Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
In both sports and the entertainment industry, chemistry is an inexact science. Tom Brady is the undisputed on-field leader for the New England Patriots. Long after his bust is memorialized in Canton, Ohio, he’ll be remembered for his innate ability to win. But Brady wouldn’t be synonymous with championships if not for the efforts of players like Troy Brown, Deion Branch, and a host of scrappy glue guys and utility players whose comparatively unheralded contributions were often the difference between success and failure.
For many years, Rob Corddry was Hollywood’s glue guy.
Unless you’re the type of person who routinely debates Weekend Update anchor rankings or boasts about having watched Arrested Development live on FOX, you probably didn’t know Rob Corddry by name. He was a classic that guy. A stealthy scene-stealer who excelled by making every project in which he appeared — The Daily Show, Hot Tub Time Machine, What Happens in Vegas, Community — just a little bit better. Thanks to his role as financial advisor Joe Krutel on the hit HBO series Ballers, however, Corddry’s days of anonymity are over. The actor has been catapulted from niche to mainstream — but you wouldn’t know he was experiencing a surge of popularity by talking to him.
Throughout his conversation with Decider, Corddry was downright jubilant when discussing his various co-stars. Not in a calculating, “aw shucks, ain’t I humble?” manner, but with an earnest, appreciative admiration for their talent. The actor was never at a loss for a genuine compliment while discussing Richard Schiff and Steven Weber (“watching them work is a real treat”), longtime co-star Rob Huebel (“one of the funniest people alive”), and Steve Guttenberg, whom Corddry referred to as “a positive presence to park your soul next to” before sharing this gem of a behind the scenes anecdote from the set of Ballers.
“We were shooting one night outside a hotel, it was like 11 o’clock at night, and [Guttenberg] was staring at these flowers, because he lives in New York, and he’s like, ‘You guys grow such beautiful flowers here.’ And I was like, ‘What?’ And he said, ‘You just put the seed in the ground and it grows.’ So simply. And I was like, ‘Oh, wait. I think I finally get it.’ I was right there. I was thrust into that moment by Steve Guttenberg.”
Learning the secret to life from Steve freakin’ Guttenberg is one thing, but co-starring on HBO’s most-watched comedy with someone who is perhaps, without a hint of hyperbole, the most popular person on planet Earth, is another. We are of course talking about former West Wing star Richard Schiff, who dazzles as Joe’s boss Mr. Anderson. But now that we think about it, another of Corddry’s co-stars, Dwayne Johnson, is also fairly well-known. With the continued speculation that the charismatic actor may consider a presidential run in 2020, we asked Corrdry his thoughts on the possibility that his frequent scene partner could be our next commander-in-chief.
“If Trump has proven one thing, he finally proved our mothers right when they said that anybody could be president,” Corddry said. “I mean, now everyone’s coming out of the woodwork. I’ll take The Rock over a lot of them.”
Rob’s support of Dwayne mirrors Joe’s loyalty to Spencer on the HBO series. Part of Corddry’s comedic appeal is his charismatic, buddy next door charm. Amidst the whirlwind of drama that subsumes the sports worlds, Joe is Ballers‘ fountain of levity. Everyone has a friend that’s reminiscent of Corddry’s character, and it’s that type of inherent relatability that’s transformed Joe Krutel into such a fan favorite.
“The thing that’s hard to make clear on the show — and I think this season has gone a little bit further in doing it — is to show how good Joe is at his job. He’s that friend of yours that can drink for three days straight and not have a hangover or do any kind of drug and not feel bad or get addicted. He’s that guy. We’ve all got one of them. And yet he’s like, I imagine, he’s like a prodigy when it comes to the numbers. He knows what’s he’s doing.”
Long before he was ballin’ on HBO, even before the days of perfecting his comedic chops at the UCB, Corddry began his career as a dramatic actor. Eventually, his dearth of knowledge surrounding the inscrutable art of auditioning indirectly led to a career in comedy.
“I considered myself a very dramatic, very pretentious actor. I was doing way the fuck Off-Broadway Shakespeare for years, for little to no money, but I was very happy doing that. And I realized early on in my career that there was one thing that I wasn’t taught in school, and that was auditioning. So I decided to teach myself how to audition, and the only way you can truly learn something is by doing it. So I just went out on every single audition I could, and you know, things that were like not even remotely right for me, like ‘Black Woman Wanted.’ I just auditioned for everything.”
Corddry proved the old “practice makes perfect” adage to be true. One of his many auditions was for a comedy group called Third Rail Comedy, and while that particular troupe didn’t work out, it did lead to Rob creating his own sketch team, Naked Babies, which drove him to the cauldron of comedic talent beginning to boil over at the UCB.
From 2002 to 2006, Corddry became an invaluable member of Jon Stewart’s comedy arsenal on The Daily Show before teaming with Jonathan Stern and David Wain to create the cult classic Childrens Hospital. The aggressively absurd satirical comedy is remembered for its incisive wit and stellar cast, but what you might not know is that the series was one of the first to utilize the binge-watching model. The entire ten-episode first season dropped on The WB’s website in December of 2008 — which Stern discussed in the oral history of the show — before finding a home on Adult Swim. The man behind Dr. Blake Downs recalled a conversation he had with Owen Burke (Gary Sanchez Productions, Funny or Die) that seemed to cement the show’s prescient knowledge of the future trend.
“I was joking about the ‘we invented binge-watching’ thing, and Owen was very like, ‘No, no, no, you did. You came into my office and asked if this was a good thing to do. And I said, Yes, that’s amazing. Why not?’ So I was like, okay. I invented binge-watching.”
Fans of the series will be happy to learn that a Childrens Hospital spin-off is in development. Even though Corddry was unable to divulge specific details about the project, he did reveal that a “significant portion of the original cast” will be back — but that the new show won’t be set inside a children’s hospital.
“It’s just like Childrens Hospital in terms of the comedic tone, but it’s unlike Childrens Hospital in every other regard,” Corddry told us. “Where we shunned continuity, this is an episodic show that solves a mystery by the end. And what we’re trying to do is actually write a compelling mystery that would be cool without the comedy.”
Rob Corddry’s career is a true mosaic of comedy. From creating his own series to his time on the Daily Show to an IMDB page replete with guest spots on venerable TV shows, the comedian possesses such a unique perspective on the television landscape — which is why we asked him if there’s anything he’s learned about what makes a successful TV series.
“Nope, not a goddamn thing,” Corddry said with a laugh. “I think the more I do, the more shows I’m allowed to witness, the crazier the mystery gets.”
One mystery that isn’t so vexing, however, is Rob Corddry’s secret to obtaining success in Hollywood. The actor believes that good material and cool people are the pillars of crafting a satisfying career. “If my only real standard is that it’s got to be good and with cool people, I can’t fail. And ideally, yeah, it’s with friends.”
He may have propelled himself up the call sheet, but Rob Corddry is still one of Hollywood’s top glue guys.
