Former Daily Show correspondent and Children's Hospital creator Rob Corddry is currently bringing his considerably wicked comic gifts to the new movie Hot Tub Time Machine, the brilliantly-named flick that actually lives up to the potential of its title. The plot, as you surely know by now, concerns three aging buddies who return to the fun-times ski lodge of their youth to recapture the magic. But they get more than they bargained for when the titular tub transports them to 1986, when they had more hair, less flab, and a whole different set of problems.

The retro romp that ensues is, in many ways, an ironic companion piece to Back to the Future (released, good grief, 25 YEARS AGO), and even features George McFly himself, Crispin Glover, in a supporting role as the lodge's one-armed bellhop. As for Corddry, he plays the gleefully incorrigible sex/gambling/drug fiend who runs wild with his full mane of metal hair restored. We spoke with funnyman last week about the film, his knack for creepy roles, and his proud Eagle Scout history.

When and where did you first hear about this project and what was your immediate reaction? Because when I heard the title, everything in me just said YES! I was shooting an indie film with Sam Rockwell, and I saw the title, and it was not exactly the kind of thing I was doing at the time, so I immediately kind of poo pooed it, and then I read the title page, and it said, "Hot Tub Time Machine: Based on the Incredibly True Story." So I was pretty much on board at that point.

Was there an audition process, or did they already know they wanted you for the role? Well, I've been told by the original writer Josh Heald that he wrote it for me. So that was very flattering. He and his friends, he went to college with the guys who directed both the Harold and Kumar movies, they sort of went to bat for me, and I got the offer. I didn't have to audition for it, which was nice.

The character is very dark and twisted; his nickname is "The Violator." Is it ever really explained in the movie how he got that name? No, there are a lot of theories, but I don't know how that happened.

Did you create a back story for yourself when you were creating the part? I did actually, I did, as dumb as that sounds. There's definitely, you have to have a little bit of subtext, even if you're playing such an overtly aggressive comic role. My guy, if you notice in the first scene he's wearing a suit, which doesn't really make too much sense, even in the McMansion, he wears a suit, so I was thinking, "Well, he was originally a day trader, and his job was to cut up mortgages, a derivatives trader. While his life was shit, the collapse of the economy was really kind of the final straw for him, and he lost all his money." At the end of the movie, it's kind of ironic that the big lesson he learns is that money is actually the big key to happiness.

Yeah, I liked that. He takes a journey back to where he started. He really didn't learn anything.

Thank God. You're sometimes cast as these twisted, perverted characters, guys like Ari Fleischer. Do you think there's something in you that makes those kinds of roles a good fit? Yeah, you know Will Ferrell and Seann William Scott were also considered for Ari Fleischer, but I was balder. I don't know, my manager is fond of saying that I play "creepy" in a very accessible way. I'm not quite sure what that is, and I'm not sure if that's something I should even think too much about, but I'll take it.

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Did you hear any response from Fleischer; do you know if he saw the movie? He never admitted to having seen it. I spoke to him a bunch before I shot it, and I was really proud of myself. You know, actors really like talking about how they rolled with the LAPD for six months before they did a role, and I actually got to talk to the guy I was portraying. And I kind of showed off on set, I was talking to Josh Brolin about that, and I said, "Yeah, i actually got to talk to Ari Fleischer," and he paused for a second and said "Why?" And I had no answer for him other than, "It was interesting?" I really got nothing out of it, but he's the kind of guy who if he saw the film, he'd never admit to seeing it, he's really great at lying.

Did you do any research for Hot Tub Time Machine? Well, not really. What can you do really? You can watch Back to the Future again, as research. Me and the character intersected in a lot of ways though. There wasn't a lot of real script study involved.

It was a lot of fun to watch; was it a fun movie to make? It was a blast, every second was a blast. I really got along with those guys, and Vancouver, where we shot, is a really fun town, so we had a lot of fun.

What do you remember about Rob Corddry in 1986? I was a sophomore in high school, so I was kind of serious, and very eager to please everyone, and I was the class clown, but in Boston everyone thinks they're the class clown. I was obnoxious but respectful.

Were you actually an Eagle Scout? Yeah, I was, still am. Always an Eagle Scout. Eagle Scouts are like alcoholics, you're just always one.

That's intense. A friend of mine did that when I was a teenager, and I didn't know anything about it, so I was surprised when I went to the induction or whatever. There was a really long, serious ceremony and all these prominent people from the community gave speeches. It's intense man! I got a letter from the President. Yeah, that's called your Eagle Court of Honor. My brother is also an Eagle Scout. He and I are very fond of our Scoutmaster, Jerry Rudolph, who still is Scoutmaster of our troop today. He's gotta be in his 70s by now, and he would say at every Eagle Scout ceremony, he'd point at you and say, "You are a marked man."

What does that mean? I have no idea! It's really funny to me, but I just thought that now you've been written upon, it's something you'll never stop being, or something, I don't know, it's just kind of funny.

So I take it your hair at that time was not similar to what it was in 1986 in Hot Tub Time Machine? No, I couldn't, I wouldn't be able to grow that mane even back then. I always had, let's say, very delicate hair. It looked gorgeous though. My dad is completely bald, and I used to comb my hair for hours in the bathroom, and he'd walk past the bathroom as I was combing and just say, "Enjoy it!" I was also a marked man in that sense.

In the movie, you guys get in the hot tub naked together, which struck me as really weird. Is that something that guys do? I don't, it's not my thing. I have been naked in a hot tub with men, but it was at my gym and I had back problems, so I kind of had to suck it up. But Clark Duke, he actually has a hot tub, and he's trying to get me to tub with him, and I will not do it.

It has to be naked? Has to be naked. You know, I read the brochure for a hot tub, and it said "You're naked. You're completely relaxed." And I was like, "Already, you've lost me." That's an impossible condition.

Besides the film, what else do you have coming up, what's new? Well, I just wrapped on the second season of my show, Children's Hospital. The first season, which ran on the Internet, will be premiering on Adult Swim, will make its television debut on Adult Swim in July, and then we're gonna run the second season, and we're starting right now to write the third season. And in the meantime, I've got a couple movies coming out, one called The Winning Season with Sam Rockwell, and one called, I believe it's called Operation: Kinky, which is sort of a comedy thriller, which is really funny.

I just did an interview with Rockwell because he's on Broadway now in A Behanding in Spokane. He's one of my favorite actors. Is he fun to work with? He's one of my favorite actors, too, and also one of my favorite guys. Really, he could not be sweeter, he could not be more genuine, and he could not be more of a breath of fresh air in this weird world I inhabit.

You know, as somebody who buys tickets to movies and crap, it's really somehow heartwarming to hear that, because he seems that way, and you always worry maybe it's all just an act, but it's nice to hear that he actually is a sweet guy. He is. I'm lucky in that, I think I've grown up with such horror stories about how horrible actors are, and I think we all have been affected by that, and are very conscious of putting our best feet forward, and sometimes that's an act too, people are aware of perception. But with him, he truly truly is a warm generous person, and I really enjoy spending time with him.