VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Boyd Holbrook Reveals What B.J. Novak Taught Him About Comedy On ‘Vengeance’

Vengeance, a true crime satire, follows the story of a podcast host from New York City as he ventures to Texas to investigate the death of a woman he once hooked up with.

Boyd Holbrook, who plays Ty Shaw, recently sat down with uInteview founder Erik Meers to discuss what it was like working with director, writer and co-star B.J. Novak.

“I have to be honest, I was a little intimidated at first when B.J. just assumed I could do this role,” Holbrook said. “He’s a a legend in the comedy space, even in stand-up comedy from way back when. He’d given me such a great character to play and I couldn’t really say no. It was such a great cast and such a great story – something fresh that I really hadn’t seen before. I went in and he led the way!”

As for advice from Novak, Holbrook revealed a book The Office star suggested reading to understand comedy better.

“He talked early on about The Truth in Comedy, and that was all from a book that he gave me,” the actor explained. “It was just really I think a big trap for comedies is playing the joke. As the title of the book says, The Truth in Comedy, so really just playing the reality of that. The more you lean into the passion of that actual story, the comedy will just play itself out.”

Holbrook also shared his favorite moment on set.

“The Whataburger scene that we have,” he said. “I didn’t really ever fully understand it throughout rehearsal and reading it, but once everyone came together in the synchronicity of people punctuating when the lines came in and just the flow and fluidity of everything, I looked back, I was like, ‘Okay, finally, I get what you’re doing with this.’ It was so niche and so nuanced about Whataburger and me not being from Texas. I hadn’t had my experience with Whataburger yet.”

Vengeance is playing in theaters now.