Richard Karn on PEN15, Teen Awkwardness, and a Potential Home Improvement Reunion

In Hulu’s coming-of-age comedy PEN15, creators Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle megastar as versions of themselves reliving the trials, pleasures, and cargo shorts that defined the flip-of-the-century tween enjoy. For comedians raised in the ’90s, who higher to solid as a figure than one in every of that decade’s sitcom stars? Home Improvement’s Richard Karn, ingrained in millennial memories because the plaid-clad Al Borland, takes at the position of Maya’s father, who in PEN15 is the drummer for a Steely Dan cowl band that plays resort swimming pools. In real life, Erskine’s father, Peter, is a hit jazz musician who’s played with the real Steely Dan, among others. We talked to Karn about taking over the role, choosing up drumming hints from the real Mr. Erskine, and the possibility of a Home Improvement revival.

So, Maya Erskine solid her real mom to play her mom within the display but introduced her to play her father. Was it intimidating to take on such a non-public position? What changed into the casting method?
Well, it becomes closing summertime, and I didn’t know anything about the show itself. I had seen Maya on a show that she had accomplished in Florida; she was pretty outstanding on that. I’m blanking on the call of that display — it turned into approximately a health worker. I got a name to play her dad, and it’s humorous because until I met him, I wasn’t pretty confident why I, in particular, got this call. But I look a lot like her dad! Who’s an international-magnificence drummer, through the manner. He was in [’70s jazz fusion band Weather Report] and the entirety. So he helped me appear to be I recognize a way to drum.

What type of hints did he come up with?

He helped me with how he holds the sticks. There’s a gaggle of various patterns — you’ve got Ringo, who does the go-over, and you’ve were given him, that is more parallel. He gave me a flair for what he did. My individual isn’t quite as well-known as him because Maya desired me to be in a Steely Dan cover band, so I’m in a Stealing Dan group. Which, you realize, required primary rock-and-roll drumming.

Were you a Steely Dan fan ahead?

Their songs had been continually considered one of my playlists. I’m old, so they have been up-and-coming after I changed into excessive college and college. [Laughs.]

Do you have got a favorite drummer?

Well, permit’s see. When you’re in high college, you learn how to drum in magnificence for your pocketbook. There had been some runs from “In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida,” or “Wipeout,” or even Ringo Starr had one little drum solo on the give up of Abbey Road. I guess the most significant thing became looking at Buddy Rich on Ed Sullivan because he has become famous in an odd manner for being a drummer.

Did you ever play a device yourself?

I took saxophone in essential college, and I got to in which I could rattle off a quite proper “Mary Had a Little Lamb. It sounds like you can relate to Maya’s situation inside the display, wherein she’s a subpar instrumentalist in a college musical. Oh God, that episode has become so much amusing to do. Working with Maya, the script is there; however, you sometimes pass sideways a little bit. It changed into truly fun filming it. It didn’t sense like Home Improvement, like a sequence where you rehearsed after which did it in front of a target audience. It changed into more like doing an impartial film for a few months.

Was it atypical to act throughout Maya’s real-life mother Mutsuko Erskine when you consider that she glaringly knows your position better than you do? Well, I realize I enjoyed it. And for now, not being a skilled actor, she becomes very lovable and herbal — and she or he knew that position interior and out because she turned into that position. She became Maya’s mom! She wasn’t seeking to do extra than what she turned into. And she is in no way cited to me, “Oh, you have to do that because it’s extra like my husband might have achieved.” We were given alongside properly.

The show is set inside the 12 months 2000, glaringly for the creators to change into an utterly nostalgic time. Yeah, which doesn’t resonate with me that much. It’s no longer like going to the ’60s or ’70s, which for me could be nostalgic. But the one issue, approximately the yr 2000, I bet, is the reality that there wasn’t as an awful lot of social media. That’s the massive issue. You had to do stuff over a landline phone.

What was that yr like for you?

The 12 months 2000 was exciting, as it turned into the year after Home Improvement was completed. I had eight great years of doing an ordinary job, after which it changed into a sort of like leaving school, in a way. All of an unexpected sometimes isn’t as dependent; you need to parent out what you want to do, the following component to try for and be a part of. Plus, the 12 months 2000 turned into all mixed in with “Oh my God, we’re gonna pass into a new century. Are the clocks gonna work?” There turned into all that bizarre hysteria.

How much of the teen revel in depicted at the show is the same as it turned into while you got here of age?
Gosh, I suppose it’s quite similar. Even though you didn’t have the explosion of MySpace or Facebook or any of these new matters, they had many extra channels on television. When I was growing up, you didn’t have in-the-back-the-scenes stuff like VH1 or E! Entertainment. You knew the bands at face fee, and if you have been an actually big fan, you’ll examine their stories in magazines. For the children developing up within the 12 months 2000, there has been greater statistics. So, you had greater of a transition from being oblivious to being sophisticated.

What sort of youngster had been you like when you were thirteen?

Well, it becomes locating out a way to cope with ladies for me. It’s nonetheless definitely hard because you’re seeking to navigate this kind of private corporation. And who are you? Are you the cool child, are you the nerd, are you the athlete, are you the famous one, are you the shy one? Today, it’s still going to be a variety of identical human reactions and trends.

Given Erskine and Konkle’s ages, they likely grew up watching Home Improvement, right? Did they ask you approximately the display? Yeah, they grew up with it, and they watched it with their families. That’s the outstanding issue approximately being in a display like that — it was very famous with children who then at the moment are grown-up, and they arrive up to me now and say that I turned into a big part of their adolescence. It’s not approximately me anymore; it’s about how the show influenced human beings’ era.

In one scene, you could see a Jonathan Taylor Thomas poster on Anna’s bedroom door. And because you’re on display, that would suggest someone else needs to have played Al Borland inside the PEN15 universe. Any concept who it may’ve been? Well, it could be my son now. Oh God, thank you for that idea! I would possibly pitch it to the writers.

Is your son vintage enough to play Al?

Oh, yeah. He’s younger than once I began out, but he looks like me.

Keep it inside the family.
Exactly.

Speaking of, will there ever be a Home Improvement reboot or reunion?

Great strides are being made. Tim [Allen] desired to reboot Last Man Standing, so he’s taking a year or two or anything to accomplish that. After that, maybe we’ll have a look at Home Improvement. We’ll see what the producers have in store. It’ll be thrilling to look where humans turn out to be two decades later and if we will preserve something interesting for people to watch.

What stage of talks has there been?

They are talking to the actors who might be there. I think they’re all in accord. The manufacturers that are Wind Dancer and Disney, need to come to terms. They had a little touch bit of a falling out they’re seeking to rectify. Any idea what the display might appear to be? Yeah … we don’t have Wilson. So Tim thought it’d be an extraordinary idea to have everyone meet at his funeral. That could be a fantastic leaping-off factor. What could Al have got into? Maybe he might end up a contractor once more, or perhaps he might have another little show like Yankee Workshop. I suppose that could be quality.