‘Community’ star Joel McHale set for Spokane stand-up shows

Joel McHale has a snappy response for almost everything.

If you can take his word at face value, McHale’s performances this weekend at the Spokane Comedy Club will be nothing short of legendary.

“Tell them it’s the greatest show they’ll ever see,” McHale said in a phone interview with The Spokesman-Review. “It’s a lot like a Bon Jovi show from 1984.”

McHale described it in many other ways too.

“It’s renaissance arts … that’s the crowd I’m going for. I also speak Chinese for 15 minutes of my time. We make cold fusion a reality… there’s some topical stuff and things about my family. It’s a very broad show,” McHale said. “Then I’ll focus strictly on Spokane for an hour and a half. I’ll just pop open the newspaper.”

McHale’s rapid-fire brain means even the most inane interview questions get funny responses. His stand-up performances, while maybe not all the things he just described, should still be packed with bravado.

McHale first became a star when he applied that quick-wit to skewering reality stars and daytime talk show guests as host of “The Soup,” which ran for several years on the E! Network. In addition to several film credits, McHale also anchored the iconic NBC sitcom, “Community” for six seasons.

In-between his busy onscreen schedule, McHale has maintained a stand-up comedy schedule since the early 2000s.

“I’m a workaholic and I’m obsessive compulsive, which is not necessarily great for personal relationships,” McHale said. “But I can head in and out and perform for a weekend and my family doesn’t hate me too much.”

McHale has Washington roots too. He grew up on Mercer Island, then received a bachelor’s degree in history at the University of Washington, followed by a master’s through the college’s professional actors training program. His comedy career is rooted in Seattle as well, participating in sketch-comedy and improv groups before eventually pursuing an acting career in Los Angeles.

He landed “The Soup” in 2004, which ran more than 600 episodes before ending in 2015. His varied acting credits included 2005’s “Lords of Dogtown,” the Matt Damon-led “The Informant!” in 2009, and last year’s “The Happytime Murders.”

In 2009, McHale was cast on “Community” as Jeff Winger, a disgraced lawyer who returns to a lowly community college to earn his undergraduate degree. The series, created by Dan Harmon (“Rick and Morty”) and co-starring the likes of Donald Glover, Alison Brie, Ken Jeong and Chevy Chase, never mustered huge ratings but developed a massive cult following. After a run of six seasons, fans are still clamoring to complete the #SixSeasonsandaMovie prophecy first introduced by the show itself.

McHale, unfortunately, didn’t have any news on that front.

“We’re numerous stages away from that happening,” McHale said. “It would be hard to nail down the cast now, especially with people like Donald Glover off winning awards.”

McHale’s performance on “Community” earned him positive comparisons to a young Bill Murray. That was the intention, as his character’s last name, Winger, was the last name of Murray’s character in the 1981 comedy, “Stripes.”

“There was definitely parallels to the character and ‘Stripes’… it’s kind of the same situation, where this guy is thrown into a situation and around these people and he doesn’t want to be there, but then he realizes that he’s the piece of (crap).”

Despite the probably constant harassment from fans about #SixSeasonsandaMovie, McHale only reflects fondly on “Community.”

“It was one where I knew it was good when I was on it,” he said. “And it was great the whole time. That can be said when it’s not true, but it really was good times.”

Last year, McHale channeled another comedy legend for an acting gig – he portrayed his “Community” co-star Chevy Chase in the Netflix film, “A Futile and Stupid Gesture,” the biopic about “National Lampoon” co-creator Doug Kenney.

“I did warn him, and (Chase) was thrilled about Kenney being memorialized in this movie,” McHale said. “Kenney was like the Hamilton of American comedy, and nobody really knew much about him except for all these super-prominent comedians.”

Even though he worked with Chase, McHale studied footage of the comedian in his younger years.

“Chevy was kind of different … we’re all different when we were younger, so even though I knew him, my whole thing was to focus on the Chevy that wasn’t a massive movie star yet,” McHale said.

So what was Chevy Chase’s reaction to the performance?

“I’m pretty sure he hasn’t seen the movie,” McHale said.

McHale will return to television this summer hosting the ABC revival of the game show, “Card Sharks.” The gig has him witnessing contestants make life-changing money.

“I’m a jaded human being, but when I watch people win money, and I mean a ton of money, I get just as excited as they do,” he said.

McHale had a typically swift response when asked about his approach to hosting duties: “I’m like a sedated Bob Eubanks, or maybe a slightly stoned Wink Martindale.”