Dr. Feelbad

Do you mean overwhelmed and exposed in the sense that there's too much attention on you and every movement you make?
That sort of stuff, yeah. And there is no escape from it. It never stops. I can never just say, "I need a couple of hours to just go walk in the park and stare at a tree." There's always someone rapping on the door of the trailer saying, "The camera is ready." It's just relentless. Whatever mood you're in, however you feel physically, whatever situation you're experiencing, the machine goes on. [A cautionary note to the reader: In print, Laurie's words sound darker, more depressed, more self-pitying than they do in person. So imagine, in these passages, not the negative monotone of House but, instead, a voice with a charming British accent, a loopy smile, a self-deprecating sense of humor and a neurotic tendency to overthink everything.]

Have you found that playing House has affected your personality and made you more cynical or misanthropic?
No, though I suppose being on television has changed my life. I feel very self-conscious and I feel like I can't go out. I hate being looked at. I hate being photographed. I have this weird superstition about the camera stealing part of your soul. I sort of believe in that, actually.

Are you serious?
It does. Well, obviously, in terms of my molecular structure, I haven't lost anything by being photographed. I understand the laws of physics. But if the photographer has something, you must have lost something. And the idea that any image of you will be looked at and distributed and pored over and commented on is depressing. You feel intruded upon. Most people would say, quite rightly, "That's the price you pay."

What are your ambitions now, for when the season ends?
I'm a pretty ambition-free sort of person. I never had a career plan, much to the frustration of the people who are supposedly directing my career.

Maybe "ambition" is the wrong word. What do you want to do next, considering that you also write books, screenplays, music?
Well, being the sort of general malcontent that I am, I always want to be doing what I'm not doing. So I'm here, actually, and the idea of sitting at home writing a novel appeals to me. But of course if I was sitting at home writing a novel, I would love to be playing music. I'm always wanting to be doing something else. That's a definite defect. A flaw in the character.

I noticed that two different people since I've been around you have called you sexy. Has House become an accidental sex symbol?
I don't accept it at all. I don't see that character as sexy, but he has a sort of Byronic charm. He's damaged, and he's sort of a loner. But those people who said that are barking up the wrong tree. [Pause] Who said it?

I think it was the -
I shouldn't even ask that. Never mind.

When you look back on your movie career, how do you feel about your body of work?
It's been a mixed bag. A very mixed bag, frankly. One thing that happens when you have kids is you become less precious about what you can and can't do. There is no denying that I took some gigs because the rent had to be paid and I was trying to feed five people [a wife, three children and himself].

What were the influences that inspired the character of Prince George on "Blackadder"?
I don't know. I think I've always felt a strong affinity with stupidity. I simply find it easy to play stupid people. That can only be because I am myself stupid and I am baffled by the world. I find the world incomprehensible and can't make sense of it. My most common, most predominant emotion is one of bafflement and that's what comes out in that kind of character. Just playing the fool. It may also at one time have been a desire not to appear threatening to people.

You have this sense of humility that . . .
It's all a front.

See: You're even humble about being humble. What is it about life that baffles you?
Absolutely everything. I'm just constantly surprised by the way people behave, the things people say. I so rarely see it coming. And I'm so envious of people who do.

What would be an example of when you felt like that?
See, that. You asking me -- that is an example. I suppose I should have seen that coming. And yet you surprised me. And I'm sitting here with my mouth open and scratching my head, going, "Wow, I just never saw that coming."

Do you feel like your personal evolution mirrors that of the characters you play, going from innocent buffoons to this intelligent, world-weary expert?
No. I actually feel stupider and less experienced with every year that goes by.