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The Student News Site of Saint Louis University

The University News

The Student News Site of Saint Louis University

The University News

Carlos Mencia takes on a new role

When the name Carlos Mencia comes up in conversation, it generally involves his Comedy Central show, Mind of Mencia, where he is known for his strong stances on controversial issues. Mencia takes a different role with the DreamWorks production The Heartbreak Kid, opening Oct. 5.

Heartbreak centers around Eddie (Ben Stiller), who is afraid of commitment and is being pressured by everyone around him. Eddie proposes to girlfriend Lila (Malin Akerman), but while en route to Mexico for their honeymoon, Eddie meets Miranda (Michelle Monaghan), with whom he falls in love. He then must choose who to be with: his wife or his soul mate?

Starring in Heartbreak, directed by the Farrelly brothers, is completely different from any other project in which Mencia, who plays Uncle Tito, has been involved.

“I think the reason why [the Farrelly Brothers] do good work is they think this is funny and go with it; and it’s not like a normal set … normal sets are pretty serious,” said Mencia.

Serious, however, is not a word that describes the set of Heartbreak.

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“The Farrelly brothers is completely different, man,” Mencia said. “That set is just relax, it’s chill. You know, I remember, I think it was the second day of shooting, right in the middle of shooting, someone goes, ‘All right, we’re going to have an egg-tossing contest.’ And I was like, ‘What?’ and then everyone put 20 bucks into a pot, and they get a bunch of eggs and everyone tosses eggs and whoever, you know, ends up tossing the farthest and catching [the egg] without breaking it wins the pot.”

Fun and games aside, Mencia has never really enjoyed the audition process.

“You know what was funny about this movie was that the casting director just really, really, really wanted me to be a part of it,” Mencia said.

“I went to go audition for it, and they called me back and they said, ‘Listen, we really think you can do better.’ And I was kind of hurt by that, you know what I mean? But, you know, because when you’re told you can do better, you’re like ‘Oh man, did I suck? What happened?’ But sometimes that just means there’s something different that they want. I know I’m funny: I have a TV show where I’m funny, I go on stage, and I’m funny. Believe it or not, once they take me out of my comfort zone, I question whether it’s funny or not.”

Mencia aced his second try; the tape was sent to the Farrelly brothers, and the rest is movie-making history.

When not making movies, Mencia is busy on his comedy tour. While traveling, he tries to see the foreign city through the eyes of a local.

“I try to hang out with regular people,” Mencia said. “[I] see where they end up asking me to go or telling me that I [should] hang out. That’s where you end up getting to the great places. I like hanging out with real people that have real lives that, you know, that enrich my viewing of reality because it sustains this notion of mine that people are generally people everywhere you go.”

Mencia’s comedy tour will come to St. Louis for the first time on Oct. 25 at the Fox Theatre.

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