Kevin McHale Interview

I want you to take a moment to think back to the weeks leading up to your graduation. Sure, you were excited for the future and all the potential ahead of you, but even so, an overwhelming sense of nostalgia seemed to lurk at every corner. At least, that’s what it felt like for Glee star Kevin McHale, as he and his cast mates walked the halls of McKinley High during the end of their shoot for the show’s sixth and final season. Now that the show has ended, McHale reflects, saying, “It was harder than I thought it would be. I knew it would be sad, but every day there was a new ‘last time’ for this and ‘last time’ for that. By the time we got to the last scene we were pretty emotionally raw, but I was happy to be there with everyone and to have gotten to share this experience with so many incredible people.”
Unless you have spent the last six years in Siberia, you’re definitely aware of the impact that Glee has had on the world. Being in the center of that pop culture phenomenon must have been simultaneously overwhelming and exhilarating, but McHale admits that it’s impossible to narrow down the entire experience to one favorite memory. Although, he says that one of his top moments was the Glee Live! Tour—which, funny enough, my friends and I saw twice. He reminisces on the dreamlike experience, noting that the best part was “getting to travel and perform for our insanely passionate fans night after night in four different countries.”
From that, McHale clearly got a case of the travel bug as he took up the hosting position for E4’s Virtually Famous, which films in the UK. The panel-show, which just wrapped shooting the second season, focuses on social media and YouTube personalities. The third season will be shot later this year. McHale says, “Hosting is terrifying and not a natural thing for me to do, but this not your normal hosting gig. I basically get to sit amongst hilarious comedians and laugh at how great they are, and that I am good at. The people behind the scenes and the comics and celebrities on the show are so funny and brutally honest that it feels more like a chat in my living room. That is important to me and that, I think, is why it’s worked so far!”
On top of that, this year will mark the public release of McHale’s feature film Boychoir, where he stars opposite Dustin Hoffman, Cathy Bates, and Josh Lucas. The film, which was met with remarkable reviews following its premiere last fall at the Toronto International Film Festival, is one of the more serious performances that we’ve seen from McHale. He says that besides the impressive cast, his first introduction with the director, Francois Giard, was really what solidified his desire to be a part of the film. He says, “When I first met with him, we sat and talked about music for the entirety of the conversation. He was so incredibly passionate about the film and the importance of music. I related immediately to that feeling and I wanted to work with him so badly.”
He expands on the experience, admitting that working on that film was the most surreal experience of his life. He says [about his cast mates], “To even get to watch them work was surreal, never mind getting to work with them. More than anything, I learned to let loose and to be openly passionate about every single word, scene, prop, etc. Their excitement and true sincerity on and off screen, after having seen it all and have had such massive careers, was astounding.”
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PHOTOGRAPHER: Ben Miller  STYLIST: Franzy Staedter GROOMER: Hailey Adickes
Kevin McHale Interview “Gleeful Goodbye” originally appeared in Cliché Magazine’s April/May 2015 issue