The Soup's Joel McHale

Joel McHale is the hilarious host of the The Soup, a weekly roundup of all that is absurd about daytime and reality TV. It' like a more focused, more edgy Best Week Ever, except instead of being hosted by dozens of sort-of-funny people, it' hosted by one amazingly hilarious person.

Joel was cool enough to sit down with CRACKED to talk about his favorite moment in Soup History, what he really watches on TV and how he put an end to big-hair glam comedy.

Joel has chosen you in the rose
ceremony of life.

CRACKED: Do you watch bad daytime TV in your spare time, or is that more of an occupational hazard?

JOEL: Bad daytime TV? How dare you! The Tyra Banks Show rules!

What else do you watch?
The ice melting in my fourth gin and tonic"¦ then eventually the road.

I like Lost, Extras, The Simpsons, Family Guy, HBO' Autopsy, and PBS' American Experience.

What is the most ridiculous TV moment that you've had the opportunity to make fun of on The Soup? Any show/celeb you want to feed a steaming bowl of crap-soup to?
"KISS MY ASS!" Enough said.

By the way, crap-soup is best served cold my friend"¦like revenge"¦and gazpacho.

Give us a breakdown of a week in the life of The Soup. You're a writer and producer on the show as well as the host, so it must be pretty busy.
Monday-Hire new writers

Tuesday-Not sure

Wednesday-Four hour argument with head writer KP Anderson

Thursday-Freak out. And then everybody watches all their assigned shows on TIVO. Then they write a bunch of jokes. KP puts it all together and makes it watchable. Then E! execs cut all the jokes. KP rewrites again and I make my notes and additions. Then the execs cut it again.

Friday- I get to put on make-up and we tape the show.

Friday night-Drink like we're college freshman.

The Soup has had some pretty talented hosts in the past: Greg Kinnear, Hal Sparks, Aisha Tyler. Which of the Talk Soup alums do you consider to be an influence? What do you think you bring to the role?
I've definitely been influenced by Aisha Tyler as I am a proud black woman.

Joel flexes his acting muscles, which
are located between his thumb and
his pointer finger.

Both of the guys I mentioned above have gone on to do serious dramatic work.
You've done Spider Man 2 and Lords of Dogtown. Are you planning on following in their footsteps and getting serious on us?
I hope so and"¦.I"¦I"¦love you. I've always loved you.

Acting is why I came to Los Angeles. I hadn't done much hosting before that. I got my graduate degree from the University of Washington' Professional Actors Training Program, which set me up perfectly for telling Paris Hilton jokes.

I did acting work before this, so I hope it gets bigger and better.

You were also in the untitled Onion Movie. Any updates for us on that?
They're hilarious doing fake news-- what were they like to work with on a
movie?
Sadly, I don't have any updates. I can't wait for it to come out. I had I small role and I hope they don't cut me out. They were great to work with. The Onion is one of the funniest things on the web and in print next to the NRA website.

You also starred in a series of really funny Office-like commercials for Burger King. Were those improvised? Also, are you a sell-out?
The Burger King ads were scripted and improvised. The director, Martin Granger, and the writers with the agency are really funny. They knew when to let us go and when to reign us in.

I did those ads before I did The Soup so I guess technically I am not a sell-out, but I would do them again in a heartbeat. If that makes me a sell-out, then have it your way"¦on BK' Tendercrisp Chicken Sandwich.

In case any other prospective sponsors are out there reading this, what else
would you shill?
I would be pretty picky now. But I would have to say I would do ads for the product that would pay me the most.

Being from Seattle, do you feel as though there's an angsty, grunge
influence on your comedy?
Yes, I would say my comedy is grunge, evidenced by the fact my jokes have put an end to big-hair glam comedy.

How profoundly were you influenced by the "Almost Live!" Seattle comedy
scene? What was it like to be a part of that show?
Almost Live! was great because it gave me a chance to mess up a lot. I learned how to be on camera. I worked with a bunch of people who gave me great confidence- especially Pat Cashman and John Kiester. Enough confidence to host my own basic cable clip show.

Any plans for an "Almost Live" DVD release?
There isn't because of licensing issues. But you can catch it on Seattle local station KONG. Good luck satellite customers!

Any other career plans for the near future?
First, making sure my ten-month old doesn't fracture his skull on the coffee table.

Second, making sure The Soup is funny.

Third, I am reading scripts and auditioning. Hopefully, something cool will present itself and more importantly, they will want me to be a part of it. Why? Have you heard anything?

What are your Top 5 favorite funniest movies of all time?
Breaking the Waves
The Accused
Kids
Dying Young
The Deer Hunter

Who are your Top 5 favorite funniest people of all time?
Aristophanes
Mark Twain
Johnny Carson
John Cleese
Eddie Murphy
Joel Hodgson

Who are your Top 5 favorite funniest people on the face of the Earth right
now?
On Earth? Hmmm"¦that narrows it down.

George Bush
Tom Delay
Dick Cheney
Karl Rove
Donald Rumsfield