Duane Martin on The Paul Reiser Show: "It's Like Everyone Played a Different Instrument — Paul Was Trying to Create a Jam Session"

Duane Martin said it plainly: "It's like everyone played a different instrument, and what Paul was trying to do was create a jam session. And no one so…" — and Premier Guide Miami was in the room when it happened.

Daedrian McNaughton recently had a chance to interview Duane Martin, who stars in Paul Reiser's new NBC comedy The Paul Reiser Show as Fernando, Paul's charismatic friend who is a successful entrepreneur and restaurateur. Martin is married to actress Tisha Campbell-Martin, who also guest stars on the show. He has had a successful career as an actor, writer, and producer in Hollywood — writing, producing, and starring in The Seat Filler with Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child and Ride or Die opposite Vivica A. Fox, and starring opposite LL Cool J and Gabrielle Union in Deliver Us From Eva for USA Films/Focus Films. The Paul Reiser Show airs Thursdays (8:30–9 p.m. ET) on NBC.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: How well do you think you fit into The Paul Reiser Show?

DUANE MARTIN: The way I looked at it was I didn't know what Paul was trying to do until I saw everyone and heard everyone's voice. Because he went across the water to get Omid — he didn't want anyone else but Omid. And then he went and got Ben Shenkman, who's a well-known theater and film actor. And then there's Amy, who's like this knockout — very, very smart and charismatic woman. His wife is a psychiatrist so she had to fit that mold. And Andy — his improvisation skills are incredible. Characters. It's like everyone played a different instrument, and what Paul was trying to do was create a jam session. And no one sounds the same. I really believe that NBC knows what they have, and I think it's sort of like how Seinfeld was — Seinfeld swam around for a while before people really got him and got that brand of comedy. And then when they got it, it was magic. The same thing with Paul. This show has to get an opportunity to gain an audience because people are not going to get it at first sight. They're going to get it and love it and stay. And we have so much to offer, because everyone on the show can carry an episode. It's a really exciting team, exciting cast. And Paul really has to get a great deal of credit for putting something together like this. Because a lot of people in his position would've gone on and did The Paul Reiser Show with a bunch of unknowns who don't challenge each other for comedy and just kind of walked through the next five or six years on television.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: What is it like to work with a guy like Paul Reiser?

DUANE MARTIN: Paul Reiser is a comedy genius. He's one of the few comics that has made the transition to big films, a big TV career — he's a musician, and Paul plays his own instrument. When you look at any other comic, there's no one else like Paul. He has his own rhythm and his own brand of comedy. And I've always admired that. It's sort of like Jordan coming back — when Michael Jordan came back and wore number 45 after retirement. It's like Paul comes back. You want to play with him, and that's how I saw it. It was an opportunity for me to be alongside somebody that I considered one of those guys who's going to be in the Hall of Fame. I've had my own shows and carried my own shows, but to go in and support somebody like that who's got his mojo back — you see his timing. He's funny. He's really on top of his game right now. It was just an honor for me. I would get stuck sometimes in scenes watching him and not realize my line was next.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: How different or similar is your character from your real life?

DUANE MARTIN: Paul kind of kept Fernando away from me. He and Jonathan Shapiro figured, "Okay, Duane's not Hispanic, so he can't be that. But what we like is — let's feed him the information because those guys are kind of sort of like the same." We're both entrepreneurs. I have several businesses and I'm very driven and self-motivated, and so is Fernando. They just didn't want to distract me. They were like, "That's the kind of energy we want, that's the kind of energy we need, but we don't want you to try to get caught up in trying to be that guy. So we'll just feed you the pertinent information and put you in the situation, and then we'll fine-tune it as we go along." And that's what we did.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: Why should people watch the show?

DUANE MARTIN: I'm going to say because the show gets gooder and gooder.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: It seems like a family affair when it comes to your career — having your wife guest starring on the show as well. Will you encourage your sons to get involved in the industry?

DUANE MARTIN: I've figured out that I don't have any choice in that matter. If he says that's what he wants to do, then I'm going to give him the best resources to do it. If he wants to be a fireman, then I'm going to make sure he gets all the information and all the books about being a fireman. I don't want to choose that for him. And you can see most of the time when someone does something they love, they excel at it. So I'm just going to move out of his way.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: Do you cook at all?

DUANE MARTIN: I make a mean hot dog.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: Have you learned anything from the role about being in the kitchen?

DUANE MARTIN: Yes. I learned that I don't need a hairnet when I'm around the food. So that I can still look like me. That's the only thing, really.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: What do you do to be more eco-friendly?

DUANE MARTIN: My wife is the stickler for that — the recycling and all that kind of stuff. We have labeled garbage bins in the house, and she's teaching the kids. My job is to put it on the counter. And then she distributes.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: The characters are based around actual people in Paul's life. Have you actually met the person you're portraying?

DUANE MARTIN: No, I didn't.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: What is good comedy to you?

DUANE MARTIN: I think it's exactly what Paul put together. He put together this orchestra — no one's playing the same instrument, so it doesn't sound like people are challenging each other for jokes and laughs. It's like everybody is doing their own thing and in harmony. It just sounds right. If you didn't look at the show and you just closed your eyes and listened, you would really realize the genius that it took for Paul to put together a crew like this. Because it hasn't been done yet. And I think the downside in something like that — in being the first — is that it takes people a second to catch up because he's so far ahead of where everyone is. There's no other show like this on television. Omid was saying, you know, they say you can't pick your family but you can pick your friends. But at some point in your life, that's not true — because your kids go to school and their friends' parents you have to hang out with. And you just can't choose them. And that's who we are. We're like this mixed bag of nuts. We like the same things and we address them and see them from different angles. And our excitement about the same things sounds different. I think it's stacked.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: How do you feel about single-camera versus three-camera with an audience?

DUANE MARTIN: It's very different for me because I come from the four-camera world in the sitcom world, and it's a different rhythm. You have to trust your castmates. And when you've got a cast like this with the comedy IQ of this cast, they'll let you know if something's funny or not, or they'll give you a joke, or they'll give you an idea to get you there. That's why this one was a great transition for me — I would look at Omid or Paul and go, "Was that it?" They were like, "Take out the 'the.' I think it's funnier without the 'the.'" And then you do it without the 'the,' and you go, "Whoa. That was it." So it was fun, and it was a cool transition for me.

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