Evan Marsh on Playing Minnesota Matt in The Z-Suite

[00:00:09] Evan, thank you for joining me today on Pop Culture Unplugged. Happy to be here. Excited to have your friend. We have Z-Suite on Tubi-TV. How's your life been? Because there's been a lot of talk about this show. It's been good. I mean, the day-to-day feels very similar, but, you know, any of the social media stuff or anything, especially any discussions with my agents, it's apparently doing pretty well, so I'm happy. Really? That's always a good thing, right? Yeah. So before we jump on the show, my friend, tell us a little bit about what made you get into the acting world? What pushed you into this?

[00:00:38] I started fairly young, just in theater. My parents saw I had a bunch of energy and put me into that, and then I got the bug, but I didn't really want to be a child actor, which might have been a bit of a highfalutin thing to think at a young age, but I put it off, and after high school, went to Humber College for acting for film and television, which is a program I highly recommend, and just kind of hit the ground running from there

[00:01:06] and enjoying all the highs and lows that it comes with. Right. Were you watching something on TV or a movie someday, one day, and you were like, this is what I want to do? Yeah, my dad owns a record store, so there was always a lot of movies there, so I would just take home any movie I could and watch all the behind-the-scenes special features, and huge fan of Jim Carrey growing up, so that would be the person I watched most. What was the one movie you picked out all the time? Liar Liar. I love it. Love that. Is that your favorite movie, a Jim Carrey movie?

[00:01:36] My favorite Jim Carrey movie. I don't know if it's my favorite movie of all time, but I mean, I just love all of Jim Carrey's movies. I don't want to go into a big spiral with Jim Carrey. What was your thoughts on the sequel to Dumb and Dumber? The sequel? Look, there's a lot of sequels coming lately, like an Anchorman sequel or a Zoolander sequel,

[00:01:58] and I can't tell if it's that they're not quite as good, or if we're just, as a society, in a different place than we were when they came out in the early 2000s or late 90s. So I sometimes, I guess I believe in Leave Well Enough Alone. If it's perfect, just kind of let it go. My feelings on that one, too, now is I want to see a third one, because I'm hoping they can fix some of the stuff we saw on the second one and then end it right there.

[00:02:27] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Finish on a high note. Finish on a high note. So let's jump into Z Suite. How were your approach for this series? Was it an audition? Do you know somebody that worked on there saying we might have a part for you? How did that happen? It was just a regular run-of-the-mill audition for Minnesota Matt, and I had read the series breakdown, but I liked that Minnesota Matt was the only millennial in there, so he was kind of the glue between the generations and sent it in.

[00:02:56] It was apparently well-received and then did a couple chemistry reads with Katie O'Brien and Tristram, the executive director, and I guess the rest is history. What was the description you were giving for Minnesota Matt? It was like a try-hard millennial who consistently puts his foot in his mouth, always thinks he's doing the right thing, but never seems to actually be able to. That's amazing.

[00:03:23] Minnesota Matt's become a fan favorite for when I was doing some research on this character. That must make you happy. Yeah, I've not done – I've not looked into anything, so that's news to me, but it felt that way when reading the script, so I do give a lot of credit to the writers and directors because it just felt – when you read it, because he's just sort of sporadically in throughout the episode, that it has that feel, but yeah, that's good to hear. That's how it's being perceived. That's how my character's being perceived. Right.

[00:03:52] How did you approach playing this character, and what aspects of him resonates with you? I think I have a lot of energy at any given time. I can just have sort of that ADHD energy fit, so I just – I feel like that's something I easily can connect with. And then as far as his actual character traits of sort of not being able to assess the room,

[00:04:17] that's new to me, but the writing's so good and believable and funny that it's easy enough to do, but that would be something I don't think I connect with so much because I'm – I don't know. I think I have a good pulse on less is more when you walk in the room. But I've noticed about Matt too, like we say, he's very eager. He does have a lot of energy throughout the episodes that I've seen. He's got a lot of mannerisms, I notice also. Do you like – was there anybody in particular you kind of like copy that after? Let copy, but like try to use the way you move around?

[00:04:48] I don't think so. A lot of it came on the day they would let us play and try things, but Katie O'Brien was really keen on getting like the cha and he's got the finger guns. And I think of Michael Scott with the finger guns because he's the definition of doing that kind of finger gun. That's awesome. Were there any scenes or moments filming this that were improvised? Or do you guys like get off the script a little bit?

[00:05:13] Yeah, we would usually lay it down a couple times word for word and then they let us play. And it's always fun when you're watching it. I mean the audience can't really know, but when I'm watching it and you see a little improv thing that stayed in it, that's always a highlight. I've noticed, you know, like Matt tries to attempt to be taken seriously throughout these episodes, but there's always a disaster for this guy. Yeah, I don't think he can get it right.

[00:05:39] I will say I think that he's not even really getting a chance. They're never taking him seriously. They're never giving him a true opportunity. So maybe Minnesota Matt has a bit more to offer than we know, but I think a combination of, yeah, him just not being able to really get it right and they're immediately just assuming it's bad before he even opens his mouth. What's your thoughts on that? I think it was episode four, the Bobbin Burger.

[00:06:07] The, what the, the, um, when it went viral. Yeah. Yeah. I thought, I thought that was good. I liked that they went really Gen Z with all their stuff and, and thought they were killing it, but they missed the mark entirely with having to include the main product. So that seems, I've, I've always liked the writing on the show. I think it's, you know, it hits the humor and stuff, but there's still a lot of truth into, some people have a problem with the cancel culture these days.

[00:06:36] A lot of young people think they could do the job better than the older people. So I'm, I'm pretty fan of, I'm kind of keeping up as a fan right now as of, as a viewer myself. How do you think the fans felt when it kind of felt like Matt betrayed the team a little bit? You know, I hope how I felt is that it's kind of like, you know what, you've been done dirty so many times that do your thing, but he was sort of manipulated.

[00:07:01] So it's not like it was an active, um, sabotage per se, but I guess we'll, we'll see if there's any consequences going forward. He's loyal to Chris guy. Yeah. I think he's loyal to whoever's above him, where he works, how quickly I moved on from, uh, Monica and became true to Chris guy, where it was completely the opposite at the start. So that's a little, that's a certain character trait that I would say.

[00:07:30] I definitely don't share with Minnesota. Is there, is there somebody that you hope for Minnesota man has more scenes with down the road? If we get a season two. Yeah. I think Reese Darby plays. Okay. Oh, it's his name in it. Buffy. He plays Buffy. And I think he's one of the funniest guys. One of the funniest actors. I've been a fan of his speaking of Jim Carrey. I loved the movie. Yes, man. And he was his boss in it. And I found him so funny in that.

[00:07:57] And Mark McKinney, I've been a fan of forever with kids in the hall and all his stuff on SNL. So any scenes with them would be amazing. But as far as with our main cast, I would really like to dabble with some stuff with, with Nico, with Doug. Sorry, the character Doug. Because he's just so funny on set and stuff. There's, you can read a line that you would think in the script is not that funny. And he will have you rolling just the way he delivers it.

[00:08:25] I know episode five dropped today, but I was doing more, you know, I was doing more research on there. Are we going to find out more about Minnesota Matt and his nickname on episode six? Is that what's coming up? I don't think Minnesota Matt gets much of an explanation this season. Okay. That's something we'll dive into more if and when further seasons come along. But I, a bit of me loves that. It's just sort of what it is.

[00:08:49] Like, like kind of like a new girl, how Schmidt is just Schmidt and you don't know his first name. Like, like, it feels sort of like, you know him a bit to me, at least. If the writers gave you pen and paper, say, write a backstory on Minnesota Matt, what would you say? How would you want to see, how would you want to see this nickname was born? And what's the story? I like something really simple of just, of just, I guess, being from Minnesota.

[00:09:17] But also to me, the funnier thing would be that maybe he only lived there for a bit or they were wrong and he's never lived there. There's some comedy to that. And I would like, if there, if there was another storyline that they could take me down would just be sort of given Minnesota Matt a bit of a chance to see if he has what it takes. So far, we don't get to know. Right. Sort of shut down, shut down, shut down. So maybe he has more to offer than we think.

[00:09:45] The show, you know, in the show, you know, we see a lot of satire, the workplace humor. Is there one thing about this corporate culture that you think the show has nailed? That's tough because I've not worked in the corporate culture per se, but it does have a, one thing I think the show has done well is sort of the side characters, you know, Bill and H.R. Natasha and stuff.

[00:10:11] And that's one thing that I think The Office, for example, did well or Brooklyn Nine-Nine. You need to have these characters that you might not see for a bit, but when they're there, even if it's one or two sentences, they just, you really recognize them and feel like, I missed that guy. I know I mentioned, I asked you earlier about cast members down the road, but who's been your favorite that you've worked with so far this season, like you've had scenes with? Lauren Graham's great. She's such a pro and she's, she's super professional in that.

[00:10:42] I'm, I'm sort of, she, she finds a different way to deliver it every time. Like sometimes she'll drive it in another time. She'll fly a plane in with it. Like it's, it's super interesting with that. And I also really liked working any scenes I had with Spencer Stevenson. I thought were really great. He's really funny and he's got takes out has a very fresh take on everything. Would Evan be friends with Minnesota, Matt? That's a good question. Um, probably not.

[00:11:11] I don't like someone that's too much. I I'm a big believer in like, just sit back and let the world come to you. And there's times to try really hard, but, but not pathetically. If you were to work in environment, you did work with a Minnesota Matt, what's one advice you would give them? Say, just take a breath, man. It's like, it's like in a relationship. If someone's too needy, you just naturally are kind of like, go away.

[00:11:36] So that's one thing that I'm hoping maybe Minnesota Matt gets an opportunity or does land something and he can sort of sit in, sit into himself a bit more and have a bit of confidence instead of always feeling like he needs to impress someone. How many, how many episodes are we expecting this season? Is it eight or 10? I forgot what I read. Eight this season. Is there a specific episode that you can't wait for viewers to watch or maybe it's already aired?

[00:12:04] Episode seven, which is what five just dropped. So two episodes now. It's a very fun, unique. We actually kind of get out of the office and go to a party and the whole kind of character I get to play in that is, is without giving too much away. It's very different. So it's a lot of fun. And I think I speak for a lot of the cast when I say it's our favorite episode. It's amazing. What's next for you now? Any other projects you'd like to tell us about? Are you coming up? I've got a movie coming out.

[00:12:36] I guess there's no exact date, but it's already been filmed and it's just basically being finished now. It's called Wingman written and directed by Harlan Williams. And it's got Jamie Kennedy and Russell Peters in it. And super fun kind of old school comedy, the kind of comedies we grew up with. They're not afraid of pushing the envelope a bit. And I got the privilege of playing the lead role in that. And it's very zany, very wacky. I'm excited to see it.

[00:13:02] I got to see a bit doing ADR, but I'm really excited to see the final product just because I liked the script so much. And I guess I don't know if I can say this. I just know that one of the main producers is literally as we speak on a call with Netflix about it. So that might not go anywhere. That's why I don't know if I can say it, but that's exciting because any sort of comedy like that is always better off when it's easy viewing. You just can click it right in front of you.

[00:13:30] Now you got to figure out a way to work with Jim Carrey one of these nights or days. I know. I know. Trust me. That's still a goal of mine. That's a high up goal of mine. He needs to come out of retirement. I guess he is. He's like semi, semi. Yeah, exactly. I just need to, I guess I need to work on Sonic the Hedgehog. I think he's like, he's picking and choosing his projects very carefully. In his defense, the comedy scene has been a little quiet the last few years. So I think he, if he came out of retirement right now or started picking and choosing right

[00:13:58] now, comedies are starting to make a big pendulum swing back. And I'm very excited for that. That's amazing. I mean, how can the listeners of viewers find you on social media now to keep up with you? I'm on Instagram. Instagram. I'm Evan 11, Evan 11 with numbers. And that's, I don't really use a whole lot more. I barely use Instagram if I'm being honest, but I like posting sort of behind the scenes stuff. And I think I'm the same thing on TikTok, but I don't really use TikTok and I don't use Twitter.

[00:14:26] So I'm not a huge social media guy, unfortunately, but if, if this takes off, which I know it will, I'll have to, I'll have to have someone do that for me. There you go. Evan, I want to thank you for giving me a few minutes today. Good luck with the series. Good luck with the movie. Let's get you back on when that movie drops. Yeah, man. Absolutely. I appreciate you having me on.