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As you are already aware, Joey McIntyre, yes of New Kids on the Block, remains a highly underrated comedic actor. The universe will start to balance out around 8:30pm tonight when viewers tune in for his new comedy series, Return of the Mac on Pop TV. McIntyre plays a version of himself who is feeling frustrated with the acting parts he is (and is not) getting offered, and takes on hosting duties for a late night talk show. The show is a blend of awkward Curb Your Enthusiasm-style moments, a silly look at what it means for a boyband-er to navigate the entertainment industry, and an opportunity to show off some celebrity pals (Joey Lawrence and *NSYNC’s Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick all make appearances). McIntyre also serves as a producer on the show, as do Donnie Wahlberg and Jenny McCarthy, and we got his take on casting his real life family, the acting job that surprisingly got him the most attention, and the very famous #1 NKOTB fan that helped make the show happen.

Your wife and your kids are amazing. Were you surprised at how good they were on camera?

Aw thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you. I can’t say I was surprised but it was stressful because I didn’t know. I tried to keep my producer hat on and do what’s right for the show but I knew, I felt like she [wife Barrett McIntyre] was the one. And obviously it has an appeal with her being my real wife, but yeah, she was phenomenal. She stepped up big time and she’s never acted before. Never mind just acting, but the technical side of hitting your mark and not looking directly into the camera, stuff like that she was great at. The kids, I was concerned because I didn’t want them to miss school and that worked out, we didn’t use them too much.

In the show, you and your wife have a chore system in the form of a “job jar”: is that real?

The job jar is not real. Sorry, sorry. My wife is super dedicated to my kids and she’s a full time mom pretty much, and nowadays the kids have like 18 different activities. As far as the job jar, I’d probably make her a job jar instead of me, and I have the audacity to say that because she does so much. She leaves cupboards open a lot, and drawers. She just figures, ‘I’m going back to the cupboard in two minutes, I’m going to leave it open.’ And I’ve learned to keep my mouth shut and not complain about it anymore.

What has the acting side of your career actually been like in the last few years?

It’s been great actually. The storyline of this show, of wanting to be taken serious and all that stuff, I feel like I’m over that and that’s the reason why I can play something like this. I guess a few years ago I wanted to focus on acting in a different way, just get some guest spots and start working again. Maybe show people what I can do, show myself what I can do. Stuff like the Hotwives and the Funny or Die thing, I got more heat off of that, and speaking of heat, I probably got The Heat off of that, and then the McCarthys for a while. So I feel really good about it and I felt like I was focused in a way. At parts in this [show], I’m like, this is the last time I’m playing myself, can you just be good enough to like go up with everybody else and audition for something who’s not you, you know what I mean? But it was fun and at the end of the day it is a script, so once they say action you’re really playing a role even though it has my name.

But some stuff is real, like January Jones really is a Blockhead.

Oh yeah! Oh she’s a big fan, unabashed. She’s amazing and I cashed in on that. I had to get her on the show and she was super nice to do that. To get her in the pilot was huge. That scene [from the first episode] was from the pilot [the original 13-minutes pilot presentation]. That’s the only scene we kept from that. And more than a little reason why it got picked up, I’m sure.

Were you getting pitched projects like hosting a talk show for real?

Yeah, throughout my career I’ve had meetings with all kinds of companies about doing that and I declined as gracefully as possible. I like it, I like to do it, and over the years with my music career, I’d do TRL and I would do all kinds of stuff like that which were a lot of fun and I am good at it and I enjoy it. Back then, it was like I wanted to do more serious stuff and I thought that kinda clouded the image, but it’s all how you look at it; some people think that and some people don’t. You’ve just gotta know thyself and know what’s right for you. It’s been pretty cool.

Assistant Soozie is a great character because she seems like a composite of fans you’ve met that now work in the industry. It feels like she says and does things that represent the fans in the show.

I think so, and it was important to me for her to not be too crazy. She’s sweet and it was fun. She somehow walks the line of not being a stalker but of being a fun fan. Punam Patel is such a funny actor and I was thrilled that she could do it. We had fun with that. And take for instance the New Kids. When we came back together in 2008, you guys went into your boss’ office and said, ‘This is for real. This is for real and you need to pay attention,’ and that was a big part of the story, so it makes sense that she’s in there.

Return of the Mac airs tonight at 8:30pm on Pop TV.

Where to watch Return of the Mac