An Interview with Stephen Root from ‘Praise Petey’

Photo of Stephen Root Courtesy of Stephen Root and Freeform.

Note: This interview and the introduction below were conducted and recorded on July 6, 2023, before the start of the SAG-AFTRA Strike, and during the WGA strike. Also, without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.

It is definitely safe to say that Stephen Root is nothing short of a household name. For he has played some memorable characters throughout the years, such as Milton in Office Space, Monroe Fuches in Barry, and Gordon in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. Currently, this screen legend stars as Petey’s Dad in the new Freeform series, Praise Petey, and we here at NTG had the distinct honor of sitting down with Stephen to discuss his new role.
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But before we get to the interview… Stephen was kind enough during our interview, to introduce his new character from the show.

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John Betancourt: What attracted you to this project?

Stephen Root: Mostly the writing. Because these days, you know, I'm lucky enough to just… I don't want to turn straw into gold, I want to… I want to turn gold into platinum. And the gold is really good writing. And if you're able to do good writing with character actors and actors, and voice actors -- let me stress that those are the Pros from Dover. We’re character actors and actors, but they're the Pros from Dover. But that’s the reason… writing and a great cast.
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John Betancourt: What did you enjoy the most about playing this character?

Stephen Root: Ah, probably the fact that even though I'm kind of separated from everybody, I got to… here's what I want to say. I think he's redeemable. I think this guy, as crazy as he is, is redeemable. He just thinks that everybody has to do what he wants to do. And I think anything that I have… to be able to play… where I can say, “No, he's really okay. He's, he's a good guy. But I know he's doing bad things.” And I've played that a lot, even within the Barry character, but it's, you know, they're all so entirely different. In the end, it always comes back to me because the writing is good. And you want to do an exemplary job to complement how good the writing is. So, in almost anything, like some say, “Do you enjoy doing Barry?” Yes, because the writing is so good. And I want to be able to do the best I can do for that writing. And the best thing about some shows is that you do it for the writing, and you're not doing it for yourself. You're doing an ensemble piece, and this is an ensemble piece.

John Betancourt: What are you most excited for audiences to experience with Praise Petey?

Stephen Root: The bleeped words. (Laughter) This is an adult show. So every once in a while you know you're gonna get some phrases that are dicey, but to me the interstitial throwaway lines in the show are the best things. They're really, really funny. So, I think people are going to enjoy the adult aspect of this show, because they're not expecting that I think, immediately. But as we get into episodes two and three, it's like, “What the Bleep are we doing here?” And those kinds of small, really fun things that come out in the script, are why I want to watch it because it's really funny.

John, John Cho is really funny in this show. Really funny. And it's not something I would know as a fellow character actor that he you know, could do that kind of comedy and he's phenomenal. And Annie, you know is great, and has done comedy for years. But that was nice to see that. I don't know if you guys know Paget Brewster, who's a beautiful voice over artist. Everything that comes out of her mouth is funny. So again, as a fan, I mean, I like to be a fan of the shows that I pick and not read the script too much because I want to see the end product. When I was doing Barry. I did a lot of prep work on my stuff, but I didn't want to read what was coming up so much. I wanted to see it as a fanboy. And I think that's kind of fun. You get to do it a little more with animation because it takes a lot more time to, you know, do the animation and you don't see it for nine months and you go, “Oh What was this about? I don't know!” But I think that's great. That's part of the deal.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.