Interview With Hollywood Lifer Alan Naggar
by Jaden
What’s your dog’s name?
Lulu.
How long have you had her?
8 1/2 years.
How did you find her?
I didn’t. Upstairs Kate, pulled her out of the pool; she was drowning. I was on tour, road-managing for a band. I came back to a Christmas party and there was this dog. Zachary Throne, who is the son of a well known actor Malachi Throne, brought her to the party because they were passing her around because we are not supposed to have dogs in this building. I said, OK, everyone else has done their duty, I will try to find her a home; but nobody had room. I was going to Christmas parties and the like, so I would be sitting there and she would be curled up at my feet. I’d ask people if they wanted a dog. “Even if I wanted a dog, I wouldn’t take that dog; that dog is with you, that’s your dog.” So we ended up together. We’ve been a couple ever since. I’ve been monogamous, I don’t know about her. You want some water?
No, thank you.
We (Lulu and Alan) have traveled all around the country together.
Are you a comedian?
Um, no. I know a lot. I have a sunnier disposition than most comedians I know. It’s no surprise that the clown paints on his smile. I’ve been told I am funny. I don’t know if that is funny in the haha, or funny in the — (Alan frowns to signify that people are laughing at him, and not with him.)
How often do people ask you for directions to the Hollywood sign?
(Laughs.) That’s a good question. I’d say about once a week. My favorite is people on Gower asking where is Gower? People are just thankful that someone is willing to give them directions because most people here don’t do that.
Do you know how to get to the Hollywood sign?
No. I can get you as close as all the way up to Beachwood. How about you?
It took me about five years, but yeah, I can find the Hollywood sign now.
I think if you go all the way up Beachwood, and then further up, and break into the ranch, and then farther up. I hear they are going to be selling it.
How long have you lived in Hollywood?
11 years, I think. Maybe 12. I have lost count. 11 and a half. It’s a long time. I have never lived anywhere that long except maybe with my parents in Manhattan. I still call that home.
Why hollywood?
I was living in Paris. I went back to New York for a month and shot a pilot, then back to Paris. The producer said, “I am going to LA to sell it, you want to come?” So I did and stayed. I felt like people were more interested in me here than in New York where there were (industry) boycotts and strikes. I promised myself never to come here without a job, and then I did just that. It is a very weird and difficult place. It is not an easy town.
As an actor?
As an actor, yes. I have always done a myriad of side jobs. In Paris, I drove a mavette, which is a 
shuttle bus, to and from the metro station in the banlieu to where they worked called Cretuille. Wake up at six and pick up everybody — I was so angry — I was partying until five. I would pick people up, I would make fun of Paris and everybody and so I would have people laughing in the shuttle bus, so people started taking the shuttle bus instead of driving. They suggested I do open mic and I did. I called it “An American in Paris.” I did a one man show.
So, you are a comedian.
I did some TV, some film, and got an agent. It took me three weeks to convince her I could speak French. To be a deaf mute was my first audition, which I booked. The pay was so bad, it was worse than doing extra work in New York. In Paris, there was no union for actors, which is funny because the French have a union for everything. I tried to renegotiate my rate. Lost that job. I learned never to do that again.
For how long were you in Paris?
Two years. It was great. Came back and then had to go right back because my brother got married in Paris.
If you are not a comedian, what would you call yourself?
I’m an actor. I produce as well, but out of necessity.
When I arrived in LA, I didn’t have a job, so I started bouncing at a club, but it was silly because people were much bigger than I was. I tried to get money from a guy from the Dallas Cowboys.
How did that go?
Not so well.
You made enough money to live?
Maybe. I must have. It was tight. It is always tight. If there is a job I’m not going to make any money, I tend to gravitate towards it. It’s a journey every month. Keep my family on their toes. I’ve been pretty lucky.
47th Parallel, my own company, we did some dinner theater at a restaurant in Santa Monica, The Renaissance, which is no longer there. We were the first to do it at Masters Cafe on Third Street.
(Lulu, Alan’s dog, keeps licking my legs through the entire interview.)
What are you doing these days?
I am producing and acting.
We produced Jitney, which won a bunch of awards, won an Ovation, which is like the LA Tony, Best Ensemble and Best Production. We did Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, which also won a bunch of awards.
As a producer, what exactly did you do for them?
With Jitney, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be involved. It was an all Black cast, but I’m not Black. My heritage is from Africa, but nobody listened. Russell Andrews, my producing partner, left town. So I covered for him. When he came back, he said, “No no no, you’re staying, I need your help.” It was a great production.
(Alan shows me a YouTube video winning the Ovation award at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles.)
Was Russell the other one on stage?
Yes, Russell Andrews is a phenomenal actor. Both of us produce to act.
It’s tough to get an audience for theater. That’s frustrating. It’s really difficult to fill 99 seats. A 35-seat house, we can definitely take it there. It’s tough to sustain and afford a show. It’s not cheap to produce theater. I’m trying to produce some Web TV with my writing partner David Burton Levin with whom I am producing One Step Over.
Any tips to survive in Hollywood?
I’m not sure I am surviving. I’d say you just have to remain true to yourself. When you allow yourself to be swallowed up by everything everyone else is doing, you lose yourself.
In the end, it’s about passion.
I have some skills and I could make more money, but my passion is in performing and the performing arts. Though it’s difficult, I am doing what I want to do with a lot of help from my family and friends, which makes me a spoiled brat. Surviving is not evident, but I am grateful and I keep on doing what I want to do.
Support actors and theater in Hollywood, go to Plays 411. You will find lots of exciting modern plays like Herpes Tonight! or Coffee Will Make You Black, and classics like Alice in Wonderland.
To learn more about Alan Naggar, you may visit IMDB, By The Skin of Our Teeth, and Alan Naggar dot com.
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