Original-Cin Q&A: Veep's Matt Walsh on Unplugging with Eva Longoria, and his Veep Podcast

By Bonnie Laufer

Funnyman Matt Walsh (Veep)  teams up with Eva Longoria in the new comedy, Unplugging.

They play a married couple who depend a little too much on their phones and electronic devices. 

To revive their marriage and reconnect they decide to take a  self-prescribed digital detox weekend to a remote mountain town. What starts as a perfect weekend getaway without technology quickly spirals out of control.

Our Bonnie Laufer spoke with Matt Walsh about his own digital detox experience, working on this film and reconnecting with his Veep castmates on his new podcast.

Matt Walsh and Eva Longoria go off the grid in Unplugging.

Unplugging is now available on VOD and DIGITAL.

ORIGINAL-CIN: Matt, you star in and co-wrote Unplugging with your friend Brad Morris.  Was there anything in particular that sparked the idea of a digital detox that inspired you to channel into a film?

MATT WALSH:  I think our dependence on devices and technology and the way it interferes with our relationships was something we all witness. My buddy Brad and I were entertaining the idea of what would happen if a soft apocalypse happened, where you had shelter and food and warmth, but you didn't have a cell phone and you didn't have WiFi.

How would that freak people?  So, as a way to have that conversation about technology, is technically what inspired it. And obviously, during the pandemic, our dependence on technology and our screens and time in front of them was magnified. So it was very apparent, even more so when the pandemic hit.

O-C: Have you ever tried to do a digital detox and if you did, how did you fare?

WALSH:  I’ve tried and it didn’t go too well.  I can't think of a dedicated time where I didn't pick up my phone for a long time, but I have tried on a few occasions. 

I feel like on our family nights, we'll say we're going to play a game or something. But ultimately, we end up watching a movie which is on screen. But we do make commitments of like six hours, no screens.

O-C: Your character, Dan, is kind of in a rut when it comes to his career. He is quite  dedicated to his side-line hot sauce business . Are you a hot sauce guy?

WALSH:  To be honest, I'm not really a hot sauce guy. I like hot sauce, but I'm not a connoisseur.

We had a hot sauce guy in Oklahoma where we filmed who helped us conjure up our sauces. We used some of his lab, which was really fascinating. 

So we had a consultant for the hot sauce work. But I am a fan of small business and I've started many companies, small companies, in my life. And so, I appreciate a man or a woman or somebody who just says, you know, “I got an idea. I'm going to try to make a living doing this thing on my own.”

O-C: You have such great chemistry with Eva Longoria who plays your wife. Was it instant or were you friends before this film?

WALSH: No, I had never met Eva before we started working together. We had a Zoom to sell her on the script, but that was about it. 

There was no one else we wanted  for the role. She is Janine. She's very much addicted to screens and very productive and very type A in the best way and she's the best. So when Eva came down to film the movie, we were both just artists committed to making a great movie and that was a beautiful meeting point.

She's lovely, she cooked us dinner on certain nights. She had her kid and her husband around, and she's just great.

But the beauty of doing a movie in the middle of COVID and in a remote location is you have nothing else to do but focus on the task at hand, so we were all so committed.  I also think because it was a limited cast we were carrying most of the scenes.

We just had this wonderful shorthand and playfulness and willingness to try and trust. And I think  every day we were ready to bring it, and I certainly am easy to play with too. So I was really grateful that she stepped into it.

O-C:  The supporting cast wasn’t too shabby either. You have Lea Thompson, who is hilarious in this. And then you've got Nicole Byer. You've been working with funny people your whole career, so what is the secret to keeping a straight face?

WALSH:  The secret to keeping a straight face is you turn your back to the camera! (Laughs)  That's the secret, or you cough or you pinch yourself. Or you just laugh! Nicole was very challenging to not laugh. She's so spontaneously funny and can just run forever with funny things.

O-C:  Plus, are you a glutton for punishment?  There are so many wild animals you have to contend with. Chickens, a skunk, and being stuck in a truck with a raccoon?

WALSH: Well, it's a movie about going into the wilderness, so there's going to be some animals and that  raccoon was really scary. We were trapped in a vehicle with it and the truck itself smelled like cigarette smoke and the animal trainer warned us that raccoons do not like cigarette smoke.

So the thing freaked out the whole day. And that fear on my face is real. That's just an animal doing what it wants unpredictably crawling up and down on your body.

So, was it  hilariously nerve wracking? Heck yeah, but It was easy to act scared because I was!

O-C:  Aside from all the great things you’ve done in your career, we all know and love you from Veep. Now with your podcast Second in Command: A Veep Rewatch - that you co-host with Timothy Simons who played Jonah - you're able to bring on some of your former Veep co-stars to discuss the show.  How great is it to be able to look back at some of those fabulous episodes and kind of judge yourself?

WALSH: It's kind of like having your own talk show where you can bring your friends on. We're still in touch and I just saw Sam Richardson on his birthday.

So we're all still very friendly and love getting together for this podcast.   Mostly, we get to see each other and then under the guise of work, bring people on and do comedy bits and relive episodes.

It’s  really fun, and I also take pride in it as we go through the episodes to provide background information to what was going on in politics, what was going on during set, what was tried and then ended up not getting in the script, what ended up being in the script.

I like that this is for fans of the show as much as it is for us, who made the show. 

I like providing that extra sort of nerdish detail because people really care about Veep, and they love it.

Dave Mandel, who was our head writer for the last three years is one of the most passionate fans of this ridiculously niche podcast, and he listens to it. He tells us all the time how much he's learning about the history of the show.

So I have a great custodial pride and I enjoy  trying to tell as many stories related to the show that aren't mine, but the other actors’. It's fun to watch the show again, just as a fan.

O-C: Do you ever cringe watching yourself or do you enjoy watching yourself?

WALSH:  I don't really enjoy watching myself too much, so yeah, I'll cringe a little bit. But it’s worth it if it gets me reunited with that amazing cast of characters!