THC: Why did you take the role in Ballyhoo?

PR: I have a personal connection to it in a lot of ways. The reason that I took it was because it was, I thought, a pretty well-crafted play and it was on Broadway, and how cool is that?

I am of Russian/Polish descent, I am in real life the other kind, which is the character that I'm portraying in this play, and I think this character is a lot more eloquent and rooted in who he is and how his religion influences his life, maybe a little more than I am.

I grew up in Kansas, so I definitely felt a little ostracized, a little independent as far as that goes, being a Jew in Kansas, there weren't that many in the town I was in. But my upbringing was probably more like the Freitag family in this play in that I was raised with Christmas. The line "Jewish Christmas trees don't have stars," which is one of the first lines in this play, is literally right out of my upbringing. So, I'll do this play, my parents will come see it, and we'll all feel absolutely hypocritical and guilty.

THC: Is there a particular person who inspires you to act?

PR: I don't know if it was as much inspiration as it was enlightenment, and that was Steve Martin. And I think it was his comedy records. I used to love, love Steve Martin. I still do...I would get these albums and I would just listen to them all the time. I would stand in my room and pretend that I was delivering his comedy routine...And I don't know if that planted any kind of seed, but I wasn't raised going to the theatre.

THC: I have to ask you one `gossipy' question (not boxers or briefs or anything as risque as that). What are you doing for New Year's Eve?

PR: Well, um, you know it wasn't even finalized until today. Nick Hytner is having a gathering so I'm going to go there, and then a buddy of mine is having a big party...I don't normally participate in New Year's Eve, it's usually such a let down. But I'm not expecting anything. I'm looking at it as just another night out. My main ambition is to get out of Times Square before midnight.

And it's boxers, by the way.