Sam Harris – The Class

Q) What are the current projects that you are working on?

A) The main thing I am working on is “The Class.” It’s the most thrilling time and I’m having the time of my life! It has the most amazing people, creators, writers, directors and has an incredible cast. I am in heaven!

Q) Please tell us about your character Perry on the show “The Class.”

A) I am married to a character named Holly, who is played by Lucy Punch, and we have a little daughter named Oprah. Perry is a very free spirited, completely outlandish, silly guy who is perceived by the others as being a closeted homosexual. There is a lot of humor in that. Meanwhile, there is a character on the show that is gay who is a regular Joe (his name is Kyle and is played by Sean Maguire). He’s in a relationship, he’s a regular guy and he’s a school teacher. Then, there is Perry who is a lot of fun and larger than life, and presumably he’s straight.

Q) What made you want to be a part of the show?

A) There are many reasons! One is that I love comedy so much and through the years, my music concerts have become a third hat of comedy. I love comedy! I moved to Los Angeles from New York a few years ago to pursue more television and film. When this came up, it was a dream come true! It was David Crane and Jeffery Klarik as the creators. David created “Friends,” Jeffery created “Mad About You” and James Burroughs (who has directed all of our episodes) directed shows like “Will and Grace,” to “Friends, to “Taxi” and back to “Mary Tyler Moore.” I am a lucky guy! Just about anyone would want to be in a room with these guys.

Q) What is your most memorable moment from filming?

A) There was one really scary moment. When we were filming the episode after the pilot, we had the live audience there. We started the feed and I had this visual bit at the start of the scene, which got a nice laugh. We started the dialogue and then there no laughs at all. Literally, no laughs at all! I thought, “Oh my G-d! It’s over! What we thought was funny is not. I am totally bombing. I’m terrible and I should probably pack up my dressing room tomorrow!” Then, James (the director) turns to the audience and asks, “Can you hear?” It turns out that the sound was off in the house! They couldn’t hear anything! Meanwhile, I nearly melted into the floor! Then they turned the sound on and it was fine. Part of it, for me, is feeling the chemistry and the joy of what we get to do every week happen with these other actors. It’s a large show in a small amount of time. It’s twenty-two minutes with ten regular characters. There is a lot to accomplish! If something doesn’t work, there are fifteen writers making it better and giving you new lines.

Q) How are you going to celebrate on the day the show airs?

A) The whole cast is getting together to celebrate together. We’re in this experience together so we want to see it together.

Q) The show is getting good reviews. Do you think people will go with them or just judge for themselves?

A) This concept is working. The creators are fans of reality shows. They watch “Survivor,” “Big Brother, “Amazing Race” and all of those shows. They realized that they were keeping up with ten, twelve or fourteen storylines for weeks. You like one person one week and then you don’t like them another week.  You think you know one person and then there is a switch. They realized that the capacity for an audience is much faster and better. We have much more information thrown at us today than we did forty years ago. As we all know, the four to six character sitcom hasn’t been doing so well. So, they decided to apply this new perspective to a scripted comedy and it keeps it flying! What they manage to do is very funny and very fast paced, but it also has a great deal of heart. You really care. It’s a lot to pack in, but they really have it ten fold.

Q) Is comedic timing something that comes natural to you or is it something that you are constantly working at?

A) I think that it is something that you can hone and craft to get better at. When I was a kid (granted “I Love Lucy” was off the air for quite some time), I loved “I Love Lucy” and Lucille Ball. I was also a big Neil Diamond fan. The kind of comedy I was attracted to had a certain kind of rhythm that is funny to me. It’s the kind of rhythm that is being written in this show. I do have a natural understanding of it. When I read it on the page I can, generally, tell what the feeling is. Of course when you do it on TV, you get notes and things like that to help make it better. I think based on my education and what I was drawn to, it definitely helps with what I’m doing now.

Q) You are a writer, actor and musician. What else would you like to try your hand at?

A) There are a couple of films that I have written and one in particular that we are hoping to have them shot in the Spring. I am very excited about it and I don’t want to share too much about it. It’s not a knee slapper. It’s definitely committed, but it’s also a personal story. I wrote it and I will be in it. I am looking forward to do that, which is in great contrast to the character I play in “The Class.”

Q) What do you do in your spare time?

A) I am kind of a home person. I cook almost every day. I garden and spend time with friends. It’s already getting not that simple with all of this buzz around the show. All of a sudden there are a few more invitations. I balance my work life, my business life and social life with a very close core group of friends who are my family and my partner of eleven years. I have my dogs and my kitchen, as well.

Q) What would you like to say to your fans and supporters?

A) I am so grateful! My life is good and I am a very happy person. I’ve been very blessed to go through different cycles of career, some up, some down and some sideways. I am not crazy about the word fans, but I am very fortunate to have people who have really followed and stuck with me through everything. Through a Broadway career, to a record career, to a music career, a touring career and now a television career. I am just blessed and so grateful!