90 miles an hour

Christian Kane on acting, singing and cooking

Christian Kane is a workhorse. Best known for roles on television shows like “Angel,” “Leverage” and TNT’s current sci-fi/fantasy smash hit “The Librarians,” he’s also a successful country musician and a budding gourmand with a popular cooking show on iTunes called “Kane’s Kitchen.” 

In advance of his visit to Wizard World Comic Con Tulsa (Oct. 23-25 at the Cox Business Center), Kane stopped by Voice HQ for a chat.

The Tulsa Voice: Between the acting and the singing and the cooking, you seem to have your hands full. 

Christian Kane: Idle hands are not good for me. I have to be going 90 miles an hour with my hands on fire, or it’s just not good. 

I love acting. It’s never felt like a job for me; I just love it. This is the thing that I got down on my hands and knees at 15 and prayed would happen to me, so I take it very seriously. Don’t tell my bosses this, but I’d do it for free, you know? 

TTV: Born in Dallas, grew up in Oklahoma, right?

CK: Yeah, switched back and forth from Texas for a while. Dad was in the oil business, so we went from Odessa to Norman. I ended up going to the University of Oklahoma. And then I got kicked out of the art school. So one summer, I was probably 22 years old, I just packed up my truck and drove to Los Angeles. I knocked on a management company’s door and said, “I’ll make runs for you guys, make deliveries for you, if you send me out on auditions.” 

They laughed at me, but a month later I was the lead on a TV show (“Fame LA”). 

TTV: On “The Librarians,” you play Jake, an Oklahoma oilman who’s also an art history expert with an IQ of 190. You’ve said Jake is from a town where it’s “not so cool to be smart.” Is he from Idabel? 

CK: [laughs] No. John Rogers, who created “Leverage,” wrote this for me. He wanted to make it where I could just focus on the smart aspects—cause I don’t have a high IQ like him—he put it as close to home as he could for me.  

TTV: Tell me about your band.

CK: The first self-released album (in 2000) was just a garage band type thing. We loved it, and it did very well. Then we went to Nashville. I got a record deal with Sony. I think three days before they were going to release the album, they shelved it. I think Nashville wanted to protect some of the older country style, and they were scared of the new outlaws coming out. And so they were trying to get rid of it. But now they can’t stop it. So then I met Bob Ezrin, who produced my album (The House Rules, 2010). Bob Ezrin did Pink Floyd’s The Wall, KISS Destroyer, that kind of stuff. We had fun with it. I really love this album. 

TTV: Let’s talk about “Kane’s Kitchen.” 

CK: It came about as almost a joke. I wanted to teach guys how to bring romance into the kitchen. It’s not about getting laid. It’s about putting food in one hand and effort in the other and trying to impress someone who deserves to be impressed. So I cuss a little bit, and I yell at these guys, like, “Don’t do this, use your heads, 101, it’s common sense,” and it just became a fun little thing. We put it out there, and it was No. 1 on iTunes. So now we’re gearing up to do Season 2.

I love the Internet. I love iTunes. I can always do something and put it online and give it to people. And that’s art, you know what I mean? This was something we did for fun, something I’m doing to give back to my fans who have supported me. It wasn’t supposed to do as well as it did. 

TTV: Is this your first Wizard World?

CK: I’ve done conventions for about 15 years now. When I first started, it was either “Star Trek” or vampires. And I was on “Angel,” so that helped out, but now it’s really just pop culture. There are so many different genres out there. It’s the age of the geek. And it’s so much fun for people to go and see what they love. But the most important thing for me is I get to shake your hand, I get to give you a hug and say thank you for keeping me alive. Because you watch the show, I survive. It’s love going both ways, man. 

TTV: What’s next for you? Football? Politics? Ballet?

CK: Maybe a food truck! [laughs] I hate to quote McConaughey, but JKL, man. I’m really blessed in life. I just fly by the seat of my pants.

[Editor’s note: This interview has been condensed and edited for brevity.]

Wizard World Comic Con Tulsa
Fri., Oct. 23-Sun., Oct. 25
Cox Business Center
Ticket prices vary, wizardworld.com/tulsa 

For more from Joshua, read his story about a recent Ted Cruz campaign rally and his recap of the Iron Gate relocation denial.