Danny McBride: Summer's Secret Weapon

Aug. 14, 2008 — -- For up-and-coming funnyman Danny McBride, establishing a name in Hollywood wasn't as easy as he intended it to be. Literally.

After his first movie came out, 2003's "All the Real Girls," McBride got a phone call from the studio saying Danny McBride, of 1970s-'80s rock band Sha Na Na, wanted to speak with him.

McBride recalled, "We had, like, a conversation about how there wasn't enough room in this town for the both of us. And he's, like, 'You should change your name.'"

So to differentiate himself from the singer, Danny McBride, the actor, became Google-searchable as Danny R. McBride. That is, until this summer.

"I got a letter from the Screen Actors Guild saying that I could drop the middle initial, that I have more credits than him," he said.

That's credits well-earned. While the name Danny McBride still may not ring any bells -- unless you're a fan of Sha Na Na -- the actor is lending his comedic presence to not one, not two but three comedies this summer.

In a recent interview with "Popcorn With Peter Travers" on ABC News Now, McBride shared how he reclaimed his name in Hollywood and his road to making people laugh.

He has a scene-stealing turn as Red, the middle man of a drug deal gone wrong in "Pineapple Express," co-starring Seth Rogen and James Franco. Travers refers to Danny (minus the R.) McBride as "the secret weapon of the summer of 2008."

McBride is also playing the "special effects guy" in "Tropic Thunder," directed and starring Ben Stiller, with Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr.

McBride also took the starring role in "The Foot Fist Way," out in limited release early this summer (out on DVD in September), playing Fred Simmons, an unbecoming tae kwon do instructor who thinks maybe a little too highly of himself.

"He's just this guy who kind of is the king of his small kingdom and loses his grip on his control, and it kind of sends him into a downward horrible dark spiral," McBride said.

Growing up as a kid in Virginia, McBride admits he had some karate experience that informs his character but didn't stay with it for long.

"I quit because they actually put me in the advanced class, so I was getting my a** beat by 16-year-olds and I was like 11 years old," he said. "So I quit instead of becoming a man and rising to the occasion."