Sometimes I just got off of an international flight and people are like running up, screaming and hollering, and want to take pictures. They don't really understand like, 'Dude, I'm tired. Just say hello. Keep it moving.'
When I get off a flight, I'm not trying to sit there and let them take pictures of me. I'm tired. I'm scratching my eyes. I just don't like taking pictures in general.
Entertainers are nothing special. Maybe we have a talent for singing a song, but other people have talents. I wish fans would just come up and say 'hello' before asking for an autograph. I wish they would just say, 'Hello, I'm so and so, and I just want to shake your hand.' I'm impressed when I find people like that. Most people just say, 'Sign here,' and treat you like a statue.
You don't keep in contact with many of the people you work with because there are so many. Acting's just a transient job, very occasionally you'll meet people and really hit it off but generally you just know people to say hello to.
Sometimes I get really shy when people recognize me, but when it was from Arrested, I'd be like, "So what do you like about it? You watch it? Will you try to watch it when it's on, and not just TiVo it? Because if you don't want it to be taken off the air...." It was really sad when it got taken off the air. But it's really cool. It was nice to have a small part in something with a big life.
I'm kind of selective of the people that I take photos of. Like, I don't take pictures of just my friends, but I do like taking pictures of just some of my close mates, especially out in L.A.
If a hundred people want autographs, sometimes you have to say no because you've got to get up for a 4 A.M. flight or something. In that sense, it really pisses me off when people think you've become a diva. It's not becoming a diva, it's because of the situation, I think.
My wife says I have happy delusions. I'm delusional that way. I just say, 'This is how it's got to be, and it's got to be.' I don't take no. I just don't like no. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. That's just how I am.
If it's just screaming - and I know this sounds so ridiculous - that gets old. But sometimes when there's literal chaos, it's like being in a war zone, and that's kind of exciting. You're just running through the crowd of people chasing after you and no one knows what's going on.
With any other celebrity, people come up and say, 'Hey, I really like your work.' But with my fans, when they see me, they don't even say hello. They just go, 'AWWWWWGHGHHHGHGHRRR!'
I get tired too, just like everybody else. Sometimes I tell people that, but all I get is people saying that being vulnerable and weak is just not like me. I rarely get the response of emotional support I want. But sometimes I need it.
The worst thing is when people try and take pictures surreptitiously. I always say, 'Look, you can ask me for a photograph. You will get a much better one than just the side of my face.' Sometimes they just run off. They can't cope.
Sometimes I feel tired and think I ought to give it up, I don't want to just retire. No, I enjoy it all and you just keep going until the day comes when you can't do it anymore. And that's what I want to do.
Some people don't even say hello. They come up and say, 'Can I take your picture?' and I'm, like, 'Why?' And they say, 'Oh, you're that guy.' And I'm, like, 'Why do you want a photo of me if you don't even know my name?'
People sometimes come up to me, and it's like they just want to capture Passenger. I feel like Pikachu. Sometimes, in the more sort of depressing moments, it feels like it's not about the music, it's just about the photo, and that really worries me.
Kids will tell me 'oh I want to be like you when I grow up,' you know. I just thought 'nah, don't be like me, be like you,' because first of all they don't really know me but second of all I understand what they're trying to say but I just let them know - be like you.
Sometimes people ask me to do stuff in New York, like "Can you read at this thing?" And I say, "Nooo, I can't just get on a plane with these two screaming children - I can't just get rid of them on such short notice and take vacation and fly over to New York."