In addition to snagging the lead in the Fox fall pilot "Becoming Glen" (created by Seth MacFarlane and Family Guy writer/producer Ricky Blitt), Corddry is also the star of the independent comedy Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story. As the title implies, Blackballed is the story of Bobby Dukes (Corddry), a one-time Paintball hero who becomes a pariah when he cheats during a championship competition (he wiped the paint off and continued playing). Gone for years, he returns a changed man bent on assembling a team and reclaiming his lost honor.
Blackballed is currently screening theatrically in the cities below, with a DVD release planned for later this year.
New York, NY - Two Boots Pioneer Theater Opening April 13th
www.twoboots.com/pioneer/blackballed.htm
Tucson, AZ The Loft Theater, Opening April 21st
www.loftcinema.com
Toronto, ON - The Royal, Opening April 21st
www.festivalcinemas.com Tel: (416) 516-4845
Austin, TX Alamo Theater-Lake Creek, Opening April 24th
www.drafthouse.com/lakecreek/frames.asp
Boston, MA Brattle Theater, Opening April 28th
www.brattlefilm.org
Vancouver, BC - Granville 7 Cinemas, Opening April 28th
www.empiretheatres.com Tel: (604) 684-4051
Edmonton, AB - Metro Cinema, Opening May 12th
www.metrocinema.org Tel: (780) 425-9212
I got a chance to chat with Corddry about Blackballed, The Daily Show, and his little brother Nate, who insists on making a career of his own at TDS and the world at large…
IGN FILMFORCE: Hello?
ROB CORDDRY: Um, hi, is this Ken?
IGNFF: Yes it is. Is this Rob?
CORDDRY: This is Rob Corddry.
IGNFF: It's a pleasure to be speaking to you finally…
CORDDRY: You too. How are you?
IGNFF: Since I've talked to everyone in your orbit…
CORDDRY: Oh, have you really? Like who?
IGNFF: I interviewed your brother.
CORDDRY: Oh god. I'm sorry.
IGNFF: Yeah, well, he had wonderful things to say about you.
CORDDRY: Uh yeah, me too. Great guy. I love his work.
IGNFF: Burning cigarettes on his arm and torturing him…
CORDDRY: They weren't lit cigarettes.
IGNFF: Well, he said the trauma was the same regardless. No, he had nothing but praise to heap upon everyone else besides you.
CORDDRY: What a nice guy.
IGNFF: He is what you made him. And on the subject of Blackballed, obviously, I'd have to ask you what it was like working with Ed Helms...
CORDDRY: It was rough, in that he was always coming onto me…
IGNFF: He's a guy who's had nothing but good things to say about himself.
CORDDRY: (laughing) Believe me - his office is right next to mine.
IGNFF: I'd been in the office when you shared it over in the old building.
CORDDRY: Oh really? I finally got out of that hell hole.
IGNFF: He made me sit in your chair, in fact, during the interview I did with him.
CORDDRY: Oh that's horrible. I'm so sorry.
IGNFF: He actually made it a point to say, "You should sit in Rob's chair…"
CORDDRY: What an a**hole.
IGNFF: "And go through his desk…"
CORDDRY: Oh my god. Well, there's nothing in there yet.
IGNFF: He also had a habit of playing with your photos…
CORDDRY: Playing with my photos?
IGNFF: The photos you had on your desk.
CORDDRY: Well, he also always used to, like, whenever we'd go get lunch, we'd come up to our office and he'd, like, without even saying anything, move half of the stuff on my desk over. And put his lunch down.
IGNFF: Yeah, there's some kind of etiquette that that's breaking.
CORDDRY: Yeah, I think so.
IGNFF: Did you ever try and do the same? Go over to his desk…
CORDDRY: No, 'cause his, you know, was against… it was just not… feng shui was not conducive to that.
IGNFF: Well, yours was more of an open area. His was sort of in that little corner area.
CORDDRY: Yeah, yeah. You know what? You know too much about us.
IGNFF: I probably do.
CORDDRY: This interview's over.
IGNFF: Believe me - I don't want this knowledge. Since your time is obviously more important than mine…
CORDDRY: Oh, of course. I had to go shop for luggage today.
IGNFF: Well, I mean, you need luggage. Getting down to brass tacks, how exactly did the film come about? As I understand it, one of the co-writers was your manager, right?
CORDDRY: Well, yeah, he was - I guess he was my manager at the time… or he at least worked for my manager. He approached me and Paul Scheer about getting together with him and his friend Brant Sersen - the director - who had come up with a story, to just sort of flesh it out a little bit. And then cast all of our friends.
IGNFF: And when you first were presented the project, what was your initial reaction? This is long before films like Dodgeball and such came along. The closest comparison to the film would be probably Dodgeball, if someone were to look at just the surface of it.
CORDDRY: Yeah, I guess so.
IGNFF: But this film came about before then - this was shot back in, what, 2003?
CORDDRY: Yeah. And Ben Stiller continues to steal from me.
IGNFF: Well, I mean, I hear he's stealing Ed Helms next.
CORDDRY: He was, actually. I'm doing Blaze of Glory next week, which he's producing, so he's actually stealing me from me.
IGNFF: That's not right. Does he know you have to get luggage?
CORDDRY: It's very existential. Uh, yeah. I mean, I tried to use that excuse but he's like, "How long does it take to buy luggage? Just go to Macy's. It's always on sale." And he also said don't buy retail (whispers) because he's Jewish.
IGNFF: That's who you work for.
CORDDRY: Exactly.
IGNFF: That's who made you.
CORDDRY: What do you mean?
IGNFF: That's who gave you your big break on the national scene. What's that show you're on? The one that's on every day.
CORDDRY: Oh, the four times… The Daily Show?
IGNFF: Yes, that one. On the comedy channel. They gave you your break on that.
CORDDRY: Yeah.
IGNFF: They also threw a bone to your brother.
CORDDRY: I like to think that my real break was doing a commercial with Carrot Top.
IGNFF: Is that really a break, or is that just broken?
CORDDRY: It was…
IGNFF: Did you feel it was a big moment?
CORDDRY: I think everybody did. I think there's definitely a magic quality to the air. No, we didn't know really at the time what was going to happen - but afterwards, you know…
IGNFF: Did you get the sense that you were almost working with, like, a Pauley Shore in his prime?
CORDDRY: Well no, I mean, Carrot Top is far from Shore, but he was inspirational. His friends call him Scott.
IGNFF: What did you call him?
CORDDRY: C.T.
IGNFF: His insistence?
CORDDRY: He's actually orange in the bottom, too. You can call him carrot bottom.
IGNFF: Yeah, well, that's just a tanning mishap. He's got to show off that incredibly freakish body in some way.
CORDDRY: Yeah, right, he's a monster.
IGNFF: That's definition. Shadow.
CORDDRY: It's beautiful.
IGNFF: I have no idea where this interview is going at all.
CORDDRY: Ha ha ha!
IGNFF: But I think that might be a good thing. We'll determine that later, I guess. Going back to shooting the film, obviously when you accepted the role, it wasn't gonna be a huge budget. How long did the shooting period take?
CORDDRY: It took an entire summer. We shot on weekends, sort of around my Daily Show schedule. Unfortunately for them. And it was a very rainy summer, too, so it seems like it took longer.
IGNFF: There's that wonderful outtake of Ed screaming at the sky as the rain ours down...
CORDDRY: I know, right? That was pretty much every day, was like that. Lot of waiting for breaks.
IGNFF: Was the film completely scripted, or was there some leeway for improvisation?
CORDDRY: Oh no, there was - the dialogue is entirely improvised. The story was written by Brant & Brian, but the actors improvised the dialogue.
IGNFF: And how would you compare that to the improvisation that would go on in something like Curb Your Enthusiasm, which you've done?
CORDDRY: Very similar, actually. It was very similar in that, except we knew ahead of time what the scene was going to be about. On Curb Your Enthusiasm, they really only tell you five or ten minutes before they start to roll. So you don't plan, uh, funny things to say.
IGNFF: Do you find one method more difficult that the other?
CORDDRY: No, I find them both pretty satisfying. I mean, only in that I don't have to prepare, you know? It's very easy in that respect.
IGNFF: When you speak about them being more satisfying, is there one that's more satisfying than the other?
CORDDRY: Enthusiasm was, at the time, shooting it was a lot more satisfying because it was sunny. But Blackballed, I hope, will be satisfying in the long run. I had a cab driver actually slam on his brakes the other day at a green light, roll down his window, and yell, "Pervert!" at me.
IGNFF: Oh really?
CORDDRY: Yeah. Based on the Curb Your Enthusiasm part.
IGNFF: Oh really?
CORDDRY: He yelled at me, "Pervert!" and I yelled back, "You're hardly Curb Your Enthusiasm's demographic."
IGNFF: Well, that's just insulting.
CORDDRY: But it's racist.
IGNFF: I don't know which was more insulting, in fact. The fact than any viewer who would recognize you would not be part of some kind of demographic.
CORDDRY: Well, I have Tourette's.
IGNFF: Aren't people, people?
CORDDRY: Nope.
IGNFF: I believe that was a famous quote from The Muppets Take Manhattan.
CORDDRY: People are people… that was a song from the 80s, wasn't it? "Why is it that you and I should get along so awfully?" Who are, in fact, people?
IGNFF: That is primed for a remix.
CORDDRY: That's Depeche Mode.
IGNFF: Maybe you should do a cover of that.
CORDDRY: I love that album. Depeche's Catching Up With.
IGNFF: Hasn't that recently been remastered and re-released?
CORDDRY: Probably. I have two versions of every record I have, basically.
IGNFF: You don't feel the need to get rid of the old one? You like the old style?
CORDDRY: No, no, I can't.
IGNFF: You need that old school mastering every once in a while? "I love the muddiness of the original..."
CORDDRY: No, not really. I just… it's psychotic. I just can't get rid of it.
IGNFF: Just the pack rat nature?
CORDDRY: Yeah.
IGNFF: You have a built in ability to pass things down - you had a brother.
CORDDRY: Um…
IGNFF: You could have given him your old Depeche Mode.
CORDDRY: You've talked to him.
IGNFF: Yeah, yeah I have.
CORDDRY: Not exactly a Depeche Mode kinda guy.
IGNFF: No, no, no. But I'm sure they did some album that was based on some kind of Broadway theater.
CORDDRY: Then I will out him as being a big Phish fan in college.
IGNFF: I never would have guessed that.
CORDDRY: He's gonna be really angry at me if you print this.
IGNFF: Well, you haven't read what he said about you, so maybe you should get a few more licks in while you can. In fact, I think there's a discussion of him starting a website at ihatemybrother.com.
CORDDRY: Really?
IGNFF: Yes.
CORDDRY: That's not nice.
IGNFF: A lot of things he was working out…
CORDDRY: Oh.
IGNFF: But he still respects you.
CORDDRY: Oh, that's nice.
IGNFF: I made that up.
CORDDRY: (laughing)
IGNFF: I was hoping that would smooth things over a bit.
CORDDRY: (laughing)
IGNFF: When you say that Blackballed took over the course of a summer to film, what was the sense on the set? Going in, what was the film that you were hoping to make? What did you see the project as?
CORDDRY: Um, pretty much just how it turned out, you know?
IGNFF: It's a subtle comedy. I watched it again last night.
CORDDRY: Very subtle. Lot of nuance.
IGNFF: In fact, it's the kind of film that really cries out for more than one viewing.
CORDDRY: Yeah, it's an important film.
IGNFF: An award nominated film.
CORDDRY: Oh yeah, we won awards at crappy festivals all over the world.
IGNFF: What was the one you were most proud of?
CORDDRY: Well, I had the most fun at the one in Sweden. I actually got to take my wife out there, and that was a lot of fun.
IGNFF: How did the Swedish audiences respond to the film?
CORDDRY: Um, well, the Swedes are big Daily Show fans.
IGNFF: All those Nordic countries, aren't they huge comedy fans?
CORDDRY: The more liberal the country, the more they like American comedy, especially The Daily Show. But I also believe it has something to do with water. The more water surrounding a place, the more liberal it is.
IGNFF: Tell that to Florida.
CORDDRY: That's a good point. I guess the more…
IGNFF: Or that might be the exception that proves the rule.
CORDDRY: No, the more… the more… yeah, well, perhaps - but I mean the more nooks and crannies you have, the more islands…
IGNFF: The more fjords?
CORDDRY: Yeah, exactly. You know, like, Seattle and all the whole west coast. Um, Florida's pretty smooth.
IGNFF: Do you think it's a combination of the amount of water and also precipitation?
CORDDRY: It may be precipitation. But it may just be the amount of water, um… or… or the uh… um… water… I don't know what I'm saying. It's going nowhere.
IGNFF: It could have gone somewhere. How often when you're improv-ing a scene does it come to a grinding halt?
CORDDRY: Wow, boy. A lot. Especially nowadays. I'm really rusty.
IGNFF: How do you actually keep that sort of instrument oiled?
CORDDRY: You don't. I mean it really is like… you just have to keep doing it, and I don't that much anymore, just because my schedule doesn't allow it and I love free time. So…
IGNFF: How much improv do you work in on The Daily Show?
CORDDRY: Yeah. Oh, whoa, those are, um…
IGNFF: I mean, obviously there's editing and some preparation but…
CORDDRY: Well of course, but at best - I mean, the best scenario is when they turn out differently than we had imagined them.
IGNFF: What was the piece, if you could choose one, that surprised you the most?
CORDDRY: I'd probably say the piece I did before the 2004 election called "Vote and Die." It was in response to P. Diddy's "Vote or Die" campaign, in which we made the case that voting can harm you and may even kill you. And we had a doctor swab a voting booth, and then analyze the samples and tell us what he found, and he, you know, found fecal contamination, yeast cultures, and staph infection. So I, of course, said that voting can kill you, and he said, "No, the human body, the immune system, is so strong, that you can literally spoon eat feces with no deleterious effect." And that was like being given the… have you ever been given just the most perfect gift?
IGNFF: I'm talking to you.
CORDDRY: (laughing) It's even better than that.
IGNFF: Honestly, at this point, maybe talking to Ed.
CORDDRY: That's pretty gray.
IGNFF: Well, I can imagine that… Do you feel a rush when that sort of gift happens?
CORDDRY: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And then he went on to say that he actually has a recipe for fecal broth. Called the occult blood test.
IGNFF: Did he offer some?
CORDDRY: He told us how to do it.
IGNFF: Well, I remember him telling you he had to do it, but did he offer?
CORDDRY: Funny enough, he did not - but that's the great thing about these interviews, is that when… and he's a very famous doctor. He's the guy that discovered toxic shock syndrome. And… well, let me rewind. The guy that discovered toxic shock syndrome was not a dude. Uh, he first diagnosed it. And he just really took all of our ridiculous questions seriously. Like finding yeast cultures in a voting booth was just further reason for women not to be able to vote.
IGNFF: Are those the kind of interviewees that are like a gift? Is it better when they take it seriously?
CORDDRY: Well, when they don't take it seriously, there's nothing worse than someone trying to be funny in a Daily Show interview. Absolutely nothing. And sometimes I even have to tell them, "Look, you know what? I think you're really funny, but none of this is gonna make it in."
IGNFF: Do they respond to that, or do you have some that are still insistent…
CORDDRY: Some people can't help it. And we have to edit around that. And then some people understand and then they, you know, they go about trying to refute our insane logic - which is the best case scenario.
IGNFF: What was the most disastrous interview you've had?
CORDDRY: Oh brother, there's been so many. Um, I interviewed a guy once where we did a piece called "Children are the Future? Come On!" And we had to find a guy that worked with children's charities. The joke was that we were going to accuse him of being in it for the street cred, just to meet celebrities. Which is a ridiculous notion, but we got to his office, and it was plastered with pictures of celebrities. You know, like, Sean Penn was everywhere. So I was like, this wasn't gonna work! It's not gonna work, 'cause this too close to home. The joke was too real, and sure enough he kicked us out in five minutes.
IGNFF: How does that affect you, knowing that you've essentially lost a segment of a piece at that point?
CORDDRY: Oh, we got somebody else. There's always people that… you know, at the end of the day, everybody wants to be on television.
IGNFF: But is there an initial let down before you secure that next person?
CORDDRY: Not for me. There was always relief in that I didn't have to spend another hour-and-a-half with that jackass.
IGNFF: What was the most awkward interview you've done? And what makes for an awkward interview? Is it a combative person, or is it a non-responsive person?
CORDDRY: No, combative's great. Um… non-responsive is okay. No, it's like I said before, it's just when people try and be funny or people try and play along with our ridiculous logic. It just doesn't work.
IGNFF: Does it still surprise you how many people you encounter who are not aware of exactly what you're coming in to do? And what the material's gonna be used for?
CORDDRY: Everybody's aware of the show. We rarely interview people now that don't know the show, and don't know our deal. But I am always surprised… it never ceases to surprise me how surprised they are at the end. Like, you know, we always try and anticipate that, and we always try and shake it up a little bit. You know, and do something that they're not anticipating.
IGNFF: Has anyone contacted you after the show airs, irate about what you've done?
CORDDRY: Not me, no. Just the opposite, actually. People that we've completely destroyed have called me the next day asking me if they could take me out to lunch. Ed's gotten a couple of responses. He actually… I think someone got fired after a piece of his ran.
IGNFF: Really?
CORDDRY: Yeah. To his defense, she never should have done that interview!
IGNFF: Yeah, it was her own damn fault.
CORDDRY: You know what, if you're gonna do a Daily Show interview, tell your boss.
IGNFF: That would probably be a good permission to get.
CORDDRY: Yeah. I mean, I'm not gonna ask you to do that, but I'm telling you right now, because I won't tell you in the future - ask your boss.
IGNFF: I probably should have asked my boss about this interview.
CORDDRY: You're not the boss? Click.
IGNFF: Oh, dammit.
