Why ‘The Reluctant Traveler’ Was as ‘Nerve-Wracking’ as ‘Schitt’s Creek’ for Eugene Levy
Schitt’s Creek introduced a whole new generation to Eugene Levy. He’d been a comedy legend since Second City and its ‘80s variety show SCTV. Plus, Levy always popped up in memorable roles in movies, like Jim’s Dad in the American Pie series. Levy admits Schitt’s Creek was nerve-wracking, but his new show, The Reluctant Traveler is even more so.
Showbiz Cheat Sheet attended a press conference with Levy for The Reluctant Traveler in January. The travel show takes Levy to eight exotic locations around the world. We’ll have more with Levy here on Cheat Sheet and The Reluctant Traveler premieres Feb. 24 on Apple TV+.
‘Schitt’s Creek’ was nerve-wracking for Eugene Levy
Levy co-created Schitt’s Creek with his son Dan. The idea of playing the lead, Johnny Rose, was daunting even for the veteran Levy.
“Johnny Rose was a character,” Levy said. “I’ve been a character actor for my entire career. Most of the characters I’ve played were far removed from who I am. And I loved that. The closer a character came to who I was, the more nerve wracking it became. Johnny Rose was probably initially the most nerve wracking experience because as a character, that character came the closest to who I was as a person. So I had to overcome my fear of playing a character close to myself and it was a pretty cathartic experience for me playing that. Nevertheless, it was still a character.”
‘The Reluctant Traveler’ is even more nerve-wracking than ‘Schitt’s Creek’
The exotic locations of The Reluctant Traveler were out of Levy’s comfort zone, but that wasn’t the most nerve wracking part. Levy said letting cameras capture his real experience was even more nerve-wracking.
“This show, there is no character,” Levy said. “It’s just me so again I had to get over the nerve wracking experience of playing him.”
For a successful actor, it’s surprising to hear how nervous Levy still gets in front of the camera.
It’s just me in front of a camera so I have to deal with that because I’ve never been comfortable being in front of a camera as myself. And again, there’s no lines to learn. I’m not getting a script learning lines on the show. What you see is what you get. These conversations are real genuine conversations that are happening and the narration for the show is a scripted narration that I have a lot to do with. It’s kind of a script that is written for me that I take and I rework so that everything comes naturally out of my mouth. That’s at a recording studio where I’m reading it and I love the fact that I don’t have to memorize any lines before I go on camera.
Eugene Levy press conference, 1/19/22
Nothing could prepare Eugene Levy for ‘The Reluctant Traveler’
The nature of reality TV is that it’s real. You can’t prepare for it or else it becomes scripted. That was nerve-wracking for Levy too.
“I didn’t do anything to prepare for the show,” Levy said. “There was nothing I could do to prepare for the show. It was really putting me out there on camera kind of doing it all and learning as I’m doing it. It was a bit more of a pull for me in the very beginning because that’s where I started from as who I was, the person I was. So I quickly had to adapt to sampling, trying, experimenting and doing the things that most seasoned travelers would love doing but not me. So I made the leap from saying no to everything, saying no, I don’t even want to try it, to okay, here I am doing it. Some stuff I absolutely loved and some stuff I didn’t.”
