The trepid traveler, 76, admittedly carries around emotional baggage filled with neuroses and aversions. His list of dislikes includes humidity, extreme cold, reindeer meat, volcanoes, snakes, insects, hanging bridges and happy people. In spite of his curmudgeonly attitude, or possibly because of it, Levy has taken on a new role as host of his own travel show.
Last month, we interviewed Levy by Zoom while he was making the rounds at the Television Critics Association event in Los Angeles. He explained why he decided to enter the discomfort zone, the lessons he learned from the show and the contents of his vintage luggage. This Q&A has been edited for clarity and length.
A: My ideal vacation would have been going to a resort or a beach where you could truly relax and have nothing to do but chill by a pool with a piña colada and then talk about where you want to go for dinner. I love Italy because I love the food and you don’t have to do much to see the history. The sightseeing part of things didn’t really excite me. I’d go here and I’d look at this bridge, I’d look at this museum. It was something to do, but I didn’t really truly enjoy it.
A: Maybe. I never asked them. If you’re hosting a travel show, you have to be interested in what you’re talking about, and you have to be a chatty person who is interested in people. These are all things that I was really not. The conversations triggered another angle for the show. They called me back and pitched that to me, saying what if it’s about somebody who doesn’t like to travel. I said, “Okay, yeah, why don’t we give that a shot?”
A: No physical preparation. But mental preparation — I spent my career as a comedic character actor where I do everything in character. The closer the character came to who I was, the less comfortable I was. So I always opted for bigger, broader characters.
A: This is not billed as a funny travel show. They could have gotten Larry David if they wanted a funny travel show. This is a straight travel show. I think the humor comes through me and my reluctance initially to engage in things I would never normally engage in. That gives it humorous overtones, and that, I think, carves it out from the other [travel] shows.
I am hoping this show really appeals to people who love to travel. I hope it holds them. For people who don’t necessarily like to travel or were as uncomfortable about traveling as I was will find a kindred spirit. I’m giving them an experience very close to what they might actually be going through and what they actually might be thinking.
A: In the beginning they had a list of locations, and the locations I said no to were locations I would probably have said no to if somebody had said, “Hey, why don’t we go here?” And I would say, “Realllyyyyyyy? I don’t think so. What else ya got?” I helped eliminate certain locations because I thought they wouldn’t be as much fun, didn’t know what the food would be like [or] was really nervous about. The more we did the show, the more I crawled out of my comfort zone. If I’m not doing things I’m not comfortable doing, I don’t know what kind of show we have. But I think the thing is: Go for it.
A: I think soooo. I’m engaging a lot with people. I really kind of enjoyed that. I don’t engage people in conversation readily in my life. I’m not that kind of person. I’m learning to love talking to people and listening to them and learning about the culture through these people. That was an eye-opener for me.
The show has made me grow in a lot of different areas. I am more open to doing things that I may not have done in the past, but there are still things I might not necessarily want to do again, like night hiking in a rainforest. Adventuresome, sure. But I wasn’t really thrilled doing it, because you’re dealing with creepy-crawly things. But it’s been good for me generally as an experience and hopefully helping make me a better person, a more exciting person, a more adventurous person.
A: I would love to find a location in Canada. My wife Deb said why don’t you do the whole season going across Canada? Again, another great idea. There are a lot of unbelievably exciting and beautiful locations in Canada. My God, Lake Louise in Alberta — one of the most beautiful spots in the world. So hopefully if we get a second season, that might be in the cards.
This content was originally published here.
