Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
BLACKBALLED: THE BOBBY DUKES STORY is a low-budget indie comedy that is starting to roll out in limited theatrical release around the country right now. You can visit the official website to check out dates and locations for where it’s screening.
I was sent a copy of DVD to watch a few weeks back to see if I’d be interested in talking to Rob Corddry, the star of the film. I’ve liked Corddry’s work on Comedy Central’s DAILY SHOW for some time now, and I was curious how he’d be as a lead actor. Truth is, he’s got more weight than I expected, and he makes this absurd mockumentary about a shamed paintball champion (he got caught “wiping” during a big game) and his quest for redemption somehow actually seem real. It helps that he’s surrounded by a great supporting cast, and that they’re all careful never to tip from reality-based humor into the sort of high camp that is the signature of, say, DODGEBALL.
Just before I left town last week, I set up my time to talk to Corddry by phone, and because of his schedule and mine, it ended up as a 7:00 AM phone call for me. I was up and ready to record when the phone rang, right on time:
”MORIARTY”: Hello?
ROB CORDDRY: Hi. Is this Drew?
It is.
Hey, it’s Rob Corddry.
Hey, how are you, man?
Good. How are you?
Thanks for taking some time this morning.
Sure. No problem.
Are you in Salt Lake City yet? For UNACCOMPANIED MINORS?
No. Are you there?
I will be later this week.
I’m there, ummmmm... the 17th. I think I’m going to miss everybody.
I can’t wait. I’m a big Paul Feig fan.
Oh my god, he’s amazing.
His book SUPERSTUD might be the most humiliating thing I’ve ever read, and I loved every page of it.
(laughs hard) I was reading that on a plane. I told him this. I was reading that on a plane, laughing so hard that, that... and I was with a bunch of Germans... and they all hated me.
(laughs)
They hated me for, like, asking for more water and for going to the bathroom. They haaaaaaaaaated me.
There’s just something about the brutal honesty of that book.
Mmmm-hmm.
You can’t believe someone would commit that to paper, and then you can’t believe he’d put his real name on it.
Have you met him before?
No, not yet.
It’s interesting in that, after a few minutes with him, you can forget that he tried to... contort himself as he did.
(laughs) I just hope I can shake his hand without laughing.
I’m so glad you read that! After I was... when it came out, whenever I was in a Barnes & Noble, I would take a stack of it and move it to, like, the featured table and cover up O’Reilly’s book with it.
I’m a big fan of any humor that comes out of honesty. For example, my favorite bit that you’ve done on THE DAILY SHOW... and I’m curious just how honest it is... was during election season when you went home to Boston. Truly... a great piece of television.
It was. Absolutely everything in that was completely 100% true. Except we changed the name of the woman that stole my virginity from me.
(laughs)
And we used a different ex-girlfriend’s face who was really very gracious.
I think the thing that has made THE DAILY SHOW into such a great launching pad for talent is that you guys... and it’s interesting because I don’t think it was this way when it started. I think when it originally went on the air, it was a different show. Then when John Stewart came on, it transformed, and the correspondents all became more important to the show.
Ummmm... I don’t know. I don’t know. I definitely think the whole tone of the show shifted, as did our role. We were used more as real correspondents.
Did you have any idea it would become what it is? Or is this just a case of “All right, here’s a great opportunity, and let’s just try as comic performers to make the most of it.” Between you and Carrell and Colbert... you’ve all started to take off.
I... I think it’s hilarious and adorable that you think the correspondents have anything to do with the tone or the direction of the show. (laughs) We’re monkeys. Dancing monkeys. Pretty monkeys. But monkeys, nonetheless.
Wow, it’s, um... you, uh... had you already done BLACKBALLED when you joined the show?
Nnnnno. I shot BLACKBALLED... I got on the show in 2002, shot BLACKBALLED in... summer 2004? Because it’s coming... no, no, no, it was summer 2003, we shot that. It’ll be three summers ago this coming summer, I believe. I could be wrong. It’s very blurry. Very blurry. I have no retention whatsoevery. I can’t tell you when I graduated high school. But, uh... no, they had to sort of work around my schedule. We had to shoot on weekends.
Speaking of blurred, with THE DAILY SHOW, the line between reality and absurdity is frequently blurred, and with BLACKBALLED, Brant Sersen [the film’s director] comes out of a real documentary background.
Yes! Yes, he does!
Both of his features prior to BLACKBALLED are the real deal, documentaries about music.
That’s right, yeah. Punk rock.
The film has a really loose documentary feel. How much of it was scripted and how much came from you guys as performers?
It was... the dialogue was entirely improvised by the cast. The story was written by Brant Sersen and by Brian Steinberg, the producer. Paul Scheer and I came in sort of late in that process and helped them touch up the story, then went about casting all of our friends.
So... okay, so this was a cast you were already comfortable with walking in.
Oh, absolutely. We all worked together at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater. So... almost everyone... except for DJ Hazard, who was a Boston comic... had all worked together before in some sort of improv capacity.
This is a film that’s had a long, healthy festival life. It’s played everywhere, it seems.
Yeah, yeah. It’s been great. It’s played in crappy festivals all over the world.
(laughs)
Although I did get to go to Sweden, which was nice.
So now you’re getting a limited theatrical release, and then it’s on DVD later this year. Will there be more stuff? Is there footage we’ll only see on DVD?
There’s a mind-numbing amount of extras on the DVD, which I believe will be out in July.
You’ve got another release due this July, right?
What’s that?
Your child?
My child! Yes! (laughs) I guess that’s one way to put it. Ummmm... yeah, yeah. July 8th, my wife is due.
Good date. My son was born on July 6th last year.
Oh, congratulations!
Congratulations to you!
I’m looking forward to the DVD release more.
(laughs)
Come on. That’s been two whole years in the making.
You know that’s the quote I’m leading with, right?
(laughs) Kids... you know... they help out around the house. But DVDs are forever.
Exactly. With BLACKBALLED, you riff on some of the conventions of the sports film and the team film. It seems like that’s sort of an evergreen. You’re also doing BLADES OF GLORY soon?
Yes, I have a tiny, ultimately cuttable role in BLADES OF GLORY.
There’s an entire wave of comics right now where people make appearances in each other’s films, starring in one, making a cameo in another. It seems like there’s a real renaissance of this kind of humor, whether it’s from the Upright Citizen’s Brigade or from... it’s a rich time right now for comedy fans. You’re in OLD SCHOOL, and then you and Will Ferrell show up in BLADES OF GLORY. It’s like a give and take. Do you get a sense of community right now?
Oh, yeah. I wouldn’t use the word “community,” though. I’d say we are rising up, like an army, so we can take over the world.
Okay, then.
It’s a great time for comedy right now. The ‘90s was so terrible, y’know?
It was all very corporate, and this feels more organic. A lot of you guys come out of a theater background.
Oh, it’s still pretty corporate. (laughs) I, ummmm... I really... I, I have trouble explaining that phenomenon, but I think you’re right. I think there is sort of a, uh, you know... everybody is maybe just enjoying the state of comedy right now. And, and... part of expressing that is being able to cast people that you think are funny. Ben Stiller’s producing BLADES OF GLORY, and I think he’s just giddy being able to cast anyone he’s ever laughed at once or twice.
He does seem to be one of the fulcrum points for this.
He’s one of the dons, for sure, as is Will Ferrell. I think it probably started with OLD SCHOOL. It was shot in, what? 2002? Late 2001, early 2002, so that... I think it sort of started with OLD SCHOOL, and, uh, I was probably... yeah, it just went from there, you know? Those guys all started showing up in each other’s movies. Vince and Will and Luke.
It’s fun because in one film you’ll play a larger role, and in another you’ll have one scene.
Yeah.
It kind of keeps it all fresh.
Exactly. And also, um, Scott Armstrong and Todd Phillips... the director and co-writers of OLD SCHOOL... had a lot to do with that, because they... you know, they love casting people. I was friends with Scott. I was on an improv team with him at the UCB Theater, so they cast right out of there. And, um... uh... what was I going to say about that? Boy, I had a reeeeeeally important point to make. It’s lost.
(laughs) I see that Lewis Black is in UNACCOMPANIED MINORS, too.
Yeah, he is, as is Rob Riggle.
Oh, excellent! Man, talk about a dedicated performance.
Oh, god.
His work in BLACKBALLED is pretty outrageous.
Yeah. The guy’s amazing.
Rob was briefly on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE.
Exactly.
So many funny guys I know get chewed up and spit out by that show. Like David Koechner. It’s very competitive, and you can be a really talented performer and still only get five minutes on the air in a month.
I wonder how true that is now. I know a lot of those guys, and they’re all really cool and they’re really friendly. So I wonder if that is just the culture of the show.
I think it’s encouraged.
Yeah, I hear Lorne sort of breeds that. And they have to stay up all night writing on Tuesdays, which is cocaine culture by default.
Well, it used to be the launching pad.
Yeah.
You look at how many careers have taken off from there. But now, as we said at the beginning of this, you look at THE DAILY SHOW, and suddenly you guys are blowing up off of that. I don’t think it’s the only game in town now for comics. You’ve had UCB, The State, Mr. Show...
The Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater is now, I think, the big launching pad.
I was just in New Mexico for Broken Lizard’s film BEERFEST, and they were talking about the deal they signed with Warner Bros which allows them to develop new talent as well as make their own films.
That’s great.
One of the first places they want to go in Los Angeles is the new UCB Theater on Franklin.
Yep.
So I think there’s definitely a sense out there that there’s not just one place you can start.
Seth Morris is the artistic director there.
Oh, I see. Alright, BECOMING GLEN, your pilot with Ricky Blitt... did you guys get picked up?
BECOMING GLEN is now called THE WINNER, and... I don’t know. We’ll see. I’ve got everything crossed right now. And I mean everything. If you know what I mean. I’m talking about my balls.
Me, too.
We’ll find out mid-May or so. I’m just trying to manage my expectations.
Well, Rob, thanks so much. Congratulations on the film and everything else.
Great talking to you.
Check out BLACKBALLED if you’re in one of the areas where it’s playing its limited theatrical run. If not, it’s worth the wait, and you’ll be able to see it this July. My thanks to MK for putting me together with Rob. I’ve got to take care of a shitload of other transcription now for more articles this week. Until then...
"Moriarty" out.
