It’s always “Balls Out” with Steel Panther’s hair metal hilarity

Sexy Michael Starr is the front man for Steel Panther. I was lucky to talk to him. Photo by F. Scott Schafer.

Considering how well the band blurs the lines between fantasy and reality, comedic parody and legitimate talent, it makes perfect sense that I was first introduced to Steel Panther by a few professional wrestler friends whose gimmicks also mimic heavy metal theatrics. But for the uninitiated (as I was when I first put my copy of 2011’s Balls Out in the CD player), it might take a song or two to get the joke given the musical chops of drummer Stix Zadinia, bassist Lexxi Foxx, guitarist Satchel and front man Michael Starr (not to mention the extent to which they live their hair metal homages). From overindulgent sing-alongs like “17 Girls in a Row,” “Tomorrow Night” and “That’s What Girls Are For” to sincerely sarcastic power ballads such as “If You Really, Really Love Me” and “Why Can’t You Trust Me,” Balls Out would have you believe that Steel Panther once toured alongside ’80s hair metal giants like Van Halen, Mötley Crüe and Cinderella. As the band prepares for the final dates of its North American tour, concluding with a main stage performance at Rocklahoma this Sunday, Wrestling with Pop Culture talks to Starr about performing with some of his idols, his mom’s morning beers and other excessive behavior.

I’m talking to the one and only Michael Starr. How are you today?

It’s going pretty good, man. I just woke up and I’m not that hung over, so it’s a good day.

When I asked to interview Steel Panther, I thought I might get the drummer or bass player. But I actually get to talk to the singer!

Yeah, dude. I mean, a lot of people want to talk to the singer. They should because I’m, like, the lead guy in the band, you know what I mean?

I guess I should consider myself lucky.

I feel lucky to be myself. So, yeah. You should.

You guys are about to finish a tour that has taken you across the country and around the world…

Actually, we’re right at the end of it. We had a two day break and I came back to my mom’s house. Then we went to Japan for the very first Ozzfest in Tokyo. Now we’re back for another couple weeks to finish the second leg of our North American tour, which included some Canada dates, as well.

How has Canada treated you previously?

Canadians love Steel Panther. And they should because we drink a lot.

I’ve heard they have plenty of beer up there.

Yeah. And we give out free cigarettes because they’re so expensive up there. People love that.

You guys are friends with Chris Jericho, who is Candian.

Oh, yeah. Good friends.

His band Fozzy started out in much the same way Steel Panther did, playing ’80s hair metal covers. Given the similarities between the two bands, do you think Steel Panther and Fozzy might ever collaborate or tour together?

Photo by F. Scott Schafer.

We did an interview together on Sirius, which was our first collaboration. Then we really got to know him at the Download Festival in Europe. So we started our relationship there. But that’s such a great idea, I’d never even thought of it. Right now, opening up for us on tour is a band called Hillbilly Herald and they’re really great. That’s been a great tour package for us.

How do you go about choosing your opening bands when you go on tour?

Usually we try to find a band that we like as people. Secondly, they’ve got to rock. But we don’t want someone who’s going to come try and do what we’re doing; we need somebody that has their own thing going on and can handle our crowd. Opening for us can be hard because our fans can get impatient if you’re not good enough. So far, every band that we’ve had open up for us has been great. So it’s really important for our opening bands to have their own thing going on and also be cool to hang out with because the hang factor is one of the most important things.

I would imagine it would help if they have attractive girlfriends, too.

Yeah, totally. But they didn’t bring any of their girlfriends on tour with them. They’re smart. That’s another thing: you have to find a smart band that’s fun to hang out with and has their own thing going on. Those are usually the bands that excel in this business because if you try to be like everybody else, you end up just not doing anything.

When you’re not on the road, you have residencies in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. How does touring compare to your residency shows?

The residency shows are really killer. They’re great to have, but we got hired as a cover band to do those residencies years ago. So it’s still engrained in the promoter’s mind that we don’t play just all our stuff; we still play Crüe and Def Leppard. So when we go on the road, we’re just supporting our two records Feel the Steel and Balls Out. Touring and doing our own stuff is really, like, the pinnacle of what we’ve always wanted to do. Then to come back and do the residencies and play the cover stuff, it’s almost like the music industry gods are keeping us in check and saying, “Hey, you haven’t made it yet. You still need to go back and hone your craft.”

Do you play any of your original songs at the residency shows?

Yeah. We’ve slowly morphed into about 80 percent originals and 20 percent covers.

Speaking of Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe, you’ve had the opportunity to play with some of your idols in recent years. What has it been like to play with these bands that so heavily inspired Steel Panther?

Photo by F. Scott Schafer.

My first experience with Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe was pretty surreal because in our song “Death to All But Metal” that we wrote years ago, I say “Where’s Def Leppard? Where’s Mötley Crüe?” And to be on a double bill tour with them, opening up the whole arena tour in Europe was just so surreal. We got to hang out with all the bands and I got to use Joe Elliott‘s hair dryer. That’s like a heavy metal dream come true. I ended up befriending Joe and he invited me into his dressing room and said, “Whatever you want here, help yourself.” I got to use his blow dryer and eye liner and stuff. It was great. It was a dream come true. It really was, because this is the music I grew up with, so I was like, “I can’t believe I’m using his blow dryer!”

It sounds like that might have been more exciting than actually getting to share the stage with them.

It was pretty equal to it. And we also had sex with some of their girlfriends, which was cool because they were, like, totally down with it. It wasn’t like weird or uncomfortable. It was just like, “Dude, we love what you’re doing. Help yourself to whatever we have.” And we did.

Well, they seem like very nice guys.

Yeah. They’re extremely open. Vince [Neil] always comes in the dressing room with, like, two chicks on his arms. I don’t know if he hires them for the night or what, but either way he was willing to share and it’s just nice. It’s just nice to be in that type of community where you’re not fighting an uphill battle, the guys have your back, they dig what you’re doing and they want you to succeed. That just felt great.

Where it’s all “Community Property”?

Yeah. Well, it is. I mean, they know better. They know eventually we’d fuck all their girlfriends anyways. So they might as well let us do it.

You’ve also collaborated with a lot of people in the studio. Who have been some of your favorite people to work with in that setting?

I’m trying to write a power ballad, but I can’t. So who else would you go to other than the guy who did “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”? So I called Bret Michaels and said, “Let’s do something together” and he was like, “Yeah, let’s do it.” So that was fun collaborating with him. We collaborated a little bit with Nikki [Sixx] when we were on the road and that was cool. But I would say the most exciting one was writing with Vivian Campbell from Def Leppard. He was really fun and we ended up having him guest on our new record, which was cool.

Speaking of your new record, when can we expect to hear that?

We don’t have a hard release date yet, but we’re shooting for the fall. It’s also contingent on the record label liking all the songs on the record. They still, unfortunately, control our destiny, so we have to really fight tooth and nail with what goes on there. They’ll try to sway us in a different direction because they really want us to be on the radio. But we don’t care about radio like they do. We want to put out our art and what we believe in. I think that’s what’s gotten us where we are today, so we’re going to stick to our guns. But with that in mind, we still want the record to come out in the fall. So we’re shooting for a fall release.

What can you say about the new album and how it compares to the previous two releases?

Photo by F. Scott Schafer.

Well, that is very subjective. Comparing our last two records to the new one is really up to you guys. I think it’s great and it stands up right next to those albums and also propels Steel Panther to our destiny, which is silly sounding, but it’s really true. We’ve been touring and we’ve seen the world and I think our new record reflects what we’ve seen and how we’re changing.

Are you consciously trying to take this next album in a different direction or is that just happening as the album continues to develop?

Well, what we do as a band is when Satchel write’s a song – he’ll write an idea or a full song – the direction usually is reflected from our past experience. We don’t sit down and go, “Hey, let’s write a rock song because we’re a rock band.” It just happens that way. Like, if George Michael sat down to write a song, he’d write a gay song. There’s nothing he can do about it, you know what I mean? What we write is who we are and there’s nothing we can do about it.

Speaking of Satchel, can you verify how he came to be known by that moniker?

Yeah. He carries his weed and cocaine in a small satchel. We always thought that would be a really cool name.

You mentioned that you spent some time at your mother’s house before Ozzfest. Were you able to spend Mothers Day with your mom?

I was on the road, thankfully. So I didn’t have to get her a gift. But you know what I did? I left a six-pack of beer in the fridge for her. She likes that. I really wanted to drink it, but I know she loves to drink in the morning so I left her a fresh six-pack of Löwenbräu.

Is that the beer of choice in your household?

Well, here it is because mom always drank that.

www.steelpantherrocks.com

Georgia Wrestling Now welcomes Steven Walters and Big Wood

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Steven Walters challenges John Skyler this Saturday at Anarchy Wrestling.

Team All You Can Eat’s Matt Hankins returns as Wrestling with Pop Culture talks to two of North Georgia’s favorite wrestling talents on this week’s Georgia Wrestling Now. This week’s guests are Anarchy Wrestling powerhouse Steven Walters, who takes on John Skyler on May 25. Then we talk to Big Wood about Deep Southern Championship Wrestling‘s event on May 25, where a new Allied Independent Wrestling Federations World Heavyweight Champion will be crowned. We’re also joined by Georgia Wrestling History‘s Larry Goodman and we get a surprise call from someone heavily involved in the recent Peachstate Wrestling Alliance controversy involving the Exotic Ones. Listen live every Monday at 7 p.m. and call 347-324-5735 for questions or comments.

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ANTiSEEN celebrates 30 years of wrestling-inspired raucous punk rock

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Given the self-destructive stage antics and confrontational messages of underground punk band ANTiSEEN, the band’s longevity is as impressive as a championship title reign. But these self-proclaimed Badwill Ambassadors have been piledriving eardrums and abusing themselves for audiences all over the world for 30 years now. And with numerous shows already logged this year, as well as an ever-growing catalog of new releases including the recent New Blood and Falls Count Anywhere albums, ANTiSEEN shows no signs of letting up on its destructive path of punk rock mayhem. As the band embarks on its Dixie Dynamite Tour with Hellstomper, front man Jeff Clayton talks to Wrestling with Pop Culture about wrestling, rock and blood.

ANTiSEEN has done enough songs about wrestling over the years to fill an entire CD. How far back do the songs on this album date?

Our earliest wrestling song was “Cactus Jack” and that appeared on Eat More Possum, which came out in ’93. But the version that’s on Falls Count Anywhere is the single version that came out a few years later. But that’s still the earliest thing on that record.

You’re clearly a fan of hardcore wrestlers like Cactus Jack, Abdullah the Butcher and Terry Funk. You portray a similar sense of violence during your performances. What attracts you to such extreme behavior and how does it relate to the music you create?

I’ve always liked wrestling and growing up in the South I loved seeing Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen. Later, when cable came along, we actually got to see the Freebirds and stuff like that. But I always liked the guys that were monsters and freaks. I loved it when Gary Hart brought in Kabuki. I remember being able to barely get a station on our television – we still had one of those rotary-dial antennas – and me and my brother would look for wrestling wherever we could find it. We found something that I think came from Texas and we saw Eric the Red. We thought that was cool, but the one thing that really left an impression on me and is why I still do what I do was when they brought in Abdullah the Butcher to take on Wahoo McDaniel. They had never shown nothing quite that brutal on the television show before, at least not since we had been watching it. They showed some pretty brutal stuff like the Andersons hitting people with the cast they had on for six months. But seeing Abduallah, the commentators made it seem mike it was the most terrible thing in the world. The audience was going crazy, there was blood everywhere and it went off the air while it was still going on. It was like, “Wow!” Then we found the show on another station and watched the replay, even though it looked like it was in a snowstorm, just to get to see it again. Then there were cage matches and barbed wire, which back then guaranteed one thing: there was going to be blood. A cage match was a brutal thing and we used to get wrestling magazines and see pictures of the Billy Graham/Dusty Rhodes bullrope match, barbed wire and all that stuff, wrestling just had a lasting impression. And I have an appreciation for all of it; I like luchadores, I like the mat technician guys like Guerrero, Malenko and all them people. But the monsters and maniacs were always my favorite, and still are to this day.

Wrestling has changed quite a bit since then. Do you still watch much of today’s wrestling?

I don’t watch it much because I don’t have cable. It was a big waste of money for a vast wasteland of nothing. I talk to people who do follow it, though. If something goes down that I think I really need to see, I’ll look it up the next day on YouTube.

What did you think of Mick Foley being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year?

It’s about time. He deserves it, man. He and just a handful of others were the ones who breathed life into that company. I know it was the efforts of a lot of people, but when you think about the Attitude Era you think of Foley going off the top of the cage, the Undertaker/Shawn Michaels Hell in a Cell, Stone Cold and all that stuff. And that whole attitude the WWF adopted at that time came from ECW. Foley came from there, even Stone Cold came from ECW to WWE. And they all brought some of that with them. It was a really exciting time for wrestling and one of them times you’ll never forget. It’s hard to picture that as being classic now, but it is.

Another CD came out around the same time as Falls Count Anywhere…

New Blood is a compilation of singles that were done over a three year period. We stopped being concerned with making albums, but we’ve put out a ton of singles in different countries all over the world. They’d be really small runs, so we sold out of all those within days. So we just compiled all those singles to make that album, which is why some of the tracks repeat on Falls Count Anywhere. But we just compiled all the wrestling songs in one place so people could just buy them in one place. I guess that’s not a very good business move since they’d have to buy ten CDs otherwise. Saying that aloud, now I think that was a really dumb move. Now we’re doing a truckload of singles again, so maybe in another year or two we’ll compile another album. We’re doing a split with a death metal group from Cleveland called NunSlaughter that will have two brand new songs on it. We’re also doing a split with Poison Idea that’s going to have a brand new original track and a cover of the Sex Pistols‘ “Belsen Was a Gas”. We’ve got a bunch of other projects lined up that we haven’t actually done yet. Those are the two that are done, sent off and going to be out soon.

You’ve still been performing quite a bit and are now on tour again.

Yeah. We went on a three-month break because our bass player’s wife had a child. But we play at least one weekend a month when we’re not touring. But now we’re touring with Hellstomper and we also have a bunch of offers for one-offs overseas. So this year has been pretty busy.

What do you guys do when you’re not on tour?

Our bass player is going to school on his G.I. Bill. The drummer is about to finish college. Joe [Young] runs a record store and I work in a heating and air conditioner warehouse. ANTiSEEN keeps us busy, but it don’t keep us rich.

You guys are based in the Carolinas, an area with a storied wrestling past. Do you keep up with the local wrestling scene at all?

There’s a town here called Chester where Action Packed Wrestling runs every Friday night. They’ve had people like Ricky Morton and maybe some of the younger guys that are popular. It’s a fun thing. I only live about 20 minutes away from Charlotte and there’s a bunch of federations running out of Charlotte. There’s a real good one that runs out of Tremont Music Hall, where we play, called Xtreme World Wrestling and they’re really good.

Has ANTiSEEN ever performed at a wrestling event?

Yeah. But you know what? Only twice. We played at one in Philadelphia called Rule Breakers Rule back in ’96. That was the first time we had played one and that was complete and total chaos. Cops shut the thing down as we were playing during a barbed wire match. Last summer we hosted a show in Charlotte called Rock N’ Rassle Apocalypse headlined by “The Beastmaster” Rick Link and the Necro Butcher, so there was blood all over the place.

www.antiseen.com

Not even Brodus Clay survives the extreme horror of “No One Lives”

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Though he has become the fun-loving Funkasaurus in WWE, Brodus Clay has exhibited a more ruthless side over the course of his career. And in WWE Studios‘ latest film No One Lives, he plays the most intimidating member of a nomadic gang of killers and thieves who make an unexpected discovery in their latest victim’s contents. Though Clay does have a chance to display his physical prowess in this film, his character meets a gruesome fate that couldn’t have been predicted going into the movie. With the movie now in theaters, and Extreme Rules just a few days away, Clay talks to Wrestling with Pop Culture about how he got the role of Ethan, seeing his violent demise on the big screen and who he hopes to face at this Sunday’s pay-per-view.

So, your first WWE Studios film is out. What did you think of the movie?

Brodus Clay (right) is surprisingly not the biggest threat in "No One Lives". Photo courtesy Anchor Bay Films.

I thought it was a lot of fun. It’s different. I like the fact that it’s a non-typical story where there’s not a definite hero and villain. It’s definitely a different style. I like the fact that it was done in a classic style with actual special effects, not a bunch of computer enhancement and stuff. So it takes you where you need to go.

I was surprised to see the direction the movie takes at a certain point, especially involving your character. You’re probably the most intimidating presence in the movie, so I didn’t expect to see you be one of the first victims.

It was important to show how extreme the so-called victim is. You have no idea what he’s capable of until you see what he does to Ethan.

In WWE it’s often said that one superstar gets under the skin or inside the head of his opponent. But in No One Lives those phrases are taken quite literally.

Yeah. To have a Caesarean section birth go down in the middle of the movie with two guys is something that’s never been done before. So it’s definitely extreme. The reaction of the people in the audience at the red carpet showings I’ve been to was, they were completely freaked out. Sometimes they clapped.

Well, they were probably clapping at how well done the special effects were.

The Funkadactyl harkens back to the thug persona he portrayed early in his WWE career in "No One Lives". Photo courtesy Anchor Bay Films.

I think that’s because it’s the traditional stuff. It can be refreshing to see that stuff because you don’t see it that much anymore. I don’t think computer graphics would have had the same effect.

What was it like for you to see yourself going through these torturous moments on the screen?

The whole process of making the body double was strange. I’d be sitting in a chair getting makeup or something and look over and see myself with a dead expression on my face. That kind of bothered me so I was always like, “Hey, can we throw a blanket over him or something? It’s weird.” I didn’t see any of it until I actually saw the movie, so when I saw how it all came together it was really disturbing. But I think that’s the reaction the director was going for.

The Brodus Clay we see in WWE these days is a fun-loving giant, but we have seen a more aggressive side from you going all the way back to your days in the developmental system. Did you revert back to some of those traits when you were playing this character?

A little bit. But I was never as violent of a character as Ethan is. He’s that classic bully and is very sadistic to the point that he’s pretty much untouchable. I tried to think of what other ruthless bad guys would be like, so I did draw from my previous personalities a little bit.

How were you chosen for this part? Were they looking specifically to cast someone from WWE?

I’m not sure of the specifics of it because I didn’t give them a chance to explain it to me. It was right after Extreme Rules 2011 and I had 13 staples in my head from being hit by a ladder while trying to stop Christian in his match against Alberto Del Rio. John Laurinaitis, who was the head of talent relations at the time, came down and was like, “Hey, Brodus. There’s this movie…” and I just said, “Yes!” He was like, “You didn’t let me finish.” And I was like, “No, I’ll do it.” Then he was like, “Do you want to know about it?” And I was like, “No, no, no. I’ll do it. I’m in.” Then they flew me out to California to get casted, which I thought was reading lines and stuff, then I realized it was getting dipped in chemicals, rubber and plastic and stuff.

Speaking of Extreme Rules, that event is coming up again this weekend. Do you know yet if you will be competing?

Not yet. We’ve had a few run-ins with the Rhodes Scholars and have been battling back and forth with them for the last couple of months. I’d like to see the end of that at Extreme Rules, but I’m not 100 percent sure yet.

Having now done a WWE Studios film, do you foresee yourself doing more acting in the future?

I would like to, given the opportunity. I’d like to try a different type of movie. I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to do this one and see how it’s received. Hopefully there will be more projects for me down the line.

www.noonelivesthemovie.com

Georgia Wrestling Now welcomes Shane Somers and Nigel Sherrod

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NWA Illinois State Heavyweight Champion "Showtime" Shane Somers is concerned that The Jagged Edge is coming for his title.

From art festivals to venues rich in wrestling history, you could find wrestling almost anywhere in Georgia last weekend. But Georgia wrestlers are venturing to other parts of the country in search of championship gold, which is why Wrestling with Pop Culture and guest co-host Matt “Sex” Sells talk to NWA Illinois State Heavyweight Champion “Showtime” Shane Somers on this week’s Georgia Wrestling Now. After an impressive NWA Central-States Championship Wrestling debut by The Jagged Edge recently, Somers’ title could definitely be at risk in the near future. In the second half of this week’s show we’re joined by Georgia Wrestling History‘s Larry Goodman as we talk to Rampage Pro Wrestling commentator Nigel Sherrod, who defends his Georgia All-Star Wrestling Junior Heavyweight Championship against “The Best” Lamar Phillips this Friday. We also discuss recent and upcoming events in Anarchy Wrestling, Monstrosity Championship Wrestling, NWA Edge, Pro Wrestling Resurrection, Progression Pro Wrestling, Peachstate Wrestling Alliance, Platinum Championship Wrestling and more. Listen live every Monday at 7 p.m. and call 347-324-5735 for questions or comments.

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As “The Office” closes, “Peeples” offers Craig Robinson a new beginning

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After working his way up from secondary warehouse worker to a more prominent role on The Office, Craig Robinson has become one of the funniest guys in film with roles in Pineapple Express, Zack and Miri Make a Porno and Hot Tub Time Machine. And with the final episode of The Office airing next week, Robinson puts one part of his career behind him while another one begins. In the Tyler Perry-produced Peeples, Robinson has his first big-screen starring role as an aspiring musician named Wade, who finds out the hard way that his girlfriend (Kerry Washington) has yet to tell her parents about Wade. Co-starring David Alan Grier, Diahann Carroll and Tyler James Williams, Peeples provides plenty of comedic talent for Robinson to play off of. As the movie hits theaters, Robinson talks to Wrestling with Pop Culture about The Office, his first starring role and his burgeoning musical career.

Now that The Office is wrapping up after nine years, how does it feel to see that coming to an end?

Craig Robinson as Wade in "Peeples". Photo by Nicole Rivelli.

It got put into perspective for me [recently]. I was at Jazz Fest and some girls were like, “Oh, my God! Oh, my God! I’ve been watching you from high school through college.” I was like, “Wow! That’s right. Somebody started high school and finished college watching The Office.” It’s an amazing and huge part of my life. It launched my career and opened unknown doors that I couldn’t have opened without it. I made some great friends and some great memories. I’m not sad about it because it’s like closing a chapter. I just shot a new sitcom and turned it in to NBC to see if they pick it up. I will miss a lot of things about The Office, but we had time to deal with it and be ready to move on. It’s taking us out very classy, too. The final episode is everything you expect from The Office: a lot of humor, a lot of heart, a lot of awkwardness. So I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next.

How did you get this role in Peeples and how did you initially get your role in The Office?

With The Office I was called in to audition and I read one of those talking heads. It was actually one for Jim. I’m a huge fan of deadpan. That’s always been my thing, so The Office really just made sense. You got one paragraph to read and you just had to go with it. When I walked in, Greg Daniels was at the head of the room with about nine or ten other people. He said he had seen a video I did with Jerry Minor called “Somebody’s Fucking My Lady” and he was like, “It doesn’t get any funnier than that.” It was weird to hear that because now you’re thinking, “Oh, my God. This is mine to lose” as opposed to, “Let me go get it.”

When Craig Robinson found out he'd get to kiss Kerry Washington, he was ready to star in "Peeples". Photo by Nicole Rivelli.

Peeples was brought to me to meet with the director, Tina Gordon Chism. She’ll tell you that I fell asleep in the meeting, I say it was just a little catnap. We met again and she was so passionate and so cool. She’s a great person, and smart, and she painted a picture of what this movie was going to be. Then she said, “You get to kiss Kerry Washington,” and I was like, “Where do I sign?” Kerry is brilliant and naturally funny. This is not just my first leading role, it’s also Kerry’s first foray into comedy and Tina’s first time directing. We all, collectively, pushed this boulder of Peeples up a mountain and Kerry is so talented. She’s like this ultimate woman: she can act, she can sing, she can dance, she speaks different languages, she’s political. I can’t say enough good things about her.

With this being a first for so many people, do you think it made everyone work a little harder on the film?

I think it put everybody on the same page. David said it best when he said he wanted to be there for Tina because she was getting a thousand calls a day. Whatever we needed, we were there for each other. It was definitely an ensemble effort. If David Alan Grier throws out a line, you’re going to go, “Yeah. Let’s try that.” There was a lot of that and Tina was open for playing and we got some fun stuff out of that. For example, in the grocery store scene where I make all those references to old black people, I don’t even remember if there were references to start with. So once we started going with that we just listed them all until it overlapped into the next scene.

What was it like working with an icon like David Alan Grier?

Wade (Craig Robinson) looks for the acceptance of Virgil Peeples (David Alan Grier) in "Peeples". Photo by Nicole Rivelli.

He’s amazing. He was the father of the set, he owns every room he goes in and he was hysterical on cue. It’s one of the most amazing things you could witness and he’s one of the funniest dude on the planet. I was pushing for him to be the office manager when Steve Carell was leaving [The Office] because once we shot Peeples, I was like, “This would be amazing.” He’s absolutely great. He’s a great person and it’s hard to out silly me. I think he out sillies me.

Based on this film, or perhaps from personal experience, what advice would you give guys who are meeting their girlfriend’s parents for the first time?

Don’t show up unannounced and have a wallet that doesn’t fall out your pocket. Be yourself. I think that’s the tone of this whole movie. I like how Wade was true to himself no matter what, then he kept finding out all these secrets about everybody else. So be yourself and maybe tuck your shirt in and clean up before you go meet your (hopefully) wife’s parents.

Have you had any memorable fan moments?

When The Office first started I went to a Comic-Con in San Diego. But I didn’t go for The Office, I went for a movie I was in called Dragon Wars, which none of you know. Dragon Wars was directed by this Korean director named Shim Hyung-rae and he barely spoke English. So we had all these souvenir books with pictures of the cast and pictures of the big snakes from the movie. I was walking with these books and I wanted to put them down somewhere. They were nice, but I didn’t want to walk around Comic-Con with them. Then this girl walked up and you would have thought I was Michael Jackson or something. We took a picture, it was real sweet, then I handed her one of the books and said, “Here, take this.” She broke down and started crying, she was so overwhelmed. I was like, “That must be what Michael Jackson feels like.” It tripped me out. But nothing like that has happened since then.

Do you anticipate anything else like that now that you’re starring in your own film?

Anticipate? No. I don’t know. I always take things a little bit at a time. When I started out L.A., I had to figure out how to get auditions. So I was in that lane, then I got the auditions and scooted over to callbacks, then to getting the part. So just a little bit at a time.

It seems like a lot of these scenes would be hard to shoot because you’d be laughing so much. What were some of the more difficult scenes to shoot?

For me it was the Timex scene. I could not stop laughing. The ridiculousness of them showing me their watches, I got into a little bit of trouble about that. I’ll bet it was seven takes.

What do you do to not laugh at moments like that?

That’s when it’s best to avoid eye contact. Maybe look just above the eyebrows or something like that. You want to stay in character, but you also don’t want to laugh. It’s like being in church and laughing; as soon as somebody else laughs your like, “Augh!” I haven’t mastered that yet. My best thing is to just look at somebody’s forehead instead of directly in the eye.

In addition to your comedic acting, your musical talents were also employed in Peeples. How involved were in that process of this movie?

Robinson's musical talents played a big part in "Peeples". Photo by Nicole Rivelli.

My brother has a song in the movie, but the guy who wrote all the music is Stephen Bray. He wrote “Turn You On,” “Speak It (Don’t Leak It!)” and all that stuff. I just pretty much sang and they were nice enough to put one of my brother’s songs in the movie. It’s in the club scene, underneath, so you’ve got to be paying attention.

A lot of your roles have to do with music and you have a musical background. Do you actively pursue musical roles in films?

It’s just the opposite. Music is my partner, really. In my comedy act I use music and play keyboard and have a band and all that. But several roles, such as Hot Tub Time Machine, the producers came to see me perform and said, “Well, he’s a musician.” With Peeples, Tina was like, “We’re going to make him a musician. He uses music through therapy to help the kids and stuff.” So it’s kind of my partner.

Do you find that to be an asset?

Yeah. I wouldn’t be where I am without having that ability. It’s definitely an asset. One of the first times I ever did comedy without my keyboard, there was this competition. Three people in the audience had rubber chickens and if you got all three rubber chickens you had to get off stage. I got two and was like, “OK, goodnight!” My thought was, “I’m not getting a third one.” The next week I came back with my keyboard and I spun a web or something, I had them hypnotized.”

Will you be putting an album out anytime soon?

I don’t know when that album’s coming out, man. I’m definitely leaning towards that. But I’m tired of hearing myself say, “One of these days I’m going to put an album out.”

www.peeplesmovie.com

Georgia Wrestling Now welcomes Professor Morté, Tim E. D and Jeremy Vain

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APW's Jeremy Vain challenges Shaun Tempers for the Anarchy Wrestling Championship this Saturday.

From the High Museum of Art to more traditional wrestling venues, it seems that you can find wrestling pretty much anywhere this weekend. On this week’s Georgia Wrestling Now, Team All You Can Eat’s Matt Hankins and Wrestling with Pop Culture talk to two people (well, that term is questionable for one of our guests) who will be involved in some of this weekend’s bigger events. First we hear from Professor Morté, who talks about last Friday’s Monstrosity Championship Wrestling event at Club Famous, this weekend’s MCW matches at Art-B-Que and other upcoming MCW events. Then we’re joined by Anarchy Wrestling commentator Tim E. D (who has a big announcement of his own) as we talk to Alternative Pro Wrestling’s Jeremy Vain about his shot at Shaun Tempers’ Anarchy Wrestling Championship this Saturday. Other topics of discussion include recent and upcoming events in Rampage Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Resurrection, Deep Southern Championship Wrestling, Team WILLPower, NWA Atlanta, Universal Independent Wrestling, Chikara, Peachstate Wrestling Alliance, Georgia Championship Wrestling, Progression Pro Wrestling and more. Listen live every Monday at 7 p.m. and call 347-324-5735 for questions or comments.

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