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Beyoncé surprised her fans on Super Bowl Sunday, using a Verizon ad to announce “Renaissance Act II” and release two new country songs. But BeyHive members with a penchant for half-hour comedies got a two-for-one deal, as the pop star appeared in the commercial alongside an unexpected partner: “Veep” and “Arrested Development” star Tony Hale.
Hale has spent years of his career playing strange, unconventional beta males overshadowed by powerful women: “It’s my forte,” he says, reflecting on what his new collaborator might have in common with Lucille Bluth (Jessica Walter, “Arrested Development” ) and Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep”). He felt at home around Yoncé, although he’s not entirely sure how much she knew about him in return. “We didn’t really have much time to chat,” he laughs. “I didn’t ask him, ‘Have you seen my work?’”
Verizon began teasing a Beyoncé ad in the days leading up to the Super Bowl. In a preview, Hale works hard at a lemonade stand., saying, “Wait, you want me to juice all these lemons by myself?” in reference to Beyonce’s 2016 album “Lemonade” and the song “Hold Up.” In other, gets chatty with ReNeighthe giant crystal horse that will appear in the 2023 Renaissance World Tour.
Then on Sunday night, viewers got to see Hale try to keep up with Beyoncé’s relentless attempts to “break” Verizon’s 5G network (featuring a Beyoncé robot, a Beyoncé concert in space, the Twitch account by Beyoncé and more) before deciding to give the people what they want. “Okay, they’re ready. Drop the new music,” she says at the end of the commercial, at which point “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” were released on streaming services.
Hale spoke with Variety exclusively about being there for Beyoncé’s big moment.
I can’t say that you and Beyoncé are a couple I’ve ever imagined before, but I’m obsessed.
We are the obvious couple!
I see that now.
I love the contrast between the most powerful icon and then… me! The guy who usually plays castrated sidekicks!
How did this come about?
It happened pretty quickly. I got the call from my agent and he said, “There’s a possibility of doing a Super Bowl ad.” I said, “That’s great.” And then they said it was Beyoncé and I was like, “That?“My daughter had gone to his concert and was telling me everything. I didn’t go, but she and I had just seen the movie “Renaissance.” Obviously I’m a fan. Everything was incredibly cool and exciting.
The difficult thing was that I couldn’t tell my daughter. My wife is a makeup artist, so she worked with me on the commercial and for three weeks afterward we couldn’t mention it. We thought, “This is killing us.” She had asked, “What are you guys doing?” I said, “Oh, we’re just shooting this industrial for a tech company.” She didn’t think twice.
When did you finally tell him?
They sent out these trailers all week. I receive this text. She says, “Dad?” I was like, “Yeah?” She says, “I’m with my friend Lola and we’re looking at this and… dad?” She coded it. She is also a huge Taylor Swift fan and It’s all about suggestions and coding. she picked up The lemons and me saying “wait” at the beginning of the teaser.. In a way he didn’t want her to see the preview, because she wanted to record it when she was watching the Super Bowl, but these teenagers are too smart.
But I had a friend (who saw the lemon preview) and he said, “Is that Martha Stewart?” I say: “Friend, you are shape off.”
What was it like meeting Beyoncé on set? What were you talking about?
She is just the nicest person. Obviously, she has incredible talent, but she couldn’t keep her feet on the ground. That’s the great thing about this business: when you meet these icons, you see the humanity. She is very normal and sweet.
We filmed a lot in one day. She had seven or nine costume changes, from a Barbie outfit to the presidential outfit, she was very busy. I was just in the same outfit, sitting eating craft services. But during the time I was with her, she simply couldn’t have been nicer.
This interview has been edited and condensed.