Paul Rudd: I hope vomit incident ‘wasn’t a critique’

>>> is keeping himself awfully busy this holiday season . he's got a new movie coming out and he's also returned to broadway in the play "the grace." he portrays a guy named steve a guy who wants to open a chain of gospel-themed hotels but gets involved in a real estate scam. welcome back.

>> thank you.

>> you've got a movie coming out, we know that. you could be making movie after movie after movie, why did you decide this was a time to get back to broadway ?

>> well, it had been several years since i'd done a play. and i like doing them. and i liked the play when i read it and it just kind of worked out. i wanted to do it.

>> and you've got all the confidence you know the scripts will still be out there when you want to get back to making movies .

>> oh, i don't know if that'll happen.

>> you've got a pretty good resume. i love the way this play opens. with the main -- all the main characters dead on the stage as the play opens. so for people who like their broadway shows short, this is a really good one.

>> yeah, where do you go from there?

>> but you rewind.

>> yeah, the first scene is actually in reverse. not reverse at the end of the play is at the beginning, but we actually move back ward. we say our lines back ward, it's a very strange way to open a show.

>> then the audience is told how you end up with this final scene.

>> yeah.

>> the reviews are really good. a couple of them i'll read to you. this one it says mesmerizing, a strangely entertaining play with a spectacular quartet of actors. how about this one? the deeply thoughtful black comedy with a cracker jack cast, paul rudd is wondrous.

>> well, that's very nice.

>> that could sell some tickets right there, huh?

>> i hope so. it's fun to do.

>> there was a member of your audience who had his own review not long ago. he was sitting in the balcony.

>> yeah.

>> you tell the story.

>> well, apparently he just threw up all over the people sitting below. yeah.

>> in the middle --

>> front row just kind of lean over and --

>> i hope --

>> in the middle of the show.

>> in the middle of the show right as i started a big monologue.

>> and you were aware this had happened?

>> well, i was aware something had happened, i didn't know what it was exactly, but there was a lot of kind of gasping -- there was gasping and some yelling and it didn't subside and i didn't know what was going on.

>> apparently this member of the audience had been before coming to the show?

>> that's what i heard.

>> you went on letterman's show, you did a top ten list about this audience member and this incident. number nine, not my worst review. number four, i'll never complain about a cell phone ring again. and number one, i guess i'm not the only one who's drunk.

>> yeah. i've been able to kind of hold in my vomit, but i've been loaded when i do the show.

>> how do you go on in a show when you realized what's happened? i know the show must go on is the expression.

>> there was a split second where i thought, do i stop? do i just stop and make sure that everybody --

>> do i get the lysol?

>> well, at first because we didn't know what was happening, we then realized we could've used lysol about a scene later.

>> you have a new movie coming out and "this is 40." tell me about that.

>> well, it's kind of a spinoff of the characters that leslie mann and i play in "knocked up." and we're both turning 40, and it focuses on the week in our lives and deals with getting older, dealing with your parents, dealing with your kids and dealing with each other.

>> any autobiographical elements considering it wasn't long ago you passed the milestone?

>> that's right.

>> so there are some?

>> oh, there's a few -- there's a few. there are a few similarities in my own life in this film, but most of it's fiction.

>> as i mentioned, you're a busy guy, not only with the new movie coming up but doing great on broadway . nice to have you here.

>> nice to be here.

>>> and "grace" is running at the court theater on broadway .

>>> and coming up, a live