LA is a hard city to accept reality in. If you suffer a personal setback or an illness, you think, “How can I be sick in this gorgeous setting?” I had to move from Santa Monica, on the beach, because I wasn’t getting any work done. I just wanted to sit by the ocean and look at the sunsets.
It’s really hard to sit inside and watch Alfred Hitchock’s Psycho when it is constantly blaringly sunny outside. I know people who tape their windows with canvas bags to keep out the light, so they can pretend it’s overcast.
It’s like being on a set in The Truman Show, where everything is fake. The city exists in a white, bright landscape. I often wish for clouds so I can call the day a wash and sit inside. My wife loves it when it is overcast: we are like, “Oh my god honey, look – clouds!”
There are so many people writing screenplays in LA coffee shops. My friend used to say if you finish your second act here you should get your second coffee free. There is a beautiful independent coffee shop called Marie et Cie not far from me in Valley Village.
Being a non-drinker in a city of excess makes me feel a bit like I can’t really be part of the nightlife, but I’m comfortable with it. There are a lot of people who have quit, so I hang out with those people instead.
The Iliad Bookshop in North Hollywood is a mellow, beautiful place. It has been there a long time and has all these old Hollywood books. The owner always has a couple of cats in there, too. Nerdmelt is a comic book store on Sunset Boulevard with comedy shows in the back. Go on a Thursday to see Dana Gould or Arden Myrin. At the weekend you get more casual comedy fans; the real die-hard fans go during the week.
The LA comedy scene is really vibrant. People come from all over the country to get into film and TV, so you perform with famous comedians and very good, very driven younger ones. Largo is a big venue, but lots of smaller places are sprouting up.
A perfect day in LA is when I don’t have to get in a car. I moved here from New York but I never expected the traffic to be so intense. I was also surprised to realise that even though it seems big and sprawling, it’s made up of all these little neighbourhoods. You see people with their kids and dogs, up against all this huge impersonal traffic.
Most people here are trying to be something else. I walk my dog in this dog park and three out of five people I meet are saying: “I have a script. Can you get it to one of your friends?” I’m like, “I’m just trying to walk my dog!”
Griffith Park is a huge state park with a hiking trail up to the Hollywood sign. The whole town is about chasing fame and fortune, but meanwhile we’re just trying to relax on this hiking trail. I love the great views of the city from here – it’s always beautiful at night.
LA is in the middle of a horrible drought, yet everybody is still watering their lawns. They’ve actually said there’s only a year’s worth of water left, and no one, not even the governor, takes it seriously. It’s one of my pet peeves about the city. That and the unchanging canvas of the sun.
LA has all these great restaurants in places you’d never expect. In New York the restaurants are pretty well known but here they are tucked away. I met one guy who keeps a little black book of all the little restaurants he’s found.
Hugo’s Tacos in Valley Village is a great vegan-friendly restaurant. My wife and I are now vegan, and the city as a whole caters well for us. Even in regular restaurants I’m noticing more and more vegan options. Some places are all vegan, like Sage in Echo Park, and we also love this Indian place called Gangadin in Studio City.
You have to be tough to live in LA. There are so many people who’ve been in a pilot but then the pilot fails and the show disappears. It is hard to insult people out here: everyone has such a deep sense of humour about it all.
• Eddie Pepitone’s show, What Rough Beast, is at Soho Theatre (sohotheatre.com) from 12-24 May
