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DEL.ICIO.US“The Office” star Ed Helms coming to Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ed Helms, shown here with “Office” co-stars Angela Kinsey and Creed Bratton, was inspired by Theatrical Outfit’s Tom Key to pick up the banjo.
When viewers of the NBC hit The Office saw oafish Andy Bernard play his banjo in an episode, they might not have grasped the Atlanta connection.
Ed Helms, who plays Andy, started picking in high school, not long after taking in a production of Tom Key’s “Cotton Patch Gospel.”
Later this month Helms pays a sort of tribute to Keys, executive artistic director at Theatrical Outfit, by performing at its fundraiser. The event, ATLexis: Words, Wit and Wisdom, features a number of prominent Atlantans performing Southern literature.
Guest performers include U.S. Rep. John Lewis, WABE host Lois Reitzes and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and Emory professor Natasha Trethewey. Helms, a Westminster Schools graduate, will play his banjo.
We talked with him the other day.
Q: Is it hard to play the banjo?
A: The banjo is a sonofabitch. That’s part of why it’s so rewarding. You work really hard. When I saw Tom Key in Cotton Patch Gospel, I was already into bluegrass. It’s a really extraordinary production. My high school did a production. No one could play the banjo, so I picked it up, learned the songs and that was the beginning of my long, torrid love affair with the banjo.
Q: Most guys play the guitar in high school to pick up chicks. How’d the banjo work for you?
A: I just completely misread chicks in high school. This is just one example of how. I’ve been trying to press X-box to make “Banjo Hero.”
Q: What do you enjoy most about coming back to Atlanta to visit family or participate in events like ATLexis?
A: I love being able to feel attached to the creative community in Atlanta. That’s a real privilege for me. A year or two ago I did a benefit for the Horizon Theater. I feel like Atlatna has such a vibrant creative community. Any chance I get to reconnect is exciting for me.
Q: What do you miss when you’re in L.A.?
A: You don’t really know until you leave the South how beautiful it is from an aesthetic standpoint. Atlanta has changed immeasurably since I moved around, not necessarily in ways I’m thrilled about. But it’s lush. I love the organic smells in springtime. L.A. is not lush. It’s an irrigated desert.
Q: What would you be doing right now if you weren’t acting?
A I have no idea. I don’t know what else to do. I never even saw an alternative. I think I would just be miserable. This is a very tough career. It’s hard on your constitution, it’s hard on your ego, it’s not stable. But it is sort of the only thing I could do.
Q: Your character works for a nutty boss in a fairly monotonous job. What’s the worst job you ever had in Atlanta?
A: I didn’t work in Atlanta much except summer jobs. I was a lifeguard at Brookwood Hills community pool. I loved that job. It was awesome. When I became assistant manager there - or assman, as we called it - the responsibilities took some of the fun out. The lack of bodily function control that children have in swimming pools is far more than what you would imagine. The clean up duty falls on the lifeguards.
Q: Did you ever wish someone would get into trouble so you could perform a daring rescue?
A: I never wished anyone would start to drown or anything, but I did sort of wish a beautiful woman would get into the deep end over her head. I could give her a hand and then she would become completely smitten with me. Until she learned I played the banjo.
ATLexis2009 starts at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 28 in the Balzer Theater at Herren’s. A post-gala cast-party follows next door in the Rialto Center for the Arts at Georgia State University. Tickets are $250 per person each. E-mail whitney.brown@theatricaloutfit.com, call 678-528-1506 or see the theater’s web site.
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