Ed Helms - “Rutherford Falls”

you know, touched a few things up, you know. Yeah, but your stuff is still here if you want anything. I hope no one's moved into my office, right No, no, no, good because that's safely space. Welcome, Welcome to the show. Thank you, Thank you. By the way, I love what you have done, not only with the furniture, but with the show. You're crushing it, trying to Yes, I love what you've done with everything, um, because I mean, you're

you're easily one of the funniest people around. You know, many people introduced to you, you know, through the hangover, but everything you've done has been so funny and rutherford. When I first read about it seemed like, oh, you're trying to throw it all away. Because it was a story of it. Really it seems like a crazy story. Is like I'm going to play a white guy who goes into a Native American community and basically like fights

with them about their own land. It doesn't seem like comedy. Yeah, it's really funny and it's a great story. Yeah, well it's uh, you know, I guess that was that was the challenge was to try to keep that character sympathetic.

I mean it really is uh like that the show was born out of this observation just that people were kind of not listening to each other and being crazy and and and so we wanted to kind of depict somebody who who is having trouble kind of hearing opposing views or hearing some that maybe his interpretation of history is very wrong and uh and and yet also that that that's that can be a good person who wants to do better also, right, Can I tell you what

I love about the show is that it's funny, it's poignant. It has I think I'll stand to be corrected, possibly the largest Native American writing room in all of television. Maybe it's like giants, it's up there, you know, it's not top it's up there, it's up there. You you you have like a Native American cost, You've done the thing that everyone says it's impossible. Everyone goes like, if you include people, then white people don't work. And it's

like you're working, they're working. It's a great shows. I'm doing Okay, you're doing okay, Yeah, he's doing okay. Um. Yeah, there's another show called Reservation Dogs, which is also amazing, amazing, and that show has a ton of Native American writers and directors, a lot of our directors. We shared a lot of directors between the shows. Um and yeah, it's

just it's been an incredibly humbling experience for me. I think, I think before getting into this, I intellectually understood the value of representation and I would I would, I could talk about it very fluently and and advocate for it. But but being in this experience has just like really made a kick in for me in a way that

I don't know. It's been. It's been incredible. It shows you know, because like the jokes that you're telling, the storylines that you that you have, it doesn't become something that it's not supposed to be. It becomes fresh, it becomes authentic. It's it's I mean, that's why I got renewed. Is it is what I think? You know, it's like season two, it's it's an exciting season change as well.

I don't want to spoil anything for those I haven't seen the first season, but essentially, your character comes into this world where he's trying to preserve his name, the Rutherford name comes in realizes at some point that you know, his family doesn't stand for the best thing you know in the past. But as we're going into season two,

the journey changes, like what can you tell us about it? Uh? So, yeah, that you know we left at the end of season one, my character really had this like catastrophic identity crisis and uh and and I think going into and and all of season one, really I think my co creators Mike Scher and Sierra Teller ornellis that the three of us like really wanted to grapple with some big ideas. It's

some big issues. Season two, we were like, well, we kind of did a lot of homework in season one, and this ensemble is so funny and our writers are so for let's just like lean into the comedy more. And so I think this season we still there's still a lot of very sharp satire that I'm very, very proud of. But it's also it's more joyful, it's sillier. It's just I don't know, when you say, lean into

the comedy more, I'm excited at what. I'm also a little worried because I've heard I've heard stories about you. I mean at the Daily Show, you know with Jon Stewart when you were correspondent. You had a mole removed on camera for the show. That's true, Like actually, like the procedure on The Hangover, you allowed them to take out one of your teeth for the movie. That's like a real that really happened. Yeah, yeah, you see that. You see you were like, oh special effects, No, that

was just him. It was just him being effective. That's all it was. So when you say lean and are you still willing to do the craziest thing? So season two of this show, I I remove, I get decapitated my head. It's like and and you know, thankfully, like we've got great doctors and everything. It's like, I'm fine, as you can see, but yeah, I go the extra mile, super committed, super method. Yeah, Like do your family and friends worry about you because I know people who go

the extra mileful comedy, like does your dentist worry? Doesn't you know, do your doctor's worry? Yeah, I guess there's nothing. I don't know that if this is a good thing, but there is virtually nothing I won't do for I have no pride or dignity, and so that's a very freeing thing in Chowvizda. I think it's not just freeing, it's the reason you one of the funniest, most amazing people that we get to watch on screen. Thank you for being on the show. Thank you for joining me. Yeah,

I appreciate you. Fan see them too. Of Roberton Falls is now streaming our peapop Watch the Daily Show weeknights and eleven ten Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime I'm on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast