"Brews Brothers" star Alan Aisenberg (L), pictured with co-star Mike Castle, said he found out that he was being cast in the Netflix comedy only 48 hours after learning from his doctor that he had to give up drinking beer. Photo courtesy of Netflix
April 10 (UPI) -- Comedy series Brews Brothers begins streaming Friday on Netflix, and star Alan Aisenberg said he hopes the bar-based sitcom will "help people disconnect from what's going on."
Aisenberg, 27, best known for his recurring role as Baxter Bayley on Netflix's Orange is the New Black, stars in the new series as Wilhelm, one of the titular Brews Brothers. The show begins with Wilhelm reuniting with estranged brother Adam (Mike Castle) as the pair take co-ownership of a bar at which they brew their own craft beer.
"Will is a stubborn, stubborn guy. ... He likes brewing beer the old-fashioned way, like it was brewed in the 1800s in Germany, by feel as opposed to a very scientific process," Aisenberg said.
"Brewing beer for him is from the heart, and something he loves to do the way he does, and he knows no other way. Then, when Adam comes back into his life, Adam is the exact opposite," he said.
He said Adam "is technical, he has crazy methods for how he brews and also how he goes through life. So the two characters are so, so, so, so different, and they are forced to interact. That's my favorite type of comedy, when people who shouldn't be together have to be."
Aisenberg said he sees parallels between the relationship between the fictional brothers and his real-life relationship with his sister.
"There are definitely pieces of the show where I found fights that I've had with her over the last 26 years," Aisenberg said. "There are a lot of similarities with some of the stupidity and the dumb things that we fight about."
'Crazy chain of events'
Aisenberg said he also identifies with Wilhelm's love of beer -- at least, he used to.
"I used to be a big beer guy. I really appreciated it as an art form, really trying to understand the nuances of it," Aisenberg said. "And then, two days before I got offered Brews Brothers, I got diagnosed with celiac disease, and the doctor told me, 'You can never drink beer again.'"
Aisenberg said he had to admit it was a "crazy chain of events" when creators Jeff Schaffer (Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Greg Schaffer (That '70s Show) called him 48 hours later to ask him to "be the lead in our show about beer."
"So I went from being an expert on the consumption side and really enjoying beer to not being able to drink any of it and being stuck in a brewery for an entire summer, surrounded by the best beer in L.A., and being completely unable to touch it," Aisenberg lamented.
Aisenberg said the current coronavirus pandemic makes a show about people hanging out in a bar feel like "fantasy, in a way."
"You're staring at people drinking at a bar, and hopefully living vicariously through our characters. Just because you can't go to a bar anymore doesn't mean you can't watch a bunch of people have a really crazy time in one," he said.
The actor said he hopes the show will "help people disconnect from what's going on. I think our show is really silly, and really fun, and you can have a beer and shut your brain off for three hours."
Aisenberg said the show feels like a spiritual successor to Jeff Schaffer's previous projects, Curb Your Enthusiasm and The League, as well as Greg Schaffer's work on That '70s Show.
"I think all three of those shows do a really nice job of pushing everything to a crazy level," he said.
"That's what Brews Brothers does. At any point when you think, 'Oh, that's as crazy as it can get,' we find a way to top it, and just keep getting more insane, more wild and wacky. It's kind of hard to believe that we were allowed to make this for television."
Fate unknown
Aisenberg's tenure as Lichfield Penitentiary guard Baxter Bayley ended at the close of Orange is the New Black's fifth season. Bayley, distraught over his accidental killing of fan-favorite character Poussey Washington (Samira Wiley) during a prison riot, boarded a bus for parts unknown after unsuccessfully attempting to seek prosecution for the killing.
The actor said he appreciated how series creator Jenji Kohan and the writers left Bayley's ultimate fate "unknown."
"There's so many people in life who come into your life and then leave and you don't know how they're doing, you don't know if they're happy, if they're sad or if they found peace," he said. "I really love that we don't know."
Aisenberg said a "broader conversation" could be had about whether Bayley should have faced criminal charges for the killing.
"That's the question the show is asking, and I think society has been asking that for years as part of the Black Lives Matter movement," he said. "I love that not everything is black and white on Orange, so much of that show is showing that things are somewhere in the middle a lot of the time.
"I think they did a really nice job making people feel for him in a way, but also be really conflicted, because what he did is the worst thing you could do."
The actor said he remained a devoted fan of the series after his character's exit.
"I love what they did with the last season, I thought it was one of the best last seasons of television in the last, I don't know, 10 to 20 years. What a beautiful way to stick that landing. I love that four to five years later, people are still asking about Bayley because they're conflicted," he said.
'Fun, bright things'
Aisenberg said he is spending his own COVID-19 lockdown time "watching a lot of TV." He said he finds comedies like Arrested Development and I Think You Should Leave are the most useful for taking his mind off current events.
"I tried to watch The West Wing, but it's too close to what's going on in the world right now. It's hard to be like, 'I'm going to disconnect for an hour,' and then you watch politics," he said. "I'm trying to watch fun, bright things.
"Hopefully people find that Brews Brothers is along that same line of a comedy that helps you disconnect."
The first season of Brews Brothers starts streaming Friday on Netflix.
