On August 5, 2021, London-based publishing house Trapeze Books announced that the father-and-son team of Dan and Eugene Levy—who respectively starred as fictitious father-and-son David and Johnny Rose on the smash-hit Canadian sitcom—will team up once again to co-author Best Wishes, Warmest Regards: The Story of Schitt’s Creek, set to arrive on October 26. JamieColeman, publishing director Trapeze Books, said in a statement, “As a self-proclaimed fan since its launch in 2015, I’m delighted to part of the global phenomenon that is Schitt’s Creek. The show has established a position as the kind of escapist television that we’ve needed in tumultuous times. To enter the world of Schitt’s Creek is to escape to somewhere you don’t want to leave and for so many viewers, the series finishing left them bereft. Reading Best Wishes, Warmest Regards is like taking a trip back to the Rosebud Motel with the cast as your guide, a feel-good journey back to the creek that we all need.” Trapeze Books has also promised that the tome will capture the “essence and alchemy of all six seasons,, [including] the town, the characters, and the state of mind that is Schitt’s Creek.” News of the book arrives about two months after Dan Levy told Parade.com that an onscreen Schitt’s Creek reunion won’t be happening “for a minute.” He explained, “We only got off the air like a year ago. So I feel like a reunion might be a little early. I think you need to let the dust settle on something in order for people to really kind of miss you.” Levy adds, “I would say anything that’s going to happen in any kind of effort to bring people together isn’t going to happen for a minute. We’re gonna just wait a beat and hope for a good idea to cross my mind and hopefully, then we can start the conversation.” Schitt’s Creek came to an end in 2020 after six seasons and went on to make history months later at the Emmys, becoming the first show to sweep all seven comedy categories. The hit sitcom also took home the award for Best Comedy Series at the 2021 Golden Globes.
What is Dan Levy doing now?
So, how does Levy intend on topping himself following the success of the past year? Well, for starters, that’s not his goal. “I think the first plan of action is to not plan on topping it,” he admits. “I feel like the way that our culture is set up is to constantly feel like you have to improve upon something you’ve done”—and Levy has decided not to adhere to that. “I think the safest thing you can do for your mind and for your spirit and for your creativity is to acknowledge that things happen and whatever you do next, it might not be as big, it might not be as flashy, but it has to be as meaningful,” the award-winning TV star says. For Levy, that’s been the filter through which all of his “ideas and thoughts” have always “kind of had to run through.” “Whatever I do next, and whatever I put my name to, it has to mean as much,” he shares. The actor-writer-producer notes that you “cannot compare what you do to what you’ve done.” Instead, Levy says he is “trying to just maintain the integrity of the work and hope that leaves me feeling good at the end of the day.” Continue reading for more on what Dan Levy and Rashida Jones were up to during quarantine and their post-pandemic plans…
The new Citi card rewards users for living their best lives, so I would like to know how after a year that’s impacted how we all went about living our lives, what’s one thing you guys plan on doing to start living your best lives again?
Rashida Jones: Hiding in my house isn’t the right answer, right? No, you know, I think I’m ready to be out in the world, like, incrementally ready to be out in the world. But I’m really excited to travel, to go somewhere that is very, very different from my home and experience something new. Dan Levy: I couldn’t agree more.
Where would you like to go?
Rashida Jones: I would like to go everywhere, please. At the same time.
And what about you, Dan? How do you plan on resuming living your best life?
Dan Levy: I am such a homebody by nature that like, you know, I feel like Rashida and I both share this kind of like, ‘What? What will it look like?’ Because I’ve kind of gotten very comfortable. I’m genuinely and generally home a lot and usually, people have to come to my house. So not much has changed in terms of just staying home. But yeah, I think travel is something that has been such a great source of inspiration, inspiration for me and for so many people. And I think to not be able to travel has really been something that I’ve been very aware of, because so much of my year is sort of tentpoled by trips that I’ll plan that I can look forward to. And so I very much look forward to traveling again. I mean, I’ve sort of done it a little bit. I’ve taken kind of day trips or weekend trips. I drove from Los Angeles to Big Sur, which was a really beautiful drive and a beautiful weekend. And that was kind of one of those things where you realize like, oh, I could theoretically just do little day trips. It doesn’t have to be a huge trip somewhere. But I would like to take a huge trip somewhere sometime soon.
Well, Rashida said that she would like to go anywhere. Is there a top destination that you’d like to visit?
Dan Levy: Well I tend to go to Japan every year. It’s just a place that I love so much. And it’s been close to two years now since I’ve been able to go back. So I guess I would say I would love to be able at some point soon to return to Japan.
I think 2020 made a lot of people realize that you can’t just wait for tomorrow and that you should really seize opportunities. So my question to both of you is as the world reopens, is there something that you’re eager to cross off your bucket list and finally do that you’ve been putting off?
Rashida Jones: You know, I’m really looking forward to like a luxurious spa day with some steaming and a massage and a facial. That sounds great.
What about you, Dan?
Dan Levy: You know, I’ve seen a lot of skateboarding videos. Rashida Jones: Oh no! No, no, no, no. Dan: Um, I’m not saying it’s something I should pursue, but it is something that I like have watched and been like, ‘Gosh, that’s a skill I wish that I had.’ Unfortunately, I do not have any foot-eye coordination. At all. I can’t play soccer. I can’t. I’ve gotten on a skateboard once. It didn’t go well. I can’t snowboard. Anyway. But I have like, peeked through the curtains of my house at like people skateboarding on my street. Rashida: No. No. You can’t be late to skateboard. You know what I mean? You have to pick it up at like six and then keep it going.
Looking ahead, what are you most looking forward to doing aside from travel post-COVID?
Rashida Jones: I’m excited to browse. My friend was like, ‘I’m gonna go to Home Goods and just roam the aisles.’ And I was like, ‘That sounds so fun.’ You know? Just to like look at stuff and see things next to other things in a way that like. Everything you’ve had to intentionally go online and get for so long and now you can kind of like, spontaneously pick something up that just happens to be next to the thing you were going to get anyway.
And you, Dan?
Dan Levy: Well, I bought my first concert ticket.
Who are you seeing?
Dan Levy: I’m seeing Alanis Morissette. So I’m hopeful. I’m hopeful that we’ll get there. I’m hopeful that you know, we’ll continue to be good and that everyone will continue to respect each other’s space so that we can get to a point where people can play music live again. I think that’s something that I miss the freedom to be able to go and do. So I’m looking forward to attending a concert. Can’t believe I said that.
Did this period make either of you pick up a hobby or maybe set a new goal that you hadn’t thought of before?
Rashida Jones: Made me pick up and drop off a lot of hobbies. [laughs] Early on, I took an online music theory class, which was awesome. Very hard. Dan Levy: What does that mean? Like music theory in what capacity? Rashida Jones: Like, learning how to, you know, build harmonies and build a top melody off of certain chord structures, counter melodies, counterparts. Like it was kind of like, just basic, basic music theory, you know, like how to read music rests and rhythms and key signatures, stuff like that…Yeah, I remember nothing. It was a long course. It was like a semester. It was like four months.
Oh so you finished it! Okay, good. Pat on the shoulder ‘cause you finished it.
Rashida Jones: Yeah. No, I think I got like an A or something. Dan Levy: Wow! Rashida Jones: It was early days. It was early days. I had energy. I was young.
And how about you, Dan? Any hobbies that you picked up, or a goal that you set during this time?
Dan Levy: I got a keyboard. And I started to re-learn piano. I took it for a very long time. And I never quite got good at it. But I thought, why not? And every day I sat down with a YouTube person who taught me—re-taught me, rather—a Fiona Apple song. And so I learned the, I think it was like the first 10 bars of a Fiona Apple song.
Wow, the two of you got into the whole music thing during quarantine. I love it!
Dan Levy: Yeah, it was early quarantine and I haven’t played since. But I was glad that I did it. And, you know, I also picked up Italian. I did a Duolingo Italian thing. It dropped off after a while. Rashida Jones: But [he] started! Dan Levy: I started! This interview has been edited for length and clarity Next, 21 Canadian sitcoms to stream!
