She’s played practical jokes on some of your favorite celebrities, performed insane sketches with comedic legends, and continues to make audiences laugh all night long in the Los Angeles comedy scene. Not Cool w/ Sarah Hyland is a weekly podcast where comedian/actress Sarah Hyland sits down with her favorite friends, comedians, and entertainment figures to give you all of their opinions on the coolest and uncoolest topics and trends from the 90’s through today.
Sarah Hyland: Born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. Sarah grew up performing and creating characters for her family to make them laugh. It worked and she knew that was her mission in life, to make people laugh. Hyland’s comedy career started when she was living in Chicago while attending The Art Institute. She worked at a juice bar next to Zanies Comedy Club. Sarah was inspired by the comedians that would come into her work like Doug Stanhope, Lewis Black and Victoria Jackson.
She started at Second City Chicago and quickly moved to LA after dropping out of art school to pursue comedy. Upon arriving in Los Angeles, Hyland continued her improv education at Second City LA, UCB and The Groundlings. She scored a series regular role on MTV’s Punk’d and Fox MADTv. Sarah been performing stand-up regularly at the World Famous Comedy Store in West Hollywood. Opeing for Margaret Cho and The Kims of Comedy with Bobby Lee. Hyland continues to perform at clubs all over Los Angeles and the country.
In this week’s episode, Hyland sits down with comedian/actor/podcaster Jamie Kennedy to talk art, acting and how overrated it is to be cool.
Jamie Kennedy: Jamie Kennedy, a multitalented comedian-actor-writer-producer, is a true hyphenate. He may be seen acting in a film one minute and on stage doing stand up the next. Kennedy skyrocketed to fame with a groundbreaking performance and scene-stealing rants in Wes Craven’s Scream and Scream 2. His portrayal of Randy Meeks, the video-store-clerk-turned-horror-hero with a knack for pop culture, secured him a place in the annals of horror movie history. He has gone on to work with some of Hollywood’s biggest names, including George Clooney, Eddie Murphy, Steve Martin, and Will Smith.
Most recently, Kennedy joined the cast of CBS’s “Ghost Whisperer” opposite Jennifer Love Hewitt. In September of 2008 Kennedy released Heckler, a documentary which he produced with Michael Addis. The film played at both the Tribeca and AFI Film Festivals and has been met with critical acclaim. Variety calls it “Hilarious!” and the New York Sun hails the film “A Must-See!” Heckler is a comedic feature documentary exploring the increasingly critical world we live in, and asks some interesting questions of people such as Jon Voight, George Lucas, Bill Maher, Mike Ditka, Rob Zombie and many more.
Kennedy was last seen on the big screen in his starring roles in Yari Film Group’s Kickin’ It Old Skool, and the Warner Bros. film Malibu’s Most Wanted. The film, which he also co-wrote, is based on the fictional Malibu rapper Brad Gluckman, one of the characters Kennedy created and often portrayed on “The Jamie Kennedy Experiment.” He will next be seen in the upcoming films, Finding Bliss, and Spring Break ‘83. He is also the executive producer of CBS’ game show entitled “Splitsville” in which divorcing couples battle over their personal possessions. Kennedy is also currently producing through his Jizzy Entertainment Shingle the psychological drama, In Northwood starring Nick Stahl. The film commenced filming in July 2008.
In 2002, Kennedy triumphed on the WB when he created the hit show “The Jamie Kennedy Experiment.” He was writer, producer, and star of the series, portraying a myriad of characters each week during the show’s three seasons. Returning to the WB again, Kennedy served as a co-creator and executive producer on the WB series “The Starlet” and “Living with Fran.” In the summer of 2006 Kennedy also brought “Blowin’ Up” to the small screen; a comedic reality series for MTV. The show followed him as he and sidekick Stu Stone attempted to achieve their lifelong dream of becoming rappers. They released their first album also titled “Blowin’ Up” in July 2006.
Kennedy also conquered the book market with the release of his autobiography “Wannabe…A Hollywood Experiment” in the summer of 2003. In the book, Kennedy shares his good and bad times, from his boyhood in Philly to his current Hollywood experiences.
As a teenager growing up near Philadelphia in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, Kennedy got a taste of Hollywood working as an extra in Dead Poets Society. A year later, he moved out to Los Angeles at age 18 and began performing improvisational comedy and stand-up at open-mic nights.
After much dues-paying, Kennedy got his first big break in 1996 with the role of Sampson in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet. Soon after, he was a breakout star of Scream and next appeared as a street hustler in James L. Brooks’ As Good As It Gets. The roles continued and in 1999 Kennedy co-starred in the Persian Gulf War movie Three Kings, directed by David O. Russell and starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg. That same year, he starred as a wannabe cinematographer opposite two of his biggest idols, Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy, in the comedy Bowfinger. In Boiler Room, Kennedy teamed up with Ben Affleck, Giovanni Ribisi and Vin Diesel to expose the dark side of Wall Street.
Amassed in a short time, Kennedy’s expansive list of movie credits also includes the animated feature Robots, Enemy of the State opposite Will Smith and Gene Hackman; Bait starring Jamie Foxx and David Morse; Max Keeble’s Big Move; Clockwatchers; Sol Goode; and The Specials with Rob Lowe and Thomas Haden Church, a film which Kennedy also produced.
Kennedy currently tours the country doing stand-up comedy. He resides in Los Angeles.
Checkout previous episodes of Not Cool w/ Sarah Hyland featuring Margaret Cho, Chase O’Donnell, Atsuko Okatsuka, Tiffany Haddish, and many more HERE
