The Real Van Wilder Bert Kreischer Says He’s Never Met Ryan Reynolds

Some may not know that National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, the comedy blockbuster that made Ryan Reynolds a household name, was actually based on a true story. Inspired by a Rolling Stone article telling the tale of a Florida State University student that was the top partier at one of the countries’ biggest party schools, the 1997 piece from the magazine became the basis for the 2002 comedy. Fans of stand-up may well know that the subject of said article is none other than Bert Kreischer, who would go on to become a major name in comedy and podcast, with multiple stand-up specials to his name and an upcoming feature film based on his viral comedy bit.

Speaking with ComicBook.com in an interview for that movie, The Machine, which debuts in theaters on May 26th, we asked Kreischer if he’s ever actually met Ryan Reynolds, and the answer may surprise you. “No, I’ve never met Ryan. I would like to meet Ryan and have that not be what we talk about. Like, I would love to just meet him and he’d be like, ‘Oh dude, I’m a fan,’ and then, and then we’re drunk and we’re on a beach and he pulls out a joint and he goes, ‘Man, you know, you remind me of this character I played,’ and I’m like, ‘Dude, shut up. You don’t know that?’ And then that I would love that. But no, it’s never happened.”

Kreischer previously confirmed in an interview with The New York Post in 2014 that he not only had nothing to do with the production or development of Van Wilder, he’s never even seen it. Luckily the comedian will get his due on the big screen with The Machine. The film is described as follows:

“Set 23 years after the original story which inspired it, The Machine finds Bert Kreischer facing familial crisis and the arrival of his estranged father (Mark Hamill) when the ghost of his booze-soaked past arrives: a murderous mobster (Iva Babić) hellbent on kidnapping Bert back to the motherland to atone for his crimes. Together, he and his father must retrace the steps of his younger self (Jimmy Tatro) in the midst of a war between a sociopathic crime family while they attempt to find common ground.”

Peter Atencio (Key & Peele, Keanu) directed the film, working from a script by Kevin Biegel (Cougar Town, Scrubs) and Scotty Landes (Workaholics, Ma). Other cast members starring alongside Kreischer and Hamill include Robert Maaser, Stephanie Kurtzuba, Jessica Gabor, Rita Bernard Shaw, Nikola Đuričko, Oleg Taktarov, Amelie Villers, and Mercedes de la Cruz.