CIFA_EP33

AUDIO	VIDEO	
STEFFI D: Hi, everyone. I'm Steffi D. 	Lisa and Steffi appear in different chat windows on screen	
LISA H: And I'm Lisa H. 		
STEFFI D: And welcome to Check In From Away. 		
LISA H: This week we are checking in with superstar, Ennis Esmer. 		
STEFFI D: Thanks for joining us. 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 	CREDITS SEQUENCE
TEXT: Check In From Away with Steffi D. and Lisa H.
Steffi and Lisa’s windows slide together and they mime clinking their mugs together.	
Hey, Lisa, guess what. 		
LISA H: What? 		
STEFFI D: Today, we are interviewing and checking in with one of my favorite people I've ever worked with ever, Ennis Esmer. 		
LISA H: Yeah, it's a pretty big deal. I think Check In From Away is now reaching celebrity status because we have a superstar on the show. 		
STEFFI D: We really do. And also I know the episodes are only 20 minutes long, and I'm just going to go ahead and say it. Ennis has so many credits on his resume, it would take 20 minutes to just read them all. But let me tell our viewers a few things. If you're not familiar with Ennis, you should be. 		
He's been in such shows as Covert Affairs, The LA Complex, The Listener, Man Seeking Woman, Dark Matter, Red Oaks, Schitt's Creek, Private Eyes, Blind Spot, The Flash, and more importantly, we were on an episode of Frankie Drake together. 		
LISA H: Well, clearly that's why the show is canceled now because they just couldn't handle you and Ennis together on the screen. 		
STEFFI D: I know. And the other thing that's really cool that we're going to talk about, Lisa, is that Ennis's lives have often intertwined in the past. 		
LISA H: Ooh, I can't wait to hear all about it. Let's jump in. 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 		
ENNIS ESMER: Hi, my name is Ennis Esmer, and this is Check In From Away is what it says on the mugs. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: Ennis Esmer	
[LAUGHTER] 		
STEFFI D: Thank you so much for plugging our mugs. 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 		
LISA H: You and Steffi have quite a saucy history, don't you? I mean-- 		
ENNIS ESMER: Oh. 		
LISA H: If we follow you back to 2013, we have a little memory of you we want to explain here. Maybe we can chat a little bit about how you and Steffi first met. Steffi, do you want to share some of that with us? 		
ENNIS ESMER: Yes, I'd love to hear all about this. 		
STEFFI D: So, Ennis, us meeting for the first time was immortalized on the radio on the air in February of 2013. 		
ENNIS ESMER: Wow. 		
STEFFI D: Can you believe it? And I'm going to play a little clip. 		
ENNIS ESMER: It was 17 years ago. You have a clip? 		
STEFFI D: Yeah. 		
[LAUGHTER] 		
STEFFI D: Are you ready? 		
ENNIS ESMER: Yes, I'm very excited. Oh, boy. OK. Here we go. 		
STEFFI D: Right? 		
ENNIS ESMER: Yes. 		
STEFFI D: So, Ennis, I watch The Listener and The LA Complex. 		
ENNIS ESMER: Wow. 		
STEFFI D: I'm a big fan. I think you're a really funny guy. 		
ENNIS ESMER: Oh, gees, thank you. 		
STEFFI D: And I made you a Valentine. 		
ENNIS ESMER: You did? 		
STEFFI D: Yes. 		
ENNIS ESMER: Oh, now we're talking. 		
STEFFI D: And It's really-- I think it's very clever. I hate to toot my own horn. 		
ENNIS ESMER: But you did. 		
STEFFI D: I love making crafts. 		
ENNIS ESMER: Oh, great. 		
STEFFI D: So I don't know if we can pass that down. 		
[INTERPOSING VOICES] 		
ENNIS ESMER: This is more of a Valentine than I got in a public school. 		
STEFFI D: Absolutely. 		
ENNIS ESMER: This looks fantastic. It's pretty funny. 		
ENNIS ESMER: Let him bring it in. Let me hang it up here. 		
SPEAKER 1: OK. Now hang on a minute. Let me just describe this. It is out of a beautiful paper. 		
STEFFI D: Oh, yes. 		
ENNIS ESMER: Construction paper. 		
STEFFI D: It's also 3D. It has a 3D heart on it. 		
ENNIS ESMER: It has a pop-up element. 		
STEFFI D: Pop-up element. 		
ENNIS ESMER: It has a personalised message on the back. 		
SPEAKER 1: What does it say? 		
ENNIS ESMER: It says, hey, I just met you, and this is crazy. But here's a Valentine. So pick me maybe. 		
[LAUGHTER] 		
STEFFI D: Thank you. That was pretty-- 		
So, Ennis, if I may give our viewers some context-- 		
ENNIS ESMER: Oh, I'd love to-- I mean or maybe we just move on to the next thing. That would be great too. 		
[LAUGHTER] 		
No, no, no, I'm kidding. Of course. Please tell them everything. 		
STEFFI D: Yes. 		
ENNIS ESMER: I sound like I smoked a pack of cigarettes right before we went on the air. And some of them were stuck in my throat. Just-- some of them I just started chewing, like I'm chewing tobacco. 		
STEFFI D: Oh, bless you. That's how I feel about me too. I'm like, man, it was really early that morning. But essentially, to give our viewers some context-- 		
ENNIS ESMER: Yeah. 		
STEFFI D: I won a date with you on CHUM-FM in 2013, Valentine's Day. And we got picked up in this limo car. We got taken to a beautiful restaurant. We had a five course meal together. And then, we went back on the air the next morning. And we talked about the date, and how it went. 		
ENNIS ESMER: Right. Yes. 		
STEFFI D: And is that so? You and I have quite a history, and what I want to know-- 		
ENNIS ESMER: We do. 		
STEFFI D: Do you still have the Valentine or not? 		
ENNIS ESMER: Of course, I do. You don't just get rid of a Valentine that you got from someone you don't know on a radio show that offered you to be a part of a bachelor style promotion that you thought would be good publicity for your independent play you were acting in at the storefront theater. You don't just get rid of stuff like that. You know what I mean? You save it. It's up on the-- You know what it is? I'm getting it reframed because the glass, it's fogging because it's been up for so long in the natural light. And you know how-- I don't have to get into the ins and outs of refraction and the way that it can damage even the finest of glass surfaces. But-- 		
LISA H: Wow. 		
ENNIS ESMER: Yeah, it's-- yeah. 		
STEFFI D: A few years ago, I went to the Marilyn Dennis show with my aunt and my mom. And I got called up to help build this bench. And she recognized me. Yeah. 		
ENNIS ESMER: She did. She did? 		
STEFFI D: She went, hey, Steffi, do I know you from the date that you won with Ennis Esmer? 		
[LAUGHTER] 		
And she was, that was me. Like she remembered. 		
ENNIS ESMER: Steel trap. That is-- she must talk to like 30 different people a week. That's insane. 		
STEFFI D: Yes! And she remembered me from years prior. It was insane. 		
LISA H: See. She cares about us. 		
STEFFI D: Yes. 		
SPEAKER 2: Did you ever do a blind date on CHUM-FM? 		
STEFFI D: I sure did. 		
[LAUGHTER] 		
Yes. I'm a regular. 		
SPEAKER 2: With Ennis Esmer? 		
STEFFI D: Yes, that's right. I did. 		
SPEAKER 2: Right. 		
SPEAKER 3: How did it go? 		
SPEAKER 2: I met her before. 		
STEFFI D: You remember the-- 		
[LAUGHTER] 		
SPEAKER 2: The date went well. 		
STEFFI D: The date went really well. It didn't work out between us. 		
SPEAKER 2: I know. 		
SPEAKER 3: Oh. 		
STEFFI D: But it was good. 		
LISA H: I really want to know-- it didn't work out between the two of you. So was Steffi like a horrible date? 		
ENNIS ESMER: OK. A couple of things. I did have a girlfriend at the time who had conceded to be-- well, it was an emotionally withholding relationship, let me tell you. But I was-- it really was sincerely-- I thought it would be good-- like as a fun thing to do to promote a play that I was doing. But you know that was part of it. It was just-- it was sort of a weird sociological experiment unto its-- inside of one because all we were doing was observing how weird Valentine's Day is for people. 		
The people that were out on these dinners that-- they just seemed like they would rather not let alone be on the dinner, they don't want to be in that relationship anymore is what it looked like. 		
[LAUGHTER] 		
LISA H: What's your favorite movie? 		
ENNIS ESMER: Honestly, it's-- it is, and it was, and continues to be the Three Amigos. 		
LISA H: Favorite actor? 		
ENNIS ESMER: Yeah. I mean, I guess if we're going in that direction, it's Steve Martin probably. 		
LISA H: Favorite TV series? 		
ENNIS ESMER: Seinfeld. It has to be-- I could say-- ask my-- she's downstairs, my girlfriend. But every time I see an actor in something else, I start telling her, whether she wants to hear it or not, how I remember them from their one line on Seinfeld from 15 years before or after. Anyway, that's not rapid fire. Go ahead. 		
LISA H: Do you have a favorite musical? 		
ENNIS ESMER: I can't stand them. 		
STEFFI D: Wait, what? 		
ENNIS ESMER: We would have never worked out. I'm so sorry. It's trauma-- it's not-- trauma is the wrong word, by the way. It's just theater, the musical theater community, et cetera is tied into an ex-girlfriend. It's a long story. You are actually legitimately devastated. Here's-- OK. I'll just say this. And I feel like whether or not you like musicals or you love them, or you don't, they're not-- it's my issue. You know what I mean? 		
You see something nice on the rack, you put-- you say that's a lovely outfit. You put it on. It's not for you. You know what I mean? It happens. 		
STEFFI D: Yeah. 		
ENNIS ESMER: So that's-- I am not here to impugn the artistic viability or relevance of the theatrical musical. It's not my job here. You see what I'm saying? 		
STEFFI D: Yeah. 		
ENNIS ESMER: But there are people who saw Cats and then decided to get into acting. Do you see where I'm going with this? Like someone saw that show in the '60s or '70s maybe where they all kind of had David Bowie hair. Like that's what a cat was. A cat had a cat ass and genitals presumably in the back. But then also like the male ones had like a human hump, if you will, or the women maybe had like a discernible mons. Speaking of-- so you didn't think anyone would ever say mons on your show, did you? 		
LISA H: No. 		
ENNIS ESMER: Watched that and then thought that's what I want to do with my life. And I just find that-- the Venn diagram overlap of people who love and want to be in musicals and people who are like me, who just find them kind of fascinating, although, it's world they don't understand. That's the overlap right there. And I just think that's what Cats is to me. 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 		
My parents separated. And then, my mother moved to San Francisco. And my father started working out of town for weeks at a time. And with that new paradigm of I had an apartment to myself, he would come back and cook food because he's the sweetest angel on planet Earth. But he was working in Texas. And he was working in Connecticut. And of all the things that suffered in school because that's about the time I started feeling comfortable skipping classes, I wasn't skipping theater classes because I was majoring in theater at Earl Haig Secondary School, a fine, fine arts school. 		
And I think that was when it started to click like, oh, this is the only thing I actually care to try. And so-- I mean that's kind of it. Also within like I'd say maybe a six month window, I saw the movie Bottle Rocket which is Wes Anderson's first movie and watched Owen Wilson's performance in that and Swingers. And I was introduced to the Marvel that is Vince Vaughn. And between those two-- because I don't know if you could tell, but I really can get a ramble going. And those two-- I don't know-- that was like, they're doing that in the-- I think there's no way that's in the script. And it's led me this far. 		
I'm 42 years old. And look at this. I have a nice railing back here. Come on. You know this-- I got a thing, a screen on my microphone. I'm doing OK. 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 		
Well, you know auditioning and how stressful it can be. I recall, one summer, I was living in New York. I was working on a terrific television program called Red Oaks. And I had an audition on the weekend. I was doing it at a self-taping studio. And it was for a movie that starred Jason Statham that was about like a super giant shark, something about a giant shark. And I auditioned. I was playing like the tech guy in the submarine that's like, oh, the shark's coming. We got to reconfigure the trajectory to get the shark and-- are you out your mind? We got to move. You know, that guy. 		
And I put together what I thought was a pretty decent audition. And then I got a note back from my agents that much like I probably do now. Yeah, I had pretty sweaty armpits during the audition because it was hot. It was like 40 degrees Celsius in New York. It was in the summer. And so I was like, yeah, OK. And they said, well, they kind of want you to redo it. And I could not really-- I mean the movie was set on a submarine with a bunch of like bandits trying to hunt down a giant shark. One would assume it was relatively humid down there and that there might be there might be some sweating involved. 		
So after much resistance I capitulated. I decided to go ahead and do it again. And wouldn't you know it, I had what some might call kind of an upset stomach that morning when I had booked that second audition. Now keep in mind, I'm very happy with the first day. OK. So I did a little thing whereas I was like, ah, I'm going to bring two shirts. I'm going to wear a shirt. And I'm going bring a second shirt which I will wear once I get there. All is going according to plan. Switch shirts when I get there, dry off, I'm feeling great, but wouldn't you know it, nature calls right before I'm about to go. 		
So I don't know if you knew this is going to be the kind of story it was but-- also can you hear that sizzling shrimp downstairs because-- get you a woman that can who can do both. No, I want to make everybody jealous. 		
STEFFI D: Oh, yeah. 		
ENNIS ESMER: My darling, Amy, is making shrimp tacos downstairs because it's summer. Anyway, so I go take care of business. And then, well, through just one of life's cruel tricks, the toilet ends up plugging. So now in the shirt that I've switched into, I am unplugging a toilet because etiquette dictates and demands that I do so. Do you understand what I'm saying? I'm not going to-- I've gone to this casting studio, and there's no way in hell that I am going to leave a plugged-- it's just I don't want anybody-- if this ever happens in a hotel, I like to use Charmin Ultra Soft. It's a nice toilet paper. Sometimes if you use too much, it plugs up the toilet. 		
I'm getting the real Vince Vaughn thing going on right now. That wasn't the case here. Anyway, long story short, I managed. They had a plunger. I unplugged the toilet, go in for the audition. The second we start, I notice I am just as sweaty. I am way worse off than I was the first time. Huge pit stains. 		
So I have no recourse, but to be like, you know what, you asked for it. You get a second tape. Here we go. Just as sweaty, I rerecorded the thing, do it just as well. And then they switched the part to a female. 		
STEFFI D: Stop. 		
ENNIS ESMER: No, that it's. It's like George Costanza. Truly like Susan dated him and then became a lesbian. It was like-- they were just like, you know what, if this is men, let's make this a female role. 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 		
You know what? I think it would have to be-- I mean the experience of working on Red Oaks-- 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 		
Here. Drink this. 		
[COUGHING] 		
SPEAKER 4: What is this? 		
ENNIS ESMER: Hair of the dog. Absolut and Gatorade. 		
SPEAKER 4: Oh, can't do it, man. I'm hurting so bad. I can't do it. 		
ENNIS ESMER: David. 		
SPEAKER 4: Why? Nash, why do you care? 		
ENNIS ESMER: Eh-de-de-dit. Don't. Look, I'm building up to something. Don't betray my motivational speech. 		
SPEAKER 4: OK. 		
ENNIS ESMER: I suppose you remind me of myself when I was your age. I mean, you're more of a white person, clearly less well-endowed from what I can see through those delicate shots but gifted, a lot of heart, a lot of hustle. Also, none of the other applicants I interviewed would agree to the shitty split you accepted on the hourly rate. 60-40. Oh, Jesus. What a schmuck. 		
You can't have a bucket list for something that unbelievably incredible. For the few, I can't imagine anybody in your listenership has not watched the show. But I had just finished shooting the Listener, a paramedic procedural soft science fiction hospital dramedy on CTV. And as you do, you go into your post employment depression. And I had not yet-- at this point, I was about 33, rarely tried growing a beard at all. And so I didn't work for about a month. And I had something like what you see here. And then I got an audition for like an aging golf pro, kind of Lothario, bearded Middle Eastern English accent. I was like, well, that's weird. I have a beard now. 		
So I went and did that. And I mean the whole thing would have to count as the experience. Like it would be the memory. You know what I mean? Because like I did a self tape, and sometimes you get a call from your representation and you kind of know it's good news. Like you have a sense maybe. And I was in Houston, visiting my cousin. We were at a movie. Meg. No, it's not true. I can't remember what it was. It was Cats. No, I remember what the movie was. But they called, and I was like, oh, I think this is good news. And I had gotten the part. But even to then, I'd say that one of the greatest-- I'll flip it with one of the best audition experiences I ever had. I was lucky enough to go down to New York to audition for it. And I did not spend a lot of time in New York ever. 		
I think when I was a kid we went to the Statue of Liberty. It was terrifying, this idea of New York. And David Gordon Green is one of the executive producers. I don't know if you're familiar with his work. But he's bound down the Righteous Gemstones, a ton of independent films that sort of made his name in the business. But he-- he co-wrote and directed the Halloween reboots. He's just all over the place. And he's a genius in his letters. But it went from-- oh, they want to fly you down to-- they want you to fly yourself down to New York to re-audition off the tape, which doesn't happen. I don't think, but-- then like within an hour, it turned into, oh, no, they're flying you down. They want you to test. It sounded like you and one other guy. 		
So I'm like, wait, what? Like I was just doing-- I've never tested for anything. This was the first time I ever did anything like this off a tape. And so I went down there. And the audition was about 45 minutes of just me, and Carmen Cuba was a phenomenal casting director. If you look her up, she's done a lot of Steven Soderbergh stuff. Steven Soderbergh, also an executive producer on this movie-- on this show. Like, kill me, Jesus. 		
Now what will you censor there? Kill or Jesus? I'm really curious, but-- 		
LISA H: Neither. 		
ENNIS ESMER: So I get in the room. And we're doing the scene. And there's a-- basically, we run it a couple of times, and I'm doing it with an actor who did not get the part of the main kid David, who is the graduate, Dustin Hoffman as a kid kind of role in the show. If you haven't seen it, please watch it. It's on Amazon Prime. It's fantastic. Maybe we'll get a fourth season six years later if you finally start to watch it. But-- 		
It was just the most satisfying experience. It didn't even matter if I got the job at that point, it was just so much fun auditioning. And it didn't stop. It just kept going. And then he was like, OK, you know what, let's just do one where you just improvise. And it wasn't like-- I was like-- I was so flawed because say what you will about Canadian television, that doesn't happen that often where-- I've been lucky enough up here to also get the opportunity to bring myself to the table, so to speak. But it's a risk. And this here was somebody who's work I-- like I just finished watching Eastbound & Down or something. I was star struck from a director. 		
And he was like, well, improvise. And I really didn't know where to start. I was like, do you want to start with a scene? He's like, yeah, OK, and just go where you want to go. And then we just did that. And we were just like-- I was just trying-- I was just working a crowd of two people trying to get laughs. And the kid that I auditioned with was terrific, and he didn't end up getting the part. It went to Craig Roberts, who's phenomenal and now a filmmaker and brilliant as well. If you haven't seen his work, please look it up. 		
But, yeah, I mean, that's-- Yeah, two weeks later, I'm-- because you push it out of your mind, and then I get the part. I mean, that's it. And it was all just joy after joy after that. You know what I mean? Like-- 		
STEFFI D: Yeah. 		
ENNIS ESMER: I got to work with Paul Reiser and Richard Kind and Jennifer Gray and all these phenomenal people. It was not lost on me how impactful all these people were. And I think like-- Steven Soderbergh came to the table read, and I think I said my name. But he introduced-- he just went, hi, I'm Steven. And it's like, you don't just say, hi, you're Steven when you're Steven. I assume someone plays trumpets and announces you, and then you walk into a room. And they unfurl a carpet for you. Like I think I was like, hi, hi, I also have a name. I don't remember it. 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 		
STEFFI D: Favorite summer drink? 		
ENNIS ESMER: Paloma. 		
STEFFI D: Favorite summer spot in Toronto? 		
ENNIS ESMER: Anybody's backyard. 		
STEFFI D: Favorite summer tradition? 		
ENNIS ESMER: Staying for an entire Blue Jays game, no matter how late it goes in next innings. I when I stayed-- on Canada Day, a couple of years ago, I stayed for 18 inning baseball game between the Cleveland baseball team and the Jays. And it went 18 innings. And I was supposed to go to a friend's barbecue. We missed the whole thing, decided to leave, they won it in the top of the 19th. 19 innings! That's two games. It's insane. 		
STEFFI D: Favorite summer memory? 		
ENNIS ESMER: When was our date? Valentine's Day. I guess the six month anniversary of our date. 		
STEFFI D: Favorite summer karaoke song? 		
ENNIS ESMER: I don't know if earlier you heard the part about how I'm not big on musicals, but-- 		
STEFFI D: But a pop song, though. 		
ENNIS ESMER: But for the summer? 		
STEFFI D: Or any pop song. But, yeah, for the summer. 		
ENNIS ESMER: You know what? I'll go with Lover Boy, Billy Ocean. I'd never do it at a karaoke thing. But I would-- I imagine that I one day would have the-- I would like to be the kind of person who would be like, Billy Ocean, Lover Boy, let's go. 		
There is no ceiling to the creativity of people I know and even those I don't. It's really-- like if you look at the sheer-- just think about what you thought your world was going to be, whether you're doing well or not, the dreams you had, and then to have something whether it's theater, film, making them, acting in them, whatever it is, and then to have this come along, and you know it's not all been perfect. You hear about stand up comedian friends of mine doing these comedy shows where they can't tell if anyone's laughing, and if someone laughs, it goes over their next joke. And so it's imperfect, but the drive to entertain and to perform and whatever form it takes, if it's acting, if it's music, or whatever it is, it's limitless. It really is limited to your imagination. 		
And I think that's kind of a-- there's no lacking of perspective into-- if you think your life's not going well, to think of people who have it worse than you, and that's been-- I think more-- it's an embarrassment of empathy. And-- but there's also been an embarrassment of inspiration. And this is an example of it. And I think that that's-- yeah, that-- you got to get out of your own way a little bit maybe sometimes to see it and absorb it and take it in and get inspired by it. But, I mean, for me. But, yeah. 		
There are a number of times I just see something where I'm like, well, that's-- why you're doing this? That's incredible. I can't count that on two hands. And I have 30 fingers. So that's lot of-- that's a lot. 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 		
STEFFI D: Thanks for joining us on this week's episode of Check In From Away. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: @steffid5 @lisahumber
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LISA H: Ennis [? Esmeree ?] later, cheers. 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 		
ENNIS ESMER: Well, thank you. I just have a few questions for you guys. Now, favorite-- OK, Lisa, we'll start with you. Favorite summer drink? 		
LISA H: Oh, Margarita. 		
ENNIS ESMER: OK. And that's all we have time for. Thank you very much for being on the show. So great to see you guys. Thank you for coming to Behind The Screen, which is what I call this. No, thank you so much for having me. I'm a real clown. 		
		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 	FINAL SLIDE
Check In From Away logo on the screen.
TEXT ON SCREEN: @checkaway @checkinfromaway
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