A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

ON WHAT MAKES ZACH GALIFIANAKIS LIKE HARPO MARX AND THE COOKIE MONSTER: John Landis, Judd Apatow, Adam McKay, Todd Phillips and Edgar Wright talk comedy with GQ, including Landis' story of how Richard Pryor helped get Animal House released after the studio objected to the Dexter Lake Club scene. A slightly NSFW excerpt after the fold:

Landis: What I loved about The Hangover is that Zach's character is obviously mentally ill. I loved that he roofied them and they sort of get over it. They're not mad at him. It reminded me of John Belushi in Animal House. All he does is destroy everything—but he's lovable! It's like Cookie Monster or Harpo Marx. I mean what the fuck's with Harpo Marx? He's the weirdest character ever. What's he going to do with those women when he catches them?

Apatow: He's gonna gently make love to them.

McKay: That's the Third Lead, which is the best comic position you can have. Todd used Ferrell like that in Old School. We had it with Steve Carell in Anchorman. It's the guy who gets to break all the rules. He has no story responsibility. He just gets to fuck shit up.

Phillips: What's interesting about all of those guys—Belushi included—is that they have this face—a kind of sweetness to them. It's like they could say or do anything because their eyes are really innocent. Zach had this line in The Hangover where he says he's not allowed within 200 feet of a school. Zach and I talked about that line a lot and, you know, it's not because of what you think. It's because he wants to hang out and skateboard with the 12-year-olds.