Name: John C. Reilly On What Boogie Nights Is REALLY About
Uploaded: 2026-01-11T18:00:58.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'John C. Reilly On What Boogie Nights Is REALLY About' from TAFS Clips on Comedy Buff. Published 2026-01-11. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'John C. Reilly On What Boogie Nights Is REALLY About' from TAFS Clips on Comedy Buff. Published 2026-01-11. Transcript available.

Really, there's a trend right now among people that tell stories, that make
television shows,
that do reality TV, that make movies where it's this posture people take where
the world
sucks, okay?
This is what's wrong with the world and there it is, watch this movie and you'll
understand
why the world sucks and people are ultimately stupid and they're not smart and
there's
no redeeming characters in this story, there's nothing good, you're gonna walk
out of here
and realize the world's a piece of shit, right?
Except I already know that, I read the news every day, so this whole trend, to
me people
who are misanthropes are overly sensitive people who have decided if the world's
not perfect,
it's a piece of shit.
And I think the truth about life is actually much more nuanced than that.
If you're at a funeral, someone will make a joke and you might smile at a
funeral.
If you're at a birthday party, you notice that kid is having a hard time.
So to me, that's the truth about life.
When I see art, I want it to reflect the truth about life, that it's
complicated, that sometimes
people are shitty, but sometimes even shitty people do something good.
Because at the bottom of it all, all of us have good and bad in us, right?
So to take this posture of a misanthrope and to be cynical about the way the
world is, I
think is lazy.
Yeah.
I think it's immature.
I think it's something like a 15-year-old who listens to death metal, "You know
what?
Fuck it, man.
The whole world sucks."
Well, if you grow up a little bit, you'll see-
It's an adolescent thought.
Yeah, the whole thing doesn't suck.
There's joy out there every day.
There's something out there every day.
Also, you're human too, right?
I think what I'm picking up on is that just the fucking movies are all trying
to engage
with a discourse these days about the public contemporary moment.
And sometimes you just want to see a movie about this kid has a big dick, and
then he starts
doing porn, right?
And then he starts doing coke.
Yeah, but you know what that movie's about?
You know what Boogie Nights is about?
Boogie Nights is about choosing your family and finding your family.
But we get that-
It's a family movie.
We get that in the context of, like, this kid has a big dick, and his mom's
mean-
His mother's a nightmare, so he finds another mother.
He finds Julianne Moore instead of his actual mother.
Yeah.
He chooses his family, and at the end, he's happy.
He's found a family that loves him.
Yeah.
I mean, it's not about porn, actually, to me, but-
I think that that- I've read Paul saying that about the movie, too.
You know?
And, like, when you go like this during the- yeah.
I wasn't aware that I did it.
Yeah, when apparently he takes out the monster.
Oh!
Yeah.
It's so funny.
I mean, that movie is so funny.
I mean, like-
That is a sexy scene in that movie, and you don't see any nudity in it.
With her first scene with him, is it okay if I come and you- yeah, baby,
whatever you want.
Like, there's something so hot about that, and it's not even the explicit part
of the movie.
Don't- yeah, you know her probably, so don't tell her, but I was- I was so- I
was so in love with her.
It's crazy.
When I watched that movie-
If you include that in this segment, she's gonna find out.
Heather Graham?
I was talking about Julianne Moore.
She's gonna watch this?
Heather Graham?
I was talking about Julianne Moore.
Roller Girl.
Oh, no, no.
That scene.
No, dude.
I was talking about Julianne Moore.
Julianne Moore's first scene with Dirt.
That's straight to Julianne Moore.
Yeah, yeah.
That's that one.
I thought it was when-
That was intimacy.
When Roller Girl does the-
Yeah, okay.
That's for a 15-year-old boy?
Yeah.
That was my bar mitzvah.
Yeah.
That was a- that was a formative moment in my life.
Anyway.
I had a similar experience when I watched Dangerous Liaisons, and Uma Thurman
does that.
I literally, I was with a wonderful, dear, departed, dear friend of mine, this
gay fellow named
Ted, went to see that movie with me.
And after we came out, I was like, I turned and I was like, "Oh my God, Ted,
how about
that girl?"
And he's like, "Oh, I know you like that."
And I was like, "What?"
And he's like, "You really don't know what you said?"
And I was like, "What?"
He said, "When she lifted up her shirt like that, you said, "Oh my God."
You didn't realize.
Out loud.
Out loud.
And the audience laughed at me.
And I was completely like-
You're in a trance?
You have children?
I do.
I have two sons.
One thing, my friends are becoming parents recently.
Look, this guy's Jewish.
Boom.
This guy's Jewish, and this guy's Jewish.
These two are Catholic.
You can't- oh, cousins.
Nice.
You're an Irish Catholic?
Yeah, I'm an Irish Catholic.
Yeah.
They're the best people on earth, the Irish.
Are they?
I think so.
Yeah, they're pretty good.
There's a soul.
They got a nice little democracy over there right now, I'll tell you that.
Do you feel like, why are they coming over here taking American roles?
Why do those bastards go back over?
I'm not going over there playing Sinead.
It's funny that-
I'm not going to play Sinead O'Connor, go over there, even though I could very
easily.
You know, the crazy thing is that what they're saying about people from Latin
America, about
coming and taking God, this is exactly what they said about Italians and Irish
and Polish
and everyone else before.
Like, it's the same old song, you know?
But they're better at acting than us now?
Well, I do have a little bit of a bone to pick about some of that.
Like, the Australians, like, try going to Australia as an actor and making it
in movies.
Well, it's America.
They would be like, what are you doing here?
We're the best.
You're not Australian.
Why would you come here to tell Australian stories?
But somehow, we're much cooler behind us.
Some of the, like, worst comedians go over to London, they get big.
Because they don't understand what's funny over there.
Yeah.
In stand-up.
That's not true.
No, no, their satire is better than us.
Steve Coogan sells out stadiums.
They obviously understand what's funny.
Their stand-up isn't good.
Their satire isn't good.
Oh, okay.
Miles, light years ahead of us.
Like, because it's a-
I haven't seen enough stand-up there, but I might agree with you.
All the stand-up is like, "Oi, and if you don't think that a trans person is a
human being,
maybe stop it?"
And then it's a huge laugh.
And it's like, it's not a joke, but it's a good-
That sounded like New Zealand, that accent, but-
If you don't think, if you don't think a trans woman is a woman, maybe not, don't.
And then they laugh.
But it's that, which I agree with, but it's like, they make points.
Like, their satire is amazing because they used to run the world.
And then they had to go back to their shitty gray place.
That's the key to understanding the English.
And-
They just can't believe they don't have the world anymore.
They're just-
If only they would listen to us again!
We could fix all of this!
There's an inherent irony in that, don't you think?
Like, they're like, they just had to say goodbye.
Like, you know?
Like, they were like, "Goodbye."
It was a little more violent than that in Ireland.
Yeah.
Well-
And in India.
I mean, Ireland is the Palestine of England, basically.
Well, that's why-
Yeah.
I think the Irish are so supportive of the Palestinian people because they
understand what it's like to be under the heel of, you know, a superior
military force.
But you just want them out of Hollywood.
The Irish?
Yeah, yeah.
They're taking all our jobs!
No, man.
Come on, dude.
It's a free country.
It's still a free country.
Who's this Kyogen thinking he could-
He's great.
That kid's great.
Yeah, yeah.
He looks intense.
So, I just want to talk, like, moving forward, like, you have a music project
coming out.
Transitioning career-wise, like, is this just something additionally you want
to do or something you want to focus on moving forward?
Yeah.
Well, music in general for me is like something I've always done since I was a
kid.
I do in musicals, but it's something since I became a professional actor,
something I've always done to keep me from doing things I shouldn't be doing in
movies.
Uh-huh.
Because I know as an actor and I know actors in general like to feel like we're
working, we're useful, the world wants me to work, and so we end up taking
stuff we shouldn't take.
Yeah.
So, I started doing music so that I would have enough patience to, like, wait
for the next good thing to do.
Yeah.
So, I could have something I was inspired by and then I thought gave something
back to the world.
Yeah.
And this one in particular, this project in particular, was really about, like,
trying to address what's going on with this lack of empathy and the separation
between people.
You know, computers have done a real number on us.
The last thing is, like, in terms of, like, the music that you're influenced by
and interested in, it seems like it's heavily influenced by Americana and, like,
American folk music.
I mean, like Bob Dylan, I contain multitudes, you know.
Right.
I used to have a blues band.
I used to have a folk band that did, like, you know, roots music, for lack of a
better word, or country music.
And now I have this sort of vaudeville act.
Yeah.
That does songs for the American Songbook.
A few Tom Waits songs.
What tracks are you out of there?
Look at this beautiful insert.
Where is that?
This is a--
It's not a photograph.
This is all fake.
Yes, it's a photograph.
It's a real photograph of me.
These rocks are real.
And then this is a painted painting that they put behind it.
Why'd they paint you 6-3, though?
Yeah.
I mean, I think it's like--
Steven Berkman.
You should look up his work.
That's who shot this photograph, too.
And this photograph.
This is a photograph that's been painted over.
So is it your-- like, so you get MCU offers, then you're like, I'm going to the
studio?
Yeah, basically.
That's kind of chill.
I did do one MCU thing, and I was like, that's enough.
Which one did you do?
I was in "Guardians of the Galaxy."
Oh, that one was fun.
Yeah.
Which-- what did you do?
I found it really hard.
I found it hard.
I couldn't like-- anyway, I don't want to get into this.
Well, it's just like, it's all like-- what I understand is like, it's like blue
screen.
There's a lot of that.
Yeah.
There's also-- for the first time in my life, I found it hard to memorize lines.
Did you have like ping pong balls?
There were no like-- there was no emotional content to it.
Yeah.
It was all just like facts and plot points and things about spaceships.
And I was like, I just couldn't get it into my head or into my heart or
something.
I don't know.
You didn't have to wear one of those motion-tracking ping pong clothes?
No, I didn't have to do that.
That would have been cool.
Right?
The guy-- yeah.
The onesie?
The guy who was doing the raccoon was in a green morph suit.
Bradley Cooper?
No.
The director's brother was actually on the set in a green-- you know, it's
crazy.
Coop is like Bob Dylan.
He's making some other schmuck go out there instead of the Coop playing the raccoon?
The director's brother played the raccoon so that people had something to look
at.
But he was like much taller than the raccoon.
So it was very strange.
He had to wear this morph suit.
Then he would crouch down.
Like, I don't know.
It was very strange.
It's insane.
Look at like making all the Guardians of the Galaxy.
You'll see.
It's crazy.
how