Actor Rob Corddry is at the top of his game in the HBO comedy “Ballers.”
Rob Corddry has always played characters slightly off center.
He’s great at embodying guys who are loudmouthed talkers or cringe-inducing jerks, as seen in films like “Hot Tub Time Machine” and “Blades of Glory” to TV shows such as “Community.” The actor, 47, has spent the last four years playing Joe Krutel, a wellmeaning but often awkward financial adviser, on HBO’s comedy “Ballers.”
The following is an edited transcript.
Q: Joe always seems to be trying too hard or getting himself into uncomfortable situations. What do you enjoy about playing him?
A: I like playing guys that are smart but don’t appear smart on the outset. It’s hard for me, Rob, to be embarrassed personally. I don’t get embarrassed easily. Joe is similar, but he’s usually in a position of embarrassed or about ready to be embarrassed. I love characters that just talk a little bit too much and get themselves into trouble. That’s my thing. I’ll play that to the day I die. I’m very happy with my particular pigeonhole.
Q: Did you always know that was the sort of guy you wanted to play?
A: No. When I had hair I was thinking I would play the leading man. I was doing Shakespeare
“I love characters that just talk a little bit too much and get themselves into trouble.”
most of the time. And I was always cast as the ( jerks). I was cast as the goofball who gets into trouble. The comic relief, basically. It took a long time for the lightbulb to go off over my head that perhaps my skills and vibe lay in other areas. And thank God it did because who wants to play a leading man? I’d rather be the one who tells the leading man, “Hey, you should go do that crazy thing! Nothing bad can happen to you.”
Q: Did you know much about the sports world before “Ballers”?
A: Nothing! It was so interesting to me. Because I play fantasy football and an ACL just meant that my guy was sitting on the bench for five or six weeks, or maybe even the whole season. But now I know more about the contractual issues.
Q: “Ballers” is known as a real guy’s show. Do you find that it also gets a lot of female fans?
A: Well, Elizabeth Warren, the good senator from Massachusetts, mentions “Ballers” and calls it her favorite show on the first page of her latest book. And I got the chance to ask her why. She’s the policy senator and this show is about different people at different stages of their career and different stages of their financial life. Whether they’ve got money for the first time or they’ve lost it all and they’re trying to get it back. I can see why she would be very interested in a show about financial managers.