I'm sure with a production that's not particularly well received or mediocrely received, it must be incredibly challenging to get up and keep doing it.
I have bullshit moments every once in a while - like every actor does.
I had a very strange career. I mean I went from playing to 150,000 people in 1983/84. Three or four years later I was playing to four people, you know, in Melbourne. I thought - bit strange, you know bit odd, bit erratic.
I'm really clumsy, so I trip and fall a lot. And every time I perform in New York my pants split onstage. That's happened four or five times. Every time, I pull on my mom's jeans as fast as I can, so there we are, standing backstage without our pants on. It's like a curse.
Well, I got pretty good and went on the road with a group. We starved. At that time I didn't realize that you'd work one gig in Kansas City, the next in Florida and the next gig will be in Louisville. You know, a thousand miles a night. That was really rough, man.
I've performed in basements and at supermarkets. The crowd would be yelling and throwing things at you.
I remember being very psyched for our first tours, despite not knowing about the endless stream of situations and setbacks that we'd face.
When I'm performing, sometimes a lyric will touch on my personal life, and it can be difficult to sing. For instance, when I sing 'How I Love You,' I'll choke up.
After 50, the rock 'n' roll road is a little absurd. It's very difficult to play these little places. You're out there on a rickety old bus with no place to shower.
Until I got 'Full Metal Jacket,' I was doing Off-Off-Broadway plays with three people in the audience.
I had a lot of tough experiences at Bristol City. I came there for a few quid and was getting booed off by fans, got injured. I was out of the team due to injury but also because I was having an awful time playing wise. But they were amazing experiences.
Maybe they say they do but I don't think many actors really enjoy trying to do a Shakespearean play.
The crushing, pitiful, and frequently just plain risible pathos of an unsuccessful actor/performer's life is well charted.
In my career, I've had kind of a strange trajectory as an actor. I started out doing movies and theater and stuff, but then I had a terrible problem with stage fright as an actor on stage, and I quit stage acting for a long, long time.
Acting by yourself is pretty darn hard, especially having to do physical comedy.
Television is hard work. It's all hard work. Theatre is hard work. I tell you, I have bruises from changing backstage. Those quick changes are really difficult.
