“Flaked” and “The Lego Batman Movie” star Will Arnett brings a lot of experience to his love for Chicago.
“I’ve gone to a lot of shows in L.A., in Toronto, in New York and Vegas. But I really think Chicago audiences are the best. I’m not just saying that because you’re from Chicago,” said the actor and comedian, who has been to a few Second City shows in his time. “I simply think Chicagoans ‘get’ comedy in a way people in other places don’t.”
Having said that, Arnett noted that “being Canadian, I have always felt there’s also a synergy between Chicago and Canada — especially Toronto. There’s like the same vibe in those two towns.”
Asked for his favorite Chicago memory, Arnett recalled, “I’ve had so many good days in Chicago, but one in particular stands out for a funny reason. First we went to a White Sox game on the South Side, and then we jumped on the L train and rode up to Wrigley Field and caught a Cubs game. … Then we went record shopping. It was a classic Chicago day — finished off with some great food, packed with a million carbs, surrounded by a bunch of really cool people.”
On his Netflix series “Flaked,” releasing its second season Friday, Arnett plays Chip, a self-styled self-help guru who is desperately in need of a lot of help himself. Talking about Chip’s struggles with his own sobriety and infrequent connection to honesty, Arnett quipped that “when we started the show, Mark [Chappell] and I wanted to investigate a character who had a lot of things going on that I didn’t like in other people.
“However, as we got into this project, I started noticing that some of the stuff I do in dealing with my own issues was popping up! It’s not that this is autobiographical, but I do borrow heavily at times from my own life — and that can be both scary and weird. But if we wanted to do a show that’s authentic, then I had to be honest and authentic myself — both as a writer and as an actor.”
