‘American Vandal’: Comedian Ryan O’Flanagan Explains The Chance Encounter That Led To His Role As Creep Teacher Mr. Kraz

It’s not easy to be a scene-stealer in an ensemble as fun as the one American Vandal created, yet somehow comedian Ryan O’Flanagan managed to make viewers perk up every time he popped on screen with another creepy comment. As young teacher Mr. Kraz, O’Flanagan sure knew how to make saying the wrong thing feel so right.

While in New York City ahead of his stand-up show at Caroline’s this Thursday night, we caught up with him about the surprising way he ended up on the show, the deleted scene that could’ve implicated Kraz in the crime, and who his favorite character is in the show. He also gave us the details on his latest (and super hilarious) webseries with Funny or Die, and recalled what it was like to film an episode of New Girl with Zooey Deschanel (great news: she’s super cool!).

Have people at your comedy shows started to talk to you about American Vandal, and what has their reaction been?

Yeah. Well, I didn’t know how many people were going to watch it, but it’s gotten such good reviews. Netflix puts out a lot of stuff, so I didn’t know if it was going to just fall under the radar, but people are really impressed with how well it’s done for a really long dick joke. So the word is getting out. I got recognized on the subway on the way here. That was a memorable role to play, so it’s been cool.

When you read it, what was your reaction?

I think it’s a lot funnier on the screen. Reading it, I couldn’t tell how it was going to be. These two guys who thought of the idea, Tony [Yacenda] and Dan [Perrault], I actually met Tony on a train in LA.

By accident?

Well, he knew my sketch group. And that’s actually how we met. He was like, “Hey, you wanna audition for this thing?” So I went and auditioned, that’s actually how I got the part. Reading it, I was like, it’s funny. It’s a lot of dick stuff, and it’s so well written. I’ve never read a script that was written for a fake documentary. There are so many cuts and quick shots and they wrote out all of it. I was really just impressed with it, and then seeing it on the screen, it was like, yeah, it came out great.

Did you watch the whole thing when it came out?

I did not actually. We had a viewing party which was the first two episodes, which I’m barely in. I’m really in the third one. Then I had to go on the road for like a week and a half, and everyone’s like, “I love you!” and I’m like, “Was I good?” But yeah, I’m excited with how it came out.

Who do you think did it?

I think Kraz did it. I’m telling people. I didn’t realize they left it open-ended. My interpretation was that Christa Carlyle did it. I think that, to this day, that’s the strongest case. But also there’s a case for Kraz, because he hates Rafferty. I would like to think my role had something cool about it like that. But if I had to guess, I’m going to say Christa Carlyle.

G. said that too. Have you had a chance to meet the rest of the cast?

Not really. I didn’t have a lot of scenes with other people. It was mostly just interviews for my scenes. I met Christa, we had a quick little scene. She was selling shirts and I took a shirt.

The Free Dylan shirts.

Yeah. There’s actually a scene that got cut out, where Sam (Griffin Gluck) and Gabi (Camille Hyde), they’re timing out how fast you can draw the dicks with spray paint, and I catch them and I’m like, “Hey, what are you guys doing.” And then they’re like, “Oh, no, Mr. Kraz,” and then I’m like, “You’re doing it all wrong.” And then I draw a dick really good, so that’s supposed to make people be like, oh wait a sec. So I got to meet them, but I never did any scenes with Jimmy (Tatro) who played Dylan, or the guy who played Alex Trimboli (Calum Worthy), he was I think my favorite part of the whole show. But I never got to do any scenes with him or anything.

He had a huge movie at the Toronto Film Festival, too, Bodied. So he’s going to be a big star and then people are going to be like, “Oh, you’re in that dick show!”

Yeah, he’s awesome. He’s a Disney guy or something.

Yeah, a lot of these young actors have a few big credits to their name, so they didn’t just come out of nowhere, but it’s also like, they’re 18.

It’s so weird. That girl who plays Sarah Pearson (Saxon Sharbino), in real life she’s 17 years old. I was like, “Oh my god, I have to talk about how hot she is?”

Were you worried about being too creepy or not creepy enough?

I was like, “If you guys let me be creepy, I’ll be as creepy as you want me to be.” That kind of stuff was funny because it fits the character. It’s like, oh yeah, this dude. But it was weird because we had the viewing party, and episode two is the episode where I say that “I don’t want to say one of my students is super hot,” so that was the only line I really had in the whole episode. Then we had this afterparty, and everyone’s like, “Hey, you’re the pedophile!” I was like “No, I have a bigger story line, I promise.”

Did you do a lot of improv with this, too?

A lot, yeah. Because the director, Tony was like, “Come over to my apartment and we can just talk out the scenes and see if you just come up with anything,” and we just kind of riffed. On set we had the lines and they just let me go for just like 10, 15 minutes each take just talking. So a lot of what made it onto the show was a lot of just messing around, which was super fun.

I read that they gave each person an info sheet about their character. Did yours have anything fun on it?

Kraz was like…Kraz was fun. It was a little insulting. It was like, “A guy who looks cool but you know he’s not cool. Definitely thinks he’s cool.” It was so fun to pay that character. Just like, an idiot, who thinks everyone likes him and no one likes him. I love when they cut to Rafferty and Rafferty’s like, “I feel like I know that guy.” Me and Rafferty, we go way back. But yeah, it was super fun character to play, just a bro idiot.

Have you heard anything about season 2?

I’ve heard whispers of a season 2. I don’t know how much I can say. But it would be a different school, so it would be all different characters. But I think Peter (Tyler Alvarez) would remain the interviewer.

Yeah, Tyler told us he will be involved. 

Okay. So Kraz, I mean, he got fired. He’s looking for a job.

He’s available.

He’s available for season 2.

I want to ask you too about your episode of New Girl. I love that episode (Season 4, “Dice”). Did you enjoy it?

I loved it. To this day, that’s what I get recognized for the most. It was just one episode, it’s crazy.

But it was a really good one. 

Thank you. People love that show. I’d never seen it, so I tried to catch up on what the vibe of the show was. It’s so much funnier than I realized. I kind of thought it was just a whatever sitcom, and it’s super funny. I met Zooey (Deschanel) and I met Max (Greenfield) in that scene, and they were both the coolest, I couldn’t believe it. Zooey is the nicest person, which I guess you could expect. But sometimes people are famous and they’re just pieces of shit. But she was super cool.

Can we talk about your Funny or Die series too? I watched a bunch of them and just laughed.

They’re the dumbest thing in the whole world.

They’re the best. How do those happen? Do you just say, “I just want to go here,” and then you go?

Well, the first one I made was just on Hollywood Boulevard, which is right on my block. So I thought it would be funny to just be a dumb guy who’s excited to be in Hollywood and who doesn’t know what he’s even excited about. Like, pronouncing everything wrong and doesn’t know who anyone is. I thought that would be a funny character. So I started saying just a lot of “ass,” and I put that on my Facebook because I’d started doing just one-off videos, but then that one got like a hundred-something thousand views, just on my Facebook. And I was working on American Vandal, and the wrap party for American Vandal was the night after I put that video out. I was talking to some Funny or Die people, because they produced American Vandal, and I was like, “Hey I did this video yesterday,” and they were like, “Yeah, I saw it. We’ll send it to our digital team,” and now we’ll film three while I’m out on the road. During the day I’ll film and then at night I’ll do a show. They went really well, and by the third one, they were each getting like a million views. So they recently started sending me places just to film. Which was like, three weeks ago they just started doing that. But mostly it’s just places I’m just doing shows.

But it’s just you.

It’s just me and my phone. Me and my iPhone 5C.

Check out Ryan’s website for more of his Ryan Does Places videos and comedy tour dates.

Where to watch American Vandal