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Schitts Creekis a show about a family whos essentially forced to quarantine together in a small space, unexpectedly.
CO: It shouldve trained us, yeah.
EL: When you think about it, it really was a quarantine situation for that family.
Because your kids grow up, and they go off on their own.
Thats whats supposed to happen.
And you take a stab at stay in touch, of course you do.
And I missed that with my kids.
So I was kind of envious of Johnny and Moira.
And now I get to be with my two sons who are in their 20s, and its lovely.
You were a single guy, to begin with.
You proposed!EL: Refresh my memory.
Do you remember what the role was, initially?
CO: I dont want to say, because someone else played it.
And they were obviously meant to play it, because they were amazing.
I went to meet you and Chris about it, and I [said], What about you?
You dont have a wife, right?
EL: I think Cookie, pre-Gerry, kind of liked the bad boys.
Would you call her a make-out queen?
CO: Or as they say in Monty Python, agoer.She was a goer.
She hadnt met Gerry yet.
And she didnt need those other bastards.
EL: How funny a concept it was, for these two people to come together.
CO: Thats not exaggerated.
Im thinking of how we didnt really discuss with each other what we were going to look like.
And we didnt really see each other until … And we looked at each other, and it was so funny.
Like, Okay, all right, thats who Im married to.
EL: That was one of the great things about those movies.
There was no prepping with the actors.
There were no rehearsals for anything.
Nobody really knew what anybody was going to look like.
CO: Or say.
And I think inWaiting for Guffman,he definitely took the prize with Corky.
CO: Although you had great glasses in that.
But the combination of Gerry and Cookie together was something.
When you look at them, you go, Okay, Im not quite sure Im getting it.
It really clicks when they sing together.
Thats when Cookie and Gerry make sense.CO: Eugene wrote some lovely songs for them.
Did you write those songs?EL: The terrier song?
There was [also] a suburbia thing happening with Gerry and Cookie.
It was definitely fun to play.
And Cookie keeps running into her old boyfriends.
That really was a funny premise.
The conversations still had them going.
In front of Gerry.
And they took it really seriously.
I remember it was kind of spooky.
Because we filmed for around 90 hours, and cut it down to 90 minutes.
That almost got me going on camera.
You both have great chemistry with Winky.EL: It was interesting.
You did most of the work training with the dog.
EL: Handling the dog.
CO: And show them for the judge.
The woman actually was a judge in dog shows.
They spend a lot of time traveling to these shows.
Its not really life.
Why is he winning?
EL: Its a bizarre world, dog shows.
Eugene, you co-wroteBest in Showwith Christopher Guest.
Why skewer dog shows?EL: Well, it was Chriss idea.
I thought it was a really interesting idea.
What are we going to do at the end of the dog show, though?
How do we make a dog show funny?
Its gotta be a legitimate dog show.
And it wasnt until Chris suggested, What if Fred Willard was the color commentator for the dog show?
That opened the door for me.
I said Okay, got it, say no more.
Thats brilliant, thats great.
He just went crazy, he was so funny.
He was the saving grace during the show.
He kept it real, he was so legitimate and serious.
It was a beautiful balance between the two of them.
EL: Let alone not laughing on camera.
CO: Talk about keeping a straight face.
CO: Maybe hell tell you that the whole movie was actually based around Fred.
It was a fascinating world once we got into it.
A more happier-to-know-ya kind of attitude?
Even though Winky really does look like that.CO: Oh, Winky is a doll.
I think thats a fact with dog owners.
Like a big macho guy will get a big Doberman.
We had a ball with our dog, though.
I cant remember his real name.
Thats so cute!CO: The owners of our dog were not really seriously into the game.
They didnt take it too seriously.
So he was the perfect dog for us.
It was a nerve-wracking experience actually walking the dog on camera during the dog show.
And what you didnt necessarily want was for them to say, No, no no.
Thats no way to walk a dog.
Theyre not doing that properly.
Even though your character has two left feet.
So its a real triumph when he shows Winky.CO: Brillo worked around that, too.
That wobbly walk is such hilarious physical comedy.
I read somewhere that you took that walk from your dad.
Is that true?CO: That was my dads bit.
He would walk ahead of us and do that walk, and wed all laugh.
Ive got six brothers and sisters, and we all learned how to do it.
But I got to do it in amovie.
And I walked away from them.
And Chris said, Yes.
EL: It was insane, it was so funny.
It was just Chris, talking about doing a movie about folk music.
And I jumped to that right away because I did sing folk music years ago.
You know, not in a major way, just around town.
And Chris was also into folk music back when he was in New York, in the 60s.
Hes kind of a savant when it comes to musical and vocal arrangements.
So we were always learning these great vocal arrangements, the four of us.
And Michael did arrange all the vocals for the Main Street Singers inA Mighty Wind,didnt he?
EL: He did all the vocal arrangements for them.
Oh, its really fun to sing with him.
And hed play the parts for us and ed all go off to different parts of his house.
And it was so fun to do that.
