Exclusive: Richard Kind Pays Tribute to Stephen Sondheim in POKER FACE

In the new season of the murder-mystery series Poker Face, Richard Kind makes a guest appearance as a man named Jeffrey Hasp. The husband of mob boss Beatrix Hasp (played by Rhea Perlman), he serves as the family homemaker, cooking her meals and providing a warm atmosphere for her and her hardened colleagues. 

But gangster life is hard, and Jeffrey's true love is the theater. After all, as he tells another character, he has appeared in numerous community theater musicals such as Cabaret and Into the Woods. Throughout the episode, Jeffrey and others specifically share their love of Stephen Sondheim, singing tunes from musicals like Into the Woods, Merrily We Roll Along, and Assassins. 

As an actor, Kind himself has also appeared in many a production, becoming a household name for his cameos and guest appearances across television. In addition to the almost 300 (and counting!) acting credits on his IMDb page, he has also starred in many projects for the stage, including Stephen Sondheim's Bounce in 2003.

With the first three episodes of Season 2 now streaming, BroadwayWorld caught up with the inimitable performer to talk about honoring the late Sondheim in the show, how he continues to find joy in his work, and why he would love to direct his own production of Bounce.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Episode 3 of Poker Face Season 2

This interview has been condensed for clarity and length.

The episode is a wonderful tribute not just to theater, but to Stephen Sondheim in particular. You even get to perform a few of his songs. What was it like for you to bring your personal history with Sondheim into the character?

My personal history didn't matter except that I was honoring him. That was great. I was lucky enough to work with him for close to a year on a show called Bounce, and he was absolutely wonderful to me. We talked a lot and not just about theater. We talked about all sorts of stuff: his love of movies and TV, and mysteries like this. He was a staff writer on Topper, and with his movie, The Last of Sheila, this stuff is right up his alley. Referencing him here was wonderful. And Simon [Helberg] was great.

Speaking of Simon Helberg, Jeffrey Hasp has a conversation with his character about how to sell death scenes and make them believable. And, of course, you have a very significant death scene here. What’s your experience with death scenes in your career? 

I think the best death scene I ever had was on a show called Leverage, where I was shot on the roof. We were doing the scene, and then came the time when I had to be shot, and it started to rain. I had to leave the next day for work, so we couldn't finish the shot. So a body double got shot, probably. That was my best death scene.

The one that you didn't have to do?

I've done a few death scenes. I had a great one in A Serious Man, where I get shot in the canoe, and I have to fall overboard. And then on stage, I remember I had a death scene where I was on the floor. You're just there for 10 minutes, and you try not to breathe heavily so that you're not expanding. Sometimes you don't want to laugh, and I'm a big laugher.

But this one was okay. I did my own stunt. And actually, on the Mulaney show recently, in one of those telescope things, I had to die, and I did my own stunt.

John Mulaney is also in this episode of Poker Face. Was that a happy coincidence, or was it always supposed to be a Kind-Mulaney reunion of sorts?

Happy coincidence. They needed a character to look like John Mulaney. They got him. They needed a character that looked like Richard Kind. They got him. Happy coincidence.

Your character, Jeffrey Hasp, has such a genuine passion for performing. As someone who's worked on so many projects over the years, how do you continue to find joy in the work?

I had a teacher who said acting is just playing pretend. Now, that's a very childlike thing to do. It's not childish, it's childlike. And you know that children laugh about a hundred to 200 times a day. Adults laugh, let's say, three to five times a day. Wouldn't you like to be like a child? Weren't those wonderful days filled with no cares, just playing pretend?

So I look at work like the sandbox. There's no people like show people, and that's really the truth. They are funny, they're liberal. They sometimes are interesting, they're rarely smart, but every once in a while, they might be. You go to work, you have fun, and you play. And that's why so many couples fall in love with each other is because they're so free and liberated. And if a man has a love scene with a woman, they open their hearts and their emotions. Isn't that a wonderful way to be?

There’s a moment in the episode where several characters say Assassins is “criminally underrated.” What’s a musical that you think is criminally underrated?

A friend of mine's show called Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. David Yazbeck did it. Listen to that score again. It is magnificent. Every song is great, and it should have had a longer run.

Oh, I'll tell you what's really underrated! Bounce. Bounce is a great musical, and I wish I could get my hands on it and direct it. I think it's better than Road Show. It is a great, fun musical that I don't think got the attention it deserved. I have a way of doing it, and I think it would be really good.

I would love to see your production of Bounce!

I couldn't do the role again because I'm just too old, but I think it's a lot of fun. Sondheim wrote the first act as a Hope-Crosby musical. It should just be all over the place. The second act is a more subdued musical.

The first three episodes of Poker Face Season 2 are now streaming on Peacock. The show follows Charlie, played by Natasha Lyonne, who has the ability to determine when someone is lying. In the new season, she hits the road, encountering a wild cast of characters played by Cynthia Erivo, John Mulaney, Katie Holmes, Giancarlo Esposito, and more. Watch the trailer below.