Lortel Awards Host Taran Killam on Being a Theater Nerd, Plans to Reign Again in Hamilton and Love for Little Shop's Ellen Greene

After turning in delicious performances as King George in Hamilton and Orin Scrivello, D.D.S. in the 2015 Little Shop of Horrors at City Center, Taran Killam has officially made the leap from SNL standout to Broadway musical comedy star (wife Cobie Smulders is also now treading the boards in Present Laughter). With a hosting gig at the Lucille Lortel Awards on Sunday, May 7, Broadway.com wanted to catch up with the funny guy to find out more about his leap to the stage.

Hi Taran!
Hi there. I just attended my first Broadway Show League softball game and won! Everything is downhill from here.

Which show’s team are you on?
Hamilton. I was in the cast during sign-up.

And which show’s team got their ass whooped?
[Laughs.] No ass whooping, but we definitely put Groundhog Day in its place!

You are so Broadway right now. Playing for the Show League, you just finished your run in Hamilton, your wife in Present Laughter, hosting the Lortels this weekend…
We’re crazy-immersed in the world of New York theater and it feels right.

Was this the dream from the start?
[Laughs.] I would say no! It was definitely on my radar—and getting to perform in Hamilton very much felt like winning some sort of contest—but I moved to New York to start on Saturday Night Live, which was the dream for so long. And when I found out last season was my last and we had our kids in school and our life was very much here in New York, it was a fun surprise to have these opportunities.

Hosting the Lortels: stressful or easy-breezy?
I’ve been told I should treat it as easy-breezy, but I’m putting a fair amount of stress upon myself to do research… They’re not televised so I feel like some sort of noir detective trying to find out what I’ve gotten myself into. I hear it’s a pleasant, celebratory award show and environment. I’ve privileged to be a part of it.

Doing your research, huh? What can you tell me about Miss Lucille Lortel?
[Laughs.] Um… She has an award named after her… It’s been running for 32 years… It honors the best and brightest of off-Broadway… She shared her first name with a famous red-headed sitcom star, which is very cool. Am I forgetting any bullet points?

There’s a robust Wikipedia page if you need it. But I don’t think you’ll be grilled on Sunday. Were you interested in theater as a kid? Did you star in any of the high school musicals?
There was some of that. I did a pretty stellar Che in Evita. I was accepted to the UCLA musical theater department as a major the first year that became a track. But comedy took over quickly and derailed me.

Were you always funny? Was your Che actually hilarious?
The funniest thing about my Che Guevara was my attempt to grow a beard because I was only 18 at the time. I used as much Ben Nye Brown #7 as I could squeeze out to draw a beard. When I was 19, I got on Mad TV and that thrust me into the world of sketch comedy. But my first love was certainly musical theater. In middle school, I did The Music Man, The Wizard of Oz, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat… I just got to see Josh Groban in The Great Comet yesterday—we were buddies in high school, so that was a trip to get to see.
 

Check out Killam's Che in the video above!

You were great as the Dentist in Little Shop of Horrors at Encores opposite Ellen Greene and Jake Gyllenhaal. What was that like for you?
It felt like musical theater fantasy-slash-boot camp. You’re performing with the original Audrey and then Jake was such a gentleman and professional who came from a similar background as me—loving musical theater and having done school plays and community theater—so that was really exciting to share with him. The whole experience was so emotionally charged for Ellen, returning to this role that defined her career and seeing her loved by 3,000 people every night was really overwhelming and special. Just the sound of people cheering her entrance. I was onstage playing a vagrant and she entered and people lost their minds. And she said, “Sorry, Mr. Mushnik” and the theater exploded. Such a special experience.

I remember seeing Ellen when you were rehearsing and she was telling me how phenomenal you were in the part.
I will always be in love with Ellen Greene. It’s quite a process getting done up as Audrey and when the show ended each night, she wanted to get out of there. But the night my eldest daughter came to the show, Ellen stayed to talk with her and meet her. That was the most meaningful moment of that whole experience for me.

Any chance you’ll return to King George in Hamilton? They seem to welcome the kings back.
Sure! My wife and I will be back in L.A. when the tour’s there, so anything’s possible. Although, with L.A. traffic, I may as well be in New York City traveling to the Pantages every night. It takes longer to drive from Venice Beach to the theater than to fly to New York!

Taran Killam hosts the 2017 Lucille Lortel Awards at NYU Skirball Center on May 7 at 7PM. For tickets and more info, click here.