Jason Sudeikis is best known for his long-running post on Saturday Night Live and his roles in movies and TV shows like Horrible Bosses, The Last Man on Earth, Eastbound & Down, and 30 Rock. That being said, he is also the Kansas City native we all want to have a beer with. The mensch of SNL, Will Forte’s bestie, and Olivia Wilde’s wooer, when it comes to Jason Sudeikis, some want to be him and others want to smell him.
But how much do you really know about the king of comedy? Who is he really? Where did he come from? Was he born like us mere mortals or was he perfectly crafted on a far-away alien planet, aged like a fine wine in a barrel and dropped on the Earth solely to provide us with belly laughs and glowing grins? Is his real name Jason? (Answer: Nope!)
While it’s no secret that Jason Sudeikis is the man so many aspire to be and be like, there are still so many things to learn about the star of sitcom and satire. Here are 26 interesting facts you may not know about Jason Sudeikis.
23 Interesting Facts You May Not Know About Jason Sudeikis, videos, celebrities, other,
Sudeikis Was Rejected by the Blue Man Group
Sudeikis was “absolutely obsessed” with joining the group, he said in a 2010 Vanity Fair interview. “This was almost 10 years ago, when I was living in Las Vegas and doing shows at the Second City. We became pals with the guys who did Blue Man at the Luxor, and a lot of them took classes with us at Second City. I just loved their show and thought it was so funny.”
Sudeikis said that the anonymity was the draw. “It was an absolute reaction to wanting to be anonymous and silent. And yet at the same time, I guess powerful and funny. It was probably the closest I ever imagined I’d get to playing an instrument in front of people on stage. I auditioned once in Las Vegas and I wasn’t good enough at the drumming part. You have to know the single stroke rudiments, and I just wasn’t fast enough.”
He took his rejection better than Tobias, we’re guessing.
He Has No Sense of Smell
The condition Sudeikis has is called anosmia. “You never notice it as a kid, because smell is only pizza and farts. And then at some point you get older, and after puberty people start complaining about the smell of your feet and you’re like... 'I can’t smell it,’” Sudeikis has said. He proved this by eating a chimichanga over a bag of dog poop on The Chris Gethard Show.
Sudeikis adds that his lack of smell also causes him to forget things.
He Dropped Out of College
Sudeikis went to Fort Scott Community College on a basketball scholarship where he was kicked off the team for having bad grades. He was never great at studying and was a “hyper-procrastinator," leading him to eventually drop out.
In 2005, he revealed that his scholastic skills were subpar. ”I failed English," he said. "I've written professionally for two years. I can laugh about it now, but it drove my teachers and parents cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. We were talking about it last night. My dad asked, 'What would you do when you went to school?' I dunno. Just laughing, having a good time. I attended all the discussions. I just didn't read the material."
His Love for Kansas City Runs Deep
Daniel Jason Sudeikis (gasp!) was born in Fairfax, Virginia on September 18, 1975 and his family moved to Overland Park, Kansas (a suburb of Kansas City) when he was a child. He makes his love for the city known by mentioning it in several SNL sketches, including references to the University of Kansas and Lawrence, Kansas. Naturally, he's a Jayhawks fan, and can often be seen attending games decked out in crimson and blue with wife Olivia Wilde. Sudeikis even participates in many charity events with fellow citizens of the "Paris of the Plains," as Kansas City is so lovingly called, including actor/comedians Rob Riggle and Paul Rudd.
His love is king. His shirt says so.
Sudeikis and Will Forte Have Both Dated January Jones
After his divorce from writer and producer Kay Cannon, Sudeikis dated Jones in 2010 for five months. Jones is a regular cast member on Forte’s show The Last Man on Earth, and she and Forte dated for a time before splitting in 2015. Sudeikis joined the cast in the third season, playing Forte’s astronaut brother.
His Uncle Is George Wendt from Cheers
Sudeikis's mother Kathryn is actor George Wendt’s sister. Wendt, famous for his role as Norm Peterson on Cheers, and his actress wife introduced Sudeikis to Second City in Chicago. He later moved to Las Vegas and was part of Second City there.
He's a Pretty Good Basketball Player
Sudeikis played JV basketball in high school and went on to play at community college. According to former teammate Ryan Darst at Shawnee Mission West, Sudeikis was a “really good player” and he liked to crack jokes—of course.
Sudeikis puts his abilities all down to practicing and coaching via lots of Pistol Pete tapes. “Knowing what I know now... I was being overtly theatrical. I responded very much to that element of the Pistol Pete philosophy and the Lakers of that time... I was a gym rat. I wasn't eight-hours-a-day, dribbling in gloves like Jason Williams. It's the same thing with acting and improv, I got really blessed with great people and I just gave a damn about it. It was my favorite thing to do. So I would do these drills over and over. I did the Mikan drill like you wouldn't believe. It's for big men to teach coordination. Reverse layups were my thing.”
Sudeikis Does a LOT of Karaoke with Will Forte
On The Last Man on Earth, SNL alumni and besties Jason Sudeikis and Will Forte sang the song "Falling Slowly" over and over. That’s because it’s their regular karaoke song.
“What people might not know is that we do so much karaoke, we sing that song with each other all the time," Sudeikis says. "When we lived in the same city we’d go to karaoke, just the two of us, and just sing together. I went to New York a week-and-a-half ago and we went to dinner, and sure enough we ended up at karaoke. We are just karaoke buffoons.”
They also do “Always and Forever” and “I Can’t Fight This Feeling.”
He Had a Big Crush on Ellen
In 1996, Jason Sudeikis went to see the sitcom Ellen starring Ellen Degeneres and got to ask her a question. Degeneres also signed a copy of her book that he brought to the show. He proclaimed his love for Degeneres in a newsletter he used to write. Later, when he appeared on her daytime show, he told Ellen just how heartbroken he was to learn that he had no shot.
Sudeikis Lived in Constant Fear of Being Cut from SNL
Due to the way the comedy machine works at Saturday Night Live, a lot of cast members have said the same thing: they work under the threat of being cut loose.
Sudeikis was consumed with that fear. "I remember calling my manager," Sudeikis says, "and being like, 'I should have stayed in Las Vegas.' I didn't think I was helping the show. There was a little bit of 'Impostor Syndrome,' I think it's called, where you worry, 'They're gonna find me out.’"