JOEL MCHALE

By ROB TURBOVSKY

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Under the steady smirk of Joel McHale, The Soup has been transformed from just another show built on easy, ironic jabs to a surprisingly effective front in the unending battle against terrible television. McHale is funny, for sure, which is why his new interest in performing stand-up comedy is so promising, but it's his point of view that adds purpose to all the cynicism. We talked to him while he was talking to his three-year-old son, Eddie. It was adorable.

If Wikipedia is to be believed, you are the first Soup host not born in the US.

I was born in Rome, Italy.

And that's not like Rome Italy, Indiana, or something?

Right. It's the full-on Rome.

Does it bother you that you can never be president?

It didn't bother me that I couldn't be president of the US, but it really bothered me that I couldn't be president of my fourth grade class. I couldn't believe they had that rule for that. Just for your information, that laughter in the background is not some little elf, it's my three-year-old, so please disregard that.

Is it harder ridiculing the shows that are already ridiculous?

[to his son] Okay, Eddie, I'm doing an interview. When I'm done, I'm gonna tickle you until the cows come home ... There was that show with the porn stars that went to England and they tried to teach them Shakespeare. They thought they were so funny and it really wasn't. We try to expose what they're doing, but often, with shows like that, it's just not that engaging. Tila Tequila had a challenge on her show where the contestants had to eat pig vagina. I have to admit, that was stunning. We were all speechless after that.

The shows that drive me up the wall are the ones that have fake setups. Like Denise Richards: It's Complicated, on our very own E! Network, where it's all planned out. "Denise needs a pet! Where should she go? Let's go to the pig farm, it's gonna get crazy!"

Does the bad TV ever get you down?

Well, I get a check at the end of every show. Then I go, "Oh yeah. Thank god." And, also, we feel like we're doing the Lord's work, showing people that what they're watching is at times asinine. We feel it's our duty. We can't think of our own feelings. It can be depressing, but it's a bunch of people I get along with very well. Oh, and lots and lots of wine.

Eddie! We do not run into the walls, bud.

JOEL MCHALE

FRIDAY 7.25.08

WILBUR THEATRE

246 TREMONT STREET

BOSTON

8PM & 10:15PM/ALL AGES/$25-$35

617.869.3823

TICKETMASTER.COM

MYSPACE.COM/JOELMCHALE