We’re sure you’ve seen Paul Rust around, because it’s pretty much impossible to avoid him. The man hosts or performs at the UCB almost every night of the week, plays in two awesome bands (Don’t Stop or We’ll Die and The Glass Beef), and stars in countless internet videos. He’s featured in “Semi Pro”, which opens today, and before he rushes off to take on his first starring role, he took the time to answer our questions via email:

Let’s start with some background information…where did you go to school and what did you study?
I went to the University of Iowa where I majored in Cinema - with minors in Theatre and Communications.

When did you first start performing?
In first grade, I did a lip-sync performance of Weird Al Yankovic’s “Living with a Hernia” for the class. It wasn’t for “Show or Tell” or anything. I just brought in my tape player, then asked the teacher if I could do it and she let me. Which, in retrospect, was a really cool, supportive thing of her to do. Yay, Mrs. Wick!

What non-comedy jobs have you had?
In high school, I worked at Hy-Vee (a Midwestern grocery store) for a couple years - stocking shelves and sacking groceries. I also worked at my town’s movie theatre/video store (no one ever rented “Crossing Delancey” - I checked the records) and DJ’d at the local AM radio station (I found a 45 of “Who Shot JR?” and played it until my boss told me to stop).

In college, I was a housekeeper at a hotel and an RA during my junior and senior years. After college, I worked in the paint department at Wal-Mart the summer before I moved to LA. And then for the first couple years in LA, I logged footage and transcribed interviews for reality-TV shows like “The Real Gilligan’s Island” and Ted Nugent’s wilderness survival show. My favorite one to do was “R U The Girl” featuring T-Boz and Chili.

And so when did you move to LA?
August 2004.

You’ve made a lot of shorts for the internet, do you shoot and edit yourself?
I shoot and edit my own shorts, yes. Stuff I learned in film school. Now that you know I went to film school, the videos probably seem really sucky now.

Who are some comedians that you admire?
Growing up, Pee Wee Herman was everything to me. I also really liked the cast of “You Can’t Do That on Television.” John Kricfalusi and “Ren and Stimpy.” Dana Carvey on SNL. In high school, I got into Christopher Guest and Alexander Payne. And then my freshman year of college, my friend lent me some “Mr. Show” videotapes and I burnt through 4 seasons in two days. Bob Odenkirk and David Cross changed comedy forever for me.

What up and coming comedians do you like?
Well, I’m still new to this, so I feel weird calling these comedians “up and coming” because they’re basically my peers, but HENDERSHAW (sketch group featuring Mookie Blaiklock, David Horwitz, Armen Weitzman, Harris Wittels) is the funniest, most inventive sketch group doing stuff right now. And the sketch group, THE BIRTHDAY BOYS, have a show at the UCB Theatre in April and their sketches are so naturally inspired and hilarious. They’re awesome.

So “Semi Pro” comes out this weekend… what can you tell us about shooting the movie? How many days were you on set?
I was on the set of “Semi-Pro” for the month of March (last year, 2007). All my scenes were shot at the LA Fire Department’s basketball stadium in East LA. Charlyne Yi and I play Wheelchair Jody and Wheelchair Darren, so most of my time was spent hanging out with Charlyne, which was a lot of fun. During downtime, we started writing/playing music and that’s how The Glass Beef was born.

Have you seen the movie?
I have seen the movie and I liked it a lot. Jackie Moon (Will Ferrell’s character) is such a funny character to me because he’s somebody who is very positive and optimistic and loves love, but is very dumb. Those sort of wide-eyed-but-dumb characters are really funny. Plus, Andy Daly is super hilarious and brings a style that I haven’t seen in a studio comedy before, which is a major achievement for him.

I should say here that I am hardly-barely-hardly-hardly in “Semi-Pro.” My one scene with a speaking line was cut (the director was very kind and called to let me know), so now I’m just sort a visual gag here and there. You’ll hear my line in the TV spots, but not in the movie. Regardless, I had a lot of fun on the set and the experience was very invaluable and amazing. I took a lot from it.

And now you’re going to be starring in “I Love You, Beth Cooper” written by Simpson’s writer Larry Doyle, adapted from the book he wrote! Tell us about that.
I’d say the tone of the movie is very John Hughes-ish (”Sixteen Candles,” not “National Lampoon’s Class Reunion”). It’s an homage/tribute to all those great 80s teen movies that kids rent at sleepovers and have fun watching. It’s a really funny script and I think folks will like it. Plus, I’m incredibly excited to work with the director, Chris Columbus, who I’ve admired since I was a little kid - particularly with “Home Alone” and “Gremlins” (which he wrote).

The audition process was lengthy, yes, but really exciting, too. It was an audition with two callbacks and then a screen test with Hayden. Chris was really big on improvisation, so I had a lot of fun with that and obviously, everything I learned about improv at the UCB was incredibly valuable at that point.

I leave for Vancouver on Monday and I’ll be shooting there for the next 3 months. I’m really excited and very grateful for the opportunity.

What would you say is your larger aspiration? Any interest in dramatic acting as well?
My larger aspiration is to continue to be creative and have fun. My writing/performing partner Neil Campbell and I are finishing a screenplay right now and I’m really proud of it. Charlyne and I are working on one, too.

As for dramatic acting, I’m not going to say it would never happen, but… it would never happen. There’s plenty of people who are much more suited for that than me. I don’t think anyone wants to see me boxing in slo-mo during the opening credits of “Raging Bull.”