DTM: Are you aware of any discussion to bring Do Over to DVD?
Tom: As the president and C.E.O. of Warner Brothers, I can tell you with utmost confidence that I have my crack staff working on that very thing. As soon as the cast and crew are reassembled, and those new episodes are shot, you’ll have DVD gold on its way to your door!!
Will you being paying with VISA?
DTM: I really enjoyed your work on Ed, and was disappointed when your character’s relationship ended with the school principal. Was your role originally supposed to be a recurring one?
Tom: It was recurring, and it was written like that from the start. I was on and off for a couple of seasons there. I loved it. The cast was so welcoming and great, and Tom Cavanaugh (Ed) is a terrific guy. Late in the run, he directed a couple of episodes, and he was a great director!
DTM: Is it difficult to join a show, like Ed, that has already been around for several seasons?
Tom: It’s easy when the cast is so wonderful and warm and welcoming. There is already an intimacy in a show like that, but they opened the circle and brought me right in.
Until she dumped me and they wouldn’t fly me to New York to be in it anymore. Oh well.
DTM: You appeared on Boston Public, which featured much of the cast of F&G. Do you think this was coincidental?
Tom: Probably not. But it was a “very special” Boston Public, where Whitney Houston sang about love and breaking down the walls of …something. It was great.
DTM: One of your first gigs was an appearance on ‘The Facts of Life.’ Did you enjoy your time on the show?
Tom: Though I don’t remember it anymore, I was a great addition to that show, and those gals just loved me.
Rashad: "Turner & Hootch" (the series): Why???
Tom: Hey, later in the season, we were planning a special episode where Whitney Houston would sing about love and breaking down the walls and stuff… Dare to dream, Rashad.
Lisa: We all loved you as Coach F! Thank you so much! If given the choice to do only one thing...Would you act or paint! Why?
Tom: I just like doing both. I’ve never had to think about which one I’d do over the other. I wouldn’t want to give either one up, and I don’t have to, because the last time I checked, I lived in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Tami: I really love your paintings. Did you start painting before you became an actor, or is it something you took up recently?
Tom: I’ve been painting for many years, and studied at the Art Academy of Los Angeles and the California Art Institute. But I’ve been acting since cave man times.
Lisa: Who are some of your favorite artists? I/we (my husband too) thank you and wish you and yours the best!
Tom: Thanks! It’s hard to narrow down my favorite artists, but I’ll try. Some of the greatest figurative painters whose work I love are John Singer Sargent, and Thomas Eakins. For his quintessentially American paintings, and for the color and intriguing loneliness, I love the work of Edward Hopper. And, of course, just the flat out power of huge James Rosenquist pop paintings, along with Andy Warhol, naturally. Not Liza Minelli/Studio 54 Andy Warhol, but accessible soup cans and Brillo box Andy Warhol. But I love paintings and it’s impossible to narrow down my favorites very much.
Mark: At least from the perspective of this message board, your best-known works are Freaks And Geeks and the Back To The Future franchise, probably in that order. Furthermore, your artwork celebrates objects -- icons, perhaps -- of many of a person's childhood. Do you consider yourself something of a nostalgic?
Tom: I think that everyone is somewhat nostalgic, and that includes me. But to categorize my paintings as simply nostalgia is an easy out, and misses most of the point. My paintings are colorful and great to look at, but they are a very significant group of works within pop art. The objects are icons. The paintings themselves are icons. And the painter, if I may be so bold, is an icon. If I am to accept the limitations and challenges of icon-hood, then I must be permitted to comment on it in my own way. This is the way. A painting of an evocative object, by an objectified painter. Let me plug
www.bigpopfun.com if you want to look at them
Mark: The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) has an entire floor dedicated to "pop" art, featuring exhibits ranging from Andy Warhol's silkscreen work to psychedelic concert handbills from the Haight-Ashbury heyday. Any chance I can expect to see any Big Pop Fun
on permanent exhibit there?
Tom: Not to sound too egotistical about it, but they should be. To me, this is interesting work at the precise nexus of inflated celebrity, pop objectification, and fun imagery. Just because the paintings are fun to look at – which they are – doesn’t take one bit away from the fact that they are important works of pop art. Why? Because no matter what the painting’s subject is, no matter where it came from, and no matter where it goes, even on the museum wall, a part of the identity of the painting will be… “And do you know who painted it?! That guy from Back To The Future!!” Full circle; Object, object painting, object painter.
DTM: Your bio on IMDb indicates that you have paintings "on the walls of the guest bedrooms of many close personal friends.” Do you draw these paintings to your friends specifications or are these pieces that your friends are fans of?
Tom: I’ve painted quite a number of commissioned paintings, some sold, some given away. I’m selling a lot more now, so, well, I don’t give them away anymore.
Diana: I really like your paintings and love the motivation behind them. Are you interested in other forms of art other than acting and painting?
Tom: I love acting and painting and music. I’m an artist, and love all of it, and then my skill set drops off a precipice.
DTM: Can you provide us with some information on your interest in photography?
Tom: I photographed for many years, but then bought some paints and that was about it. Color and canvas were it for me.
Freddy: What music are you into? Any of the music from the show?
Tom: I love lots of music, and all varieties. Very tough to pin down. A very eclectic mix. What’s on high rotation right now? Hmm. In my CD player right now are “Allison Krauss and Union Station,” “David Wilcox,” “Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks,” “Ranch Romance,” and “Eric Whitacre accapella choral works, with the B.Y.U. Singers,” which, I must say, is amazing.
DTM: You’ve done a lot of voiceover work on such shows as SpongeBob SquarePants and on such videogame series as Wing Commander. Would you like to do more of this type of work in the future?
Tom: I love working on SpongeBob, and I’m in the upcoming movie. Voice over work is a lot of fun. After the spectacular success of the Wing Commander movie, I’m sitting by my phone, waiting for word on the sequel.
Skeeterbag: How is acting in a computer game different than TV/film, etc.? Being a pop culture lover myself, I also really enjoy your artwork. Thanks Tom!
Tom: It takes a long time for a live action computer game, because of the very thick script. Every scene has many possible directions that the story can be taken to, so it’s a lot of work to memorize so many different scenes that are so close to each other in meaning.
Skeeterbag: I really enjoyed your character "Maniac" in the Wing Commander computer game series. How did you get the part?
Tom: I auditioned for it, and they decided, quite correctly, that the project couldn’t move forward without me. Or they offered me less money than some other guy and I took it. Either one of those.
Skeeterbag: What was it like working with Mark Hamill and Malcolm McDowell?
Tom: A lot of fun. Very nice guys, and solid professionals.
Kibbles The Rocker: What's the oddest thing a fan has ever said to you?
Tom: “Hi, my name is Kibbles The Rocker!”
DTM: How different is performing at The Improv or The Comedy Store compared to sitcom work?
Tom: They’re just apples and oranges, basically. I love the freedom of stand up comedy, there’s simply nothing else like it. Sitcom work is great, in that, they give you money so you can buy stuff. Like food, for example.
DTM: I heard that you recently landed the lead role in the stage production of "Paint Your
Wagon.” Can you provide details on the show and where you will be performing?
Tom: The show is at the Geffen Playhouse,
www.geffenplayhouse.com And it runs from November 23, 2004, to January 9, 2005. Come see it!
DTM: Do you have any other projects that you’d like to inform us about?
Tom: Nope. Just keep posted on
www.bigpopfun.comThanks for everything. I hope my answers were informative and …uh…cleansing.
I couldn’t think of another good adjective.
DTM: Tom, we all appreciate you taking the time to answer these questions, and wish you continued success in the future.
Oh, whatever, I'm over it. 
