In defiance of the title of the author Thomas Wolfe’s most famous book, You Can’t Go Home Again, Michael Bertrando – an actor with a thick resume of experience in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles – remains a familiar face behind the counter at Sam’s Sub Shop in Kennett Square. Recently, Michael met with Kennett Square Life to talk about the family business, working with Robin Williams and Mark Ruffalo, and his latest role on the HBO series, Task.

Kennett Square Life: Sam’s Sub Shop has been a fixture in the Kennett Square community since 1946. It was first opened by your grandfather Sam Frabriso and for the past several decades, it has been operated by your parents, Sandra and Bert. How old were you when you first started working there, and what jobs did you have?

Michael Bertrando: I started here when I was tall enough to reach the candy counter. My first job here was giving out candy, and I began to learn the cash register when I was in the first grade when my grandfather would make me do math in my head so that I could give out change. By the time I was in the fifth grade, I began making sandwiches, and by the sixth grade, my grandfather taught me how to use the slicer, and then I began making sub sandwiches. I would prep the vegetables, fill up the condiment jars, and often join my grandfather on lunch deliveries to the mushroom workers at the MGA Cannery on Birch Street.

By the time I’d reached middle school, I was working here after school and on the weekends.

The level of chatter at Sam’s Sub Shop has become the local stuff of legend, perhaps rivaling Burton’s Barber Shop as the unofficial cathedral of gossip in Kennett Square. Give the readers of Kennett Square Life some of the topics that are normally discussed between the crew and the customers.

Many of the conversations here start with, “Did you hear about …?” We’ve known generations of families, so we ask them how their children are doing. Many of our customers are from the mushroom industry, so there’s always a lot of talk about what’s happening there. The biggest conversation here centers around food – new restaurants in the area, for instance, and people like to talk about what they had at a certain place for dinner the night before. For several years, our most frequent visitors gathered with my grandfather for morning coffee and discuss everything under the sun: from politics to fishing spots to golfing.

Lately, the biggest topics have had to do with traffic and parking in town, the expansion of Longwood Gardens and the Kennett Library being built.

The shop’s sign - Subs, Steaks, Hamburgers – is seen by thousands of pedestrians and drivers along State Street every day. From what your customers have told you, what’s the businesses’ specialty - subs, steaks or hamburgers?

We’re called “Sam’s Sub Shop,” so I would say subs. Our Italian subs are the number one item here, followed by our cheesesteaks coming in a close second, and our breakfast sandwiches are a go to for many of the early bird workers.

Your role here at Sam’s Sub Shop is only one part of who you are. You have traveled the world as a professional clown. You were a member of the improv comedy circuit in New York and Chicago. You also have appeared in several commercials for top brands like Mercedes, McDonalds and Nintendo. When did you first catch the performer bug, and where did you first begin to cultivate your talent?

I had always enjoyed movies - particularly the comedies - and I remember wanting to be an actor but not knowing what that meant. My father was a teacher at Unionville High School, and he told me to audition for the school play, so I did. I got a little part as a bumbling train conductor, and I remember walking out on stage and everyone laughing. That started everything for me. On my birthday in 1996, my parents took me to Broadway to see a revival of A Delicate Balance that starred Elaine Stritch, and that was when I thought that the idea of being on stage would be awesome.

After attending Penn State for a few years, I studied theater with Théâtre du Soleil in France, and it was there that I first discovered improvisation. I then went to New York City where I joined the newly-formed Upright Citizens Brigade, who was co-founded by Amy Poehler. She was supportive of my work and clued me into the fact that most of the early members of the Upright Citizens Brigade came from studied comedy in Chicago, so I went out there and began to get involved with the Improv Olympic, The Second City and the Annoyance Theatre. 

Chicago was not only the center of comedy, but also the center for advertising. Because of that, I began to audition for commercials. My big break came when I shot a series of 12 commercials for Nintendo Gamecube, which helped me fund stage projects that I began to work on.

There is a common misperception that the only job of a professional clown is to climb into a costume and do silly things in order to please an audience. In reality, it’s much more complicated than that, yes? It involves constant training and education. Talk about the preparation that goes into the job.

My background in improv made the clowning begin to become easier to do, but the truth is that you’re going out on stage without a rope. I studied with a master in France, Philippe Gaulier, and he gave me a very important lesson: When you’re out there flopping and no one’s laughing, that’s the moment when you become a clown, because if you can stay there and stick with it, the audience then gets on your side and then you have them in your hand, and then you can do whatever you want.

Every comedian alive has his or her comedic role models. Who has been yours? 

A lot of the stage characters I’ve created are based on customers at Sam’s Sub Shop. I would bring their personas to the shows. I’ve admired Pierre Étaix and Roberto Benini, but one of my favorites has been Robin Williams. Several years ago, I was working with performing at the Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles, and one night I saw that Robin was in the audience. At the end of the night, he came up on stage with us, and I got to perform with him. After some time, he became a regular just so he could get up on stage with us. To be on stage with someone I admired was tremendous.

In February of last year, you received a phone call that changed your life. It was from a casting agent for the HBO crime drama “Task,” asking you if you would consider being a stand-in for the actor Mark Ruffalo. What was your first reaction to receiving the news?

At first, I wasn’t sure I wanted to do that, because while I really would have loved to act in it, being a stand-in wasn’t an acting part, and I was also going back and forth from my home in Brooklyn to help my parents at the store Kennett Square. Then I thought, “Task” would be filming in the area, and when I realized that I could help out the family and be a part of the cast, of the show, I accepted the job.

When I arrived on set, however, I began to question whether it was the right idea, but after meeting the director and Mark Ruffalo, I found them to be very supportive, and I began to think I could achieve my goal to get a speaking part in the series. 

One day, one of the production assistants told me that there would be a small part coming up, so I went up to the director Jeremiah Zagar about it. He said that he would talk to Brad Inglesby, the show runner and creator of the series, who said, “Yeah, Michael would be great for that part.”

How did you manage to be on set and continue to manage Sam’s Sub Shop? Your schedule must have been insane. Bring us through that exhausting balance of obligations.

The filming was from Monday through Friday, and because Mark was there every day, I was there every day. On the night shoots on Thursdays and Fridays, I wouldn’t have to be on set until four p.m., so I could work at Sam’s Sub Shop until 3 p.m. While on set, I would still be on the phone with the meat and produce suppliers. It was a lot.

Where did the filming for “Task” take place?

Most of the filming took place at a sound studio in Aston near Neumann University. The good guy/bad guy’s house was in Downingtown. Many of the bar scenes were filmed in Coatesville, which was funny because between shoots, I would join a lot of the “known” actors outside and often those driving by would recognize me and not them, and yell out “Sammies!”

I’ve heard that many A-list actors like Ruffalo choose to sequester themselves in their trailer between shoots, but you struck up a friendship with him. What were the commonalities that helped connect the two of you?

At first, Mark didn’t know that I am also an actor, but as we began shooting takes, he began to realize that I had acting experience. We began talking and found that we had similar backgrounds in acting, doing commercial work and our Italian backgrounds. He told me about his experiences shooting commercials, and his start on the stage. He was interested in knowing about my career in clowning and comedy and was fascinated to know about Sam’s Sub Shop. 

He was always out and about and spoke with everyone on the set.

I read that you not only did you learn from Mark, he learned from you.

A few times, the directors would watch me do something during a shot set-up, and Mark would tell me, “I’m going to steal what you did there.” I remember as he was preparing for one big scene, he asked me, “What would you be thinking here?” I told him, “One of these people is betraying you.” Because the series takes place in this area, the “Delco” accent is heard throughout, and Mark would ask me to repeat particular lines of his dialogue back to him. “Say ‘Wissahickon,’” he’d tell me. “Say, ‘I’m going to Wawa.’” 

I heard that Sam’s Sub Shop catered a few times on the set and that the reaction to the food was amazing, and that menus from the shop appear throughout the series. Great brand placement!

I befriended some of the staff in craft services, and we began to talk about how Sam’s could possibly provide catering to the set. Mark loved the idea. He told me, “I want to call up your mom and order subs from Sam’s Sub Shop!” I told him that he’d better not; it was 12 o’clock at the height of the lunch hour.

I hear you’re developing a new stage show, aptly entitled, I Am Not Mark Ruffalo. Care to give the readers of Kennett Square Life a teaser?

It’s a fictional account of my experiences on the set of “Task”. The running joke between Mark and I was that everyone liked me better than him. Even when I got the small role in the series, Mark walked up to me and said, “If one more person tells me that you got a part in this, I am going to punch them.” As I would continually receive compliments from the directors, I joked to Mark, “You has better watch out. I’m going to replace you.”

These experiences are forming the genesis for the show – the stand-in taking over for the lead actor. We’re developing the show in New York City, and now that the script is complete, I am fine tuning it to become a 40-minute show. 

Next year, Sam’s Sub Shop will celebrate its 80th anniversary. Has there been talk of any special events to mark the occasion?

Our 75th anniversary occurred during COVID-19, so for our 80th anniversary, we’re planning something nice for our customers. 

What is your favorite spot in Kennett Square?

If I’m going out to eat, my parents and I like visiting the bar side of Lettie’s Tavern. There’s some irony here; before my grandfather opened Sam’s Sub Shop, he was a bartender at Lettie’s when it was called The Green Gate, and the bartender there now is also named Sam. 

I also enjoy the Italian-American Club on Ways Lane.

You throw a dinner party and can invite anyone – famous or not, living or not. Who would you want to see around that dining room table?

I would definitely like to see my grandfather and my Aunt Mary there. I would also like to invite Woody Allen, the Italian Chef Lydia Bastianich, and just for fun, I would like to invite Richard Pryor, because when I was a kid, he was funny at a time when I wasn’t allowed to watch him. 

What item can always be found in your refrigerator?

Lupini beans, a savory and salty bean. It’s a healthier version of a salty snack.