Paul Reiser On Stranger Things, The Boys, Standup Comedy, And New Show Reboot

You also have a Hulu show coming out called "Reboot." What can you tell me about that?

That was another last-minute thing. I was getting ready to do this movie in Ireland that I wrote and [was] working on for a couple of years to put together. A few months before, we were already in pre-production, and I got this script for "Reboot" and went, "That's really good." It's really funny and [has] great people involved. I said, "I don't know how to say no to this." 

I pushed the [Ireland] movie back a couple of weeks to go and do this. Sometimes, you get something sent your way that you can't say no to. Steve Levitan, who created "Modern Family," he's [a] talented, funny guy, and I'd met him, nice guy. The cast — I went, Keegan-Michael Key is a genius; and Judy Greer, who I'd worked with, who's so funny; Johnny Knoxville, who I had no idea was so funny, I knew his "Jackass" stuff, but he's great on the show.

The premise of the show really appealed to me. I don't love reboots. I'm not a fan of reboots, even though "Mad About You" did come back and do one season. To me, things that are great should be left alone. Here was a show talking about why rebooting a silly sitcom is not a great idea, but it's not about the sitcom. It's about the making of it and the people and how they've changed in 25 years, and the cute kid is not a cute kid anymore. 

It's very subtly about some bigger things. It's about how we've changed and how much more we need to change. I play the guy who created the original show and wants to recreate it as it was, and they brought in a new, younger writer who wants to make it more socially relevant and up to date, and I'm fighting that. It becomes, "What's that tension? Shouldn't you leave something alone?" Not necessarily.

It's a generational thing. Rachel Bloom plays the younger writer who wants to take this into the 21st century. I'm the guy who created the original. There's that generational division. One of the fun areas that they tackle — not deliberately, but as part of the show — is comedy has changed, television has changed, so you can't say this, you can't say that. 

[When] creating a sitcom, you'd have discussions in the writers' room about what you can and cannot say, and the end result would get on the air. On our show, we get to film the scene where that discussion happens, and the discussion is funny: "Why can't I say Eskimo?" [They go,] "That's not a term." It's like, "Since when? Is Eskimo bad? I'm not saying I hate Eskimos." It's like, "So Eskimo is no longer... okay." That stuff is funny.

It's not taking lightly the fact that the world has changed, its sensibilities have changed. It's  people trying to catch up. To me, that's what my life seems like, in every way, trying catch up to how much is changing and the world is changing. It's not inside baseball. It's not exclusionary. You don't have to be in show business to watch this show, but for those who have done half-hour television, it really rings true. It's really funny. I hope we get to do some more.