Page 44 - ABILITY Magazine - Avril Lavigne Issue

Lia Martirosyan: Let’s tell everybody what you’ve been up to.
nonprofit that helps those who advocate for people with disabilities. I talked about my upbringing, my struggles as an actor, that kind of thing. From there we went to Cincinnati for the RealABILITIES Film Festival. It’s a big deal. Have you ever been?
Danny Woodburn: Are you going to transcribe this?
Chet Cooper: And change everything you say.
Cooper: Not yet, but we’re a sponsor.
Woodburn: Then you’ll take out all the stupid stuff?
Woodburn: When I got back to LA, I did another episode of HAPPYish. I’m on the third and seventh episodes of the show. I spent most of the shoot scheming and yelling at Rob Reiner, which I enjoyed.
Lia Martirosyan: Those are the best parts.
(laughter)
Woodburn: So let’s see. In January, I worked on an episode of a sitcom called Melissa & Joey. Unfortu- nately, when we were doing it, we found out that it had been canceled.
Cooper: Did you ask them how they get away with using real company’s logos, like Viagra?
Cooper: Ouch.
Woodburn: Then in February I did an episode of HAPPY-
Woodburn: I think they’re going to go for it until somebody yells at them.
ish, which recently aired. I’ve shot two of those.
Cooper: National Lampoon broke a legal barrier: If it’s known to be parody you can get away with it, without it being considered slander.
Cooper: That’s an interesting show.
Woodburn: Right. I remember John Belushi had that Wheaties spoof. He’s out of shape, smokes, and is com- peting for the Olympics, and he goes, “I’ve trained a lot of hours, and I’ve downed a lot of donuts,” and he has what looks like a Wheaties box, but it’s called Donuts, and he pours ‘em all in a bowl.
Woodburn: It’s peculiar. It’ll get its footing, at some point—probably when I appear.
(laughter)
Martirosyan: What’s your character?
Woodburn: He’s an actor who portrays a real Keebler elf in a Keebler elf commercial. And apparently my char- acter’s very Method and kind of an a**. I play a lot of obnoxious jerks. Typecasting, I guess.
Martirosyan: That’s funny. So what else is going on?
Martirosyan: My sister-in-law was just asking me, “Was he from Bones?” And I said, “I don’t really watch Bones, so I’m not sure if he was on it.” And she goes, “Yeah, he was, and he was kind of an a**!”
Woodburn: I’ve been working with my wife on her musical about domestic violence. We’ve been shopping it, trying to get funding. I had a meeting with the Min- nesota Vikings. They contributed some money towards the production. We’re trying to get grants, and we work with an organization called Cornerstone, which helps women and their children get out of domestic violence situations and into a safe haven. They’re sponsoring us to put the show up in Minnesota.
(laughter)
Woodburn: It’s a good character because he’s very out- side the box. He’s one of the heads of the State Depart- ment, so I get to wear a suit, which means they get to make me a suit, which means I get to keep the suit. The only nice clothes I own come from some set some- where. The tuxedo that I was married in was made for an episode of Tracy Takes On...
Cooper: A musical? That’s different.
Cooper: So that’s why you wore that Shakespearean outfit the other day?
Woodburn: (laughs) Hopefully someone will take enough of an interest to at least sit down and talk with me. When I was in New York, year before last, we pro- duced a reading of it at St. Luke’s Theater. That was a big deal. We cast it, rehearsed it, blocked it, and I even lit it. It was almost like a full-fledged production put together in 20 hours. The audience appreciated it.
(laughter)
Woodburn: Nothing else was clean! Okay, so then in March I went to Minneapolis to give a talk for an orga- nization called Partnership Resources Inc., which is a
My wife and I established a nonprofit called the
(laughter)
Woodburn: The first of its kind. So we’re busy. I’m chasing after people at the NFL.
Cooper: I hear they’re hard to catch.
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