The first episode of Eugene Levy's new show, "The Reluctant Traveler," which will be available on Apple TV+ today, was the subject of an exclusive interview with Travel + Leisure.

As the star of Schitt's Creek, Eugene Levy isn't trying to be the next Anthony Bourdain, and that's one of the things that makes it so refreshing to watch him trepidly traverse the world in his new eight-episode show The Reluctant Traveler, which aired today on Apple TV+. The most exciting thing for Levy when it comes to food is having sushi for the first time in Tokyo, as well as getting an egg salad sandwich from a restaurant named American Sandwich. But unlike the legendary Anthony Bourdain, Levy isn't trying to pass himself off as someone else on this show. At least, he isn't trying to do so.

Expats participating in the latest #GoJiangsu trip visited the Little Westlake Block and Qinglong Community, learned about changes in urban and country roads in #Nanjing and locals’ spiritual outlook. #HappyCity pic.twitter.com/gPjhiCUNzh

— Jiangsu, China (@GoJiangsu) February 18, 2023

After taking humorous chances for the past half century, Levy is currently making his most uncomfortable movements to yet. According to him, this includes stepping anyplace outside, which is a part of the world he has spent his whole life avoiding. In the promotional material for the show, the anti-travel presenter declares, "I'm more of the fantastic indoors type of guy."

Levy is vehement in his assertion that he does not enjoy travelling and does not possess a feeling of curiosity. In addition to that, he is afraid of great heights, the weather, and being really hot. The examples are endless. We want to know exactly why he is hosting a travel show, so we ask him that question.

In an exclusive interview conducted through Zoom, Levy shared with Travel + Leisure his thoughts on the subject, "Why me?" His initial pitch for the show was that it would be about hotels and that it would be called "Room With a View." The hotels that Levy stays in are without a doubt the most memorable parts of the eight episodes, even more so than his hilariously awkward situations. Each episode highlights a different extraordinary location to stay, such as the Treehotel in northern Sweden, South Africa's Kruger Shalati Train on the Bridge, Utah's Amangiri, Kudadoo Maldives Private Island, rainforest Nayara Tented Camp in Costa Rica, and Hoshinoya's deluxe ryokan in Tokyo (a missed opportunity, we think, for Levy not to awkwardly figure out onsen etiquette).

"I've never really been myself in front of the camera. Levy acknowledges that after acting in characters for the past half century, the last thing he wanted to do was appear on camera as themselves. "If you want to host a travel show, you need to have a certain set of skills. Such as an interest in learning new things and a spirit of exploration." And he does not possess any of these, as he gives them away. "I don't consider myself an explorer. My preference is to be on solid ground.

During the initial call with the Apple TV+ producers, Levy stated, "Honest to God, I really don't think I'm the guy." Nonetheless, the filmmakers couldn't help but giggle at all of his whining about how the prospect of adventure makes him feel anxious. They came to the conclusion that instead, this would create an excellent travel programmer, which would consist of seeing a comedy icon perform an activity that he would rather not do (which is anything that requires leaving home). So it was decided that Levy would appear on the show and just be himself.

The actor who has won multiple Emmy Awards is taking a break from portraying Johnny Rose or any of his other fan-favorite roles for the first time in his career that has spanned more than half a century. Again, Levy is a fish out of water, but this time he is a fish out of water as himself: a risk-averse, very awkward, flustered, rather-stay-at-home, 76-year-old man who would rather stay at home.

Levy doesn't pretend to be anything other than extremely uncomfortable, which is something he frequently is. For example, he agreed to go ice swimming in a drysuit that looked like a Teletubby in Lapland, Finland, and he extracted a stool sample with his bare hand from the behind of an elephant in Kruger National Park, South Africa. Levy doesn't pretend to be anything other than extremely uncomfortable. Yet he doesn't let it stop him, and he celebrates every victory, no matter how great or how tiny. Laughing, he says, "This is the first time I've ever had my hand up an elephant's ass."

Levy reaches into the anus of an elephant in a funny moment that is more cringe-worthy than anything else in American Pie. He finds faeces in the elephant's anus. When the animal has been rendered immobile with a tranquillizer, he is assisting Kruger's chief vet in performing a general checkup on the animal's health. (The elephant population in the park is monitored with the use of spot checks like this one.) But, the elephant could wake up at any time; if you observe the elephant peeing, you should start running immediately, as he has warned you.

After drawing blood from the animal, Levy believed his work as the veterinarian's assistant was done and was therefore taken aback by the news. "I don't even like when I'm getting blood taken. But I was able to pull it off," Levy admits. But when it was then explained to him that they would like him to obtain a stool sample from the elephant, he instantly responded that there's no way he could do it. He said that it was impossible for him to do so. But, Levy heard his co-producer reply "Yeah, I guess you can" from a location that was not visible to the camera.

The star of "The Reluctant Traveler" kept reminding himself that he is required to experiment with new things because it is simply part of the job. As a result, he did eventually stick his hand up an elephant's rear end for the sake of research and excitement. He asserts, "I would never want to do that again" (I would never want to do that again). "To tell you the truth, I felt terrible for the elephant."

Not only did this one private exchange with the elephant leave a long-lasting memory on Levy, but the experience as a whole did as well.

"I never really had the desire to go on a safari," he admits. "It just never occurred to me." "I just don't see the need in taking such a lengthy trip to observe animals when, to tell you the truth, I'm already familiar with what they appear to be."

But once he arrived at Kruger National Park, he discovered that he was beginning to form an affinity for the landscape, even right outside his window. He was staying at a hotel called Kruger Shalati Train on the Bridge, which is suspended on train tracks and is located smack dab in the middle of the park. "You might come upon an elephant ambling about, a crocodile sunning itself in the shallows, a water buffalo, or a hippopotamus... In all honesty, I found it to be quite reassuring.

And the gravity of the situation, in terms of how much peril these animals are in, hit me like a tonne of bricks when I was there," he adds. Before I went over there, you knew that was going to be a headline, right? The rhinoceroses are on the verge of extinction. So you react by saying something like, "Oh my goodness, that's terrible." But in any case, what else is scheduled for today?" Yet, South Africa was able to take him by surprise, particularly when he visited a rhino sanctuary that houses orphaned and injured rhinos. He reveals, "When I arrived there, I thought they were just about the ugliest animals in the world." "Yet, I have grown to love these creatures. So, my time spent in South Africa was an eye-opening experience for me.

Levy also remembers the time he spent filming the episode in Utah. People that I've met and families that I've spent time with in just about every country that I've visited will always be the ones that stick out in my mind the most. Those are the memories that I'll always treasure. According to him, having dinner and talking with his Navajo nation guides and their families while they were on their reservation was an extremely significant experience. Under the night sky, as he listened to his Navajo tribe guide narrate stories, he remarked, "There was a spirituality that kind of took over me."

Is it possible that Levy's experience filming in some of the most breathtaking locations on the planet, such as the Arctic Circle and the Maldives, has made him more open to the idea of travelling? He does share, but it's not to a significant degree at all. "On the scale of loving to travel, which goes from one to ten, the needle is beginning to tip towards the three o'clock position. Even if I don't particularly enjoy travelling at this point, I'm glad to see that the trend is improving.

But Levy would really love to film a second season, despite the fact that his travel habits haven't changed much in recent years. "Do I adore each and every part of it? Perhaps not, but I thoroughly enjoy engaging in it. And to tell you the truth, I consider myself very fortunate to have this show because I believe it is helping me become a somewhat more enlightened person.