In the holiday comedy “Oh. What. Fun.,” which begins streaming Wednesday on Prime Video, Jason Schwartzman’s character, Doug, is spending Christmas with his wife’s family, headed by Michelle Pfeiffer and Denis Leary. Doug’s feelings are likely to be familiar to anybody who has ever been at a gathering of people who grew up together.
“There was something I could relate to a little bit,” the actor said in a video call from his in-laws’ in Alabama. “I loved Doug because, in this family of people that were fighting and all this tension, his attitude is basically like, You guys are lucky to be fighting with each other,” Schwartzman, 45, continued. “In my mind, his back story is that he didn’t really have holidays with family or any siblings with it, and I think that he really appreciates the group.”
A big lure was a reunion with the director Michael Showalter, with whom Schwartzman made two “Wet Hot American Summer” mini-series. “His work has been a big part of my upbringing,” Schwartzman said, singling out the sketch-comedy shows “The State” and “Stella” as influences. “I like to watch him and see what makes him laugh.”
As you’ll see, Schwartzman’s interest in how things work is obvious from his 10 essentials — which had to be boiled down from an initial list of 23. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
The Los Angeles Dodgers
It’s a very good time to be a fan because they’ve got such a crazy, stacked roster. I’ve been going to a lot of games with my son. Maybe as close to heaven as I could get is a Dodgers game. And playing catch. There is something about being opposite someone and just having a rhythm with them.
My Radar Gun
My son was playing in his softball league and there is so much gear that some of these parents have, but nobody had a radar gun, so I went and got one. It’s the gift that keeps on giving because you start to look around at everything and wonder how fast it’s going. And “radar” is a palindrome.
Erasable Pens
My favorite one is the FriXion by Pilot. There’s no residue with the erasable pen: How is it doing that? How is it not shedding anything? I doodle all the time, so I can doodle and erase it and not waste so much paper. In my mind, an erasable pen is the same category as waterproof shoes: You don’t have to worry about the water and you don’t have to worry about making a mistake.
Library Card
My mom [Talia Shire] studied with Stella Adler, who told her that as an actor you need a library card and a bus pass. I feel calm in libraries. I think it’s because everyone else is so calm, and everyone’s working or researching or something. It’s almost like a movie set, and I have to pretend I’m working, too. Everyone should have a library card. It’s like a bicycle but for your brain.
Steven Wright
Numero Uno. I love his delivery, I love the way he thinks. There seems to be a Steven Wright line for almost any situation.
Helping My Daughter With Her Homework
When I was a teenager, I would ask my mom for help, and she would become so much more interested in what I was learning than me. Now I think I am that annoying person to my daughter. She’s a great student, so I’m not really helping her with her homework as much as I am near her when she’s doing it.
‘The Tokyo Puzzles’
This is a collection of puzzles and mind games, and I take it with me everywhere. I don’t really try to solve any of them, I love just looking. “Tokyo Puzzles” is way above my head, mathematically, in many ways, but I really like the simplicity of it.
The Moises App
It’s an app that essentially can take songs and separate all the tracks into stems. I’ll listen to Duran Duran but just the bass lines, or I listen to the Band but just Levon Helm’s drums. I like to hear how the songs are constructed. It’s like having a little peek into their world.
Process
The best thing about DVDs is the making-of. I almost, sometimes, don’t need to watch the movie. Same with these books called 33 and ⅓. When I was in high school, I would get a new issue of Rolling Stone or Spin, and they’d have a section like “In the Studio With. …” I really enjoy imagining what something is going to sound like based on the way it’s written about.
Reverb
It’s a marketplace where people can sell instruments. Wherever I am, I look for local listings and I love seeing what people are selling. I also like the pictures people take of their gear. If it’s a very pro setup, you’ll see just the instrument, but sometimes there’s a picture with, like, a dog in the background. I don’t know why, but I really like that.
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