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Behind The Seen: Thomas Lennon

Alternative Press - John Millin on 7/27/09 @ 3:32 PM - altpress.com

Admittedly, most of us know THOMAS LENNON as the sexually confused Lieutenant Jim Dangle from Reno 911! However, in addition to being a talented actor, this former member of the comedy troupe The State has also co-written his share of Hollywood blockbusters, including Night At The Museum and its upcoming sequel Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian. We caught up with Lennon to find out if working within the studio system is more uncomfortable for him than Dangle's signature shorts.

What do you think has been the secret to Reno 911!'s success?
I think the success of Reno 911!, which has been going on for six seasons now, is entirely based on the fact that the people who created the show-myself, Ben [Garant] and Kerri [Kenney-Silver]-are also in most of the scenes and writing the scripts. A lot of times when you do a traditional sitcom, every joke has to go through dozens of people like executives and junior executives and producers. Because we're both behind the camera and in front of the camera, none of our material is getting filtered by anybody.

Is it hard to not have that level of control when it comes to your higher-profile Hollywood screenplays?
It's weird because the bigger the project, generally the less input you get as a writer. But they've been really nice on Night At The Museum and Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian; they've kept us involved at every stage of the process, which isn't something that happens very much in the business. When people ask me about writing for the studio system, I say you really need to have a very thick skin and not take things personally because being a studio writer is rough. You get a lot of grief on the internet for something you wrote when, in fact, it was someone else's decision.

Do you ever feel like you have to simplify your writing style for mainstream audiences since The State and Reno 911! have such cult sensibilities?
Well, Reno 911! is really a cult show that's a hit, but most of the other work we've done was just cult-y. When The State was on the air, it was the worst-reviewed TV show ever; I think we got negative one-and-a-half stars in the New York Post. That's the dichotomy of our existence: We do very punk-rock TV shows and then giant studio blockbuster movies, because we have to do both to keep ourselves sane. Studio projects can go a million different directions, but regardless of what happens, we can always point to Reno 911! and say, "This is a completely unfiltered version of our sense of humor."

Correspondingly, the characters on Reno 911! are so believable. Do people ever confuse you with Dangle in real life?
You know, the weird thing is that every single person on the show is just a slight nudge away from being the caricature they are playing. Dangle pretty much is the gay biker cop inside of me, so if a butterfly had flapped its wings in a slightly different way, I could have just turned into that guy.

Final question: Are those shorts super uncomfortable or do you get used to them?
The shorts are horrible. Honestly, they were probably the worst idea I ever had in my entire life. When I say they're horrible, it's worse than you can imagine; it's almost impossible to sit down. But I will say to their credit once I put them on, I don't have to do any sort of acting exercises to get into character. As soon as I put those on, I have to act incredibly macho and tough-and when I act macho and tough, I sort of sound like Dangle. -Jonah Bayer

Catch Thomas Lennon in I Love You, Man (now playing), 17 Again (opening April 17) and in next month's Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian.

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