Speakeasy with Joel McHale

Joel McHale is the guy that men want to be like and women want to be with. Not only is he a former college athlete, the current host of E’s “The Soup,” and the star of NBC’s “Community,” he also has his own national stand-up tour with Live Nation. McHale recently spoke to Creative Loafing about his family, his crazy schedule, and the tour, which comes to the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre on Saturday, October 9.

How do you work on two different television shows and fit time for stand-up into your schedule? The schedule for Community is always set, so that’s something that I work around, and The Soup is on-going throughout the year. It’s just about finding time when I can.

How long have you been on tour?
The tour has been sporadic, off and on for about a year.

How and when do you ever take time for yourself?
I take time for myself when I’m sitting on a plane. And when I’m with my family, every moment I can. Sometimes I’ll get home from shooting at like 4 or 5 in the morning and get in and roll around with my son.

Community is a great show, and you’ve had a lot of success with the role of Jeff Winger. Do you know who else you beat out for that part?
No, I actually have no idea. I met with producers and then I had a network test, so it wasn’t the same as a general audition where you see a bunch of other people there reading for the part.
The show has so much funny dialogue, how much of that is improvised?
Dan Harmon, the creator of Community, is a mad genius. I’ve never met someone who can tell such an interesting and funny story, so most of the scripts are air tight. But if there’s something in the moment that’s funny, we can obviously go with it and do that.

On a scale of 1-10, how similar are you to Jeff Winger?
Oh boy, I guess it would be a 4 or 5. My lifestyle is completely different than his. I have a family, I didn’t lie about having a college degree, and my parents are still together. I do relate to him about the way he jokes with people though.