streamers and OTT broke something that wasn't, broke something that necessarily didn't need to be broken, right? And that these, some of these television shows shows that are fantastic fan favorites no doubt they're getting you can't find them or three and done they're three and out because the streamers that's not where the new subscribers lie they don't lie in season number four they lie in the brand new season of the brand new television show that gets all the pr and that brings people in the door by season number four it's an established audience that's already here paying us a subscriber's fee why are we going to spend money on it and that is uh that's terrible for us as the viewers and sometimes you know i forgot who was saying this to us but somebody somebody who was just here said you know sometimes i feel like um the networks or the television show or the writers and producers owe it to people to wrap up some of these storylines and they never get a chance to do that.
They just go away. Yeah.
I mean, that's disruption, right? Disruption is just the shell game and they sold it to us as if it was this thing that was going to improve upon a product and it didn't. It actually made the product the access to the product worse right yes and what's funny is that the success of a lot of these streaming platforms is like the bedrock of a lot of these things are where can i find the long-running show that i want as a comfort watch where is cheers streaming where is seinfeld streaming where is friends streaming where's parks and rec streaming right where's abbott elementary streaming like these

are the things that we keep coming back to as foundational which previous networks used to have

in syndication and now they're just moving it around trying to keep everyone from subscribing

over here or keep everyone subscribing here and and then like canceling this one but then

resubscribing because of other stuff so it's built in this way that forces you to kind of

I'm going to come together and then instead of buying one cable package you'll have to buy three because it'll be disney espn blah blah blah it'll be nbc universal and like you know warner or something like that like yeah they're going to start merging out of necessity they're already doing it they're already doing it so the so the model that they took and disrupted and broken a million pieces is now coming back to the model that we always had. There are ads running again in the streamers.
Now we don't have a whole seasons dropping at the same time. They're dropping week after week.
The streamers figured out that doesn't work. So let's now go back to every week, every Thursday at nine o'clock, we'll drop this new episode.
And now it's so funny because I have cable, but on my cable, I watch Netflix through my cable. It's just another television channel.
It's just another television channel and one that has a ton of money to pour into content. But there's so much content that the discovery is really difficult.
And unless somebody tells me about it or I have time to bounce around, we found this for you, which I never do, then I don't get to see the new things that are deep in that platform. So it's an embarrassment of riches in one way.
And in one way, it's just so thin. It's so hard to find that I can understand the incredible frustration when you have such a great television show like shrink and you're like, oh my gosh, this four or five ten seasons long in syndication and we could make such a great product over and over again and then it just gets stuck bouncing around everywhere that's where it must be kind of a blessing to be with a company or a studio like hbo because it's you know you know you're the in the right to stem zones is obviously a breakout hit for them, but you know that they're,

you're going to get the proper promotion and the proper platforming and the

proper discovery,

at least in that universe,

um,

that it's got a chance,

right.

It's got a chance to go the distance.

Yeah.

And after,

uh,

after shrink hat,

like that happened and CISO went under,

I was like, I need a job. And, uh, do you know who Jordan Klepper is he's on the day I do yeah of course so Jordan um Jordan had the show called The Opposition which was on right after The Daily Show for like a year yeah oh yeah uh it was kind of like Colbert Rapport but updated for like the InfoWars era you know yeah and uh and he was he like, he's looking for correspondence and they reached out to me and I had, that's

called field work when the correspondents go out into the field and man on the street

stuff.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And that's notoriously like really difficult, but I needed a job.

So, I auditioned and I wrote a character that was kind of like his little brother kind of

antagonizing him because he was my first improv coach in Chicago. And I always kind of like his little brother kind of antagonizing

him because he was my first improv coach in Chicago. And I always kind of...
Oh, Jordan Clever was? Yeah, he was. And I always kind of had that rapport with him, you know, where I'm kind of annoying him and he's like, all right, all right.
And so, I wrote that into the character and it worked and they flew me out and I tested and it went great. So, they're like, okay, you're hired.
So then I had to do field work and it was in 2017, 18.

Oh my God. it worked and they flew me out and I tested and it went great.
So they're like, okay, you're hired. So then I had to do field work and it was in 2017, 18.
So I'm going to like CPAC and Roy Moore rallies and Steve Bannon speeches and wearing a bulletproof vest. I mean, almost I was wearing, well, I was wearing like a American flag t-shirt that I got to the store, which was better than a Bulletproof vest.
That's true. And that was a really, really tough job.
I loved everyone that worked there, but it was really kind of soul sucking because you're seeing these people that are, they're so, you know, they're sucked into this cult. Brainwashed.
Yeah, they're brainwashed. They're brainwashed.
It's right when like QAnon is coming out. We were on the ground when it first came out being like, so what do you think? You know, when people were like, yeah, it's real.
It was really dark. And then you notice QAnon went away.
Did anybody notice that QAnon just went away? QAnon was going to save the world and the big reveal and the whole world was going to change. And it just went away.
It just went away. And that experience too, where it was hard to draw an audience from that because everyone was kind of in denial at the time.
So, I went from shrink to that. And then I landed on Gemstones and HBO.
And, you know, my reps had been like, you know, are you going to want to pitch something else? You want to get another show out there? And I was so heartbroken from the shrink stuff that, to be honest, I was like, no, this is good.'m yeah i'm i feel really blessed and lucky to be in the this company of people they're all top notch in what they do you know literally like some of the best in the business and whatever roles they they fill and how they're perceived by the industry and with roughhouse that's just i mean they they're visionaries

they really are some of the most underrated people at least of the 21st century and uh it was it was

such a gift to just come in and be like what do you need me to do i'll like i mean and that

character bj runs through brick walls with those guys you were jokingly i was when we were doing

press someone had asked about that season one i get hit in the face with a steak i get tased

Thank you. We were jokingly, when we were doing press, someone had asked about that.
Season one, I get hit in the face with a steak. I get tased.
I think I get beat up. I fall off like a fence.
Season two, I have the baptism. I get shot.
Season three, I get a ninja star in my head. I, that's right.
I have to fight a naked guy. This season, I had to learn how to pole dance.
And you took this seriously. I read an article where you went to class for two and a half hours a day.
I mean, that's a poor strength. That is commitment to the bed.
They're hard. No joke, Christy.
Testify to this. Testify to this.

Yes, they are so hard.

Seriously.

I don't doubt it.

It takes a lot of strength.

Core strength, arm strength, leg.

I mean, all of it.

I was really lucky that the person that they just coincidentally picked happened to be,

like, it was the closest pole studio to production headquarters.

And they were like, oh, this one.

Yeah. The woman running it, Tanya Christopher, bless her heart heart she is the president of the u.s aerial federation so basically if pole if aerial if aerial sports gotten into the olympics she would be the olympic coach wow and she was training me and i came in and i'm like look i'm not very flexible you know i'm like i don't know about my i'm a fish.
Yeah, I'm a fish out of water. And the first routine, which is in episode two, which is out now, I was supposed to get upside down.
And I was like, there's no fucking way. And she's like, with all due respect, I think you're going to do this entire routine by yourself.
I designed it so that you could do it. And I'm like, there's no way.
She's like, don't take this the wrong way. Your body is built for pull.
I designed it so you could do it and I'm like there's no way she's like don't take this the wrong way your body is built for pull I love it and she was she was right by the fourth session I got upside down by the fifth session I did the entire routine and we're there high fiving each other being like wow it's inspiring me to go back to these classes because I quit after like two it's hard well you got to pace yourself i went too hard on the pole and i hurt my shoulder and my elbow too hard on the pole i went too hard on the damn pole it's so fantastic you are the kind of the punching bag of that uh of that but it's there's it's so goofy and lovable and absurd in some ways. I love the character.
I think it's great. There aren't too many characters that I don't love.
And you're working with some of the best. I mean, you've got Danny McBride.
And Edie Patterson. Edie Patterson.
The two of you just, I mean, just the back and forth. And what she says, what did she say the other time? I mean, I'm watching it.
You know, it makes me slick. Yeah.
It's just the writing. Yeah, the writing is so quick and like witty.
But I have to ask, who is you? Like working with John Goodman, we were just talking about before you came on. We were like, wow, just sitting in the same room with John Goodman.
I mean, ever since Roseanne, I think we've all thought of him as our best friend. He played that character so welcoming, inviting to the audience.
It felt like that's your dad, your uncle, your best friend, your bud, however you saw it at the time. And he parlayed that into a career of epic proportions.
And he's like, in my mind 10 feet tall he's alleged oh yeah yeah he really is and you know being from illinois like that was you know roseanne roseanne was our home girl yeah that house like i knew i did an episode of the conners a few years ago and being in that on the studio lot and in that set and seeing the living room like this is it was surreal because that house was so many of my friends houses yes mine too yeah um and yeah i think very blessed with that set like adam divine felt like someone that i had gone to high school with pretty instantly tony cavallero i knew since 2012 when we did montreal just for laughs together ed like, like it was super easy from the get-go with Edie and that made the job so fun and fulfilling. And with John, I always said it's like watching a marble statue starting to move.
That's a good way to put it. Everything is perfect.
Like every take I would be like huh there is flawless it was but but it was interesting in its own way and you would learn i would learn so much from watching him that very quickly season one i was like okay jody hill would say this he after a good take he'd be like i was just watching the movie yeah like like he had no notes that was his his way of saying like no notes he was like i was just watching the movie guys and with john quickly i had to be like i can't watch the movie from inside the scene yeah i gotta i gotta i gotta get over the fact that it's john and i gotta appreciate the fact that he is an incredible professional we had a scene together in season two and um off camera he's trying to get better that i think was the thing that i was most impressed by yeah he's still working at it yeah like he's we did his coverage first and then turned around and did mine and he's still working the scene from his side of the camera and like he had to you know

sometimes you have to cheat where like you're in a space and so you know the camera's on you and

then it turns around on the on the other person and you have to be like this close to the camera

and so yeah you're doing your scene and i remember john had to be like right here and he's still

emoting and giving the scene his all like you know contemplating and and giving me what i need for

Thank you. And I remember John had to be like right here and he's still emoting and giving the scene his all, like, you know, contemplating and giving me what I need for the scene.

Yeah.

You're like, you've been doing this that long and you're still that generous with your scene partner, which is professionalism.

But still, there are a lot of people that don't do that.

Yeah, they phone it in because, you know, it's not the attention is not on me.

You know, you do your thing and I'll say the line. So at least you have some background.
Endless respect for him. You know, I think you're on a run here, kid.
I think you're on a run here. And I got to say, I mean, this is 45 minutes that we're talking to you.
We could go on and on. Oh, yeah.
Comedy Bang Bang. That is my flavor of hot sauce.
What was it? Maurice Flatbottom. All these characters you play.
I just love it because the commercial break is a lot that way. You know, we do these sketches at the beginning of the show.
And Comedy Bang Bang has some similar ilk, doing it a lot longer than we have and much better. But, you know, some of these characters that you play, I just love it.
And your roots are in improv. I think that's probably served you well inside of some of these television shows.
Yeah. Because you have the ability to be really flexible and versatile.
It shows. You're really good.
You're all scene stealers. But there are some scenes where it's just clear that, you know, your character has taken the cake.
You've got the Deli Boys. I'm so excited.
Deli Boys is on Hulu, right? It is on Hulu, yes. And you've got Righteous Gemstones on Max.
And then you've got Peacock. You have Shrink.
Comedy Bang Bang lives forever on the RSS feed, so you can go listen to that podcast. It's, I think, one of the first places we did some advertising for our show to grow the show early on when we weren't when no one was gonna listen to the show anyway even if they earned it but um yeah comedy bang bang was one of those first places wow that's great we also have my wife and i and a few friends have a podcast on the comedy bang bang patreon oh really that's called hey randy it's based on um randy snuts who's one of the long-running characters that i've done on comedy oh yeah yeah and it's a call-in advice show and we have like our our small but mighty fan base calls in with anything duplicitous and scandalous happening in their lives and and the it's just a hometown crew of friends and and the little drama that's part of their lives and it's kind of based on like the people that I grew up with in Joliet.
Oh, that's great. I want to talk to you about Joliet.
I want to talk to you about Oak Forest. I want to talk to you about the Cubs and the Bears and the Blackhawks and all the, you know, if you like the White Sox, you're from Indiana.
But hey, that's what my dad used to say to me. My grandpa used to say it to us, and then my dad carried on the tradition.
He says, you're from Chicago, son, so you like the Bulls, the Bears, the Blackhawks, and the Cubs. And if you ever like the White Sox, move to Indiana.
And I... But we'll forgive the White Sox fans.
We'll forgive the White... They have a long storied history themselves.
It's just, you know, Comiskey and Wrigley, two different places. So, Tim Baltz, I'm going to put the links in all the show notes.
I'll put a link to the Patreon where you can go listen to it. It's on Patreon, you said? Yeah, the CBD World, the Comedy Bang Bang Patreon.
Okay, I'll make sure I find a link. I'll put it on there.
I'm going to put a link to all three of the network television shows that Tim has now got out there in the universe. And congratulations on all your success.

We wish that you come back so we can dig deeper into the universe of Tim.

I feel like 45 minutes, we're just scratching the surface.

Absolutely.

I'd love to be back.

Okay.

Well, I know your people.

So your people are my people.

So we'll call them and we'll get this all hooked up.

Awesome.

Tim Balz, thank you very much, my friend. We really appreciate it.
All the best. Thank you.
Hey, it's Rachel, your new voice of God here on TCB. And just like you, I'm wondering just how much longer this podcast can continue.
Let's all rejoice that another episode has made it to your ears. And I'll rejoice that my check is in the mail.
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Now I'm going to go check the mailbox for payment while you check out our sponsors. And then we'll return to this episode of the commercial break.
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I'm going to tell a story that Tim didn't tell recorded, but I'm going to tell the story. I'm going to relay the story.
So Tim and I were commiserating about being long-suffering Cubs fans before we got onto the actual recording. And he was like, oh, well, at least we have 2016 when the Cubs won the World Series.
And I said, yeah, you know, and every time someone says Cubs won the World Series, I have to tell them that I almost went if I had $10,000 in my pocket. And he was explaining that he was going to go.
He was there in Chicago around that time, but he got flown out to LA for whatever reason. He goes to a bar on game seven when they won, and he's standing by himself at a table, and someone hits a home run in the first inning, which really is an indication things are going well for the Cubs, essentially.
And because Cubs fans are so fucking superstitious, there were other Cubs fans in that same bar who were like, you cannot move from that table because it's so superstitious that if anything changes, then maybe the Cubs are going to lose. And that's how it goes when you're a Cubs fan.
So they made him stand there the entire night watching the game and they would bring him food and water and drinks and stuff like that. And he had friends at tables in the corner.
And they were like, come on, man. And he's like, I can't move.
I can't move. I got to stand right here at this bar table for four and a half hours while the Cubs win the World Series.
And they did. And they won.
And we all cried. And Tim Baltz is awesome.
What a good guy. Thanks to Tim.
Yeah. I enjoyed it.
I liked him. Oh, God.
I loved him. I wish there was going to be another season of Righteous Gemstones, but, you know, we got four.
That's better than most. I'm going to go back and start re-watching them, which I think is the mark of a great show.
Yes, I agree. If you go back and re-watch what you've already watched.
I totally agree with you. There are shows that I re-watch over and over and over again.
Kath and Kim, The West Wing, Benny Dorm. Benny Dorm is the most terrible show you've ever seen in your entire life, by the way.
I rewatch it at night. It's like comfort food.
It's like, this is so bad. I know I'll fall asleep to it.
Why not? Sometimes I'll go to sleep on like episode one and then I'll wake up. And it's on 12.
And the next day it's on 13. Yeah.
I was like, wow, that played for 13 hours. And I wonder why my phone's always dead in the morning.
All right. Tim Baltz.
I'm going to put all of the pertinent details, links to the righteous gemstones, links to his Hulu show, Deli Boys, and links to the Peacock, a critically acclaimed show shrink. Go watch it.
Who knows? Maybe they'll raise that from the dead and give them another season or something like that. Yeah, they should.
And Comedy Bang Bang. He's got his own podcast behind the paywall.
I'll give you a link. Comedy Bang Bang is great, by the way.
If you like the commercial break, it's like a much better version of the commercial break. They do mostly all improv, and it's really funny.
And Reggie Watts is often on comedy bang bang. So go listen to some of our friends over at comedy bang bang.
Okay. For us, as far as we're concerned, you can go to our website, tcbpodcast.com.
All the audio, all the video right there at one location in case you need to catch up on, you know, 713 episodes of the commercial break, feel free to go to the website.

It's all there.

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Hit the drop-down menu.

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Just don't even bother.

YouTube.com slash The Commercial Break for all you Dr. Phil fans out there, you can catch all of our episodes the same day, usually, that they air here on the audio feed.
They will be dropped on the YouTube feed. Also, 212-433-3TCB.
212-433-3822. Questions, comments, concerns, content ideas.
Leave us a voicemail.

We might put you on the next show.

All right, Chrissy, that's all I can do for now.

I think so.

I'll tell you that I love you.

I love you.

Best to you.

Best to you.

Best to you out there in the podcast universe.

Thanks to Tim for showing up today.

Until next time, we will say, we do say, and we must say goodbye.

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