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Hi on the show today, an accomplished actor
and he seems quite clever too because he’s taken a
great shine to Vancouver, Joe Lando will
be here.
Vicki: I suppose he’s best
known as Byron Sully, I love names like that on television characters
and he was, for many years, on Dr
Quinn, Medicine Woman, six years in fact he was there and
apparently he might be strapping back
into the old buckskins once again. This is Joe Lando.
hairless ...
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Thank you.
Vicki:
You know, what happened to the hair?
Joe:
I cut if off about two days before my son was born.
Vicki:
A sort of an act of ..er...?
Joe:
Well, I think I knew
that the show wasn’t going to go and I’d grown the hair specifically for
Quinn and so I cut
it off, it was a catharsis, and I got a lot of flack for it too.
Vicki:
You did?
Joe:
Yes, from the fans.
Vicki:
Oh yes, because they expect you to look the same.
Joe:
And for years people
were telling me that to get a job on hiatus people were saying cut
your
hair, it’s hard to
cast you in these other things, and I cut my hair and then everybody
was like
“who are you?”
You know? I was Hercules, I was somebody ....
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Oh yes, well Kevin had the same problem.
Joe:
They all thought I was
Kevin and kids would come out to visit us at the set and would say
like “you’re Hercules”
“no I’m not” “yes you are” Okay, I’m Hercules or whoever you want me to
be
today. Michael
Bolton would be another one I used to get.
Vicki:
Oh yes, but you have way more hair than Michael Bolton.
Joe:
Oh thankfully.
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And you have better taste perhaps ....? Oh don’t give me any grief about ...
Joe:
He’s going out with Pam Anderson? That’s the rumor I heard.
Vicki:
I thought he was going out with somebody else. You must know all the dirt eh?
Joe:
Because I live in LA
now too eh? I go down there and they're like what’s that accent
you
have now - it’s Chicago,
it’s Canadian, it’s where ever I am.
Vicki:
There’s a guy who owns the Grizzleys for the moment...
Joe:
Strike?
Vicki:
He doesn’t say eh but
he says aboot the way Canadians do and he’s from one of the
Carolinas and there’s
a neurotic thing in Hollywood about this aboot thing.
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I was in an audition
and they said “oh you were up in Vancouver” and I said yes I’d love to
to shoot this show,
and they said you already have the accent ...oot and aboot ...
Vicki:
We’ve had this conversation nine times I’m going to swear off it.
Joe:
Oh sorry.
Vicki:
No, No. So what’s happening with Dr. Quinn? You’re going to do another one?
Joe:
It looks like it.
I’ll find out probably later on today but I read a great script last week
and
we’re going to shoot
it in Montreal as opposed to Vancouver.
Vicki:
So it’s in the winter maybe? Snowing?
Joe:
It’s supposed to be July in the script. Go figure.
Vicki:
Oh, yeah?
Joe:
Yeah, there’s a lot of interiors, so - I’ve never been in Montreal.
Vicki:
Oh I think you’ll really really like it.
Joe:
It’ll be three quick weeks.
Vicki:
It’s a fantastic city.
But you like this city so much you bought a house here but I guess if
there’s not a series
to keep you here, you’re not going to keep the house are you?
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I came up almost two
years I’ve been here, I moved up way ahead of time before we started
shooting Higher Ground,
even before pre-production, to get acclimated and to get my wife and baby
and our family dug
in and we just lived across the street for 4 ½ months, and at 11
0 clock at
night I’d take my dogs
out for a walk and every actor in town seems to stay at Sutton Place so
here you are putting
on a hat and putting on pajamas and sneaking out into the elevator....
Vicki:
Pajamas? You were out in the street walking in your pajamas?
Joe:
I was so embarrassed
but we ran around a lot and I finally bought the house here I was telling
you about earlier,
restored it ....
Vicki:
Was that a great part?
Joe:
Higher Ground?
Joe:
Yes, and it felt really
like I was getting something down as opposed to just being a gun for
hire as I was an executive
producer and that too was the beginning, and I think it was a great
show and we dealt with
some really good subjects. It was just mishandled by the distributor in
the
States
Vicki:
And yes a heartbreaking
thing, you get some distributors who really don’t know how to
handle it
Joe:
They didn’t know what
to do with it and it was a show that you know, appealed to the teen
audience but also make
it interesting for adults to watch too and it had a lot of great stories
and if
the crew enjoyed working
on it, you know some of the characters were living next door, I’m very
proud of it -
22 episodes. We started a lot of new careers, Hayden Christensen
....
Vicki:
From what I understand,
one of the episodes wouldn’t air was the teen suicide, the
common course of death
Joe:
That’s when I knew we
were in trouble. They flinched on that one. It wasn’t ABC it
was
Fox Family who had
it and they were worried about this teen suicide episode, what happens
if a
kid kills himself and
I said what happens if one doesn’t kill themselves, do we take credit for
that?
I think we presented
it in a very respectful way and wasn’t glamours. It was like going
to my
funeral and watch it
and cry. It was the reaction of the kids around him, disappointment,
the
anger, and they made
us come back in and fix it, make it just an attempted suicide kind of a
thing
and then they messed
up the air date of the original, after I’d pulled out most of my hair arguing
and they ended up putting
the real one on.
Vicki:
And what was the upshot. Did it have big numbers?
Joe:
It was well received,
I mean I read the fan mail and the e mail that came in and that’s where
I felt the most gratified,
there were people watching the show and getting the point of what we
were trying to do and
I appreciated it.
Vicki:
But a show that’s only 22 episodes, ... does it die a filing cabinet death?
Joe:
It was a very painful
long death and they wouldn’t release the show so we could maybe sell
it again so by the
time they got around to releasing it, it was kind of like damaged goods,
and we
were just starting
to find out stride, getting it all together, ‘cos you know we had just
this little
teeny budget and a
lot of people were just very enthusiastic it was a good team and it was
too
bad.
Vicki:
Do you think you could make it live again?
Joe:
I think it’s time has
passed . They’re still talking about it but to get people back together
,,,
they all have jobs
and I’m looking ... you know ....
Vicki:
You’re looking for work?
Joe:
I’m looking for work.
I’m back in line so if anybody has anything for me. I do laundry,
windows, in fact I
was dressed really nicely this morning and I got up early ‘cos normally
I’m
nervous as can be the
night before and I can’t sleep but last I slept like a baby
Vicki:
Nervous about what?
Joe:
About coming here and seeing you and being up in front of a bunch of people like this?
Vicki:
Now that’s good in an actor ...
Joe:
Well it is ... well
once I’m acting it’s a different story, once I cross onto the set but,
it’s you
know, I’m painfully
shy, but if I’m playing a character it doesn’t bother me. So I get
up this
morning, get all dressed
up and I decide to do a load of whites and I’m running out the door and
I
see the car parked
in the driveway so I take off my sports coat and put it down and I take
the
bleach off the shelf
and it falls, and I was wearing all black, right? And it was like
one of those
slow motion tumbles
(does sounds effect) and the thing hits ....
Vicki:
Bleach was all over your black outfit
Joe:
Yup, gone is the Amani sweater and the slacks and the Italian shoes, so here I am ...
Vicki:
So you have nice clothes don’t you?
Joe:
Oh I have some nice stuff but I always dress like a slob.
Vicki:
Do you? well that’s nice jacket ... And your microphone is falling off ....
Vicki:
I’m back with Joe Lando,
a shy guy who won’t stop talking. His series includes Dr. Quinn
Medicine Woman where
I guess they’re going to do a one off movie and Higher Ground and One
Life to Live - how
many episodes of that?
Joe:
One Life, was about 360?
Vickie:
You could wallpaper a whole wall.
Joe:
I have quietly worked for about 10 years without anybody really knowing it.
Vicki:
I hate admitting this
sort of thing but Soap Operas and I have never been intimate
companions so what’s
the story on One Life to Live?
Joe:
What’s the story ...
well there’s a hospital, a town, a rich family, a poor family and the one
who sleeps around with
everybody.
Vicki:
Was that you ...?
Joe:
No!!! I was the
misunderstood guy from the wrong side of the tracks. My name was
Jake
Harrison.
Vicki:
Jake? Say it again.
Joe:
Jake Harrison.
Vicki laughs
Joe:
I had a good time, the
biggest challenge 20 pages a day to do and it’s not all golden and you
have to make it work
and so I did my time and it was a great place for a young actor to learn
and
make money and I was
in New York and I had a gig. It was great.
Vicki:
Better than what you were doing before?
Joe:
Which was cooking and
you know, my bank account I kept in a jacket in my closet from pay
check to paycheck,
but I was a cook for years and years, I did motion picture catering, ran
a few
restaurants, met my
wife, she was a cashier at the time at one of the restaurants so that’s
how we
met ...
Vicki:
And you’ve had a restaurant ....?
Joe:
I’ve had two failed restaurants.
Vicki:
Three times lucky It’s the hardest thing in the world to make a restaurant work
Joe:
It’s about a 68% failure rate.
Vicki:
Where were your two restaurants that tanked?
Joe:
Both in LA. We
opened up the first wrap store about 4 years ago, went up to San Franciso
and stole this idea
and started that and thought it would take off and it should have but it
was just
mismanaged, and the
other one was just like a sports bar which I hated, the pool tables and
beer
attracted me to it
but they guys in there drove me nuts, yelling at the t.v. and that was
in Venice
California in a location
that is doomed, restaurants seem to get a jinx and it doesn’t matter what
goes in there and we
took that over knowing that the other two places had tanked, but um, so
anyway you live and
learn.
Vicki:
Would you do it again?
Joe:
Yes I would. It’s
this sadist masochistic thing you get in your blood when you’re a
restaurant person.
Vicki:
Well you’ve had a full plate
Joe:
I’m a tortured human
Vicki:
Yes, and the restaurant
thing, two things which are most terrifying to most people - if you
were to open another restaurant, what
kind of restaurant would it be?
Joe:
Um well really I talked
for quite a while with one of the producers on Higher Ground as I
don’t see any good
pizza place here
Vickie:
There isn’t one?
Joe:
I have yet to find some really good New York/Chicago style pizza.
Vickie:
What’s wrong with Canadian pizza?
Joe:
Well, I dunno, the dough and the sauce is a little off ..
Vickie:
Off ....?
Joe:
(quickly) I found a great place that sells hot dogs here though.
Vicki:
Yeah? What’s that?
Joe:
Chicago Dogs ....
Vicki:
Chicago, Chicago, Chicago. There’s a world out there .... you’re from Chicago?
Joe:
Apparently!
Vicki:
No kidding! You grew up there?
Joe:
Mmmmm and then I moved out to LA when I was 18 to become an actor
Vickie:
Did you run away from home?
Joe:
No, I just got in my
car and drove but my parents never thought I’d leave home. I was very
happy there but then
I just had this acting bug so on my own I went out there with 400 bucks
and
I was naive to not
know better
Vicki:
Yeah and how long?
Joe:
10 years later
Vicki:
ooooh 10 years ....
Joe:
Yes, I moved at 18,
at 28 I got the OLTL gig in NY and that was scarey. I was worried
about moving to NY
‘cos I lived in a kind of a tough neighbourhood
Vicki:
You were living in your car in LA?
Joe:
A little bit.
And couches and that kind of stuff. But it was fun. And I couldn’t
afford my
acting class so I was
the janitor at night there so I’d clean up the studio and sleep on the
couch
but be out by 9 in
the morning when the first class filed in. That was embarrassing
to see people
coming in when you’re
waking up on the couch. So I’d grab my toothbrush and then have to
go
out and do something
all day long but it was a good time.
Vicki:
Well sure, because you
had no responsibilities. Now you have a lot of responsibilities.
You’re a husband and
a poppa you’re going to have to get a job.
Joe:
Believe me, well hopefully I have a few things lined up so I’m looking forward to ...
Vicki:
Well I think it was wonderful that you could come up here today to be on the show
Joe:
I apologize for not being on sooner
Vicki:
Oh yeah, well, I know,
yeah well ... Why, you kept being booked to be on it and then you
never showed up.
What was that about?
Joe:
Well first time we didn’t even have a name for the show
Vicki:
Right it was called something else?
Joe:
It was called Cliffhangers,
it was called this, it was called that and I thought I’ll look like a
real ass if I get up
there and I can’t even say the name of my own show so I thought we should
postpone that one and
then I could not get away from the set. It was just impossible.
Vicki:
Well you know I didn’t
think you were a prima dona if that’s what you can call guys but
you know, I just thought
you were busy.
Joe:
I was and I apologize
and I wanted to make good of my words so that’s why I’m here
today.
Vicki:
There is one story I’ve
heard a lot about you and that’s your appearance on Star Search.
Now I thought mostly
people who appear on Star Search came on and tap danced or did a little
song or were spokes
models, but you acted?
Joe:
They had an acting portion
until I did it. I was terrible, in fact I was just talking to
somebody last night
who worked at Star Search and one of my buddies wanted to see the tape
....
I hope you don’t have
anything like that?
Vicki:
I wish to God we did ..... I would pay any price
Joe:
Oh it was so embarrassing ...
Vicki:
What did you do?
Joe:
They write these awful
scenes for the show and mine was about I worked in a fishery all day
and my girlfriend thought
I smelled fishy so I had go to the perfume counter and buy myself
perfume and flirt with
the girl. There was another actress who was competing too and so you’re
put in two and two
couples do the same thing and then you’re judged on it, it was godawful
stuff.
Vicki:
Did you win?
Joe:
No I lost immediately. I walked away in shame but I needed rent money
Vicki:
They paid you?
Joe:
Yeah, they paid you
scale plus 10 or something. The guy who I was up against went on
to
win 100 grand and then
went on to work in soaps in New York but I have no idea where he is
right now.
Vicki:
Do you remember his name
Joe:
No, I don’t remember his name. Do you know Sharon Stone was their first spokesmodel
Vicki:
How good was she do you suppose?
Joe:
She’d be good.
Vicki:
Do you know her?
Joe:
Absolutely not! I don’t know many people. I know you now.
Vicki:
Good, well that oughta
help you! I hope you come back here to work but of course what
will happen is you’ll
sell your house and you’ll immediately get a gig up here.
Joe:
I’ll be over at your place. Got a place out back where the kids can stay?
Vicki:
As long as you cook I’ll keep you.
Joe:
I can cook!
Vicki:
Joe Lando, finally,
at last, thank you so much!
