Ian McShane Recorded Some Profane Deadwood Dialogue From The Hot Rod Set

Two of the best pop culture fixtures of the aughts briefly collided behind the scenes, according to "The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast." In a recent episode of the endlessly delightful Lonely Island retrospective project, host Meyers and "Saturday Night Live" digital short mainstays Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone shared a surprising behind-the-scenes moment from Schaffer's cult favorite comedy "Hot Rod," and it featured none other than prolific "Deadwood" pottymouth Al Swearengen.

In case you haven't rewatched "Hot Rod" lately (you should, by the way), it's worth noting that "Deadwood" star Ian McShane plays the bullying stepfather to stuntman Rod (Samberg), and his antagonism is one of the major driving forces of the surreal and silly movie. "Hot Rod" came out in 2007, but it filmed a year earlier, apparently before "Deadwood" had wrapped filming on its third and final season. On that show, McShane put in an awards-worthy performance as the irascible Swearengen, a major player in the Dakota Territory town during the 1800s who — in David Milch's densely poetic version of history – turned swearing into an art form.

Meyers praised McShane's casting in the podcast discussion, calling Swearengen one of the best TV characters of all time –- even as Samberg gave a warning about the show's mature content to younger viewers. Schaffer told the host that the trio were "massive fans" of the Western series when making "Hot Rod," while Taccone recalled that they actually got to witness some of Al Swearengen's signature colorful language on set.

"There was a moment where...he was doing ADR on set," Taccone explained, referencing Automated Dialogue Replacement, the re-recording of certain lines that actors typically have to do for clarity's sake after filming. "He needed to do some ADR for 'Deadwood' while we were still filming," Taccone said, with Samberg further remembering that McShane "took out a little piece of paper" with some lines on it and someone — presumably the Lonely Island guys — asked production to hold for a moment so he could do "a little ADR." By the sounds of it, rather than wait until he was off the clock on "Hot Rod," the comedians say they were happy to watch McShane go full Al Swearengen in the middle of a scene.

"They had sent him like, 'Hey, we need you to do these pickups,'" Samberg told Meyers. "He's like, 'I'm in production!' They're like, 'Just do it on set.'" According to Schaffer, who directed "Hot Rod," the boom mic operator helped capture the ADR readings. The lines in question? As Taccone recalls it, they went something like "You motherf***ing c***sucker motherf***er!" Hilariously, that string of syllables was so common for the character that McShane didn't even remember the context for the lines he was recording. We were like 'Wait, what scene is that for?' and he was like 'I have no f***ing clue,'" Taccone said with a laugh.

The moment apparently allowed the trio the chance to geek out about the prestige cable drama they all loved. According to Samberg, they "were all just sitting there with [their] hands on [their] cheeks going like, 'Ahh, it's Al Swearingen!'" They may not have entirely kept their cool in the moment, but the group apparently still left a good impression on the seasoned actor: according to Meyers, McShane still tells him to say hi to "the boys" anytime he comes on "Late Night."