A little over 75 days following the start of the 2023 SAG strike, actor-comedian Rob Riggle finds himself on some bleachers at the JFK hockey fields on the National Mall. At a time when most performers were weighing their career options or waiting out the strike entirely, Riggle has landed a new gig, at least temporarily. In the distance is the Washington Monument, but he’s focused on the task at hand: announcing the Pickleball on the Mall tournament. Work is work.
After starting out in the early 2000s with gigs on Late Night With Conan O’Brien, SNL, and The Daily Show, Riggle is one of this century’s most notable recurring faces in comedy, a yeoman who has grinded out appearances in shows ranging from Chappelle’s Show to The League and movies like 21 Jump Street. The bench of his résumé is surprisingly deep, making him one of this century’s great comedy utility players, a recognition that takes on a new kind of poignancy during an actors’ strike — particularly at a time that sees Hollywood shrinking the number of big mainstream comedies being green-lit. It is almost unfathomable now to recall a period where Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s bro-comedies dominated the box office, the exact kind of project that allowed a talent like Riggle to excel.
Serving as the official emcee for the Pickleball on the Mall tournament is the latest sports-themed gig for the Step Brothers actor and former ESPY host. At the end of the day, while he loves sports, this recurring career trend illustrates the way that working actors can get pigeonholed. “The truth is, I take the work where it comes,†he says. “In Hollywood, show business in general, if you do something well, they want you to keep doing it. We’ve all got to pay the bills.â€
Between Pickleball on the Mall, Holy Moley, and your appearances on Fox’s NFL Sunday, you often lean into comedic sports commentary. Growing up, did you have any sports announcers or commentators that you looked up to and might be channeling today?
With regards to sportscasters, they didn’t mix in much humor. They could be funny, have funny moments or be lighthearted, but I don’t think it was intentional. They were more like characters. I remember Jim McKay, just his voice and his presence. I remember Howard Cosell, believe it or not. He was one of the most imitated guys in the world at the time because he had such a great way of pronouncing things. John Madden — all these people, when you’re an animated person, it makes people want to watch you and gravitate toward you.
I was thinking about your time on The Daily Show, when you traveled to China during the 2008 Olympics, as part of the four-part “Rob Riggle: Chasing the Dragon†series. Even your early movie roles like Blackballed and Talledega Nights are sports themed.
Well, Blackballed was me and a group of friends, and we shot it on the weekends. We were all struggling artists living in New York. We would meet and get in a van, drive out into the country and film, then come back. We all had day jobs; we couldn’t get away. Nobody got paid for that. Ed Helms, Rob Corddry and Rob Huebel, Dannah Feinglass — a lot of Upright Citizens Brigade people.
One more sports link: You played Mark McGwire during a cold open while you were on SNL.
I did play Mark McGwire! Maybe it’s my physical size. I’m bigger than your average bear — not by much, but I have a look that’s believable when I do comedy around sports. I think he was going through some congressional hearings about steroids. I basically just had to play a big baseball player who is answering questions — it was not a stretch. I’m not an impersonator by any means. I more do characterization. When Will Ferrell used to do Bush, it was more of a characterization than a straight impersonation. Darrell Hammond is a savant when it comes to impersonation. There’s a lot of people out there like that.
Before you were cast on SNL, you appeared as an extra in a filmed parody for “Fear Factor Junior†during the Donald Trump episode in season 29. How did that come about?
SNL was considering me, so I’d gotten on their radar, and then they invited me to be a bit player in one of their pretape commercials. I came up and was learning stuff at the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York, then was doing bits on Conan like man in the audience, security guard, Tarzan, all these weird things. This was near the end of that season, so they brought me on to do that bit, then I got invited to audition that summer. And that’s how I got cast.
How did you get your correspondence gig on The Daily Show?
I auditioned like most people, and it was a process. I thought I blew it, to be honest with you. I was very fortunate that I got the offer, but they only did it six months at a time. Like: “You got the job, but it’s only six months.†Like, well damn, I had just moved out of New York to L.A. — I couldn’t move everybody back. I had to come out here, get a studio apartment off Craigslist, and at the end of six months, they said, “Good job, you get another six.†I was like, “I still can’t move my family out here!†That was the only thing that frustrated me about it. I wish they would’ve just said, “You’re here.†But that’s the way it worked for everybody at that time. But I was grateful to Jon, the writers and producers, my fellow correspondents. I was really kind of green. That show allowed me to grow into myself a little bit and discover more about the business of comedy.
It does feel like that job was the launching pad to the movie and high-profile guests spots you started doing in the subsequent years.
It definitely helped, for sure. But that is this business: All you can do is get a gig, do the best you can at it, and hope that leads to another gig. Life is a series of gigs, a series of jobs. Even if you’re on Modern Family, which runs for ten seasons and is one of the greatest shows? Great. It ends someday, and you don’t want your career to end, so you have to find another job. You’re always going to be looking for another job.
But in your case, the next jobs happen to be some of the greatest comedy of the 21st century: Arrested Development, The Office. You’re at the highest level, aren’t you?
I don’t know. I hope so! I’m very honored to have been a part of any of those shows. I don’t take it granted at all. I just love comedy. I just did a show with Matt Besser on his podcast, improv4humans. It was just improv but on Zoom. I was dying laughing, just sitting there listening to all these guys create.
I think one of my favorite improvised scenes in anything ever is your “Pow!†scene in Step Brothers.
That was a reshoot. We had to come back and film that. None of it was scripted. There’s a deleted scene where I have a heart attack — that was the original scene! They said Will’s character was too passive in that scene and they wanted him to be more assertive. Like: “I’m snapping necks and cashing checks!†“I want the mixer.†Right? In that heart-attack scene, it wasn’t that. It was something else. So they were like, “We have to reshoot it so he’s more aggressive.â€
It was just Adam Scott, me, and Will. We came back in. The thing about improv is you have to deal with what people give you. So Adam said, “Well, Randy here is going to eat your dick.†If I say, “No, I’m not,†the scene is over. Classic rule: “Yes and.†So I was like, “Yes I will … like Kobayashi.†“Yes and†add material, add information. So it was just classic improv to make each other laugh. I’m Adam Scott’s henchman, and he’s barking at Will. As a henchman, what do I do? I had to think about it: What would I actually do in this situation? I’d try to get in his face too! But I couldn’t. All I could do was jerk at him and make these motions. And started to yell “Pow!†to punctuate Adam.
For whatever reason, it tickled Will. It got him every time, me screaming, so they said to keep doing it: “Just be as obnoxious as you can.†Which is the note I got most of the time: “Be obnoxious, and make Will’s life hard.†It’s like when we’re at the mixer and I’m like, “I don’t know what it is about your face,†my whole mission was to make it hard for him and make his life impossible, and he has to deal with it. And Will is the best straight man in the world. He’s a great goofy character, but he is the best straight man. So good, so talented.
You previously hosted the ESPYs — would you ever consider returning to The Daily Show as the new permanent host?
In a heartbeat. Obviously it’s one of those things where I have no say, so … [Laughs.] But it would have been an honor.
Any gut checks on who they might be considering to replace Trevor Noah?
I truly don’t know. I did enjoy watching everybody they brought in for like a week. Wanda Sykes nailed it, in my opinion. They’ll choose right, and I hope they choose well. I want The Daily Show to be another institution like SNL.
This interview has been edited.