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know, not enough to be credited on every song," he says. "We always re-jiggered the lyrics a little to make them funnier or something. Sometimes I would just pitch an idea to songwriters. Like I would be driving to work and think, oh man, it would be great if Dewey got into the women’s liberation movement with the feminists, but his whole thing, all he would want, would be for women to take their bras off. That’s the most important thing to him, the bra burning part. And so I was like, what would it be called? ‘Ladies First.’ So I would go and pitch it to them, they would go off to a hotel room and write it, and then they’d come back and we’d record it later that day."

In fact, the songs ended up being legitimate enough to actually go on tour with. For the past couple of weeks, to help publicize the movie, Reilly has been on stage in a handful of cities in character, playing songs from the film. "The studio was kind of into it, at first, and then the writer’s strike happened, and they were like, wow, this would be a really great way to get the word out to people about the movie," he says. "Since I can’t go out on talk shows [which have been dark since the strike began in November], they got really behind it... In terms of interacting with the fans it’s one thing to introduce a movie and say hey, thanks for coming, but it’s another thing to take them from the screening and bring them to a music club and perform all the music from the movie and perform. It’s ridiculous; I should not be getting paid for it. Wait, I’m not."

Well, if he's not doing it for the money, then perhaps it's for more simple pleasures: "To hear a whole club of people shouting ‘We want Cox’ before a show, that’s something everybody should experience in their lifetime."

With classical training and plenty of critical kudos behind him, Reilly seems to be both surprised and pleased he's a comedic star all of a sudden. "The only way I know how to do it is to be real. I'm not like these guys like a Bill Murray or Will Ferrell who just know how to make a line funny, kind of like an extra sense perception."

So does this mean he'll stick with comedies over dramas? "I like working. I wish I could say I made a deliberate choice to do comedy, but it's what the studios wanted to make and it just came my way," Reilly says. "It's a joyful day at work, making your friends laugh. I look forward to doing a lot of different things, I hope it lasts a while, and I hope I keep working. If people want to see me in comedies, that's fine with me."

Apparently there's ...

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