Comedian Jay Mohr’s experience working with Tom Cruise on 1996’s Jerry Maguire is hard to top.
“I think Tom Cruise is the coolest person I’ve ever met,” Mohr, 53, exclusively says in Us Weekly‘s 25 Things You Don’t Know About Me feature.
Mohr played Bob Sugar, the protégé of the sports agent portrayed by Cruise, 62. In the Cameron Crowe film, Jerry Maguire has a moral epiphany that leads him to get fired by his company. He decides to put the new philosophy into practice with the only client still on his roster. The film was Mohr’s breakout role.
“Jerry Maguire was my first movie,” Mohr says. “I had no idea what I was doing. I think I was too young and dumb to be nervous.”
Celebrities Who Became BFFs With Their Costars
Since Jerry Maguire, Mohr has continued performing in the likes of Saturday Night Live, Pay It Forward, Air, Max Dagan and Mr. Birchum. Despite an impressive career, he is the most content when the cameras stop rolling.
“I’m at my happiest when I’m sitting with my wife [Los Angeles Lakers president Jeanie Buss] as she answers work emails and I’m doing a crossword puzzle,” he tells Us.
Scroll down to learn more about Mohr:
1. Christopher Walken is my most requested impression, but my favorite one to do is Norm Macdonald.
2. I once lied my way into the White House.
3. I was captain of my high school wrestling team, and now I coach high school wrestling. If I wasn’t a comedian, I’d be a pro wrestler.
4. I will play anyone at Wiffle Ball. Any time. Any place.
5. I’ve never seen Game of Thrones.
6. I’m at my happiest when I’m sitting with my wife as she answers work emails and I’m doing a crossword puzzle.
7. I give all three of our dogs different voices, even when I’m home alone.
8. I fish from my paddleboard.
9. I pray from my knees every morning and every night.
10. My proudest professional achievement is writing Gasping for Airtime.
11. My proudest personal achievement is getting and staying sober. I also regularly drive four hours to speak in prison about recovery.
12. Jerry Maguire was my first movie and I had no idea what I was doing. I think I was too young and dumb to be nervous.
13. I take a nap every day and plan accordingly.
14. I like to do my own laundry, but I hate ironing.
15. My favorite food is crab legs, hot or cold, it doesn’t matter. I don’t need a bib or tools to eat them.
16. I think Tom Cruise is the coolest person I’ve ever met.
17. When I was a kid [growing up] in New Jersey, we’d jump off the roof of my garage with plastic bags as parachutes. There were many trips to the neighborhood hospital.
18. I played bells in the church choir.
19. Cousin Mike in The Groomsmen is my favorite character that I’ve ever played.
20. I rub my feet together when I’m falling asleep like a cricket. Self-care!
21. My guilty pleasure is ice cream sandwiches. I pretty much only eat them in the middle of the night — more laundry!
22. My fondest memory is rowing a boat out into the ocean and going crabbing by myself as a kid at the Jersey Shore. I was only 10 or 11 years old — and looking back, it was insanely dangerous.
23. My favorite word is “mellifluous,” and my least favorite word is “no.”
24. I was once kicked off a dating app for impersonating Jay Mohr.
25. I bowl twice a week. My high score is 187 and I haven’t learned to curve the ball yet.
For more, pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now.
Mohr’s new comedy Mr. Birchum is now streaming on DailyWire+.
