Jason Mantzoukas opens up about acting with Robert De Niro and how his podcast 'ruined' his life on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live'

During an appearance on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' on December 15, Jason Mantzoukas spoke about his experience working with Robert De Niro
PUBLISHED DEC 16, 2023
Jason Mantzoukas talks about never shaving his body on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' (@JimmyKimmelLive/Youtube)
Jason Mantzoukas talks about never shaving his body on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' (@JimmyKimmelLive/Youtube)

MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY: Jason Mantzoukas is starring in a new adaptation of the popular children's book series 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians', which will be available on Disney+ from December 20.

During an appearance on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' on December 15, Mantzoukas spoke about his experience working with Robert De Niro on the movie 'Dirty Grandpa'.



 

Mantzoukas reveals De Niro gave him 'Good Fellas' eyes 

Jason Mantzoukas is a triple treat—comedian, improviser, and brilliant storyteller, tells Kimmel, "I'm promoting the 2016 movie Dirty Grandpa that's from the that's from the past."

From repeatedly saying explicit words replaced with fart noises (a request of his own) to sharing a story about working with Robert De Niro in 'Dirty Grandpa', he kept the audience entertained.

He continued, "They were like hey do you want to come do this movie and they were like it's Zack Efron who I'd met uh neighbors and then it's Robert DeNiro and I was like holy s**t this is happening...this is everything I wanted and they were like "great come on" I was like absolutely! I go down there and they're like "you know we want you to come in and mix it up and improvise and you know be funny do your crazy weird guy stuff" and I was like okay sure yeah!"

He went on to say that De Niro finished the scene, after not reacting to him at all, and said to him, “There was some funny stuff in there
Jason Mantzoukas went on to say that De Niro finished the scene, after not reacting to him at all (@JimmyKimmelLive/Youtube)

He recalls the moment he went to the set, expressing, "De Niro is giving me what I perceive of as I'm going to murder you eyes... 'Good Fella's eyes.... Raging Bull he's going to just absolutely destroy me and we finished they're like okay great that's we're going to move on to the next thing and as we're exiting he just goes "there was some funny stuff in there."

He revealed that De Niro gave him no reaction apart from those few words during their scenes together, which made him think he was "going to be fired."

Mantzoukas then tells Kimmel how the compliment from De Niro led him to not "care if anybody ever appreciates" him for what he does because he "just got "there was some pretty funny stuff in there" from De Niro."

The upcoming American fantasy television series 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians' is in the works for Disney+. Created by Rick Riordan and Jonathan E Steinberg, the show is based on Riordan's popular book series of the same name.

The podcast is 'systematically ruining my life' 

Mantzoukas also discussed his long-running podcast 'How Did This Get Made', which he has been hosting for 13 years with Paul Scheer and June Diane Raphael.

The podcast focuses on analyzing and making fun of bad movies.

Mantzoukas explained that the idea for the podcast came from a conversation he had with fellow comedians after watching the 2010 movie 'Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.'

He said, "When we started doing a podcast there was no podcast there was there so few it was an opportunity for us to just like do a comedy thing to do a comedy bit a show something that was for us made us laugh". 

"A truly bat bananas movie we saw that afterwards we were all at a party talking about it and the conversation about it was so funny that afterwards I said that's a podcast just me us and our funny friends talking about bad movies and then somehow we've been doing it for 13 years."

But his revelation didn't end there. He said, "The podcast what a delight I'm so lucky but it is systematically ruining my life."

'How Did This Get Made?' (HDTGM) is a podcast featured on the Earwolf network. The show is hosted by Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas, and occasionally features substitute hosts or guest hosts.

The podcast delves into the world of movies, particularly those that are considered bizarre, perplexing, or simply questionable, exploring how and why these films were made. 

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