Never say comedians don’t suffer for their art.
Sure, Robert De Niro gained weight to play a punch-drunk pugilist in “Raging Bull,” but Ed Helms had a 20-year-old dental implant yanked to make his character in the new comedy “The Hangover” as authentically damaged as possible.
Helms, one of Dunder Mifflin’s worker drones in NBC’s “The Office,” stars in the new R-rated comedy about a band of buds who go to Vegas for their friend’s bachelor party.
The men wake up the next day unable to remember the night before – and missing the groom-to-be.
Helms told WWTW he had a visceral reaction to “The Hangover” script.
“I called my agent immediately and said, ‘we’re going to war to get this movie,’” Helms says.
Working on an envelope-pushing comedy like “The Hangover” creates its own set of challenges.
“There’s no discussion of a line that you can or can’t cross,“ he says. “If you’re not pushing your comfort zone with comedy then you’re not doing your job. Always have to rub a few raw spots to do comedy well.”
Helms arrived on the comedy scene steeped in improv culture, something which came in handy in an industry suddenly enamored with that comedy template.
“I feel like in the last 10 years it’s become a major part of lot of movies and TV shows,” he says.
That proved true with “The Hangover,” but not every killer ad lib made it into the film.
“The first time I saw the movie I said, ’I can’t believe [director Todd Phillips] didn’t use this,” he says. “Then I realized Todd’s point that it was so important to keep these characters grounded and likeable. A lot of the improv vibe we go into at times is a little snarky. It does change the flavor of the characters.”
Tomorrow: Helms discusses the impact ’80s comedies had on today’s comic actors.
(Photo: Stu (Ed Helms) discovers a night in Vegas changed his smile in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ comedy “The Hangover,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo by Frank Masi)
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