Byron Bowers Talks ‘Lady in the Lake,’ Comedy, Car-Loving Community

It’s about 8:15 within the morning on a heat, midsummer Friday about 40 miles north-northeast of the Hollywood TMZ, as I attempt to preserve tempo with the brown Porsche 911 in entrance of me.

We’re winding by way of the again canyons of Angeles Crest Freeway in Angeles Nationwide Forest on the best way to Newcomb’s Ranch for the Good Vibes Breakfast Membership. I decide up the walkie-talkie within the entrance seat of the Hyundai Elantra N — the tricked-out sport model of the model’s sedan — and radio over, “Don’t watch for me, preserve going.”

Moments later, the brown 911 — delightfully referred to as “Rolling Espresso Bean” by its proprietor, actor and comic Byron Bowers — speeds off by way of the straightaways and esses of Little Tujunga Canyon till it’s a smudge within the distance.

Good Vibes Breakfast Membership isn’t a automobile meet and it’s not a automobile present; it’s a spot the place individuals who love vehicles can spend a morning ingesting espresso, discussing their rides and — in a city the place you must be at all times on — let down their guard and simply be a member of a car-loving neighborhood.

I first obtained to know Bowers from vehicles and seeing him at automotive occasions round Los Angeles, however these days, it’s arduous to not know who Bowers is, from his years as a humorist and on to his 2022 FX particular Byron Bowers: Religious N***a, directed by Alma Har’el. (When requested why he named it that, Bowers replies, half jokingly, “as a result of folks like you may’t say it”) As an actor, he’s had roles as Meldrick Honey in The Chi, Percy in Honey Boy and Rome in Concrete Cowboy. And now, portraying Slappy Johnson within the Natalie Portman-led Apple TV+ sequence Woman within the Lake (created by Har’el), Bowers, enjoying an unemployed husband who takes a stand-up comedy gig, has come into his personal.

“I began going to automobile meets in 2011 after which I simply light away, however I simply got here again arduous with the 911,” says Bowers, who’s a consulting producer on Woman within the Lake, “It was through the pandemic, when all you might do was drive and after I confirmed up at Good Vibes, everybody knew who I used to be.”

Good Vibes — and the phrases ring true — is the brainchild of Jay Ryan and spouse Nicole (who lately handed away after an extended sickness). It’s a automobile neighborhood in contrast to some other. The outpouring of affection and compassion for Jay and Nicole, is an extension of that neighborhood. “I felt part of the neighborhood instantly,” says actor Phil Morris, finest recognized from his portrayal of Jackie Chiles on Seinfeld. “I knew individuals who have been already going, after which they launched me to Jay and Nicole, who have been instrumental on this neighborhood. I’m in a state of affairs the place folks know me primarily from Seinfeld — and so they’re enormous Seinfeld followers — so that they have been simply thrilled to have me up there and so they have been so welcoming and supportive.”

Bowers has at all times had a love for vehicles, maybe it’s his engineering mindset — he graduated with an engineering diploma from Southern Polytechnic State College — and Bowers likes to tinker. “An essential rule for me so far as cars is: I can’t drive inventory. I’m going to vary one thing. My 911 has customized modifications to enhance dealing with. It has some inner inside updates in addition to some exterior beauty updates to make the automobile look timeless.”

Speaking with Bowers and watching his work, it’s arduous to not marvel if he’s a dramatic actor with some comedy chops or a comic who goes tremendous duper deep. 

When requested how he views himself, Bowers, after an extended pause, replies: “As a storyteller. I believe that’s a part of the issue that the sport has with me. I ease pressure — if you wish to put it spiritually — I create pressure after which I launch the stress. That’s what I’m good at doing. Suppose if dualism was an individual. So if it’s gentle, I’m gonna make it darkish, and if it’s darkish, I’m gonna make it gentle. That’s why I believe I battle in comedy generally, as a result of I’m gonna go darkish with it.”

Bowers, who has been working as a stand-up since 2005 and moved to Los Angeles in 2008, began out as a extra conventional comic and over time and segued right into a comedy-as-catharsis type of storytelling, referring to every little thing from psychological well being points and schizophrenia to household dynamics, drug abuse and race in America — all of the whereas preserving it actually humorous. 

When requested how his viewers has modified over this 12 months, Bowers says, “I believe it’s individuals who have accepted life. Went by way of some kind of traumatic expertise, proper? And so they ain’t afraid to chuckle at these issues.” Bowers nonetheless commonly does stand-up — you may catch him preserving his comedy sense sharp at West Hollywood’s Comedy Retailer — and plans to tour, “however now it’s about which story do I wish to inform.”

Bowers, who has labored with administrators Steven Soderbergh and Olivier Assayas and creatives like Lena Waithe and Donald Glover, says his transition wasn’t at all times straightforward. “Among the greatest issues that helped me transition to the performing aspect is assembly those that noticed extra in me than the powers to be. Like assembly [casting director] Carmen Cuba, who performed a important position in my transition into dramatic performing: her trusting me to knock out any of the roles she fights for me out of the park. Folks should not solely imagine in you but in addition be keen to battle for you, and it’s essential to knock it out of the park.”

Har’el, who Bowers began relationship a couple of years earlier than he filmed Honey Boy, was part of his transformation. “Courting a filmmaker offers me entry to an schooling on present enterprise outdoors of comedy.” stated Bowers, “Hollywood generally tries to lock me right into a field and after I don’t match, they prefer to solid you apart. That’s why Alma created Slappy, who wasn’t within the Woman within the Lake ebook. Alma wrote that half particularly for me to play to show all of my abilities. Comedy and drama and storytelling.”

I requested Bowers how he put collectively the stand-up scenes from the angle of the Nineteen Sixties set interval piece as Slappy Johnson, “It was solely purported to be one minute and so they shot that and yelled ‘Minimize, let’s do it once more’,” explains Bowers in his deep southern drawl. “However when the extras got here in — you understand how jokes are, like when you hit, it’s just like the rug has been pulled out from below you and you must preserve going. So I’m now tagging it now proper, and so they go more durable and more durable and so they simply preserve laughing, after which that’s how I ended up being like 20 minutes.”

I’m reminded of the story as I go away Good Vibes and look out my automobile window and see Bowers, surrounded by a gaggle of fellow automobile lovers, laughing as if there isn’t a tomorrow.