Sporting News caught up with actor Rob Riggle to talk about the College Football Playoff and Riggle's busy 2018, among other things.
Riggle is helping lead a Dos Equis campaign to find the "Most Interesting Fan" of college football. The winner will receive a personalized statue in the College Football Hall of Fame. Riggle will be in Atlanta on Jan. 8 for the 2018 national championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
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"12 Strong," Riggle's latest film, comes out Jan. 19, 2018. It is based on the true story of CIA paramilitary and U.S. Special Forces sent to Afghanistan immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks. He's also starring in three more films set for 2018 and has recently been featured on KFC commercials as Colonel Sanders.
Here's SN's conversation with Riggle.
What's your prediction for the College Football Playoff? Who are you rooting for?
That's tough, I really don't know. That's why it's so exciting, with so many great teams. I'm a Big 12 guy so I would like to see our conference do well, so I'm going to probably pull for Oklahoma. I think they're probably the long shot, I don't know, it's tough to say. But why not? I'm a Big 12 guy, I'm going to pull for a Big 12 team.
What did you think about the committee choosing Alabama over Ohio State for the fourth spot?
That's one of those things that'll be debated incessantly. Until we expand the playoffs for college, these will always be debated. I think the selection committee, they probably do a pretty good job of trying to get the four best teams in the top four. Whether it's schedule strength, whatever their metrics are, they've probably thought it through pretty well. I think we have the four best teams in college football or darn close to it.
What are your plans for the College Football Playoff?
I'm lucky this year. I'm lucky enough to team up with Dos Equis and they've done this great competition. You've probably seen the ads, we've been running ads all football season. It's a competition to find the 'Most Interesting Fan in America." And it's really went well.
There were thousands and thousands of entries by college football fans all over the country. They've narrowed it down. So the entries have closed and they've narrowed the process. It's exciting. Who's going to win? And whoever wins gets a statue, a statue! A full size statue of themselves, put into the College Football Hall of Fame down in Atlanta the weekend of the national championship.
It's going to be exciting. I'm going to be down there for that. There's going to be three days of Dos Equis tailgate parties. It's just going to be a big huge super-party. The Sunday before the national championship game, we're going to induct the winner into the Hall of Fame. So it's a pretty cool thing, and I'm excited because not only am I going to be there for all of that, all the festivities, but I get to go to the national championship game as well.
When you're at a tailgate or around fans, is a there a line from one of your movies that everyone asks you to do?
(Laughing) Yeah I always get a lot of "POWs" from "Step Brothers," I get a lot of "In the face!" from "Hangover" or "Not up in here!" from "Hangover." People tend to enjoy those, especially on game days.
Do you always oblige?
Not always, but most of the time. It depends on the people and the situation. If it's nice and it's nice folks and it's not something that's going to scare everyone around us I'll do it.
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If there were a playoff of actors, say "Saturday Night Live" alumni, who would be in your top four?
Oh man, wow. You're talking about 40 years of amazing comedians, that's 40 years. That's too much to cover. Oh my gosh.
Off the top of my head I'd probably say Jim Belushi, Chris Farley, Will Ferrell, and for no other reason, my personal friend and the guy with the most longevity, Kenan Thompson. Why not?
And who wins the title?
That's too hard to say. I mean, only God really knows.
You're in four different movies in 2018. How busy have you been?
I've been very fortunate to be working and I'm getting some very cool opportunities to do things outside the comedy genre. I've done two dramatic films that will be coming up. "12 Strong" comes out in January (and) it's a true story, about our special forces guys in Afghanistan, from immediately after 9/11. Fascinating story — as a matter of fact I just went to dinner with some of the actual guys from the ODA (Operational Detachment Alpha) 595 last night. And a couple more comedies, did a drama called "Midnight Sun" (releases in March 2018) which is a pretty heavy drama. So I think people might see me in some stuff that they're not used to seeing me in. So I think it's kind of fun to try something new.
What do you learn from taking on roles outside of comedy?
I love it. Any chance you have to grow personally or professionally, I think you should take it. I think that unless you're scaring yourself just a little bit, you're not testing yourself or pushing yourself. It's good to be scared every now and then. Going out there and doing dramas and that kind of material is something I always wanted to do. I was a theater and film major at KU and I also studied acting in New York for many, many years. So I feel like it's something I always wanted to do and I'm finally getting the opportunity. Hopefully people will enjoy it.
What sports did you play growing up?
I played them all, I was a seasonal sport kind of guy. So it was football in the fall, basketball in the winter, baseball in the spring and golf in the summer. And then I also — when I got injured one year in football I couldn't play basketball because I was in a cast so I ended up wrestling one year. One year I swam.
Being a Kansas grad, are you a bigger basketball or football fan?
Well I'm just a Jayhawk fan across the board. It's easier right now, to root for basketball (laughs). Our football team's hurting a little bit, but it doesn't matter. I still root for the Jayhawks no matter what. Even in good times and bad.
Kansas and Missouri renewed the Border War in November with a basketball exhibition game to raise money for hurricane relief efforts. Did you make it out to the game?
No, I wasn't back there for that one. It's hard for me to get back that often, but I was glad we won. I did get back for a game against Texas Southern over Thanksgiving week, which was really great. I got to see the game, got to get back in Allen Fieldhouse and took my son to his first Jayhawk game. It was a cool experience.
What did the Border War rivalry mean to you growing up?
Well I have relatives in Missouri, so I've spent a lot of time there — went down to the Lake of the Ozarks during the summer — I grew up in Overland Park (Kan.) and went to KU.
That was the oldest rivalry, Kansas vs. Missouri, the oldest rivalry west of the Mississippi, until Missouri left the Big 12. So it broke my heart a little bit when they left, because there was such tradition and it was a great rivalry and now it doesn't exist anymore. And that makes me sad. But now I get along fine with Missouri people, there's no more rivalry.