Rove Live

Channel Ten

June 28, 2005

(download)

Tony and James Marsters both appeared to promote their upcoming appearance at the Tabula Rasa Convention.

Host Rove McManus: All right, to introduce our next guests, let's once again say hello to the US All Star Cheer and Dance Ambassadors (NOTE: The cheerleaders did a cheer to introduce every guest on the show that day.)

Cheer:

They used to be on Buffy
And that was pretty cool
One was a watchful watcher
The other one a ghoul
And now at fan conventions
Their days they have to spend
With geeks and nerds and losers
Who'll never have girlfriends

RM: {...} Buffy convention happening this weekend in Melbourne, welcome James Marsters and Anthony Stewart Head!

ASH: I could do that. (indicates the cheerleaders)

RM: You could do that standing on your head which is pretty much what they do.

RM: Jellybean? (To James who has been eying the candy dish on the table.)

JM: Geeks and losers bro?

RM: I beg your pardon?

JM: Geeks and losers at the conventions?

RM: Well, I don't know? You tell me.

JM: I used to do that, man!

RM: You used to do that?

JM: Yeah, I'd have the big ears on my head and everything.

ASH: He did the Spock...

JM: I had the tricorder

RM: Oh, you did the Star Trek conventions? Oh, my goodness me.

JM: Oh yeah. And you know what? You should see my girlfriend.

ASH: Did you get her at a convention?

JM: Huh?

ASH: Did you get her with the ears?

JM: No, I got her with rock and roll, baby.

RM: Well, Anthony, what type of people do turn up to Buffy conventions?

ASH: Fans.

RM: Is it just the fans?

ASH: Yeah.

RM: Are they very hard core? Like, do you find some of them are very scary people to meet?

ASH: Occasionally.

RM: Because they can be a bit full-on, couldn't they?

ASH: Well actually, most people who come to conventions are actually really sweet, and they just want, like a photo signed and they just want to ask you questions. It's bizarre, I mean.. I just...it's just....it's just like a normal gig really.

JM: I think it's a... there's a... it's the title of the show - Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's like a line in the sand and unless you appreciate irony and are somewhat sophisticated, you're not going to watch that show. Which basically meant I didn't want to watch the show until I got on, because I'm not that subtle. Yeah...but... so usually, I mean seriously, the fans of Buffy never did to me what I did to Leonard Nimoy (imitates an overly excited fan) None of that at all. They're pretty cool actually.

RM: Have you ever had a moment at a convention where... because, I mean, you are surrounded by people who love you and it's their first chance to meet you and get up close. Has anything ever gone wrong, like people attacking you, getting a bit too close for comfort?

ASH: I dunno, I mean, basically when we - one of the first gigs we did all together, a big comic con in San Diego and they had security and they just like were pushing people out of the way and it was just so ... there's no need for that kind of stuff. It's just, you know...bottom line is, people - you can do anything you want if you just keep your head down and don't make eye contact. As soon as you make eye contact, then you're kind of stuffed, and it's like "Okay, I'll sign" but I mean, bottom line is, people are pretty cool. You get some people who are a little obsessive and some people you know...

JM: Well, you know Tony, a whole different thing happens when you kiss Sarah, man. My whole life changed...

ASH: Yeah?

JM: I had everyone come up to me and say, "Really good actor man, really good performance last night, I appreciate that". The day after I kissed Sarah - "Take your shirt off!" and it never stopped. So, at that point, yeah, I've had screaming bunches of girls past barricades and it happens quite often and, it makes you feel like running away and hiding yourself in a hole, man.

RM: And it must be very exciting? Are you used to it...

JM: Never kiss Sarah man. Whatever you do...

ASH: I won't! No, no!

JM: Sorry I...

RM: Is that what happens at the convention? Just Sarah Michelle Gellar comes out and everyone just gets to kiss her?

ASH: Nope, no, no

JM: Sarah never comes out.

RM: That's a shame. That's a right royal shame. Now, it's wonderful to have you on the show, Anthony..

ASH: Nice to be here mate

RM: Or Tony. Can I call you Tony too?

ASH: Yeah, you can call me anything you like.

RM: Yes! Absolutely. Good!

ASH: Tone.

RM: Tone! You'd get a lot of that here wouldn't you? Tone.

ASH: Ah, yeah

RM: Yeah, strueth mate, too bloody right! Now James, obviously we had the -

(James indicates that he wants to put his feet on the table.)

RM: Yeah, make yourself at home

(James puts his feet up.)

ASH: You're just rock and roll aren't you? Rock and roll.

RM: We had the fortune of meeting you last year. How's the smoking going? You had the patches on last year, how've you gone since?

JM: It's going really well, I've got mine on right now.

RM: Are you down to twelve now? How many did you have on last time? It was like you were doing two, three?

JM: Dude, I was down to the quarter patch, okay, I was doing it right. But then things happened in my life and my family needed more help than I thought I could give and I had to give it anyway. I'm back up to two or four patches a day now.

RM: Patches? Oh good!

JM: Yeah

RM: Oh good so you're still off the cigarettes, good job. (James says something here that I couldn't make out at all) So, the two of you, as actors, you've both been acting before, a lot of theatre work, before you got onto Buffy.

ASH: Was I? Oh yeah..

RM: So when your agents called you with the idea of this show about a vampire slayer, what was your initial reaction?

ASH: It was...I must admit, I'd been approached for something else before that, a thing called Poltergeist, The Legacy, or something. Which was not funny, it was very serious, hardcore horror and I kind of went, I don't like it. This came up a week later, it was just...I read the script and it was the best thing I'd read since I'd been in LA. So I was cool, down with that, me.

RM: How about you James?

JM: Okay. They approached Tony. They were all about, "Do you like the script? And what do you need changed?" and all this. It was different for me. It was one of those auditions in amongst about a hundred ones and I'd never seen Buffy or been allowed to read the script, actually. .. and ah, so my initial reaction was, you know, F that! I came down to Hollywood, I was going to do anything. I'd be Alf's sidekick, I was gonna be Urkle Two if I had to be, but that was below me. But then my agent said, "Dude, just check it out for yourself. It's on tonight." And I remember I tuned in and there was a scene between you and Sarah and it took about five minutes before I was back on the phone going "Oh my God. Get me on this show."

RM: I've got to kiss that woman!

ASH: No, me!

JM: No! I wanted to kiss him!

RM: And are you doing any gigs with your band while you're here? Are you still rocking out?

JM: No I kicked them off the tour baby ... I'm sorry, the band broke up.

RM: Really?

ASH: He's playing some really cool stuff now ... I saw him in Bristol..

JM: I'm solo now..

ASH: He did a tour of England - sell out tour, he's doing some really, really sweet stuff - it was time for you to get on your own dude.

JM: Thanks brother. Yeah, it didn't really work. You have to be very brutal about yourself as a performer and at some point you have to put in a lot of work and then you have to turn around and say, is it really working or does it just feel good? And the other major songwriter and I couldn't come together. I couldn't give him the notes as a singer he needed and he couldn't write songs for my voice and that's a big problem. And then the ego thing happened. It's amazing what happens when you play for over a thousand people. We were playing for five hundred to seven hundred people and it was cool, it was kind of like this (motions to studio audience) where everyone was a human being and if you're pissed with me, you can tell me. And then we popped up above one, then three, one time we went to five and there is a temptation to feel like a god, if you don't automatically tell yourself - you're a prat! And I think that a couple of guys fell down on that, I think they're probably okay now, but if we had of kept going the way we were it would've been bad.

RM: And what about you Anthony? Will we be seeing any more of you in Little Britain?

ASH: More Little Britain.

RM: Which was a hit! maybe a cult hit some would say, but certainly a hit.

ASH: It's cool. It's the best, best show. Yeah, I'm doing another series right now. Now that we've kissed, I don't know quite what .... have you had the kiss?

RM: Oh yes, we've had the kiss!

ASH: You've had the kiss

RM: The tension was building up all series!

ASH: I tell you, people say, how the hell do I keep a straight face and bottom line is, I don't! And I, um, basically I'm, my daughter noticed that when he kissed me, I'm grinning. They used the first take. He said he was going to kiss me and I thought it was just going to be a kiss on the lips and suddenly there was woomph on the mouth! It was like Alien and I'm grinning away underneath that mouth.

(James laughs and goes to high five Tony but Tony doesn't see him.)

ASH: It's true!

RM: Denied the high five!!!

JM: Just fuck it! (he claps his hand over his mouth as he realizes what he just said on live television)

RM: Don't worry, I said it at the Logies (Australian awards show) Nobody cares!

ASH: Was that my high five? I missed the high five.

(All three talk over each other for a moment)

RM: High fifteen! High fifteen. (All three high five each other)

RM: You can catch James and Anthony at the Buffy Down Under Convention at the Crown Promenade in Melbourne this Saturday..

ASH: Come on down.

RM: And Sunday. There are still a few tickets left through Ticketek. Please thank the boys themselves! Anthony Stewart Head and James Marsters!