Interview: David Koechner Talks SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, KRAMPUS & Reflects on ANCHORMAN

David Koechner has been a longtime favorite of mine—from his work on various television series like Saturday Night Live, The Office, American Dad, Reno 911!, The Goldbergs, and Another Period, to his roles in great films like Snakes on a Plane, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Waiting…, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and of course my personal favorite, Anchorman—I have always appreciated Koechner’s offbeat approach to comedy and his ability to connect with audiences in hilarious, but often understated, ways throughout the years.

Koechner co-stars in the upcoming zombie-infused comedy, Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, as the wonderfully weird Scout Leader Rogers, who gets attacked by the undead (that’s no spoiler either, as the actor in his zombified state has been featured prominently in the marketing campaign thus far), and we continue to see him pop up throughout the story as it unfolds.

At the recent press day, Daily Dead had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Koechner about his involvement in Scouts Guide, as well as with Michael Dougherty’s upcoming holiday horror flick Krampus. Koechner also discussed his approach to becoming a zombie for his latest comedic endeavor, the differences between performing in front of a camera versus voice-over work for shows like American Dad, and how special Anchorman was, and still is, to this very day.

Congrats on the film, David.

David Koechner: Oh, thank you. Did you enjoy it?

I did! It was really a lot of fun. As a genre fan it seems like in the last five years everybody has been taking everything very seriously. And while I do enjoy those films, it just seems like this year there's been a really cool resurgence of horror-comedy, and Scouts feels like the perfect movie to celebrate Halloween with.

David Koechner: I agree. Halloween should still be a fun holiday and this is a really fun movie, so it's nice timing.

Was there a certain aspect of this project that appealed to you when you were first approached for the role of Scout Leader Rogers?

David Koechner: There were two things, actually. Number one, the script is ridiculous fun and so was Christopher [Landon]—I mean, how talented is that guy? And number two was that I got to play a zombie. To me, all of it seemed like fun, so I was like, “I'm in.”

Obviously there's a way that you approach comedy normally as an actor. How differently do you have to approach comedy when you're an actor playing a zombie?

David Koechner: That's interesting. I didn't think about that, but when you're there as a zombie, you are definitely playing things up with a different kind of physicality. The physicality doesn't necessarily form the comedy because the comedy is kind of an internal mathematical clock. That does get twisted a little bit because you're wearing this mask that is the zombie, and so you're doing this physical thing that is the zombie, and you have to think through it.

Plus, it's also a horror movie so you're really looking to your director to say, "Here's the mark. That's where you want to hit because you want to be true to the zombie and scare those other characters. It's an interesting thing. Chris did such a great job, though, because he was juggling a lot of balls on this film.

I loved the fact that even though you become a zombie very quickly in the movie, we're not done with you at that point at all, almost where you become this running gag in the movie. Was that fun for you to keep popping up in those various scenes?

David Koechner: Without a doubt. Had I just been there and been killed off right away, it would've been pointless to do it. It would have invalidated my character, so it was fun that I was still part of everything even though I’m undead.

Again, what's really cool about Scouts is that there are a lot of things that, had the material been handled differently, it would have had a completely different result and maybe wouldn’t have worked so well.

David Koechner: Oh, I completely agree. I gotta say, Landon was very laid-back and so easy to work with. He knew what he wanted and he knew how to get it done. He was really so understated on the set as a director and for it to come together as well as it did is really quite an achievement. The kid did well. He knew how to keep things earnest but still funny as hell.

How was the prosthetic process for you?

David Koechner: You know, the way I look at it is a choice. You can enjoy whatever you want. You can pretend you’re being tortured or that you're getting a spa treatment, and why wouldn't you do the latter? You're working with the top people in that particular art form. As actors, we get to work with some of the best hair, makeup, and prosthetic people there are—how fucking charming and flattering is that? That's the way I look at it; that's a pretty good job if you ask me.

You get to work with some of the younger cast in this a lot, which I think is kind of cool. Did you get to-

David Koechner: Do you want me to pick a favorite?

[Laughs] No, I was actually going to ask if you took them under your wing a little bit on this?

David Koechner: No. You know what? They got there by themselves. They don't need somebody to come along like that, because they earned their way there. That's Christopher's job to guide everybody, not mine. We can have conversations about whatever they want, but I'm not going to be so arrogant as to go, "Let me tell you how it's done, kid." That's not my place.

I'm a big fan of American Dad and this probably sounds like a weird question, but because that's more voice-over type stuff, is that a totally different experience for you as an actor in terms of the comedy?

David Koechner: Oh, yes. Television is very specific. In normal live television—or something that’s being filmed—you've got a little bit of latitude, and you get to make your own decisions a bit more. Animation is so specific though. They're drawing your mouth. They're drawing the words that are coming out and so it's a much more narrow medium, if you will. Your takes are all vocal, and you're highly collaborative with the director and they know exactly what they want, so you can hit a target, which is interesting.

I know you also have Krampus coming up; I don't want anything ruined, but how different of an experience was that for you versus Scouts?

David Koechner: Here's the interesting thing, I describe Krampus as a holiday horror with human and heart. It's interesting because this is the same thing, but this one's more outlandish and crazy. Krampus was more intense in terms of its determined story arc with the horror character. It's a singular horror that's descending upon all of us, as opposed to this mass horror that's descending on these people.

Last question because I’d totally hate myself if I didn’t at least ask something Anchorman-related; was that film in particular the turning point for your career in comedy?

David Koechner: The first one? Oh, sure. Well, actually I would say it was really SNL. I was on SNL in 1995 and ’96, so that changed everything really. But then, with Anchorman, there was definitely a raised awareness for the entire cast.

Anchorman is definitely a film you can watch again and again and you still get new stuff from each time. It was a benchmark comedy and I would say it was a little ahead of the curve, too. There were people involved in it that were not on the creative side that didn't know what it was, and it wasn't until the audience said, "We love this," that those people finally said, "Oh, sure. We knew all the time." That's something that's very rewarding and was very special to be a part of. It was a wonderful moment.