Ben Schwartz may be playing at Radio City Music Hall this fall, but he remembers a time when the audience wasn’t that crowded.
“I once did a yoga studio with two people,” she said in a recent exclusive interview. “I once did impromptu shows with maybe three or four people in the audience.”
Schwartz, 41, did not perform in front of anyone.
“I was a trainee in the Honest Citizens’ Brigade to pay for my classes because I couldn’t afford them,” he explained. “I would do the garbage and the recycling and show people where their seats were.
“And then when everyone was gone, I said to the director of the theater, ‘Can I go on stage with two of my friends? (Adam Pally and Gil Ozeri). Just so we could improvise on the scene where Amy Poehler just appeared.
“And so for 10 minutes, he would let us improvise in front of anyone on this empty stage. And we – this is some of my best impromptu memories – had the best time… performing for anyone on that stage was heavenly.
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The Bronx-born artist’s life took a turn a few years later when she starred as Jean-Ralphio Saperstein in the Amy Poehler sitcom “Parks and Recreation.”
Despite appearing on shows like “House of Lies” and “The Afterparty” since and voicing “Sonic the Hedgehog” since then, Schwartz says he’s still best known for “Parks and Rec” despite only appearing at 22. sections.
Schwartz can now be seen in Nicholas Hoult’s horror comedy “Renfield,” in which he plays the tortured sidekick of his narcissistic boss, Dracula (Nicolas Cage), who is freed after centuries of slavery.
The “Space Force” star plays the son of a mob boss and joked, “I feel like he’s spent the last seven years in the mob researching the role and fooling a lot of people.”
He said it was a dream come true to star opposite Nic Cage, especially when portraying the Oscar-winning Dracula.
“The idea that he came in full Dracula (costume),” she exclaimed. It was so easy to act because you just look at it, it looked so scary. It was amazing, it was so much fun.”
However, Schwartz admitted that he wasn’t a big Drac fan before making the movie.
“Funny enough, ‘Dracula: Dead and Loving It’ just because I’m a New York Jew,” he explained. “I probably saw [that] Mostly Mel Brooks’ Dracula movie. So it’s like my job”
“Renfield” hits theaters across the country on April 14.