Somewhere along the way, Rob Lowe went from being a talented actor who appeared opposite really funny people, to actually being a funny person himself. The current host of The Floor has seen so many shifts in his career, from starting in The Outsiders and being a member of The Brat Pack to carrying himself as a legitimate dramatic actor, and a comedian with fantastic timing and chops. So much of that timing is on display in Lowe’s ongoing streaming series Unstable, available to anyone with a Netflix subscription. And when speaking with CinemaBlend about his work on the show, Lowe traced some of its success back to Wayne’s World.
On Unstable, Rob Lowe plays the genius founder of a high-tech bio research facility, who bonds with his son (played by Rob’s actual son, John Owen Lowe) after the man comes to work at the lab. But a standout in Unstable Season 2 is the increased role of Saturday Night Live veteran Fred Armisen, who plays a therapist working closely with Rob Lowe’s character, Ellis. The situations that Unstable places Armisen into are borderline preposterous – including a celebrated Rob Lowe nude scene – leading me to ask Rob and John Owen how they maintain their composure while filming those comedic scenes. It has to be a struggle.
But Rob Lowe explained to CinemaBlend:
I got trained with Mike Myers and Dana Carvey at their height in Wayne’s World. And I destroyed a lot of takes in Wayne’s World. And I was like, ‘Okay, I got to get it together.’ So I pride myself – I do not break on camera anymore. But Johnny goes.
Rob Lowe subsequently threw his son John Owen under the bus, saying that there is a LOT of unusable footage from Unstable because of times that the younger Lowe broke character. Rob Lowe has said over and over what a joy it is to have his son working on this Netflix series with him. But John Owen Lowe apparently ruins a lot of takes.
However, while working on Unstable Season 2, John Owen Lowe did share with us one thing he’s very proud of, telling CinemaBlend:
In fact, I will say, I’m the only person I’ve seen on set make Fred break. And we have it on tape. … There’s a moment where (Fred’s character) attacks me with a physical object. And I think it’s just a noise that I made that he liked.
In addition to his training on Wayne’s World, Rob Lowe worked incredibly hard at not ruining takes on the enormously entertaining NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation. Probably because he was a hellacious diva.
Unstable is available now on Netflix, which has two seasons of the situation comedy. Go watch Rob Lowe not ruin any takes.
