David Paymer

* An Oscar nominee for “Mr. Saturday Night,” Paymer’s newest film, “State and Main,” opens Friday.

Fine Dining: I have a 6-year-old named Emily and a 10-month-old named Julia. My wife and I try to do things like we used to do when we first got married. We will actually try to go to a decent restaurant Friday nights with the kids. The key to that is to get to the restaurant before anyone else is there so if your kids spill water or throw up, it’s not too embarrassing. We go to Hal’s in Venice. It’s sort of a New York bar-restaurant. They have the best French fries on the Westside, and Emily usually orders the fries with ketchup.

Cartoon Zone: I wake up Saturday morning and am immediately subjected to Saturday-morning cartoons like “Rocket Power” and “Doug.” We usually make Emily pancakes. Then Emily will play soccer. It’s the American Youth Soccer Organization. We do that at Stewart Park in Santa Monica. It’s really lovely and everyone wins. They have a nice playground and have an infant swing [for Julia]. After that you invariably end up at a Chuck E. Cheese or a pizza joint with the kids.

A Night Out: If my wife and I are lucky, we may go out briefly Saturday night. There’s a neat little sushi place called Nagao. I think it has the best sushi on the Westside. Their white tuna salad is really incredible. If we’re home on a Saturday, we’ll watch a video with the kids--something we have seen 18 times before like “Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars.”

Beatlemania: One thing I love about Emily is that I have gotten her into the Beatles. You know that radio show “Breakfast With the Beatles” [on KLSX-FM (97.1)]? We always put that on Sunday morning. Emily is Ringo. She has got this thing for Ringo. She wears rings and we dance and she puts on sort of Ringo shows. She wants to play the drums now, which we are a little concerned about because of the noise. I just love that she loves the same music I did 30 years ago. That’s really nice.