\n<\/p>\n
Vanity Fair:<\/em> I wonder if you felt reluctant doing another multi-cam sitcom. Your history with the format has not been the most fortuitous, if that\u2019s safe to say?<\/strong><\/p>\n Nathan Lane:<\/em> Yes, it\u2019s been dicey. The Mickey Rooney show doesn\u2019t count\u2014that was his show, and I was in my early 20s. Then I did a show [1998\u2019s Encore! Encore!<\/em>] with the people who created Frasier<\/em>, which seemed like a good idea because they won the Emmy five times in a row for best comedy. But as it turned out, they had an idea that I didn\u2019t like, I had an idea they didn\u2019t like, and then because I wanted to please everybody, I agreed to what we eventually wound up doing\u2014me being an opera singer who loses his voice, and goes to live with his mother and sister in Napa Valley, where they run a winery. By the time you finished explaining the premise, people had already gotten up and left the table.<\/p>\n The other one [2003\u2019s Charlie Lawrence<\/em>] had an idea that had some potential: I was a former actor who wound up running for Congress and getting in. But it had no support from the horrible Les Moonves<\/strong> [former chairman of CBS].<\/strong> That son of a bitch just tortured me about this show that they were anxious for me to do. Jeffrey Richman<\/strong> developed two different scripts, and this was the one they favored; we did it, and then Les was rather unpleasant about it. I remember him calling me and saying, \u201cNathan, I don\u2019t love it, but I don\u2019t hate it.\u201d I said, \u201cWell, that\u2019s not really an endorsement. Perhaps don\u2019t put it on the air if you feel that way, because guess who\u2019s going to be blamed?\u201d He said, \u201cNo, no. I\u2019ll promote it.\u201d He did not promote it, and it didn\u2019t do well in the ratings. It played a second week, and then it started to go up in the ratings\u2014and he took it off the air.<\/p>\n Why were you in such regular contact with Moonves about this show?<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, I had a deal with CBS to develop a show, and they wanted me to star. It was after The Producers<\/em>\u2014there was another moment of, \u201cGee, this guy seems funny. Perhaps he should do one of these kinds of shows.\u201d So I tried. I tried again and it didn\u2019t work. But when these things work, it\u2019s like winning the lottery. Certainly with [Mid-Century Modern<\/em>], it felt like we\u2019d been doing it for a long time. When we started, it felt very comfortable\u2014maybe because we all came from the theater, so we\u2019re all kindred spirits that way.<\/p>\n The multi-cam has taken a lot of raps, like, \u201cOh, it\u2019s dated.\u201d I heard Larry David<\/strong> saying, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t work anymore.\u201d You did Seinfeld<\/em>! What are you talking about? It can work if the writing is good and the people doing it know what they\u2019re doing. It\u2019s great fun. I hadn\u2019t done it in so long\u2026. Because of my past [with multi-cams], I avoided it. I just thought, \u201cWell, this wasn\u2019t meant to be.\u201d But it always seemed like I was right for that kind of comedy, in front of a live audience. And this is really because of Ryan Murphy.<\/strong> When he said it was the \u201cgay Golden Girls<\/em>,\u201d I rolled my eyes. Then he sent it to me and I read it, and it was really, really funny and smart.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n