Commando Nanny
Soap Opera Digest: How did you get the job?
D.C. Benny: I hadn’t gone out on a lot of auditions recently and my manager called to say that there was a walk-on on a soap opera. I always play gangsters and stuff like that. It’s my forte [laughs], but I had always kind of wanted to do a soap opera because it’s so incongruous with being a comedian. They offered me the part, and then it turned out that it was sort of recurring. I thought it would be a couple of days where you walk on and say, “Hey, here’s your coffee.” But it’s turning into a great, multidimensional character, so I’m very excited about it.Digest: I assume the baby wasn’t at the audition.
Benny: That’s a whole story in itself. I’ve never acted with a baby and I don’t have a kid. The last contact I had with a baby was with my little brother growing up, when I had to change his diaper here and there — and I avoided that like the plague. I got there and everybody was like, “Okay, you’ve got to get along with the baby. The baby doesn’t like a lot of people.” So I was intimidated by the baby, like, “Oh, my God, he’s not gonna like me!” So I went in and met Daniel [Menake, Johnny]. And at first he cried for a second, because when I initially had contact with him, I had to manhandle Craig [Jeff Meek]. The baby saw that and he doesn’t like violence and he started crying, so I thought, “All right, that’s the end of it for me. He doesn’t like me.” But after that, we hung out a little bit and things started going really well. Now, every time they hand him to me, he loves being with me. So we’ve been chilling. I made him laugh a little bit. It’s been a pretty cool learning experience. It’s the best acting school I’ve ever been in. You’ve got to choke somebody one minute, then you’ve got to hold a baby! Digest: It was funny that Chaz was completely unprepared for it, as well.
Benny: Yeah, he’s turning into a nanny.Digest: You’re also working mostly with Grayson McCouch (Dusty).
Benny: Yeah, Grayson’s awesome. We really hit it off. We had a lot of behind-the-scenes joking around when he found out I was a comedian. Every time I see him, we talk about what we did over the weekend and he’s always got some bizarre story. He’s been in his log cabin, going hunting, whatever. It’s these rustic, manly stories in the woods. But he’s really cool. When we do the lines, he’ll throw in a little extra stuff. I think he enjoys kind of breaking my balls a little bit, adding to the initial dialogue. And Colleen [Zenk Pinter, Barbara] is great, too. She’s actually helped me a lot with my acting, giving me little tips. I’m really not trained in soap opera acting, which I think is a whole different kind. I’ve done theater and film, but this moves so fast. Digest: And when you’re working with a baby, it pretty much becomes about the baby.
Benny: Absolutely. If the baby’s crying, you can do your Oscar material, but it ain’t gonna make it. There have been some tense moments with that. But I have to say it’s been an awesome experience. I’m having such a good time. Everybody’s been so cool and accommodating and I’ve learned so much. Digest: You seem to be pretty successful as a comedian. Do you want to do more acting?
Benny: Yeah, I started as an actor in college, but it’s a very hard way to make a living. So is being a comic, but you can go on the road and do the clubs and you’ll make a living after a certain point. With an actor, it seems like there’s no security whatsoever. You do one gig, and then you’re waiting for another one and there’s nothing financially that tides you over in between. It’s so stressful not knowing where the next job’s gonna come from. So it’s nice to be able to do both. The acting stuff, I can be serious, and with the comedy it’s naturally what I do. It’s a cathartic release for me and it’s what I’ve done for 15, 16 years, so it’s my bread and butter and I love doing it. People look at me and never think I’m a comedian, so in that sense, I always have to prove myself, as well. But once I get them, then they’re laughing.Digest: Do they let you inject any humor into the character?
Benny: We had something that got cut last week, unfortunately, because there was a lot of crying. Chaz was going to tell Johnny about the three bears, but it turned out it was the Chicago Bears and Mike Ditka. It was a pretty funny speech, but Daniel was having a rough day. But between Grayson and myself, there have been some sort of funny back-and-forth things. As imposing as Chaz can be, there’s also a funny side. I think the humor of him being this gangster from Chicago nanny-ing the baby and tackling Barbara is funny in itself. Digest: Would you want to do a soap full-time?
Benny: Absolutely! What’s great about this gig is that I don’t have to go to L.A. I like being home in Brooklyn, and this is around the corner. It’s really not that far from my house, and I can do comedy at night in all the clubs. I’ve done TV shows and films, but I have never had a good time like this. The cast is so cool. Digest: You did GUIDING LIGHT, too, right?
Benny: Yeah, I was a bad guy. I came in and had to say all this chauvinistic stuff and beat up one of the main characters at the bar. It was a one-day thing, but it was cool. That was because of LAST COMIC STANDING. The casting director saw that and he said, “This guy looks like he could beat up somebody.” I’ll be honest: I think they needed somebody tall [laughs]. That was a nice day of work, but this is a whole different ballgame. There’s the baby and potentially there’s a love interest thing brewing. I don’t know if I’m supposed to talk about that yet. Digest: Where can people catch you if they come to New York City?
Benny: Yeah, I’m sort of all over the place. One night I’m at Carolines, one night I’m at the Comedy Cellar … there are about 11 comedy clubs in the city. You can go to www.dcbenny.com to see clips of my stand-up and you can also go to www.dailycomedy.com. I write topical jokes and produce funny videos for them, and that usually has my appearances, too. There’s also a ton of my stand-up on www.YouTube.com.
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Soap Opera Digest does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.