Funnyman David Arquette is a Busy Guy

Married to actress Courteney Cox Arquette, raising their toddler daughter Coco, co-producing the FX-drama Dirt with his wife, and now set to appear in the new sitcom In Case of Emergency, David Arquette is a busy guy. He recently took some time to sit down with Redbook magazine and appears in their March issue. Here's some of what he had to say (more interview in the magazine issue):

Where did the idea for Dirt come from?
It came from our experiences during Courteney's pregnancy and how extreme the paparazzi got. The head of development at Coquette [David and Courteney's production company] Thea Mann brought up the idea that we should make a show out of it. We pitched it to FX, and they wanted to do it.

Why do you think our culture has gotten so completely obsessed with celebrities and celebrity gossip?
I don't know. I think as people in general we're kind of obsessed with gossip — whether you're from a small town or a little high school or wherever you are. You just want to find out what's going on and have the inside information. I think people also want to see that celebrities are human, that they're people who make mistakes. Maybe it helps them feel better to know that somebody else is kind of going through the same thing they are. Or they want to see people who maybe don't deserve it come crashing down or people who might not have all the talent in the world rise to the top. It's a weird world, and it's fascinating to sort of get into the mechanics of it and see how the machine works. [Working on the show] has given us a really different view of that world and our role in it. And that the paparazzi are completely a necessary — not evil — but a necessary extension of it all.

How do you and Courteney deal with that 24-hour celeb watch?
Sometimes you run into people who are cool about it. They get it and you get it. You know, they're less sort of stalker-y and obsessive and you know, aggressive about it. Then you run into people who just, like, do anything and are actually pretty mean. When I'm with my child I get such a protective wall up. It's the one thing that I really...I just can't let go. It just really upsets me that she's exposed to all of that and obviously it's not her fault. I mean, to a certain extent it is our fault, but it's our world that we brought her into. She's not a public figure. I mean, she is now because people are taking pictures all the time. We have a beach house, and the thing is, you can't go out on the beach unless you want to have a photo shoot. The saddest part about that is that we can't go down there with our baby and play with her in the sand.

Does your daughter take after her dramatic parents, or do you feel that she's going in a different direction?
Coco's definitely her own person, but she does get dramatic once in a while.

You grew up in a pretty big family...is that something you wanted for yourself when you got older? Do you guys feel like you might someday want to have more kids?
We'd like to have more kids, but you know, right now it's just a little too crazy to consider it. It could happen, but if it doesn't we're really happy with where our family is now.

Reading the tabloids is a guilty pleasure for a lot of people. What's your pop culture guilty pleasure?
I like sports. I really enjoy going to Lakers games. I also enjoy rock concerts. I don't get to go to a lot of them, but I always enjoy them when I do get to go.

Do you have a favorite band or a favorite concert that you've seen?
I just went to the Roger Waters [of Pink Floyd] concert, which was pretty incredible. And Ben Harper is also an amazing show.

Photo from Redbook.