Paul Reiser is finding out that just being himself isn’t as easy as it would seem.
The former “Mad About You” star was on hand at NBC Universal’s Summer Press Day 2011 in Pasadena on Friday to promote his new series, “The Paul Reiser Show,” on which he plays himself. Seated along side series executive producer/writer Jonathan Shapiro, Reiser explained the difficulty of bringing incidents from his and Shapiro’s life to the small screen.
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“All of the episodes came out of things that happened to us,” said Reiser, who became friends with Shapiro through the pair’s wives.
One difficulty of such an approach, Reiser noted, is getting the OK from one’s family when casting their onscreen counterparts.
“They have absolute say; they have total veto power,” Reiser said. “The kids didn’t really care who played them, but they wanted Angelina Jolie to play the mom.”
That veto power extends to translating anecdotes from real life on the series, Reiser added.
“Every once in a while they’ll say, 'Dad, you can’t tell the vomiting in the car story,'" Reiser said.
Luckily, Reiser got a crash course from a master of playing one’s self – “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star Larry David, who appears in an upcoming episode. While Reiser noted that, in general, the show is “very scripted,” David insisted on improvising his scene with Reiser, leading to some anxiety on the latter’s part.
“Doing that scene with Larry felt like getting in the ring with Ali, Reiser recounted. “Just keep moving, and maybe you won’t get hurt.”