Triumph the Insult Comic Dog yapped at his host (center) to kick off the second season of Park Bench With Steve Buscemi, with (from left) Geo Orlando, Steve’s brother Michael Buscemi and Anthony Laciura. Courtesy A decade before Kareem Rahma clipped a microphone to a Metro card and started asking New Yorkers for their Subway Takes, Steve Buscemi created an Emmy-winning talk show by chatting with folks on a park bench.
Buscemi had come up with the idea after directing a series of promotional shorts for the band Vampire Weekend, during which he met carpenter Geo Orlando. “I pulled him into the scene, we went on a park bench and did a little scene with the singer Grimes,” Buscemi told Time in 2015. “Geo was so natural and just a great sidekick, if you will, that I said to my producing partner and our producing team, ‘I think I can build a whole show out of Geo and I on park benches.’ ”
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AOL Originals thought so too, and Park Bench With Steve Buscemi debuted as a web series in May 2014. It featured the Brooklyn-born actor-director and his sidekick lugging their park bench all over New York to interview guests both famous — Chris Rock, Rosanne Cash, Fred Armisen, GZA and Mayor Bill de Blasio — and non-famous, such as Buddhist nun Ani Trime Lhamo. Buscemi, who was working on the final season of Boardwalk Empire at the same time, served as director and host and shot 12 episodes over five days. The series earned an Emmy nomination for short form nonfiction program that year.
The second season, Buscemi brought on guests including John Turturro, Debi Mazar, Paul Auster, then Public Advocate Letitia James and John Oliver. Park Bench won outstanding short form variety series in 2016. Of the show’s simple, informal approach, Buscemi told THR at the time, “I don’t know that I’m a great interviewer, but I do like to talk to people.”
This story first appeared in a June stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
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