Jonah Hill may not have made it to the CinemaCon main stage during Warner Bros. studio presentation to promote his upcoming film, Cut Off, but the comedy vet didn’t miss a chance to tease it while under the lights at SmartLess Live on Saturday.
“Next one is pure stupidity,” Hill told SmartLess hosts Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes of the film, due in theaters July 17. It comes on the heels of his Apple TV original Outcome starring Keanu Reeves, Cameron Diaz and Matt Bomer.
Asked to elaborate and share the concept, Hill said this: “It’s dumb. I’m about to go on a run of just the dumbest shit you’ve ever seen in your entire life. I hope you left your brains at home. It’s called Cut Off and Kristen Wiig and I play two dumb ass heirs, rich kids in their mid-40s who get cut off by their rich parents, played by Bette Midler and Nathan Lane. It is like Step Brothers, Clueless and Trading Places. Classic comedy. It’s so great, and Kristen Wiig is an American treasure. I’ve been so lucky. I last worked with Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz and now Bette Midler and Nathan Lane. I’m the luckiest guy, and this one is going to be in theaters. Shout out [Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy] at Warner Bros. We are trying to bring comedy back to theaters.”
Hill directed from a script he co-wrote with Ezra Woods. If it feels like a return to the spotlight for Hill, well, he would say the same thing. “I’ve been gone for a while, so I’m kind of coming back and I’m like excited because I got all, like, serious for a while and I wasn’t as happy,” Hill explained of a quiet few years of not appearing in any major films after Kenya Barris’ You People and Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up. “Then I had my family and I got happy, and now all I want to do is be funny again. That’s why I said yes [to being on SmartLess]. I’m, like, I want to go fucking be funny in front of a crowd and that’d be awesome.”
Hill appeared giddy to be on stage, a moment his fans may have thought might never come after he released a statement in August 2022 announcing he would be stepping back from media appearances and public facing events due to 20 years of anxiety attacks. He credits his family for the vibe shift. “If you’re bummed, you don’t feel like being that funny, right? The first thing I thought about when I had my kids and was so stoked, it was like I connected to back when I was just like 12 and I was just being funny for fun,” he explained. “That’s the thing I fell in love with my whole life.”
After directing two films, Hill said he’s stoked to be an actor for hire. “I might take a job,” he said. “I’m like, dude, I’m so excited to just put on the t-shirt you tell me to put on and go be funny.”
And he pledged to keep it going: “I promise to try and make a movie every year that’s funny.”
Hayes, Arnett, Hill and Bateman at SiriusXM’s SmartLess Live at Avalon Hollywood on April 25, 2026. New episodes of SiriusXM’s SmartLess drop every Monday.
(Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for SiriusXM)