Jonah Hill: Funnyguy

Jonah Hill just makes us laugh! We saw him in I Heart Huckabees, The 40-Year-Old Virgin and he'll soon hit screens in the Bruce Almighty sequel Evan Almighty, Knocked Up and Super Bad. This week, you can catch Jonah in a super-funny performance as Schrader, a frat pledge, computer savvy fella who has to wear a wiener costume as part of his frat hazing in the hilarious comedy Accepted.

You might have already seen Jonah in his wiener duds or emitting a very "girlie" scream in the trailers for the film. When we met the friendly actor in person in Beverly Hills, we noted that he's much thinner, doesn't wear glasses, has beautiful blue eyes and a mane of cute curly hair... but he's still funny and down-to-earth as he told us about being discovered by Dustin Hoffman's kids, making prank calls to celebs and his bright future...

TeenHollywood: How did you meet Justin Long [his best pal in the film] and become friends?

Jonah: Um, J-Date? No, kidding. [laughs] I type in "Catholic" and "fun." Not really. Justin and I, we knew each other a little bit before this, and then we just became really good friends during the course of the movie, playing best friends, and we both had a similar sense of humor. And you know, he is an awesome guy, really cool guy. It's good in this business, when you meet someone who you genuinely think is cool, to stay friends with them, because it's few and far between for people to be actually cool, down-to-earth kind of normal guys than probably other businesses; guys, like I feel like I am, you know.

TeenHollywood: We understand there was a liberal amount of improv in this movie. What's the process?

Jonah: I'd say yeah. [laughs] They were so great, Tom [Shadyac] and Steve [Pink, the director] and everybody and the writers and the studio. They just kind of let Justin and I write, even before we started shooting, just write a lot of jokes and things. It was so cool of them. With my style, I feel like it's a waste to hire me, kind of, if you're not going to let me do that, because that's when I think the best stuff comes out. It feels like it's actually a person saying it, as opposed to like a line you've read a million times.

TeenHollywood: But you just came up with stuff while on the set filming too?

Jonah: Sometimes you find jokes that day when you're there and you're looking at the set. Most of the stuff in the movie that I say is stuff that I kind of came up with, which is so cool to me, like that they let me do that, and Justin do that. And it was like such a fun, collaborative effort on everybody's part, you know?

TeenHollywood: A lot of these teen comedies, like American Pie are rated "R". How did you feel about going for a PG-13?

Jonah: Before the movie started, we had a long debate. I remember Justin and I really, adamantly wanting it to be an R-rated movie, you know? And seeing it now, I'm so glad it is PG-13, because I think more people can see it. A lot of people are like 'Well, it's an R-rated movie, let's throw boobs in there, or a lot of F-words' when you don't need it. I think this movie doesn't need that kind of stuff because I think it's funny and fun on its own without having like just gratuitous nudity or language or violence or anything like that. Which is fun, also. [laughs] I'm not going to lie. [laughs]

TeenHollywood: Are you anything like your character? Are you the voice of reason amongst your friends?

Jonah: No, that's not me at all. [laughs] I shoot first and ask questions later. I'm also just way more laid back than my character is in the movie, which was so fun to play like an uptight kind of high-strung guy, because in my real life, I'm nothing like that. My two best friends from high school came to San Diego and saw the movie at Comic-Con and just were laughing so hard at how different this character is than me, because I'm always just like, 'Hey, whatever, let's do it.' I don't really plan things out, and I kind of just do things on a whim.

TeenHollywood: Could you create an awesome website like Schrader does?

Jonah: No. I can barely check my e-mail. I didn't start checking e-mail until about like a year ago. I had never realized that that's something a human being should do. I go by carrier pigeon. That's what I was doing for a long time. I have a really great pigeon if you need one.

TeenHollywood: We'll go with the e-mail, thanks. Have you ever come up with a ridiculously convoluted scheme like creating your own fake college?

Jonah: I'd say 90% of my life is a ridiculous, convoluted scheme. [laughs] I have an older brother and when I was probably 10 and he was 16, he had just gotten his license and he borrowed my mom's car. And he had degraded me the day before. He had poured a Diet Coke on my head in front of his friends. We're like best friends now, but when we were young, it's hard to be 16, a teenager with a 10-year-old kid idolizing and wanting to hang out. You're obviously going to pick on him and stuff. So I'm kind of one of those guys who actually, no matter what age I was, kind of really didn't like taking crap from people.

TeenHollywood: Oh, no. This is going to be bad. What did you do?

Jonah: Well, when he poured a Diet Coke on my head, I was so angry. They were doing construction on our neighbor's house so me and my best friend stole a bucket of nails, and we lined the entire driveway with nails, and it took us like four hours to do it. And we were like, 'We are geniuses. There's nothing that could go wrong with this plan. It's the best plan ever and there's nothing that could happen bad.' So then my dad gets home from work early and drives in the driveway before my brother does, and all four of his tires pop.

TeenHollywood: Whoops! Were you grounded forever?

Jonah: It was the most trouble I ever got in in my life. I didn't leave my room for like months. We heard a car coming and we ran outside, and we were just sitting there in the bushes waiting, and then we just see my dad's face like go from completely normal, like,' I'm home from work, I'll watch a little TV, read a book' to like, 'What is happening!' and get out of the car. That's just one of many, probably, dumb things I've done in my life. [laughs]

TeenHollywood: Kids in the movie get to make up their own college classes. What bogus class would you like to take?

Jonah: I love music, so I would have like a really cool like History of Rock n Roll, probably. I think that would be an awesome class.

TeenHollywood: You'd go to the School of Rock...

Jonah: I would go to the School of Rock. I would, yeah, totally. Like my friend in college, he went to USC and took this awesome like History of the Beatles class. It would have an extensive history of like all my favorite bands. Like the Beatles, and the Clash...Or a history of comedy. I think that would be an awesome class, too.

TeenHollywood: Given your improvisational process, how key was it hooking up with Judd Apatow [40-Year-Old Virgin, Talledega Nights, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, "Freaks and Geeks", etc.] and that whole group?

Jonah: It is my ultimate dream come true. It was like the one thing I wanted to do, and I'm so lucky that I'm close with those guys. If you had asked me a few years ago, who were the people I'd want to work with, those would be the names I would have given you. I literally stalked Judd. I was like,' How do I get in contact with this guy?' And then my manager introduced me to his casting director. I'm in Knocked Up, which I think is going to be such a great movie, and I play Seth [Green's] best friend, and then I'm starring in Super Bad. It's literally like a dream come true for me.

TeenHollywood: Do you do anything differently to prepare for a starring role, or do you just do your thing?

Jonah: I do a lot to [prepare]. I mean, it is like a boot camp, especially with Judd. There are roundtables all the time with the script and coming up with new jokes and new ideas. I do a lot of writing with him. And also, I've never been like the main, main guy in a movie before. It's extraordinarily tiring. The thing is just getting a lot of sleep. Because I get home, I want to watch Conan, or write, or read. It's more like, you have to force yourself to go to bed at 8 o'clock when you get home, or 10 o'clock, which, for me, is like impossible because I'll mess around and read comics and stuff all night. But yeah, I'm looking forward to it, and it'll be an interesting experience.

TeenHollywood: How fast has this whole career thing happened for you?

Jonah: It was really quick. It was interesting because I didn't really want to be an actor. I always wanted to be a writer. Then I started writing these things and just was like I could probably perform them better than trying to get an actor and work with him so much to make him understand what the writing is about. I was like 'I think I can just convey what I'm trying to say better' and I started doing it.

TeenHollywood: But, who kind of discovered you?

Jonah: I was doing one of these pieces that I had written and Dustin Hoffman's kids came in and saw it and we became fast friends and they were like, 'You should meet our dad.' I didn't know who their dad was. I was like, 'You should meet my dad. His name's Rich and he's an accountant. He's pretty cool, man. I popped his tires one time.' So I met him and I was like 'oh my God, that's crazy, it's Dustin Hoffman!'.

TeenHollywood: You didn't know until you walked in the house?

Jonah: I did once we got there. So then I met him and I was like, 'Wow.' He liked all the stuff I was doing and I would prank call his friends all the time. I used to be obsessed with prank calls, so I would prank call Warren Beatty and weird people like that.

TeenHollywood: What would you say?

Jonah: Well, that one wasn't as funny because I was just kind of really nervous because I was like, 'Shampoo is awesome,' that's all I wanted to sneak in the whole time was that I love [the movie] Shampoo. But I prank called his guy who was a big real estate agent or something in L.A. I was like, 'Hey, stay away from the Westside, man. That's my territory.' He was like a big real estate guy and he was like, 'Who is this? How'd you get this number?' and I'm like, 'Don't worry about it, man. Just keep your hands off the Westside. That's my territory.' Hoffman was just like laughing his a** off in the other room.

TeenHollywood: And this helped you get an acting job?

Jonah: He was like, 'One day, I'm gonna put you in a movie' and that's my terrible Dustin Hoffman impression. I went back to LA and I was making boxes for my friend's brother which is like the worst job ever. I would fold these boxes and stuff. One day Hoffman called my cell phone and was like, 'Come meet me at this house.' So I went up to my boss and was like, 'Hey, can I go? I gotta leave work, I gotta take off for a while?' and he was like, 'Why?' and I was like, 'All right dude, I don't like you and you don't like me and this is gonna sound weird, but I gotta meet Dustin Hoffman at his house for like an hour or two.' That's gotta be a weird statement to hear from a guy who works in your office who folds boxes all day. And he was like, 'Yeah, I gotta meet Christopher Walken at Starbucks right now. No, you can't go.'

TeenHollywood: So, did you just go anyway?

Jonah: I figured I'd get some other job and I quit and I went to his house. I walk in, and it's a bunch of people sitting at a table. It's like Dustin, David O Russell, Jason Schwartzman and it was the whole cast of I Heart Huckabees. And I freaked out that they were listening to my prank call CDs that I had made. The next day I auditioned for his casting director and him. And that was my first movie.

TeenHollywood: That is a weird "only in Hollywood" story all right. Can you talk about your role in Evan Almighty,?

Jonah: Steve Carell has three assistants which are myself, Wanda Sykes and John Michael Higgins. So it's a funny group. [Producer] Tom Shadyac, called me up and he's like, 'We don't have a real part written, but what would you want to do? I really want you to be in the movie. Kind of think of what would be a funny character to play.' I always like to play the parts of someone who's desperate but always gets shut down, so I like the idea that [my character] really wants to hang out with Steve Carell socially. I want to be his friend and he wants nothing to do with me basically. So the whole movie I'm literally trying to befriend him and he has no interest whatsoever. I'm a congressional aide. It's so funny. Steve's incredible in the movie and I'm just kind of comic relief and help him pushing the story forward, but it's going to be an experience that movie.

TeenHollywood: What will going Hollywood mean for you?

Jonah: Absolutely nothing. I still do the same things now that I did when I was 18 but hopefully a little more matured. I kind of just hang out with my friends. I live with Justin who's a really good friend of mine. I'm moving in with three of my best friends from high school. The concept of Hollywood doesn't exist for me.

TeenHollywood: Are these friends not in the business?

Jonah: No. One of them is going to maybe work for the Clippers. I don't like the idea of you're an actor so you have to go to cool parties and do stuff like that. It's stupid to me. It's all a fake façade kind of. We all just do a job and go home and do whatever it is you do and hang out with the people you love, so I hope I would kick my a** if I would ever change in any slight way. I don't think it's going to change me at all. I'm just really lucky to get to be funny for a living I think.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.