Actor and BoJack Horseman star Will Arnett has talked to DJ Johnny Vaughan on Radio X about his new John Bishop-inspired film, Is This Thing On?. He says the film is ‘better than any other film he’s made’ and also revealed that he performed stand-up comedy ‘three times a night for six weeks’ while in character to prepare for the role

Arnett told Vaughan: “Right, so John Bishop, whom we all love. Let's give a round of applause for the great John Bishop! I was introduced to John, and he told me the story of how he became a stand-up, which some of you might be aware of...John was going through a divorce, separated from his wife, and he went to a pub to get a drink, and they said that he had to pay a cover, and he didn't want to pay it.

And they said, ‘Well, you can go in for free if you put your name down, because we're having an open mic night for comedy.’ He knows nothing about comedy, but he puts his name down.

He went in there and he starts doing it, and he starts doing stand-up, but he doesn't tell anybody his life. And then eventually that starts to help him get back on his feet as a person, and nobody in his life knows that he's doing it.”

He added that he did some stand-up to prepare for the lead role.  

"When we were doing prep, for about six weeks I did stand up three times a night. And I'm not a stand-up comedian; you can tell by this segment. And I'd never done it before. It's quite nerve-wracking! So, I have a lot of respect for stand-ups and comics and what they do. And I had to go. And I was also always doing material from the film. So, we were trying to work it out.

That was kind of the point of it. So, it was doing it as the character, who goes by the name of Alex Novak. So, they would introduce me, and sometimes audiences would… I'd get on there, and in America, they'd know who I was sometimes. And people would be like, ‘What's going on?’ And I think maybe people thought I was having a nervous breakdown.”

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