Seth Rogen Recalls ‘Craziest Audition’ For Eminem’s 8 Mile Movie

Seth Rogen recently revealed details about the most chaotic audition of his career during a sit-down conversation with Olivia Wilde on The A24 Podcast. The comedian shared that early in his career, he tried out for the role of Cheddar Bob—the lovable, accident-prone friend of Eminem‘s character, B-Rabbit—in the 2002 semi-biographical drama 8 Mile. The role ultimately went to actor Evan Jones, but Rogen’s experience trying to get the part remains unforgettable.

The audition quickly took a bizarre turn due to a strange request from the casting office. Because of the script’s heavy use of hip-hop slang and specific dialogue, the casting directors refused to read the opposing lines themselves. Instead, applicants were required to bring their own scene partners, leading to an unexpected pairing of future comedy stars in the waiting room.

Rogen recalled the absurd setup in detail during the podcast episode: “I had my craziest audition of my life when I was told to audition for 8 Mile. I was auditioning a guy called Cheddar and what’s funny I was told beforehand like no one in this office feels comfortable reading the other roles. You have to bring someone to read with you. Like, we all have a rapper on standby, a reading rapper. What’s funny, Jason Segel also had an audition for it and we just went with each other and one of us did it and then we switched and the other ones did it with each other. I started laughing uncontrolled to the point that it was too stupid.”

Ultimately, the intense pressure of the gritty drama proved too much for the duo’s comedic sensibilities. Trying to deliver dramatic, rap-infused dialogue opposite his close friend caused Rogen to completely lose his composure, tanking the audition but leaving him with a classic Hollywood story. While neither Rogen nor Segel made it into the final cut of the critically acclaimed film, both went on to dominate the comedy landscape just a few years later.

8 Mile Eminem Seth Rogen