Note From Tongal: “Interview With Tom Zawacki: Props and Set Dressing by Day, Comedy by Night" is part of a series of Tongal Community-written blog posts that were originally sourced in the Tongal Blog Open Call Project. Read more Tongal Community-written posts here and then Pitch us a topic you'd like to write about for the Tongal Blog!
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Sure, you probably tune into your favorite films and TV shows for the characters and the story - but, do you ever notice the little details that make the world of that story sing? The set pieces and props that characters interact with have the ability to add dimension to the otherwise 2D world up on your screen. Tom Zawacki has worked in Props on NBC’s The Good Place, HBO’s Veep, and Amazon’s Forever, and in Set Dressing on NBC’s Parks and Rec, FX’s The League, and the pilot of Brooklyn 99. Tom also does stand-up comedy and hosts his own web series called Would You Rather. Amid his busy schedule, he was game to answer some of our questions about life on set in the props and set dressing departments.
Adam: What are your daily responsibilities on a set?
Tom: Well right now I work in the props department on this show called The Good Place. The most important thing I do is make sure we're ready for the day. The props for today's scenes are where they need to be and the Assistant Prop Master running the set has everything she needs. Then my secondary responsibilities are I return and put away stuff from the previous day. I make sure we're good for the next day by having all those props where they need to be along with propping up the background if we have any in any of the scenes that day. It might sound like a lot but it's very manageable if you're good at multitasking. Oh, and we're also in charge of the chairs for cast and video village for some reason.
Adam: What is the biggest misconception about your position on the crew?
Tom: That all I do is put out chairs for cast and video village.
Adam: Being on a crew is freelance work, how have you managed to be employed so consistently in your field?
Tom: It really is all about who you know. Every day of work I've had for the last 8 years can be traced back to a two-day call I got to work on Parks and Rec during the beginning of season 4. Those two days turned into me working on the rest of the series from that point on. I was a set dresser on that show and the Prop Master I've been working for, for the past 4 years, I met on Parks and Rec. You just gotta be good at your job and be a human people don't mind being around. That also helps them bring you onto the next show.
Adam: You've worked on some really popular comedies over the last couple of years, how do you conduct yourself around all these famous funny people and still keep it professional?
Tom: Actors are just people, too, and you don't have to treat them super differently. Obviously, you're respectful but you can talk to them about Game of Thrones or whatever you'd talk about with another crew member for the most part.
Adam: What is one of your favorite memories from these shows?
Tom: Well speaking of Game of Thrones, on the Monday after the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie came out, I was working on Parks and Rec at the time. I was talking with another crewmember about a murder that had just happened on Game of Thrones the day before because it's Game of Thrones and Chris Pratt was maybe 8 feet away getting wired with his mic. He overheard our conversation and said, "Hey are you guys talking Game of Thrones, can I join your conversation?" I said of course. He joined our conversation and didn’t walk away until they called him to set. He was literally the new biggest hottest actor on the planet from Guardians of the Galaxy opening the weekend before and he hadn't changed at all. Or that time someone took a picture of me and Tony Hale on the set of Veep. It was this fake Tonight Show set and I was in the host chair and Tony was in the guest chair. Tony and I had spoken briefly about me doing stand up and right before the picture was taken he leaned over and said: "I hope we’re sitting here for real one day." Tony Hale is also one of the nicest people on the planet.
Adam: How do you balance your day job with your overall career goal of being a stand-up comic?
Tom: It's difficult but I try to do what I can. Basically, during the week with the 12 hour days and sometimes longer, it's pretty much impossible to do anything stand up wise during the week. If I'm in a wave of doing new episodes of my web show, Would You Rather, sometimes I can edit when I get home but not always. Weekends are always open mics and my web show when I'm doing it. Some other guys I know just day play constantly and never do a show full time but I rather do a 13 episode season of a show and then take anywhere from 1-3 months off and just focus on comedy full time.
Adam: What is Would You Rather?
Tom: It's my dumb show where I drive around in my car and pick up a guest and we play a game of 'Would You Rather- with fucked up questions I wrote specifically to mess with whoever is in the passenger seat. I put them on a wheel they have to spin so it's somewhat random and I have a FREE PASS they can open if there's a question they don't wanna answer. But they have to do whatever is in the FREE PASS to get out of answering the question. So, it's fun but sometimes awful for the person playing the game. I've had Jim O'Heir from Parks and Rec as a guest and this great director Lynn Shelton on. I try to do around 7 episodes a year, and I'm currently working on the third wave of episodes right now. I don't call them seasons because I don't have enough people watching yet for that to matter. I just slap up the next episode number and move on. You can find them on YouTube or on my website tomzawacki.com.
Adam: That is awesome, what would you like to see happen with Would You Rather?
Tom: My end goal in life is stand up so any other thing I do is to help that. Also, I originally started it to show people that I was funny in a way that wasn't planned and prepared. But if anyone out there likes the show and wants to pick it up and pay me a very small amount of money to do it on a regular basis, I'd do that for sure.
Adam: Any advice for someone reading who wants to do what you do?
Tom: Don't do what I do. I'm no one who should be giving advice. But if you're gonna force me to I'd say just do what you think is funny and hope other people like it, too.
