'Secret Life of Pets 2' cast opens up about their comedic beginnings
Stars of the new movie 'Secret Life of Pets 2,' Kevin Hart, Eric Stonestreet, Lake Bell and more, talk about how they develop their comedic skills.
NEW YORK – Are comedians born funny? Kevin Hart certainly thinks, or rather, knows so.
"The Secret Life of Pets 2" star joked to us that he climbed up the umbilical cord and then slide down to really make his arrival memorable. He voices the bunny-superhero named Snowball in the new animated action/adventure movie.
"That's when I knew!" he told Fox News.
His fellow voice actors have also had long careers in comedy. Lake Bell, who voices the cat Chloe, revealed to Fox News that she realized the power of comedy when her parents divorced when she was a child. She used comedy as a coping mechanism and just really wanted to cheer everyone up during a tough time.
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Harrison Ford, left, and Tiffany Haddish attend the LA Premiere of "The Secret Life of Pets 2" at the Regency Village Theatre on Sunday, June 2, 2019, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
Bell told us: "I feel like I was like, 'I think I'm going to be funny now. Everyone's so sad!"
"I think it is a coping mechanism when you're younger -- you're dealing with a bully or something or a divorce and if you have that tool you're like, 'What about this?!'" Her co-star Bobby Moynihan (Mel) chimed in. "I can make fun of myself before they could."
Patton Oswalt, who plays Max, says it was in high school when he realized he had comedic skills. He wasn't "the class clown" but in the "comedy clique" and it opened his eyes. "This is what I really want to do," he admitted during the junket.
Gidget, aka Jenny Slate, also revealed her family recognized that she was funny and encouraged her. "My mother's dad -- I loved making him laugh and from a young age he used to tell me that I was like the actresses from the old Yiddish theater," she told us with a laugh.
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Lake Bell attends the LA Premiere of "The Secret Life of Pets 2" at the Regency Village Theatre on Sunday, June 2, 2019, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
"First I did [comedy] because it connected me to the people I loved and then at camp we would do skits," she continued, describing how partaking in them would set off a light in her.
"Modern Family" star Eric Stonestreet, who voices Duke in the film, thinks his comedic beginnings happened when he was a kid and also were encouraged by his parents.
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This image released by Universal Pictures shows, from left, Duke, voiced by Eric Stonestreet, Liam, voiced by Henry Lynch and Max, voiced by Patton Oswalt in a scene from "The Secret Life of Pets 2." (Illumination Entertainment/Universal Pictures via AP)
"You see pictures of yourself as a kid and I'm wearing a wig and not all my friends were walking around in wigs," he explained. Stonestreet said he also credits his clowning background: "I was always interested in making fun of myself or making people laugh at my expense."
"The Secret Life of Pets 2" hits theaters on Friday, June 7.
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