But now why weâre here. I recently got to sit down for roundtable interviews with the most of the cast and the interview below is with Andy Samberg, the star of the film.
Iâm a huge fan of Andy from his work with The Lonely Island as well as his digital shorts on âSaturday Night Live.â While you may not know his name, by now most of you have seen âDick in a Boxâ or âLazy Sunday,â two clips that made SNL cross into pop culture for the first time in years. And while âHot Rodâ hasnât been getting the greatest reviews, I laughed a ton while watching and Iâm quite sure itâll be a huge hit on DVD.
Anyway, during the interview Andy talks about how the project came together, singing with Justin Timberlake at Madison Square Garden, whatâs going on with Laser Cats and a ton more. If youâre a fan of Andy youâll dig the interview.
As always, you can either read the transcript or download the audio of the interview by clicking here. Itâs an MP3 so you can easily place it on an iPod or any portable device. And if you missed all the movie clips I already posted you can click here to watch them.
Finally, due to running out of time, I wonât have transcripts up with Isla Fisher, Ian McShane or Bill Hader, Danny Mcbride and Jorma Taccone. So if youâd like to hear what they said just click on their names for the MP3âs.
And with that, hereâs Andy.
Question: Was âDick in a Boxâ nominated or an Emmy this past week?
Andy Samberg: It was, who knew?
When did you find out?
No, I have been on the road doing press for this and all of a sudden I woke up and there were 20 texts from people being like, âYou got nominated for an Emmy!â And obviously we didnât even realize that was a possibility, so, it was cool. âYou mean for a song about putting your dick in a box?â Yeah, itâs pretty cool man. Itâs very ridiculous.
Donât you have several shorts nominated?
I donât think so. Thatâs the only one I have been alerted about.
You had no idea when that was becoming a phenomenon that this could become a possibility?
Not really. I mean, you know that âSNLâ is up for stuff and that thereâs a chance there, but I think maybe Mike Shoemaker, heâs one of our producers, had mentioned it to us once or twice. âYâknow, thereâs a category for songs.â But we did âLazy Sundayâ the year before and nothing happened with that. So, we figured it just wasnâtâ¦
Are you guys going to perform it at the Emmys then?
If they ask us to. Dude. Call the Emmyâs Iâm game. I would love to go do it. I did at
Why do you think that became such a hit?
I dunno. I meanâ¦you got to think because itâs Timberlake signing on it â heâs a hit maker. You know what I mean? That guy just doesnât make a bad song. I dunno. I guess the world was really at place where they wanted to hear a song about putting your dick in a box. (Laughs.)
What was it like performing at
It was trippy. The one thing I always say about it, while it was happening I was thinking to myself, âComedy guys donât get to do stuff like this.â You know what I mean? Thatâs reserved for like cool dudes with real talent. And we just kind of backed our way into there. It was weird, 18,000 screaming ladies. So, it was like how I always imagined it would be when I was in High School. When I was sitting in the park by myself. (Laughs.)
Correct me if Iâm wrong, but this script has been around awhile. You guys write, so when you have a script like this how much of your own stuff goes into it?
Well, it was written by Pam Brady who co-wrote the â
So, was the âFootlooseâ montage originally in it?
No, we added that.
And what was the inspiration for thatâ¦
No, like many years a go Akiva and I were just watching âFootlooseâ on cable and I was like, âThis scene is amazing!â Like the idea is so angry and furious with rage that he has to dance! (Laughs.) And we actually â like, me and Akiva and Jorma we have written a bunch of other stuff together and we had that scene in a few other things before this project that never got made, but when we got to âHot Rodâ I was like, âWe can do the âFootlooseâ scene!â
Was the stepfather subplot all part of it from the beginning?
Yeah, more than anything, that was Pamâs creation. The thing that hooked us on her script originally was that youâve got this standard story of heâs a guy whose gotta grow and overcome his thing to save his stepfather, so he can kick his ass. It wasnât just like, âAnd heâs got to save him because he loves him.â It was like, âHeâs got to save him because he fuckinâ hates him.â You know what I mean? Just the twisted logic of that. We always like leaps of logic in terms of whatâs driving the story. We think thatâs a lot more interesting.
What was it like working with Ian McShane?
Um, it was great. Heâs actually a really dapper, sweet man even though heâs really good at playing bad asses. But he would play around with it. Like, even today he was running the game of pretending that he liked Jorma more than me and just making me so mad! (Laughs.) But I dunno, with him, the second the three of us met him â it was just instant -- we just got along with him really well and he totally got what we were about and was into it which we could feel which just made it feel more comfortable.
Making the leap from SNL to the movies can be difficult. Did you look at any of your predecessors to see what worked and what didnât?
I think, I dunno that I would site any specific examples, but all the ones weâve liked are people who really stayed true to what they are about. There are obviously different levels of types of comedy in terms of how much you are taking to story and heart and comedy. All of our favorite movies are a lot of time peopleâs first movies where you can tell itâs this sort of explosion random weird crap they have been saving up their whole lives. Movies like âThe Jerk,â âAce
How do you make sure your next one isnât the âLittle Nickyâsâ or âCable Guysâ?
A lot of people think âThe Cable Guyâ is a classic. There is gonna be a beat down in here. You all had my back on that one. I mean, honestly donât know. Iâm gonna have to see if they will let us make another one, yâknow what I mean? Weâre kind of just focusing on this, but itâs tricky. For people that Iâve looked up to, they have all gone through ebbs and flows in their movie careers. Now, that Iâm actually in it a little bit, I understand the desire to do something different. Even as early now, having done this movie, I think personally I want to keep doing weird stuff, I donât think I have really proven myself in terms of comedy yet. Like, Iâm proud of the stuff weâve done and proud of what weâve done, but all Iâve ever wanted to do is comedy and I think that takes a lot of hard work and dedication for people to figure out what youâre about respond to it if they are going to. So, you have to stick with it I think. But, eventually, who knows? I mean everyone experiments and has missteps and thatâs just part of growing up and working in the industry I think. Thatâs just sort of how it goes.
So, did you guys film the movie last summer?
Yeah, in
Did you try to get more âSNLâ people in it?
Right, right. I mean, everybody was really cool about it, they were just like, âThatâs so awesome youâre making a movie!â No one was like, âPut me in it.â Also, because I think everyone in the show right now is working outside of the show, like the whole cast is awesome and they are all being rewarded which is pretty cool. With roles like Hader and Parnell, like, they just fit perfectly into the movie and Hader had done that character for me the first time he met. Heâs basically just doing a friend of his. And the whole acid story is a true story. Like my Rod character is Bill in real life. He went to go pick up his buddy and he had a huge thing in his eye and was like super calm about it. And that was like the first story Bill ever told me, so when we got on the movie Iâm like âDude, we should do that Bill storyâ (Laughs.) And obviously it worked out because we cast him as the guy. And Parnell, we did âLazy Sundayâ with him and we just feel like heâs amazing and may be one of the most underrated dudes in comedy and we felt really lucky to have him. I feel like he kills it. He just shows up and lights up a movie.
Obviously, you shot a lot of material, is there an R-rated version of this movie?
Yeah, I mean, hopefully weâll throw a lot of stuff on the DVD, we havenât had a chance to start on that. I mean, PG-13, get one F-bomb and just for safetyâs sake I think we shot five or six. And yâknow, sometimes they just kind of happen. But yeah, there is definitely a lot of weird stuff that got cut out, but not really because we were contained by the rating, more just because we were looking for a nice rhythm in the movie and a lot of that weird stuff was slowing it down in a way that kind of hurt it overall we thought.
What are you doing during the âSNLâ hiatus?
This. As soon as âSNLâ ended â the three of us were heavily involved in the editing, the sound mix and the sound design and the color correction. Like, we are very hands on dudes which can be a little bit maddening for us, because there are no breaks, we were trying to edit in all our off weeks during the season. The season ended and we went into final editing the movie and all those aspects. And we did that and as soon as that happened I started doing press. I think I have been on the road for two and a half, three weeks now.
Are you ever worried that things are a little too out there? That people wonât get it?
I mean, yes and no. I mean we are definitely aware that when you do something as strange as coolbeans that some people are going to be like, âWhat?â And be annoyed, âThis isnât taking itself seriously at all.â Where as us, itâs like This isnât taking itself seriously at all!â Thatâs the joy of it. But, I mean, itâs interesting and we sat in on the test screenings and stuff as well to help us in the editing and figuring out what was playing and what wasnât. And pretty much every scene in the movie that I would describe as my favorite part and a lot of the audience would put down as their favorite part was someoneâs least favorite part. I think thatâs just a byproduct of being memorable. So, when you are listing something, âOh, what do I remember? That song.â Yâknow what I mean? But itâs definitely hard for certain people to let go of this is the real world and crazy things canât happen and the fourth wall canât be broken down. But on a personal level thatâs always my favorite thing. Like, anytime you make something that is encouraging ridiculousness and surrealism and taking things less seriously, is my favorite kind of comedy.
In the 80âs and â90âs it was the one funny guy in the movie? The last ten years has been a group of funny guys? Why do you think thatâs changed?
Iâm not sure. I mean I can tell you from the creative side, itâs just that we know so many awesome people. If I am making a movie and I know Iâve got this friend who is hilarious, I want to put him in there. It is just going to make everybody look better. I donât know if the public prefers one to another, but one thing I will says is when I am watching a movie, Iâd much rather see a movie where everyone is funny than one person, because you just have a better chance at laughing. And of course, movies like âKnocked Upâ and âAnchorman,â that kind of stuff and like everyone in âAnchormanâ is hilarious. Once that tone is set, itâs hard not to want to keep it up like that.
But, do you think you are coming from a certain place comedically? A different generation?
Possibly, itâs a lot of nice guys and girls who like each other. So, itâs been interesting. A lot of people talk to us and they want to pit everyone against each other. Yâknow what I mean? Like, young people just starting to have success, âSo whatâs going on with this competition between âHot Rodâ and âSuperbadâ?â And itâs like âWhat competition? You mean our good friends who are in âSuperbadâ? And Bill who is in both? We want both those movies to do great. I saw that movie, we love everyone in that movie. Itâs amazing. Itâs more for us just like this fun, collaborative moment for us and weâre kind of in it together and we bump into each other and go, âDude can you believe this is happening? Weâre on billboards! Itâs so fuckinâ weirdâ Its not as interesting a story, but for us itâs just cool. Iâve described it to like, the cast of âSNL,â it feels like this Muppet generation â these kids who grew up on happy go lucky stuff and donâtâ have any demons and are just kind of lovers of comedy and fans and stuff. Itâs all very exciting and positive for us.
Who really inspired you early on? Who were the first people you were entertaining and what material were you using?
I never knew for sure what the rest of the world would think of me in terms of being funny. I knew that my family was really crazy. Like, silly, goofy family. We would always be making each other laugh. And so, I would gauge my funniness in how much I would make my sisterâs laugh. I have two older sisters and I developed a style of annoying them until they laughed.
Were you trying to be a certain comic actor or where you just trying to do your own thing?
Just kind of doing my own thing, which, by the way, I feel like I am still doing. I am not really like an impression or âcharacteryâ guy. Like every character or impression I do on the show is like some shade of me. But, yâknow, Iâm a goofball so it works out.
How young did you start?
Um, I mean I was trying to make jokes in class in school as early as first grade. I wanted to be on âSNLâ since I was 8. So, I locked in the comedy very early on. And my parents always tell me that even as a baby I was constantly laughing and giggling. Iâm just a laughy kind of guy I guess.
What do you do to relax?
These boots are made for stomping. Iâm kind of attracted to that. Sheâs working me. Sheâs working me over this time. I try to sleep whenever I can. I love sleeping and Iâm not getting enough of it. I go out and have a drink or two. Go to a movie. I am really into music, do a lot of CD shopping and itunes shopping which is not as exciting, but sometimes you just gotta get that shit into your ipod. Thatâs really it. Generally when I have free time right now, I try to catch up with people, because everything has been happening so fast. I donât want to loose touch with anyone. But, um, drinking. (Laughs.) In moderation.
Do you have any more ideas for your digital shorts? âLaser Cats IIIâ?
Dude, I hope so, âLaser Catsâ is one of my favorites. We havenât conceived anything yet. Generally we come up with digital short ideas on Thursday or Friday to be completely honest. I mean, toward the end of the season? The making out with the dog one and the Shia LaBeouf one where everyone kept getting shot? Those were Friday afternoon into evening and then everyone had to scramble and like find a location for us and we shot them until 2 in the morning on Friday night. And Akiva and Jorma would stay up all night editing for the show on Saturday. A few of those were conceived, shot, edited and aired in under 24 hours. Itâs ridiculous. But, I like them. Iâm proud of them. So, itâs like, as long as it keeps happening where we feel as though they donât stuck itâs hard to get out of the habit.