Joel McHale dishes on wild ‘Animal Control’ co-stars, his Super Bowl cougar and too-fast ostriches

Joel McHale stars alongside real animals playing Seattle’s Frank Shaw on Fox’s comedy “Animal Control.” And he couldn’t be happier.

McHale, 51, might have cut a sarcastic career path as Jeff Winger on NBC’s “Community” (2009-15) and as the acerbic host of E!’s “The Soup” (2004-15). But the devoted owner of three dogs and one rabbit has an animal-loving heart. That suits the workplace community set at Seattle’s animal control division dealing with all creatures, big and small.

“I’m incredibly sarcastic most of the time and pretty cynical,” says McHale. “But my heart melts when I get around animals. My wife constantly tells me that this is the perfect job for me.”

Here’s how McHale deals with the creatures of “Animal Control,” like the Burmese python in Thursday’s episode (9 EST/PST) and the makeup-licking cougar from the show’s Super Bowl promos.

McHale’s French Bulldog eats his bunny brother’s celery

McHale’s creature love starts at home. He’s the driving force behind his family’s adoption of three dogs including a pug named Cowboy, a Coton de Tulear (Harry) and a French bulldog (Beanbag). Sarah Williams, his wife of 25 years, has curbed his desire for further pet adoptions. 

“I almost got another dog and she was like, ‘You do want to stay married to me, right?'” says McHale. adding his dogs are a happy family, and even get along with the rabbit (Joey Jr.).

“The French bulldog and the rabbit grew up together, so Beanbag sees the rabbit like a brother. My bulldog actually eats lettuce and broccoli,” says McHale. “He doesn’t know any better. He just wants to have meals with his brother.”

Super Bowl cougar kept trying to ‘lick the make-up off my face’

McHale made a Super Bowl splash with the “Animal Control” commercials, especially the spot where he was holding a cougar. “Everything the internet has told you is true, attractive cougars in your area want to meet you,” he joked.

The actor makes clear that the cougar was 3 months old (“we couldn’t do this with an adult”) and from a Vancouver wild animal rescue farm. The cat only had an interest in consuming his makeup.

“She was just a great big kitty, only this kitty was 70 pounds. But she was purring so loud it was like a plane going overhead,” says McHale.

The only problem: “She was so sweet, she kept trying to lick the makeup off of my face.”

McHale jumped at the chance to have tarantula Gretchen crawl across his face for another memorable spot. She stopped on his eye.

“Gretchen became one of my favorites,” says McHale. “She kind of just sat there on my eye, so I just kept throwing out lines.”

McHale didn’t sweat the Burmese python around his neck

In Thursday’s episode, the “Animal Control” team rescues a man from a Burmese python only to have the snake wrap itself around Frank’s neck. All acting. The well-fed python was chill.

“Once you feed this snake, it’s good for about a week and a half. So it wrapped around my neck and was happy to hang out,” says McHale. “That snake has been on set numerous times and is more professional than a lot of actors that I’ve worked with.”

Not surprisingly, McHale pushed for his own python.  “I told my wife I wanted a snake after that. You can imagine the response,” he says.

The ostriches were too fast for ‘Animal Control’ chase scene, not furious

In the Feb.16 pilot episode, Frank’s clueless colleague Fred (Michael Rowland) is chased by a herd of ostriches. McHale says the adolescent ostriches, from a farm near the Vancouver set, were not really furious. They performed “happy dances.”

“They’re like Golden Retrievers at that age,” says McHale. “They’ll just jump up and spin around. And they kept doing it.”

They were also incredibly fast, too fast for the chase scene planned with Rowland.

“They did the chase scene because they love running,” says McHale. “The problem was the ostriches kept running by (Rowland), who they were supposed to be chasing. Because ostriches can run 45 miles-an-hour. We tried that like five times.”

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