One F—ing Degree From Kevin Bacon

Six comedy stars on the often bizarre fallout from fame, Hollywood typecasting (‘I’m not a goddamn thug’) and what it ’s like to get dissed by Zeff irelli: ‘Franco didn’t like your nose’

- Lacey Rose

Ask a table full of comedy actors to reveal the most embarrassing thing that’s happened to them on the job, and you’ll see grown men devolve into a gaggle of schoolboys. At least that’s what went down at THR’s roundtable on April 30: Three of the stars gathered on a Hollywood soundstage — William H. Macy, 67; Kevin Bacon, 58; and Anthony Anderson, 46 — told tales of passing gas midperformance; another, Ted Danson, 69, recalled an ill-timed belch; and Atlanta breakout Brian Tyree Henry, 35, dished on something called “ball smoke,” which required an explanation that left at least one man present horrified. With these stories out of their systems, however, the five, plus Silicon Valley’s Kumail Nanjiani, 39, got refreshingly candid about learning when (and why) to turn down a big paycheck, the benefits of being left in the dark creatively and, in Bacon’s case, what it’s like to be told you aren’t “f—able.”

Brian’s rise to fame is significantly more recent than the rest of yours. What advice do you have for him about navigating success?

ANTHONY ANDERSON (BLACK-ISH, ABC)

Don’t give your family money. Tell them no.

WILLIAM H. MACY (SHAMELESS, SHOWTIME) You can give my family money. (Laughs.) I’ve always said, “Do the good stuff, but don’t do the bad stuff.” That’s my advice.

BRIAN TYREE HENRY (ATLANTA, FX)  But what if the bad stuff is, like, lots of money?

MACY It’s never enough money. The few times I’ve done something for money, halfway through I thought, “This isn’t anywhere near the amount of money I’d need to get.”