Written by Jonah Keel

On the set of the comedy I LOVE YOU MAN. Paul Rudd had this to say about a possible Anchorman sequel as mentioned earlier by Adam McKay.

Rudd: “I think that it would be awesome, I would be in there for sure, and I emailed him afterwards, I think he was serious, I don’t think there’s a script or anything like that, I don’t know if there’s been any ideas, and it was so fun to do and I saw him recently and we were just talking about what a blast that was, so hopefully.”

Rudd also talked about his love of Rush and his sparse interest in internet networking sites.

Rudd: “You’re starting to reveal something here, I’ve never been to Craigslist or Myspace.”

Rudd had plenty more to say as well about his role in I LOVE YOU MAN and his apparent dislike of Andy Samburg…..

Question: It looks like you can really play the bass guitar.

Paul Rudd: I can’t, I can play a couple of those songs though, I tried to learn “Limelight” on bass and “Tom Sawyer”, and I figured out the very basic… oh god, he’s such a media whore, you know what I mean? (on Andy Samburg)

Question: Looks like you guys are having fun.

Rudd: Actually I’ve never met him.

Question: He hangs around.

Rudd: I was trying to formulate some other twisted joke, but I’ll go back to the bass playing, yeah, I tried to get that “Limelight”, it’s not a really kind of generic way of playing, I could do enough to get the calluses going anyway.

Question: Are you a fan of “Rush”?

Rudd: I do like “Rush”, yeah, when I was a kid they scared me a little bit because I saw the video of “Tom Sawyer” and Geddy Lee just had his hair hanging down, there were certain guys like Rick Nielson of “Cheap Trick” also that I was just kind of freaked out by them.

Question: I was scared by “REO Speedwagon”, that dude with the big fro.

Rudd: Kevin Cronin.

Question: Yeah, he always scared me.

Rudd: Yeah, and now he’s got like short, gray hair.

Question: Yes he does.

Rudd: Kind of frightening, like a young Tom Skerritt.

Question: Who was horrifying.

Rudd: He puts the Scare in Skerritt. Yeah, there were those musicians that really rattled me, and then “Tom Sawyer”, I was like “Why is it called “Tom Sawyer, it just sounds so dark and evil,” and then I got a little older and then I kind of went through this phase where I bought “Moving Pictures”, that record, and then I was like “Red Barchetta”, that’s where it’s at, and I went through a little “Rush” phase and then I got totally of course kind of into them years ago, and kind of like “The Spirit of the Radio” I would play it in my car really loud, so I was really nervous to meet them anyway.

Question: Did you have scenes against them, or are they just playing on stage?

Rudd: No, they’re in the movie and we didn’t have any scenes where I engaged with them, I was just a fan dancing in the show, but I got to meet them, and Jason and I actually interviewed them and I was nervous and like, “How do you interview “Rush”?” They seem also to be really a band that has shied away, they’ve really lived the words of “Limelight”, living in the limelight, it’s surreal and they can’t pretend that a stranger is a long waited friend, I just kept thinking that when I was trying to buddy up to them, but they were very funny and very friendly, and big fans of “Team America”.

Question: I was going to say, did you see their “Trailer Park Boys” episode where they kidnapped them?

Rudd: No.

Question: It’s a Canadian show.

Rudd: Yeah, I know that show.

Question: They kidnap one of the guitar players, it’s pretty funny, I just watched it the other day.

Rudd: They’re really funny guys like they were very nice and yeah, they were really cool, and I don’t know how the topic of “South Park” and “Team America” came up, “Team America” and they all went crazy and started talking, and quoting it, and it was just really weird to be exchanging “Team America” quotes with Neil Peart.

Question: So are you and Segel man pals the same way your characters are?

Rudd: Yeah, I think we get along pretty well, we will do these little extended bits and runs that no one will ever enjoy except us, that’s outside of the movie, hopefully not just in the movie, probably a few, but yeah, we get on pretty well.

Question: You’ve done movies with him before.

Rudd: Yeah, this is our third one, the first one was “Knocked Up” and that was actually where I met him and we didn’t really have a lot of stuff to do in that movie, “Sarah Marshall” there was a lot more, and that was also really fun besides the location and where it was shot, I mean that was truly like, “You guys just say whatever you want,” and so I think that we really started laughing and kind of really clicking on that movie and I was really excited that he was doing this movie.

Question: Can I ask you a question about being in Hawaii? I was just there for the junket for that and the surf instructor said that if they ever see you that they were going to beat you up because they were upset about your portrayal in that film.

Rudd: Oh yes, yeah, I thought that they would beat me up for my ability to surf.

Question: No, they said they saw it and were really disappointed that you played him like a stoner dude.

Rudd: Well I think that’s where people really have to have a suspension of disbelief that a surf instructor might actually smoke weed.

Question: Well no, they came and found the rest of the cast and were bugging them, it was kind of fun, I didn’t know if you knew about that.

Rudd: Are you kidding?

Question: No, I’m not kidding, they came and they were like, “Is Paul Rudd here? We’re really upset about this.”

Rudd: Wow, well I’m glad I didn’t make the junket.

Question: The nice thing about your character in “Knocked Up” is that your character has no idea that he hates you, or why he hates you because he’s into your wife.

Rudd: Yeah, he’s way into my wife in that movie, that is quintessential Jason Segel that he could just do that creepy stare that lasts a little too long, and it could be very funny, but also unsettling, and he would do that with Leslie Mann in that movie and then he would look at me like probably these surfer guys that wanted to kill me.

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