'I Perform For One Person -- God': Last Man Standing's Jonathan Adam's Talks About His Faith
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- And Last Manding star JonathanAdam joins us right now.
So, the first thing I love about this show
is the fact that I feel like
the fans resurrected it, correct?
- The fans--- Canceled on ABC?
- The fans brought it back.
It was canceled on ABC for a season,
and it came back on Foxthe year after that,
so, yeah, they protested.
There was an online petition,
there was all kinds of stuff on Facebook,
and Twitter, and Instagram.
They just did it, and Foxwas really amenable to it,
they really wanted thisshow back on the air.
- That surprise you, I mean,as an actor in this business,
to see that fans had such a loud voice
and could actually give you your job back?
- You know, nobody everlistens to them, you know.
So, I didn't expect it at all.
It never happens, and I really,
even as we were goingthrough the process of it,
I really wasn't expecting it to work.
They called me and said,
"Well, we're gonna bring the show back,"
and I went, "Oh, when I see,I'll believe it when I see it."
"Okay, table reads next week."
"Okay, I'll believe it
"when we're actually at the table read."
"Okay, we're on the air."
"Okay, I'll believe itwhen we actually put--"
You know, it just never seemed
like it was gonna besomething that happened,
and it did, and it was blessing.
- Were you surprised by the cancellation
in light of how successful the show was.
- I was; I expected them to go,
okay, well, we'll give youlike a short season next season
and say, you know, thisis a goodbye season
for Last Man Standing.
No, they just, they just cut it off,
and they were just likewe're done with it,
but it had been goin' on for so long,
and it was so beloved,
I really expected somethingdifferent from ABC,
and this is what we got now,and I'm very happy with it.
- You're going back for Season 8.
Eight years of doing this.- Eight years.
Eight years, nine technically.- Yes, yes.
Why do you think it's been so successful,
and why does it resonate so with people?
- It's a wonderful family,
and Tim Allen is super-duper talented,
and we have put together suchan eclectic and fun cast,
group of people, that I'm just,that's why it's successful.
We have, you know, Jay Leno on the show,
who doesn't normally do any acting at all.
This is his acting credit.
Jay Leno's acting creditis Last Man Standing.
- People watching may not know.
How did acting findyou, or you find acting.
What happened?
- Well, I wasn't in acting as a kid.
I wanted to be like anastronaut or a doctor,
or something in the sciences,
science was really mything as a little kid.
And then I, you know (laughs),
a friend of mine said, "Youknow, that girl you like,
"you know, she's in Drama Club."
And I was like, well, maybeI'll show up to Drama Club.
And so, I showed up to Drama Club,
and I started reading andgot bitten by the acting bug
right then and there doingthat, and got my first role
and starting doing things inmy school, and eventually,
that led to me going to Carnegie Mellon
and that university,which is in Pittsburgh,
which led me to becoming astage actor which led me here.
- Beautiful.
For people who are notfamiliar with your faith story,
you are a man of faith,just like Tim Allen is.
What brought you to Christ?
- I'm gonna say my wife.
I'm gonna say I was not aChristian before I was married,
and she and I startedgoing to church together,
and what later convinced me was
reading the Bible and findingmen and women of the Bible
who were just flawed peopledoing wonderful things,
and those people convincedme that this was for real.
I mean, why would God writeabout people who were flawed,
why would you havepeople who made mistakes
like the mistakes thatDavid made, or Peter,
or even Saul turning into Paul?
Why would you do that kind of thing
in order to convincepeople about your faith
or anything like that.
He just gives it to youthat this was a real thing,
and that's what brought me to it.
- Nice, how does that informthe work that you do now?
- Well, to me, personally, as an actor,
Christianity informs mein that I think of myself
as honestly onlyperforming for one person,
and when I audition,
I audition for one person, and that's God,
and when I perform, Iperform for one person.
I wanna reflect Him,and I wanna lift Him up
in everything I do.
- Nice, you're hopefulin this day and age,
in light of all that'sgoing on in our world,
you wake up hopeful?
- It's hard, mostly I do (laughs).
I don't know if hope is the right word?
Yes, I guess hope is the right word.
You know, I'm cautiouslyoptimistic is what I think it is.
I think we're still gonna,
we're gonna make it in thisworld, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And it's up to Him.
- We are indeed victorious.
And for folks looking to see you,
Season 8 of Last Man Standing.- That's right.
- We'll catch you.- All right, thanks, man.
- Thank you so much.
- Nice to meet you.- Pleasure to meet you.