With the Oscars just around the corner, nominated actor Brendan Fraser has been a hot topic after his performance in The Whale, his Golden Globe nomination, and his subsequent decision not to attend the awards in protest. Following all of that, The Mummy star took home the Critics' Choice Award for Best Actor before securing his Oscar nomination in the same category. Despite a list of tough nominees, including Golden Globe winner Austin Butler, many speculate that Fraser is a shoo-in for the Oscar win.

Amid Fraser's resurgence, he sat down on The Howard Stern Show to talk about more than his current success and pay homage to some of the movie-makers that contributed to his landing in the spotlight today.

“There are many people that I have to thank for bringing me to the place that I find myself in now. It’s been a circuitous path that I followed – ups and downs and everything’s been on the ascendency,” said Fraser, “But at the same time, you’re only as good as the people you work with, and I would be remiss to not acknowledge who they are.”

Fraser discussed performing in School Ties in 1992 when he was new on the acting scene. Then he recalled some anecdotes from the raunchy 1994 comedy, Airheads, where he worked with legendary comedians Adam Sandler and Chris Farley. With the young actor still fresh in his career, Sandler fought for Fraser's casting in the film, and The Whale star admired him and Farley's team spirit and the friendly competition that he believed bettered their performances in the movie.

“I know when they [Farley and Sandler] became writing partners at ‘SNL’ that they had a pact going, which was, ‘I’m not going to be afraid, and you don’t be afraid … we’ll go forward together with courage’ and that’s really what they did,” Fraser said during the interview, “[Comedy] is about confidence — you have to really own what you’re doing.”

Related: The Unbearable Weight of Massively Underused Talent: The Adam Sandler Story

Fraser Recalls How Adam Sandler 'Yanked His Nutsack' to Make Chris Farley Laugh

Airheads Brendan Fraser Adam Sandler
20th Century Studios

Part of the teammate camaraderie that Fraser admired between Farley and Sandler came from an apparent challenge the two comedians had of who could crack each other up the most. Farley recalls one of these stories,

“One night we were sitting there and Sandler’s sitting next to Farley and Farley looks over at Sandler and Sandler … he pulls his shorts up and he’s yanked his nutsack down on his thigh,” Fraser remembers with a laugh, “He points at it, and he goes, ‘I’ve got this growth.’”

And according to Fraser, that wasn't enough to make Farley lose it. Instead, he retorted with his joke, and the two continued the bit. Fraser says that was "always going on" between them. Watch the full clip of Fraser talking about Airheads below and tune into the Oscars on Mar. 12 to see if the George of the Jungle star will take home an Oscar.