Entertainment :: Television
Joel McHale :: From Soup to prime-time by Fred Topel
EDGE ContributorWednesday Sep 2, 2009
There is precedent for an E! talk show host to become an an actor, even an Oscar nominated one as in the case of Talk Soup’s first host Greg Kinnear. Hal Sparks, the show’s third host, went on to some fame in the American version of Queer as Folk. Now the show (renamed The Soup) can claim another host-turned-actor as Joel McHale goes prime time in a new comedy series.
This fall, McHale stars in NBC’s new comedy Community. Set at a local community college, McHale plays Jeff, a disbarred lawyer who has to start over. He’s still trying to run scams on his fellow classmates, for example setting up a fake study group so he can hit on a sexy Spanish student. Perhaps the role is not such a stretch.
Still a wise-ass
"You will see some of the same smart assery," McHale said. "Obviously, it’s different. I’m acting and playing a character, but what I’m so happy about is it is a comedy. I think the show has a big huge heart."
As for whether audiences are going to accept McHale multi-tasking, he looks to precedent set by Kinnear.
"Hopefully, this is strange comparison, but when Kinnear was doing Talk Soup, he immediately did Sabrina and people were like whoa, that’s crazy but we’re going to buy both of them. So I hope the same thing happens."
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