"This show has gotten me through some things. I absolutely surprised myself."
Never has a title fit a show's subject more than Eugene Levy's new Apple TV+ travel show The Reluctant Traveler with Eugene Levy (February 24). When the idea was pitched to him, he thought, "That's so not me. What am I going to do? I don't care to travel that much." But he came around when he realized that's the show. For example, how does someone like Levy approach a night hike in the Costa Rican rainforest? "I didn't get any enjoyment out of it. 'Watch out for that spider.' Okay, you know what? We don't need that. I get it, but I would really rather be back at the hotel bar." What about the food in Finland? "I wasn't quite sure what the diet would be. I'm not a big fish eater. What's left? Reindeer?" But Levy soon realized "you can't say you don't want to go to a place if you haven't been to the place" and that "this show has gotten me through some things. I absolutely surprised myself." He adds, "I think it's really been good for me. At this age, 76, to have had the opportunity to do this, to say yes to do it....Now I kind of see the other side."
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I'm the type of person who loves travel shows, but hates to travel.
You're the guy who we're trying hit. For seasoned travelers, we're hoping [they will] get a chuckle out of it and find it enjoyable. But [it's for] the people that don't like to travel, maybe thought they never had it in them, didn't really care and would much rather stay at home. Don't bother me.
That's me! Where did the idea for the show come from?
I got a call from my agent, Apple wants to talk to you about hosting a show about hotels. It's like all these great hotels around the world. And initially you hear that and you go, wow, and then two seconds later I'm thinking, okay, that's so not me. What am I going to do? I don't care to travel that much. And I don't know how good I'm going to be on camera. Because I've never been myself on camera before. So thanks very much, but I'm going to pass. I get another call saying they really want to talk to you. I said I don't see the point. I mean, I've already said no. You know what? Put them on, I'll tell them myself. So we get on the phone and I go through all my reasons for not wanting to do the show. I'm not the person, I'm not really good on camera, I'm not a chatty person, don't have a bubbly personality, I'm not really curious, I don't really have a great sense of adventure. So everything I'm saying is getting laughs on the other end and I'm thinking great, this is terrific. Because the call is going well. I'm making my point and there's nothing heavy about the conversation. So after the call, what I didn't know was that the producer, David Brindley, said that's the show. That's what gives it a spark. It's a travel show, but it's the guy who really doesn't like to travel. They called me back and pitched that. So I got it. And then I still had to grapple with now it's going to be you on camera. What are you going to do?
I can so relate to so much of what you're saying. I went to Costa Rica with a friend and agreed to go zip-lining. Never again. Why do people do these things?
Yeah, I've got a thing about heights. I really don't like helicopters. I swear to God, this show has gotten me through some things. I absolutely surprised myself and others. I said, I know why I don't like to do this, and probably would never do it again.
What are some of the experiences that you were surprised by?
Generally, it has opened my eyes to the idea that you can't really come to any conclusion unless you have all the evidence. In other words, you can't say you don't want to go to a place if you haven't been to the place. And the thing that turned me around the most was South Africa, because I had never ever wanted to go. People that told me you've got to go on a safari because it's the greatest experience in the world. And I would listen and [say] I know what they all look like, I know what they do, I've seen them all on TV. Do I have to see them running free across a grassy field? Thank you. But no, thank you. They wake you up at five in the morning to go on this thing, which would already put me in a foul mood. So I never really had a desire to go. So we on our trip, we went to the Kruger National Park—beautiful—as the week went on, I was finding myself growing very fond of the whole environment, the landscape, and all these wild creatures that I had no desire to see. I would be looking out over my hotel window—which incidentally, the hotel was on top of a bridge, it was a crane set permanently on top of this bridge that ran over the river, which is a hotspot for the Big Five as they say in South Africa, the five most dangerous animals—I would look out my window over the river and every day I'd be seeing a hippo, I'd be seeing a crocodile going up the river, I'd be seeing an elephant, I'd be seeing water buffalo. And I was loving what I was seeing. I was feeling a very strange way, very at home, like it was my backyard. Also, I got very much in touch with the danger that these animals are in on a day to day basis, especially elephants and rhinos. I went to a rhino conservancy and got to see these animals, got to feed these animals. I always thought rhinos were honestly just the ugliest animal on the face of the earth. That's about as far as I went. Seeing what they're doing on this conservancy, they take orphaned rhinos and rehabilitate them, they fix them up medically. It's insane what's happening to these animals by poachers and hunters and if I hadn't been there, to me it would be a headline that you read once every couple of months in a paper about the animals becoming extinct and you go, "Oh, my that's really terrible." But over there, I truly felt it. I truly I never thought I would come away with such an affection for a country.
And you got so personal. I mean, you had your hand up an elephant's backside.
Yeah, I wasn't jumping at the idea. To be honest, it's the one thing that I did say no to when I was asked to do it on camera. I was helping the vet with their medical experiments. I was taking blood which honestly made me gag—I have to look away when somebody's taking my blood. And then they said, now we're going to take a stool sample. I said, honestly, I'm not going to do that. And my co-producer, David Brindley, I hear off camera going, "Oh, I think you can." And I'm thinking, oh, yeah, the show. I guess it's good for the show. So I did it. It's an experience I really don't want to repeat.
What were some of the things you were most surprised by on your travels? For me, I'd love to know the things you didn't like.
It may have been Costa Rica. It's a rain forest, and if somebody had said to me, "Why don't we go to the Amazon and hit the rainforest?" "No" could not have come out of my mouth faster. I'm just not into that. I'm not into the creepy crawly thing. I honestly don't find that interesting or enjoyable. For instance, the night hike in the rain forest. I wouldn't do it again. I didn't get any enjoyment out of it. "Watch out for that spider." Okay, you know what? We don't need that. I get it, but I would really rather be back at the hotel bar. As I said, South Africa surprised me because I would have said, "Yeah, I don't really need to go on safari." Quite honestly, from the trip from the airport to the hotel I saw just about every animal. It was like, oh, there's a giraffe. My reaction was it's exactly what I thought it would be. We saw water buffalo, we saw some hippo. Why do we need to go on a safari now? Because I think I've seen just about everything. Finland, I think I had the most laughs and had the most fun on the other end of the spectrum going from a rain forest to the arctic snows. Which I never thought I would enjoy because of the cold and because I wasn't quite sure what the diet would be. I'm not a big fish eater. What's left? Reindeer? I would also judge a trip by what I think the cuisine would be like. I loved Italy. I loved Venice. I do love Italy because the food is going to be spectacular. And you can see just about anything you want to see right there in the city. There it is. The history. Don't load up a whole list of sightseeing ventures to go on. I get in a really sad mood when when that happens.
I had a similar reaction to Paris. The city is beautiful, but I can only do so much. And then I would eat and was underwhelmed by the food. Like how? It's Paris! But I was.
I directed a movie [there] years ago. Shooting in Rome and Monte Carlo. Rome was spectacular. Because, as I said, I loved everything about it. I love the vibe. When we shot in Monte Carlo, the diet just hit me like, yikes, do we have to put a sauce on this? A bit rich for my blood. I found Italy to have a very clean food. And France was just kind of on the other end of the spectrum.
What's your idea of a perfect vacation?
Beach. Piña colada. Golf. Where can we get a good steak? Every single day. If somebody suggested that trip to me now, I'd be there before you're gonna see my lips move.
The idea of a beach to me stresses me out. There's something about a beach that's very stressful to me.
Well, it depends how crowded the beaches are. I'm thinking of a more private, secluded thing. To be honest, I really can't remember the last time I was on a public beach. Here's the idea, you just go and do something where you don't have to think and you can truly relax. That, to me, is just chilling by a pool and occasionally somebody comes by and says, "Would you like a cool drink?"
For someone like me, and I think for a lot of people, watching travel shows really is the form of adventure and relaxation.
As a person, I think it's really been good for me. At this age, 76, to have had the opportunity to do this, to say yes to do it. Yeah, let me give it a go. Yeah, I'll try things. I understand what the concept is. I'll try as much as I can. I'm not going to enjoy everything, but at least I can say I did it. At this age, I'm glad I did it instead of having this pass by and just be the old grumpy self, don't bother me, leave me alone, I don't want to go there. Where I was almost proud of the fact that this is who I am. Now I kind of see the other side.
I still like the grumpy side, too. I think there's room for both. You know what I mean?
Ah, well, you might be able to accomplish that in the way you travel. My thing is just don't load me up with a dozen things to do in a day. I don't need to see that bridge necessarily. There's only so many museums you can go to. Just chill, go to the greatest cafe. Have a little cappuccino and just watch a parade of people walking by.
Are you surprised by the cultural impact Schitt's Creek had?
It's surprising that we [Eugene and his son Dan] were surprised but what was going on out there. We didn't really know until we started getting these amazing tweets and messages and letters from kids in the LGBTQIA community. Talking about how the show actually helped them come out to their families. Some even use the scene itself, the wine scene, like the "why not the label?" They use that scene to come out to their parents. We got this letter, it was from a group called the Mama Bears. It was 30,000 moms of LGBTQ kids who just wrote the sweetest note, it was just heartbreaking. I credit my son because he was the guy flying the plane as the show went on. Just the way the stories came out. Nothing has to be held up on a placard and banner in terms of a statement that you're making. Just tell the story. If it's a love story, tell the story. If it's a heterosexual love story, tell the story. If it's a homosexual love story, tell the story. It's just the story. And every story is the same as any other story.
Totally. I feel like in a lot of ways it represented something for the weird queer kids, the ones who never really responded to the "it gets better" message, or the "very special episodes" so many shows do.
Yeah. Right up on screen they could actually look at something that resembled the world they live in. I mean, our world is not the world that people live in. I guess the world that people wished they could be living in, where everything is just accepted, no statements need to be made. It is what it is. And that's the message that was sent out and really made waves.
Your collaborations with Christopher Guest are legendary. My personal favorite is Best in Show. How do you think those films impacted your career and which one do fans bring up to you most?
In a way, it was one of those building blocks in my career. SCTV [Second City Television] was the very, very beginning. I remember the first screening [of Waiting for Guffman] when we had the first public screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. Before that, we would watch it in the office at Castle Rock. The screenings were really quiet in the room and Chris and I would look at each other going, is it just us or, I don't know, it seems like it's working. When we saw it at tiff [The Toronto International Film Festival] with a roomful of people, from the very beginning, the first scene in the town council meeting, the laughs came cascading. I remember looking down at Chris and we gave each other a look like can you believe this? That's how we knew everything was working. By the time we did Best in Show, we knew we were not only on to a good little thing, but we had a great group of people, the brilliant cast, who were so adept at this kind of work. Then we did two more after that, which was just absolutely great fun. Now, they didn't go through the roof box office-wise, I mean, with Best in Show in particular, we kept saying, "Why can't you release this in 2000 theaters? People love dogs. It doesn't matter if they recognize any names that are in it. Get behind it." But they said, "no, no, no, we know what this is. It's 500 theaters. And that's it." But it always got great reviews and people did love it and it made all the top 100 comedies, that kind of thing. I think the two films people talk about most, I would say are American Pie and Best in Show.
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