Denis Leary Knows How "Rescue Me" Will End

[JamesG]

Denis Leary Knows How "Rescue Me" Will End
by Nick Zaino
posted May 13th 2010


Season six of "Rescue Me" won't kick off until June 29, but series creator Denis Leary already knows how the whole thing will end next year.

Leary and company have already shot the ending for "Rescue Me", to be aired next year in season seven. In a recent conference call, Leary was tight-lipped with the details, but assured the series finale would satisfy people.


"Not that we were out to please the audience," he says, "but we wanted to do something that was organic and, obviously, fit the characters, and fit the tone of the show, which is a group of firefighters who deal with life and death all the time."







Not surprisingly, it will have something to do with death. Whether that means the death of Leary's Tommy Gavin, Leary isn't saying.

Whatever happens, Leary, producer/writer/director Peter Tolan and writer Evan Reilly have planned some sort of comic silver lining. "The show has obviously dealt with the question of mortality over, and over again," says Leary.

"So, it will deal with the mortality of the characters and it will deal with it, hopefully, in the traditional "Rescue Me" way, which is with some biting drama and some really, really funny comedy."




The other obvious element, which has been a theme throughout the series, is the lingering affect of 9/11 on the firefighters.

"We have to deal with the fact that it's ten years when the show airs," says Leary. "It'll be almost ten years to the day after 9/11. That has been really the reason why people watch the show."








Leary also mentioned that he and the writers submitted several endings for the show, and that FX president John Landgraf "always tried to steer us away from certain ideas, but we submitted the idea about a year ago."


Leary likes to mess with the press a little bit -- he once held a press conference at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal about his "Contest Searchlight" show, which parodied HBO's "Project Greenlight" reality show, as if the show were dead serious about finding a new movie-making talent.

It wouldn't have been hard to guess the show would be a parody, but Leary played it well.







So, we'll bite. What were some of the rejected endings?


"One was a diner with all the firefighters sitting around listening to a Journey song, and then just cut to black," says Leary.

"But, apparently, they did that at the end of "The Sopranos", so we can't do that. Then it was going to be a group hug a la "Mary Tyler Moore", which was going to be kind of an homage, but some of the guys didn't want to be involved in a group hug. So, both those ideas went out the window."









In the weeks leading up to the show, Leary and "Rescue Me" regulars Lenny Clarke and Adam Ferrara will hit the road for the 'Rescue Me Comedy Tour 2,' starting May 22 in Atlantic City (a portion of the proceeds from the shows will go to The Leary Firefighters Foundation).

Leary will also have the Enablers with The Rehab Horns, with whom he recorded the new single 'F.U.' out May 17 as a digital download from Comedy Central Records.

Leary might bring some other stand-up friends along on different dates -- don't be surprised to see Boston comics like Tony V or Ken Rogerson, who played the biker firefighters who burned down the station, pop up in the northeast.






Leary doesn't work comedy clubs anymore, but, inspired by Conan O'Brien, he has been working out material for the tour.

"You know, when I go out on stage, I usually have bullet points, and I run off at the mouth from these bullet points that I've written down, and I kind of improvise my way through it," he says.

"Then, after a few weeks, it starts to form itself into a typical set. So, the Twitter, I think, is probably a glimpse into what's on my mind."




Fans who catch the tour will get a sneak preview of clips from the upcoming season. "They're only shown live in the venues that we're performing in," says Leary.

"We have about a six-minute highlight reel of season six that shows you a tempting taste of what's going to happen, which you can only see in the room if you're there live that night. The audience tends to really go crazy for it."

http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/05/13/de...e-me-will-end/