Paul Campbell at the NBC All-Star Party held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. on July 20, 2008.

The 29-year-old Campbell spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine about being the comic relief on the revitalization of the 1980's cult TV classic.

MediaBlvd Magazine> How did you feel about your character, Billy Keikeya, on Battlestar Galactica?

Paul Campbell> He was the secretary to President Roslin (Mary McDonnell). He was not necessarily a yes-man. My scenes were always the first to go, but in a lot of the stuff that didn’t get to the screen, he was definitely Roslin’s conscience, a lot of the time. If she ever had any opposition from her own team, it often came from that character. Originally, he was written as the smartest guy in the room, but only spoke when he had to or he felt really passionate about something. He was just very human. That was my take. He was incredibly smart, always very aware of what was going on, but knew his place.

MediaBlvd> Did they just decide to end the character, or did you decide to move on?

Paul> I chose to leave, actually. I had a pilot, called Nobody’s Watching, that I was working on in Los Angeles, with Bill Lawrence, and I was just ready to go. I had finished a season and I figured it couldn’t get any better than that, so I decided to take a shot at long-term unemployment, and it worked really well for me.

MediaBlvd> How many webisodes did you do for Nobody’s Watching?

Paul> It didn’t turn into webisodes so much as it was viral video. We had at least a dozen viral videos. Collectively, we had 30 million hits on our videos, on YouTube and all over the Internet.

MediaBlvd> It was disappointing that it didn’t end up as a series. What did you think of that experience, overall?

Paul> Honestly, it was fantastic! It was a year and a half in the making, from when we were actually cast in the pilot, shot the pilot, and then got the official no that it wasn’t going to go any further. It was just a roller coaster ride. We thought we were picked up, and then it didn’t happen. And then, NBC agreed to do six scripts, contingent on our ability to generate buzz on the Internet. We distanced ourselves from the network, as much as possible, and we did create this world of Derrick (Taran Killam) and Will (Paul Campbell) -- the Nobody’s Watching guys -- on the Internet. We were really well received, but for whatever reason, NBC wasn’t able to include it in their programming. It got widdled down from six episodes to three episodes to a one-hour live special from a soundstage, and then it just didn’t happen. Under the guise of these two guys that come to Hollywood to try to make a career, they said, “We will give you one hour of primetime air to do a live special from a soundstage at NBC.” It was like, “Hey, you guys think you’re funny? Here’s your soundstage, here’s your hour of primetime TV, go and be funny.” We were actually going to do it, but we weren’t able to make it happen.

MediaBlvd> How did you come to Knight Rider?

Paul> I came to the show the regular way. I just auditioned for it, and (executive producer) Gary Scott Thompson was familiar with Battlestar. He knew who I was. I just went the usual route and auditioned. I was the first person to audition for this character, and it went from there. It was probably the easiest casting process for me, so far. I didn’t have to go through the usual testing routes for this.

MediaBlvd> You came into the show after the two-hour movie, right?

Listen to Paul on the radio

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Paul recently came on to two of our affilliated radio programs.  Click the links above to listen to what he had to say.

MediaBlvd> How does your character fit into the Knight Rider world?

Paul> Very similar to Battlestar, my character is extremely intelligent. His name is Billy Morgan, and he’s the head tech engineer for KITT. He runs all the systems and communications. It’s all done by computer, so he makes sure everything with the computer is up and running. He’s the foil for Smith Cho’s character, Zoe Chae. We’re the comic relief. We have a very funny, brother-sister relationship, and we nitpick at each other. Being far different from Battlestar, I get to try to be funny. I get to be as silly and as big as I want to be, and that was something that attracted me to the show, in the first place. They said, “Do whatever you want and be as big as you want because, at the end of the day, this is Knight Rider and people just want to enjoy themselves,” and I did. It’s really fun to be on a set where they encourage creativity. There are no egos involved. From day one, they said, “The best idea wins. If you have something funnier than what we write, we’re going to use that.” And, that’s really nice.

MediaBlvd> Will you get to be involved in any of the action at all?

Paul> I think I do. We’ve taken a lot of time to establish the KITT cave and what I do, and we’re still trying to figure out what exactly we’re dealing with, in terms of the technology. Once we figure that out, then I think I get to go out in the field, and probably get beaten up or kidnapped. I’m the skinny guy. I’m not going to be saving anybody’s life. But, I think I’ll be out in the field as comic relief. That’s what I was brought on to do.

MediaBlvd> Have you done a lot of action work in your career?

Paul> No, very little. The extent of my action experience is on Battlestar Galactica, being saved by President Roslin, who is in her late 50's. She’s 5 foot 5 and very slight, and she threw me to the floor, in an action sequence, to save my life. That was the most emasculating moment of my acting career. True to form, I think I get saved in the first couple episodes of Knight Rider, again. They tell me to get out because there’s stuff going down, and I’m in no position to help anybody.

MediaBlvd> When you started working on the show and began to form the team, did it come together really quickly?

Paul> Immediately, and that’s why we’re all so hopeful that this show is successful. It doesn’t happen very often, that you get involved in a project and everybody just clicks immediately. The relationship between Smith’s character and myself is great, and it’s really well cast. These guys know what they’re doing. They’ve got so much history in television, they know how to cast a show. We get along like we’ve been friends for years and years. It’s fantastic!

MediaBlvd> What is Smith’s character like? How does she fit in with you?

Paul> She plays Yancey Arias’ assistant. He works independently, as the boss of the KITT cave, and she works as his assistant. She’s really sharp and really manipulative, and she can be really snide, but she’s also a really fun character. From Billy’s perspective, it’s her goal in life to keep him constantly off-balance and to manipulate him. He’s got this love-hate relationship with her, so that’s our fun interplay. She’s constantly picking at him, seducing and bringing him in, and then pushing him away. A lot of the comic relief in the show will come from our relationship, and I think they were smart to add it to the show. It’s a different dynamic.

MediaBlvd> Do you have a comedy background, or is this the first time you’ve gotten to do something like that?

Paul> My comedy background is just being the biggest idiot I could possibly be in school. I didn’t take any drama classes. I was a carpenter. When I graduated high school, I framed houses for four years, before I even thought about getting into film and TV. I did that comedy pilot, Nobody’s Watching, with Bill Lawrence, who created Scrubs. It doesn’t get any more silly and over-the-top than that. And, I’ve done a couple comedy features since then, but that’s really my experience. It’s just been practicing with my friends, and practicing in front of the mirror. I’ve grown up being a big goofball.

MediaBlvd> Were you a fan of the original Knight Rider?

Paul> I wasn’t old enough to catch the show. I never watched it when it was actually on TV. I’ve seen episodes, but it’s not something I ever went back and watched. I can enjoy it, but I can’t count myself as a fan. I just didn’t grow up with it. I grew up with Power Rangers. That was more my age. I’m not a big TV watcher.

MediaBlvd> Are you prepared for the exposure you’ll get with this show?

Paul> I don’t think anyone’s prepared for that, and that’s probably something I’m looking forward to the least. I’m not interested in the fame. I get so much enjoyment out of working on these productions and doing what I do that I could never see myself wanting to stop, unless it was an issue of feeling claustrophobic. There’s nothing else I would rather do than go to the set each day and be a goof in front of the camera, unless it becomes too much, fame wise. And, I hope it doesn’t. I think there are ways of being really smart about keeping yourself out of the spotlight. There are ways to go about it because a lot of people do it. My hope is that I’m able to do that. Who knows if it will come to that, though.

MediaBlvd> Do you hope that this exposure will help lead to film roles for you?

Paul> Absolutely! That’s always the hope. Everybody wants to have a well-balanced career, in TV and film. TV is great for having a steady job, and film is often really rewarding because you do something for a couple months and then you get to move on and do something different. If we go to a full season of 22 or 25 episodes, that’s 10 months of 12-hour days. That’s a lot of work. To try to fit something in, in that two months off, is pretty tough. If it happens, fantastic. Maybe there will be some good, juicy supporting roles that I could walk on and do for a week or two, here and there. It’s pretty tough when you’re doing full seasons. You just can’t do it. It’s exhausting.