Meet the 'Always Sunny in Philadelphia' writer who is now an agency creative leader

Atlanta-based agency Dagger is bringing entertainment world muscle into its fold and has hired Hollywood veteran Lance Krall as its new VP, co-group creative director. Krall, a writer, producer, and actor, is perhaps best known for his credits as staff writer for hit TV shows including "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and "Last Man Standing." He also co-wrote the script for the comedic film "The Layover." Prior to that Krall starred in his own sketch comedy show on SpikeTV called "The Lance Krall Show." As an actor, he's also appeared on "The Office" (as character Dwight Schrute's taekwondo instructor Sensei Ira Glicksberg), "The Goldbergs," "Monk," "Free Radio" and "Breaking In." Subscribe to Ad Age now for award-winning news and insight. At Dagger, Krall will share creative duties with Melissa Withorn, who has been promoted from creative director, group lead to VP, co-group creative director. Krall spent the bulk of his career in Los Angeles, but for the past several years has been running his own Atlanta-based TV development company called Picture It Productions, where he's developed projects with industry players such as Jerry Bruckheimer, Doug Robinson, Laurence Fishburne and Kevin Hart. As part of this newly-created role, Krall will report directly to Chief Creative Officer Al Patton, who says the agency was looking inside and outside of the ad world to fill this position. “We just knew for the brands that we work with, in order to give them cultural relevance, there are talent-rich areas outside of the agency world, where creative people might come at something from a little bit of a different starting point and a little bit of a different angle,” Patton said. “I think smart brands are always looking to zig when everyone else zags. We take that same approach to our creative offering; we're not afraid to break some agency norms in order to bring something different.” While Krall hasn’t been assigned to any specific accounts yet, the agency will put him on projects that cater to his strengths, Patton said. Ideally, he'll work with "brands that tend to be a little bit more script-driven, play in the comedy space, creating big ideas," said Patton. Dagger CEO Mike Popowski also said the hire is important from a geographical perspective. “I think we got extremely lucky to hire somebody who lives in Atlanta," Popowski said. "Sometimes it feels like the center of the creative universe is in L.A., New York, or Chicago. With somebody like Al, who spent most of his career in New York, and now having somebody like Lance who spent most of his career in L.A., I think it's really interesting. We'll call it a one-two punch for these guys to be in Atlanta with the growth that we've got.” Ad Age spoke with Krall on his decision to enter the advertising world and his experience in the entertainment industry. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. How did you end up at Dagger and the ad industry in general? I think the pandemic did so much for so many people, as far as you have all that time to internalize and think about what direction your life is going in. I came out at the end of it feeling like I wanted to make a change and have a new challenge in my life. I wanted it to not just be lateral. I wanted it to feel very new. I'm a son of a Navy pilot and a CIA spy, So I've lived all over the world my entire life, and I've never settled anywhere longer than six months to a year. I'm used to constantly evolving, moving, and changing. I've been in the entertainment industry for 20-plus years and within that, I evolved. I started off as an actor and then a producer and director and writer. The latest version of it was being an executive producer and a TV developer. Outside of becoming a studio head or something like that, which I had no desire to do, I feel like I've touched everything there, and I really wanted to do something new and different. But I do have a skill set and abilities that I didn't want to just throw away. And then, like total kismet, I got a call from Al. We started talking, and here I am. Did you have a favorite ad growing up? My favorite commercial growing up, hands down, it’s still my favorite commercial, is the Mean Joe Green commercial with Coca-Cola. I remember seeing that on TV, and just going, "Wow! That's a great commercial." Commercials were always the thing that got in between the fun stuff. But that was the first one that made me think, "I want to see that commercial again." You didn't have the internet back then so you had to just wait for it to come on, but it just made you connect with the kid. It also made you see Mean Joe Green in a totally different way. I was a marketing major in college until I changed my major to film and theater, but it's always been a thing that I've wanted to do. You own your own TV development company [Picture It Productions]. Do you anticipate still working on that on top of your role with Dagger? My TV development company is more like my side hustle now, like how some people sell hand-knitted sweaters on Etsy. I just sell network television shows as my side hustle. I consider Dagger my full-time job. What does Pitch It Productions focus on? We source IP-related stories, basically ideas outside of L.A. and New York. We use that as inspiration for scripted television shows. So we pair real-life stories with real-life Hollywood-level writers in L.A. But we’re trying to tell stories from a different perspective outside of the coast. I think there’s an under-representation of points of view on TV, and we are looking to fill that void. Do you see any potential kind of crossover? We'll see. Maybe. I know I'm a crossover and I’m here. What do you feel you can bring from your experience in the entertainment industry? From a creative standpoint, I think storytelling is storytelling, and comedy is comedy. I've been working in that world for a really long time, and I've worked in different genres. I've done everything from single-camera [production], which is more subtle and more character-based, to multi-cam like “Last Man Standing,” where it's like, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke. I've also developed dramas, aspirational stories and dark stories. At the end of the day though, the one thing that you're trying to find in all of those is authenticity, a real character, a point of view that you understand immediately when you're watching the show. Those skillsets obviously translate into commercials. You want to connect with the character that you're watching in a commercial, or you want to connect with the emotion that a commercial is trying to put across. The more authentic it is, the better. There are definitely times where I'm watching a commercial and I'll start tearing up just as I would be tearing up to "Sophie's Choice." As far as leading the team, I’ve worked with creatives on multiple different projects and they had multiple different skill sets, levels of industry experience, and it was important to be nimble. What was your favorite acting gig? I have a favorite acting gig and it was because it taught me that I didn't want to be an actor anymore. My friend Adam Goldberg, who writes "The Goldbergs," cast me on this show called "Breaking In." The acting job was a blast, but he also hired me as a writer. I would go to set and I would act with Christian Slater and Megan Mullaly, and I was having fun on the set, getting nice food and being pampered. But in between that, when I wasn't on set, I'd go up to the writers' room and we would be writing the show. And I was amazed at how I could not wait to get off that set and back into the writers' room. I love how I felt when I came home after working with writers, and just using my brain, less worried about makeup and my hair and all that. It really changed my life because I'd done writing before and I'd done acting. But I never really did those at the same time and I never worked with a writing staff before. It was kind of the last time I put any pressure on myself to be an actor. It put me on a trajectory where I was producing and writing, and I've never been happier. Did you ever act in any commercials? I did a show called "Free Radio" on VH1, and Season 2 had branded integration. Burger King wanted me to incorporate them into it. They've got that card that gets you free food at Burger King, like a club card that they only give to celebrities. So my character had the card, and I misused it by giving all my friends free food, and I got rejected immediately. I guess that was a commercial. Do you have a favorite ad character? Anything that my friend Brian Huskey does. He must just have a great agent that goes, "Nope. Not going to sign a non-compete," because he is in every commercial on television. I don't know how he does it, but he's incredibly funny. He's in the show "Veep" as a New York Times reporter. You’ve worked on some iconic shows, can you speak about your experience on "The Office" and "It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia"? I met [the show's creators] Rob McIlhenney, Charlie Day, and Glenn Howerton when we were shooting our self-made pilots. They were making their pilot for It's "Always Sunny in Hollywood," and I was doing a pilot called "Party Animals," and we were both screening it for each other and giving each other notes. When I say "pilot" we just had cameras and we were just filming our own stuff; there was no plan. In my pilot, there was a scene where I slapped this guy across the face without him knowing about it and they were like, "Oh my God, that was so funny." My pilot never went anywhere, and theirs turned into "It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia." If you watch the first episode, they stole the slap from me and it's like the big moment in their episode. "The Office" was a great experience. Bob Odenkirk and Steve Carrell were among the three people going out for Michael Scott’s character. I tested for Jim's role. It was me and that jerk that got it and some other poor schmuck. They liked me enough to bring me back as Sensei Ira, and Rainn Wilson and I became quite good friends after that. I think the one thing I've lucked out on in my life—and I feel the same way here at Dagger—is that I've always been fortunate enough to work with really nice people, very talented people, but people that really work hard, are quite gracious and are looking to get the best from everyone else around them and not just focus on themselves. I didn't know what to expect, but I've certainly heard the stories of ad agencies being cutthroat. Everyone's just hoarding their own ideas. Everyone here is rooting for each other and helping each other. Do you ever get recognized for your Sensei Ira role? I do. It’s crazy. I've been on TV a bunch, and that's the one thing where people still are like "Sensei Ira!" It was such a nothing role. I had a few lines. I played it totally straight because I do martial arts in real life. I'm a second-degree black belt. So I just played myself. They gave me lines, but I didn't really do them. I just kind of acted like a karate instructor would. (See Krall playing it straight in the video above at around 3:30. He improvised the 'no points for pants' line.) Will you be going into the office every day? Yeah, the office is so cool; they've got a really sweet gig here. They've got this incredible espresso maker. Their coffee game is on point so it's kind of hard for me to not come in and make myself free espressos all day. They're right off the BeltLine and are right next to a skate park that Tony Hawk built. So if you want to just take a break and watch kids break their ankles, it's right there. Subscribe to Ad Age now for award-winning news and insight.

Meet the 'Always Sunny in Philadelphia' writer who is now an agency creative leader

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