WAREHOUSE 13 A Conversation with Eddie McClintock, Joanne Kelly & Jack Kenny

Warehouse 13 is coming to an end. *Pause for tears* Thankfully Syfy gave the show a chance to wrap things up with a final 6 episode season. We fans appreciate that.

We had a chance to sit in on a conference call with stars Eddie McClintock, Joanne Kelly and show runner/Executive Producer Jack Kenny and they had a lot to talk about.

On the shows legacy:
Eddie McClintock: Well, I mean, I think that the legacy – we’ll see, you know. I’m sure when – back when they did the – however many episodes of the original Star Trek they never dreamed that, you know, despite its being canceled early, you know, in most estimations that it would go on to be such a huge cult success.
So I guess we’ll see what happens.
I watched my boys grow up and I think I may have even grown up a little bit myself, but don’t tell anyone I said that or I’ll have to kill you. What do you think, Jo?

Joanne Kelly: I think, I mean, yes I – you can never kind of foretell what’s going to happen. So all I can say is from my own personal point of view in regards to the show, I learned so much during Warehouse 13.
I think now that it’s over – in fact I – and – since we stopped shooting you realize how special it was. And very much, you know, there’s a ton of times in like where you don’t really understand what something is to you until it’s no longer there.
I think that’s a cliché for a reason and it’s really true for me that, you know, Warehouse 13 was a really special time. And I don’t think I understood that until I stopped, until you’ve stopped showing up every day and you say, “Oh, my God, I’m not going to see these people; these people I’m so used to seeing every day.”

Should we start a Kickstarter Campaign:
Eddie McClintock: Of course.

Jack Kenny: You know, we would love to. I mean, we would start a kickstarter campaign to bring the series back. But – because – well, you know, we all felt like we had a lot more to say and a lot more to do.
And it was the best professional experiences of my career so far and I’m very sad that it ended. I’m very proud of the way we ended it, but we left it in a way that we could very easily do a movie.

The Things You Do For Good TV:
Eddie McClintock: I mean, what jumps off for me is, you know, there’s an episode here in the last six called the – is it Savage Seduction Jack? Is that what it’s called?

Jack Kenny: Yes, Savage Seduction, the telenovela episode.

Eddie McClintock: And Jack came up to me. He’s like, “Okay listen. You’re going to have to learn Spanish so start now.” And I was like, “What?” And the storyline is we get caught in a Spanish telenovela.
So, you know, Joanne and I and Artie were – or – and Saul were all having to take Spanish lessons for about two – I don’t know, couple months I guess. We took lessons, you know, in between, you know, during our lunch breaks and it was probably the hardest I’ve had to work on any of the shows or any of the seasons.
I mean, it was hard for me. I mean, I’m like four IQ points above the short bus so it was difficult and – but I watched it last night for the first time and it’s so wild and wacky and I’m so proud of it.

Jack Kenny: It was a wild ride I will give you that but you also – I also made you guys learn to tap dance this summer too.

Eddie McClintock: Yes.

Joanne Kelly: Well I don’t know if I ever actually learned.

Eddie McClintock: Exactly.

Jack Kenny: Well you got close enough.

Eddie McClintock: Well…

Jack Kenny: It was close enough for government work.

Joanne Kelly: I think as Jack was saying we, you know, we had to learn how to tap dance for this episode. And I am many things but a dancer I am definitely not.
And I kind of like was freaking out about it and he kept telling me that it was going to be fine. It would be fine. Just, you know, try and learn, try and do my – and then when we did it I kind of took the risk of just kind of letting go and having a great time, which I’ve struggled with, you know, throughout like my whole journey through Warehouse.
I mean, at one point – actually had a great time. So this is actually important and I think I finally learned this episode that whatever, let go and just have fun.
It’s one of the most rewarding experiences because it – definitely I had such a blast doing that episode and I was so worried about it. And I think that’s probably one of my favorite memories from this year.

Jack Kenny: It’s hard, you know, we had such a good time. Honestly we really did have a great time. Almost in every episode there’s a day that I can think back and go, “Oh my God, that was so much fun.”

And, you know, and there’s also a day where you go, “Oh that was a nightmare,” because it was raining or cold or whatever or boiling hot. But there was almost – we just – we had such a good group of people and there was almost in every episode a couple of days or more where we just went, “God we’re so lucky to have this and we’re just having a great time.”

Behind the Scenes Shenanigans:
Eddie McClintock: One memory that comes up that I think is one of the funniest or one of the times I laughed the hardest with Jack and Jo and everybody was when the (ginge) and the Speedo was doing the yoga by the pool with the…

Jack Kenny: We did have a background performer who – we had a pool scene and people in Speedos and bikinis and this guy felt that he was particularly good at yoga and was…

Eddie McClintock: And he had an unusually robust growth of red pubic hair that was coming from all parts of this Speedo.

Jack Kenny: He was doing some major yoga poses.

Joanne Kelly: He had a small animal underneath there.

Jack Kenny: Yes. I did want to go up and say, “Hey, you know, that’s, you know, we’ve all noticed your doing these amazing yoga poses. And what we’d really love to do is have you go and do them in the parking lot. You’re fired.”
But we didn’t do that. We just let him do it and made sure the camera was never pointed at it. We were laughing quite hard.

Guest Stars:
Jack Kenny: I would’ve loved to have done a little bit more with Pete’s mom.

Eddie McClintock: Oh yes.

Jack Kenny: But scheduling kind of screwed us on that. But as, you know, and most people don’t know that when you – half the time when you don’t see a character come back on a show it’s because they got another job.
But we didn’t, you know, I would’ve – there was several characters that I would’ve loved to see a little bit more of that we really liked. I mean, I love…

Eddie McClintock: Judd Hirsch would’ve been great if Judd could’ve come back.

Jack Kenny: Would’ve loved to have had Judd back. Yes there was a lot of characters I wanted to bring back that – Amy Acker is Joanne’s sister. She was a lot of fun.

She’s Having My Baby, Maybe:
Eddie McClintock: All I can say is this: PICA.

Joanne Kelly: You always say that. You’ve been saying that for five years.

Eddie McClintock: It’s my hook. It’s my hook man.

Joanne Kelly: I do think you see a fundamental change in these characters’ relationships, as I think you do across the board in the show. That’s all I got to say about that.

Jack Kenny: I – what we tried to do in the, I mean, there’s an arc that Eddie and Jo have in the last six episodes that’s really fun to see unfold. And you see a lot of it unfold, I mean, you see the beginning of that – of the – sort of a cracking of that iceberg at the end of Episode 4.
But then it really starts to come to fruition in 5 and 6 and – but everybody – every character has a – kind of a revelation of sorts in the last episode. Every character is granted a revelation in the defining moment and something really cool to deal with and in I think a way that really works.
So I think – I just – I hope that everybody’s going to be very pleased with the final episode. I think they will be.

Telenovela TV:
Jack Kenny: You know what’s funny? I – just as a quick side story with that, you know, Diego Gutierrez wrote that episode.
And we were in pitching stories to SYFY for the last season and Diego had come in and said, “I was thinking maybe we’d do sort of a Downton Abbey kind of a thing, that they all end up in this Downton Abbey world.”
And we thought about it for a while and think, “There’s just something – it feels kind of old fashioned. It feels like they maybe did. That doesn’t sound like a lot of fun for our guys.”
And I think he said a couple of other things and he said – then finally he said, “Well, you know, we could do a telenovela.” And we all just went, “Of course.”

Musicals:
Jack Kenny: We did want to write a whole musical episode and having done just the one big musical number in the finale, I think thank God we only did the one number and not a whole episode because I think it would’ve killed us because it’s just really, really hard.
I mean, we had – I think for anybody who does – needs a musical Jones to be filled they’ll get it filled in that – in the finale because we have a pretty big fabulous number for everybody.
There’s not a lot of singing from our guys but there’s some dancing and there’s a big event, let’s just say that. There’s a big event.

Eddie McClintock: Not a lot of singing.

Their Favorite Warehouse:
Eddie McClintock: You know, I like the alternate universe Warehouse 13. I thought that was – it was actually in a – what was that facility Jack where they had the…

Jack Kenny: It’s an automobile testing facility in – oh I can’t remember the name of the town – in – just south of Toronto. It’s this – it’s got a lot of clean rooms. It had a wind tunnel.
It had a room that could be cooled to 35 degrees below 0. It was just this really cool, modern feeling structure and we needed a futuristic modern version of the warehouse and we got to shoot there.
They opened it up to us in every way. It was fantastic. We got to shoot a whole bunch of stuff there. It was really fun.

Eddie McClintock: And, you know, it’s the complete opposite of kind of the old creaky warehouse. It’s very, you know, clean and contemporary.

Jack Kenny: Yes it was, I mean, I liked Warehouse 9 too. It was fun but we didn’t, you know, we were limited in terms of how much space we could have when we were in Warehouse 9 in that – in the same episode in the premier of – Season 5 premier…

Mementos:
Eddie McClintock: Oh my, I cleaned the place out. Let me tell you a Google or eBay, you know what I’m saying? No.

Jack Kenny: Yes he’s paying for his kids’ future.

Eddie McClintock: That’s right. You know, everybody was like, “I want a Tesla. I want the, you know, the H.G. Wells grappling hook and the Sylvia Plath typewriter.” I wanted the Tesla rifle and production and SYFY and everybody was kind enough to let me have the Tesla rifle.
And I got my cast mates to sign it and, you know, I’m going to mount it and put it in my house and – as a monument to an amazing time in my life.

Jack Kenny: You also got the bongos which I thought was the coolest thing to take.

Eddie McClintock: Well the – yes that’s true. That’s right. There’s a pair of bongos or a set of bongos in Artie’s office that I used to – between takes I’d pick them up and annoy everyone with for five years.
And at the end of the five years I just said, “I’m taking these bongos,” and I had everybody, cast and crew, sign these bongos so that’s another good one.

Jack Kenny: You know, I got – in Season 4 I got the astrolabe, which was kind of, you know, what I – all I really wanted. I got the astrolabe so I kind of have that prominently displayed in my office.
I have a Tesla and I have Farnsworth’s Farnsworth, which was really kind of – I got Claudia’s Farnsworth and there’s only one of those and that – that’s what I wanted.

They gave me the football and I know Eddie you wanted the football too. They gave me the computerized football but, you know, I gave that to Andy Gore who is the Head of Quantum Mechanics who makes all of our props for the fans. And he was just beside himself with the idea that – because it’s a one of a kind. It’s the only prop – it’s the only version of that that exists. There was only one made.

And so now Andy has the computerized football, which is kind of a cool thing to have from the show I think.

Be sure to tune into Warehouse 13 Monday 9/8c on Syfy