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Josh Ruben as Philip Seymour HoffmanFull disclosure: By the time The Huffington Post declared Josh Ruben to have the best Philip Seymour Hoffman impression ever, we'd been following his videos for over a month. As a staff director and actor at College Humor, Ruben stands out for being able to give dead-on interpretations of some of our favorite movie characters of all time (seriously, check out his Alan Rickman from "Die Hard" if you don't believe us). We were already such huge fans of Ruben's long-time comedy cohort, Elaine Carroll of Very Mary-Kate, we thought we'd ask Josh a couple questions about his newly-bestowed title and the nature of coming into work as some of the creepiest characters this side of a Todd Solondz film.



Urlesque: Of all the celebrities out there, Philip Seymour Hoffman seems like such a random role to really get into, but you do it so dead-on (and in more than one video). How did you find that character?

Josh Ruben: Two movies influenced the impression i do -- "Happiness" and "Boogie Nights." In the former, he plays a shy and lowly average joe who makes perverted phone calls ("I wanna f*ck you so hard...") and in "Boogie Nights," he's the sweet and odd Scotty ("I'm so sorry I tried to kiss you" and "I'm a f*cking idiot! I'm a f*cking idiot!" come to mind). Because both performances were so excellent (and out there), I did what I usually do when I'm into a character or I start developing an impression -- i just start doing their voice or using the most memorable lines to make my friends laugh. I basically found this "character" by being a big fan.

Urlesque: We are obsessed with Very Mary-Kate. How did you get involved with that project?

JR: Elaine and I have been working together forever. We started a sketch group called Dutch West years ago and have been great friends ever since. She asked if I'd make a cameo and I said "What? Are you kidding? Hell yes. I'd be absolutely.. I'd be a total gosh darn idiot to turn this down. Hell yeah. Yes. I'm in. I am in. Thank you so much, Elaine. Thank you.

Urlesque: You do a great Robert DeNiro and Robin Williams as well. Do you consider yourself an impersonator? How did you get started?

JR: I guess I consider myself a mimic. I have this habit of adopting people's mannerisms. If we hang out long enough, I'll either, by osmosis, copy a gesture or vocal habit of yours or by the end of the night be like "I bet I do a pretty good impression of you." I can't help it. There's this astrology book called "Sun Sign, Moon Sign." It says people born on my birthday are usually great mimics, so they can probably tell you more than I do.


Urlesque: Most people on the internet probably recognize you best as Gale Beggy on CollegeHumor, who has these amazing mannerisms of her own, and has caught on so much that people have actually started copying you. Is that character a mimic of someone, or a conglomeration of people, or totally your own creation?

JR: She's a combination of teachers aids from high school and my parents' technical ineptitude.

Urlesque: Are there any other sort of off-beat character actors that you see yourself mimicking in the future? Like, can you do a really good Paul Giamatti or John Malkovich?


JR: I've been playing around with a Sam Neill recently, which makes me giggle. It's basically me cocking my head sideways and talking like a soft spoken Irish guy trying to hide his accent. I can do Malkovich if it's only lines from "In The Line of Fire." Sam Reich (from College Humor) does a great Giamatti.

Urlesque: Are you currently working on any projects outside of CH? And where can people go to find more of your stuff?

JR: I'm working on this passion project with some incredible actress friends which I'm really excited about. I also cameo in a short film called "Obvious Child" where I get to break up with Jenny Slate. You can find my stuff on dutchwest.tv or joshruben.tumblr.com.