Hugh Laurie Says HBO’s AVENUE 5 Taps Into a Shared Human Emotion: The Fear of Being Caught Faking It

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede In the new HBO series AVENUE 5, from VEEP creator Armando Iannucci, Hugh Laurie’s character doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing but has to act like he does. There’s a real universality to that, in more ways than one. First, there’s the technical universality of AVENUE 5 – which debuts Sunday at 10 p.m. ET, only on Crave – being set in outer space. The series takes place 40 years in the future, when touring the solar system is a booming, multibillion-dollar business. Second, there’s the psychological universality of the predicament faced by Ryan Clark, played by Laurie. Ryan is the suave and confident captain of the spaceship, but it’s all an act – and everyone understands the fear of feeling ill-prepared. “I think Ryan is the most extreme version of the facade that the adult world presents to the rest of the adult world – we all do – in any number of different contexts,” Laurie said at the Television Critics Association event. “We’re sort of forced to pretend a competence or a confidence that none of us can really have. But if we do have it, it’s evidence of psychopathy, generally speaking, because the most human quality of all, I think, is doubt.” Laurie shared a personal example that illustrated his point. “The self-questioning and that sense of faking it, it’s weird – in the last 10 years, I’ve had such an extreme version of it,” Laurie said. “I spent longer pretending to be a doctor (on HOUSE M.D.) than it would’ve taken me to become a doctor, which is a really peculiar thing, made more so by the fact that my father was a doctor. In as much as every man feels like a fake version of their own father, I sort of had it triply so.” As AVENUE 5 begins, the space cruise ship – equipped with luxury amenities such as gourmet buffets, a spa, an observation deck, and yoga classes – is in the midst of a leisurely eight-week journey around Saturn. But when the ship suddenly encounters serious technical difficulties, it’s up to Ryan and his so-called crew to figure things out and maintain calm, even though their actual readiness is questionable at best. “I think that is something that everybody feels,” said Laurie, who then adjusted his point specifically for reporters at the TCA event. “I mean, I don’t know what it is like to write your first piece, and send it in, and (ask yourself), ‘Does that feel like a grownup thing to say or a grownup observation? Can I stand by that? Do I really believe that or am I sort of just hoping I can get away with it?’ I think most of us at some level are just hoping we can get away with it … or have I just revealed something unique and embarrassing?” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv