Check out these two new interviews with Steve Carell and Jimmy Fallon, where Carell chats about his latest role in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World and reveals the farewell gift he got from the cast of The Office.
Fallon dishes on performing with music legends, “slow-jamming” the news with President Obama, his favorite SNL memories, and more.
STEVE CARELL INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS ON PARADE.COM
Thanks to your films, you’ve emerged as a romantic leading man. Is that where you saw your career going?
I know you’re asking that with a sense of irony because clearly, no. How did I end up in films with people like Keira Knightley and Julianne Moore? All these beautiful leading ladies and me—it’s kind of shocking.
What was your worst pre-fame gig?
At one point, I was a wine telemarketer. Talking people into buying wine on the phone is not an easy job to begin with, but when you don’t know anything about wine and you really don’t drink it, it becomes even more difficult.
At one point, I was a wine telemarketer. Talking people into buying wine on the phone is not an easy job to begin with, but when you don’t know anything about wine and you really don’t drink it, it becomes even more difficult.
On saying goodbye to The Office.
“My last day, they gave me a send-off that was overwhelming. So much so for the next couple of weeks I couldn’t even look at all of the things I’d been given. The photographs and the videos and the letters. . . The cast made me a scrapbook, and each of them had a page in it related to me and to our relationship. The first couple of days, I tried to crack open some of that stuff and I just could not get through it. It was overwhelmingly emotional. It was just a great time in my life, an excellent group of people.”
“My last day, they gave me a send-off that was overwhelming. So much so for the next couple of weeks I couldn’t even look at all of the things I’d been given. The photographs and the videos and the letters. . . The cast made me a scrapbook, and each of them had a page in it related to me and to our relationship. The first couple of days, I tried to crack open some of that stuff and I just could not get through it. It was overwhelmingly emotional. It was just a great time in my life, an excellent group of people.”
On his wife, Nancy Carell, playing his wife in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.
“She gets to leave me right at the beginning! They used the take where her shoe came off in the car, and she bolted across that field with one shoe on. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her run that fast. We shot the scene on our 17th anniversary. [The director] got us a cake and the crew sang ‘Happy Anniversary’ to us. It was very sweet, a very special night.”
“She gets to leave me right at the beginning! They used the take where her shoe came off in the car, and she bolted across that field with one shoe on. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her run that fast. We shot the scene on our 17th anniversary. [The director] got us a cake and the crew sang ‘Happy Anniversary’ to us. It was very sweet, a very special night.”
For more from Carell, visit Parade.com:
JIMMY FALLON INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS ON PARADE.COMOn bringing out a silly side in his celebrity guests.
“I think our show just embraces the absurdity of it all. We have fun. It’s a very positive show and we don’t like to make anyone look bad. My job as a host is to make everyone look good. I think people see how much fun people have on the show, so they go, ‘Okay, cool, I can do that.’ Bruce Springsteen was our big breakthrough. When I did the bit with Bruce, that’s when people were like, ‘Wait, this is cool.’ These rock stars have a great sense of humor. They want to be funny, but they don’t always have the opportunity. I like to see people laugh who are normally serious. Everyone looks so much better when they smile.”
On coming face-to-face with people he’s impersonated.
“You think it’s going to be awkward, but it’s not. I’m not that mean when I do impressions. No one has ever gotten mad at me or told me to not do it anymore. I got to do Jerry Seinfeld in front of Jerry Seinfeld, and that was kind of scary for me because I didn’t know how he’d react. What was great about him is he actually changed his voice to sound more like my impression. He did an impression of me doing an impression of Jerry Seinfeld!”
“You think it’s going to be awkward, but it’s not. I’m not that mean when I do impressions. No one has ever gotten mad at me or told me to not do it anymore. I got to do Jerry Seinfeld in front of Jerry Seinfeld, and that was kind of scary for me because I didn’t know how he’d react. What was great about him is he actually changed his voice to sound more like my impression. He did an impression of me doing an impression of Jerry Seinfeld!”
On getting President Obama to “slow jam the news.”
“The White House called the show and said President Obama was going to different colleges to talk about his new initiative about wanting to stop Congress from raising the interest rates on student loans, and they wanted to know if I would want to do a sketch with him. And I said, ‘Of course!’ Then they asked if I would fly out to the college to do it with him, and I said, ‘Of course, but if we’re out there, we might as well do a whole show. Can I interview him on campus somewhere?’ And they said he might be interested, but that we couldn’t tell anybody. We had to keep it quiet, so we had a code name for it and it was ‘Bieber.’ Whenever we talked about it, we’d be like, ‘Are we still on board for Bieber?’ ‘Is Beiber going to happen?’ Then I said it would be great if we could do ‘slow jam’ with him because he could say exactly what he wants to say about the initiative, but it also has our flavor. So we sent it over to him and they were like, ‘He loves it!’ I don’t know if there’s a sitting president who has done a sketch on a late-night show. It was the craziest thing ever!”
“The White House called the show and said President Obama was going to different colleges to talk about his new initiative about wanting to stop Congress from raising the interest rates on student loans, and they wanted to know if I would want to do a sketch with him. And I said, ‘Of course!’ Then they asked if I would fly out to the college to do it with him, and I said, ‘Of course, but if we’re out there, we might as well do a whole show. Can I interview him on campus somewhere?’ And they said he might be interested, but that we couldn’t tell anybody. We had to keep it quiet, so we had a code name for it and it was ‘Bieber.’ Whenever we talked about it, we’d be like, ‘Are we still on board for Bieber?’ ‘Is Beiber going to happen?’ Then I said it would be great if we could do ‘slow jam’ with him because he could say exactly what he wants to say about the initiative, but it also has our flavor. So we sent it over to him and they were like, ‘He loves it!’ I don’t know if there’s a sitting president who has done a sketch on a late-night show. It was the craziest thing ever!”
For more on Obama’s sense of humor and Fallon’s best SNL memories, click here: