- Bill Hader revealed that his "Superbad" character was inspired by a real cop.
- Hader recounted the prank that led to his arrest on Friday's episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live."
During Friday's appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," Bill Hader revealed that his "Superbad" character was based on the real-life cop that arrested him for a prank gone wrong.
In the 2007 comedy, Hader plays Officer Slater alongside fellow comedian Seth Rogen, who plays Officer Michaels. The buddy cop duo escort high-schooler Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) for a night on the town after the awkward teen convinces them he's a 40-year-old named McLovin.
As it turns out, Hader had some experience with law enforcement prior to filming "Superbad."
"I remember when I did that movie… and I go, 'I got messed with by a cop with glasses,' and Seth was like, 'Oh yeah, that's, like, so lame. I can't take a cop with glasses seriously!'"
Hader explained that he got in trouble with the law because he was inspired by the pranks his father pulled in his youth.
"My dad did the classic 'let me tell you something I did, but hey, you guys can't do this,' and we were like, 'Uh-huh,'" he said. "He was like, 'We used to take two trash cans and put fishing wire between 'em and we'd put one on either side of the street and when a car goes through, the trash cans go bop on the side of the car. It was hilarious, but don't do that.' And we were like, 'Okay!'"
According to Hader, he and his friends used two trash cans and a giant piece of rope to recreate the prank along a four-lane street. However, the victim of their joke ended up being a police officer.
"It's really late at night. We're at a park, we're waiting, and here comes a car. I'm like, 'Alright, ready, go!' And we pull it up. The car goes through… It's a cop car," Hader said. "The rope is too long that the trash cans go behind the car and they bang into each other, so it looks like he just got married."
"It scared the shit out of this cop," Hader laughed.
According to Hader, the officer slammed on the brakes and got out of the car, looking for the culprits. "Everybody ran, but I was like, 'Aww, I'm gonna be cool,'" he said. "So I went over to my car and was just smoking a cigarette, like, 'Hey, what happened, officer?'"
The comedian's cool-guy act didn't work, and Hader was arrested that night.
"He was like, 'Fuck you!'" Hader continued. "He had a flashlight and then he made me pick up beer cans. I got arrested afterwards."