If you've seen -- or even remember -- the video for Dave Matthews Band's 2001 song, “Everyday,” you've seen Judah Friedlander. He’s the guy in a trucker hat giving out hugs. But you've also seen him – with or without his trademark trucker hats -- in comedies like Zoolander and American Splendor, and most recently, playing Frank Rossitano, one of the writers on the NBC comedy 30 Rock. He's also author of a satirical martial arts guide called How To Beat Up Anybody.
In a conversation with Soundcheck host John Schaefer, the comedian and actor talks about his signature look, Lynda Carter's unintentionally hilarious cover of Billy Joel's "She's Always a Woman," and playing competitive ping-pong. Plus, Friedlander shares a Pick Three playlist of songs he loves.
Interview Highlights:
Judah Friedlander on his distinctive look:
I had been doing stand up for close to 20 years and been doing acting in movies for about a dozen years. Many of the times I would completely change my look so I was completely unrecognizable, I would change my voice, my appearance, everything. I loved doing that. And in show business it's really hard to do that because everyone wants to stereotype you. So I always fought against that.
And then 30 Rock came along. Stand up has always been my main thing, and I have a very specific look for my stand up and it's all integrated with my jokes and how I talk, everything. When I was fortunate and got that part, I said I'm going to have to look like me in this because we're going to be filming eight or nine months out of the year, I'm still going to be able to do stand up gigs at night. And they were cool with that. I decided, well my hats always say "world champion" in some language, it's intertwined with my stand-up persona and identity. Maybe Frank, he's certainly not the world champion, but maybe Frank can use these hats as a way to send little jokes and messages. And use it passive aggressively to anger Liz Lemon.
On Tom Jones' cover of Hoobastank's "The Reason" (2007):
First of all, I'm going to say straight off the bat -- I don't pretend to have any kind of taste when it comes to music. I think I'm someone who's always been ripped on by other people for having no idea what good music is. But you know, I'm not a music expert by any means. And I like what I like, and I'm a huge Tom Jones fan. A song came out several years ago, "The Reason" by Hoobastank. I thought it stunk, thought it was whiny and annoying. But one night I'm on YouTube just listening to different Tom Jones songs and I see now come up from a concert from South America. He's singing that Hoobastank song. To me, it's amazing.
On playing competitive ping-pong:
It's a real sport. Everyone's played it, everyone thinks they're the best at it. Most people are terrible at it. Most people don't think it's a real sport where the top players actually train six hours a day, everyday since they were a little kid. It's highly skilled and technical. A lot of strategy. I have my paddle with me. That's why I have my suitcase. I have, my ping pong paddle with a ball. And my ping-pong shoes. That's when you're serious, when you have ping-pong shoes. There's a lot of lateral movement, and you need a good sole with a good grip.
On Elvis Presley's "Separate Ways" (1972):
I first came across this Elvis song in one of my favorite bad movies called Elvis and the Beauty Queen. I think it was based on a book written by a women who went out with Elvis, secretly. It was a TV movie and Don Johnson from Miami Vice played Elvis Presley. I'm a big Don Johnson fan, but he was not the guy to play Elvis. There's a scene where he's all upset and he's alone at the piano, crying, and I can't stop laughing at it. I think that's how I came across "Separate Ways." It's a great sad song, I love a lot of sad love songs.
On Meco, Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk:
Star Wars ... It's certainly my favorite. I saw it in the theater in 1977, I knew nothing about it before I went into the movie theater. And it obviously just blew me away. Years later I was making a short film in, 1989, I Did It For Disco. It's about one roommate is a Shaun Cassidy fan and one's a KISS fan they hate each other a bunch of crazy stuff happens. I wanted to end the movie with a disco version of Star Wars.
I found a couple versions, it wasn't this Meco version. A few years later I found Meco and, wow this version is better than all the other versions. It's a disco version of Star Wars, and it's epic -- it's 15 minutes long. It takes it to such a ridiculous level. It's such an amazing celebration. Sometimes in my stand-up I exit to this music.