Paul Rudd stars in a new Audible comedy series titled Escape From Virtual Island, out Thursday. The cast also includes Jack McBrayer, Paula Pell, Amber Ruffin, Jason Sudeikis and others.
Set in 2038, Rudd stars as Derek Ambrose, an heir to his mother’s empire, the Pengalaman Island Resort and Virtual Reality Theme Park. “He’s a kind of uninspired, lazy dude who doesn’t do much,” Rudd tells Rolling Stone.
His character particularly excels at cooking spinach frittatas, something Rudd has also been doing while under quarantine. “I’m pretty good, actually,” he says. “What else do you want in it? Any dietary restrictions?”
Things go awry on the island when one of the VIP guests (Sudeikis) gets lost in the virtual world. “Derek has to grow up and strike out with this bizarre group of colleagues to rescue him,” Rudd says. That includes McBrayer, Pell and Ruffin, with Krakowski starring as Derek’s mother.
Escape From Virtual Island was written by John Lutz — who’s worked on Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock and Late Night with Seth Meyers — as well as Peter Grosz. Scott Adsit, Jane Krakowski, Seth Meyers, Kenan Thompson, Olivia Wilde and Henry Winkler also appear.
Starring in an audio-only series was new for Rudd, who claims the one aspect he truly wasn’t used to was picking his own wardrobe. “I was originally drawn to it because of the people involved,” he says. “Several cast members had already been cast and I also knew John Lutz through SNL and Seth’s show. When I read it I was immediately drawn to the humor and how clever it is. So, for me, it was a no-brainer.”