Judah Friedlander

[On working on 'Who Is Chris Rock?' and if he still records sound]
Judah Friedlander: That credit is misleading. I was helping out a friend in film school. He was doing a 10 minute documentary on Chris. I held the microphone. I still record sound. I record my own farts. And then I listen to them years later and try and remember what each one smelled like.

[On his hats]
Judah Friedlander: The hats are all mine. I come up with all the sayings, and I make them all myself. As a stand-up, when I do stand-up, I always wear a hat that says "World Champion," and I talk about how I'm a great athlete and get tons of chicks and stuff. I've probably been making my own hats for over 10 years, because it's something I thought would be funny to bring to the show, to have some hidden laughs in the show. So even if my character's not doing anything, I can have something funny on the hat.

Judah Friedlander: I remember about 10 years ago, people used to make fun of me for wearing trucker style hats. Years ago, some people used to get angry with me for wearing them and someone even called me racist for wearing a trucker hat 'cause I looked like a redneck. I bet now, some people think I'm a loser for wearing them because now they're out of fashion. But you know what, I never wore 'em to be "in" or trendy or cool. I just like them. And I'll be wearing them long after they're a not a trend.

[On moving from being a comedic actor to just an actor]
Judah Friedlander: It's weird because a lot of them still don't take me seriously because I'll just show up in jeans to an awards show or something. They're kind of like, 'Ew, what are you doing here.' But then they realize that I'm the guy from American Splendor and they start talking all nice to me.

[On if he's ever laughed while shooting a scene]
Judah Friedlander: As a stand-up, I don't laugh at my own jokes, I'm very respectful and studied in the deadpan. I know that cracking up during a scene could kill the best take. I've seen that happen, where you're doing your best work and the person you're acting off of starts cracking up, and it's hard to recreate the good stuff you just did. But you do have to fight it. The first scene I did with [Alec] Baldwin, I had to fight it, because he cracks me up. It was a struggle.

[On how much of 30 Rock is scripted, and how much is improvised]
Judah Friedlander: Improv is welcome, but the show is 95% scripted. The shows are well written as well as tightly written, so often there's not much room for improv because it'll mess up the following scene. Plus, our shooting schedule is so tight, there's not time for it.