Souper Man

Joel McHale does more than E!

by A.D. Amorosi

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Ever since he stuck his ladle in The Soup — the E! weekly series born from the ashes of Talk Soup — Joel McHale has remade the show in his image. The Soup has been poppier, snarkier and harder on the obviousness of television. But McHale isn't just a pretty bitchy face who brings down Paris Hilton for a living. He's currently filming Steven Soderbergh's The Informant, has guest starred on Pushing Daisies and will be performing standup at the Keswick. We caught up with him as he made airplane-shaped pancakes for his 3-year-old at his home in L.A.

City Paper: You've done The Soup since 2004. How soon into it did you carve your niche?

Joel McHale: I think they carved it for me. E! had the model of making fun of television since 1991 when they had Greg Kinnear. When they re-imagined it, it wasn't about a new niche as it was more about broadening the scope, as talk shows were dead.

CP: Do you think they built it around you since you've been its only host since its remodeling?

JM: Any show hosted by a single person in a comedy way has to get that comic's stamp on it. Or else you don't connect. The writing staff's a big part of this — we're a weird conglomerate like the Borg from Star Trek. We all know what we're thinking. One of the writers who plays "Mankini" was the best man at my wedding. Known him since fifth grade.

CP: I know the book from which The Informant script is culled. It ain't funny. Is it crucial for you to be seen beyond the comic or is it just important to be seen?

JM: Look, I tell Britney and Lindsay jokes and make fun of Flava Flav, so doing movies other than porn is just all-around good. I'd do any genre. I'd do Sophie's Choice 2.

CP: So what are you doing as a standup?

JM: I have a trained bear onstage — very Russian circus-y. OK, I'm lying. It's a trained cougar. And when I say that, I mean a hot 50-year-old woman. I talk about shark attacks. I talk about The Soup. I talk about who I've upset.

CP: Have you really upset people? I can't imagine anyone taking it that seriously.

JM: Most definitely. Miss Tyra Banks has sent letters. Or her lawyer sent letters. And we might not take television seriously, but we like it. Eighty percent of it is bad. But 10 percent of it has never been better.

CP: Rock of Love: Did you see the finale?

JM: I TiVo-ed it. Rock of Fluid. I don't know if I want you to tell me who won. OK, do it.

CP: Ambre.

JM: Congratulations, Ambre?

CP: What do you think of when I say Tila Tequila?

JM: Penicillin?

Joel McHale Fri., April 25, 8 p.m., $25, Keswick Theatre, 291 Keswick Ave., Glenside, 215-572-7650, keswicktheatre.com