If you haven’t seen Neighbors, the Nicholas Stoller directed comedy starring Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne and Zac Efron, I suggest you stop what you’re doing and go watch it. Now. The comedy is fresh, ridiculous and fun, and a big part of that should be attributed to co-star Ike Barinholtz. Barinholtz, who also stars on The Mindy Project, plays Seth Rogen’s slightly ridiculous best friend Jimmy and he steals scenes left and right with the over the top character. Nerdist spoke with Barinholtz about what stayed on the cutting room floor of Neighbors, his character in The Mindy Project and, of course, showing love for “the weird shit.”
Barinholtz plays Jimmy, best friend to Seth Rogen’s Mac and ex-husband to other best friend Paula, played by Carla Gallo. How was it for the actor to play opposite Gallo? “I’ve been a fan of hers ever since Undeclared. She’s so funny… Right away we just, from the first rehearsal, nailed the relationship I feel like… [We] shot like a seven hour movie in this 90 minutes so there’s crazy scenes where we’re just like screaming at each other and, ‘Fuck you, you ruined my life!'” Barinholtz sums up his and Gallo’s characters like this: “They are messes. They are true messes.”
The actor is also part of the cast of The Mindy Project, a project that he’s clearly excited about. “I really feel like that show, The Mindy Project, gets funnier and funnier. I think last season’s great…” When asked about his character on the show, Barinholtz proclaims, “He is so fucking annoying. That’s the thing. I always say things like, ‘My character’s a fucking piece of shit.’ He’s the most meddlesome, fucking in your face — [but] he loves everyone. He wants to do well.”
As Barinholtz is working in film and television comedy now, what would he like to do next? “I want to hopefully do another movie with Seth [Rogen]. They’re the guys out there that I think right now, amongst others, that are really unafraid to do weird projects.” He continued, “[T]hey’re just… the most exciting film makers out there right now. I loved This is the End. I think it’s a fucking masterpiece of comedy. It was so funny and weird. No one else can make that movie.” He added, “I think this is a very good time for comedy. Whether it’s a movie like Neighbors, or if you turn on TV and it’s Silicon Valley, or The Mindy Project, or Brooklyn 99, or like weird shit like Portlandia, which I fucking love. This weird shit. There’s just a lot of really good comedy out there. It’s a really good time for it.”
Neighbors, starring Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Zac Efron, Dave Franco and Ike Barinholtz, is in theaters now. For more from Ike Barinholtz, check out his recent stint on Chewin’ It.
