Ed Helms Looks Back on 'Tornado of Fame' Following Success of 'The Hangover'

Ed Helms is looking back at life after the release of The Hangover.

The 48-year-old actor starred in the hit movie alongside Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, and Justin Bartha, which was released in 2009.

In a new interview, Ed looked back at how his popularity and fame rose to a “whole new level” once the movie was released.

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“When The Hangover came out, it was so exciting,” Ed recalled on the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast. “Another way in which I was lucky…lucky in 10 million ways on that movie, but Bradley and Zach and I were all kind of at the same level before that, and so we were going through it together.… If it wasn’t for those guys, I don’t think I would have stayed sane, but we all had each other.”

Before The Hangover was released, Ed worked as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart from 2002 to 2006. At that point, Ed says he wasn’t very well known. Then in 2006 after been cast as Andy Bernard in The Office, he started getting noticed more by fans, but his fame really skyrocketed when The Hangover was released.

“It was such a unique experience, and I look back on it and wish…I knew more,” Ed said. “I wish I could go through it again with what I know now because.. I really was reeling a lot of the time like in the aftermath of The Hangover.” 

Ed went on to say that the “tornado of fame” that followed was “very overwhelming” because he was bombarded with new projects and scripts.

“I was kind of spinning out and panicking about different things, like…what kind of a career do you want,” Ed recalled. “I definitely felt a lot of anxiety and like, identity kind of just turmoil. And I will say one of the craziest things about a…massive jump into fame like that is…the just total loss of control of your environment.”

Ed also noted that he feels lucky that his “public persona had risen gradually” and that he appreciated all of the support from his Hangover co-stars.