College Times

Media Credit: Courtesy Fox Atomic

Who would’ve ever thought getting past the word “Whammy” would be so difficult? David Koechner played sports guy Champ Kind in “Anchorman,” and even though he’s been in plenty of movies since, Koechner still finds himself more commonly linked to “Whammy” than anything else in his career.

He hopes to break that mold in his first leading role as Coach Lambeau Fields in the sports spoof, “The Comebacks,” which lands in theaters this weekend.

College Times: Since this is your first true leading role in a big Hollywood comedy, did you have to pimp yourself for the job or did they come to you?

David Koechner: The script was sent to me and I met with Tom Brady, the director, and we had a very nice breakfast and I said I’d love to do the picture.

How hard is it for that guy being the other Tom Brady?

Yeah, he gets that a lot, especially working on a sports movie. He has children out of wedlock; is that what you’re inferring? (Laughs)

With some sports movies, they spend months and months training the actors to look authentic. For “Miracle,” they went out and got good skaters who could learn to act. With “The Comebacks” being a comedy, was there any emphasis placed on being able to play football or at least look like you could?

Here’s the thing: In this movie, you wouldn’t have to know anything about sports and you’d be just as well-suited to play the part. I don’t know, I’m assuming a knowledge of football helps. I grew up being a fan of the sport, played a little bit in high school, so I understand the game. I don’t know how to act, so that was the real challenge. (Laughs)

One of the calling cards of this film is the multiple sports movies it spoofs. Is there one that stands out to you?

They’re all fun to play and parody, so I don’t know if there’s one that’s more fun than the others, but there was always something fun to do everyday. And there’s such a variety of sports to parody. I will tell you this: There was a “We Are Marshall” joke that the entire cast decided, we didn’t feel it was appropriate to do. So we didn’t. There’s nothing funny there. That’s just a tragedy. How about that for bringing everything down? So we did a “Friday Night Lights” parody instead.

You’ve had a string of movie roles since “Anchorman” and, of course, “Naked Trucker and T-Bones” on Comedy Central. Are you trying to find one project you can stick with for a while on TV or are you happy just making movies for the time being?

I’m currently developing a project for NBC, a half-hour pilot, and we’ll see where it goes. With film, you have three months of fun and you’re done. The good thing with television is it’s usually near your house.

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