Cornell’s been having a pretty funny year: first Steven Colbert came in October, and then, the Wednesday before break began, Dan Bakkedahl, a Second City and Improv Olympic alum (among the likes of Tina Fey, Chris Farley and Colbert himself) former Daily Show Correspondent and future comedic deity (watch out Will Ferrel) also made the treck to Ithaca to talk about his past in comedy and “what Jon is really like” (said in high-pitched, mocking voice). Not only did he grace us with his presence [1] , he humored The Sun and answered a few of our questions.
THE SUN: So whose idea was it that you come to Cornell?
DAN BAKKEDAHL: Well, they invited me, but I said great. I mean, I’m really selfish about that. I like to work, I like to perform, so…
SUN: What were you up to during the Strike and there was nothing going on for the Daily Show?
D.K.: Kind’ve trying to budget that it comes to an end soon. I think the people who were hit by it hardest were the writers, because the name of business is throwing up shit against the wall, and then eventually something sticks. If you’re not throwing anything up against the wall, one, you get out of practice, and two, your batting average goes way down. And the way The Daily Show works is next week’s shows are being written … what’s today? Wednesday … so today, the writers are … some of them are working on tonight’s show, and a large part of them are writing tomorrow’s show, the bulk of tomorrow’s show. So, when they came back, there’s this, “Oh my god! We’ve got a show tonight!” So we’re kind of a day behind, and a day is really a huge deal. So that’s another thing they had to deal with. Not only are they coming back and worrying about, “God, is everybody mad at us,” but, now “we have to catch up, so we’re not too far behind.”
SUN: Do you have any other projects going on right now? I heard about the Welcome to Academia movie … mind telling me a little bit about that?
D.K.: Yeah, it’s uh … I just shot a film in New Orleans, which was phenomenal, the experience. The film I don’t know, I can’t say. It’s supposed to be a comedy. That’s what everyone kept saying, “It’s supposed to be a comedy! Uhh ….” I guess it’s a comedy in the Shakespearean sense that nobody dies. And umm, it was a hell of a lot of fun; some great people on there, and uhh, it’s about a bunch of college professors fighting for the Deanship for one of the school’s within this university, and umm, all the backbiting and backstabbing, and one graduate student that’s kinda caught in the middle of the whole thing. And yeah, I dunno, the strange thing is that you don’t really know what you have with film because, the writer writes one thing, and the producers and editors and directors and so forth get together and see it another way, and “Well, we shot what you wrote! But it’s my vision of what you wrote,” so … and then the editor sees a different translation, so sometimes you never know. Same thing happened with Daily Show pieces where you think you know what you have, “Oh we got the thing!” and Jon comes in and goes, “Where’s the, where’s the point, where’s the twist?” “What?! I thought we had … we don’t have it? Bggdeezbahh? But, oh, nooo …” You know. So you really never know with recorded media when it comes to editing because you start to chop things up and sometimes and they fall apart and stuff that’s important, sometimes that gets us into trouble.
SUN: What other upcoming projects are on your plate?
D.K.: Moving to LA, I’m kind of in line for a couple more movies, who knows how that is. “Hey they love ya! They want ya! They’re gonna sign you!” They sign someone else. That’s what happens. So right now it’s living off of what I got from the film, and auditioning. Now that the strike is over, auditioning. But yeah, I did two years and a handful of months on the show and I think that was enough. It’s a really hard job, you know, as an actor, it’s not really an acting job — it’s a news job. It’s a funny news job. First and foremost, a news job. And working that muscle never was a lot of fun for me, and my god, like I said, this little old guy from the Homeless Coalition [referring to a man he had to interview and mock for the show] … it’s heartbreaking. There’s another guy, which actually, it’s hilarious and it’s in the show tonight, but he was just the nicest little old guy in Minnesota who let us into his apartment and, “oh yeah yeah yeah, what the hell is wrong with you?!” and I’m just, “I’m sorry man, this is my job, I’m just doing my job, I’m so sorry, I’m from around here, I’m from Minnesota, oh god, I love your quaint little colloquialisms ….” And that’s the hard thing, I always love making fun of myself, I’m fine with getting on stage and looking like an idiot, acting like an ass. When I have to make fun of someone else, it’s always kind of uncomfortable.
SUN:Did that ever backfire for you personally?
D.K.: You know, I do think that people think that is who we are. And I think to a large degree the correspondents are who they are. Like I said, I kinda don’t know who I am talking to you right now, so it’s kinda hard for me to say if I am what I was in this one piece or not. But yeah, I’ve had people say … I was in Arizona, I was doing this piece, they were trying to have a lottery where if you vote you were automatically entered in a lottery and you could potentially win a million dollars. So vote, trying to get people to vote. And a guy came by, he said, “What is this?!” And I said, it’s The Daily Show, would you like to answer a couple questions? And he goes, “The Daily Show? That Jon Stewart’s an asshole!” “Well, that may be, sir, I’d love to hear your opinion on this.” “I’m not talking to you! Get that think out of my face!” Screaming, and as we were breaking down, he comes back and puts his finger in my face, saying, “You … smart ass, you’re damn lucky we have people like…” And I’m just like, wow, you really seem like you want to talk to me, but you don’t want to talk to me, I don’t understand, and kind of yelling at me personally. And like I said, I don’t handle that well, I go … “I didn’t do anything, I’m just doing my job!” You can’t yell at a cab driver for driving crazy, it’s his job, you know.
SUN: What was working for Second City like?
D.K.: It was awesome. It was incredible. I mean, from the first time I walked in and saw the pictures on the wall … of course I was starstruck. All these people? Well, I’ll never get it, but this is what I want to do. And the journey was fantastic. I did two USO tours; went over and entertained the troups in Bahrain, Dubai, Kosovo, Bosnia, Macedonia, Germany … all over the place. Traveled the entire country; got to see the four corners of the country, you know, and the camaraderie, I’m still best friends with some of the people I toured with because when you spend three weeks straight in the Assvan together —
SUN: Is that the official name for the bus?
D.K.: Yeah, that’s the official name for it. Up and down I40, or I45, whatever it is that runs through Wyoming and New Mexico, you really get to know each other in ways you never really wanted to [laughs], but in other ways that are just, you can’t even really quantify it. You can’t really explain … it’s an unbelievable experience, and you do things together that you never thought you’d see or do in the first place with some really close friends, and the chance to create to. And most places you go you’re really well received. Because if they’re asking you to be there, you know they love Second City: [imitating]:”Yeaahh I can’t believe it man! You’re in Second City! I love you man!” And I’m like, “What are you talking about, I’m a clown, this is great!”
SUN:So you and Steven Colbert seemed to have similar paths – Second City, the Daily Show, Cornell … did the two of you ever actually work together?
D.K.: Never, actually. Steven was leaving right as I got there [to The Daily Show], as I was moving in … to Steven’s office, Steven’s desk, onto Steven’s coatrack, like everything, my suits were there and he comes in, he goes, “Whose suits are these?” And I’m like, “I… uh… umm…” and he’s like, “I’m just kidding.” Steven was doing his last couple of actual bits as I was coming in, and he was great, you know. He and I are both Second City guys, so as much as he and I never worked together, when I worked there and toured, I did Steven’s work on the road. When you’re touring you do archival material so you’re doing Steven Carrell’s material or Steven Colbert’s material, Scott Addeson(?)’s material, you know, Matt … all of 30 Rock, they’re all Second City.
SUN: Do you ever get any crazy responses from the people you interviewed who saw their piece on the show?
D.K.: Not really, never really had any real crazy responses. We’ve had interesting responses. Sometimes you get the opposite response of what you’re expecting, you make someone look great and they come back and say, “Why did you make me look like a fool,” and we never get it, what happens is it goes to the field producer or the researcher because they are the ones who were in contact with them; they have phone numbers for the researchers or the field producers, and then one time we had one that was a complete opposite reaction, it was … we made a guy look pretty much like a dick and he called and said, “Thank you so much, you made me a celebrity! Everyone in the neighborhood wants to shake my hand, they all know my name, everywhere I go people are saying, “C Paul! C Paul!” so you never really know, you think that you’re representing someone one way, and they end up taking it in a completely different direction.
SUN: I guess that’s the problem with satire anyway.
D.K.: Yeah, exactly. It means we’re doing our job right, people were fooled just as much as we hoped they would be.
Links:
[1] http://cornellsun.com/content/daily-show-correspondent-visits-cornell