"Brews Brothers" Star Alan Aisenberg Chats About The New Netflix Comedy
Netflix's "Brews Brothers" follows two estranged brothers, Wilhelm (Alan Aisenberg) and Adam Rodman (Mike Castle), who find themselves running a brewery together. Each one is a beer genius… a braumeister, but they couldn’t be more different in their beer-making techniques and personalities. A lot of times in a show you see two people who complete each other. These two don’t even make a full person. Watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/_mKnwFSWEoM
Video transcript
[THEME MUSIC]
MATT FORTE: Hello, world. What is up? Welcome to "Build at Home." I'm your host, Matt Forte. And I'm coming to you from my home, as is our guest, who we'll get to you in just a second. But before we get started, a little bit of business at the top. This is super important. With everything going on, it's really easy for certain things to get lost in all the noise, but kids in need have missed more than 202 million meals at school due to closures, what with corona and all.
And with nokidhungry.org, we're helping schools and community groups find new ways to feed these kids, which is great. But we need your support. So check out nokidhungry.org. Go there and see how you can pitch in and how you can help do that between all of the shows that you're binging and watching. Be a part of a really awesome solution. Very good.
Now our next guest stars-- speaking of binging and watching-- the new Netflix original series, "Brews Brothers," which follows two estranged brothers find themselves running a movie together. From the creator of "The League" and the writer-producer of "That 70s Show," this show is absolutely nuts and quite a welcome distraction from everything going on outside. Please welcome star of "Brews Brothers," Alan Eisenberg is here. Alan, how you doing, man?
ALAN AISENBERG: Good. Really happy to be here-- here being my home.
MATT FORTE: Yes, thank you for being there.
ALAN AISENBERG: A normal place to do interviews.
MATT FORTE: Yeah, a totally normal thing that everybody is-- well, it is now. This is what we're all doing.
ALAN AISENBERG: Absolutely. Yeah, this is the new norm.
MATT FORTE: Are you-- are you in New York? Is that where you are?
ALAN AISENBERG: I am in New York, yeah.
MATT FORTE: Yeah. Oh man. What a time to be in New York.
ALAN AISENBERG: Yeah.
MATT FORTE: I saw you-- not that I was stalking-- this is research, part of my job-- I know you celebrated your birthday solo last week. Happy belated.
ALAN AISENBERG: Thank you very much. Yeah.
MATT FORTE: How's the quarantine going, man? How are you-- how are you holding up?
ALAN AISENBERG: Quarantine is good. Today is 15 days. I started a little early, I think.
MATT FORTE: Smart, smart.
ALAN AISENBERG: You know, doing whatever I can to flatten the curve. It's good. I'm talking to my walls. They're very fun.
MATT FORTE: Nice.
ALAN AISENBERG: But yeah, a small sacrifice to kind of keep the hospitals at bay and let our medical professionals do what they gotta do.
MATT FORTE: 100%. Yeah, I find exposed brick has the nicest of responses when talking to walls. That is-- that's not bad. That's pretty nice.
ALAN AISENBERG: I think that's why stand up clubs, you know, have them in the back, right?
MATT FORTE: Exactly.
ALAN AISENBERG: You've gotta.
MATT FORTE: I saw you had done as well, the push up challenge, which was fun. You're keeping busy.
ALAN AISENBERG: I kind of did it. I saw everyone [INAUDIBLE]. Everyone was challenging each other, which I think is great. You got to stay active.
MATT FORTE: Have to.
ALAN AISENBERG: But I wanted to put a spin on it. So I did it naked from the waist down.
MATT FORTE: Which is how I do all the interviews, frankly, because now we can.
ALAN AISENBERG: Yeah, 50/50 shot we're both going pants right now.
MATT FORTE: Exactly. And to be fair, if you ever went to the studio, I did them there too, pantsless. They just never shot above the weight, so nobody knew that.
ALAN AISENBERG: Absolutely. Everyone's says when Matt is doing an interview, no wide shots. That's the rule.
MATT FORTE: That's-- you know, I can tell you're a fan.
ALAN AISENBERG: It'd be a [INAUDIBLE] shot at that point, I guess, right?
MATT FORTE: Yeah, at that point it would be. As someone who has a very bingeable launching on April 10-- nice plug, thank you-- what are you watching? What are you catching up on? Are you rewatching stuff? What's in the queue right now for Alan? What are you doing?
ALAN AISENBERG: I just started "The West Wing," which I've always wanted to do.
MATT FORTE: Really?
ALAN AISENBERG: It has been at the top of my list and I've never had the energy or the time. And I was very excited to plow through it. And then I'm realizing that it is the exact opposite of escapism. So it's an awful time to watch "The West Wing." But I get an episode a day. And after that episode, I'm, like, cool-- now something light and fun. So you know, go into the office every so often, and just to watch an episode of something silly. I just re watched all of Tim Robinson's show, which-- "I Think You Should Leave." That's just joy. "Astronomy Club" also on Netflix is incredible. Yeah, just watching like, light stuff, and then "The West Wing."
MATT FORTE: Nice. And then "West Wing" to just keep you grounded.
ALAN AISENBERG: Exactly.
MATT FORTE: It's so funny, man. A lot of people are, like, I'm going to learn a language, and I'm going to, like-- I'm going to become a carpenter, I'm gonna learn a skill. And it made me feel like a pile of garbage, because I was, like, I haven't seen all the "Fast and Furious" movies, so I feel like you should check those out.
ALAN AISENBERG: Sure. you can get a degree in those, so that's like learning, you know, a different language, I guess, right? Someone must have a masters in the "Fast and Furious" movies.
MATT FORTE: There's enough films that there's a class that can be taught on those. Once you reach a certain level in a franchise, a professor somewhere figures out how to teach a class on it.
ALAN AISENBERG: Yeah.
MATT FORTE: All right, talk to-- me speaking about bingeable stuff, talking about all these different things and all these different shows, you got a really great show that's coming in "Brews Brothers" on Netflix. I got a chance to see a bunch of them. It's super funny. How did you get involved with this show? How did this all kind of come together for you, man?
ALAN AISENBERG: I got an email about a year ago-- no, maybe May of last year. I was down in Atlanta shooting a movie with Jon Stewart and Steve Carell. And I was down there in the middle of nowhere in Atlanta and got email being like, hey, would you put yourself on tape for the new Jeff Schaefer, Greg Schaffer show? And I went, yes, whatever I have to do.
MATT FORTE: Totally.
ALAN AISENBERG: I've been such a fan of Jeff's, you know. "Curb" and "The League" changed my life comedically in terms of how I look at comedy structure. And the shows that Greg has worked on-- "That 70s Show," "Mad About You"-- like, these guys are the dudes that I've always wanted to work with. So I made this tape alone in my hotel room with my buddy on FaceTime and kind of just threw it out there thinking, let's see what happens. And a couple weeks later, we got a call saying, hey, will you fly out to LA and, you know, read with a couple of the other brothers, and read for Greg and Jeff? And got on the first flight there.
Went there kind of terrified. Did my thing, came back. And then we shot a season of television. It's kind of crazy.
MATT FORTE: It's pretty nuts, man. One of the things-- I was, of course, a huge fan of "The League" and this show is a different show entirely, but you could feel that it's from Jeff in that, you know, "The League" was a show that even if you didn't know about fantasy sports, you could tell the guys that made this show love it and know this world. Here's another thing where it's, like, this is made either by guys that love beer or really did their research and know this world. What was your level of familiarity with the brewing community in all of these different terms, and these in jokes, and all these different things that kind of flesh out this world?
ALAN AISENBERG: Sure. Yeah, I was pretty familiar with it on the consumption side.
MATT FORTE: Aren't we all, right?
ALAN AISENBERG: Yeah. And it was never-- you know, was always a big beer guy, was never really that educated on the behind the scenes stuff. And then, you know, was a big fan of like any double IPA. I could drink it whenever-- the thing that just brought me so much joy. And then the part of the story that I didn't tell of getting the show is I got the offer to do the show on a Wednesday. And on a Monday, I was diagnosed with Celiac disease.
MATT FORTE: No way.
ALAN AISENBERG: Which-- so on Monday, a doctor told me you can never drink beer again, and on Wednesday, I got offered the lead of a show exclusively about beer. So I went from being a fan of the consumption side to learning everything about the behind the scenes and not being able to drink any of it. Which was very interesting to spend a summer in a brewery looking at things that you will never drink. But like you were saying-- I mean, Greg knows his stuff in terms of the beer world.
You know, a lot of the little quirks of Robin's Brewery from the show are from real breweries in LA that he has frequented. We had a bunch of people on staff from the brewery that we shot at who were there every day. So if we had, you know, how do you do this, these guys were always there to make sure it felt authentic. And I know we've shown the show to a bunch of beer heads and people who work at very big breweries, and I think we got it right. I think they feel like it's authentic and a good representation of the behind the scenes of that world.
MATT FORTE: Yeah. Did you end up-- since you're going on tours, were there, like, books that you read, movies you watched? Like, how do you immerse yourself in this world and learn so much, but also, not be able to sample any of it or just have to understand the principles of it?
ALAN AISENBERG: Yeah, I mean the best way to immerse yourself is to literally live in it like we shot on location at a brewery in downtown LA. I spent every day for six weeks surrounded by cicerones. By, you know, people who live and drink beer. And you pick it up just by osmosis and having those guys around. You know, I'm kind of grateful that I wasn't able to drink it, because six weeks in a brewery shooting, 16 hours a day, and then being able to like, have a beer or going anywhere would have been really bad.
MATT FORTE: It's a slippery slope, man. That is a real slippery slope. You know, you talk about how is based on, like, real world brewers and breweries and stuff-- I was doing my research for this and I saw-- I don't know if-- you guys must know this. In Maine, Friar's Brewhouse is, like, a real place. They're wearing the robes, the whole nine. I was blown away. I thought that was just, like, a bit for episode 4 or whatever, but no, it's a whole, like, legit thing. Were you aware of those guys when you were doing your research and stuff?
ALAN AISENBERG: Not really. I didn't know until we got to that episode at the table read. And I went over to Greg, I'm like, so how much of this is like from you? And he's, like, no, this is real, and this exists. And, like, there is a massive beer community over there of monks who brew beer. And they're really good at it and really well respected for it. And I don't think they come to America and throw massive ragers like they do in our show, but I think--
MATT FORTE: That we know of.
ALAN AISENBERG: That we know of. I mean, maybe they'll start doing it now. They'll be inspired and say--
MATT FORTE: Everything is possible.
ALAN AISENBERG: --how are we not doing this? But yeah, I mean, that is all-- you know, a lot of this is made up, and from Greg's mind, and, you know, kind of heightened. But the base of the show is very real, much like "The League." These are guys who love beer and that's the baseline. And then we go from there.
MATT FORTE: Yeah, for sure. That same episode-- I think it's episode 4-- is when we first got a glimpse, I believe, of Flula Borg, who shows up.
ALAN AISENBERG: Flula Borg.
MATT FORTE: And Flula's scary. I had a chance to talk to Flula a while ago. That dude is a character and a half. If you ask him, when did you realize you were funny, he goes, I'm not funny. I'm not-- like, he's just, like, a total unique individual. What was it like working with Flula on set? What was he like?
ALAN AISENBERG: Oh, that guy is incredible. Our show was very loose, we had scripts, but the show is very improv-heavy. And every take with him, something different, something absurd. And all of it works. I can't imagine what they the trouble that they had in the edit being, like, well, this one is good. This one's better. Like, every interest-- I was watching the episodes a couple weeks ago, and little things-- oopsie and daisy when he smacks people together. Just the massive crazy German he throws out. It's all, like, he is the real deal, and incredible. And when I saw that we got him, I was like, oh man, we're set if he's--
MATT FORTE: Yeah.
ALAN AISENBERG: Yeah.
MATT FORTE: Yeah, exactly. He operates-- it's just like one of those speeds that like you try to keep up, and all you can do is just react. Like, he's just so funny and so fascinating
ALAN AISENBERG: Yeah, and I'm very lucky that all I had to do was react. Because if I had to, I wouldn't have been able to.
MATT FORTE: It's tough, man. Talking about great chemistry and great people on the show, talk about working with Mike. You guys play these brothers that are at ends and don't get along, but do, and have this rivalry and all that. What was it like working with him? And did you guys have conversations before you ever got to set the kind of figure out what your relationship was going to be like?
ALAN AISENBERG: We definitely had conversations-- less about the work. When I-- so we shot the show in LA. The day I flew out before I had a table read at Netflix, Mike and I went out for drinks and dinner just to talk about our lives, and get to know each other. And I don't think we talked about the show once. I think we sat there for three or four hours and just, like, really clicked. We have a lot of similar interests, a lot of similar personality traits. And then we a lot of different ways.
You know, he's a Chicago boy who lives in LA. I'm New York born and bred. We play differently, but we have enough overlap in terms of respect with how he operates, how I operate. And really, from that first dinner, it was, like, great, we get it. We know how we're going to work together. We know how it's going to separate and how, you know, these brothers-- we can believe them as brothers, but we can also see that they're different.
And so we felt that that Sunday night. And then Monday morning at the table read, it was great, we got it. We know exactly what we're doing.
MATT FORTE: That's it. Do you have siblings? Do you?
ALAN AISENBERG: I have a younger sister, yeah.
MATT FORTE: Got it. OK, so different relationship. Totally different religion.
ALAN AISENBERG: Yeah, she's watching the show right now, and I keep getting texts from her. Yeah-- we can wave to Gabby.
MATT FORTE: Hey, Gabby, what's up?
ALAN AISENBERG: And even my dad, who watched the show, it was like, oh, that's what you would be like if you had a brother. And I was, oh, great.
MATT FORTE: Yeah. That's what it would be like. We're going to get going in just a second cause we're running out of time, but I want to one, remind everybody that it's premiering on April 10, and they can go check out the trailer. It's airing Friday, which should be today when this airs. But before we go anywhere, you mentioned that you were working on Jon Stewart's upcoming film, "Irresistible." I saw that on your IMDB. I was excited to ask you about that. I think it's the second directorial film. And just any stories that you have from that experience. I mean, the cast is crazy, he's crazy. What was that like?
ALAN AISENBERG: That was a totally surreal experience. You know, I'm in the movie for a blip, but I was down there for, like, two or three weeks shooting. Because the movie was so improvised, Jon had us there and kind of messing around and seeing what worked and what didn't. But yeah, to show up-- the first scene of the entire movie both in terms of what we shot and what is in the movie is Steve Carell and I talking.
And, like, to show up to set the first day and meet Jon, and then meet Steve, and be like, OK, you guys are going to improvise for two hours. And like, that experience was just insane. And very little of it is in the movie as, you know, this stuff happens.
MATT FORTE: That's how it works. Yeah.
ALAN AISENBERG: But that was just to watch Carrell-- like, you know, every take better and better and better than the last. And something totally different. And it all weaves together. And the movie is really funny and not what you expect. I think the trailer does a really job-- a really good job of setting up kind of this premise, but the movie is not what you think.
MATT FORTE: Yeah.
ALAN AISENBERG: And that was my warm up. I mean, like, if I-- if I hadn't done that movie, I wouldn't have done "Brews Brothers," brothers spending two or three weeks with Jon Stewart, and Steve Carell, and Rose Byrne, and Chris Cooper, and Will Sasso, and all these guys, and watching them improvise and work. And getting to work with Natasha again-- Natasha Leone-- that was my warm up that got me into the headspace of, like, OK, funny improvising. All right, what am I doing? Great. "Brews," let's see if I can come take what I learned there--
MATT FORTE: And I can go carry this thing now. And then I can work on this. Did you ever-- I know this is, like, part of the-- just part of the gig-- but did you ever find yourself-- as someone-- you know, you mentioned you dipped into the office for comfort and whatnot. Did you have to pull yourself back into the moment? Were there times when you were working across Steve and you're, like, holy crap, that's Steve Carell. I'm sitting right here. Or were you able to focus and stay present and not get lost in just the crazy the reality of that situation?
ALAN AISENBERG: He is such a normal guy that it was so easy to-- I mean, like, we only work together for a little bit, but, like, to call him Steve didn't feel that weird, because he was such just a guy. And there to make this movie as best as he can make it. And was 100% there. And we were talking about, you know, his kids, and what's it like to work not near your house, right? To be in Georgia as opposed to LA.
Yeah, I mean, really, on the way there and on the way back, I was, like, oh man, I just got to play around with Steve Carell. Luckily, it didn't happen while we were shooting, but on the way there, I was like, what? Yeah. It's pretty crazy.
MATT FORTE: [INAUDIBLE].
ALAN AISENBERG: You know, if I had to make a list of people I wanted to work with, he was up there.
MATT FORTE: Yeah, I can believe it. I believe it, for sure. Well, Alan, bunch of stuff. One, congratulations on this show. "Brews Brothers," which is premiering April 10 on Netflix. And you can check it out there. Two, sincerely, thank you for taking time and doing this. Important things that you're safe and you're healthy and you look great. So thank you for taking time from your schedule to hang out. Talk to us about this thing. I really appreciate it, man.
I'll remind everybody once again-- April 10, "Brews Brothers" on Netflix. And also, nokidhungry.org. Or I started off talking about it, I'll just remind you again at the end. Hit up nokidhungry.org and see how you can pitch in and help support kids getting their meals. Alan, thank you-- anything else you want to tell the world before we get out of here?
ALAN AISENBERG: Stay safe, stay home. Let's flatten this curve. And hug your doctor next time you see him, because they're super heroes.
MATT FORTE: Yeah. Or bump elbows with your doctor.
ALAN AISENBERG: Yeah, exactly. It depends on when we're seeing them.
MATT FORTE: Give your doctor a head nod from across the room to signify that you appreciate all the work they're doing.
ALAN AISENBERG: Absolutely. An emoji thumbs up if you're on texting terms.
MATT FORTE: Even better. There we go, the more distance, the better. Alan, thank you so much. And thank you to everybody who's watching at home. Stay safe, everybody. Wash your hands.
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