Uh, did John C. Reilly and Stephen Colbert just become best friends? Well, if the CBS late-night host is as amused by Reilly’s story about the authenticity of his “Step Brothers” farts as we are, then the answer is “YUP!”
Reilly and Colbert met for the first time during Thursday’s “Late Show,” and took the opportunity to trade war stories about their respective tenures doing improv and theater in Chicago in the ’80s. Reilly — who was more a stage thespian at the time — started listing off all the actors he admired from those days, one being John Malkovich.
And, uh, you can thank John for inspiring Reilly to really go big with his bodily functions while shooting the 2008 comedy with Will Ferrell.
“I actually thought of Malkovich when I was doing ‘Step Brothers,’” Reilly said, to a laughing audience, adding: “I’ll get there, believe me.”
He continued: “So there’s this legend about Malkovich that he was doing ‘Curse of the Starving Class’ in Chicago at Steppenwolf, and his character has to pee on stage every night. And the legend was, ‘Malkovich peed on stage FOR REAL, every night. And all of us were like, ‘No way! No way! I would have such a shy weiner. That’s impossible! That’s like real method acting.’”
“So then I was doing ‘Step Brothers,’ and there were a couple of scenes where I needed to fart — and I farted on command!” Reilly revealed, proudly. “On camera! Actual farts!”
“And I thought like, ‘I’ve gotten to a Malkovich level now, because, you know, I can control my bodily functions for my acting.’”
Watch the interview above and a clip of one of the infamous fart scenes below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yyb1MQY0a8