Joel McHale and "the Skank Parade"

Joel McHale talked to me. Jealous? I know, I'm an incredibly lucky girl. He's performing stand-up this Friday and Saturday at The Moore (details below), and Seattle is welcoming him home with open arms. Originally from Mercer Island, McHale got his start on Almost Live and did improv for Unexpected Production. Prior to that, he received his Masters in acting from my alma mater, the UW (whoot whoot!). He chatted with me last week from L.A., where he now resides and hosts the weekly show The Soup, AKA the funniest show on television.

Read what he had to say about performing in Seattle, his time on The Soup and his upcoming movie The Informant, after the jump. I've omitted the parts where I gush.

So this is going to be a homecoming show for you?
I don't even think you understand how many people I've given tickets to. I swear to you: I'm going to end up paying the theater. We just basically rented the place out.

Besides family what about Seattle do you miss?
I miss the beer selection. It has taken L.A. years to finally put draft beer in the bars or in the taverns. There is an Irish bar here [in L.A.] called St. Nick's on 3^rd St. It's an Irish bar but there are no beers on tap. That is such a travesty! And there's no decent Thai food here. They even have a Thai town. I don't know if it was that all the Thai people that showed up in Seattle were just better cooks, or ... [if] the Thai people that came to L.A. were from a Midwestern-like part of Thailand that only had huge buffets with a lot of lard and stuff.

Was it a culture shock to move to L.A.?
It was obviously a change of pace. In Seattle, a national commercial audition came around once every three months. Here it's five a day. It seemed like, well I'm gonna do OK. There are so many auditions that I'm bound to get one of these things. I moved here specifically, without a job, to try to become solvent in my acting career. Ironically I make fun of Flava Flav and Dr. Phil and Tyra Banks, but that has opened the doors that I needed to open to do the acting.

How did you get the job at The Soup?
I auditioned for it. It was one of many. When I auditioned, they said it was kind of the new version of Talk Soup. The reason I went after it was because of the pedigree of Greg Kinnear, John Henson, Aisha Tyler. Those people went on and did more, and that was why it appealed to me. I never really imagined this is what I would be doing. But at the same time, I had already been yelling back at my TV, which I think everybody does. I just don't happen to be doing it in my underwear anymore.

And we have a really fun time doing it; the staff really likes each other. One of the guys on the staff is named Dominic DeLeo, who I grew up with on Mercer Island. He's Mankini. He was also the best man at my wedding. He's just one of those guys that we always connected on a comedic level. We were best friends, everything he thought was funny I thought was funny and vice versa. On top of that, Nic and I had another best friend in high school, his name is Ethan Sandler. Now he lives here, and he's an actor and a writer. The fact that we were all best friends in high school and junior high, and that we all live within a five mile radius of each other [today], is the greatest.

On The Soup, how do you and the staff divvy up the shows you watch and later make fun of? Do you get first pick?
Yes I do because I'm the host. Hahahahaha! It's one of those things where now I do get to pick what I want to watch, and it's usually what my wife wants to watch. It used to be that we would all have to split it up, because there was only like five of us [on staff], and we all had to watch four to six hours a day. And I was like, "I'm going to kill myself." Now we have about 12-14 people, so we divvy it up pretty well. There is a girl on our staff that watches all of The Today Show, everyday. She's dead now, she hung herself. It is four hours. We call it the fourth interminable hour of The Today Show. I actually went on to the fourth hour with Kathy Lee, and they showed the clip of me saying that about her, and she was like, "What's going on with you, Buster?" But she was actually really cool. I really like her.

So Tyra gets mad at being targeted, I heard
She's the only one that tried to stop us. Her lawyer wrote a letter, a couple. So of course, me having the mind of a 14-year-old, when someone says, "Hey, Joel don't do that" ... I start doing it again.

Have you ever run into Tyra?
Nope, I'm sure her snipers will take me out before I can even get within 100 yards of her, and I'll fall to the ground.

Are there any shows you think are really good TV?
Oh Yeah! There's never been a better time for TV. The American Office, Flight of the Conchords, South Park--those series are really funny. I think shows like Mad Men, Band of Brothers and Battlestar Galactica are great. I like Pushing Daisies (and I was on it, thank you), but I actually genuinely liked that show before I got on it. Our motto is that 90% of all art sucks and 10% has never been better--whether that's visual, paintings or TV. And there are good reality shows out there. I think American Idol is a good reality show--it's a talent show. If people are living in a house together and conniving and planning, then it's bad. That to me is hell. Big Brother is hell to me. And the ones that are good for The Soup are the Flavor of Loves, the I Love New Yorks and the Charm Schools. It's the skank parades that all those shows are, that are good for The Soup but are destroying the fabric of our society so we need to point it out every week.

Does E! ever get mad when you make fun of the E! shows?
We've had upset people on the shows before. Like Dina Lohan did not want us making fun of her. And E! kind of had to follow her wishes, or she wasn't going to do her show. And I was like, hey, that's fine with me because she's a crazy awful mom. But we kind of had to not make fun of her for awhile. We were able to do it kind of without showing clips, but that's what's so great about E! They have been incredibly liberal with what we can do on their own network. No other network has been that open to letting their programming be criticized or be made fun of. So to that, I have to give them kudos. I don't think our show would work unless E! did that. Every once in awhile I'll get a call from Ted our president, and he's like, "You're not going to believe what happened on the Girls Next Door!" Sure some of their programming is pretty offensive, but they let us comment on them, and I really have to give them credit for that.

How long have you been doing stand-up? What made you decide to start?
A year this November. Everyone I know, knows that I have an opinion about everything. So I finally got out and started working it out. And The Soup is basically a half an hour of stand-up as it is. So after doing that for four years, I felt like I could tell a joke in front of people.
My agent kept going, "You gotta get out there," and I'm like, "I don't have time to get out there," and he's like, "they're gonna pay you this much to get out there," and I'm like, "Ok, I'll get out there." And now it's turned into this thing that I enjoy. The only thing I don't enjoy is being away from the family. But it's worth it because it keeps the lights on--thank God.

What can Seatle expect from your stand-up routine this weekend?
I talk a lot about what we cover on The Soup. I would say that would be 60-65%.
And the rest is about things that have happened to me and my family. So it's a good old romp--hopefully.

Are you nervous about doing it front here of your friends and family?
There are certain family members that probably will not like what I say due to some profanity perhaps. But, you know, what can I do? But for the most part I'm not worried at all really; it will be like I'm performing at Thanksgiving dinner. Go up there you little monkey and perform!

Will both shows be different?
They're always different; every stand-up show I do is different. And I do a lot of improvising during the show. Like last week in Phoenix a drunk girl walked out on stage. The same thing happened in Juneau, where people were just walking up on stage drunk.

What do they do when the get up there?
I'm not really sure. They're just kind up there, hanging out. I guess once they get up there they're like, hey, I'm here! If you jump up on stage during a rock concert, at least you could possibly pick up an instrument and help out. But the girl got up there and she kind of stood there and looked at me. And I looked at her, and I made some comment about alcohol poisoning. Then she was taken away. It was great.

So I'm rooting for you as the next white Blacula.
Boy, you do watch the show, thank God. You gotta come down to L.A. and watch a taping.

(I'm dying)

(Regaining my composure) You guys do tapings in front of people?
Yeah 60 people, that's why when I was talking about getting ready to do the stand-up. I do the show in front of 60 people every week so it really helps.

(Still not totally comprehending) I thought it was just the crew?
No it's 60 people usually.

I saw your movie The Informant comes out next September. Is acting the ultimate goal?
Yes, that's the ultimate goal. Well, the ultimate goal is to be a good person and keep the lord happy, raise my kids so they don't get on a reality show. But I'm having a great time doing this. It's a great way to perform every week, and I love doing the jokes.

Do you think you'll ever come back to Seattle?
If my career just tanks yes, then I'm going to be doing weather and traffic, maybe for Ichabod Caine on the country station. If he'll have me. Or if I do really well, then I can buy a house out there.

I'm hoping for the latter.

Sigh. My plan to wow McHale with my wit and charm failed miserably, and I ended up a giggly, nervous mess who made not one, NOT ONE cute or endearing comment. He however, was lovely and funny from beginning to end of our phone chat. Not once did I have to pull up a courtesy laugh, and he was gracious enough not to comment on my banal questions or lack of personality. If my love for Joel McHale and The Soup was strong before, it's fucking titanium now. Go see him at the Moore this weekend and if you don't already, start watching The Soup. I promise, you'll thank me.