No one ever accused Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon of being too cool for school.
The two stars are being honored as part of GQ's Men of the Year issue (on stands November 22), where Timberlake, 30, and Fallon, 37, open up about their varying approaches to comedy.
"There's something so fun about taking that risk and doing live stuff. I think we both have that in our DNA," Fallon explains. "So we're like, 'Let's go, man. Is this going to be good? I don't know. But we're about to go live in like ten seconds. Let's perform the hell out of this.'"
Timberlake — who's become a Saturday Night Live staple and starred in the rom-com Friends With Benefits last summer — believes comedy has helped him overcome his own obstacles.
"I'm not a comedian, so I'll probably get crucified for saying this, but I think with a lot of comedy the impetus behind it is: I've been rejected so many times and I'm bitter and now I'm going to talk about it."
"It's almost as if The Social Network was a comedy. For me, being earnest and genuine is way easier than acting like you just don't care, like you don't want to be here, like this is a drag," Timberlake says. "There are just so many things in the world that are a drag. For me it's like, This is a f-cking wicked cool job!"
The only downside to having such a "f-cking wicked cool job," Timberlake says, is having awkward fan encounters.
"I was at the movies this one time, and I was going to the bathroom right before I went into the theater and this guy, as he was walking away from the urinal, zipping up his pants as he turns, recognizes me, gets all excited, and makes a beeline for me, his arm out, looking to shake my hand," the singer-turned actor tells GQ.
"Listen, I'm not a germaphobe, but c'mon. I literally said to him, 'There's NO f-cking way you're not going to wash your hands before you try to shake my hand.' You just had that hand on your penis."
Jokes Fallon: "Justin, if you don't mind, I was drunk when I did that. And I apologize. We weren't going to the same movie, I thought it was coincidental that we were at the same urinal."
