I meet Anders Holm at the SLS Hotel for our exclusive interview about Unexpected, the new indie flick starring Holm and Cobie Smulders of How I Met Your Mother fame. Holm, himself a notable comedian for his show Workaholics (in which he co-stars, writes, and directs), is quick to crack a joke (If only his character “John” in the film was as entertaining as Anders is in real life). With a monotone cadence, Holm rides the line of being either sarcastically hilarious or completely serious. It is a style of comedy which I’m personally a huge fan of, so our interview is no doubt a very fun 15 minutes. We initially cover the film, but then can’t help digressing for the rest of the interview to other important subjects such as: proper telemarketing etiquette, his daily routine, and his dreams of wearing a speedo one last time. We begin:
How did you become attached to the project?
I became attached after reading the script and falling in love with it, and then meeting Kris Swanberg. Not falling in love with her, but loving her and wanting to work with her. So between the script she wrote and then just Kris herself, I was like I wanna be a part of this.
In Unexpected, you play the perfect boyfriend. When fans of Workaholics see you in this role, what will they say?
They’re gonna say, “Woah, Ders is a total bitch in this movie, but I like him.” You know as I get older, and I am, it’s no longer like “fresh out of college.” It’s more like oh, this guy’s in his 30s and just had a baby and proposing and getting married. Hopefully my characters can evolve with my actual self.
Is that something you want to do, take on these more “serious” Hollywood roles?
No I mean it’s just like realistic. It’s funny, I was on set two seasons ago when I was 31 and we [Adam Devine, Blake Anderson] were chasing these girls who were underage and couldn’t buy beer, and one of the actresses was 17 playing 20, and I was 31 playing 27 or whatever. It was like, alright, let’s just start playing our age. What are we doing here? It’s bizarre.
At least it’s not the other way around, you’re not aging yourself.
But isn’t that society? Isn’t it not right either way? I’m kidding. There’s double standards and there always will be.
What was working with Cobie Smulders like?
Cobie is awesome. She’s easygoing, she knows her lines. She seems like she could be a diva, like, “This girl’s got it all,” but she’s not. She’s the most fun and also just like, good. There’s nothing like showing up on set and acting across from someone and thinking, “Oh, they’re way better.”
Did you go with the film to Sundance and SXSW?
I went to Sundance. Went to the dance, the Sunny D. Walked around with Chris Webber, who’s a producer on the movie, and watched some guy pass by and say, “Was that R. Kelly?” It was very funny. I had never done Sundance before and it was just cool.
What’s your daily routine?
Well now I’ve got a kid, so the child wakes me up. I used to wake up to Alice in Chains “Here Comes The Rooster,” on my phone, but now I wake up to a 19-month-old down the hall going, “MOM. MOM. MOM” for like 10 minutes before we’re like, “We gotta get up.” That’s zero exaggeration. It’s deep and it’s not “Mama,” it’s not “Mommy,” it’s “Mom.”
He sounds like a teenager.
Yeah it’s weird. So that gets me out of bed and then I either try and do a five minute workout or I get out the door and go to work and write all day with my best friends on Workaholics. Then I go home and open the door and the kid’s like “MOM.”
I’m sure with a kid you’ve had to master the art of fitting things in with a limited amount of time.
Yeah, well it’s more of I’ve given up my own life, minus work. I did have some hobbies I used to do, and they no longer exist.
Would you say you’re most productive in the morning, afternoon, or night?
Night, which I can’t do anymore. I’m a total night person. If I was left to my own devices I would become a vampire and stay up until 4 a.m. But when you’ve got a kid you can’t do that because you’ve gotta be up at 7 a.m., so I’ve taken to writing at like 10, maybe 11 a.m. Then I just work during the day. I don’t like it as much but what am I? A child? It’s time to go to work.
What is your process for memorizing lines?
Well Workaholics is cheating because two things: We wrote the episodes so I was there and read the script a bunch of times. I also have the advantage of being able to say whatever I want anyway ’cause it doesn’t matter. When you get to other people’s sets it matters a little more. I don’t know what I do [learning lines], I’m not the best, but Jillian Bell on Workaholics taught me this thing where if you hand-write out all of your lines and also the other person’s lines, it will help you embed it into your brain. It works, but I’ve got brain damage or something. It’s never gonna happen.
You’re also involved in improv comedy.
I took a couple classes after Workaholics just ’cause I was like, bored, and wanted to make sure I could still act. When you’re insulated with the guys who I’ve just been shooting videos with and you’re like “Oh other actors are going to be coming to set,” it might be good to just get out there and sharpen my tools.
So when you are on other people’s sets, do they allow you to improvise?
It varies, but when I did The Mindy Project we would improvise a lot. I would usually let Mindy [Kaling] go off the page before I did. It’s her house, I’m not gonna walk in there and tread mud. But then at the same time it’s better to beg forgiveness than ask for permission. I’ve begged for forgiveness a whole bunch.
If you could write/direct your next movie, featuring you, what would that be?
That’s what my manager is telling me and I don’t know what it is. How about it’s a guy whose back is up against a wall, so he puts on his speedo and tries to make the Olympic trials.. and doesn’t.
You already have the speedo experience*, right?
I do have the experience. I might as well, one last time.
What’s been the worst job you’ve had in a non-acting context?
I mean, I did telemarketing and so did Adam DeVine. What I did was tele-fundraising. Instead of calling you and saying, “Hey I’ve got a product,” I would say, “Hey, there are some whales that are getting murdered off of the coast of Japan. Do you want to give money to make those whales not murdered?” It sucks. Asking people for money, on the phone, sucks. You’re hooked up to a computer so as soon as a call is over and you hang up, it dials another one.
Ok, so I have to ask, what is the polite way to say “No thank you” to these calls?
Yeah exactly! So now when I get one of these calls, I let them get out their main thing, and if they do say “How are you,” I’ll say, “Hey I’m good and I appreciate your call but I’m not interested. Thanks and good luck.” You’ve gotta be sweet. I don’t know why people… I think it’s a power thing. If you have no power in your day-to-day life except for when someone calls and you can just shit on them, people will. But my life’s ok so I can just talk them down.
*Anders was a varsity member of the swim team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
