Seth Rogen Comes Clean On Blowing ‘8 Mile’ Audition For Cheddar Bob

Seth Rogen and Jason Segal have been in a few projects together, and they used that clout to establish themselves in Hollywood. The Freaks & Greeks alumni ended up in an 8 Mile casting call, but they blew that audition.

In Rogen’s new tell-all book “Yearbook,” it is revealed that he auditioned for the 2002 Eminem film. He called it “by far, the weirdest audition I ever did.” Rogen was going out for the role of Cheddar Bob, the guy who shot himself in the leg with his own gun.

The book revealed that the casting person who usually reads lines off-camera didn’t feel comfortable doing that because of how “rappery it was.” So, people being auditioned were instructed to bring someone with them to read the lines.

Rogen noted in the book that was “f*cking ing nuts,” but he brought along Jason Segal anyway.

“We asked our agents if our auditions could be scheduled one right after the other, so that one of us could audition for Cheddar, with the other reading the Rabbit part, and then we’d switch.”

“We had a sleepover at my apartment the night before the auditions so we could rehearse and then carpooled to the audition together.”

That was not a good plan at all in the end. Auditioning is never easy, but adding in the fact that his best friend was watching didn’t help Seth Rogen. They were both reading lines like they were rappers from Detroit, and “we could NOT have been less right for” the scene.

They went to the audition and then Segal started reading Eminem’s lines off-camera for Rogen. “Yo, yo, mothaf*cka! It’s Chedda! What up, bitch!” Segal said, according to the new autobiography.

Rogen said that he “started laughing hysterically, and so did Jason. We literally couldn’t make it through the auditions. As soon as one of us started the scene, the other would lose it.”

Seth Rogen tried to respond as Cheddar Bob, but he didn’t get the line out without laughing. Finally, Rogen admitted that “it was so silly, we couldn’t finish. We just excused ourselves and saw ourselves out, tears streaming down our faces.”

Evan Jones got the role of Cheddar Bob, and it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role. 8 Mile went on to have great success both critically and in the box office. Lose Yourself even picked up an Oscar for best song, the first hip-hop artist to win that award.