Awkward Phase

The comedy world loves a brash man-child. But Superbad’s Michael Cera proves shy sweetness can still get laughs.

• By Adam Sternbergh

Michael Cera is too good to be true. He gets this reaction a lot. He gets it onscreen, as when producer Judd Apatow watched his audition tape for the new comedy Superbad and thought, This guy is off-the-charts funny. And he gets it offscreen, where Cera is so courteous, so apparently down-to-earth (on Letterman, when Dave asked him if he’s part of “new Hollywood,” Cera said, “Well, I don’t think anyone here’s ever heard of me”), and so astonishingly untainted by what should be, by all rights, his looming megafame (of his current publicity tour, he says, “The traveling is really exciting for me. And they pay for it all. Food and everything”) that you start to worry that his whole persona is some sort of Dadaist media prank.

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