The Hangover's Ed Helms Had A Real Tooth Implant Removed For The Movie

Comedies have been a staple of the cinematic landscape dating back to the earliest days of Hollywood, when guys like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton were the biggest stars in the world. Yet, these days, comedies don't often break out as true blue blockbusters. In the 2000s, "The Hangover" became one of those rare breakthrough hits, becoming arguably one of the most successful films the genre ever produced. Part of that can be chalked up to the commitment of the cast and crew. Case in point, Ed Helms literally yanked out one of his teeth for the sake of a joke.

In 2013, The Hollywood Reporter documented the history of "The Hangover" as the third film was getting ready to make its way to theaters. As viewers will surely recall, after waking up in Vegas after a drunken night for a bachelor party, Stu (Helms) discovers that he is missing a tooth, and he has no idea why it's gone. We later discover that he drunkenly bet that he could pull his own tooth, flexing his dentist muscles. As director Todd Phillips explained, they wrote the tooth gag into the script not knowing how they were going to accomplish it. Helms then stepped up in a big way.

"We wrote [Stu's missing tooth] in the script, and then we were talking about how we were gonna do this. We started talking to these guys who do implanting, and then Ed comes to me and goes: 'You know, this isn't real. This tooth is an implant I got when I was 15.'"

Many actors have rebuilt their bodies for roles over the years. Not to undercut that work or what it takes, but that often comes down to working out a lot or changing your hair — superficial stuff like that. But pulling out a tooth? That's on another level.

The lead actors of "The Hangover" are big stars now, but they were mostly up-and-coming at the time. Bradley Cooper wasn't yet the man who would direct and star in Oscar-winning films like "A Star is Born." Zach Galifianakis had not fully revealed himself to the world as the comedic genius that he is. Even behind the camera, this was years before Todd Phillips would direct $1 billion hits like "Joker" and the upcoming "Joker: Folie a Deux."

Helms, meanwhile, was on one of the most beloved shows on the air at the time, "The Office," playing the role of Andy Bernard. That character, rather notably, had all of his teeth. As a result, Helms agreeing to have his tooth pulled created challenges for the show. As Helms explained:

"I talked to my dentist and he said, 'Yeah, we can take it out.' He was a champ. He's in the credits. So he took the tooth out, and he had to make a special piece to then screw into the hole so that the gum tissue stays healthy. He made me a flipper with the fake tooth on it that I could take in and out because I was still shooting on 'The Office.' I never told [anyone on the show] because they would lose their minds. So I would show up to work on 'The Office' with this appliance in my mouth, and it really affected my speech. If you watch those episodes, I sound drunk."

It all worked out in the end. "The Hangover" was a smash hit, pulling in $468 million worldwide and paving the way for two wildly successful sequels. While those sequels weren't nearly as beloved – and Galifianakis wishes they never happened — they made a ridiculous amount of money and helped propel all involved to new levels of success. Plus, Helms got a new tooth out of it.