INYIM cutie Joel McHale gets gloriously sidetracked with two former SNL comics
Our INYIM cutie Joel McHale has dropped into Two Amigos, and the man who spent years making television absurdity look effortless is right at home. Hosted by former Saturday Night Live performers Melissa Villaseñor and Steven Castillo, the conversation begins with the revelation that McHale and one of the hosts first met in JetBlue Mint. Within minutes, they’re debating pricey airplane seats, Zara, pigeon-print shirts and whether a French restaurant might serve squab as an adorable table companion. It does not.
The sprawling, very funny encounter also finds McHale retracing his early days on Spider-Man 2, revisiting the glorious bad taste of The Soup, and admitting that some very specific movie soundtracks, swords and pasta dishes occupy considerable space in his life. One thing is certain: nobody was going to keep this conversation on an itinerary.
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From Spider-Man 2 to The Soup’s telenovela glory days
When the hosts bring up McHale’s brief role in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, he remembers it as one of his earliest jobs, secured before he even had an agent. His old high-school friend Jason Burns was helping manage his career when the audition came along. And yes, the hosts remember Aunt May kicking his character in the shin. Few people could turn a tiny early credit into such an affectionate comedy-history detour.
Villaseñor and Castillo are longtime The Soup devotees, recalling everything from the program’s Dreamgirls parody involving a dog to its legendary appetite for outrageous reality television. Their inspired contribution? A Spanish-language soap-opera segment in the spirit of La Sopa, with melodramatic telenovela clips for McHale to dissect. A spectacularly overdone fight scene and a character’s fatal tumble down a few carpeted stairs get the old Soup treatment. McHale remembers that the show’s coverage of telenovelas resonated with viewers in Mexico, Central America and South America.
He also recalls the unpredictable guests who passed through The Soup, including Danny Bonaduce, and the early appearances of Breaking Bad stars Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul. The recollections capture a peculiar television moment when reality shows seemed willing to broadcast absolutely anything—and The Soup was delighted to point it out.
Joel McHale in Two Amigos: Three Moments
McHale’s visit brings together the hosts’ sketch-comedy roots and his own years of pop-culture commentary, with a generous helping of affectionate television nostalgia.
Images: Two Amigos video featuring Joel McHale.
Swords, Catholic guilt and a surprising confession about reading
There is more than nostalgia here. McHale talks frankly about having dyslexia and finding reading difficult, describing his dependence on audiobooks and the effort of recording his own. He remembers struggling through spelling bees and jokes about the seemingly superhuman ease with which Stephen Fry can narrate a book. It’s a revealing moment inside an otherwise deliberately ridiculous conversation.
Then comes the collection of edged weapons. McHale explains that his fascination with swords, knives and bullwhips goes back to childhood and the influence of Indiana Jones. The hosts are sufficiently fascinated to ask about samurai swords and an antique pistol; McHale is only too happy to indulge the detour with jokes about the impracticalities of a centuries-old duel.
That conversation somehow opens into his Roman childhood. Born in Italy while his father worked at Loyola University’s Rome Center, McHale recalls later attending Christmas Eve Mass at the Vatican as a restless 19-year-old. With the hosts, it becomes an extended exchange about Catholic upbringing, guilt, altar-boy duties and having absolutely the wrong attitude at a once-in-a-lifetime occasion.
McHale also talks about the physical comedy of Animal Control and how much he enjoys the cast and working atmosphere. He discusses Crime Scene Kitchen and The 1% Club, insisting that he loves to work. Outside television, he describes being moved to tears at a David Byrne performance at the Hollywood Bowl, a habit of tapping airplanes as he boards, and a deep appreciation for spaghetti carbonara. The episode ends with photos of his dogs in religious Halloween costumes—a fitting last act for a chat that started with an explanation of how airplanes work.
As anyone who grew up watching McHale puncture television’s most ridiculous moments knows, a perfectly straight face can make a wildly improbable conversation even funnier. In Villaseñor and Castillo, he’s found two hosts happy to follow every tangent.
Joel McHale on Two Amigos With Melissa Villaseñor and Steven Castillo
Sources: Two Amigos — Joel McHale conversation; Two Amigos podcast; FOX’s Joel McHale biography.
