He knows what’s up with ‘Chuck’
Zachary Levi is embracing his inner nerd.
“I’m more Chuck than I’m not Chuck,” says Levi on the set of NBC newcomer “Chuck,” in which he plays a computer geek-turned-clueless secret agent.
“Pretty much my whole life, actually, I’ve felt like a nerd. Growing up I was always the best friend to the girls, never the boyfriend.”
The tall, dark-haired actor admits to a fondness for Chuck’s geek-chic couture: cheap pants and shirt, complete with a pocket protector that he wears for his day job as a “Nerd Herd” technician in a Buy More Electronics store.
“I love the wardrobe,” says Levi. “The show is about the underdog, about the unwitting, reluctant hero. It’s a Clark Kent-Superman kind of thing.”
But Chuck never acquires the physical powers of a superhero on the new hourlong, action-comedy series (8 p.m. Mondays).
Instead, his brain has become a priceless file of secret intelligence data since he opened an e-mail that imprinted his mind.
Besides, Chuck is a klutz at spycraft. His government watchers – including sexy CIA agent Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski) – tell him to wait in the car when assassins are afoot.
“Chuck’s just so innocent,” Strahovski says. “Not only does Sarah have to protect the government secrets in Chuck’s head, but she also has to protect that innocence.”
And Chuck’s pocket-protector look? Well, Sarah “finds it adorable,” Strahovski says.
Casting Levi was a no-brainer, co-executive producer Chris Fedak says.
“At his first audition, Zach sat there for a second and then he went, ‘OK, don’t screw this up,’ and he went into his audition,” Fedak recalls. “That ‘don’t screw this up’ was pure Chuck.”
On the “Chuck” set, the 27-year-old Levi seems the polar opposite of geeky.
Clutching a large coffee, he’s Mr. Take Charge, shepherding visitors through a faux courtyard, arranging seating and asking, “Is everybody good?”
“I was a busboy, I worked at Blockbuster, I worked at a car wash – which was character-building,” Levi says.
“So I can relate to the customer-service thing. Doing your best with a smile. That’s what Chuck stands for.”
Before “Chuck,” Levi played snobby Kipp Steadman on the sitcom “Less Than Perfect” and did supporting turns in “See Jane Date,” “Big Momma’s House 2” and other movies.
“Getting this show was like Chuck getting government secrets implanted in his brain,” he says. “You just kind of fear it and embrace it.”
What Levi really wants is for Chuck to get a bigger piece of the physical action.
“As a little boy all I did was play war with my buddies and throw dirt clods around as hand grenades,” he says.
“I’m dying for them to put a gun in my hands. Maybe in season seven I can shoot a gun. You just can’t go from computer nerd to highly trained assassin overnight.”
The birthday bunch
Musician Ike Turner is 76. Singer Art Garfunkel is 66. Actor-playwright Sam Shepard is 64. Singer Peter Noone (Herman’s Hermits) is 60. Singer Bryan Adams is 48. Actress Tilda Swinton is 47. Actress Tatum O’Neal is 44. Actress Judy Reyes (“Scrubs”) is 40. Musician Ryan Adams is 33.