Fans know and love award-winning actor and comedian Steve Carell from his roles as "Michael Scott" in The Office; the lamp-loving "Brick Tamland" in the Anchorman series; 2005’s The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and "Gru" in the Despicable Me franchise among countless others.
LISTEN NOW: SmartLess: Steve Carell
Steve joins the SmartLess podcast this week as the hosts review his resume from resident DJ to mail carrier... to just a guy who works in an Office.
Steve began their talk by describing his experience as a postal carrier in Massachusetts right after college, where he was living with his parents, when two of his friends decided to move to Chicago to create an educational theater company, and he joined them on their quest. With the ultimate plan to do improv at Second City, and perform in plays. Comedy, he admits, was a second thought. "I didn't think I was that funny," says Steve. "That really didn't seem like my forté."
Will says he's become even more of a fan of Steve's after watching all of The Office episodes during the pandemic. "I'm just even further in awe of what you do, and so much of it is because you're such a great actor. There are a lot of people who are really funny, but you are truly both in such a profound way."
"Yeah, that's really true. Really true," Steve says stoically, eliciting laughs all around.
"It is true," says Jason. "Your humor always comes from the depth of the character you have the stones to pull off."
"Well, that's what I find funny, in general," Steve explains. "You know, a character on a comedy doesn't know they're on a comedy, and the same goes for a drama. You don't know what the circumstances are of your own story as a character." Will interjects, "Crazy people don't know they're crazy."
"Exactly," says Steve. "Drunk people don't really know they're as drunk as they are, so you kind of play against it, and I think the same thing goes for comedy. It's really off-putting to me whenever I see someone winking at the camera or kind of acknowledging how funny they are being in the moment... I always think about somebody like Peter Sellers, who did the most outrageously broad characters and never let on that he thought he was doing anything even remotely funny."
Dive into more with Steve Carell on this week's full episode of SmarLess with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett -- now streaming on Audacy -- a podcast that connects and unites people from all walks of life to learn about shared experiences through thoughtful dialogue and organic hilarity. A nice surprise: in each episode of SmartLess, one of the hosts reveals his mystery guest to the other two. What ensues is a genuinely improvised and authentic conversation filled with laughter and newfound knowledge to feed the SmartLess mind. New episodes come out every Monday.
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