Inside ‘Dating Brad Garrett’ with Brad Garrett

Last Monday, Emmy-winning ’til Death star Brad Garrett launched his first ever online relationship series called Dating Brad Garrett. Brought to netizens by Sony Pictures Television and launching fresh material each Monday, the reality webisode production follows the comedian as he goes on dates with real, everyday women who were enterprising and/or daring enough to send in videotapes expressing their interest in hooking up with him.

In true reality TV fashion, the premiere currently available at video-sharing destinations like Crackle and Hulu is a casting special highlighting some of the women who were rejected or accepted. The Crackle website is especially loaded with resources, including videos about the top finalists, the judges, and Garrett himself. For added insight into what Dating Brad Garrett involves, read the following Q&A featuring the entertainer’s responses to some burning questions posed to him recently.

How did the show Dating Brad Garrett come about?

BRAD GARRETT: Actually, it’s important for people to understand that this isn’t Brad Garrett looking for love. This is Brad Garrett really making a window around what it’s like when a guy going through a semi-midlife crisis is out there in the playing field of the single world. That’s really what this is.

These are real participants. It has been a very humbling process. The Website has been up and running for a couple months, and out of all the women in the country who felt they might possibly want to go out with me, only 27 women uploaded their video.

One was a guy, and one was a bear. This is very true; you can go to the Website and see it. It has not only been humbling, but it kind of gives you an idea of what hurdles I have in real life dating.

What it really is it’s just me going out with various women, with various ideas and attitudes and wishes and dreams, like all single people have, and how I either berate them or try to get to know them or vice versa. It’s really just the anti-Bachelor, is really what it is. It’s the realistic take of a bachelor.

What was the genesis of Dating Brad Garrett? Did you ever picture yourself doing such a thing, even only a few years ago?

BRAD GARRETT: I have a really great relationship with Sony. They’re obviously the people, the studio [that] is behind ’til Death, and their comedy creative team is just a very inventive people who seem to kind of be in the wheelhouse, as I am, as far as what is funny and what’s off the wall.

It actually started one day, I had a meeting regarding ’til Death, and I went in there. And the night before, I had a disastrous date, and I started talking about it to a couple of executives over there. We just started laughing and talking about what it’s really like to be a semi-celebrity, if you will, living in a single world with 30-something to 40-something-year-old women. It was really just a very odd date, and we started laughing about it.

I said, you know, because I’m not big on reality shows because most of them aren’t realistic. My thing was I would like to just take a camera, go out on a date, go to a restaurant, have totally every single date non-scripted, and just show what it’s like, as much as we can, to be on a date on this day and time, with a sense of reality of what it really is.

A lot of it’s really my humor, my cynicism, my take on marriage, and we throw these poor innocent women in the middle of it. Some of them are really funny and some of them couldn’t get out of there fast enough, and a couple followed me home, and not in a good way — kind of in a stalker way.

Nothing happened with the bear, I’m guessing.

BRAD GARRETT: Nothing happened with the bear, no, he was intimidated by my size, oddly enough.

What are you looking for, ideally, in a woman if you’re not going to find it an online show?

BRAD GARRETT: Someone who won’t run to the authorities, someone who understands that I’m just a big kid who has trouble growing up. It’s a sweat — I’m not going to lie to you. I’m a strong cup of coffee, at least that’s what the shrink keeps telling me.

Could you share your most memorable moment you’ve had from various dating debacles on the show.

BRAD GARRETT: From the show, I have to tell you, gosh. I know this sounds like a debacle; it was kind of like a dream date for me. What happened is there was one lady — actually, she was the last date we filmed. Ironically, she was picked by my Mother, on the panel, to be a good date for me, and she was a very attractive gal. A little Hollywood as far as her various parts, I felt, had a lot of work done. Do you know what I’m saying? Which is totally fine. I, personally, believe in evolution, and I welcome it, hence the way I look.

We started talking about why women feel that augmentation is so important, and how I felt it was very sexy and attractive for a woman to really be who she is. I found that acceptance of someone to not change their body was kind of cool and the whole thing. And we started talking about her attributes, if you will.

It kind of got a little defensive, in one way, and she ended up exposing her blouse clowns. That was kind of off the wall, even for a guy like me. I was quite taken aback, and we’re engaged.

No, I’m kidding. We’re not engaged — there’s a paternity suit and a restraining order. That was kind of off the wall, nobody expected that.

Thank you very much for your answer and for being candid, too.

BRAD GARRETT: I’m sorry, I have to be candid. Most of them decided, “Boy, I really don’t want to be here,” after they were there with me for a while, which you can’t blame them — look at my life.

Did any of them get to meet your children?

BRAD GARRETT: Oh, God, no. Oh, no, no. No one meets the kids unless I think it’s a woman that I’m going to spend some real time with. See, again, people have to understand, this is more of a comedy take on me being single than it was looking for the love of my life.

I mean, I’m not that naive, just like The Bachelor, the mannequin who stands in the castle with the rose in his hand; these are glorified dates. What I did was take the glory out of it and just made them real dates. I didn’t expect to find the love of my life. Again, I just wanted to show people how scary dating can be.

I thought the panel on the online show was very interesting. I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit about how you decided, or who decided, on the experts that would appear with you.

BRAD GARRETT: Well, those are my decisions. I figured they’re the people in my life who I’m closest with. My ex-wife Jill; and my Mom, who has strange taste in people; my urologist, because he knows me maybe too intimately, but probably better than my ex-wife, if you know what I’m saying. And, my exterminator, who I’ve literally known for 15 years.

I’m a bit of a recluse; I’m a bit of a hermit. I knew if I had friends do it, there would be some agenda or ulterior motive. I figured my exterminator, who really doesn’t like me, to be honest with you, would kind of add a different hue to the whole scenario.

It’s interesting to watch who — my ex-wife, I think, really just picked someone who — she wanted to hurt me, because this person had an Adam’s apple, that’s all I can tell you. It was a little strange.

You’ve been on two successful scripted shows in your career. How did you find the leap to unscripted reality, and was it easier or harder than you were thinking it was going to be?

BRAD GARRETT: Well, my stand-up act— I’ve been doing stand-up for literally 30 years, and the majority of my stand-up in unscripted. I come from the world of Improv; I love any show or any vehicle that gives me an opportunity to be in the moment. A lot of times when we’re rehearsing on this show, we just sometimes go on a tangent on ’til Death and try little things and experiment.

It’s kind of like what I’ve said before, the majority of reality shows are not reality, even though they call them non-scripted, there is an A, B, and C plot, and away they go. These are totally a poor, helpless date and me in a room together. To me, the unscripted part of it was what really made it exciting, and made it experimental and hopefully gave it a feeling of reality. I welcome that.

Any chance of this thing going on television at some point?

BRAD GARRETT: I don’t believe so, no I don’t believe so. It was a lot to do this simultaneously with ’til Death, and it just become a lot of work for everyone involved. I think it was fun, it was great, I enjoyed it, but I think I’m going to focus right now on our show Wednesday’s at 9:00.

Well, there you have it. Interested in more details about the current season of Garrett’s Fox sitcom ‘Til Death? If so, you might like Brad Garrett on ‘Death’ and Beyond.”

‘Til Death airs Wednesdays at 9pm EST on Fox.