Actor Kevin Corrigan Seeks Some Privacy in the Back Booths of Spike Hill

Maybe you don’t recognize Kevin Corrigan’s name, but when you see his face and hear that Bronx accent, you realize, “Oh, yeah. That guy. I love that guy.” He’s been in countless movies you like: Goodfellas, Pineapple Express, Superbad, The Departed. On TV, he’s known for Fringe, Damages, and The Mentalist. He’s also a regular at Spike Hill, a bar (cold Guinness!), restaurant (fish and chips!), and show space (um, not-so-interesting bands!) that partially occupied what once was a falafel joint. When it first opened, the cooler set of Williamsburg found it too nice and fancy, and a sign of things to come. (Little did they know Spike Hill wouldn’t be able to keep up with even more changes on the way; the bar opened in 2005 and closed only eight months after this interview in 2014.)

A New Yorker through and through, Kevin used to like to collect his thoughts at Spike Hill on bustling Bedford Avenue before his local gig hosting the Talk Show Series at the nearby bar Over the Eight. On the afternoon I spoke with him, he was preparing for his live conversation with a sick lineup: Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson of Broad City, Natasha Lyonne of Orange Is the New Black, and Michael Shannon of Boardwalk Empire.

As he enjoyed his plate of fish ’n’ chips and pint of Guinness, I talked with him about his appreciation for the “integrity” of Spike Hill, shooting a film in Williamsburg with Dustin Hoffman back in 1990, and his dream list for a live talk show panel.

First time I ever came in here, I was like, “Can we stay here for five hours?”

I like to come here to sit in one of those back enclosures [the booths], so I can just sort of get my head together for the show, and then go over my notes and make sure I’ve got some kind of structure in my head.

Can we stay here for five hours?

I’ve always been curious to put certain people in a room together. I’m making lists of potential panels. One I came up with would be Edie Falco, the Edge, and Dick Cavett. I think all those people would get a kick out of each other, and I would be just like in heaven because Edie’s a great actress, but I’ve also known her since the early nineties; I know I can talk with her. That’s the thing: I know I can have a conversation with most of the people who do the show.

Those enclosures in the back just felt like a depravation tank. You know, the outside world is shut out. And I was able to have a semblance of privacy with the person I was with.

The movie was called Billy Bathgate. It was directed by Robert Benton, based on an E. L. Doctorow novel about the Prohibition-era gangster Dutch Schultz, played by Dustin Hoffman in that movie. I played a character named Arnold Garbage. A lot of it we shot [in this neighborhood]. That was probably the first time I ever came out here.

Literally decades ago. Which is why I like Spike Hill. To me, it has a thing about it that feels like it could’ve been around back then. Just kind of feels sort of warm and kind of nice in here, doesn’t it?

I just know when something isn’t right. I walk out.

It has an integrity about it. And a warmth that appeals to me. And it’s right off the Bedford L train.

This is like an Irish pub. We could be in Ireland right now.

April 17, 2014

R.I.P. Spike Hill closed in December of 2014.

(Photos by Nicole Disser)