LOS ANGELES?Jason Segel did not warn his mother that he would be seen doing full-frontal nudity in ?Forgetting Sarah Marshall? when he took her to a screening of his comedy last year. He thought his mom would find it a ?funny surprise? when she saw her son in the altogether on the big screen.

How the comedian?s mama reacted is one of the many amusing anecdotes that Jason dished in our recent interview.

For his second movie as a lead star, Jason chose ?I Love You, Man,? a comedy about a recently engaged real estate agent, Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) who realizes he doesn?t have a male buddy close enough to be his Best Man. He goes on a series of ?man-dates? until he meets Sydney Fife (Segel). When the new buddies become close, Peter?s relationship with his fiancée, Zooey (Rashida Jones), suffers, and he has to choose between him and Sydney.

Love and affection

Some observers have pointed out that, in ?I Love You, Man,? director John Hamburg and his cowriter, Larry Levin, bring out to the fore what writer-director Judd Apatow has only been hinting at in his ?bromance? movies, which are defined by The Urban Dictionary as pictures depicting the ?complicated love and affection shared by two straight males.? Hamburg and Levin directly explore what?s at the core of dude friendship.

Jason is himself a protégé of Judd. The filmmaker first cast him in the cult TV series, ?Freaks and Geeks,? followed by ?Knocked Up? and ?Sarah Marshall.? Excerpts of our interview:

You seem very comfortable with yourself.
I was born without a sense of shame or regret (laughter).

How much teasing did you have to put up with as a result of your full-frontal nudity in ?Forgetting Sarah Marshall,? which you wrote?
I got dumped in real life while I was naked, so while it was happening, I was so aware that it was the funniest thing that happened in my life. I was trying to listen to what she was saying, but my comedy mind was thinking, ?I?m going to start writing about this tomorrow.? The worst part about that scene involved my mother. I didn?t tell her that I did the full frontal nudity. I thought it would be a funny surprise. So, we?re sitting in a test screening, then all of a sudden, out it comes. I looked over, and my mother was crying (laughter). That was the biggest rap I had to face.

I also had a girl come up to me at a bar the other day, and she whispered, ?Hey, I just want you to know I saw ?Forgetting Sarah Marshall.? You have a great p---s (laughter).? I turned around really excited and said, ?Wow, really?? Then, she said, ?No,? and went back to her table. She and her girlfriends laughed and pointed at me (laughter).

First scene

How comfortable are you about nudity? Is it something that you?ve done before?
It certainly wasn?t like a childhood dream, like I hoped I was going to be naked in a movie someday. It was a calculated choice. I?m hesitant to make romantic-comedies, because you know how it?s going to end: The guy will end up with the girl. It?s so obvious. But, if in a movie, and in the first scene, all of a sudden, you see the lead character?s sex organ, you?re forced to throw out your expectations. You sit back as an audience member and think, ?I don?t know what?s going to happen next.?

I also thought it was important to the scene, because I wanted to show a guy at his most vulnerable, literally. It?s a comedy, so every scene has to be funny, but I wanted that break-up scene to be really serious, acting-wise, and not have to make jokes. That sequence was still funny because I was completely naked. I was able to play the scene seriously. As I found out when I was 14 years old, me being naked is apparently funny to women.

And, it?s still funny to this day?
Yeah, sadly. It?s not a fun thing when you have a date, and you?re lucky enough to take your shirt off?and it?s met with laughter.

Are you more open and sensitive in your own male friendships?
To answer the question, I?ll tell you a story. I lived with my best friend, whom I met when I was 12. For the past two years, he lived in my house. He was basically like my heterosexual life partner. We did everything together. On the day he left for New York to attend medical school, I gave him the typical dude goodbye. I said something like, ?All right, man, catch you in New York. Go get ?em. Talk to you later, bro.? He left and, at 2 in the morning, I woke up crying hysterically. I was having a mundane dream about the two of us hanging out. When I woke up, there were tears streaming down my face! I called my mother in hysterics, and she was like, ?Jason, this is really weird. You have to calm down (laughter).?

I think part of what ?I Love You, Man? is about is that, had I said goodbye properly, like, ?I love you, man, and I can?t wait to see you again. The past two years have been amazing,? I wouldn?t have woken up crying. It?s important to open up to your dude friends about your feelings, or else you?d end up the weirdo who wakes up in hysterics (laughing).

Mixture

Has anybody told you that your face is like a mixture of George Sanders and Lee J. Cobb?
No. I?ve gotten the young Judge Reinhold comments. Also, occasionally?and I don?t agree with this one, because it?s dumb?that I?m a slightly more attractive version of Brad Pitt (laughter). I don?t see it (laughing).

What are your memories of doing ?Freaks and Geeks??
I didn?t go to college so I could do ?Freaks and Geeks.? Some of us got plucked out of high school. When the show got canceled, Judd felt some responsibility to these kids who, all of a sudden, were out of jobs and didn?t have college or finish high school. I?ve never met someone as loyal as Judd. He made sure we were okay. He was like a father figure. One time, we were flying on a private jet after ?Sarah Marshall? had come out. He turned to me and said, ?I finally got you the lead in a movie. Now I can rest.? He reclined his seat and went to sleep. It was a very beautiful moment.

Where does your sense of humor come from?
I was the only Jewish kid in a Catholic school. I have been 6?4? tall since I was 12. The kids used to stand around me in a circle and, one by one, they would jump on my back, while the rest of the kids would chant, ?Ride the oaf, ride the oaf!? You become either a serial killer or a comedian (laughter).

How can a woman make you laugh?
I always get a chuckle when women say that they?ll go on a date with me.

Who are you dating now?
I?m painfully single at the moment. I?m a single dude. I?m leaving for London, and I?ll be there from April through August. So, I?m now past the window when I could start a relationship. I?ll be in London because I?ll be filming ?Gulliver?s Travels,? with Jack Black. I?m really excited. I play the main Lilliputian. It?ll be the first time that I?m going to be smaller than my costar (laughter)!

E-mail rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com, and read his blog, ?The Nepales Report,? on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.