Q 6

PLAYBOY: You've appeared in a string of failed sitcoms over the years, from Over the Top to Watching Ellie. Does the cancellation of a bad show hurt as much as the cancellation of a good one?

Steve Carell: Losing the good ones hurts much more. There have been a few shows that I was thankful the country never got to see. I'd prefer to do good work, obviously, but sometimes you have to take what's offered to you. You just hope you get a few good ones along the way. What I think is funny and what millions of Americans think is funny isn't necessarily the same thing. Television is tough. Quality doesn't necessarily ensure success. Many great shows have been canceled because nobody watched them. Take Over the Top, for instance. It premiered during game three of the World Series, which was probably a mistake.

Q 7

PLAYBOY: Speaking of television failures, in 1996 you were a cast member on The Dana Carvey Show, a sketch comedy program ABC yanked off the air after only seven episodes because it was deemed too offensive. Did you know at the time that you were creating comedy that was literally too dangerous for prime-time TV?

Steve Carell: We didn't think it was dangerous at all. We just thought it was funny. The very first sketch, if you recall, was Dana doing President Clinton. He pulled his shirt open, and he had eight or 10 nipples that lactated. They brought out several golden retriever puppies that suckled on his teats, and he declared himself the nurturing president. The network was charting the viewership, and at that exact moment our ratings plummeted. Clinton was still fairly revered at the time, and people did not want to see him mocked like that. ABC decided that the show was not a perfect companion for Home Improvement, even though Richard Karn was always lactating on that show.

Q 8

PLAYBOY: You joined The Daily Show as a correspondent in 1999. Two years later the show won a Peabody Award for broadcast excellence. Was that a compliment or an indication that not everybody was getting the joke?

Steve Carell: Any sort of acclaim was surprising. When I was a regular on the show, it felt as if we were doing it in a bubble. I never got the sense that anyone was watching, outside of the studio audience. So when we started winning awards and getting nominated for Emmys, it was astounding. I guess it was only a matter of time before people started to notice The Daily Show. The writing is as insightful as anything on TV. The only fear is that once a show becomes a critical darling, a certain backlash is inevitable. How can something remain cool when everybody likes it? I personally have never had that problem.

Q 9

PLAYBOY: Is it true that you're a longtime amateur hockey player?

Steve Carell: Yeah. A few years back I joined a men's league in Burbank. We're the Sharks. We're very bad, but we have a good time with it. What I lack in physical ability I make up for in poor coordination. Surprisingly, for an amateur hockey league, people get hurt all the time. It's a combination of the pure lack of skill and all those sharp skates and sticks. It's a bunch of middle-aged guys of varying degrees of being out of shape trying to recapture their youth. It's a recipe for disaster. I've chipped my two front teeth and dislocated and broken and strained and pulled all sorts of things. And that's playing just once a week. You can pack a lot of pain into a one-hour hockey game.

Q 10

PLAYBOY: You were one of the first Daily Show correspondents to interview an actual politician. How did you convince John McCain to talk to you?

Steve Carell: We promised him New York and Rhode Island. Actually we just asked and he said yes. McCain was a good sport about it. He knew we were a comedy show, and I think he let his guard down. He was expecting softball questions and silliness and frivolity. At the end of the interview, I asked him a tougher question about his dealings with the Senate Finance Committee. For a moment he just froze. He didn't know how to respond. He was like a deer caught in headlights. The rest of it was funny, but I knew we had something good when we got McCain to blanch on camera. In my heart I know that I am single-handedly responsible for costing John McCain the presidency.

Q 11

PLAYBOY: What was your most difficult interview?

Steve Carell: It was probably the guy in Colorado who thought Donny Osmond was an alien. It was hard for me mostly because he was so sincere and earnest. I felt dirty for making fun of him. He was clearly not in his right mind. There's that fine line between people who are quirky and deserve to have the piss taken out of them and people who are full-on crazy. It was one of those moments when I thought, I shouldn't be here. This guy doesn't know what he's saying; this is awful. It was a defining moment for me. After that I didn't want to do anything mean-spirited anymore. I wanted to put the onus on me to be the idiot as opposed to making other people look like idiots. I think it's always the better choice. I'd rather ask a lot of ridiculous questions and let the comedy come from people's reactions, which are genuine and real.

Q 12

PLAYBOY: You've played a lot of newscasters, first on The Daily Show, then in Bruce Almighty and again in last summer's Anchorman. Do you feel Hollywood might be typecasting you as the reporter guy?

Steve Carell: I hope so, because I want to play only reporters for the rest of my career. I've been an anchor, a roving reporter and a weatherman. I'm hoping I'll be able to land a movie in which I get to play a sportscaster. That would really show off my range as a performer.