You know him from his bits on “Fox NFL Sunday,” “The Daily Show” and “The Hangover.”
Now, comedian Rob Riggle hosts “Rob Riggle: Global Investigator” on Discovery Channel.
“I’ve been lucky that I’ve hosted ‘Shark Week’ on Discovery Channel for the last two years,” Riggle told WTOP. “I pitched that I want to go around the world solving mysteries like Indiana Jones and they said, ‘Yes,’ to which I was like, ‘Huh? That’s fantastic!'”
You can watch the new reality series on Discovery Go.
“It’s Indiana Jones meets the Pink Panther,” Riggle said. “This show is going to have history, mystery, adventure, and what I bring to it, humor. This a show that I’d want to watch. I had a very talented screenwriter one time tell me, ‘Write what you want to see.'”
The ancient mysteries span the globe with plenty of intriguing subjects to investigate.
“We go in search of the lost city of Atlantis,” Riggle said. “We go in search of the Holy Grail. We go in search of Black Caesar’s treasure. There’s all kinds of mystery and history out there that we go looking into. Look, I’m a history buff, but I’m no archaeologist, so we go talk to experts in their field … on what’s believable and what’s not believable.”
Not only does he get to travel the world, he also gets to participate in adventurous stunts.
“We go scuba diving into caves,” Riggle said. “We go scuba diving off the coast of some ancient ruins. We find underground ruins and find things that are fascinating. … Then, of course, we have fun. We laugh and we enjoy ourselves, which I think is a key part of life.”
Overall, he insists the show is good family entertainment at a time we desperately need it.
“They’re fun, hour-long episodes,” Riggle said. “Grab the family, grab some popcorn, sit down and enjoy, because you may learn something and you’ll definitely have a laugh.”
He’s grateful that he was able to film the series before the coronavirus hit.
“I had a lot of stuff canceled,” Riggle said. “I was in the middle of shooting [the mini-golf series] ‘Holey Moley,’ the Australian version. Thank goodness we got the American version done and in the can before all this stuff started, so you’ll see that on ABC this summer.”
He also had to cancel a number of live events on his schedule.
“I had a lot of engagements in April and May that have been canceled,” Riggle said. “My big charity event in Kansas City for Children’s Mercy Hospital unfortunately we had to cancel. It’s been tough for everybody. Everybody’s had their lives and work postponed.”
How is he personally handling quarantine?
“I am playing by the rules,” Riggle said. “I’m staying at home, social distancing, washing my hands. God forbid I have to cough, but if I do, I do it into a sleeve. I’m hunkered down with my family, reading books, working out, and trying to make the best use of my time.”
He’s even come up with a catchy “curve” catchphrase to thwart the virus.
“I think we’re behind the curve currently on this thing, we need to get ahead of the curve, and the best way to do that is to flatten the curve,” Riggle said. “That’s what all this quarantining is all about, and if people play by the rules, we’ll get through it faster.”
The jury is still out on how the virus will affect the NFL season this fall. The league’s decision will affect his weekly segments on “Fox NFL Sunday,” which he joined in 2012.
“It’s totally a blast,” Riggle said. “I think it’s been going well for the last eight years. People seem to enjoy it. I love doing it. I’m a huge fan of the NFL and sports, so it just feels right.”
Riggle immediately had big shoes to fill, taking over the wisecracking gig from Jimmy Kimmel, who hosted for seven years, and Frank Caliendo, who hosted for nine years.
“Frank is a savant,” Riggle said. “When it comes to impersonation, there’s nobody better. He would impersonate John Madden. … Jimmy focused on giving the guys at the desk a hard time. I do more sketch and character stuff. You’ve got to be true to yourself.”
Fans will also remember his sketches on “Saturday Night Live” (2004-2005) and “The Daily Show” (2006-2008), but his funniest moment of the past decade was arguably his taser scene with Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Bradley Cooper in “The Hangover” (2009).
“It was an absolute blast,” Riggle said. “I’d known the director, Todd Phillips, for a while in New York. Ed and I worked together at Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. I had met Zach; the comedy world is small. I’d never met Bradley, yet we had a great couple days filming.”
He believes the key to the film’s success was Phillips’ use of improvisation.
“He let us improvise a lot,” Riggle said. “Most of those lines were not in the original script. They were made up on the spot in the moment and a lot of them stayed in the movie, which I was really glad that happened. It made it more natural and made it more fun. Everybody played well together. I’m just honored to be part of such a cool, iconic movie.”
Now, he’s hoping to create an equally cool TV series after his hero Indiana Jones, but will he have to run from any giant boulders or take a leap of faith onto an invisible bridge?
“No invisible bridges,” Riggle joked.
