At Mr. Man, we were so thrilled to sit down and talk to Dave Sheridan, a comic actor we've admired for a while now. The comedian and actor who loves to do anything for a laugh or a juicy role talked with us about his upcoming film Blood Craft and about some of his iconic roles in Scary Movie and Ghost World.
Keep reading to learn more about Dave Sheridan who was an absolute blast to talk to. This charming actor gave us the scoop about his vacuum masturbation scene, his nude scene in The Walking Deceased, his upcoming projects, the craziest show he worked on in the past and so much more!Warning:he might become your next obsession!
Mr. Man:What made you decide to go into show business?
David Sheridan: Well, I've always been the show part, so the business part I'm still trying to learn. I studied a lot of show! Even in college, I was a filmmaker and looking back I tell my kids "if you don't know what you want to do, take business because the world is business."
MM: Were you always kind of a class clown?
DS: Yeah, I would say when I was first told to be an actor was when I was in kindergarten. I remember the exact moment in kindergarten, my teacher was Mrs. Ham -
MM: Mrs. Ham?
DS: Yeah, H-A-M, Mrs. Ham.
MM: That's a great name.
DS: Yeah! I was playing astronauts. She made these helmets out of Clorox bottles - you know those Clorox bleach bottles? She'd clean them out and we'd cut them and make them into astronaut helmets. I remember it was cleanup time, but I was too busy playing astronauts, so she was getting mad at me. I told her when I grow up I want to be an astronaut - cause this was like '73 so at that time Apollo and Gemini and all that had happened. Astronauts were hot back then! It was very cliche to say I wanted to be an astronaut. But I remember she said - and she said it right in my face - she said, "You're not cut out to be an astronaut, but you could become an actor and maybe someday you can be in a movie where you play an astronaut." All right! That sounds good to me. I remember her saying that and that's what I set out to do.
And by the way, a movie that came out in December called Beyond White Space is availablein iTunes and VOD. In that film, I get to play an astronaut.
MM:So it happened!
DS: I'm wearing the astronaut suit and I get to do the spacewalk and the whole thing. Ithappened!
MM:Did that feel like it came full circle for you?
DS: It did. I never forgot that moment. I remember when I was hanging on this green screen apparatus they had me on wires in that spacesuit and that never feels good, just to let you know. It's completely the opposite of being weightless in space. It's like putting all the weight on your testicles. There's a strap and a mountain climbing-type harness and it really goes tight on your groin, so when you're hanging there all of your weight kind of compresses in a V into your crotch area. So when you see me floating in space and I look ecstatic like an ethereal being, I'm not. That's the face of a guy getting his testicles crunched.
MM:Iread that you got your start in Chicago. What kinds of things did you do before you made your way to Hollywood?
DS: I was at the Second City in Chicago and I did it all. I performed, I worked, I assistant-directed. I went on from there to direct and produce a pilot at Second City and it was kind of a prank show. It was a tour guide prank show, kind of thing. That morphed into my first show at MTV called Buzzkill which was a prank show. It was essentially that pilot.
MM:Do you feel most comfortable in comedy?
DS: It's where I cut my teeth. At Second City, it's all improv and we were taking cameras out and improvising in public. It felt like early Borat/Ali G kind of stuff, but it was '92 or '93. Buzzkill was like that where I did characters but also pranked people in that world. Through that, I had my foot in the door for a lot of hidden camera shows on TV. I did one for Playboy called Totally Busted.
Two hidden camera shows that stick out - cause I've done so many of them - but the two that stick out are Totally Busted and one that was only two or three episodes called Smile! You're Under Arrest.It was me and Sherrif Joe Arpaio -
MM:Oh my god --
DS: Sherrif Joe deputized me. I had a badge and everything. I went undercover on these sting operations that were also pranks. People thought they were coming to be an extra on a movie set for the day and I'd play the director and we'd have the movie be like Green Mile or something. The extra would go from thinking they're in a jail cell to being arrested. We'd be like 'that camera guy is an officer! You're under arrest'. It was really edgy. I was the guy, I was the host, so I had the big reveal where I'd say "You're not really an extra in a movie. Smile! You're Under Arrest". It was...kind of depressing at the same time for me because I was arresting people. I'm worried I have a bunch of Krusty the Clowns waiting in prison waiting for me when they get out - not Krusty, but who was the evil clown?
MM: Oh, yeah. Sideshow Bob?
DS: Yeah! That's how I felt when I arrested these guys. They knew who I was and they'd be hunting my IMDB waiting for me when they get out.
MM:Can we talk for a second about Scary Movie andyour character Officer Doofy?
DS: I'm glad you asked me about the Second City stuff because it goes all the way back to that. I'd make those characters out in public and one of the characters I had was named Chip. Chip is, in all essence, Officer Doofy. Chip was based on a kid I knew in my neighborhood. He was bitten by a dog and given the wrong medication -- This is a true story.
MM:Really?
DS: Yeah. So the medicine messed him up and he was Doofy basically. He was also a millionaire because he sued the doctor and the hospital for the wrong medication, so not only was he less-than-there, but he had a lot of money. So people would take advantage of him all the time. I made a short film where I played Chip. Keenan Ivory Wayans saw that film. At that time - we're talking late 90s - they floated around on VHS. VHS was kind of going out, but there were still VHS tapes going around. Keenan was a fan of my stuff and he liked Chip, so when he had that character modeled after David Arquette he said why don't you just do Chip. So that's how Doofy basically came about.
MM: From the circulating VHS tapes?
DS: It was a little more interesting for sure than how it happens now when things go viral. So back then we got a Chevron shirt from a thrift store, so I went to a Chevron gas station in it as Chip and pretended I worked there and the guy that worked there felt so bad that he didn't tell me I didn't work there. He kept telling me, "You're doing a good job!" I was doing everything wrong - ringing up their items or cleaning their windows - but everyone was so nice because they thought I was special. They thought I was like the owner's son or something even though I wasn't really cleaning their windows or anything. It was actually dirty water and I was making it worse.
MM:Ah, that old prank.You had a very iconic scene with a vacuum in Scary Movie --
DS:Oh yeah.
MM:What was it like to film that?
DS: Before we talk about that, let me take a second to tell you about my Doofy character and David Arquette.
MM:Did you meet David Arquette?
DS: No, I never met David Arquette before shooting. I never knew him personally, I had never met him. I did live next to his family house growing up, so I was his neighbor, but I never actually met him. I introduced myself to him one day and I shook his hand before I got to finish telling him who I was he just stared at me and he said, "I know. I know who you are." He was kind of mad.
MM:No way! I'd think he would think it was funny.
DS: I don't know if he took is so kindly.
MM: It doesn't sound like it.
DS: Maybe it wasn't so much my performance. Maybe it was that he enjoyed the vacuum! So to get back to your question, Doofy has a scene where he masturbates with the vacuum - is that what you're referring to?
MM:Yes, that's what I'd call 'the iconic vacuum scene'.
DS: Great. Here's the thing: again going back to those viral videotapes, Keenan and those guys knew I had no boundaries. They knew whatever they told me to do, I'm gonna go do. That was another element of me getting that role. If you look at all the work I've done with the Wayans, that's almost always my role.
MM:That's a good relationship to have with them.
DS: It is. With the vacuum scene, though, that scene was not in the script. I didn't know anything about it, but that's not to say they hadn't thought of it. I don't know if they didn't want to tip it off to me or other people to know or what, but it wasn't in the script. So I show up to shooting and I said, "What scene is this? What's scene #65BX or whatever it is". They had me come around the corner and there it all was. The whole set. they had it all set up: the bedroom, the vacuum. They told me what to do and said, "it's okay if you're not cool with it. You don't have to do it, but everything is all set up and everyone is here." It was a weird amount of pressure! They kind of walked me into it. They literally walked me around the corner and said, "Come up with something". It was a fun scene for sure.
MM:It's crazy they surprised you with it.
DS: Yeah, I think they didn't want to give me a chance to think it through. But as Keenan was walking me over to the set he was like, "You know one of the reasons I cast you is because you're the kind of guy who has the balls. There's no vanity in comedy." That's what he would say, "There's no vanity in comedy."
MM:At Mr. Man, we lovewhen you show your ass in The Walking Deceased, what was it like toactually go nude? Did you have any hesitation with that?
DS: No. What's kind of funny about that is that those are good bookends. Scary Movie was literally my first feature, so everything was kind of new and I was the rookie. Keenan was a veteran creator, director, instrumental to Jim Carrey's career, so I was really listening and paying attention. The opposite would beThe Walking Deceased where some friends of mine raised some money to make a spoof of The Walking Dead and wanted me to play the sheriff. I said I'll do it! I love that show. This was totally different. It was done on a credit card, there was hardly a script. It was all just young people starting out their careers, so I was the older guy. I was the veteran on that set. It was the opposite. They didn't ask me to go nude. I ripped my pants off and was like, "this will be great, trust me."
MM:So then how do you feel in general about nudity in movies? You seem to have a good attitude about it.
DS: I certainly would've had a better attitude when I was younger and things were tighter and in their place. I'm fifty, so not everything is in its place. I may be too critical about myself for my age, but I realize as a man ages the rest of his body starts to look like how his testicles look his entire life. You become your testicles.
MM:That's a great way to put it.
DS: Hey, it's a good thing if you really love testicles.
MM:Since this is Mr. Man, we have to ask what are your favorite movie sex scenes?
DS: Hmmm, I have a terrible memory. And also I'm not fifteen anymore. I have been watching all the James Bond movies with my son and there are a lot of sexy scenes in those. Before we watched those we watched all The Pink Panther ones and there are some funny love scenes with Peter Sellers.
MM:Tell us a little bit about your new movie Blood Craft.
DS:Blood Craft is coming out on April 9th and it's definitely a divergence for me. It's in a different direction than what I'm mostly known for which is lighter fare, but this is dark. This is a dark film. It's definitely the most dramatic role that I've played because I play a reverend who is a really bad seed. He's stealing money from the congregation, he's an alcoholic, and when his wife dies he molests his daughters. I don't want to give the whole thing away, but I do some really dark stuff.
MM:That's really heavy.
DS: It was something I'm not used to doing! The lighter fare, when they turn the camera off I'm joking around with everyone. Here - cause I'm not Daniel Day-Lewis he's probably a guy who can snap in and out of characters -
MM: Oh, no, he's specifically a well-known method actor.
DS: Okay, so I was doing like method-lite. I was doing transference. So I was putting my own darkness in there so it translates in some way. I can't make myself cry on command, so I had to take myself to these dark places to make it real. I couldn't snap in and out of it once I was already there, so on set I really stayed in those places. I hope no one on set was like 'what a jackass! He's just brooding over there in a corner!' The difference is doing this kind of role is so draining. It blows to many serotonin levels, so at the end of the day, your tank is totally empty.
MM: That sounds so exhausting.
DS: It is, yeah. So you have The Walking Deceased on the website?
MM: Yeah, we do.
DS: I've probably got some stuff from a long time ago that might be interesting to you. I washaving sex with a pig in bed once.
MM:Did you say...a pig?
DS: Yeah, a pig.
MM:What for?
DS: I don't want to say because it never got released, but that's out there somewhere. It'll come out someday.
MM:What are you working on next?
DS:Patsy Lee and The Keepers of the 5th Kingdom it's with James Hong and Bai Ling. It's like a martial arts comedy. James Hong is a great character actor and martial artist, a really funny guy. He and I have a one-on-one, really physical fight scene. He's 89 years old! And I'm 50, but he was hitting me with a cane full force. Everyone was like 'please don't break his hip!'. And he wanted to do it. He wanted to do his own stunts, but actually, his stunt double Craig does a lot of his stunts - but Craig is kind of old, too. At one point I ask him how old he is and he says, "Oh, I'm 72". The 89-year-old's stunt double is 72!
MM:That sounds like a lot of fun.
DS: Yeah, it really was.
MM:Did you train for that?
DS: No! I've done some martial arts training in the past, but that's about it. ...I wish I had more nude stuff for you guys.
MM:You should give us some more scenes! We do have your scene from Ghost World on here.
DS: Oh, yeah, there are nunchucks in that, so that shows off some of my martial arts stuff there.
MM:Thanks for talking to us today and hopefully we get some more nude scenes, so we can talk to you again.
DS: Thank you!
