Paul Reiser is mad about Denver | John Moore

Paul Reiser is proof that nice guys are never finished.

At age 67, Reiser is on the roll (of roles) of a lifetime. “Stranger Things,” “The Kominsky Method.” “Reboot.” “The Boys.” “Fatherhood.” “Fosse/Verdon.” A “Mad About You” reboot. An upcoming “Beverly Hills Cop” sequel. A wonderfully received new movie called “The Problem with People.”

All within the past four years – which includes a pandemic.

It’s a safe bet that if Reiser had been a jerk for the past 40 years, his phone would have stopped ringing long ago. But in an industry that can be innately cruel, Reiser is known for being an uncommonly kind person. Just look at his social media feeds.

He fully interacts with his Twitter followers. He promotes other comics’ specials. He just shouted out Henry Winkler’s new memoir. He posted condolences when the wife of Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson died. He even encourages visitors to his website to email him – and he evidently writes them back. Two recent followers separately wanted Reiser to know that their 90-plus mothers think he is hot. I mean, he’s even kind to critics. What is it with this guy?

“I learned a long time ago there's no great reward for being a (jerk)-hole,” Reiser told me in advance of his live stand-up comedy special, which he will perform and record on Friday (Nov. 17) at the University of Denver’s fancy-pants Gates Concert Hall.

“That’s not just an industry thing,” he said of (jerk)-holery. That’s life. Everything will come back and bite you. But what can I say? I generally like people – and it doesn't cost you much to be nice to them.

“I mean, you don’t often hear people say, ‘Boy, I heard that guy is a monster –  let me go work with him,” he added with a laugh.

To listen to Reiser, this resurgence of a career that never much slowed down in the first place has been a total accident from the start.

“Look, the one thing I've learned and seen time and time again is that nobody has a plan – and if they do, it has nothing to do with the way things actually pan out,” he said. "I can look at my entire career and honestly tell you that nothing was planned. In fact, I can tell you the really silly, serendipitous way that each one of those jobs happened.”

For example: Reiser called Chuck Lorre to congratulate him on the first season of “The Kominsky Method,” an acclaimed comedy series that focused on the late-in-life friendship between old fogeys played by Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin. Not because he had an angle. “Because it was a joy,” he said. That got Lorre wondering if Reiser would be interested in playing the “boyfriend” of Douglas’ considerably younger daughter in the second season – just to really get under Douglas’ skin. Reiser got the part – even though Lorre had been imagining someone much older in the role (for maximum comic effect).

But “Aliens”? “Whiplash”? “The Boys”? How about the wonderfully enigmatic Dr. Sam Owens in the runaway teen phenomenon “Stranger Things”?

“I don't know how that one came about,” Reiser said only semi-convincingly. “They were thinking of me for some reason. There is something out there that I honestly don't want to look too carefully at. But I certainly count my blessings. I have nothing to complain about.”

No job was more random than the one that broke him all the way back in 1982: Modell in Barry Levinson’s classic film “Diner.” “That wasn’t just my first movie,” Reiser said. “That was my first anything – ever. I had not even done TV.

“I literally stumbled into the casting office because I was hanging out with a friend (Michael Kay), who was auditioning for the film,” he said. “The next thing I knew, I was in Baltimore making a movie that got me on ‘The Tonight Show’ that got me into ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ that got me into ‘Aliens’ and so on.”

He even says “it’s a completely arbitrary thing that ‘Mad About You’ happened at all.” Really.

“I was approached by a studio and told, ‘Well, we’ll give you a small check, and you come up with an idea for a show for yourself,'” he said. 

Before “Diner,” the only thing Reiser had ever done was stand-up comedy. “So I told them, ‘If I do this, it’s going to be very low-concept,’” he said. “It would just be what I was doing in my act – which was talking about relationships and the small little things in my life. And they said, ‘Well, go write that – and that became ‘Mad About You.’”

And that became seven seasons of playing a married couple with Helen Hunt on a show that won four Golden Globes and 12 Emmy Awards along the way.

The funny thing is, through all his many years on films and TV shows, Reiser has always considered himself a comedian first, even though he’s rarely had time to exercise his standup muscle.

“It's actually the thing that I love doing the most,” he said. “I just love getting out and performing – and what I really love is how low-tech it is. You just go up there night after night, just like you did when you were 18."

Side note: “And by the way, there are not a lot of things you can do in your 60s that feel like you did when you were 18. This is about it, frankly.”

When it comes to writing standup, Reiser said, it’s not all that complicated. “The truth is, I'm not smart enough to make anything up,” he said. “I only know how to tell you what happened at my house. That's my whole frame of reference. But it turns out my house and your house are pretty similar. When I talk about my own life, people go, ‘Yeah, that sounds like me. Keep going.”

Reiser has been on the road with his new “Big Font Comedy Tour” for most of this year. He’s loved reconnecting with old fans but even more so with the younger set that only know him from "The Boys" or “Stranger Things.”

“This is a luxurious problem to have, but I have found that a lot of people are surprised to learn that I'm a standup,” he said. “One friend told me his kid said, ’Wait, the doctor from “Stranger Things” is going to try to be funny now?’” Reiser politely asked his friend to straighten the kid out. “But, in fairness, I haven't been out in a long time, so it's understandable,” he said.

Why call it “The Big Font Tour?” If you’re anywhere near Reiser’s age, you know.

“I was driving with a buddy to one of my shows, and I had my set list out – and he was just mocking me,” Reiser said. “He says, ‘Look at the size of these letters!’ I told him, ‘Well, I have to be able to see it from a distance. I can't hold it right up to my eyes.’ So he says, ‘Well, you should just call it "The Big Font Tour," and I went, ‘That’s exactly what this should be called. That's perfect.’”

Not to be one of those journo word sticklers, but what about that font? Are you an Arial guy? Helvetica? A standup comic’s preference surely has to be Comic Sans, no?

No.

“I am a Times New Roman guy – but it's not with a passion,” Reiser said. “That's what I first was using, and ever since, anything else just looks a little wrong to me.”

Denver’s Big Font Tour date on Friday is not just another stop on a very long road trip. Reiser chose Denver for where he wants to tape his set for posterity – and future streaming. How’d we get so lucky?

“First of all, I've been to Denver many times. It's not only a great city, but it's a great comedy town. The clubs I've been to are very receptive, and it’s always a great crowd.”

As for the 977-seat Gates Concert Hall at the University of Denver, he added: “I was looking for a theater about that size, and I went through a lot of cities until I got to that one. I thought, 'Oh, that’s kind of beautiful.’ I've not played there before, and it feels both big enough and intimate enough at the same time.”

Reiser promises to bring his best, and he’s asking the people of Denver to bring their A-game as well.

“Yeah, you might want to talk to them for me,” he said with a laugh. “Put them into shape – because I don't want any deadbeats there. Only send me your finest.”