|
When General Hospital‘s executive producer Frank Valentini heard John Oliver wanted to appear on a soap, he didn’t waste any time making it happen.
“My reaction was, ‘Let’s go for it,’” Valentini tells TV Insider. “The funny thing is, I always watch his show [Last Week Tonight], but I was a little behind, so I didn’t see that episode [in March], and a lot of people from my staff sent me the link. When I watched it, I said, ‘Oh, we gotta go for this,’ and everybody was very excited. The timing worked out perfectly because we needed somebody to be Z, the head of the WSB.”
Valentini wanted Oliver’s character to make a memorable first impression. “Well, when the writers wrote Z’s entrance, they wrote it that he came in a big black town car,” he relays. “And I said, ‘No, no, no,’ and they said, ‘Why? What’s wrong with that?’ And I said, ‘There’s nothing wrong with that, but we’re going to take it up a notch because it’s John Oliver. We’re going to have Z enter in a helicopter.’ So, he made his entrance in a helicopter.”
Well, kind of. “For safety and for protocol, we had a stunt double in the helicopter when it was descending,” Valentini explains. “Then when it stopped, and the blades were completely still, we put John in, and we see him coming out of the helicopter. It’s just a grander entrance, especially since it’s the culmination of a big story. We did a whole sequence on remote at this warehouse, which was really great, and we were able to land the helicopter there at the same time. It’s one of the best sequences we’ve ever done.”
Pulling off such an elaborate stunt wasn’t without its nerve-racking moments. “John thought it was very cool that he was getting out of a helicopter and that his entrance was made with two highly armed security guards,” Valentini recalls. “But when the helicopter guy was doing the safety talk, he was talking about the tail blade, which is very, very hard to see. He said, ‘You know, if you run into that, it’ll kill you before you know it.’ And John and I looked at each other and went, ‘Gulp,’ like, ‘Holy cow.’”
Any nerves quickly faded, and Oliver quickly won over everyone on set. “I think because we work with so many different people, it’s always great when someone new enters the production team,” Valentini points out. “And John was affable and really generous in terms of taking photos with people and learning about the show. He was very curious about who was who and who did what. On day one, he only had one line. The next day, he had 20 pages, and he was amazing. He remembered every line, did a great job, and it was a lot of fun to have him on the set.”
Laura Wright (Carly Spencer), who shares several scenes with Oliver, was equally impressed. In an exclusive clip for TV Insider, Wright praises her costar. “I have to say that I thought John was going to show up, and it was going to be a joke, and it was the exact opposite,” she says. “He showed up, he knew his lines, he was serious…. He didn’t make fun of us, and that’s something that a lot of people have done in the past, is make fun of daytime television, and I take a bit of an offense to that… He showed up with so much respect and excitement to be here and just crushed it.”
While Oliver impressed his colleagues behind the scenes, on camera, his character shakes up Port Charles. Another of Oliver’s scene partners is Eden McCoy, who plays Josslyn Jacks, the newest member of the spy organization. “He tries to get information out of Josslyn, and we see how committed and tough she is and what a good WSB agent she is,” Valentini previews. “She makes a deal with him to give him what he wants, and she gets something she wants, which is very personal.”
That’s only the beginning of Z’s impact on Port Charles. “We’re headed for a big change because Z comes to save face for the WSB after Cullum [Andrew Hawkes] has been wreaking havoc and using the WSB for his own personal gain,” Valentini notes. “So, these appearances help right the wrongs of the WSB. But Z is keeping a huge secret that affects a lot of people in the town. And then he interacts with another character, who’s already in a couple, and openly flirts with her.”
Oliver came with a short wish list, and the show happily accommodated it. “One of his requests was to be slapped, so he gets slapped by somebody in the show,” previews Valentini.
While Z’s storyline has major ramifications, Valentini still laughs about how the whole collaboration came together, after Oliver discovered that Stephen A. Smith has been playing Brick since 2016. “Well, everything goes back to Stephen A. Smith,” he muses. “Stephen A. Smith is the origin of everything. But there have been a lot of celebrities over the years that have wanted to make appearances or cameos or be on the show. A couple of years ago, we had Sarah Sherman from Saturday Night Live.”
And Oliver isn’t the last surprise the show has planned. “We’re having another special guest who’s a big fan of the show at the end of the year,” Valentini reveals. “Between John and Stephen and all the other actors that have come and gone in the past, it’s always nice to have someone new in the mix, and it’s fun to get to know them while they’re working.”
Beyond the excitement of celebrity guest stars, Valentini says the attention surrounding Oliver’s appearance has been a welcome bonus. “As we’ve found out, so many people watch the show and love the show,” he says. “And since we’re on all the time, it’s sometimes hard to bring attention to it because there’s no end of season and start of season, and there’s no on-air hiatus. So, it’s always fun to have someone to help us call attention to the show and how good the stories are and how much fun it is to watch.”
And if Oliver wanted to return as Z, Valentini would welcome him back with open arms. “In a heartbeat,” confirms the exec.
And Oliver isn’t the last surprise the show has planned. “We’re having another special guest who’s a big fan of the show at the end of the year,” Valentini reveals. “Between John and Stephen and all the other actors that have come and gone in the past, it’s always nice to have someone new in the mix, and it’s fun to get to know them while they’re working.”
Beyond the excitement of celebrity guest stars, Valentini says the attention surrounding Oliver’s appearance has been a welcome bonus. “As we’ve found out, so many people watch the show and love the show,” he says. “And since we’re on all the time, it’s sometimes hard to bring attention to it because there’s no end of season and start of season, and there’s no on-air hiatus. So, it’s always fun to have someone to help us call attention to the show and how good the stories are and how much fun it is to watch.”
And if Oliver wanted to return as Z, Valentini would welcome him back with open arms. “In a heartbeat,” confirms the exec.
|
John Oliver’s ‘General Hospital’ Role Revealed: How the Cast Reacted to His Debut...