Ed Helms in The Hangover

I Went to College with This Guy. 

Ed Helms, star of The Hangover, took a tip from his former colleague on The Daily Show and current co-star on The Office, Steve Carrell, and went “all out” as the kids say, to nail his role in The Hangover.

As you might remember, Steve Carrell endured a full chest waxing for his role in the The 40 Year Old Virgin.  The scene was totally unscripted and could only be shot (for obvious reasons) in one take.  The reactions you see from Carrell’s castmates, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, and Romany Malco (you may know him as the black dude on Weeds), are real reactions; no acting involved.

 

Ed Helms took a cue from Carrell.  (Ed is, incidentally, a former acquaintance of mine–we both went to Oberlin College at the same time; he sang in the men’s a cappella group, the Oberlin Obertones (which is why his character on The Office sings a cappella all the damn time) while I was music director for two years of the women’s a cappella group, Nothing But Treble–we sang in concerts together and we likely at some point sat around in the same drum circles wearing Birkenstocks and overalls while talking about subverting the dominant paradigm.)

For his role in The Hangover, he actually had a tooth removed (well, an implant that he’d had since he was 15, but still… he had a goddamn tooth removed!…that’s commitment):

The role called for Helms’ character to lose a tooth and after make-up techniques, failed to work, Helms decided to take extreme measures. He explains, “I had a baby tooth and when that fell out I never had an adult tooth. I’ve had this implant since I was 15 and I hadn’t taken it out in 20 years – until this movie. “When the part came up we actually tried a few alternatives, like blacking it out and using a prosthetic device, which made me look like a horse… Then I just called my dentist and I took it out for three months. “He (dentist) actually had to break the crown off and then unscrew the post from the implant. That leaves a huge hole in your gum and the tissue has to stay healthy, so he screwed in a piece that his lab made that matched my gum tissue. Once the movie was done I got a fresh new implant.”

Good for you, Ed. I’ve been following him since his days on The Daily Show, to his role as Andy Bernard on The Office, and now he’s getting rave reviews for The Hangover. 15 years ago, I never would’ve thunk he’d get so famous, but he did and I say kudos, brother.

Way to go, dude.

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