Exclusive: CHUCK’s Scott Krinsky Interview

Scene-stealing Scott Krinsky plays Buy More’s senior Nerd Herder Jeff Barnes and one half of the disturbing/awesome musical duo Jeffster on NBC’s CHUCK. A comedian who performs regularly at LA’s The Comedy Store and other clubs, Scott will also be seen on the big screen this summer in ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon.’

Daemon’s TV recently talked to Scott about his favorite Chuck scenes, how the role of Jeff has expanded, and what he’d like to see Jeff do next.

Last Monday night’s “Chuck Vs. the Push Mix” episode of ‘Chuck’ was probably the most epic one they’ve had.

Scott Krinsky: Yeah. I watched it for the first time myself. It was a great episode. I think it really tied together a lot of where the show was going this season.

On the other hand it always makes me sad that the writers have to do this episode because they think it might be the series finale. What’s that like on set, that kind of uncertainty?

Scott Krinsky: In the beginning you’re so happy to have such an amazing job, and then of course we had the writer’s strike which seems like ages ago. So you’re sort of worrying about whether you’re going to have a job again and all of that, but now I feel like we’ve kind of gotten used to it. We’ve had to deal with this for three years now. It’s weird to say. It’s actually very gratifying to say that we’re used to it because we’ve been around that long that we can get used to the torture that we’re put through. We don’t feel tortured anymore because we’re so used to it.

How do you get the song that Jeffster does from just deciding to do ‘Push It’ to actually getting it on the air in the hilarious form it was?

Scott Krinsky: Well, the producers pick the song and sometimes that is down to the wire, literally, of having to go in and do it. They come up with the song and then as far as with the ‘Push’ mix, when we go to perform it we’re kind of, as far as what you see there, dancing around–that’s all sort of improvised. Obviously, a director is there sort of directing and trying to catch moments and telling us what area we need to be in, but a lot of that is just improvised in the moment, with the music, hearing the music and of course Vik [Sahay] singing, he has to be more aware to certain aspects, I guess, because he’s singing the song.

My favorite part was as Jeff and Lester were leaving and Lester says “We’re off to touch the youth of America. Was that scripted?

Scott Krinsky: That was great. That was scripted. That was the writers and I thought those were some great lines that they wrote it. What does Jeff say? ‘I’m not allowed to do that anymore.’ It kind of gives me a kick. He’s such a fun character to play.

He’s a fun character to watch -

Scott Krinsky: It’s a blast. It’s been such a great joy to play this character.

When you auditioned for this role what did they say about it, was it listed as recurring then?

Scott Krinsky: No. The Nerd Herd was recurring at the time that we got the roles. I don’t think that they had planned to use us as much. I guess they had the core idea of the show, Chuck being a spy, obviously, but I don’t know that they thought we would be as present in the show as we ended up being. In that first season, though we were recurring we were in every episode.

Now fans complain if they don’t see enough of you.

Scott Krinsky: I think what’s great though is sometimes there’s not enough, and of course, as an actor you’d like to always have more to do and great storylines. But I think, too, what makes the show so successful and so much for the fans, hopefully, is that it is just the right balance most of the time. It’s like I think if you had too much of maybe any one aspect of it sometimes, aside from Chuck himself.I think it achieves that perfect balance a lot of time and that’s what makes it work so well. Better to have people want a little bit more of something than overdoing it.

I love when the spy world bleeds into the Buy More and Jeff is dragged into the spy world a little bit, even though he’s clueless about it. How is that to play?

Scott Krinsky: It’s fun. And I think that’s when the episodes work the best, when we are woven into the spy storyline and have to interact with characters from the spy world not knowing that they’re spy characters, or that they’re bad people. I mean, I’m just playing Jeff. He’s got his own motivations and objectives. So I think it’s probably more fun for the viewers because as the actor you’re just playing what you’re written. I think seeing how it all comes together, the characters from the spy world and the Nerd Herd, I think it’s definitely probably more exciting to watch that than to doing it.

Do you have a favorite scene or episode from your performance so far on the show?

Scott Krinsky: I loved of course probably the Tom Sawyer episode for me because you got to see a lot more sides to Jeff and his history. There were some more human moments with him where you sort of understand where this guy is coming from and sort of sympathize and that he hasn’t achieved everything that he set out to do in life. He probably had more of a hero moment when he was younger with his video games.

Now he’s working at the Buy More and drinking a little too much of the booze. I think that Jeff ultimately is a happy guy. I think he’s content. Probably with Jeffster and everything there’s still that chance for greatness.

We’re all wondering after the ‘Push’ mix where the show goes next. Is there anything that you can tease?

Scott Krinsky: I really can’t. Let me just tell you everything. As far as Jeff there’s a funny thing coming up with my character in an episode we’re going to shoot next week. I think it’s number eighteen where I could see possibly that it could be something that could develop into more with Jeff. He becomes aware–I can’t really say. Nothing. He’s not aware of any spy stuff. But Jeff has his own interesting way of observing things. So it could develop into more. I don’t know where they’re going to go with it. What else? Ask me something else.

Is there anything that you’d like to explore with Jeff that we haven’t seen yet?

Scott Krinsky: I always think that it’d be great to explore his family life a little more. His mom is in prison, right. So, somehow, I think it’d be great to meet his mother. I’ve always had this fantasy that Jeff’s mother gets out of prison and somehow she’s caught indirectly in some spy storyline and it’s a great role and Lily Tomlin comes on and plays my mother. I’m a big fan of hers. We know his sister is a stripper. I just think his family life has something to explore.

I also think being that the Buy More is spy central now there’s a lot of potential there to have more interactions with the spy world. So that would be great, to have that develop more.

You have a role in ‘Transformers III’. Can you say anything about that?

Scott Krinsky: I can’t really divulge any plot secrets. I did have a few scenes with John Malkovich who’s in the film as well. I got to meet him and Ken Jeong is in the film, as well, and Shia [LeBeouf]. Obviously, Shia. But that was just an amazing experience, getting to meet John Malkovich. I have such a respect for Michael Bay. These films are really huge undertakings. So I’m really anxious to see how it all comes together.

Any other projects coming up?

Scott Krinsky: Nothing set in stone yet. We’re shooting ‘Chuck’ almost until the end of April. It’s a little difficult to peg down other work.

Are there any TV shows that you love that you’d like to guest star on?

Scott Krinsky: I love ‘Mad Men’, but maybe when they get into the ’70′s. I’m a big fan of ‘Mad Men’ and ‘Walking Dead’. I love that. Also, the other NBC comedies, ’30 Rock’ and ‘Community’ and ‘Parks and Rec’, ‘The Office’, that whole night. I love all those shows. Any one of those would be great.

You could be a professor on ‘Community’. That would be great.

Scott Krinsky: Yeah. I could also definitely play a zombie on the ‘Walking Dead’. It would be a big stretch from Jeff. I love that show. Then with ‘Mad Men,’ what’s nice is that it really just takes its time. That’s something different from a lot of shows now where everything is so fast. That’d be a great show to work on.

Chuck airs on NBC Mondays at 8pm eastern/7pm central.

You can read all our Chuck coverage here.

Follow me on Twitter @michstjame