Shore Leave: Neil Grayston

Grayston is best known for his role as Fargo on Eureka. I’d never seen the show or most of the other stuff he’s been in but I did see him in the crossover episodes with Warehouse 13. I liked his character and plan on starting Eureka soon.

He liked his character but he started to become a buffoonish plot device. “My biggest fear was Fargo becoming Far Far Binks.” I haven’t seen the show to know if that changes but I think it does.

Rather than talk he opened with questions. One of them was on his appearance on the Geek and Sundry show Table Top where he played Settlers of Catan. He said it films in a warehouse in a sketchy neighborhood outside of L.A. You could imagine it being near “someone’s really expensive drug mansion.” Other than the neighborhood, he really enjoyed the experience.

He met Allison who played Claudia on Warehouse 13. They loved the idea of a crossover episode so they started hanging around the lots and offices together hoping to plant the idea in the boss’s heads. When they filmed the episode, he admitted to being a little star struck by Saul Rubinek.

Both shows use a lot of green screens and one of the directors of the episode where Fargo’s in the Warehouse had a director who didn’t say things like “net” or “giant spider” but “event.” In one scene Fargo, Claudia, and Artie are set upon by three events very close together and each had them reacting differently. Grayston says that somewhere on a cutting room floor is each actor doing a different action to “event.”

There was a bubble episode where Fargo is trapped in a bubble. Grayston had to perch on the unfun half of a bicycle seat to get the effect. The crew was hanging around, talking and joking while he was trapped on his rig way off the ground. “This may be one of the only instances where a person has said “Bicycle seat in bum! Let’s go please!”

I can’t remember what he said this about but this quote is so awesome that it’s worth repeating: “I did a happy dance but I don't know if it came across as a happy dance and more of a crab in my pants.” If you offered me money I couldn’t tell you what he was talking about but I enjoyed his talk. He seemed like someone I’d hang out with.

Music: Young Volcanoes by Fall Out Boy