Thomas Lennon talks having Jerry Seinfeld as a director in 'Unfrosted,' saying it's "as stressful as you can imagine." Hear why he says making Jerry laugh feels "very earned."
Category
✨
PeopleTranscript
00:00 This is a wild carpet. Is there anybody you've seen here tonight that you weren't expecting to see and that you've gotten kind of excited about?
00:06 There's some comedy legends here.
00:08 Uh, the vast majority of them are in the movie. So there's that.
00:12 I mean, it was really cool to see, I haven't seen Jay Leno in a minute.
00:15 Jay's like right there.
00:18 And then Cedric Yarbrough, who plays Toucan Sam, I always love to see.
00:21 Jim Gaffigan, I love to see. I mean, I see him a little bit.
00:24 Um, uh, Jerry Seinfeld, you got your Jerry Seinfeld. Sarah Cooper, if you haven't met Sarah Cooper, one of the greatest you're ever going to meet.
00:32 One of the funniest people steals the whole movie.
00:35 Um, it goes on and on.
00:38 It does.
00:39 It's a really great bunch.
00:41 What was it like working with Jerry Seinfeld as a director on this?
00:44 Who said "Ping and Racine" that they're known for?
00:47 Oh, to Kringle, you do it at Kringle, yeah.
00:50 Sorry to interrupt.
00:51 No, no, please.
00:52 Like we said, lots of people on this carpet.
00:55 Working for Jerry is exactly as stressful as you could imagine.
00:58 So imagine like you're trying to do things that are like funny and be amusing.
01:03 And then the person that's judging you is the main character from Seinfeld.
01:08 So like, it's like, oh, okay.
01:12 And kind of a fun thing about Jerry is you know right away if he likes what you're doing.
01:19 He's the easiest, his meter is so easy.
01:26 Because like once in a while he'll just go, "No, no, no, no."
01:31 But then if he laughs, you're like, "Oh my God."
01:35 And it's kind of fun because after he says no to you for days and days and days,
01:38 at some point he'll be like, "Okay, that's usable."
01:42 No better laugh to get, honestly.
01:44 It's funny because you've been tortured so long.
01:47 You've been psychologically tortured so long that you're like, "Oh, air.
01:51 I just came up for air."
01:54 But no, if you make Jerry laugh, it feels very earned, you know.
02:01 How did your involvement in this movie come about?
02:03 You know, I'm not really sure.
02:06 I play a very odd little character, Harold Von Brownhut, who invented sea monkeys.
02:13 I think at one point they introduced sort of the dream team of all the geniuses
02:19 that will help them make the Pop-Tart.
02:21 And there's Steve Schwinn and Jack LaLanne and Chef Boyardee, Tom Carvell,
02:27 and the guy who invented sea monkeys, who's just a weird weirdo.
02:33 And it's one of those times where you get the script and you're like,
02:35 "Oh, yeah, I understand why I'm that."
02:39 Like I understand that I'm--
02:43 You know, I'm often not like the main guy in a thing, but I'm often like,
02:47 "Oh, that weirdo."
02:50 It tracks a million percent that I am that guy.
02:54 I've seen the movie, and you're very funny in it.
02:56 Oh, thank you so much.
02:58 Now when it comes to Pop-Tarts, do you prefer toasted or untoasted?
03:02 You know what?
03:05 Sometimes the frosted ones can be a little bit better cold,
03:10 but the unfrosted ones are better hot.
03:13 It's a--what is that, a Schrodinger's cat?
03:17 Yes, it's a Schrodinger's cat situation.
03:21 If it doesn't have frosting on it, heat it.
03:24 If it has frosting on it, keep it cold.
03:28 And you'll never know which one was better, because they're both--meh.
03:33 Yeah.
03:35 Jerry recently said in an interview that he feels like audiences are flocking to stand-up
03:39 because it's something that you can't fake.
03:41 You can't fake being funny.
03:42 What's your take on that?
03:44 I tend to agree with that, and I think what he was--
03:47 sort of a major thing he was saying was that stand-up is not vetted by a committee.
03:54 And I will say I've always thought that's the reason that Reno 911 is--
04:01 has sustained as long as it has is it's never been run by a committee.
04:08 [BLANK_AUDIO]