Saucy 'Soup" host on

There are no comments for this page [ Add Comment ]

McHale brings comedy act to Wiseguys

Joel McHale says he's vacationing in Sri Lanka, hunting wild tigers.

In reality, he's at a farmers market in Los Angeles, looking for his car. The meal he bagged was actually a bag of cashews.

All sarcasm -- and he's got plenty of it.

That sharp tongue and an arsenal of horrible video clips have made McHale a star.

He's the host of "The Soup," a weekly half-hour show on E! Entertainment that showcases the oddities of the week in television -- with his sarcastic commentary:

"There's a girl on our staff that watches all five hours of 'The Today Show.' And she committed suicide, obviously, from it. So we have to find someone else."

And of the CBS reality show: " 'Big Brother' ... drives me up the wall. It's just tedious whispering for an hour with people locked in a room."

He's bringing that same attitude to Ogden's Wiseguys comedy club, in a show he bills as a "behind-the-scenes look at how things work" at "The Soup."

The bug

McHale said his career started at a first-grade play, "It's A Small World." The gigs only got better -- Bob Cratchit from "A Christmas Carol" in fifth grade, "Oliver" in eighth grade.

High school brought more plays and he found a local acting troupe to prosper in.

"And that's when I really got the bug to perform -- and I realized it was the only thing I was good at," McHale said.

Throughout college, numerous plays and improv performances showcased his talent. That helped land his first real gig. "I got a job on a television show in Seattle called 'Almost Live,' " McHale said.

"It was an anomaly of a show, because it was locally produced sketch comedy that was on the NBC affiliate -- and it outrated 'Saturday Night Live.' "

The station pushed back the start time for 'SNL' due to popular demand. His dreams, though, were bigger than the state of Washington.

"I dragged my wife down to L.A., and I immediately started working at a golf course and liquor store," McHale said.

For the next few years, McHale went from interview to interview, until his big break came in 2004. He became the host for a new show, the "What the ? Awards."

"Which was about the worst name that they could possibly come up with," McHale noted.

The original idea was scrapped before it went to television. Instead, Ted Harbor, the new president at E! Entertainment, decided to revamp an old show, "Talk Soup," which was a daily recap of humorous moments in talk shows. Oscar nominee Greg Kinnear was the show's original host.

Harbor renamed the show " 'The Soup,' and not 'Talk Soup,' which had been brought into the barn and shot a few years earlier," McHale said.

The new show didn't focus on just talk shows -- it concentrated on all of the crazy content on TV.

The show wasn't an instant hit, but McHale was given time to make the show flourish. Now, it's become a fan favorite, with hundreds of clips viewed online.

"Big Brother," Britney Spears, Tyra Banks, "The View" and then back to Spears again -- he pulls no punches. His theory is that 90 percent of television is horrible, and 10 percent is fantastic.

"We only bash things that we believe deserve bashing," McHale said. "There are times when we go, 'This show structure is horrible and it's ruining the fabric of America.'<2009>"

There's plenty of sarcasm to go around, and from the looks of it, Hollywood is providing more than enough with the writer's strike.

"It is a gold mine," McHale said of the material, although he longs for his own personal shows back. "It's like having too much raspberry croissants over doughnuts."

His schedule is full, with major movie roles in "Open Season 2" and also starring opposite Heather Graham in an untitled movie. He will also welcome a new child, his second, in

PREVIEW

WHO: Joel McHale

WHEN: 5 p.m., 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Saturday. The 8 p.m. show is sold out.

WHERE: Wiseguys Comedy Cafe, 269 Historic 25th St., Ogden

TICKETS: $20, available from Wiseguys and Smith's Tix, (800) 888-TIXX

THE McHALE TONGUE

-- "K-Fed is starting his own label, Federation Records, and his upcoming album will be its first release. It will be interesting to see how he manages to get dropped from his own label."

-- "Transcripts of 'The Girls Next Door' can be obtained by drinking a fifth of bourbon, ramming your head through some drywall, spinning around 42 times, and then writing down every thought you have."

--"Ellen DeGeneres hosted her show this week from a makeshift hospital bed after tearing a ligament in her back. Before you go congratulating her and calling her a 'trooper,' consider this: Larry King's still doing his show and he's been dead for five years."

-- " 'Dr. 90210,' 'The Girls Next Door' and 'Sunset Tan' are all new this week. So you can smash your remote right now. Whether it's out of resentment is up to you."

-- "MTV, awarding stupidity since 1981."

-- "(Barry) Manilow performed on 'The Today Show' this week, and I don't know about you, but his music puts me in the mood ... to kill."

-- "Next is a little show on MTV scripted by Mrs. Dickson's eighth-grade social studies class, and clearly, not by the Writer's Guild writers."

-- From "The Soup"

COMING UP

Emo Philips is returning to Wiseguys Comedy Cafe at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Feb. 15 and 16. The comedian, who sports a trademark bowl haircut and monotone voice, has established a cult following since the '80s.

Tickets are on sale for $10. Call 622-5588 for more information.

Comments

Add a comment...

Name:
Comment:
Security Code:	Type the characters to the left in the box exactly as they appear.
Your IP:	38.103.63.60 This address is recorded for security purposes.