BEVERLY HILLS—Jason Sudeikis isn’t your average leading man. Sure, he’s got the chiselled jaw, perfectly parted hair, confident walk, and plaid button-up, all essential ingredients in the arsenal of any modern actor looking to wrestle the title of “Hollywood’s Everyman” away from its current holder (Bradley Cooper). And yes, he’s romantically involved with a fellow celebrity (fiancée Olivia Wilde), another must-have for the role. But Jason Sudeikis carries with him something that no “Everyman” would ever be able to hide: a sick sense of humour.

At a group media conference for Horrible Bosses 2 in a posh Beverly Hills hotel, Sudeikis is on his game. The film (opening next Wednesday [November 26]) continues the story of Nick (Jason Bateman), Dale (Charlie Day), and Kurt (Sudeikis) as they try to become entrepreneurs, and it’s easy to see why these guys teamed up again—because they have so much goddamn fun with each other. Sudeikis, an SNL alum of 10 years who’s transitioned seamlessly onto the big screen with comedic hits like Bosses and We’re the Millers, is firing on all cylinders, riffing with Day and Bateman, telling hilarious stories, and impersonating costars Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz.

The only time the Virginia-born, Kansas City–raised comedian actually gets serious is when he talks about how he approached doing the sequel. “In preproduction when we were going through the script, we watched it in my trailer that day,” says Sudeikis with a permanent grin glued to his face, even when he’s not trying to be funny. “Because that’s one of the things when doing a sequel, when you actually sit there and watch the movie that we’re basing the second one on you go, ‘Oh, that’s right.’ It was actually really fun. I know it got me fired up to do it again.”

Other than that, it’s a compendium of zingers and monologues from Sudeikis, as he moves from a question about a Millers sequel (“Are we doing that? No, it’s not us, it’s Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner, they’re recasting it like Spider-Man”) to late-night advertisements. (“My favourite thing to do now is to watch the Home Shopping Network late at night and they have a pair of earrings and they have a little timer on there, and to hear a dude have to try and riff on them for seven minutes. It’s fun to watch it at 3 a.m., because that’s not their A team. So you really see the guy struggle.”)

What was his favourite moment on set? Well, it would have to be playing “Fuck-Marry-Kill” with Bateman. Hint: If you go see the movie, stay for the credits. “The one that kinda tickles me the most is using our friends from The Hangover; it’s a little meta,” says Sudeikis when asked if there was a “favourite or thought-provoking trio” that was used in the game. “Was there anything thought-provoking? Not at all, and if you bumped into anything like that in this film, I apologize. We had no idea.”

“I actually did just drive by that location this morning driving my kids to school, and you get a little smile thinking about it,” Bateman adds.

We don’t have to wait long for the clincher from Sudeikis: “This is where Daddy played Fuck-Marry-Kill with the guy that played Joe Biden!”