Playboy Magazine plays 20 questions with The Office’s Ed Helms. Here’s an excerpt (printed with permission by Playboy):
“She’s so cool and such a seasoned pro. I was the anxious one,” says Ed Helms in Playboy’s May 20Q when asked about Sigourney Weaver taking his on-screen virginity in Cedar Rapids (issue on newsstands and at playboydigital.com Friday, April 15). [from tanster: NSFW] The funnyman goes on to say, “In any situation like that, there is a fear that—how can I put this delicately?—body parts might act on their own accord. But she just completely put me at ease. In the movie, my character is looking for a mother figure, and that’s kind of how I felt about Sigourney. I really felt nurtured and taken care of by her.”
Helms—best known for his roles as Andy Bernard in The Office and Stu from The Hangover—began his career in NYC comedy sketch shows before becoming a regular on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and starring in a hit TV show and numerous films. The comedic actor sat down with Playboy Contributor Eric Spitznagel to discuss sex on film, tattoos and The Hangover Part II. Following are selected quotes from the interview.
On being a stud with the ladies on film: “There was no sex on-screen—or off, for that matter—with Heather Graham. There was implied sex, and we did have a nice kiss, which I’m still dizzy from. But we didn’t actually have sex during the movie. Actually, I think Sigourney Weaver in Cedar Rapids was my first official sex scene. And if you don’t mind my saying so, I think it will go down as one of the great sex scenes in the history of cinema.”
On his fitness regime to prepare for nude scenes in Cedar Rapids: “I think it’s pretty clear there wasn’t much of a fitness regime at all. We shot it during November and December in Michigan, which is not a climate conducive to outdoor fitness activities. It’s conducive to holing up with hot chocolate and doughnuts in your hotel room.”
On his character Andy Bernard’s self-confidence in The Office: “I love it. This may come as a surprise, given the nature of my job, but I am very guarded and contemplative. I’m not a naturally boisterous person. Andy Bernard is a bit of a wish fulfillment for me, because I absolutely envy how passionate he is. If Andy’s in love with somebody, everybody knows it. He just puts it out there. It’s his saving grace, in the midst of all his other social handicaps.”
On whether Andy will become the new office manager at Dunder Mifflin: “Andy’s an intrinsically sweet guy, but he’s also kind of desperate for approval and very short-tempered. Too much responsibility and he might get more stressed out and susceptible to, as he likes to say, losing his freakin’ mind. So no, I don’t think management would be a good fit for him.”
On the popularity of The Office in Scranton, Pennsylvania: “At one point I was in a car with [Office co-star] Angela Kinsey in downtown Scranton, and we passed a model-train store. I asked the driver to stop so we could go in. And before we knew it, fans were starting to pour in. A cop eventually showed up and said, ‘Everyone out.’ And they shut down this store so Angela and I could walk around and look at model trains. That was just crazy to me. I thought that sh*t only happened to Justin Bieber.”
On convincing his dentist to remove one of his teeth for The Hangover: “It was actually just a dental implant. I’d thought about replacing it for awhile. My teeth had shifted, and it just didn’t feel like the best fit anymore. I said to my dentist, ‘Can I get a new cap on this implant? And in the interim, can we leave it out for two months while I shoot a movie?’ He was like, ‘Sure, that’s fine.’ The funny thing is, I had to wear a retainer for the scenes in which the tooth isn’t gone yet. It was like a flipper with a fake tooth. And my speech was slightly affected. We were still shooting The Office during the movie, and I didn’t tell them about it because I didn’t want to get into trouble. Somehow I got away with it.”
On his face tattoo in The Hangover Part II: “I don’t have any real tattoos, and I’m not interested in getting any. But it’s so much fun having a tattoo when it’s not permanent. Especially when it’s on your face. Walking around the streets of Bangkok with a face tattoo, I felt like the biggest bad*ss. I felt like no one would mess with me, and if they did, I could crush them. Of course, if somebody did start f*cking with me, I would probably start weeping and run away.”
On fans trying to get him drunk: “If I’m in a bar, frat boys will usually try to buy me shots. But I’m not much of a boozer anymore. I certainly had my share of ragers during my 20s, but I think it had more to do with geography than age. I lived in New York City for most of my 20s, and then I moved to Los Angeles when I was 32 or 33. L.A. is all about automobiles, and New York is about public transportation or taxis. So alcohol consumption isn’t as automatic as it was when I was in New York.”
On his last painful hangover: “For me it’s less about the physical effects than the remorse. I think I’m a fairly obnoxious drunk, so I’ll wake up the next morning just racked with guilt, replaying every conversation I had the night before and every terrible thing that came out of my mouth.”
On having Jon Stewart as a boss on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: “He’s a mixture of Hitler and Willy Wonka. [laughs] I don’t even know what that means. In any environment in which everyone is putting out a lot of creativity, there will be tension at times, because not all of it works and you won’t always agree on what works. You have to throw a hundred darts at the board and maybe 10 of them will stick.”
On Chuck E. Cheese becoming his nickname in high school: “It came from an upperclassman who claimed I looked like Chuck E. Cheese, the mascot from that chintzy pizza restaurant chain. Any good nickname recipient shouldn’t actually like his nickname, and that was certainly the case with me. I hated being called Chuck E. Cheese. And of course that just encouraged them.”
[from tanster: thanks!]