G33K Out: 2014 LA Times Festival of Books: Stephen Tobolowsky

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Note: this article was also published on SciFi4Me.com.

Episode 23: 2014 LA Times Festival of Books: Stephen Tobolowsky

“Hey: it’s that one guy!”

It’s the cry of many a character actor (so much so that it’s got its own page on TV Tropes, and for actor Stephen Tobolowsky, that’s fine with him. Appearing in over 200 films and/or television episodes, you may know him as the insurance salesman in Groundhog Day, the substitute teacher Sandy Ryerson in Glee, or from any number of various roles. For me, the role that moved him from ‘it’s that one guy’ to knowing his name was as a guest star on The Lone Gunmen, the short-lived sequel series to The X-Files.

His experiences in television, film and theater are varied, and he has a wide range of stories about those experiences. Back in 2005, he and his stories became the subject of Stephen Tobolowsky’s Birthday Party, a movie whereby he captivates his friends and family (and the audience) with these stories of his life. This film led to the podcast The Tobolowsky Files, which I’ve recommended both back in 2011 and again in February of this year.

In 2014, I had the chance to interview him. He was going to be at that year’s LA Times Festival of Books, promoting his book The Dangerous Animals Club, which is a series of some of those tales. He’s coming back to this year’s LA Times Festival of Books, promoting his newest book, My Adventures with God, and so I thought it was a great chance to bring this interview out from storage.

Stephen Tobolowsky and me. Photo by Renee Fabian.

Basic show notes:

And now, it’s time to geek out.

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