AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
In the new film "Let's Start A Cult," the main character, Chip, has just helped recruit a new member, and he's brimming with enthusiasm for all the cult has to offer - namely transcendence. And just a warning for listeners - in cult code, that translates to ritual suicide. But the cult's leader, played by Wes Haney, is more circumspect.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "LET'S START A CULT")
STAVROS HALKIAS: (As Chip Harper) What do we tell Tyler about transcending? 'Cause I said we'd do it now and get him pumped off the rip.
WES HANEY: (As William Davenport) Yeah, it takes time. You have to build trust.
HALKIAS: (As Chip Harper) All right, well, can we tell him about the Galactic Palace of Nama Majar (ph)?
HANEY: (As William Davenport) No.
HALKIAS: (As Chip Harper) The Ceremony of Endless Beginnings? Why can't we tell him anything cool?
HANEY: (As William Davenport) Would Colonel Sanders share his secret spice recipe with somebody he just met?
HALKIAS: (As Chip Harper) Of course not. He's famously tight-lipped with regards to his chicken.
HANEY: (As William Davenport) And look how successful he is.
RASCOE: Stavros Halkias...
HALKIAS: (Laughter).
RASCOE: ...Plays Chip and co-wrote the film. Stavros, thank you so much for joining us.
HALKIAS: Ayesha, thank you so much for having me. I'm a big NPR-head from way back...
RASCOE: (Laughter).
HALKIAS: ...So this is big for me.
RASCOE: Well, I am glad that you've been listening a long time.
HALKIAS: Yes (laughter).
RASCOE: I have to say, I really, really loved this movie. It was so funny. And it also worked well for me, because I'm obsessed with cults. And obviously, there can be very tragic stories with cults, so it can be...
HALKIAS: Sure.
RASCOE: ...Very sad, but I am always fascinated about, like, how people are able to get other people to follow them.
HALKIAS: Yeah.
RASCOE: What made you want to make a comedy about this issue?
HALKIAS: Really, my personal philosophy for comedy is the funniest people are incredibly sure of themselves, incredibly arrogant and incredibly dumb.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
HALKIAS: So many funny things come out of confident but dumb. And I don't think you can find more confident and more wrong than a cult member.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
HALKIAS: Making this movie allowed us to explore what you're talking about - who are these people? Who are the kinds of people that will join a cult, that'll be persuasive? And it was really fun coming up with those characters. But our director Ben Kitnick, he had the idea where it was like, what if a guy is so obnoxious that a suicide cult decides to do their final ritual without him?
RASCOE: (Laughter).
HALKIAS: That they decide, I don't even want to hang out with this guy in the afterlife.
RASCOE: Yeah.
HALKIAS: We're going to cut him out of the group suicide. And we just thought, how could you be that annoying?
RASCOE: (Laughter).
HALKIAS: And that's really the germ of everything. And that's my character, and so...
RASCOE: And that's Chip. Chip in...
HALKIAS: That's Chip.
RASCOE: ...This movie is this guy who gets left behind (laughter).
HALKIAS: He gets left behind. Everybody else, you know, quote-unquote, transcends.
RASCOE: Yes.
HALKIAS: And then the movie, you know, we set up the cult and everything, but Chip gets left behind. What do you do? How does that guy start his life? And the idea is he tries to start his own cult after he gets left out of his original one.
RASCOE: Give us some background on Chip. 'Cause I did find him to be a fascinating character, and he's kind of a jerk at times, but he has his own kind of moral code. Tell me about Chip.
HALKIAS: Yeah, I mean, I think you're right. And again, goes back to the dumb, confident guy. But also, I think at the heart of this, it's people that are looking for something. Because what we decided when we were really creating these characters is who joins a cult? It's someone who's really looking for belonging, who's looking for acceptance.
RASCOE: Yes. Yeah.
HALKIAS: And so, I think a lot of Chips - even his confidence, if you strip it down, is really just kind of false bravado.
RASCOE: Yeah, yeah.
HALKIAS: It's sort of like, it's insecurity. It's really wanting to be wanted by someone. And it's...
RASCOE: Yeah.
HALKIAS: ...You know, at the heart of it, it's people looking to start a family. I mean...
RASCOE: Yes.
HALKIAS: ...You know, we refer to it multiple times, but it's the theme of, like, you know, finding your family. And I think that's what we - when we created these characters, they didn't have a great home life, all of them. You know, they had something - they were people that were easy to take advantage of. And I think Chip's thing, his family, his mom, his dad, his brother - we meet them briefly. He doesn't get along with them...
RASCOE: Yeah.
HALKIAS: ...And that kind of sends him out looking for acceptance.
RASCOE: For our listeners who may not know of you, is it okay if I say you kind of have a Jack Black-style...
HALKIAS: (Laughter) Sure.
RASCOE: Body type.
HALKIAS: (Laughter).
RASCOE: That you...
HALKIAS: (Laughter) Yes.
RASCOE: ...Because you have this Netflix special called...
HALKIAS: Yeah.
RASCOE: "Fat Rascal. "
HALKIAS: Yeah.
RASCOE: ...And you put out a calendar of yourself in some very seductive poses.
HALKIAS: (Laughter) Right.
RASCOE: It's kind of like a riff of the hunky firefighter calendars.
HALKIAS: Absolutely, Ayesha. Yes. You're nailing it.
RASCOE: How do you use your own body to play into your comedy?
HALKIAS: Most of my career has been podcasting and stand-up comedy, and I put out an erotic calendar every year...
RASCOE: (Laughter).
HALKIAS: ...That's true. And that's a big moment for the calendar, to be mentioned on NPR.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
HALKIAS: And so I've always played with the form of like, you know, the hunky firefighter, or even the way, like, a really hot woman is portrayed in society. When you swap that out for a chubby guy, all of a sudden it becomes a joke, you know. And I've always had a fun time playing with that. It's like, well, if it's hilarious when I do it, why are we taking it so seriously, even to the point of probably exploiting these other people? So there's, like - there's an interesting angle to look at, but we take advantage of that in the film, too.
RASCOE: (Laughter) Do you look at this as a way of being body positive? Is that how...
HALKIAS: Yeah.
RASCOE: ...You look at it?
HALKIAS: Yeah, honestly, I do. I mean, to be honest with you, at first it was like, I'm having fun, this is funny. But really quickly, I was kind of shocked at how many people - the plus-sized community, let's say - rallied around some of these pictures. And I've gotten DMs from, you know, bigger guys. They're like, that's inspiring. And that was never my thing, you know? You never want - when you're called inspiring, it means they think you've overcome a lot, taking your shirt off. I didn't climb Mount Everest.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
HALKIAS: I just wore a Speedo in Greece one time.
RASCOE: You're also known - comedian and actor, but you're also known for your crowd work as a comedian, and that's interacting with the crowd and asking them questions, and kind of pulling a laugh out of that.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HALKIAS: (As self) What do you do for a living?
UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE MEMBER: I sell people Pokemon Cards.
(LAUGHTER)
HALKIAS: (As self) You sell people Pokemon Cards (laughter)? You wake up and - what do you do? Check eBay for cards?
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE MEMBER: No, I go to work.
HALKIAS: (As self) You go to work.
UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE MEMBER: I do it a store.
HALKIAS: (As self) Oh, at a store. Oh, so this - you're not - wait. This is - you don't even have, like, autonomy at this thing? You're...
(LAUGHTER)
HALKIAS: (As self) 'Cause I'm thinking, all right, well, that's stupid, but, you know, he makes his own hours, he's independent. So you work at a very specific pawn shop, is what you mean. You have - (laughter).
(LAUGHTER)
RASCOE: How do you figure out so quickly how far you can take a joke with a complete stranger?
HALKIAS: Well, first of all, Ayesha, I want to say, I really feel for the person on your staff that had to look for a crowd work clip you could play on the radio.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
HALKIAS: They must have combed through some archives, because it's not...
(LAUGHTER)
HALKIAS: It's been - you know, I'm not the cleanest comic, let's say (laughter). But what I love about stand-up was that you have an opportunity to create a real connection with the people in that room that night. So it was just - it kind of started as a thing where I just wanted to get to know the crowd a little bit. So, who knows how it happened? Like much of my career, I couldn't tell you what happened, Ayesha, but I'm happy it did.
RASCOE: Well, it sounds like - when you talk about wanting to connect with the audience, you say it's almost out of your control. It almost sounds like you are transcending yourself.
(LAUGHTER)
HALKIAS: Yes.
RASCOE: And maybe...
HALKIAS: A higher being.
RASCOE: You are (laughter).
HALKIAS: Yeah.
RASCOE: Like, maybe there's something going on here.
HALKIAS: (Laughter) Yeah, a really, really minor deity...
RASCOE: (Laughter).
HALKIAS: Has channeled a very - a barely useful power into me. I can make fun of strangers within 12 seconds.
RASCOE: (Laughter) That's actor and comic Stavros Halkias. I really enjoy your special talent. You are the...
HALKIAS: Thank you.
RASCOE: ...Star and co-writer of the film "Let's Start A Cult," out in theaters now. Thanks for joining us.
HALKIAS: Thank you so much for having me, and I really hope people will see it in theaters. You won't learn anything, you'll just have a good time. I promise you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
RASCOE: And if you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, please call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Just those three digits - 988.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
