Steven W. Bailey – Average Joe

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

A) As Grey’s is now in its summer hiatus, I am mainly taking it easy.  I’m trying to spend some time out of town this year and explore some.  I continue to look for other projects that would be a good fit and have been focusing on my writing a good deal lately.

Q) Please tell us about your character, Joe, on “Grey’s Anatomy.”

A) Well, Joe is everybody’s favorite bartender!  He owns the Emerald City Bar across the street from Seattle Grace Hospital and supplies the staff of the hospital with stiff drinks and good times.  He is one of the few recurring characters that the audience has had a chance to get to know who works outside the hospital, and at times, I think he sort of operates as an extension of the audience… getting close to the main characters and observing them in the way the folks sitting at home on their sofas do.

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

A) I was actually offered a part in the very first episode of a character who died.  He was the guy O’Malley promised that he would be OK because Burke was really good at his job.  Then he died and George got an earful from Dr. Burke about making promises to patients.  It was a nice little role, but I had to turn it down because I had a time conflict with something else I was up for.  Then they had me come in and do a few episodes in the first season as an anesthesiologist that they wanted to turn into a larger part, but that didn’t work out somehow… Then they thought up Joe!  It was a strange journey to get to Joe, but I’m sure glad it worked out the way it did… who wants to die in the very first episode!?

Q) What is it about the show that continues to draw viewers in?

A) Sex, Syphilis, McDreamy’s hair.  Say no more.

Q) Does the cast have a lot of chemistry off the set as well as they seem to have on set?

A) This is a very interesting group of people with many different personalities, but are personalities that all meld together very well.  It is a very positive place to work.

Q) The show’s time slot has been moved to run against FOX’s show “The O.C.” How do you think “Grey’s Anatomy” will fair?

A) I think the bigger question is how we will do against “C.S.I.?”  It should be interesting to see how that all plays out.  My money is on Grey’s.

Q) You got your acting start doing theater. What is it about the theater that you love and do you have any plans to return to the stage in the near future?

A) What do I love about Theater?  Wow.  That is a big question.  The easiest answer is simple:  Everything.  There is an old saying that goes something like this; “Film is Art, Theatre is Life, Television is Furniture.”  Now, I don’t know if I would go so far as to agree with the “Television is furniture” part, especially since I pay my bills working in the medium and there certainly is a lot of good work going on in TV nowadays. I do believe that for me, “Theatre is Life.”  It has been a long time since have done any theatre and that makes me sad. I am the sort of person who believes that to achieve one’s goals, one must stay focused on them… and right now my goal is to establish myself in the film and TV world and because of that, theatre must be sacrificed.  Hopefully, there will be a day soon when I will feel that I have my house in order in the film and TV world and I can go back to my first love.

Q) You were on the show “My Big, Fat, Obnoxious Fiancé” as Steve Williams. Do you keep in touch with Randi?

A) About a year after the show aired there was an incident in my house involving my cat, his water bowl and my cell phone… Needless to say, my cell phone ended up in his bowl and I lost many phone numbers…. Randi’s being one of them.  I suppose it wouldn’t be that much trouble to track her down, but I think both of us have moved past that show and our getting on with our lives.  I wish her the best.  And Randi… if you are reading this, give me a call sometime!

Q) What do you do in your spare time?

A) As I said earlier, I have been doing a good bit of writing lately on screenplays and whatnot.  But my real obsession lately has been flying!  I love everything to do with airplanes and hope to start training for my private pilot’s license in the near future.  Until I start, you can often find me hanging around the Santa Monica Airport watching planes take off and land and trying to get actual pilots to talk to me.

Q) What is your latest obsession? A book? A movie? A sport? A band?

A) Flying.  Said that already, I guess.  Also, if you have never heard the album “Extremely Cool” by Chuck E. Weiss, you really should.