When Paul Reiser joined the cast of The Kominsky Method, he didn’t just step into a role—he walked into a whole new chapter of what it means to age on camera and still make people laugh. “It’s not your typical comedy,” Reiser told me. “No one’s trying for a joke. It’s just life—funny, sad, frustrating, all shuffled together.”
Reiser, now an Emmy nominee for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, gives a lot of credit to creator Chuck Lorre. “Chuck built something that doesn’t sound or look like any other show,” he said, praising the series for its subtlety and grounded emotional weight. “There aren’t a lot of shows about old guys. Or male friendship. And especially not about old guys being bad at male friendship.”
His character, Martin, is introduced as the older boyfriend of Michael Douglas’s daughter—karmic payback for Sandy Kominsky’s own long history of dating younger women. “Chuck said, ‘We’ll have to age you up.’ Hence the bald cap and the padding,” Reiser laughed.
But beneath the age makeup and the brilliant awkwardness lies a deeper thread. “What do you do when you finally get what you wanted… but it’s too late?” he mused. “That resonated. Not just for actors—for anyone who’s ever had a dream they made peace with… and then it suddenly shows up at your door.”
Reiser also shared some behind-the-scenes highlights, like Chuck Lorre’s idea to insert a Diner reference—complete with Barry Levinson cameo—bringing his own cinematic past into conversation with the present. “That was Chuck all the way,” he said. “And it’s wild how much that movie meant to so many guys. Five guys talking over coffee? That’s everything.”
Reflecting on Mad About You, which he recently revisited thanks to the reboot, Reiser marveled at how much of that show was built on those quiet, in-between moments. “It’s not the big punchlines,” he said. “It’s the way you pass each other in the kitchen and lightly touch a shoulder. People see themselves in those tiny things.”
Reiser’s other projects—like the overlooked gem There’s… Johnny!—still hold a place in his heart, even if not enough eyeballs caught them the first time. “That one’s still on Peacock. Go watch it. It’s not about Johnny Carson. It’s about this kid who’s in over his head, socially, politically, sexually. That’s what made it great.”
And then there’s music—his first love. Reiser was a classical piano major in college and still composes, quietly. “Performing and stand-up pulled me in another direction,” he said. “But now? At 65? If I want to do something with it, I should probably get moving.”
He closed out with a tease of his return to Stranger Things as Dr. Owens. Sort of. “I walked from point A to point B. That was it. But hey, maybe I’m back for Season 4. Maybe I’m not. We’ll all find out together.”
Watch the interview above and then check out the trailer below.
