This week, I got my third opportunity to take part in a conference call interview with House star Lisa Edelstein. She’s a very bright, upbeat person and talking to her is always very interesting, since she is quite open with her answers.

The next new episode of House airs on Monday, February 7 at 8/7c on FOX. But until then, here are Lisa’s thoughts about her character, what she thinks makes the show such a huge success and, of course, her thoughts on the Cuddy/House relationship.

Q: Given the dynamics between House and Cuddy, can you talk about the challenges that you and Hugh have with keeping pace with the emotional side of the character.

Lisa Edelstein: Challenges, we know each other quite well now, we’ve been working together for seven years, which in our line of work that’s like dog years, that’s like 49 years. So, I really feel like as our friendship as people, as we got to know each other better this kind of intimacy between the characters was an easier thing to do than if it had started from day one, where you have to kind of just jump in and pretend to know each other. So, it’s been great, I really appreciate if there was anybody that I would have to be intimate with on camera, to have it be somebody that I knew and trusted as much as I do Hugh.

Q: Can you talk about working with Candice Bergen and what it was like to play the emotional dynamics between Cuddy, her mother, and House?

L. Edelstein: Candice is amazing; she’s an incredibly bright woman, which I think just shines right through all the dialogue, and really fun to work with. I was really happy to be on set with her just historically, just because I’ve grown up watching her. It was really fun kind of pushing the envelope in terms of the fictional part of our lives and getting to see what it would be like for House to have to deal with a very pushy mom. I think having met the character of Cuddy’s mom, it’s clearer why she would be able to tolerate a guy like House.

Q: Regarding the season opener, the thing about that episode was [that] the dialogue between the characters was so natural and so real as opposed to— I mean just a regular episode, like say when they were picking up the glass in the bathroom. I was wondering if you could maybe elaborate on the shoot. How was it different?

L. Edelstein: Well, it was more like a play. It felt more like a play. It felt very intimate and the writers felt, and I certainly agreed that you couldn’t just get these two characters together and go on as normal right away. You had to just kind of take a moment, experience these two people together, and then get back to the normal hospital stuff and House stuff. They really thought about it long and hard. They went down several different roads trying to figure out how to handle it and that was where they ended up to have this very intimate play-like episode where you just kind of were with these two people alone and experiencing intimacy and friendship.

Q: What are your thoughts about where the relationship is heading?

L. Edelstein: I think, they’re two very complicated people who really want to be together, whether or not they can is another thing, but they’re going to try as hard as they can.

Q: You’ve played this character for a while now. How do you think Cuddy’s changed over the years?

L. Edelstein: I don’t really think— I mean, according to David Shore, characters don’t change, they get unveiled. They become more complicated in terms of how the viewers perceive them and how the writers get to write them. When you sign on to a show, you are as an actor hired to perform something that came out of the writer’s imagination. As the show goes on, how you perform that affects how the writer imagines the character and it becomes like a melding of the two. Of course, it’s always David Shore’s characters, it’s always his stories, he controls the world, he controls all the puppets. But, rhythms and humor and all those things kind of become embellished once you put an actor in the part, any actor, and it’d be different no matter who plays the role. So, I think just because the show has matured, the characters have to become more complicated, more real, make different choices and have life experiences that take them on a journey, but, they don’t in essence ever really change.

Q: Just in general, what is your advice to actors?

L. Edelstein: It’s a very hard business and you have to find a way to enjoy the process because if you can’t enjoy, for example auditioning and not getting the job, you will suffer too much to survive. So, you have to find a way of making each audition the performance that begins and ends there and try to have a performance experience of all the joy that you can get out of doing that, so that the whole life of an actor is something you derive pleasure from.

Q: I’m just curious, with the show sort of there’s some very intense scenes and then there’s humorous scenes, what’s the atmosphere like usually on set? Are you guys very into the scene or is there a lot of pranking and joking around?

L. Edelstein: We’re not pranksters. We have too much to do, but there are a lot of great wits on this crew. There’s some very smart, very disturbed people that work together so it’s more of just funny. But mostly, it’s very concentrated; it’s a lot of fun because we all like each other. If the scene is very heavy then, you have to take your time away to concentrate and just kind of stay in that space. The lighter scenes are of course always more fun and playful.

Q: Last season you guys did an episode that was centered on Cuddy. What did you [take away] from that experience?

L. Edelstein: Well, I had a great time, I mean not just because the show was about my character. It was really fun for me to kind of be the person that’s on set the most, kind of setting the pace and the atmosphere on stage because you really are responsible for that when you’re there the most. If you have an attitude or you’re tired then it kind of drags everything down. It was fun to have that responsibility and I loved doing it. I loved it, but boy, Hugh must be exhausted.

Q: If someone had told you during Season One or Two that House and Cuddy would be a couple, what would you have thought of that?

L. Edelstein: I wouldn’t have been surprised. I thought I saw it in the pilot and then it just kind of didn’t become a story and then— I just felt like they have a complicated relationship and if the show lasted long enough it would be a relationship worth exploring. If you had told me that House and Cuddy would be getting together in Season 6 or Season 7, I would have more surprised that we would have had a Season 7, because that’s probably more shocking than anything else.

Q: What do you think that Cuddy’s clothes say about her?

L. Edelstein: Well, she’s very controlling and so she wears very structured type outfits. Her life is very restricted, she really is all work and very little play and so again, she can’t even run fast in those skirts. I like the way, everything about what she wears kind of holds her in. She just doesn’t have great freedom. She’s also a woman and lives most of her life out at the hospital so she uses that time to go sexy and beautiful.

Q: Are there any actors on the set that are very similar to their characters in any particular way?

L. Edelstein: I don’t think so, no, people are a lot goofier than they are on the show. It’s just a very funny, goofy bunch, but bright, super-smart in that way we’re like our characters.

Q: As far as Dr. Cuddy’s character goes, what are the best qualities that you think she portrays to the general public?

L. Edelstein: Well, I think she has a remarkable amount of responsibility and she takes it all on and she does a good job at it, and sometimes she screws up, but she keeps moving forward, she doesn’t let it get in the way. She’s really trying to learn and really trying to live a full life despite the fact that she’s working from 5 to 9 every day.

Q: Does Cuddy’s family enlighten us more about her background and offer further character development for her? What are the consequences for House and Cuddy having Cuddy’s mom and Cuddy’s sister there during a family health crisis?

L. Edelstein: Absolutely, we had an episode air already with Cuddy’s mom and I think it definitely enlightens us about who Cuddy is and where she comes from and why she can tolerate a guy like House, because her mother’s so difficult. When the health crisis hits, it’s even more complicated and it gets very, very messy.

Q: Can you talk about whether there’ll be maybe another Cuddy focused episode in the future?

L. Edelstein: I haven’t the faintest idea. No, they don’t tell me things like that. I didn’t even know about that Cuddy episode until almost—like a couple of weeks beforehand.

Q: Are there any guest stars that you can tell us about or anyone that you’d like to have on the show?

L. Edelstein: Well, Candice Bergen and Paula Marshall are coming up. I honestly can’t remember a thing about anything else we shot. I’m so bad at remembering who’s been on and I’m so bad at remembering names that I’m sorry, I can’t answer your question better.

Q: Can you talk a little bit how you might spend a day off as opposed to your character.

L. Edelstein: I spend days off taking care of myself. Just going for walks, hikes with my dogs and having slow mornings trying to slow my pace down, swimming, just doing things that keep me calm and slow. I try not to drive very much. I try to just keep it peaceful. We work really hard, even when we’re not working, going to events, doing charity stuff. I hate saying that, because everybody works really hard in this world, but the specific pressure that we’re under, I find relief just kind of lying really low and being really quiet.

Q: Have you had a chance to spend any time at a hospital recently, and could you compare that to the work environment, the medical work environment?

L. Edelstein: Last year I got to observe this really cool surgery, and I had a really great time doing it. For me in the hospital a lot of the doctors watch the show so they’re very excited to have us around, and I really love biology. It was so interesting observing, it reminded me more of Nip/Tuck than it did of House, but it was still great.

Q: What is your secret to staying in such great shape?

L. Edelstein: Oh, well thank you very much. I just try to eat really well, and I think that’s about it. You really have to take responsibility for what you put in your body and eating really well does not mean you eat boring, tasteless food. I’ve learned how to cook; I’ve become a great cook. I make incredible meals for my friends who are not particularly healthy eaters or vegetarian, and they never go away unsatisfied. I just think you have to really nurture a great relationship with food.

Q: What’s your favorite healthy snack or is there one healthy thing you eat every single day?

L. Edelstein: I eat salads all the time. I love salad. I love avocado. I love kale. I love broccoli. These are my foods that I crave. I love celery. I love cucumbers. They used to call me rabbit when I was a little kid.

Q: Along those lines, have you ever thought of putting out a vegan cookbook or recipe book?

L. Edelstein: No I haven’t because I really steal from other recipe books and just kind of make them my own so I feel like the whole thing would be plagiarism, with a couple of real recipes of my own in there. But, I guess a lot of people do that and then write their own books. There’s a really great book that I would recommend called Clean Food that I just got this winter and it’s extraordinary and it’s got a lot of really good information in it and a lot of really delicious recipes that aren’t hard to make. I’ll tell you who the author is, I am going to pull it out right now, her name is Terry Walters, and I couldn’t recommend it more, I love it.

Q: After seven seasons why do you think people continue to tune in and watch House?

L. Edelstein: It’s the magic bullet, isn’t it, I’m so happy about it. I can only thank David Shore and Hugh Laurie and just be grateful for the ride. It’s so arbitrary what makes it and what doesn’t, and there’s so many elements. We had the luxury of being on after American Idol when we started. Our first six episodes we were on our own and we would’ve been canceled on any other network because we didn’t’ really have a lot of audience. But, as soon as American Idol started that season and we got some eyeballs—we got 28 million eyeballs on our show—it was an incredible thing and a lot of those people stuck with us. I think that really had a lot to do with it.

Q: bout three months ago, you told me then that you guys had not yet been signed for next year. Are you guys all on board for next season yet?

L. Edelstein: No, I think there’s some issue between— We are produced by NBC, even though we’re on FOX, which is a little unusual but not that uncommon. So, there’s a whole complicated structure of that in terms of who pays for what when you make a show. Now that the show’s been on for so long, I think NBC wants FOX to take over the cost of production and FOX doesn’t want to take that over, so there’s just been some dispute there. Until that’s resolved, they can’t even begin to talk to any of us. I know that they officially have Hugh for an eighth season. He negotiated that a long time ago. So, the rest of us will have to wait until the contract is finished between the studio and the network.

Q: I love the way that David Shore and the writers are approaching this very adult relationship between House and Cuddy, but my question is what does Cuddy do for House, and what does House do for Cuddy? What do they do for each other that really brings out the best in each other?

L. Edelstein: I think there’s a great history there and as you get older that is a really important thing to have with somebody. A sense of time having passed and problems having been conquered, truths having been faced, that really has enormous value. I think for him, she is someone he trusts; he knows that she wants the best for him. He knows that she’ll tell him when things have gone too far and then he decides for himself whether he wants to listen. But, she’s definitely someone he trusts. For her, I think it’s his intelligence and his brilliance that really excite her. Getting attention from a man like that is not an easy thing to achieve, and having achieved it, I think there’s kind of a rush of excitement. Whether or not he is ultimately someone she can trust is I think something he still has to prove.

Q: Since it’s been such a ‘will they or won’t they’ relationship for so long, how do you feel that its different from the other typical ‘will they or won’t they’ situations that are on TV right now?

L. Edelstein: Well, first of all, I don’t think that show was centered around ‘will they or won’t they’. So, that gives you a lot more freedom to play with, will and won’t. It doesn’t rely on them ever getting together, it really is a show about House and his journey, and in his journey he’s had a series of relationships on the show that he’s explored and learned from and this is one of those, this is part of his path.

Q: Can you talk about what your hopes are for the future of the show, if there’s anything that you’d like to see happen in the course of the story line for Cuddy and House?

L. Edelstein: I stay out of it, I would hate to see David Shore reading my opinion about what should happen about my character and House. So, I just stay out of it and enjoy the ride.

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As we all know, Olivia Wilde took a bit of a break from filming House this season so she could be in several big budget movies. So many people have enjoyed Amber Tamblyn’s character that some started to wonder if Thirteen was gone for good and Martha Masters would simply stay on as a part of the team.

Well, Olivia Wilde made things official when she announced that she’s on her way back to House and we’ll finally find out where Thirteen went and why. Here’s what she had to say:

“I am coming back to House. This season, as a matter of fact. It is a done deal,” Wilde told EW while attending the 19th Annual BAFTA LA Britannia Awards Thursday in Los Angeles. “I have been really lucky this year to be offered all these great film opportunities and I was also blessed to have a job in TV that really worked with me to get me to a place where I could do those films and not miss those opportunities like Tron.

“They have it all worked out and the viewers will find out where she went and why she left,” Wilde continued. “I think it is an interesting progression for her. Thirteen has been through a lot so it has to be escalated. She has Huntington’s. She had a brain tumor and went blind. She had a bad breakup. She’s sexually ambiguous. She had problems with drugs. I thought, `What else can (creator) David Shore possibly come up with?’ They had to take it to a whole new level. They are really taking some big risks this year, which is exciting.”

Until then, Wilde said she’s working on the body-swapping comedy The Change Up with Ryan Reynolds, Leslie Mann and Jason Bateman. “We’re shooting in Atlanta. It is so boring and dull. No one laughs. We just sit around and cry all day. [Laughs]. No, it is absolutely the funniest job.” [Source: EW]

Here’s how spectacular she looked at the event:

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Here’s the latest House scoop from the spoiler king, Michael Ausiello. We find out about Candice Bergen as Cuddy’s mother and what’s up with Chase and Thirteen…?

Question: Can’t wait for Candice Bergen on House. What is her first encounter with House like? —Joel

Ausiello: He doesn’t know she’s Cuddy’s mom when they first meet, so I’m guessing it’s going to get awkward quick. BTW, two other notes about Candice: She arrives for Cuddy’s birthday, and her two episodes will be nonconsecutive.

Question: Should we read anything into Chase’s sexual overture to Thirteen on House last week? Was he really interested in her, or is it just a case of a horny single doctor? —Elizabeth

Ausiello: Let’s ask exec producer David Shore, shall we? David, should we read anything into Chase’s sexual overture to Thirteen on House last week? Was he really interested in her, or is it just a case of a horny single doctor? “If there is something more going on there, you won’t see it for a while,” he says, “because of Olivia [Wilde]‘s movie schedule [taking her off the canvas].” [Source: EW]

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On Saturday, the Writers’ Guild of America held their annual awards ceremony. House star Hugh Laurie and executive producer David Shore were presenters together for the event.

Hugh has been a presenter in previous WGA Awards ceremonies, but this time, he was joined by David. They both looked very distinguished and their discussion on stage must have been funny, because this photo looks like there’s some humor involved:

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The big news for House is that Wilson’s first ex-wife will enter the scene on April 19th’s episode. She’ll be played by Cynthia Watros, whom you may remember from her time on Lost. It should add an interesting dynamic for Hilson [House = Wilson = Hilson]. Here is a bit of information from Michael Ausiello:

Question: Will House try to break up Wilson and his new/old girlfriend on House? —Nikki

Ausiello: And how. As series creator David Shore explains, “This isn’t just House being protective of Wilson, this is him being protective of Wilson against somebody who arguably knows Wilson as well as House does. And I think that’s what makes the scenes [between Hugh Laurie and Cynthia Watros] so interesting. You have these two people who apparently care about Wilson, although they’ve both made some dramatic mistakes in that regard, kind of fighting over him.”

Question: Do you have any more details about Cynthia Watros’ character on House aside from her being Wilson’s first ex-wife? —Gavin

Ausiello: Her name is Dr. Sam Carr, her area of expertise is radiology, and she’s “smart, capable, and a little offbeat,” says David Shore. “Anyone who is going to be involved with Wilson is going to be a little bit different. We wanted her to be worthy of Wilson’s strengths and worthy of Wilson’s weaknesses.” [Source: EW]

And here’s even more information that tells us that she may become a regular part of the show.

Entertainment Weekly reports that House creator David Shore is toying with the idea of extending her stay.

“We’re talking about that,” he says. “It depends what’s going to give us the most bang for our buck dramatically.”

Does this mean something permanent for Watros, maybe in lieu of Jennifer Morrison? Not really, Shore insists, because it was never about numbers on House.

“When good people come on and they work out, we try and make it work longer,” he says. “It’s ultimately about the storylines.” [source: EW]

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House executive producer and creator David Shore talked a bit recently to the folks at Zap2It about the show. He doesn’t reveal anything new about the situation with Jennifer Morrison, but he does tell us a bit about the Lucas character being around for a while. He mentions Chase and that there may be an episode that deals with him more heavily soon. And even though he tries to be vague, he does give us a few hints about things to come.

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]]> http://tvhousewatch.com/2010/01/30/house-david-shore-talks-about-the-show/feed/ 0 http://tvhousewatch.com/2009/04/08/interview-kal-penn-david-shore-katie-jacobs-part-2/ http://tvhousewatch.com/2009/04/08/interview-kal-penn-david-shore-katie-jacobs-part-2/#comments Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:27:51 +0000 Lynn DeVries http://tvhousewatch.com/?p=289 No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]>

[Image: © 2010 FOX Broadcasting Co.]

K. Penn: [laughs] No, it was my grandparents actually and no, it was never preachy. These were stories they would tell you at the dinner table. I remember my grandmother telling me stories about boycotting some salt and cotton. You just think that every grandparent has stories and it was not until much later, probably in high school or college that you go back and say, “Wait a second. Grandma told me a story about this chapter in this history book? That’s insane.”

But, it was never preachy. It was never used to try and coerce us into doing anything and by the same token, when I shared that with Mike at Entertainment Weekly it certainly wasn’t to draw any sorts of big comparisons or to be ostentatious about anything. That was always on my mind growing up, almost second nature, knowing that it was those types of small public service actions that have made a difference. And so, if I can make some sort of a small difference, I’m certainly honored to do it.

Q: You mentioned earlier in the phone call that you talked to the President about the job. Can you just relay a little bit more expansively what that conversation was like and what he said to you?

K. Penn: Sure. We talked about it briefly during the Inauguration. I spoke at the Staff Ball backstage very briefly, had mentioned that I was looking to work for him and we sort of talked a little bit about what sorts of areas I might be able to hopefully serve in. There were no huge discussions at that point, but obviously there are a number of folks, like Tina Chen and Mike Strautmanis who deal with a lot of this stuff. So, I had some follow-up calls with them afterwards and also a number of friends who worked on the campaign to try and figure if in fact I would be a good fit and where.

Q: You mentioned a couple of times on the phone call that there were going to be some financial repercussions here. Can you be a little bit more explicit – how much you’re going to be making at the White House and how does that compare to what you’re making now?

K. Penn: Sure. I won’t talk numbers right now, but obviously going from a private career where you’re working for a big company to a public service career, there’s a huge pay cut. So, the concern with that, quite frankly, is I own a home. There’s a terrible housing market and my concern is the same as everyone else’s concern. If I’m moving to a different city, can I sublet my house? Can I sublet it for the same price that my mortgage is? Can I refinance? It’s the same thing that everyone else is going through – similar concerns. So, we’ll see. It’s not something that I’ve entirely figured out just yet to be perfectly honest.

Q: You haven’t figured out whether or not you’re going to sublet or refinance or sell?

K. Penn: No. This is all the kind of stuff I’m looking at. It seems like you can’t effectively do either of the three right now in the Los Angeles area because banks are not very keen on letting you refinance; the rental market because it decreased significantly. But also, you don’t want a house sitting there barren. We’ll figure it out.

Q: On behalf of Harold & Kumar, what’s your position on legalizing marijuana?

K. Penn: Oh, I don’t smoke weed in real life. So, it’s honestly not something I’ve given much thought to. Those movies are all very frivolous and fun to do. I remember somebody wrote some article when we shot the first one. When we shot the first movie, I was also a vegetarian. So, there was this mini uproar amongst stoner White Castle fans – “How can you hire a vegetarian who doesn’t even smoke weed to play this character in the movie?”

I know that it is a serious issue, especially in California – legalization of medical marijuana and questions about taxation and things like that. But sadly, that’s not my area of expertise at all and admittedly, I probably didn’t try and learn about it because I knew that people would ask me about it.

At this point in the interview, Katie Jacobs & David Shore, the executive producers for House joined the conference call. There’s much more info to come…keep reading! It gets more and more interesting. What a great opportunity for Kal Penn!!

Q: Kal, is there any chance that they’ll be having you do commercials or public service spots on behalf of the Administration?

K. Penn: I don’t know. That’s not something that we discussed. I would imagine that my role is not going to be any different than the other talented staffers who are already on that team. So, I would imagine not, but I don’t know for sure.

Q: Okay, and now for the producers, I assume this is going to resonate through the rest of the season, or how long will it resonate?

D. Shore: It’ll resonate at least through the end of this season. The impact on “House” and the rest of the doctors and the people that work there… is what we’re looking forward to exploring.

Q: Are you proud you were able to keep a secret in Hollywood as well as you did?

D. Shore: I’m absolutely startled, yes.

Q: It was a brilliant episode; just stunning. It’s no secret that in this climate, show producers are going to have to tighten their belts. Did Kal’s decision fit perfectly into that? Were you asked at all to bring the show in cheaper?

K. Jacobs: No. We were not asked to bring the show in cheaper. We have an immense amount of support from the studio and network with this show. These are purely creative and personal decisions and it’s just been fantastic the amount of support that we’ve gotten from the studio and network. I’m not saying we’re a cheap show, but you have to figure we’re pretty much on stage most of the time, not on location, but we have a tremendous amount of support. So, this had nothing to do with that.

Q: Now, there are clearly lots of shows violently killing off major beloved characters. I’m not even talking about Lost and 24, which almost kill for sport, but of course Edie on Housewives, Derek on Terminator. What does it bring creatively? I don’t know if you can speak in a more general way for lots of shows, but what does killing a beloved character like this bring creatively?

D. Shore: I don’t know I can speak generally at all. I know what it brought to us. I guess, obviously, stirring the pot brings something to any show. Kal came to us with his issues and his opportunities more specifically and we were very excited for him, but it created a creative problem for us. I’m very happy with the way it worked out. It gave us an opportunity to do something unexpected.

What’s fascinating about it is it’s a question that “House” can’t answer and he’s the man who has the answers to everything. It’s so unexpected for the “Kutner” character and that what was really exciting about it was the unexpected nature of it and the fact that there are no simple answers and not even complicated. I mean they were very complicated, but nothing that “House” can figure out and that’s what was very exciting to us and then, of course, just the very opportunity of dealing with the fallout for any human being, which is, I guess, the general answer because anytime somebody you’re close to dies, people react differently.

Q: Will you bring someone in to replace “Kutner”?

K. Jacobs: There is no replacement for “Kutner”.

D. Shore: Exactly.

Q: Are you going to leave it out there, the question of whether it was in fact a suicide, or is that going to be dropped from here on?

K. Jacobs: It was a suicide. It was a suicide.

Q: So, anybody out there super-analyzing the scene and looking for contradictory evidence, that’s just not going to go anywhere.

D. Shore: They’re being like “House”. They’re looking for more answers where they may not be more answers.

Q: Which individual would you say is going to be most impacted by the aftermath of “Kutner’s” death moving forward?

D. Shore: Everybody is going to be impacted. We are going to see perhaps surprisingly “Cameron” and “Chase’s” reaction to it. We’re going to see more of that. That doesn’t say that they’re going to have a greater reaction to it, but we are going to see more of that and, of course, “House’s” reaction and “Wilson’s” reaction and everybody’s reaction. It was important to us that we be as truthful with this as we possibly could and see how everybody react, but we are going to bring “Cameron” and “Chase” to the forefront a little bit.

K. Jacobs: Yes, I mean everybody feels the impact of such a significant loss and people process it and characters process it in different ways, I think that the greatest impact, correct me if I’m wrong, David, is ultimately with “House” because he is not at peace. He’s unable to rest with the idea that he did not see it coming and cannot explain it. So ultimately, I think it has the greatest impact on “House”.

D. Shore: Yes, he is the one who has the least ability to cope with it and as a result, it has the greatest affect on him.

K. Jacobs: Yes. He has no resources. He has no sort of family to go home to.

Q: I have kind of a chicken and egg question for you in terms of how far back you knew you were going to do this. It seems as if there hasn’t been much done with “Kutner” in quite a while, which allowed you to do this ending where we didn’t know much about him and it was ambiguous why he would have done it. Was this a case of you knew you were going to kill him off and therefore you wanted to put him to the sideline a little bit, or did you look back and realize, “We haven’t done a lot with “Kutner”. Therefore, we have the ability to do this”?

K. Jacobs: That’s not how we felt about it at all. We knew a while ago. David figured out how he wanted to envision this in December and I’m actually surprised. You might be right, but I feel like he’s been an important part– I mean in the very last episode, he solved the case. He solved the case a couple of episodes before that too. He was sort of riding a wave of success in “House’s” team. He had given Kal the go ahead to take credit for it, but I feel like we played him a lot recently. David?

D. Shore: Kal, are you feeling under utilized?

K. Penn: No.

D. Shore: [laughs] You’re free to say it now. You don’t have to kiss my ass any more.

K. Penn: I never felt under utilized. In fact, what I talked about earlier was one of the nice things about having had the chance to do a series that’s an ensemble is you’re constantly learning about your character. So, it’s constantly fresh. It’s fresh in learning about himself, but also learning about the way in which he reacts with the other cast members, the other characters. I think that was especially true in a couple of episodes where you see the banter between “Kutner” and “Taub” or “Thirteen” and “Kutner” talking about something or other that had nothing to do with medicine. Actually, I really enjoyed it. I don’t think I was under utilized at all.

Q: Well, maybe the way I should have phrased it then is that we saw quite a bit of “Kutner” professionally, but not personally to the degree that we’ve seen pretty much every other character this season.

D. Shore: I think it is true that had we seen some major dilemma in his personal life we could not have done this story the way we did because one of the integral elements of this story is that there are no easy answers available. If he married and have an affair, if he just broke up with a girlfriend– Even though the answer would have been much more complicated than that, that would have been something that somebody could just hang on to and feel that that was the answer and we didn’t want that there.

Q: You mentioned a couple of minutes ago about bringing “Cameron” and “Chase” to the fore a little bit. Can you talk a little bit more about that?

D. Shore: No. Again, as Katie said, the impact is mainly on “House”, but of the other people, we do see some fallout with “Cameron” and “Chase” in, I think, an interesting way. Again, I don’t want to spoil it.

Q: Well, it was worth a shot.

D. Shore: I can tell you that everybody has a slightly different reaction and it was important to us that we see varied reactions. Both “Cameron” and “Chase” do not have a unified reaction.

Q: Is there any sort of longer range plan for bringing a new member into the team?

D. Shore: I go with Katie’s answer, that “Kutner’s” irreplaceable.

Q: The “Kutner” memorial site that you put up on the FOX website, how long was that in the works and Kal, do you find it kind of creepy?

K. Jacobs: Do you, Kal?

K. Penn: No, not really. When I heard that it was going to happen, that was the first question I asked. I think what I said was just don’t put any of my real family photos on the website. Make sure they’re the ones from all the photo shoots that we did when we wrapped up episode 20. They said, “Of course. Obviously.”

It’s sad certainly. It’s sad because I loved playing the character and to see that the character is not around and took his own life, obviously, is incredibly disturbing, but I mean it’s very, very clear that’s it’s a “Lawrence Kutner” memorial page.

K. Jacobs: Our motivation came from that it felt like such a significant thing that we were doing that I didn’t want the audience in any way to feel that we took it casually, as if everything can go on the day after the same as it was the day before because we felt profoundly changed and I was thinking if the audience, the fans of the show felt that change, that they would want to know that we thought about it a lot beforehand and that we took it really seriously and that we would want them to have somewhere to turn to express any or all of their thoughts and emotions and feelings about the show and about what we did to the show.

But mostly, we’ve been working on it for a while. It came from the notion of letting our audience know that this was a big deal to us. And so, it felt like a big deal to them that we sort of have that in common.

D. Shore: Let me just add to that. This has nothing to do with the memorial per se, but it relates to what Katie was saying. This was a big deal. I wasn’t on at the beginning of the call when Kal was speaking, and Kal knows this and he’s expressed this same sentiment in reverse. This is not something that would have happened if not for these wonderful opportunities that Kal’s been presented with. We loved him. We loved working with him. Once this happened, we were not going to stand in his way. We were thrilled for him as human beings, but as executive producers we had second thoughts. We were thrilled for him and we found a way that I think is very exciting for us creatively, but it would not have happened if not for this great personal opportunity.

K. Jacobs: It was the only reason why I didn’t want Obama to be the candidate and then– no. I mean seriously, this has been on Kal’s mind for a long time and I remember saying to David, “Well, he hasn’t even won the primary yet. Well, he hasn’t even”– Do you know what I mean? Because I think I was in a state of denial. Just for the record, I obviously was the hugest Obama supporter that there had been, or one of them. I mean I was just trying to avoid the reality that we would actually have to face this moment.

Q: Actually, let me ask a follow-up question because it seems like you’ve been working towards a suicide storyline for a while. From my understanding, this is something that you’ve been planning for a while if not with this character. You’ve had your–

K. Jacobs: Only with this character.

D. Shore: It was only with this character. The plans are this. We were noodling stuff around. We knew that we might have to face this. And so, we had been noodling stuff around since the fall. It really came together concretely, I guess, very early December – right after the election basically, but we had the thoughts in mind and then we mapped out the end of the season at the beginning of December.

Q: You’ve been pulling a bit of a bait and switch though because you certainly made it seem like “Taub” was not in a good way.

K. Jacobs: Everybody has problems and different ways of dealing with it. “Taub” is struggling in his own way. But as I said, I think that’s more close to real life. It’s a little silly to think that we all don’t have our struggles on the inside. It’s how they manifest and how we deal with them.

Q: There’s a point in there where “Thirteen” says, I think, about 25% of people kill themselves with no sign of it at all. I assume from your research that’s a correct number. I just wanted to double check if that is the case.

D. Shore: Yes, that’s not a number we just pulled– Well, we don’t pull any numbers out of our hat. That is something that research supports. I know there is conflicting research, but it’s certainly a surprisingly significant number.

Q: Did you consider any other ways to have the character leave?

D. Shore: We considered many ways to have the character leave. Ultimately, as I said before, this has been the story that allowed us to really have the greatest impact on “House” in particular; have an impact on everybody, but in particular the man who craves answers not having an answer. That is what really excited us about this story.

Q: Okay, and although you said you’re happy for Kal, this obviously threw a wrench into your plans. You hear stories about producers sometimes deciding violent ways for characters to leave when they’re not pleased. Was there any of that?

K. Jacobs: No. We’re, I’m devastated. This phone call is making me more sad than I was the other day when I saw Kal.

D. Shore: If he had come to us and said, “I’ve been offered a great part on CSI,” then yes, we would have had him–

K. Penn: I’m actually going to do Grey’s Anatomy, David.

D. Shore: It would have been auto erotic asphyxiation or something like that. [laughing] No, we’re thrilled for Kal. This is something that as human beings you hear about this and you go– If anybody on our crew had come to us and said, “I need to leave because I’ve had this sort of opportunity,” we would have wished them well and been thrilled for them and gone back into our office and go, “What do we do now?” We would have been thrilled.

Q: Kal, actors/celebrities going into public service goes back as far as Shirley Temple, maybe even earlier. I noticed on the FOX website that there’s a lot of viewer comments, very positive for the most part, but there’s also a strain of cynicism amongst some of the comments; people saying, “Oh, another actor trying to be a celebrity, using a celebrity to go into public service.” How would you respond to that?

K. Penn: I mean I can certainly understand that sentiment, but I would respond to that by just being open about the fact that I’m not a democrat or a republican. I’ve been a registered independent for a number of years. I’ve made it very clear to the White House that I should not be given any special treatment. It’s a privilege to be asked to serve there and I’m looking forward to being just one member of an incredible team that already exists in the Office of Public Liaison. I’m going to be putting acting on hold and it was also made very clear to me that I was being hired because of qualifications that had nothing to do with being a “celebrity.”

So, I certainly understand any of the cynicism that comes along with that. Fortunately, in my particular case, none of the – and I even hate the word – celebrity aspects of this had anything to do with me going into public service.

Q: or when we had the Kal, you’re a funny guy. You’re the kind of person that people– You’re funny. When I see your face, you make me laugh. So, are you going to use humor much at all in your new job? Does humor have a place?

K. Penn: You mean I’m funny when smart writers write witty things for me to say.

Q: I guess.

K. Penn: I always pursue things with a sense of humor. I think it keeps things lively and active, but I also think that there’s a time for humor and there’s a time to be more serious and hopefully life brings a balance of both.

K. Jacobs: Actually, we’ve cut that part of his brain, the funny part of his brain out and we’re holding on to that here at House.

K. Penn: They actually have the right to hold that for I think it’s another four years. So, I can get it back after that.

Q: To the producers, I’ve worked in the newspapers for 20 years and newspapers/media in general are very, very cautious about reporting suicides of any kind because suicides often cause rashes. You’ve seen it in high schools and the native reserves and that kind of thing. I know you put some resources on the FOX website for people who are contemplating suicide, but are you concerned that you may have an incident in the future or that you may precipitate an incident at all involving suicide? Was it a risk that you consider worth taking?

K. Jacobs: I certainly hope that that’s not the case. The intention was to bring to light the fact that this can happen and at the end of the show, we ran a NAMI ad. If you are all contemplating suicide, there’s help out there for you and we placed a number. If anything, we were hoping quite the opposite, that we would have people who are feeling in a desperate way realize that they are not alone and that there’s help out there for them.

D. Shore: I concur. Thank you, Katie. We did not want to glamorize it. We wanted to show that there are alternatives, that you communicate, you reach out to your friends.

K. Jacobs: The other thing is that even if it’s not directly related to everybody, take a good look. If you feel like one of your friends or someone you know is in distress, again, there is somewhere for you to go. So, we were trying to be very responsible about it and very human about it. I think one of the things about mental illness that troubles people so much is that they feel that it’s stigmatized and that they can’t talk about it and they feel very alone. We want to convey that it is a medical illness, because it is, like any other medical illness and there is treatment. So, that was our hope.

Q: Just to be clear, there’s no evil twin brother doctor who’s likely to return in three or four seasons on House.

K. Jacobs: You come up with a great script for it, we’ll consider it.

Q: This is for David. I’m just wondering; will there be a major change in “House’s” character because of this?

D. Shore: Look, “House” says nobody changes and I sort of agree with them. This will prompt him to question some of the choices he makes and it will, perhaps, promote him to try and change. Whether he succeeds or not is a completely different question.

Q: This is for Kal too. I wanted to go back to the cynicism out there. I’ve had people saying, “Has he paid his taxes?” making cracks about Washington. Are you worried that the way the character died will overshadow your new job?

K. Penn: No, and I certainly hope that most of us out there recognize that there’s a big difference between fact and fiction and that the characters that an actor plays are very different than his or her real life. Superman flies and Anthony Hopkins eats people in Silence of the Lambs, but I think we’re all rational enough to know that those are both fictitious. By the same token, the same goes with television.

What I am hoping that folks recognize for all us, no matter what your political affiliation, the last couple of months have been incredibly exciting. It’s definitely a new day. I’m hoping to put that sort of cynicism behind and move forward collectively with something a little more positive. I have a feeling that the majority of folks are in that mindset as well.

Q: I was kind of curious; is “Kutner” going to be the cupid who is going to bring “House” and “Cuddy” together?

K. Jacobs: Another good idea. What do you think, David?

D. Shore: Yes. I think being dead might put a crimp in that, but no, not in the foreseeable future.

The serious answer is this, and what David saying earlier about how everybody reacts differently. I think you’re so right to say that certain people would take the impact of this horrible event and want to be closer and want to sort of couple up and be closer to people. But with “House,” it sends him in the opposite direction. So, no.

Q: Are there any plans to kind of explore more maybe any motive behind “Kutner’s” decision?

D. Shore: No. The issue is it’s unknown. I mean obviously, there ultimately is a reason. Something went on in that man’s head, but it went on in that man’s head and it is ultimately unknowable. I think that in our show is a more interesting question. The question of dealing with that and accepting that is a more interesting issue than trying to put a little pin in the answer.

K. Jacobs: It’s a struggle.

Q: Did you shoot any flashback scenes, or is that really the last time that we have seen “Kutner”?

D. Shore: We didn’t. We actually thought about that and we specifically rejected that because again, any flashback would have to be chosen for it telling us something. This story is about us knowing nothing. The answers are in his head and we can’t get there. And so, we ultimately decided that we should know what we know and not what “Kutner” knows. So, we decided that because this is so unfathomable, we shouldn’t see that.

K. Jacobs: It’s the way that it is. When you lose somebody, it is a shock and there’s such a mix of emotions. You feel sadness. You feel anger and I think the intensity of those emotions are made even greater by the fact that you cannot go back. Once someone is gone, they’re gone. David’s decision to make this happen at the beginning part of the episode and in a way that gave us no clues, I applaud because it’s devastating, but it’s how we feel when something like that happens. You’re just caught off guard. There are no answers and there is no going back. We wanted to put the audience in “House’s” and in our characters’ shoes and feel it in that kind of raw, unexplainable way.

D. Shore: Inexplicable?

K. Jacobs: [laughs] Either way.

Q: I wanted to know how much, if at all, your association with the National Alliance on Mental Illness influenced the choice of the story.

K. Jacobs: It did not influence the choice of the story at all. This is something that, as David said, has been ruminating in his brain and I always find he’s thinking about; David is thinking about ways of telling stories in his head and then on this writer’s retreat that we took in early December, the whole story sort of came out and poured out. Then it just seemed like a natural connection to reiterate our alliance with National Association on Mental Illness. So, the story comes first here and then we try to– Story comes first above all else and then we try to have everything fall in line to follow that.

Q: Was the decision to sort of align with the National Alliance on Mental Illness influenced at all by the story kicking around in your brain, David?

D. Shore: No, that alliance was in there for quite some time.

K. Jacobs: We made that alliance to NAMI years ago.

What do you think of the things they had to say? It was worth the long read, wasn’t it?

Read Part 1 of the interview

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[Image: © 2010 FOX Broadcasting Co.]

Whew! Finally! Here’s the complete conference call interview with Kal Penn, Katie Jacobs and David Shore. It’s so much more than you got in all the other sites’ interview posts. The entire thing is 62 typewritten pages long! No kidding! I gave you some of the highlights already, but I know you want all the scoop, just like me!

So take a second to refill your beverage of choice and start reading the interview. It’s definitely worth it for House fans!!

Q: Now, I know that you had requested to leave the show to go work for the White House, which is awesome. I just wonder; were you taken aback at all when they said that they were going to kill you off I mean because it does rob you of the opportunity to ever return to the show. Were you taken aback at all?

K. Penn: I think everyone is always taken aback with every episode on that show to be perfectly honest. I know in this case they’re unique circumstances because the character is actually being eliminated. But I feel like House is one of those shows, at least from the actor’s perspective, when we get each script every week, we really don’t know what’s going to happen and that’s on a page-to-page basis partially because obviously the writers are so brilliant in creating and crafting these characters, but also the character of House, it’s virtually impossible to get into his head.

So, we’re sort of used to going page-to-page and going, “Wow. Is this actually going to happen?” and that goes for any episode. Obviously, yes, you’re connected to the character. I love playing “Kutner” and so, there’s a little bit of shock and loss- more than a little bit of shock and loss when I found that out also, but I think that’s sort of, plot-wise, what they were going for as well. So, yes, I was probably as shocked as the audience was when I first found out.

Q: Was there any discussion of you appearing in that final episode in any capacity?

K. Penn: I was there when Olivia and Omar shot that scene, where they discover “Kutner”.

Q: So, those were your legs?

K. Penn: They were.

Q: You got paid?

K. Penn: I did. Greg Yaitanes directed that episode [note: he also directed the episode, House's Head, another heart-wrenching episode] and, even though we were being shot from way back in the other room, he wanted it to be as authentic as possible. So, we were fully in that moment.

Q: I was just wondering if you could talk a little bit about your decision to leave the show and how long this has been in the works and if your managers and agents are telling you you’re crazy for walking away from such a successful show.

K. Penn: Well, I think I’ve had people tell me I’m crazy from the time I was 17 and said, “I want to be an actor.” So, that’s nothing new. I think every actor has been told they were crazy.

This was a very unique circumstance. Growing up, I always had two interests and two passions; one being public service and the other being the arts and acting. So, it’s always been on my mind. I always try and engage in different public service projects. In the last 18 months, having had the opportunity to serve on the Obama campaign, I certainly started thinking about that possibility and then when that opportunity opened up, I went to David and Katie and sort of talked about it.

I mean it is a little insane in the sense that this is an incredible show to have been part of. There were certainly no problems. If anything, I was having a great time. I have a tremendous respect for the writers and the other actors and obviously, David and Katie. So, it was tough all around. The word that I still use to describe it is bittersweet because it’s not like I’m retiring from acting. I certainly intend to come back at some point. But right now, I just felt like my calling was in public service and so we moved forward with that.

Q: When do you start your new job?

K. Penn: It’s kind of up in the air right now. There are a couple of things that I need to finish up, but I’m going out to D.C., I think, next week to do some apartment hunting.

Q: Would the actor in you, the showman in you, the ego in you, have liked to have gotten a big showy performance and farewell death scene, or do you like the way it happened?

K. Penn: I like the way it happened. The thing that I enjoy about being an actor and the thing that I enjoy about the arts in general is the ability to make the audience feel an emotion that they weren’t intending to feel before they went in. I think that Greg who directed the episode, and obviously David and Katie, did that in such a great way that people did feel the types of loss and anger and confusion about this fictional character. I don’t know that you would have gotten that same sense if it were some sort of a very “Kutner”-heavy episode where you see the trials and tribulations. I think part of the loss that the team on House feels from what he did is transitioned over into what the audience feels because there was no explanation. I’m sort of glad that we didn’t have a big kind of “Kutner” dramatic scene to wrap it up.

Q: I’m quite sure there’s no way to document how many people will see the episode, read the information at the end of the show with the phone number, who to call if they’re in a suicidal condition and make the call and save their lives, but how does it feel for you as an actor and as a person to be able to do some work that puts that information out there in such a big way?

K. Penn: I’m really glad that the producers and FOX decided to put that on the end. I know all of us, unfortunately, know folks who have taken their own lives and you always go back and think about what you could have done differently. You realize that in a lot of cases, there wasn’t that awareness or there wasn’t that recognition of what to look for, how to look for it, how to reach out to somebody who you think might need that help.

So, I’m glad they mentioned it on the website and there are a number of resources online. I hope people do take advantage of them because I’m sure, sadly, out of the 18-plus million viewers that we have every week, I’m sure some folks might be struggling and I definitely hope they take advantage of websites like that.

Q: Well, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if somewhere along the way, years from now, weeks from now, somebody reaches out to you and says, “This happened because of that episode.” I hope so.

K. Penn: Well, that would be something good to come of it.

Q: It’s a big lifestyle change, particularly after the success you’ve had as an actor, to be coming to live in Washington. I’m kind of curious about your view of the place culturally; not arts particularly, but just living in this city and what that’s going to be like and how much you know about it.

[My] second question is who at the White House and in Washington did you talk to before making this decision? I don’t know if you talked to the President himself as part of this or the Chief of Staff. I’m kind of curious to see who you talked to and what convinced you to make this move. I know the public service part. So, I’m looking for the other aspect of it.

K. Penn: Sure. Well, let me address the first question first then. I grew up on the East Coast; I grew up in New Jersey and so, D.C. was always accessible to us during high school. We would come down frequently. My two interests, like I said, were public service and the arts. So, I would always take advantage of both New York and Washington. I have college friends and certainly friends from a number of the presidential campaigns who are in Washington, who have worked there for years. While I haven’t lived there before, I think I have a pretty good sense of what D.C.’s all about and I’m definitely looking forward to being part of it.

The second part of the question; this was unexpected in the sense that if you had told me two years ago when I started on House that I would even be considering a move to public service, I probably would have said you were crazy. I remain an independent. I’m not a democrat or a republican.

When I started working on the Obama campaign, on the Arts Policy Committee and as a surrogate, one of the things that struck me the most was that the majority of folks who we were meeting around the country, and this is particular probably to the three groups that I reached out to the most, which I think were artists, Asian Americans and youth vote, so under 35. A lot of those folks in all three communities shared that sentiment of not really being entirely democrat or entirely republican, but their concerns were what were overwhelming.

And so, to see that there was a candidate who was reaching out to those folks, kind of transcending those lines that you think of when you think of politics was incredibly moving, especially with regard to a lot of these kids who either couldn’t afford college or were in college and worried about student loans or the economy.

The types of change that President Obama had campaigned on and now the opportunity to bring those changes to fruition was something that was so incredibly moving that after he won and after having had the chance to talk about a potential opportunity with some of my fellow campaign staffers, the President, some of his aides, I reached out and said that this was something that I really wanted to do and I’m deeply honored and feel deeply privileged to have this opportunity now.

Q: Just to clarify; you did talk to the President about this?

K. Penn: Yes, ma’am.

Q: Did he say, “Hell, yes; come on down”?

K. Penn: Not in that language. We discussed it briefly. I was trying to find the right fit and to see if I would be helpful and to be of service somehow.

Q: I wanted to be a little clearer on what exactly the job is, why you want that job and who offered the job to you.

K. Penn: Sure. Well, the job itself is that I will be an Associate Director in the White House Office of Public Liaison. What the OPL does is similar in a sense to what I was doing on the campaign in that now that it is the actual Administration, what they try and do is take the Administration itself out of Washington.

So, they go into communities across the country, continue the sorts of dialogue that people had started during the campaign and basically assure that a bunch of different citizens’ views about their elected officials, about their government are all happening, they’re working effectively; make sure that a lot of these new voices that have emerged, especially during the campaign season, are brought to the table – democrats, republicans, everyone in between – and to build those relationships and kind of embody the types of changes that President Obama had run on.

The reason that was appealing to me simply is because I have friends who are in these sorts of situations. I know folks who were over in Iraq. I’m 31-years-old, but I still have friends who continue to dream about going to college and just don’t have the financial opportunity.

Like I said, I’m not giving up acting; I’m not retiring, but since this seemed like the opportunity that presented itself and it seemed like something that I would enjoy doing and be honored to serve at, I figured it was something to do.

Q: Who offered you the job?

K. Penn: There was a bunch of discussions. I don’t know that there was any one point person. My point folks in the Office of Public Liaison are Mike Strautmanis, Valerie Jarrett.

Q: Does this mean no more Harold & Kumar movies?

K. Penn: That’s probably true, yes.

Q: You said you’re not retiring from acting. Does this job allow you to do any acting projects at all, or is this it for a specific amount of time?

K. Penn: I won’t be acting while I’m working at the White House, no.

Q: Do you know how long? Is there a certain amount of time that you’re going to do this for? Are you going to do it while Obama is in office, whether it’s for this four and possibly eight?

K. Penn: There’s no set limit. I mean I definitely intend to go out there for at least a year or two and figure it out. There are certain financial concerns to consider with all of it. There are career, both public service and arts-related, concerns to think about. So, we’ll see. The reason that I say I’m certainly not retiring is I’m not packing up and saying I’m leaving Hollywood and all this sort of stuff. It’s just pursuing another passion right now. I’m equally as passionate about the arts and will also continue to be. But right now, I wanted to pursue this sort of thing and we’ll see for how long and under what circumstances.

Q: Would you have made this decision and done it, do you think, if it had been any other president than Obama?

K. Penn: I don’t know. I certainly don’t think so. Like I said, this wasn’t the intention. This was not part of any master plan for the last couple of years. It was something that I was inspired by and someone I was inspired by. And again, formerly being a very cynical independent who agreed with both democrats and republicans on different things, it’s really refreshing to have a president who is listening to all three of those parties’ voices and I’m looking forward to this.

Q: I’m just curious about whether or not you’ll actually be traveling around the country to talk to people, or are you going to be staying most in Washington, D.C. during this time.

K. Penn: I would imagine it would be a little bit of both. The Office of Public Liaison is known as the front door to the White House. Like I said, one of the things that they do is to really take the Administration itself out of Washington; so, the ways in which communities are represented. Often times, they have folks who come to Washington to meet with the White House or with Congressional representatives or what have you. By the same token, we also do go into the communities and work with them directly as well. So, I would imagine it’s a fair amount of both.

Q: So, I understand your job to be the associate director, one of the things is kind of being the liaison between various communities and the President. I’m wondering; are there any communities that you particularly would like to reach out to to kind of help the President accomplish some of his missions? I know you had a conversation with him and I’m assuming that came up.

K. Penn: Yes. Well, two of the communities that I’m sort of going to be the point person for are the arts and Asian American folks. Part of that was during the campaign itself, I served on the Arts Policy Committee and a lot of the outreach we would do was to arts groups, students and under 35 voters and Asian Americans. So, two of those – the arts community and the Asian American community – are two of the groups who I’ll be reaching out to.

In particular, I think the feeling is that we want to make sure that everyone’s concerns are heard, that they’re familiar with the President’s plans and proposals, but also even something as small as– So many folks in Los Angeles usually donate money to presidential campaigns on both sides of the table, but they’re not as engaged. I’m speaking from someone who has lived there the last 10 or 12 years. I know that my colleagues aren’t as engaged frequently in the day-to-day on the outreach aspects of things. Hopefully that’ll change. We’d like to include folks in the arts community.

Part of the stimulus bill had a certain amount of funding for the arts and of course, the arts, especially in America, have always been extremely relevant to documenting history and providing educational opportunities. It’s something that I’m really looking forward to. It’s obviously a big shift from the last 12 years of my life, but it’s something I’m looking forward to.

Q: I know you said that you are an independent, but do you think you might switch over to being a democrat now? Has President Barack Obama swayed you at all?

K. Penn: I don’t know. Something that I really admire still is that in the White House, there are folks from both major parties and a couple of nutty independents like myself. So, we’ll see. I’m certainly not getting any pressure to change my political affiliation; let me put it that way. Everyone’s respectful.

Q: Do you know of other people in the entertainment industry; are there other people that you talked with before you decided to make this decision? Are there people who kind of share the same passion that you do of wanting to work in Obama’s White House?

K. Penn: That’s a good question. I think the folks who I shared it with; obviously, while it’s a decision based almost wholly on passion and something that I want to do with my life, you can’t ignore the other career-related aspects of it or the financial aspects of it or things like that. So, I obviously had a number of discussions with agents and managers and accountants and folks like that, as well as a number of friends who are in and outside of the industry to basically say, “This is what I really want to do, but am I crazy?”

The caveat being, of course, I kind of talked about this a little bit earlier; the caveat being I don’t think there’s any actor who I know who wasn’t told they were crazy when they were an aspiring actor moving out to California to follow some sort of a dream. And so, the way that I view it, it’s a journey. I’m certainly not trying to burn any bridges and say that I’m never coming back to acting because it remains a passion. By the same token, I’m incredibly honored and privileged to be able to serve in the Obama Administration.

Q: Do you have any plans to run for office yourself one day?

K. Penn: No.

Q: What did your parents, family, friends think when you told them about the career switch and when did you tell them?

K. Penn: I discussed it with them kind of off and on, I guess, maybe the last eight or nine months or so. I don’t think it came as a surprise to anyone because when I joined the Obama campaign I wasn’t as involved– I think I joined in October of 2007 and then slowly became more and more involved through the Iowa caucuses during the writer’s strike and ended up moving to Des Moines for, I think, that last month and a half before the January caucus. I think at that point, a lot of my friends and my family said, “Wait a second; what are you doing? Is this something that you’re getting caught up in? Is this something that you’re actually passionate about?” From that point, the discussion has always ensued.

The folks who know me the best always have known that those have been the dueling passions, shall we say – the arts and public service. So, I don’t think they were shocked at all, but it was certainly nice to bounce some ideas off of people about whether or not this was the best decision for me right now.

Q: This was already asked and you kind of gave, “I don’t think so;” but really no more Harold & Kumar? You couldn’t turn this into something?

K. Penn: I don’t know. I certainly don’t want to squash anyone’s hopes or dreams of that, but right now I’m going to be moving to Washington to take on this position. I’m certainly not going to be acting while I’m serving in the White House. Who’s to say what would happen three, four, five years from now. But at this point, it’s not on my radar, no.

Q: When you first met the President, did he mention he recognized you from any particular roles?

K. Penn: I’m trying to think. I think the first time I met him was late in 2007. Yes, he did mentioned House actually, but it was a passing comment. I had met him at a fundraiser, the rope handshaking line towards the end. I introduced myself and he said, “Oh, yes. You’re on that show. What show are you on?” I said, “I’m on House.” He was like, “That’s right, the doctor show. Nice work.” I said, “Thanks” and that was it. I didn’t really get to know him until later on during the campaign.

Q: Did he ever or any of the staffers ever joke about Harold & Kumar or drugs or any of that sort of thing?

K. Penn: No, no. This was probably one of the other reasons that I was so drawn to the campaign was the folks who were on staff even as early as pre-Iowa caucus back in 2007 were incredibly inclusive, incredibly respectful and also very driven by actual issues. I never had an experience where I thought anyone was distracted by anything other than getting people registered to vote, discussing issues with them, reporting those issues back. It was really quite remarkable to see how the whole operation was being conducted.

There was never any conversation about any of the more frivolous items from any of us who came from different fields. There were folks who were formerly musicians or sports folks or teachers or whatever. We just didn’t really talk much about that. It was very focused on the issues at hand, which was really nice. I had not had an experience like that before.

Q: I’m kind of curious; what did you think about suicide as a choice for “Kutner” to take after playing him all the time?

K. Penn: I was shocked by it, but I think that was the nature of what they were going for. When we discussed or when they told me about it, I asked if there was anything in his background that would have indicated or if there were any warning signs beforehand and the answer was generally no, that this is something that was just as shocking to the team as it is to the audience and it’s something that nobody sees coming.

It’s kind of tough to wrap your head around that, especially as the actor who plays the character, to know that he was obviously tormented about something, but didn’t share it with anyone. I think that’s indicated pretty well at the very end when “House” goes back into “Kutner’s” apartment and starts going through photos, searching for some sort of an answer and he sees pictures that we had never seen a side of “Kutner” before. We never knew that he had a girlfriend. We never knew that he hung out with his college friends at the beach regularly. That last picture that he pulls out right before the episode airs is of “Kutner” looking very different than we’ve ever seen him before. The look on his face is so completely different from him being kind of jovial in the hospital or even saving somebody’s life. It’s this distraught look that we just don’t have an answer to. He didn’t leave a note. He never discussed it with anyone. For the first time, “House” doesn’t have an answer to something.

So, it was disturbing to me as an actor, but recognizing that that was also kind of the journey that the audience would go through made it disturbing and also a little bit strange because I wasn’t allowed to talk about it with anybody. So, at least when the audience gets to see it, they can talk about it with their friends and watch it, but there was a lot of Peter Jacobson and Olivia Wilde and I going, “Isn’t this insane? Wow. This is so sad.”

Q: Well, were you sad that you didn’t get to portray that other part of him, of having a girlfriend and all that?

K. Penn: No, because I think you saw the different layers to all the characters. We rarely see, with the exception of “House” of course and a little bit with “Taub” and his wife, the characters – you don’t see them that much outside the hospital. Most of the plot ends are based there. Despite the fact that they’re all based around medicine, you know an incredible amount about these characters and a lot of their back story really informs their behavior and informs how they deal with patients.

So, I definitely don’t regret that because I don’t think it’s really that type of show. If anything, I think it accentuates the shock and the anger and depression that the rest of the team feels surrounding the way in which he passed away.

Q: Are you a little nervous about going from the set to going to a 9 to 5 desk job?

K. Penn: Not really. I’ve had experience in that field over the last couple of years. It’s something I’m actually looking forward to. I’m incredibly honored to have the opportunity to do it and we’ll take it from there.

Q: I want to congratulate you not only on the new job, but on having the best reason for leaving a show I’ve ever heard. I mean you get like creative differences, I want to do movies, but you have getting a job in the White House. So, I think you get some sort of prize for that.

K. Penn: Thanks.

Q: My question is just going back to the shock of the suicide and finding out, how many episodes did you shoot after you found out that this is how “Kutner” was going to end, but before the actual final episode? Did that affect your performance at all?

K. Penn: I think I found out while we were shooting episode 17. It was – I’m trying to think. I think it was episode 17 or maybe halfway through 18. It was probably halfway through 18 actually and no, the performance didn’t change. That was the first thing that I asked David Shore was, “Do you want me to change anything? Do you want this to be informed that he’s struggling with something?” The answer was, “Not really.” This is something that really does come out of left field in episode 20 and we don’t want to lead anyone on. We also don’t want to mislead anyone. It just is what it is and there’s no explanation for it.

Q: So, the audience shouldn’t go back to the last couple of episodes and try to look for a sad face somewhere or something like that?

K. Penn: No. I mean by all means watch the episodes again for enjoyment, but no, there was nothing hidden in there. There were no codes that we put in for people to decipher.

Q: I have to ask because I read the interview that you did with Entertainment Weekly where you mentioned that your parents marched with Gandhi. Did they pull that out growing up like all the time on you? When you were doing Harold & Kumar for instance, were they like, “Oh, yes. That’s great. We marched with Gandhi, but that’s cool too”?

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