Anyone who has worked retail has encountered the creepy older guy who works in their store and will probably stay there until the day he dies. On Chuck, that creepy older guy is Jeff, who is played brilliantly by Scott Krinsky, a standup comic and character actor who had a reoccurring role on Josh Schwartz previous hit show, The O.C. We recently talked to Krinsky about his role on Chuck, the writers' strike and how to deal with hecklers.

We know you are you originally from the Washington, D.C. area. What was it like growing up there and where do you call home now?
I call Los Angeles home. I grew up there basically until I moved out here in my early 20s, so this is basically my home base now. And most of my family has moved out of Maryland, my parents live down in Florida now and I have family in New York, so I don't get back to Maryland that often.

How exactly did you get into acting, and when did you decide this is what you wanted to do for a living?
When I was younger, it was always what I dreamed of doing, you know, watching TV shows as a kid. It was always my passion. I didn't know that I would actually pursue it, but in high school and middle school I was always the class clown, so I think naturally I wanted to perform. And I did perform a lot as a kid, but I got in trouble for it. Got sent to the principal's office a lot. I used to have periods even as far back as elementary school where I was always kind of acting up – I would have to bring notes home to my parents every day.

So I think it was like a natural instinct of mine to perform and have fun. As I got older, in college, I kind of decided on what do I really, really want to do with my life and I decided that doing something behind a desk was not going to be fulfilling to me and this was sort of a make or break in my early 20s where I just decided to go for it.

How tough is it to break into the business? How many auditions did you go to before you landed a role?
The first few years I came out to Los Angeles – what you hear from a lot from people of my category, I mean I couldn't get arrested. I don't want to sound cliché, but I really felt like I was doing everything. I feel like the first two years are an adjustment, you're sort of getting used to a new place, you're meeting new people, the scenery was a lot different on the West Coast, but soon enough I got really serious studying and trying to contact agents, trying to get seen and just could not get anything to happen.

But as the years went on too, as I was studying a lot too and meeting with people, a lot of them would tell me, "You're a real character actor, that's your type. You just have to be patient, when you get into your 30s, that's when you're going to work." And, sure enough, those people, almost all of them were correct. It was a matter of just being patient, I guess. So many people set a deadline of 30, when they come out here young, as this milestone age where you have to achieve certain things. And, I guess some of the people too, if it's their true passion, they just really hang in there. I just try to keep believing in myself and trust what so many people have told me and sure enough, things did start to fall in place.

On television, you have played roles such as Blurry Man, Grocery Bagger and Potential Buyer. When you play unnamed characters, do you find yourself coming up with a name and a background story for them?
I think the more specific that you can be coming to any character, whether it's the smallest part, I think it helps. And I think the more specific you can be, the more prepared you show up, the more professional you appear to everyone around you. Doing those small roles, I was so happy in those early days just to be working or doing anything that I wanted to be there and take everything in and know that one day there's going to be a bigger role. So I think the more you condition yourself to prepare for the small roles helps you when you get an opportunity to do a lot more.

You had a reoccurring role playing Darryl on The O.C. How did you land that role and what was it like working on the popular teen drama?
That came about from auditioning. It was just another audition and actually that role was meant to be one episode. It was a Thanksgiving episode of The O.C. at the Cohen family house and I just went in there and auditioned and got the job. Then, surprisingly enough, maybe like two weeks later, they called me up to let me know they were going to be using me again.

Were they just really impressed with you and wanted to bring you back or did they decide that there was more to do with the character?
I think that Josh Schwartz apparently took a liking to the character and he thought that I was funny and thought that the character could have some interesting moments with the other characters, I guess and decided to keep having him pop up in their lives over the next few episodes. That's what I heard from some of the people on the cast. The show was a soap opera, but it had a lot of campy humor in it too. So I think this was a character that could help provide some humor.

Did your work on The O.C. lead to you being cast as on Chuck?
Yeah. I guess you know Josh Schwartz is one of the creators of Chuck and that was a dream come true. I got a call from my agent. It's funny enough that Josh was offering me the role, it was the same casting director too, and they were offering me the role of Jeff on Chuck.

Did you have to come in and read for the role?
I did end up having to go in and read, just for the approval of the network and studio people. I think that as long as I didn't fall on my face or something – it was like, "We want to see this guy again on camera." So I was still like a little nervous. I was like, "Oh my god, I hope I don't ruin this." When I got the role, I had seen the breakdowns for a lot of the pilots and it's funny enough, I had seen this role and I thought, "God, you know, I've worked with Josh and this role seems kind of right for me, I hope I can come in and read for it." Then when I got the call that they were offering it to me, I was really, really elated.

What was the original breakdown for the character?
He was just a little creepy, a little inappropriate with the customers. A little bit on the creepy side. You know, kind of the lifer older guy at work. He's kind of worked there the longest and he's probably going to continue to work there long after the other characters. For them, it's probably a stepping stone or sort of where they're at in their lives, but for Jeff, this is it. But even when we shot the pilot, this role, it said, "May recur." Again, I had no idea I would be in every episode.

Do you have any experience working in a retail outlet that you were able to use when preparing for this role?
Well, I had waited tables for many years, so I definitely had the experience of working at restaurants and working at places for a long time and sort of feeling sometimes a little older. Coming to a place where you're the younger guy, then also feeling later on that you're kind of like the older guy. And all the different things that come up putting all these different personalities into that kind of work environment. There's a lot of immature sides of you that come out in those jobs because they're there to pay the bills.

Many people really enjoyed Jeff's role on the Thanksgiving episode of Chuck, but we were wondering if you have a favorite episode so far? If so, why is it your favorite?
I really liked that episode because of the physical comedy involved in it. I think that would be my favorite, where he gets the box dropped on his head and then the megaphone that Morgan's talking out of comes flying into his face. I really liked doing the physical comedy, that was the first time that we'd had an opportunity to do anything like that and I hear that there could be more of that in the future.