Michael Rosenbaum is ‘honored’ to be called the best Lex Luther more than two decades later Smalltown created.

“For a long time, I wasn’t aware that people thought or felt that way,” Rosenbaum, 52, said. Us every week exclusively while promoting his new book The talented whoopee. “It’s only in the last five or 10 years that I’ve started to feel it. People had top ten lists, and I just didn’t believe them for so long.

Rosenbaum debuted as Lex Luther in season 1 of Smalltownaired throughout 2001. He left the series after its seventh season in 2007, but returned for the 2011 series finale.

“It’s been many years. I think when you do it, you want people to appreciate what you did,” Rosenbaum said of the series. “There are so many Lex Luthers in the past, and I wanted people to be happy with what I did. I was happy.

Social media didn’t really exist when SmalltownAs this was at his peak, Rosenbaum did not experience an “instant response” from fans. “It was kind of stupid,” he admitted.

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Rosenbaum said We that he is truly “humiliated” by the continued response of Smalltown fans.

“I’m proud of it. It’s amazing how many new people are watching Smalltownand their children are watching it now. A new generation,” he added. “We started it all. Before us, there was no Flash And Arrow And Superman and Lois And Gotham.”

He later called Smallville “well-crafted” and a “great show”, giving credit to the writing, acting and cinematography.

“I think that’s why there are so many (superhero) shows now, and even more movies,” Rosenbaum said. “I think Smalltown This was one of the main reasons for this.

Smallville also created a “beautiful thing” for Rosenbaum off-screen. The actor’s friendship with his former co-star Tom Welling — who played Clark Kent on the WB series — has transformed over the years, mostly in part due to the show’s continued success.

“We were friends, but we didn’t really hang out because we were working all the time,” Rosenbaum recalls. “It wasn’t until after the show was over that I asked Tom to start signing autographs. We have a podcast to review called “TalkVille” and we do this thing called Smallville Nights, where they do little events at these places. We became closer and closer.

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Now, Rosenbaum and Welling are “trying” to sell a show together. “We are like brothers,” he added.

Welling and her 5 year old sonThompson, even showed major support for Rosenbaum’s recent children’s book, The talented whoopee.

“He and (woman) Jess (Lee) “I read the book and they sent me a video today,” Rosenbaum said. We before sharing that the book is about a little boy whose “only ability is to make his farts sound like things you hear every day.”

The actor said the book “adds humor to life” and he is very proud to write it. (Yes, all the fart sounds included are from Rosenbaum himself.)

“Everyone is having fun. I mean, farts are funny. They are part of the norm. People do it. I don’t care,” he said. “You never know what you’re going to get with a fart. This might be the strangest sound you’ve ever heard.

The talented whoopee is out now.