The Expurgated Bits: Tim Bagley

Back in November, you may recall that I did a Random Roles interview with Tim Bagley…and if you don’t remember, well, then you should definitely go read it right now by clicking right here. Tim and I had a great conversation, and he made a point of telling me how much he enjoyed the format, but we were on a time constraint because he was in the midst of an HBO junket, so we had no choice but to wrap it up at the 30-minute mark. Because of his enthusiasm, though, I figured it was worth reaching out to his team a few weeks later and asking if he’d be up for doing a second interview, this one for my Substack newsletter.

I realize that this title is somewhat misleading, in that the Random Roles interview consists of our first conversation in its entirety, but what you have here are the roles that were on my list to ask him about during the Random Roles interview that we just didn’t have time to tackle. As such, I would argue that they were expurgated from our phone conversation, so in a very real way, they’re still technically expurgated bits. But since it’s also in just as real a way a completely different interview, I figured maybe I should wait longer than usual after the Random Roles interview to run this one.

Anyway, you’ll find the piece directly after the screenshot of our Zoom conversation, and just so you know, you’re seeing his reaction to my asking about The Chosen One, and he’s very much giving an expression that screams, “I cannot believe you just asked me about that…”

Before that, let me just say thanks to everyone who has a paid subscription to this newsletter. The new subscriptions and the renewals are very much helping me survive during the bleak periods when I don’t have any other work heading my way. It’s not for lack of looking, it’s just that even the outlets who like my work have limited freelance budgets, so it’s forever a fight to make ends meet. So if you’ve been on the fence about upping to a paid subscription, trust me, I won’t turn it down…

The Chosen One: Legend of the Raven (1998)—“Ricky Dean”

Having the opportunity to post these extra anecdotes over on my Substack newsletter means that I can delve into more obscurities...like, say this one.

Tim Bagley: Okay. [Sighs dejectedly.] That was...one of my first jobs, and I was in an acting class with some people that were doing that film. And I agreed to do it, and it's one of those things where every once in awhile... I think that's probably the one job that I wish I hadn't done. But I did it. I did it! And even though I did it, I remember there was one scene where they wanted me and this guy... We were, like, hillbillies, and I remember I had a line in the car - it was a horror film - where I said, "We've got to go get here! We can't leave her! I paid for that pussy!" And I remember talking to them and saying, "Is there any other way to say this? Or can we maybe just not say it or whatever?" And the guy was, like, "No, I want it! I like it!" I really pretty much lost all my battles on that. I had nothing to say. I just kind of did it and...yeah. [Laughs.] But I think I got $15,000 for it, so at the time I remember thinking, "Well, I'm a whore!"

Will & Grace (2000-2020)—“Larry”

TB: That was a real honor. I loved doing that. We were brought on - me and Jerry Levine, who played my partner, we were Larry and Joe - because it was around the third season, and they couldn't really show that much with Will or Jack, so they brought us on as a couple who adopted a baby, and then we got married, and we were playing games with them. We were their friends, and I think they were just trying to show that there's nothing to be afraid of with a gay couple. [Laughs.] You know, there's the normalcy of just wanting to have a child, have a family, have a partnership. So they brought us on to kind of be that, and I felt very honored to be there and loved every minute of it. It was a great experience.

AVC: So I'm sure you were thrilled when they called you back for the revival.

TB: Yeah, I was! I think I did a few episodes. I don't remember how many. But that was fun to be a part of as well!

The Day After Tomorrow (2004)—“Tommy Levinson”

TB: Oh! The thing about that is, I had a big monologue right before an Angelyne billboard came and swept me away. [Laughs.] And I was in between all of these tornadoes, so how they shot it was... At 4:00 am, we were in downtown L.A., and there was a helicopter about seven feet above my head, and I could barely move. And it wasn't until years later when I was watching TV in my living room, and the director, Roland Emmerich, was talking, and somebody asked him, "What's the most dangerous shot you've ever had?" And he was describing the shot, and he goes, "It was in The Day After Tomorrow, and I had an actor, and there was a helicopter seven feet over his head..." And I was, like, "That's... That's me!" [Laughs.] And I never knew I was in danger! I never thought about it! I was just focusing on trying to get my monologue out while the camera flew around this way, and the helicopter was right over my head, and...I could barely stand up. I was just trying to get my words out!

10 Items or Less (2006-2009)—“Don ‘The Bag’ Bagley”

Quick Draw (2013-2014)—“Mayor Dodge”

So basically this is the John Lehr experience.

TB: Yeah, John Lehr! I love John Lehr. And Nancy Hower, who directs them. Anything they'd ever ask me to do, I'd do it, because it was really fun, and I had a great time on both of those experiences. John makes me laugh. We improvised a lot, and...it was really fun. I just had a great time. I loved 10 Items or Less. And then the western one... I don't know how we got through it. We laughed most of the time.

John had assured me that if they'd done a season three of Quick Draw, he was going to let me be shot on camera.

TB: Oh, really? [Laughs.] Oh, that would've been great. He's so great. So you know him?

Well, I wouldn't say we're tight. But I've interviewed him a couple of times - one of which was in person during the TCA tour - and we've been Facebook friends for an ungodly amount of time.

TB: He's awesome. And we have the best time playing. My whole goal, always, was to make him laugh and to really put Nancy through it. She's great. She and John collaborate a lot together.

Employee of the Month (2006)—“Glen Gary”

TB: I'm still very good friends with Danny Woodburn, who played my big brother. I loved doing that. I really enjoyed the director, Greg, and it was a good experience. I'm trying to remember if there's anything about it that sticks out. [Long pause.] I don't know. I enjoyed it. I had a great time. Oh, I know: I was in Albuquerque, New Mexico for two months. We shot at night, and then we'd be off during the day. And about three weeks into it, I felt like I was clinically depressed, and then I realized that all it was was that I was sleeping during the day. And usually I'm used to being up and doing things and active during the day. But I had to make myself sleep. So then I realized, "Oh, no, you're not depressed, you just have to let yourself sleep!" So it was real weird to do a night shoot. I remember Andy Dick was on there, and he was crazy as a junebug, like everybody says.

I'm just guessing this, but was it a night shoot because they were using an actual big-box store?

TB: It was... Yeah, I think it was Costco. We shot in a Costco, and it was an actual store, so it was open during the day, and then we would shoot at night. It was the first time that I'd had a night shoot, and it was really weird. Your body... You just have to figure out how to adjust. But it was interesting. I had a great time on it. Loved the director, Greg Coolidge. Great guy, great time.

Just as a sidebar, my dad worked for the railroad, and he did the midnight shift for a time, and I remember that his sleep schedule was a struggle for him as well.

TB: Yeah, you realize that you really actually have to make yourself sleep. So it took me a few weeks to kind of adjust to it. I was always fine when I was working, but during the day was when I would lay around and eat and try to sleep, and I just felt... Like, I've trained myself in my real life to not be that way. To get up, make my bed, have an agenda for the day. And in the past, when I haven't done that, it's when I'm slipping into a depression. So I had to realize that there was nothing wrong with me. It's just the night shift!

The Evil Within (2017)—“Pete”

TB: Okay, that is another one of those weird things...It was a Getty that did that movie. We shot it so long ago, and then it became something else, and then it disappeared for, like, a decade or more. And then it came back in some other incarnation with a different name, and...I think they cut it together and it finally came out. I never saw it.

I haven't seen it either, although I did see something about it being financed by Andy Getty.

TB: Yeah, it was his movie. He wrote it and directed it. It was another early job, but it was a feature film, and I remember thinking, "Oh, this is good! I've got a job!" Early on, I just took anything that came my way. Even now, I take a lot more than I probably should. [Laughs.] I've always got something to pay off, like hardwood floors or something!

Well, whenever you made it, it apparently took until 2017 to come out.

TB: Oh, really? Is that when it came out? Oh, no, I shot it many years ago. Early on. Probably right around the time of The Chosen One! It was really early on, when I was making choices just trying to accumulate jobs.

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)—“Friendly Dad”

Dick Tracy Special (2009)—“Security Guard”

As obscure as it is, I’m curious how you ended up in Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy special?

TB: Oh, yeah! He called me, actually. He called me at home, and my friend Mindy Sterling. They had seen us, I think, at the Groundlings or something, and he just said, "Would you come do this? It's a thing that we're doing to promote Dick Tracy." And we went and did it, and he was wonderful and so charming. We shot it in an afternoon. I just remember that when he called, I thought, "This has got to be a joke." Like, a friend saying that it was Warren Beatty. But it was him! And I was, like, "Absolutely!"

I find those Dick Tracy specials so fascinating, because he basically makes one every certain number of years in order to maintain the rights to the property.

TB: Oh, is that right? A lot of times, these things come my way, and I don't know what they are or what they're for, but based on what it is, I'll do them. That was awhile back, but I remember that he'd said that Mindy Sterling was going to do it, and we were in the Groundlings together, and we'd done a couple of things before where we had played husband and wife, so I was, like, "Let's do it!"

Was that also how you ended up in the Austin Powers movie (The Spy Who Shagged Me)? Through Mindy?

TB: How did I end up in that? I think I auditioned for that. I don't remember who cast it. But they came to the Groundlings, so there were a lot of people where it was our first thing. I remember in my little section, where we spotted something in the sky that looked like a weiner, there were a lot of my friends from the Groundlings. Jennifer Coolidge had a line and I had a line. I don't remember who else was in it now. But in my little section, I think Jennifer Coolidge is right before me.

Diagnosis Murder (1994)—“Reporter”

Asking about Warren Beatty reminded me of a stock question that I like to ask: do you remember the first person you met as an actor where you had to keep from going full fanboy?

TB: Oh, yeah. I've had a lot of those. I still get like that. I think the first one was probably Don Rickles, who I think we already talked about [in the Random Roles interview proper]. But I also remember one time auditioning for... They were doing a reboot of The Carol Burnett Show. And I grew up watching Carol Burnett! So I went in and auditioned, and she was at the callback. And they wanted me to read with her, and all I could think... I couldn't think about what I was doing or the lines or anything, all I could think was, "This is Carol Burnett! This is Carol Burnett’s ear! This is Carol Burnett’s neck!" And I just couldn't be present, because I was so thrown by the idea that she was there. And ever since then, I always ask, "Who's in the room?" Because if I have a minute to kind of get my mind around it, if there's some like that who I worship and adore... I need it!

I know you did an episode of Diagnosis Murder. Did you ever actually get to work with Dick Van Dyke?

TB: I...don't remember if he was in the scene! That was, again, one of my early things. I had one line. I was a reporter, and I remember that when it was my turn to say my line, it was, like, a big line that I had to jump in there and say quickly, so I knew I had to get it right. And I did it, but ever since then, I've thought, "When an actor has just one line, it's so much pressure." And you want to do good, and you want to show that you're a team player, and you don't want to stick out in a bad way. You just want to kind of fit in that world. So it was a lot of pressure, and that's what I remember about it. And I've always thought about that whenever I work with somebody who's just got one line. I always kind of let them know that I know what that kind of pressure is, and to not worry about it.

The X-Files (1999)—“Gordy”

TB: Well, I loved that show. And there are two things I remember about doing it. I'm not proud of this, but...I got a phone call, and I woke up, and they said, "Where are you? We're waiting for you on the set." And I realized that my alarm clock, which was battery-operated, the batteries had died and it didn't go off. So ever since then, I've always had two alarms set when I'm working, because I just want to make sure that that doesn't happen again.

But I showed up, and everybody was really disappointed in me. And I remember when it was my turn to do my close-up, Gillian Anderson was not there. The stand-in read the lines, and I looked at the stand-in. And that's never happened before or since. And I don't know if she did that just because she was mad at me, or if that's something that she did. But I've never had that experience before, where another actor is not there for you for your closeup. But I also wouldn't be surprised if she was mad at me because I was so late getting to set. But that's never happened since. I've always been very prompt. And there's not a worse feeling than to get a call when you know you've got to work and to hear, "Where are you? We're waiting for you on set!" [Laughs.] It's the actor's nightmare. And then I think what happened was... My buddy Abe Benrubi was in that episode, and I think that what they did was, they shot the stuff without me, and they gave a lot of my dialogue to Abe. So my part got smaller.

The other thing that I remember is that they said, "This is the lady that's playing your wife." And she looked like she was probably 15 or 20 years older than me. And I just thought, "That's weird." And then I thought, "Well, it's X-Files. It's a weird world." And I just went with it.

Sidebar: When Tim told his story about Gillian Anderson not being on set to read her off-camera lines during his close-up, it reminded me of one of my favorite Random Roles stories, when Sam Elliott - early in his career - did an episode of Jimmy Stewart’s short-lived TV series, Hawkins. I shared an approximation of the story with Tim, but Sam’s actual version of the story is so much better, and I love sharing it, so here it is:

“We shot [Hawkins] at MGM, where Sony is today, over there in Culver City. It was hotter than shit, and I remember Stewart, every time when he’d get up to work off-camera—he’d done his piece, and they were gonna shoot the other actor—Stewart had this stand-in that’d been with him for eons. And this guy would bring over his suit coat, Jimmy would put on this suit coat, and then he’d put on this fucking topcoat to stand there and do his lines off camera. He got in full costume just to go again!

I’ve worked with actors over the years who would do everything they could to fucking throw you off. Not to help you out, not to be there the way they were when they were in front of the camera. And that was just a great fucking lesson to me. It’s one of the reasons that I take it serious. It’s work. We’re there to work. We’re there to have a good time, too, but we’re there to fucking work. If you can't enjoy that kind of work, then you’re doing it wrong. It just comes out of being professional, or having enough consideration for your fellow actor. That really stuck with me about Stewart.”

TB: Yeah, I've always done it, and I've never had anyone not do it. Jane Fonda, Sally Field, big huge people, they always do that. I think that with Gillian Anderson... I honestly don't know if that was a pattern of something that she did, but in my mind, I just kind of justified by saying, "I was late in the first part of the week, and she was probably, like, 'You know, I'm not gonna be there for this actor." I don't know. Who knows? [Pauses.] I'll tell you who knows. David Duchovny probably knows! [Laughs.]

Pushing Daisies (2008)—“Colonel Likkin”

TB: I loved Pushing Daisies. It's a Bryan Fuller show. And very odd, but from the mind of Bryan Fuller. I thought it was brilliant and really unusual, and I was surprised that it didn't last longer. But I was thrilled to play that. It was, like, a Kentucky Fried Chicken guy, so they had me look like Colonel Sanders. And a guy in a wheelchair murders me and knocks me into a huge vat of frying oil, and that's how I die: I get battered and fried. So when I came back to life - you know how on that show they touch you and you come back to life? - I was this Southern guy, and it was really fun and crazy. The makeup was insane. I remember they did a thing where all I had was two little holes for my nose, and then they did a whole head, and...the makeup was really intense.

And then years later I was at a party, and Eric Stonestreet came up to me and was, like, "Tim!" And he hugged me, and I was, like, "Hi, Eric!" But I was surprised, because I'd been watching him on Modern Family and thinking he was wonderful, but when my friend I was with, Mike Hitchcock, said, "How do you know him?" I said, "I have no idea!" [Laughs.] And then he came back and was talking with us, so Mike said, "Now where did you guys meet?" And Eric said, “I was in a wheelchair, and I killed Tim in Pushing Daisies!" And then I remembered him. [Laughs.] But I just didn't remember him until then!

AVC: What's funny is that I actually had Eric's name at my fingertips because I was going to observe how many great guest stars were in that episode. You, Eric, Stephen Root...

TB: Oh, Stephen Root is so good. Yeah, that whole show had such an interesting cast, and it was such an odd, different show. I really liked it. I had that on my acting reel for the longest time, but finally my agent said, "You know, we can't see you. You're covered in batter!" [Laughs.] But in my mind, I was just so proud of it!

Call Me Kat (2021-2022)—“Wyatt”

TB: That came about because in the first season they had a show runner named Darlene Hunt. She called me in, and it was just a straight offer. I showed up, and there wasn't a lot of dialogue. She said, "I see him as just somebody who's always there, like Norm on Cheers." So that's kind of how I was introduced. And then she left the show after that first season, and they brought in a new show runner, and...I think they didn't really know what to do with me. And then they had another season, and they still didn't know what to do with me. [Laughs.] But that first season... It was Darlene's idea of something that I think the others didn't really know how to... [Hesitates.] I don't know, I probably shouldn't say that.

But I'll tell you what was fun about it: I enjoyed the cast very much. Julian [Gant] is a personal friend of mine, so that was really nice to work with Julian. And the whole cast was great. And then Leslie Jordan... We were both on Will and Grace, but we never worked together, so it was really fun to be on a set and have scenes with him and to play with him. Especially right before his death. So we had lots of fun talks and good times. It was a great time. I had a really fun time with them. I just think that when Darlene left, the others were trying to figure out what to do with me, and I don't know that it ever really worked again.

Teachers (2016-2019)—“Principal Toby Pearson”

TB: Loved it. The show runner was Ian Roberts from UCB, and the girls are all these amazing Midwestern women. I remember reading the pilot, and pretty early in there was a line that was just kind of a throwaway line, where one of the girls says to the other one... You know, they've just looked at a board or something, and they're walking down the hall, and one of the girls says, "Did you know that you can get HPV from fingers?" And the other girl says, "How many fingers?" [Laughs.] And I thought, "Okay, this is very funny, and it's from a woman's point of view." It's written by all women. I thought, "That's not a joke you would hear in a show that's just all men." And I just thought, "Okay, this could be really interesting..."

So I auditioned, and I got it, and they ended up using me in a lot of it. And I had a great time. It was so much fun to play with those women. They were all Midwestern and just... It was their first big job, and they all moved out here to do this. They're from Second City and UCB, and...they're just wonderful. And we had this kind of abbreviated sensibility, so it was a very playful, fun, loving set. I loved it.

Wanda Does It (2004)—“Tim Brewer”

Is there any pilot in your back catalog that you've done that didn't go to series that you wished had?

TB: [Long pause.] Not really. I don't think so, no. I've done a lot of pilots, but...no. There was a show I did with Wanda Sykes called Wanda Does It, and when that was cancelled, I was really upset. I just had such a good time with Wanda and the whole cast and all the writers. So that was really heartbreaking when that ended. And the other one that was really heartbreaking for me was The Court, with Sally Field. When that one ended, I was really sad, and I thought, "I'm never going to let my heart get that caught up in a job again." But, of course, I've done it about four or five more times since. [Laughs.]

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (2023)—“HOA Lawyer / Dollar Store Executive”

TB: I don't really know how I ended up on there. [Laughs.] I don't! But they called me up once to do it with a friend of mine, Chris Parnell, and Cedric Yarborough. So when I did that one, everything went well. We improvised a little bit. And then the next thing I knew, a few months later they called me to do another one. And they usually do them in New York, but that first one they happened to be out here, and somebody recommended me, so it worked out well. And then they flew me to New York to do the second one, and I had a great time. I love that show, and John Oliver is brilliant. He's always got such a clear take, and he'll go into something and do a deep dive and really cover it in such a smart, intelligent way, and always with humor. Yeah, he's an easy one to watch. If they call me again, I'll be there in a minute.