Close-Up: Judah Friedlander
Posted by Rob Ortenzi on 01-Aug-08 @ 02:57 PM
BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONSInterview: J. Bennett Trucker-hat enthusiast JUDAH FRIEDLANDER started doing standup in Washington, D.C., nearly two decades ago, where he gave birth to his blowhard World Champion persona before landing bit parts in some of the most memorable comedies of the past decade (Zoolander, Meet The Parents, Wet Hot American Summer). In 2003, he shed his trademark lid to play Toby Radloff in the vastly underappreciated meta-biopic American Splendor, but later brought his extensive custom mesh collection back in spades for his role as comedy writer Frank Rossitano on NBC's 30 Rock. This month, he'll star alongside Eddie Murphy in Meet Dave, a family comedy about ... well... something to do with aliens. That much we're sure. Tell me about your character in Meet Dave. I'm an alien, and Eddie Murphy is an alien, and there's a spaceship that looks just like him. It looks human. I play, like, a 1-inch tall alien who engineers the spaceship. So it's kinda like Innerspace? I think it's gonna be different than that, but I'm not sure. I haven't seen any of it. I know my character pops up on one of Eddie Murphy's TV screens like, I don't know, maybe Scotty from Star Trek might pop up on Captain Kirk's screen. A lot of my scenes were shot with none of the other actors around. Pretty much everything is a special-effects shot, so I have no idea what it's gonna look like. Wait, Eddie Murphy is the captain of the spaceship and the spaceship itself? I believe so. The spaceship is meant to look like a human life form, so when people on Earth see him, they think he's just a regular dude. But he's actually run by 1-inch tall aliens? Basically, yeah. And the captain of the ship is Eddie Murphy, who looks just like the ship. Except he's 1 inch tall, too. So the people on Earth think they're talking to a regular human, but really they're talking to a 1-inch alien who looks just like Eddie Murphy. Uh... do you get the sense that it might actually be funny? I don't know, man. Over the years, you know, it's hard to tell with things. I think I did some funny stuff in it. Sometimes you know when it's gonna be great, and sometimes you think it's gonna be great and it stinks. And sometimes you think, "Boy, this is terrible," and then it turns out pretty good. [Laughs.] What's the origin of Frank's endless collection of trucker hats on 30 Rock? Well, I've been wearing trucker hats ever since I was a kid. I wore 'em before the trend, during the trend and now way after the trend. Maybe 10 or 15 years ago, I started making my own--getting blank hats and putting sayings or patches on them. So I thought it would be cool--and realistic--if my character came up with weird or funny sayings on hats. [30 Rock star and creator] Tina [Fey] was cool with it, so it's become a way to get extra jokes into the show, beyond whatever's happening in the scene. You just finished filming Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever, as well. Does your character die a horrible death? Oh, yeah, yeah--my character definitely gets wasted. [Laughs.] It's a total horror-comedy with lots of insane makeup effects and gore. The script, to me, was very funny and very crazy. My part is really small, but I'm excited to see it. It was a lot of fun to do. How did you develop your standup persona, the World Champion? The World Champion character makes fun of how the only people in society who get rewarded are self-promoting assholes. And my character is a nonstop self-promoting bullshitter. So onstage, I'll just be nonstop bragging about all these ridiculous accomplishments. Then I'll ask someone from the audience what they do, and then I'll say something that just dwarfs whatever they do. Because the World Champion is the best at everything. Right. Well, everything except reading or math. He's banging tons of chicks, though. Have you added any new titles to your World Championship collection recently? Dude, every fucking day. I just bowled a 300 [a perfect score] using a golf ball. The last time I used a regular ball, I got kicked out of the bowling alley. I was working on a 580 by the fourth frame. I got a double strike and killed a little kid in the lane next to me, so they kicked me out. I came back under the condition that I use a golf ball, but they still banned me because it was just too violent. It's a pretty cool lifestyle, though. What about outdoor sports? Oh, fishing is my big thing now. I don't even use a rod. I just look into the water and go, "All right, get the fuck out." And the fish just jump on the boat. Last time, one of the fish wouldn't come out, so I sent another one back in and said, "You tell him to get out, or I'm gonna fuck him up." Then they both came up. I banged a couple mermaids that day, too. They're the best. You just gotta make sure the bottom half is fish. When the top half is fish, it gets a little gross. THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE "The World Champion doesn't like music," Judah Friedlander says, adopting the knuckle-dragging swagger of his standup alter ego. "The only sound I like is the sound of my foot kicking someone's face in. The way I see it, music is for nerds. There's nothing cool about it. Every musician, every rock star and every pop star is a nerd because when they were little kids, they were told to play the piano and go to singing class. But instead of being cool and skipping out on it, they were fucking nerds and practiced. So all those cool bands you like? Fucking nerds." The real Friedlander has a different take. "Friends always make fun of my shitty music taste," he says. "I'm all about '80s heavy metal, dude--whether it's Vixen, Judas Priest, Def Leppard, Guns N' Roses, Poison. I don't care who's critically acclaimed. I love Tom Jones, too. I like all those Vegas-type crooners-Wayne Newton, Engelbert Humperdinck, Elvis. I like my music more raw or romantic than intellectual, I guess you could say." CHEAT SHEET After a series of minor roles in comedies like MEET THE PARENTS, WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER and ZOOLANDER, Judah Friedlander became instantly recognizable to Dave Matthews fans everywhere when he played "The Hug Guy" in the group's 2001 music video for "EVERYDAY." In 2003, he played cartoonist Harvey Pekar's nebbish co-worker Toby Radloff (alongside the real Toby Radloff) in AMERICAN SPLENDOR. Friedlander also currently stars as vaguely disgruntled comedy writer Frank Rossitano on NBC's 30 ROCK. This month, he'll play a miniature space alien alongside Eddie Murphy in MEET DAVE. |
