arts & entertainment
Comedian JB Smoove talks About New movie, ‘hall Pass’
By Brian Stimson
of The Skanner News
C
omedian, actor and writer JB
Smoove plays the character Flats in
the new Owen Wilson/Jason
Sudeikis comedy “Hall Pass” about two
men given a week-off their marriages as a
radical way to improve their relationships at
home. Smoove is a former writer for
Saturday Night Live and has starred in a
number of films and TV show, most notably
on Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm”
as Leon.
Smoove sat down and spoke with the
Skanner news about his acting, improving
and why getting a “Hall Pass” from your
wife is just a little bit insulting.
JB Smoove: What’s going on, Brian!?
the Skanner news: Not a lot …
JB: Don’t try to be all laid back with me.
What’s going on Brian?
tSn: Not a lot!
JB: Alright, let’s make something happen.
tSn: How are the reporters treating you
today?
JB: Man, we’ve been having a good time,
just flying through these things. I think I’m
at number 339.
tSn: Damn, they’re really working you
hard today!
JB: They’re killing me.
tSn: I’ll try to keep you on your toes the
best I can. I was just going to start with a
really boring question, but I’ll cut to some-
thing a little more interesting. What was the
absolute, worst day on set you had for “Hall
Pass”?
JB: You know what, there was one day, it
was so damn cold, it was freezing, bad
weather, raining like crazy, freezing rain,
freezing rain is the worst, it was cold, we
had to try to … they didn’t want us to have
cold breath, right, so they had to warm the
area up. It was supposed to be spring time,
but we’re shooting in the winter. Who
would have thought it would be that bad a
winter in Atlanta? We were near some water
on the river, that made it worse. Freezing
rain everywhere, the ground was slick, we
had cold coming out of our mouth sniffling,
it was crazy, in Atlanta, Georgia.
tSn: Who’s the most fun person to work
with on the film?
JB: Steven Merchant, man. Of course
Owen and Jason Sudeikis were amazing,
but that damn Steven Merchant, that dude
was 7’13” … he was tall as hell. Normalluy,
I’m the tall guy when I come to do movies.
I don’t like coming to movies and there’s a
taller dude than me. I don’t like that, man. I
wanna be the tallest dude in the movies. So
I decidd to take the Black role.
tSn: Now when you’re acting, do you
kind of be yourself, or do actually act and
put on a different persona?
JB: It depends on what they want.
Sometiems I’ll meet a director and he’ll tell
me what he wants and I’ll read the charac-
ter and its like, this character is going to be
a fast-talking, opinionated, blunt character,
… a lot of times, they see me on “Curb Your
Enthusiasm”, that’s what they want, to spice
up the character, sometimes they want that.
I can do the same thing in a different style,
slow it down and say crazy stuff … I can
slow it down and make a point so you can
understand what I’m saying to you. For me,
I’ve been lucky enough … I like my brain,
I like my style, I’ve been trying to attach
myself to a number of things and right now
it’s working well. Now directors call me for
film and TV stuff and I can sit there and say,
they are either big Curb fans and they know
what they want, they want that flavor, that
outspokenness, that funny guy who can take
a scene and make it his own. At the same
time, I’m in another film right now where
I’m playing someone totally opposite. It’s a
different type. Still has that rhythm, but he’s
a different type of guy. That becomes me
sometimes.
tSn: I saw a clip online of you reading
J.B. Smoove in ‘hall Pass’
your failed skits from Saturday Night Live.
I was wondering, do you ever get a chance
to unearth those out of the back of your
brain and use them or do any other improv-
ing?
JB: Oh yeah. I have so many ideas. I must
have 200 to 250 bits written in my SNL
book. You know what, I kind of go by … I
improv on Curb so much … when I come in
and do a film, they want me to take a char-
acter and make it my own. Do what I want
to do sometimes. I’ve been lucky, I guess.
Curb came in handy because I had an
opportunity to come in there and talk that
trash. If they want that, that’s what I’m giv-
ing em. It’s worked out great for me and a
lot of times, I definitely pull out anything
that fits. A lot oftimes things come to me in
weird ways. Something will remind me of a
bit and I”ll incorporate it within a scene
someteims, or a part of it or a piece of it,
and then I’ll just try to incorporate it with
what the scene requires. Most of the time,
we’ll get it down for what the scene requires
and then they’ll say ‘give me one for you.’
If they say give me one for yourself, I’ll go
off and rant and rant and rant. It’s the same
scene, with just different words.
tSn: Did they give you that kind of free-
dom for ‘Hall Pass’?
JB: They give it to you a little bit.
Sometimes, when you’re following lines, it
sounds robotic. But if you flow, do one on
you own, it comes out natural. It’s just you.
That’s the most fun, cause it’s the most nat-
ural to me.
tSn: Now what is the character you play
in ‘Hall Pass’?
JB: His name is Flats, he’s just one of the
guys in the crew. Trying to encourage the
guys to take advantage of the hall pass they
have. They got a week off … a week off
with their wives. Why not? I’m going to
ride with you guys, live vicariously, hear
about the stories and the women. I want to
hear what happened, because I couldn’t get
a hall pass. How was the blonde rich, how
was the brunette, cause I wanna find out the
details. I want to see you guys succeed.
Women give guys hall passes, because they
know damn well they have no chances of
getting with women. It’s more of an insult
to give a guy a hall pass, knowing full well
they’re not going to get none. So you got to
be better than them, and take that hall pass
and rub it in her face.
February 23, 2011 The Portland Skanner Page 9