A to Z’s Ben Feldman on Love, Marriage, and Working With Cristin Milioti

NBC’s foray into the romantic comedy landscape begins tonight with A to Z, which you may have heard something about over the course of a thousand or so promos this summer. The so-cute-it’s-not-fair pairing of Ben Feldman and Cristin Milioti may make you think that kind of adorably complicated love only exists in TV rom-coms, but in real-life, Ben Feldman, 34, shares an even cuter love story with his wife of almost a year, Michelle Mulitz. Of course, we weren’t going to let the Washington, D.C., native get away without telling us everything—just make sure you can handle all the cuteness.

Cristin Milioti and Ben Feldman’s new sitcom, A to Z, premieres tonight on NBC.

Glamour: In the first few minutes of the pilot, we see your character’s manly side and his feminine side. So what’s the manliest thing you do—and the girliest thing you do?

Ben Feldman: Oh God, so many eye rolls from my friends and my wife right now. I do tons of feminine things. [Laughs] I don’t know…there’s a table in our house that I built.

Glamour: You built a table in your house?

Ben: Yeah, out of hoses and seat belts. It’s artsy and weird! [Michelle and I] were at a furniture store in Palm Springs, and there was this table that was made out of these orange hoses. I was like, “What is that?” and he said it was in a Barneys window from the ’70s. I’m like, “Great, I’ll take it.” Then he said it was $1,800, and I thought, I feel like I could do that myself. So we left. I was in Atlanta shooting Drop Dead Diva at the time, so I went to Home Depot and bought an old-looking hose, cut it up, ordered a seat belt online, a glass top, and arranged the hoses and tied them individually. Now it’s a table we have in our house! It’s manly with an eye on aesthetics. [Laughs]

Yes, here’s the table!

Glamour: So, how did you meet your wife?

Ben: Well, kind of online, in that my stepmother was constantly like, “So-and-so’s daughter is moving to Los Angeles. You should call her.” I’d be like, “That’s creepy. I’m not going to call that girl.” But this was one of those times that I said, “Just email me her information, and I’ll email her.” So my stepmother emailed me and said, “She comes from a great family, blue eyes, Jewish, right up your alley. Please take her out, and if she sucks, I’ll owe you one, and what’s it going to hurt?” So that’s the closest I’ve ever come to online dating!

Ben and his wife, Michelle, at this year’s Primetime Emmys Governors Ball.

Glamour: How did you know your wife was The One?

Ben: We were together for seven years. Early on, there was the, “If I were to be with someone the rest of my life, it would be my wife,” but it took me a long time to be OK with being with someone for the rest of my life. I’ve always been really skeptical about marriage, and my parents did a great job instilling that skepticism in me. They got divorced—my mom has actually been divorced three times—so they don’t mess around! I always thought it was this antiquated thing. Eventually I stopped caring that I thought marriage was ridiculous, and then it became, “If it’s ridiculous, it’s ridiculous, but we’re getting married.” We got married last October.

Glamour: Wolf Blitzer was at your wedding. Explain how that happened.

Ben: He’s a close family friend. He’s just like an uncle. I grew up going to Jewish holidays at his house. I love his wife, his daughter. He’s just like any of my parents other good friends, but because he’s Wolf Blitzer, every picture found his way to him. If you’re looking at our wedding album, you’d think Wolf was my best man. Every time the photographer took a picture, the people in that picture would say, “Hey, Wolf, come on in!” He’s everywhere! [Laughs]

Glamour: In A to Z, your character works for an online matchmaking service. Do your single guy friends go online to date?

Ben: [My single guy friends] are dying off though! Tinder’s fascinating to me. I wish it was around when I was single and not on television because I can’t imagine doing it when you’re on TV. I was at a bachelor party recently, and a buddy of mine there was on it. I was like, “Give it to me!” After a while, I became a zombie going through it. I would find my buddy girls, and it was so much fun! I never went online when I was single, aside from flirting with people on MySpace when that was relevant.

Glamour: In the opening moments of A to Z, the narrator says that this is the story of your eight-month relationship. How is the viewer supposed to stay invested if the relationship ends? Or does it?

Ben: It’s a miniseries, actually. [Laughs] No, it’s not. Next season it will star Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson.

Glamour: Amazing, but I still gotta know the answer to this question!

Ben: 500 Days of Summer was that, and I like the idea that there’s something [of an end] to whatever this is. I don’t know though. I’m sure our writers do. I hope they do! It could end in marriage, it could end in break up, or something else. The end of the relationship, as we know it, happens at the end of the season. It will change or it will end.

Glamour: This poor girl gets killed off of How I Met Your Mother, and then this relationship may not even last!

Ben: She’s the character that dies in every relationship! I start dating Josh Radnor in season two.

A to Z premieres tonight on NBC at 9:30 P.M./8:30 P.M. CT. Will you be watching?