You love Charlie Barnett from his roles in Russian Doll and Tales of the City. But which of his characters would he most like to have brunch with? Find out that answer and so much more in this episode of I Hate Talking About Myself.
You love Charlie Barnett from his roles in Russian Doll and Tales of the City. But which of his characters would he most like to have brunch with? Find out that answer and so much more in this episode of I Hate Talking About Myself.
[Music]
Catherine: Welcome to I Hate Talking About Myself. On this podcast, your favorite stars from Netflix series and films go head to head against their toughest interviewer yet, themselves. We write the questions and then they pull them out of our very fancy fish bowl. This week we’ve got Charlie Barnett. You might know him as “Ben” in Tales of the City, or maybe you’re excited to see him as ‘Gabe’ in the second season of You. Personally, I’ll always love him as ‘Alan’ in Russian Doll. His teeth must be like, so clean from all that brushing. All right. Take it away, Charlie.
Charlie: Hi, I’m Charlie Barnett. I play ‘Alan’ on Russian Doll and this is I Hate Talking About Myself, the podcast.
If someone played you in a movie, who would you want it to be? Sidney Poitier. Stepping up the game.
What was your first job? Cold Stone Creamery. Had a lot of ice cream parties, ice cream fights, wars. It was actually legit. It was pretty fun.
What’s one show you watched over and over? Right now, Rick and Morty. Trying to think. Oh, Friends. I watch a lot of Friends.
What was your first extravagant purchase? A car. A Mustang. A 1971 Mach 1 Mustang. Wasn’t that expensive because it was broken. But I fixed it.
Where would you time travel to? Year and place? All right, look. I’ve been asked this before. Race is obviously a part of that equation. But I think I would go to Egypt. And I can’t give you a solid time. But right around, let’s say, Nefertiti ruling.
What TV series, movie, or play influenced me to be an actor? Ooh, Oliver, probably. When I was a kid, I saw Oliver. And then I auditioned and got in it. And it was a big influence to me. I was really young. I could tell you what made me want to become a better actor was Basquiat with Jeffrey Wright.
What’s a relationship dealbreaker for you? Oh, shit. I’m pretty lenient. So, like, I’ll go the mile. But… God, this is off of Friends, but it would be a dealbreaker. If somebody started, on the first date, started eating food off of my plate without asking. That shit would be like, yeah. Back up. Am I allowed to curse? Okay.
Damn, this is a big one. Okay. Have you ever used your acting skills IRL? Tell us about it. I mean, crying to get out of a ticket as an example, acting like a weirdo to get out of jury duty, acting grateful for a present. I mean, don’t we all act all day, God, in certain ways? I hope it’s not in malicious ways. I try not to be that kind of person.
What are the most recently used emojis on your phone, and why? Ooh. A water emoji because I did a photoshoot with water coming down my face. And I’ve just been splashing and splashing and splashing everywhere.
What’s your party trick? It was the worm when I was like, in high school. I can do a mean worm. It was pretty dope back in the day. Not anymore.
Natasha Lyonne asks Dracula or Frankenstein. Please, do choose. Frankenstein. Frankenstein is like… I feel like Frankenstein was kind of abused. Like, Dracula’s going around eating people. And he’s making that choice. Yeah, fine. He was changed at some point by a bat. But like, Frankenstein was made. Like, Edward Scissorhands. I’ve always felt bad for Edward Scissorhands. He didn’t ask to have scissors on his hands. He was just born into this world. And then people are going to hate on him? That’s wrong!
What’s the story behind your last Instagram post? My last Instagram post was of Garcia from Tales of the City. And straight up, we went in to do an interview. I think it was with glad. It was me, Murray, Garcia, and May Hong from the show. And we’re all sitting there. I was in a conversation turned to the side talking to Murray. I turned around to the other side and Garcia had pulled out of their overalls a can of peaches that they brought as a snack from home in Brooklyn. I blew my mind. I mean, that shit blew my mind. Beautiful being. Beautiful soul. Come prepared with snacks. And offering them. That’s a beautiful thing.
Okay. Ben Affleck wants to know—what do you want to know, Ben? Ben Affleck wants to know, what’s your biggest regret? Why do I got to tell Ben Affleck that? Biggest regret. And I’m going to ask this-, answer this honestly. You know, I got real upset with my mom and I yelled at her. And I don’t think we should yell at our moms, especially if you have a good mom like my mom. I regret every time I ever yelled at my mom. And she can probably laugh about that, but… She’s a beautiful woman.
What do you wear to bed? A lot of times, nothing. If anything, just a t-shirt. I usually don’t wear boxers. I want to be free.
Which character-, which character have you played that you most want to get to go to brunch with? And what would you talk about? Definitely not Alan from Russian Doll.
(Clip from Russian Doll begins)
Male: Yeah. It is a bummer. It is a bummer for everybody involved. Except it seems to be for you, which, you know, it doesn’t make any sense. Because if anybody deserves to be punished for the rest of their fucking life, it is you.
(Clip from Russian Doll ends)
Charlie: Hm. Actually, I probably should have lunch with Allen because we’d probably learn a lot about ourselves. We relayed. I would like to have lunch, ooh, with a character that hasn’t been revealed yet. But, a character on You. His name’s Gabe and he’s, kind of, got like, a no nonsense, like, no shits given kind of attitude. I think I need a little bit of that in my life.
What’s the most memorable prank you’ve pulled off, or has it been pulled on you? This wasn’t me, but it was kind of pulled on me. The seniors when I was in high school, and we were juniors, always pranked the teacher, our lead acting coach. And this was freaking amazing. They went in there, somehow got a janitor to let them in early one morning like, at three a.m. And they tin foiled, not just the entire room, but every single thing in the room. The books. The pencils. The stapler. Everything. And we had to walk in the next morning to class. We were the first ones in. And it was pretty, pretty freaking baller. And funny.
Nicole Byer asks the question, can I-, I’m going to say it like Nicole Byer. Nicole Byer asks the question, would you date Nicole Byer? Fuck, yes, I would.
What superpower would you like to have, and why? Hmm… Probably like, mystiques thing where you can change into anybody. I mean, is that like, too easy because I’m an actor? Because it would just make my job real easy. You know, I was like, Nicole Kidman in The Hours. Fuck fake, no, I can make a whole new person.
Please do your favorite impression, even if it’s terrible. Hey, uh, let me-, let me put out a necklace and get my hair out. And I, uh, um, you know, Charlie, why you-, why you-, why you talking to me in this way and telling me things? I, I think, uh, you know, we’re going to, we’re going to see it from this angle and then we’re going to move through. Okay? Everybody. Everybody. Let’s roll. Let’s roll. Fucking shit, fuck this ass. If you don’t know who that is, I ain’t going to tell you.
Catherine: Ooh, Charlie, I think I got it. Was that an impression of your Russian Doll co-star Natasha Lyonne? I knew it. But now, for the saddest part of the show, it’s time to say goodbye. Make sure to catch us next week when we’ve got a new star interviewing themselves. ‘Til then, I’ll be here in the studio just waiting for you to download the latest app. Come on. Don’t leave me hanging.
I Hate Talking About Myself is produced by Pineapple Street Media and Netflix. Our music is by Hansdale Hsu and it’s hosted by me, Catherine Cohan. Cabaret comedienne extraordinaire. And I do insist on being called comedienne. I insist on being gendered.
[End of audio]