Interview with Mario Cantone

AE: Well, have you watched Brothers and Sisters on ABC?
MC: Yeah, yeah, I do.

AE: Kevin Walker [Matthew Rhys], he’s kissed and had relationships. Granted it’s the only show on network television on which that’s happened.
MC: Yeah, right. And that’s because Jon Robin Baitz probably fought for that a lot, but I think they can only handle one. And we’re on ABC, too. And we’re on at ten o’clock. I mean, we hugged twice!

AE: Yeah, we noticed.
MC: You know. Come on! He [George] did grab my ass, which was a good thing. You know, some kind of a touch. There’s still a lot of fear, but I think ABC is a very brave network and I think they try. They’re very pro-gay, I have to say.

AE: For someone who covers this stuff for a living, I have to say there’s ABC, and then there’s everybody else.
MC: I agree. They’re just doing a great job. When I say, they edited it and it was kind of pushed in the back, I’d rather have to deal with that than have to be on a reality show. This is a great part and it’s a lot of fun.

AE: The day this interview runs, you'll be giving up a kidney for Cash [Scott Elrod]. Why would Terri do that? They don’t really seem like that good of friends.
MC: No, they’re not. I don’t know. I have no idea. I know it sounds weird. And I don’t know how it’s going to come off. I did the best I could and we’ll see – I don’t know.

AE: Now tell me you don’t get killed off in the surgery.
MC: No. I don’t. It was a bit of a challenge, too, because I wouldn’t give anybody my kidney that I didn’t know just because they were a beautiful straight man.

Cantone, Scott Elrod as Cash

AE: Some people are going to react a little negatively that the gay character without a relationship is there to give a part of himself to a straight guy he doesn’t know.
MC: I’m sure they are, but, you know, I didn’t write it. I’m just doing it. Would you rather see me in a hot tub with a bunch of men on Big Brother? It’s a job; it’s acting. It’s on a quality show and, you know, I do my work. You can’t go, “I’m not doing this! I’m not giving – this is politically offensive!”

AE: Do you separate out talk shows from reality shows?
MC: Talk shows are just classic. Even a game show to me – I’d do that. I’ll do Hollywood Squares, I’ll do Pyramid. Rosie was doing the Match Game and she was like do you want to do it? I was like “absolutely.”

I’ve been offered the red carpet on E! quite a few times. I just said no because what it does is it puts you on the other side of them. I may not be as big as them, but I’m part of them and I don’t want to interview people that way.

Doing my own talk show is something I’ve considered … [but only if] it had variety aspects to it where I could do sketches and have a band and stuff like that, more like The Rosie O’Donnell Show or Mike Douglas. But just a talk show like Tyra [Banks]? Tyra has her own empire and that’s what she really wants to do and she’s been incredibly successful at it, but a talk show like Jerry Springer or Maury Povich? I’d kill myself first.

AE: There was a lot of talk back when Rosie O'Donnell left The View that you were going to take her spot. Was that a serious option?
MC: Well, I don’t know who leaked that from The View. I didn’t realize it until I read it in the press. But honestly I really don’t think there was a stitch of truth to it. I think because Barbara [Walters] likes me so much and because I’ve been on so much and I was one of the first male co-hosts, I think there was a slight thought. I don’t think it ever would have happened.

And if it did, I don’t know what I would have done. I don’t know if I would have taken it or not, as much as I love that show. That would have been a real confront for me – I’m like, do I do this? It’s a classy show. It has great producers and I love doing it the way I do it, but doing it every day and being scrutinized for every frickin’ thing you say and everything you don’t say ?

AE: Given what happened to Rosie and the fact that you’re a gay man, you would be held to a different standard. They’d be focusing on everything you said that was gay-related.
MC: Absolutely. I can’t sit here and say that I wouldn’t have taken it, but I’m leaning towards that that’s what I may have done. And again, it would have never been offered to me. They love me on the show the way I am and I love doing it the way it is. I really do.

AE: I don’t know how freely you’ll want to speak on this, but what’s your opinion of Elizabeth Hasselbeck?
MC: I get along with Elizabeth very well. I get along with all of those girls really well. I think she’s coming along a little bit, too. I can disagree with her a lot politically, believe me, but so did Rosie, and they were very, very close at one time. So there’s something about Elizabeth as a person that’s really – she’s a good girl. I want to smack her, too, when I watch the show sometimes – and she knows that – but it has nothing to do with who she is as a person and what’s really in her heart.

AE: I don’t find it hard to believe that she’s a nice person, I just don’t think she’s the deepest thinker in the world.
MC: No, she’s not. But I think she’s a smart girl and I think her intelligence will ultimately override her idealism. I think she’s going to continually grow. Especially being around those women every day, you can’t help but look at the other side of things. You know, with Whoopi there, with Joy there, I just think that ultimately she’s gonna come over to the dark side [laughing].

Next page! Mario's Dirty Movie!