Can you talk about the dynamic of working with Judd?

Leslie Mann: He's so — to create such a nice working environment, like a very safe working environment for an actor, so you feel like everything you do is okay and good, so you're more willing to try things and explore, and you never feel judged by him, like you're doing something wrong and stupid. That's how he gets great performances out of people, I think.

Paul Rudd: Yeah, you're right. You never are in a case of wondering — oh god, did I just go too far with that joke? He just won't use it, because I think we all have. Yeah, especially me. Sometimes in an improvisation or something it will go in a completely different way than what might be in the script, and he'll encourage that. He certainly feels comfortable enough to spend the time going in a direction that is completely new and he can process all that in his head while he’s making it knowing that this will fit into what the next thing's going to be. And he's so funny himself. He'll yell out a line while we're shooting a scene, and we'll just incorporate what he says into the scene, hopefully without stopping.

Leslie Mann: He kind of rewrites it as we're rolling.

Paul Rudd: And that's why we shot a million and a half feet of film.

Leslie Mann: That's why, yeah.

Leslie, your character goes off on the bouncer. Was that easy to do?

Leslie: (She laughs.) We just thought it would be fun for my character to do, and no, I didn't feel uncomfortable at taking it all the way. It's a dream that people have when they're in that kind of situation where there's some dumb bouncer guy saying you're not good enough. It's a dream to tell that guy to fuck off, and scream at him and call him stupid. Isn't it? Nobody? You feel like that sometimes but you don't do that in polite society. That was a fun thing to do in the movie. It's the only time you can do it, I guess.

Leslie, were you always going to be in this role? How did Judd ask you to do it?

Leslie: He knew he wanted me, Paul (Rudd) and Seth (Rogen) from the beginning. It was just finding Katie (Heigl).

Did you like doing the more romantic and serious parts of the movie?

Paul Rudd: We did. That scene, for instance, in the driveway, the hurt that Leslie's feeling, and the confusion, the stuff I'm saying, it's because we do kind of love each other. The tough parts of the marriage is heightened because it's a comedy but we both, Judd and I talked about, you have to believe that these people are married, and why would they stay together freely, so if you can have a couple of moments where you see that they love each other, the birthday party, talking about the cupcakes...

Leslie: It's sweet and romantic and does that answer your question? Does it seem like they love each other? Or does it seem like we're just mad? (she asks the people in the room)

Paul Rudd: Otherwise, it's just a one-dimensional and cartoony.

Paul, over the last decade you’ve been in some of the bigger comedies. Was it always your intention to do these comedy roles?

Paul Rudd: I always loved comedies growing up much more than anything dramatic, and when I was in college I really started to think about becoming an actor, then I started to love both, and it just so happened that in the past few years it caught on with the comedies for me, and I love doing them. These movies with Judd and Leslie and Carell and Will, they're a blast to make so I'm psyched.

Leslie: There's a story that Judd tells about before he met you on Anchorman...

Paul Rudd: When I met Judd, actually I knew who he was but I hadn’t met him, I was a fan of his shows and stuff and I was at a dinner explaining fake names and how it's tricky to come up with a fake name. And I said the perfect fake name was Gernon Blanston, which was from a Steve Martin record, so somebody at dinner said well, that explains Judd's email address, so I emailed him and congratulated him on the refernce and we kind of became pen pals. I actually never met him until "Anchorman," but we sent emails back and forth for about a year. Isn't that great?

Leslie: You can ask Judd, but he actually thought you were a pretty boy, and then he met you and found out ...

Paul Rudd: Clearly I wasn't.

Leslie:  That you're hilarious.

Paul Rudd: I remember the first email I got back from him he said now he feels he has an "in" to Neil LaBute plays.

You did "Long Day's Journey Into Night" with Jessica Lange. What was that experience like?

Paul Rudd: Different from this one. It's an amazing play to do it in London, and to play a role like Jamie, which is so tortured and tragic. Usually I don't have a lot of trouble separating work with my real life-I usually don't bring a character home type stuff-but that play, four hours, and living in London in the winter it was really tough. It was fulfilling and a great experience but it was the opposite of working on a comedy, especially a comedy with friends where it's all about jokes. Equally fulfilling and something I would do again in a second. And it was a play, and those tend to be different experiences anyway.