Lil Rel Howery was on The Tonight Show this week promoting his stand up tour. You may know him from Get Out and Bird Box. He was hilarious with Fallon and made me laugh out loud a few times. I honestly didn’t expect Rel to be like his characters but he was funnier. I was drinking water when he was describing his trip to Hawaii and I had to spit it back into the cup.
On if he understood how big Bird Box would get
I knew it was good. I hope my next character know karate or something. I want to have a sword, something. I keep doing regular person stuff. In get out all I did was pick up my friend with the car. I was basically an Uber driver.He didn’t realize he had a stunt double and did the stunt himself
I did a stunt. I wasn’t supposed to. There was a dude dressed just like me. I don’t know why I didn’t put two and two together. Maybe I felt like [the stunt double] was trying to take my job. I end up doing my big scene. I fully ran and tackled that dude myself and I hurt my elbow and everything. I wasn’t supposed to do that. Nobody said nothing. They didn’t say stop or maybe you shouldn’t do this. I thought I was Tom Cruise for like 10 minutes.He took a trip by himself to Hawaii
Black and white people [are] different on vacation. White people are really nosy ‘So, you’re by yourself?’
‘I mean you can hang out with us’ and they start telling me all they business.
The black families they’ll just whisper to me. ‘We know who you is. We ain’t trying to blow up your spot. We see this family adopted you. But if you need some help… just do your glasses like this.’ That’s a true story.
After that Rel said that his birthday coincided with the red carpet premiere in New York of Bird Box and that Sandra Bullock was so nice and told everyone about it and got him cupcakes. I’ve heard this before from people who work with her. They say she’s super considerate and makes nice gestures like this. He also did a John Malkovich impression (that’s at about 3 minutes into the second video below) and it was so good. Apparently Malkovich and his partner, Nicoletta Peyran, helped him understand his Bird Box character’s motivation for a scene where he explains his book and by extension the whole point of the movie. If you haven’t seen Bird Box yet give it a chance. It’s not the most amazing movie but it’s a solid horror film and you won’t be mad for wasting your time. (My standards are low.) I’m going to look up Rel’s standup now!
Here is his interview in two parts. He also did a bit with Jimmy (that’s here) where he played a TSA agent, like in his Get Out role, dealing with the shutdown. That was decent but not too funny, I don’t think he wrote it.
He was friends with Kevin Barnett, who passed away suddenly at just 32.
photos credit: WENN and Getty
He was our fav character in Birdbox!
Bird Box should have been a satire. There should have been:
SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT
At least three more pregnancies and simultaneous childbirths. The actual bird box should have been crushed and smashed into smithereens and fallen of a cliff (but of course the birds would be okay). Bullock should have favored one child and said to the one she does not like “it’s okay to look, just a little peek, we just need someone to take a quick glance, my little hero.” And “Dumplin'” should have let a massive amount people in and then apologized, crying, analyzing why she did it.
I thought Sarah Paulson constantly tinkering with her side ponytail would have some meaning later.
If the evil gets you only when you see it, why are you running? Don’t run and tumble!
I agree that Sandra’s character would likely have gotten pregnant and given birth. Tom was way too hot to not knock her up at least 2/3 times. Women can endure a lot even during pregnancy.
I actually created a different scenario where girl dies with Olympia but Mallory gets pregnant with Tom’s child and chooses Boy to look and dies. Oh well.
I can’t do horror/thriller/suspense at ALL so I haven’t seen Bird Box or Get Out (well I actually really wanted to support Get Out so I saw the first third!) –should I watch these video bits/would it be funny without the background context? I trust you that this guy is hilarious — can anyone recommend anything he has done that isn’t ‘suspense’???
He has a show on TBS I believe.
He has a sitcom on Fox called “Rel,” that’s good for a chuckle but doesn’t really show off his comedic talent. He also has a standup special out there…
Lol…white chick who travels solo all the time here, and I get the “‘So, you’re by yourself?’
‘I mean you can hang out with us’ “all the time.
I also get men volunteering to escort or protect me. #Thanksnothanks
I think the only ones who don’t get weird reactions while traveling solo is white men.
As a Black chick who travels by myself I get the same crap.
I travel a lot alone, too, and yeah, you’ll get it from some people. I know they mean well, but I’m like…the world is a dangerous place no matter where you are, so I’ll be fine, thanks lol.
Ladies who travel alone…..be careful.
Also, sandra was literally Miss Congeniality in high school so obviously she is cool..
I didn’t realize he was in Bird Box. I haven’t gotten around to watching it yet but I definitely will now. And I’ll definitely check out his standup. I thought he was hilarious in Get Out, he stole every scene he was in.
He sounds like a funny guy. Hate that he’s wearing fur in that last picture.
omg!!! lolz! that bit about dude trying to take his job…that’s straight Chicago right there! Love him so much!!!