Interview: Max Burkholder on Portraying a Young John in ‘Ted’

The Ted series that recently premiered on Peacock took a look at how the leads of the movies came to be, with a young John Bennett (Max Burkholder) going through high school alongside his best friend, Ted (Seth McFarlane). The pair went through a variety of unpredictable adventures, with the teenager eventually ending up as the explosive adult seen in the original films.

Awards Radar had the opportunity of interviewing Burkholder, with the young actor discussing how he brought his own voice to his portrayal of John. The series’ cast is rounded out by Alanna Ubach, Scott Grimes and Giorgia Whigham, with the Bennett family being present to take John’s journey to new heights. Burkholder poured his heart into bringing the younger John to life, in the television series that took years before the movies.

When asked about his previous connections to the franchise, Burkholder expressed: “I loved both movies well before I was cast as the young version of John. And after I was cast I watched them over and over again to really get him into my bones. I spoke about this before in other interviews, I actually was at the table read for the first Ted movie for the “Creepy Little Kid” role jst because I was around the Family Guy offices doing voices here and there and they just needed a little kid.”

Seth McFarlane’s presence on set was vital for the production of the series, according to the actor: “The comedic timing was definitely a big part of it. And that wouldn’t have been possible if Seth (McFarlane) wasn’t on set every day doing the actual voice of the bear live with us. That was super important for the timing and to allow us to improvise here and there when we felt there was something we could add.”

Burkholder had a lot of praise for his co-stars, including Alanna Ubach, Scott Grimes and Giorgia Whigham: “We had an opportunity to rehearse all of the big family scenes. The big family dinners and the big family reunions in the living room. We were able to rehearse all of those before we started properly shooting, which was really important for establishing the family dynamic. And the sort of push-and-pull, where people bump heads. It was important to show that, despite how annoyed they all were at each other, they still love each other deeply.”

The actor behind the youing version of young also talked about the moment he found the funniest from the entire series: “It’s at the end of the second episode, where Scott goes on with that huge monologue about his war secret. It’ absolutely disgusting. He actually improvises reaching my face with his hand. I have to be so horrified and disgusted. But that took us about twenty takes to get through because I couldn’t keep a straight face when he was doing it. It was impossible.”

Burkholder had a lot of praise for Seth McFarlane, the creator of Ted, and how he’s evolved as a filmmaker over the years:”Oh yeah, absolutely! The Orville, which I was lucky enough to do an episode on is fantastic sci-fi stuff. A Million Ways to Die in the West is really funny. It was also clear just being on set with him, how comfortable he is in that directorial, “captain of the ship” kind of role. He’s been doing it now for so long that he has his own style nailed down. He’s got people he likes to work with. It’s a well-oiled machine in a Seth McFarlane set, that’s for sure.”