Eugene Levy: ‘The Reluctant Traveler’ visits 8 international locations

Summarize this content material to 540 phrases It would shock anybody who has spent four-plus many years watching Eugene Levy in every little thing from “SCTV,” to motion pictures together with “American Pie” and “Finest in Present,” to “Schitt’s Creek” to listen to that he’s shy.“I’m simply innately a shy individual, at all times have been,” Levy mentioned throughout a Zoom Q&A for the brand new Apple TV Plus present he hosts, “The Reluctant Traveler,” which debuts Feb. 24. “I’ve by no means been snug being in entrance of a digicam as myself.”That diffidence appears to be a part of why the 76-year-old Canadian comedy legend has at all times been — and nonetheless is, to some extent — a reluctant traveller.“I by no means liked travelling. I don’t love the airport expertise. I’m not a fan of sightseeing usually … I don’t have an amazing sense of journey. I’m not curious by nature,” Levy mentioned throughout a unique Q&A on the Tv Critics Affiliation press tour final month.And he’s by no means been the sort to spontaneously chat up the locals when travelling, because of his shyness, he added.But, in “The Reluctant Traveler,” Levy ventures all around the world, interacting with all types of individuals and doing a little issues that elevate these famously bushy eyebrows.Comparable to? Taking a nighttime hike within the Costa Rican rainforest to see spiders and snakes.“Discuss luck,” Levy deadpans when his information tells him how fortunate they’re to have seen a extremely venomous eyelash viper. “I assume it’s thrilling to see a snake on a department that would in all probability kill you in 45 minutes, that’s an attention-grabbing factor.”Over eight episodes, Levy additionally visits: Finland; South Africa; the Maldives; Venice, Italy; Lisbon, Portugal; Tokyo; and Utah.For the viewer, an enormous a part of the enjoyment — other than seeing stunning inns, beautiful pure vistas and different city sights — is seeing Levy’s reactions to them. Shy, certain, however he’s additionally inherently humorous, particularly when he’s clearly not thrilled about what he’s being requested to do.“I don’t essentially love each expertise that I’m having on the present, however not less than I’m attempting it,” Levy mentioned throughout the Apple TV Plus Q&A, throughout which journalists’ questions had been posed by a moderator.“Would I am going on an evening hike in Costa Rica once more? I don’t assume I want to try this. Would I am going ice fishing within the Arctic? No, don’t assume I want to try this. You recognize, I didn’t actually in my intestine love what I used to be doing (in these circumstances), however I’m glad I did it.”Driving a canine sled in Finland, alternatively, was in all probability essentially the most enjoyable he had making the present.“That was an exhilarating expertise. That was fairly wonderful,” Levy mentioned. “I’ll inform you what else was a tremendous expertise … feeding black rhinos, that are probably the most harmful if not essentially the most harmful animal in Africa … by way of a slot in a fence.”Earlier than making “The Reluctant Traveler,” going to South Africa wouldn’t have been on his want listing.“I didn’t actually love the thought of happening safari … to see these animals that I’d already seen on TV. I do know what they seem like. Do I have to see them roaming round, , in an enormous discipline on the market someplace?” Levy mentioned.However his journey to Kruger Nationwide Park gave him a eager sense of the hazard the animals are in, he mentioned. And whereas he beforehand considered rhinos as “essentially the most ugly prehistoric-looking animals on the face of the Earth, after my expertise on this rhino conservancy I really thought they had been simply lovely.”He was touched, too, by the folks he met, saying he liked his conversations with them.He singled out a member of the Navajo Nation he met in Utah, spending a night stargazing with the younger man, and one other with him and his household. “They had been completely pretty … and I had an perception into Indigenous folks that I haven’t actually had up so far in my life.”After all, you would possibly marvel how a person who, by his personal admission, “spent my life actually saying no to numerous issues,” obtained talked into saying sure to a journey present.Levy did say no when he was first supplied a sequence that will deal with inns around the globe however, in explaining how his disinterest in journey made him a foul match for a journey present, he gave government producer David Brindley one other concept.As Levy defined it to the tv critics, he obtained on the telephone with Brindley and an Apple government to elucidate why he wasn’t their man. “Each motive I used to be saying, ‘I’m not the individual,’ I’d get fun on the opposite finish of the telephone and I’m considering, ‘Properly, good, that is working.’“What I didn’t know till later was that after that decision (David mentioned) ‘That’s the present! Someone who just isn’t keen on travelling doing the travelling.’ In order that was pitched to me and I mentioned, ‘OK, all proper, I get that.’ Nonetheless, I nonetheless needed to cope with my very own points about really fronting the present.”Regardless of that discomfort with being himself on digicam, Levy mentioned he reveals extra about himself on “The Reluctant Traveler” than ever earlier than. “I’m a really sort of non-public individual. However, , I’ve been sort of opening up and revealing my interior ideas on this present.”It’s all a part of the private progress he mentioned he skilled making the sequence.But, “I’m nonetheless a reluctant traveller, fairly truthfully,” Levy mentioned. “I feel it wouldn’t essentially be a capital R … I’m nonetheless at a degree the place there’s issues that I wouldn’t even pattern, so I nonetheless have a methods to go.”“The Reluctant Traveler” debuts Feb. 24 on Apple TV Plus.Debra Yeo is a deputy editor and a contributor to the Star’s Leisure part. She is predicated in Toronto. Comply with her on Twitter: @realityeoSHARE:JOIN THE CONVERSATION Anybody can learn Conversations, however to contribute, you ought to be a registered Torstar account holder. If you don’t but have a Torstar account, you possibly can create one now (it’s free)Signal InRegisterConversations are opinions of our readers and are topic to the Code of Conduct. The Star doesn’t endorse these opinions.