Comedy Q&A: Joel McHale | Get Real Denver

Comedy Q&A: Joel McHale
by John Wenzel on August 29, 2008

Joel McHale salutes you! (Insert “McHale’s Navy” joke here.)

If you think the grinning, smart-alecky mug of Joel McHale seems at odds with a biker rally, you’re not alone. “If I tried to ride in on a motorcycle I’d probably kill myself,” joked McHale, the host of E!’s “The Soup.” “Maybe we can get a Segway instead.”

Seriously, though: The Seattle-bred comedian is looking forward to his show at the Thunder in the Rockies motorcycle rally at Loveland’s Budweiser Event Center tonight. “Performing stand-up at such a massive venue is rare for comedians,” he said.

We talked with McHale in advance of the set about his snarky TV gig, guest-judging for “Iron Chef America” and his role in Steven Soderbergh’s upcoming movie, “The Informant” — opposite Matt Damon. Check out our extended interview below.

It’s unusual that when you were going to college you were on the football team, but eventually went into acting and improv. Those two things are stereotypically antithetical to most people.

I actually was a history major, not even a drama major. I went to graduate school for drama, but while I was doing football and history, I was also doing theater. Obviously with a football schedule it’s not as conducive to a performing schedule, so I did improv at (the appropriately-named) Theater Sports in Seattle. I also did the Comedy Central show “Almost Live!” between undergrad and grad school. That was back when grunge was huge wanted anything about it was desirable on a show.

“The Soup” has been around in one version or another for quite a while. What’s the history of your version?

At first it wasn’t even called “The Soup.” It was called the “What The. . .? Awards,” which is the worst name given to a show in the history of television — except for “My Mother the Car,” which at least explained what the show was about. So at first there were no stakes. But when it got called “The Soup,” it had that name recognition of the old “Talk Soup,” which obviously helped launch the career of Greg Kinnear.

Did you feel pressure to fill his shoes?

Well, the (original) show was absolutely brilliant and groundbreaking, so I guess in a way, yeah. But our show format is so different and “Talk Soup” was canceled in 2002. We had no reference point in starting it back up again, other than the fact that some of the same people are working at the E! network. With our show, we’re only concerned about whether or not it’s funny.

You must watch an incredible amount of TV to cobble together those bits.

Everything that we can find, whether it’s a reality show, game show, morning news show or sci-fi movie, goes into it. Nothing is off limits, except when you’re like Dinah Lohan (Lindsay Lohan’s mother) and she doesn’t want you to make fun of her when she’s on your network for a few weeks.

How much of “The Soup” is ad-libbed and how much is scripted?

It’s all scripted out, so it’s technically 100 percent scripted. But depending on the show it could be anywhere from 10 to 30 percent improvised, if I’m really feeling frisky. The writers are absolutely brilliant, too, so we don’t always do things on the fly.

Does your theater and improv background assist in that?

Definitely, my improv training has helped me in almost every acting job I’ve ever had. I even see acting jobs as improv, but the words already happen to be there. Having a sketch comedy background is fun too, especially on (”The Soup”) when there’s walk-on parts and punchlines are illuminated by other poeple on the staff. For example, we “kill” an intern every week, which we’ve gotten complaints about…

Isn’t it weird that you’re often making fun of the same stuff your own network peddles?

What’s been so great about E! is that they’ve been incredibly liberal about what we can say about their own programming. “The Soup” wouldn’t work well if a lot of stuff was off-limits. E! has a sense of humor about itself. Of course, E! also laughs all the way to the bank as we promote their own shows on ours.

In the end it’s all just entertainment, right?

At “The Soup” we think basically 90 percent of all entertainment and art is bad, and that the other 10 percent has never been better.

How did you get that guest-judging gig on “Iron Chef America”?

For a while we were running our “Secret Ingredient” segment on “The Soup” for like 35 shows in a row because we just found it hilarious, so they called me up and asked if I wanted to do it. It was so much fun, but they’ve never had me back because I think I made too much fun of the ingredient.

What was the ingredient?

Lentils! Of all the short straws to draw. … I think the day before they had filet mignon and lobster. I was like, “This dish is really good, except for the lentils. …”

I understand you’ve also got a role in an upcoming Steven Soderbergh movie?

Yeah, I’m the third lead in “The Informant.” It’s dark comedy with me, Matt Damon and Scott Bakula. I saw a cut of the movie recently and Matt Damon is awesome. It’s honestly an Oscar-worthy performance.

– John Wenzel