Rob Riggle on Step Brothers’ Catalina Wine Mixer & Ad Libbing on ‘Jump Street’

Some of Rob Riggle's most famous movie moments were never supposed to leave the set. A few of them were never supposed to leave the audition room.

Rich brought up the Jump Street movies and the 21 Jump Street moment where Jonah Hill raises his hand and Riggle tells him not to. Riggle explained that it was born in the audition with Channing Tatum and Hill. They ran the scene straight, then Hill, who Riggle said loves improv too, suggested they "just do it again and just play." Hill made a gesture, Riggle slapped his hand away, and the bit was born. "He's like, 'Oh my god, keep that. Keep that,'" Riggle said. "And so that made it into the movie."

Riggle said that kind of play only works with the right partners. "Some people get turned off by improv," he said. Some actors learn their lines, want to execute a certain thing, and get tight when a scene goes off script. "And then some people love it. Some people get like, let's run amok."

Rich said that is the beauty of the Jump Street films, where it appears half of it is just everybody messing around. "There's some good times in there for sure," Riggle said.

The sequel, 22 Jump Street, had Riggle's character imprisoned, and Rich called the byplay off the charts. Riggle said the takes that did not make it went much further. "We said and did things that were a lot worse," he said. "Thank god they didn't use that stuff." On one take, he tried to show where he'd been shot. The crew even put down a little green screen patch, just to have options. "I was like, 'Is this a good idea?'" Riggle said.

Then there is the scene that, by Riggle's own account, now defines him. In 21 Jump Street, after his character is shot, he leans out of frame to pick something up with his mouth because nobody will help him. Riggle said they were shooting late nights, everyone was exhausted, and he was just trying to keep the energy up. On one take, he came back into frame with a banana covered in blood, bit through it, and it popped back out of his mouth. "I thought, 'Well, this is all just for us. Surely the good people at Sony won't use this,'" Riggle said. "Then they tested it and it got big laughs, so it stayed in the movie, and now that's my life."

What do fans yell at him on the street? "A lot of 'pow,'" Riggle said. "If anything good happens, I get a lot of 'pow.' And I'm fine with that." He also hears plenty of "not up in here."

Then came Step Brothers and the Catalina Wine Mixer, which stands the test of time in a very literal way. Riggle revealed that the event is now real. "We created it," he said, and it is "growing every year."

Rich could not let that go. He loves to deconstruct, and he was fascinated that somewhere, in some office, there has been a planning meeting where someone was told this is the biggest event of the year and not to screw it up. He pulled up lovecatalina.com, which says the event started in 2015, loosely modeled after the fictional event in the Will Ferrell movie. It is a two-day event held in late May, a weekend of live music and wine tasting.

Riggle loved the idea that the characters from the film are turning into real people with real responsibilities, "where they got to get top-notch entertainment." Rich imagined someone in that planning meeting punctuating the conversation with "pal."

The helicopter angle came up too, since a helicopter is one way to get to the island. Rich recalled the time Riggle suggested a helicopter ride to Catalina as a great first date. Rich asked Emmanuelle Chriqui about it on the show, expecting to clown his friend, and she said it was actually a great idea. "We were knocked over with a feather," Rich said.

Best of all was the event's own FAQ. Is there a Step Brothers screening? Yes, a special screening on Friday night. "I love it so much," Riggle said. "That makes me really happy."