“What a great gig that was.”
Jeff Kober‘s résumé is stacked with a long lineup of memorable roles, from Sons of Anarchy and The Walking Dead to General Hospital, which earned him a Daytime Emmy Award. But to fans of The Pitt, none may have had more impact than Kober’s role of Dr. Robby’s motorcycle sensei, Duke. Though Robby brings him to the hospital to learn the cause of his hoarseness — and while the diagnosis ends up being far more serious — over the course of the shift, Duke serves as one of the few who can speak truth to the ever-more spiraling Robby.
Though Kober had worked with The Pitt executive producer John Wells before on China Beach, he says this role just happened to come his way — “I don’t understand the business any better today than I did 40 years ago,” he says with a laugh, “but things just happen.” And he was more than happy for the reunion.
Here, the actor — who’s contending for guest actor in a drama in the upcoming Emmy Awards — shares with Gold Derby his experience on the set, calling it one of the best of his career, the story he told Noah that ended up in the show, and whether we’ll see more of Duke next season.
Gold Derby: You’ve had such a long career — so many TV shows, so many film roles. How did this one come your way?
Jeff Kober: I got it literally at 9:30 a.m. on a Wednesday, and the audition had to be in by 5 p.m. Of course, it was six pages, so I’m assuming someone else had the gig and dropped out, or they had to push their shoot a week, so they lost somebody. So I just cleared my calendar and spent the day learning the words, and then had a friend come over, and we shot it a few times. Then I went to look at my camera, and the microphone battery was dead. So I had 45 minutes left to shoot it and cut it, and I called my friend back, and we did it again, and it was that that last time through, where I just said, “What the hell?” and something happened. It’s so challenging to have real acting happen in an audition, and this was just one of those moments when it actually happened. So I was blessed.
Did you know how long of an arc Duke was going to have at that point?
I knew that they were talking about it being five episodes, but they were just doing it one episode at a time, and then it ended up being six episodes. So apparently they liked what they were getting.
Given your experience on so many different TV shows and sets, how does The Pitt compare for you? What was the experience like on set?
It was one of the top three experiences I’ve had — just the smoothness of the operation, and the fact that everyone was working together, the cast, the crew, the above the line. Everyone was in it to make the best product, and to make it as real as possible, and the writing was great. It reminded me of The Walking Dead, in that the number one on the call sheet was the one who sets the tone for the whole show, and number one on the call sheet with Andy Lincoln on The Walking Dead. He was there 110% — all the time, on camera, off camera, and likewise, Noah, the same way.
Can you talk about Noah more specifically? What is it like to work with Noah on set?
He’s a regular guy. He’s got so much coming at him, and yet he just holds himself as a regular human, and is able to be in that position of the guy but not abuse the privilege, not take from it, but just keep offering from it, and that’s what a true artist is to me, and especially in our business, someone who continues to offer rather than someone who takes, and he’s definitely of the former.
So let’s talk about Duke. How did you find your way into him?
I was raised on a farm in Montana, and my father and two of his brothers took over from their father, and I grew up with these cousins instead of brothers, and one of my cousins was named Duke, and one was a biker, and the story just kind of told itself, and also, I have a backstory like Duke, in that I had some trouble in my life and came out the other side and carried the weight of it, and from there it’s just having a relationship with Noah’s character and letting the rest take care of itself.
How did you build that chemistry with Dr. Robby?
When you have another actor who just wants to make it real, you just assume the relationship, and that’s what we did. Just sat around chatting, and you take liberties with each other. Acting is such an intimate experience, and when you’re with somebody that you can trust, you’re willing to let yourself be open and be intimate, and they are as well. And then the story just tells itself. It’s the most amazing thing when you don’t have to work at it. You do all your work, and then the camera rolls, and then it’s play, it’s life, it’s just an experience rolling forward.
The role, especially, is so important this season, because obviously Robby’s having a really bad day, but Duke is that person who gets through to him. What is it about Duke that serves as that for Robby? Why does he respond so much to Duke?
I think Duke is older, and Robby is the guy in charge for everybody, he’s got to be the daddy figure, and working with Duke, I imagine these late nights in a garage where they’re doing parallel play, Robby’s working on a bike and Duke’s working on a bike, and then when Robby has questions, he can ask Duke, and there’s an authority who knows more than he does, and so it allows him to take a breath, it allows him to be a way he can’t be ever in the ER, and from there it allows the storytellers to show an aspect of him that they can’t show in any other relationship,
And why can Duke speak truth to him when others can’t? Is it because of that relationship?
It’s because of that relationship, and I think Duke is a guy who’s been through enough in his life that — I mean, he even says it. He says, “Look, I’m not good at small talk,” and it’s just — he can’t speak BS. It’s part of a 12-step group, or at least 12 step-adjacent, you see people die because no one says anything. I think Duke is well past the point of embarrassment. So he just speaks the truth to what he sees, and I think it comes from a place of great love. At a certain point, I just realized that I was seeing the whole thing as kind of a love story from that perspective.
I also think that given what Duke was going through, Duke’s health crisis, it’s one of the reasons that Robby’s cracking so much. He’s like, ‘Here’s my rabbi, and my rabbi is in trouble.”
Oh, I never thought about that. You’re probably right. If he is hanging on by a thread, Duke is probably one of those threads.
What was the toughest scene for you to play?
There was a scene where Robby’s telling Duke the seriousness of his medical problems, that was the hardest for me, because up to that point they were just crapping on each other and teasing each other, and Duke had to let all of his guard down at that place, too. That was the hardest one for me. It was just letting myself take in the information, and it was happening at exactly the time that a relative of mine was being given the same diagnosis that I had never heard of before.
I think the scenes outside where Duke confronts Robby that he knows what he’s up to, trying to ride away and not come back, those were probably more emotionally full, but that one that I’m talking about was that one felt more vulnerable and more challenging because of that.
Do you think the writers were writing more to your strengths as they got to know you better over the course of these five or six episodes, giving you more to do?
I think so. I mean, those guys — they’re really nudging things and refining things all the way throughout. I told Noah a couple of stories from my sister-in-law, who’s an ER nurse, and he said, “I’m taking that one,” and he did. He put it in one of the scripts that he was writing at the time.
What was the story?
My sister-in-law said the one of the first things that when they were doing their intake on her first day in the ER, the doctor who was training them said, “Just remember this, stupid people, that’s your job security” and one of the doctors says that in, I think, Episode 213 or 14.”
Duke also serves a great purpose as our window into the ER, in terms of he’s overwhelmed by the breakdown of the healthcare system.
They really are good at showing it. When I first moved to L.A, my girlfriend had to go to the ER, and we went to USC ER, and this was back in the late ’70s, and we were in the ER for 12 hours before we saw a doctor. I can’t imagine what it’s like today. It must be at least maybe twice that. The show is so good at showing what it’s like for people, and Duke has an in. He’s the boss’s patient, he’s the special guy, they bring him right in. But then he also sees the toll it takes on the doctors, that’s the window that I see him really allowing people to see through.
That’s a double purpose that he serves. He’s Robby’s conscience, but he’s also our window into this experience. We’re seeing him get treated so well, but we also see him go, “Oh my god, you have to deal with this every day. No wonder.”
Isn’t that a great scene? Then, when Robby says, “No, no, this is the only thing that makes sense to me. If I didn’t have this, I wouldn’t be able to be anywhere, and I don’t want to be anywhere, because I really can’t take this anymore.”
Does Duke get his surgery?
Who knows? The balls are still up in the air. I don’t know where that goes.
Are you going to be back? Will we see you next season?
Not that I know of. No one’s contacted me, but maybe I die off screen. “Oh, remember Duke. Too bad.”
We can’t let that happen.
Write letters!
Do you think that your chat with Robby got through to him? Does he go on his sabbatical? Does he come back?
I think it really opened him up to the fullest consequences of what he was planning. I’ve known people, and we all know people who have gotten to that place, and I think people always wake up at some point when they’re headed toward their own demise and go, “No, no, no” and realize that life doesn’t want to end itself. It feels to me like this was early enough that it wasn’t too late and Robby did wake up, I think he did wake up, so it will be really interesting to see what they do with that.
What has the fan reaction meant to you?
People seem to love the work, love the show. My friends were all very excited that I was on the show. Someone just called me yesterday, and said, “Well, I’m finally watching it, and did they write that for you or what?” Because it’s just kind of me, even with the unbrushed hair and the funky beard, and the whole attitude. It really is just kind of me with a camera rolling, but with better words than I usually come up with myself.
How does it compare to General Hospital?
Two completely different hospitals. It’s nothing compared to General Hospital. I’ll tell you what that taught me so much about acting, because there were days on The Pitt where we would shoot six, seven, eight pages a day. General Hospital, one day I had 55 pages, and it’s four cameras, and you just get all your words and wind yourself up and go one time through, and that’s it. As long as you don’t knock over a camera, they’re going to keep it, they don’t care. And so it really gave me a whole different level of permission to just let it rip, because you can’t be careful, you can’t make sure you catch your moments. I know they’re in there somewhere.
How do you really feel about motorcycles?
I love motorcycles, and I haven’t been able to get one since I’ve been in L.A. I used to ride them when I was a kid, but again, I have that nurse sister-in-law, and she’s just seen too many people come in. And in L.A., it doesn’t matter how good a rider you are, someone’s going to do some something boneheaded in front of you, and you’re going to eat it. It’s just how bad are you going to eat it? And I’m too old to eat it anymore. I used to ride dirt bikes a lot, and I got to where I could wreck really well and not hurt myself at all. And I’m no longer that guy.
But unlike Robby, you’d wear a helmet.
No, I never wore that. Right, see, that’s a problem, right? [Laughs]
And what does it mean to you to be in the awards conversation for this role?
It’s just weird. I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve done good work here and there, and it’s always decent, but rarely does any of it get noticed. So it’s nice and it’s something I just can’t pay attention to, because it just makes me crazy.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
