Richard Kind: 'I love 'Poker Face.' I love Natasha. I love to work.'

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1 of 4 | Rhea Perlman and Richard Kind can now be seen in Season 2 of "Poker Face." Photo courtesy of Peacock
NEW YORK, May 30 (UPI) -- Only Murders in the Building, Mad About You and Spin City icon Richard Kind says guest starring on Poker Face was an easy "yes" for him.
Airing Thursdays on Peacock, Season 2 of the mystery-of-the-week dramedy stars Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale, a human lie detector who helps solve crimes as she drifts from town to town.
Kind's episode casts him as Jeffrey, the doting husband of Beatrix (Rhea Perlman), a mob boss who has been trying to kill Charlie.
"They were paying me," Kind, 68, joked with UPI in a recent Zoom interview when asked why he took the guest spot.
"I love Poker Face. I love Natasha. I love to work. I love Rhea and it's fun. It was a good role. It was a blast. I would rather have been an evil guy on the show, but I was very nice," he added. "I was a good guy."
While Beatrix commits crimes to support them, Jeffrey stays at home, cooking and ironing, until he can't take the stress anymore and becomes a government informant.
"I don't want to be involved in any of this," Kind said about Jeffrey's feelings toward Beatrix's business. "In fact, I really want to be oblivious to it all and that's where the comedy is."
That's also why viewers may be shocked when Jeffrey's story-line goes in some unexpectedly violent directions.
"In order to make twists and turns work, you have to be even more truthful, so that you're drawing the audience in," Kind said.
"Taking the sincerity or taking the truth of what's in the script is always a challenge, so I really had to invest in that," he added. "First and foremost, he loves his wife. He really loves her and I think she loves him. He's caught between a rock and a hard place as far as what the rest of his life is going to be, but he does it for self-preservation and not to attack his wife or attack her world. ... He's just not happy and that's sort of sad for him."
This isn't the first time Kind has worked with Perlman.
The TV vets have known each other for years and previously co-starred in the 2000 Broadway play, The Allergist's Wife.
"Tony Roberts preceded me in that role," Kind recalled.
"Tony was a friend and he gave me a piece of advice, which actually was the best advice I ever heard as an actor -- not just for the role, but for all roles. He said: 'Love your wife. If you love her, the audience will love her, and the audience will love you.' And I took that to heart and I've kept it with, actually, a lot of roles that I've done since."
Kind said he thinks Poker Face creator Rian Johnson is a "brilliant man" who has managed to capture the magic of those private detective shows from the 1970s and '80s that viewers seem so nostalgic for these days.
"He probably loved stories like Columbo or Name of the Game or McMillan and Wife," Kind said, noting the protagonists of those shows often found themselves in crazy situations with guest stars playing "bigger-than-life people," just like they do in Poker Face.
"I think that's a wonderful thing," Kind added.
In addition to being a fixture in Pixar films, the actor was also a longtime Curb Your Enthusiasm cast member and recently served as the sidekick/announcer for Everybody's Live with John Mulaney.
Always in demand, he is still having fun as an actor and has no plans to retire.
"I live for my kids. I live for golf and I live for work. That's what I live for now. I have friends, too," Kind said.
"Acting is all playing pretend. We play. it's a big sandbox," he explained. "Who wouldn't want to do this? I love it. I can't live without it. When people retire, a lot of them die, but work can keep you active and fun and give you a purpose. Do I like it? I adore it. I can't live without it. God forbid I should be unemployed, I'd still go do little plays for no money. I love it. Love it, love it, love it."
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Natasha Lyonne arrives for the premiere of "The Grey Zone" in New York City on October 8, 2002. Photo by Ezio Petersen/UPI | License Photo