"Superbad" round-table

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 12, 2007 at 12:04 PM

An Entertainment Weekly round-table discussion of Superbad (Sony, 8.17) went up Friday, moderated by Josh Rottenberg and featuring Seth Rogen, Judd Apatow, Jonah Hill and Michael Cera. My favorite portion is as follows:

Seth Rogen: I'm noticing when you do a lot of interviews, often the reporters go in with something they want you to say and they'll keep asking questions until you say it. And the two things that people seem to want us to say more than anything is that audience's tastes have changed and that we are all unconventional guys to be in comedies -- both of which I very strongly disagree with.

Judd Apatow: Don't they remember Jack Klugman?

Rogen: Exactly!

Apatow: I always talk about Jack Klugman. In fact, when I was trying to get ''unconventional'' kids on Freaks and Geeks...that's a code word I use....

Rogen: ...for Jewish. [Laughs] ''There are too many goddamn unconventionals at this country club!''

Apatow: ''I've got to go to temple with my unconventional friends.'' But I always talked about Jack Klugman. Like, if you looked at all the great old television comedy, it was always Jack Klugman and Tony Randall and Phil Silvers.

Rogen: We're the new Phil Silvers, Jack Klugman, and Tony Randall!

Apatow: I don't know when it became that people thought funny people were all so handsome. That's just an idea that I've always rejected. But what happens is that when people become popular, then people think they're sexy also for some reason.

Jonah Hill: Thank God. Well, I think it's funny because every interview they say, ''You guys are leading men now and you're so unconventional,'' or whatever the hell the word is...

Michael Cera: Untraditional.

Hill: And I go, like, ''Do you guys think Will Ferrell and Jack Black look different from us? Those guys are big movie stars!''

Rogen: If every comedy star is unconventional, doesn't that then become conventional? Apatow: Do you guys get insulted by that?

Rogen: No, I honestly just think they're crazy. It makes me feel like they've never heard of Albert Brooks or Woody Allen or W.C. Fields or the Marx Brothers or any other comedian.

Hill: They're acting like we're making movies like Bourne Ultimatum. It's not like we're in like f---ing Ocean's 11 or something like that. We're making comedies!

Rogen: It's a weird stance to take.

Hill: And it's everybody's stance.