Comedy’s a tight fit, but right for him

“Vanity is the enemy of comedy,” declares Thomas Lennon. “You can either look awesome or be funny, but not both. When Matthew McConaughey runs around with his shirt off, it’s not funny. He looks legitimately good. You put McConaughey in a ladies’ swimsuit, he looks good. Not me.”

Hence the actor’s frequent appearances in skimpy costumes such as the short shorts he sports as Lt. Jim Dangle in “Reno 911!” or the sausage-casing-tight wrestling singlet he dons for “Balls of Fury,” the new comedy set in the seamy underworld of illegal ping-pong tournaments. Originally, however, Lennon was supposed to wear the flamboyant outfits and elaborate wigs of archvillain Feng in the movie, which he also co-wrote and produced. “Feng was a role I really wanted myself, which is why we spent so much time making him really interesting and really strange,” Lennon explains. “We made him so fun that one day Christopher Walken called up and said, ‘I want that one.’ As my lawyer says, that’s a classy problem to have. So I got relegated to second-tier villain.”

That would be Karl Wolfschtagg, “Balls of Fury” hero Dan Fogler’s German opponent, who elevates sneering to an art form. “There’s a certain sort of character I’m good at playing, a kind of nefarious Eurotrash guy,” says Lennon, 37. “If you scratch my surface, I probably am a rather nefarious Eurotrash guy in a Speedo who you might run into at a bar on Mykonos.”

In fact, the Chicago native’s surface is all charm and impeccable manners, the sort of Mr. Nice Guy who wouldn’t dream of deploying the “truly spectacular” serve he learned as preparation for the film during a match with friends. “If you’re looking to play ping-pong as a social thing with your friends, don’t bother getting really good at it, ‘cause it’ll alienate them and no one will want to play with you,” he says. “It’s like when someone plays the word ‘Z-A-X’ in Scrabble. You’re allowed to use it, but those who do won’t get calls on their next birthday.”

Speaking of balls, Lennon has quite a few in the air. He and writing partner Robert Ben Garant, who directed “Fury,” are scripting the sequel to their blockbuster “Night at the Museum.” And their Comedy Central show, “Reno 911!,” just wrapped its fifth season. “It’s going into syndication next week,” he reports. “Apparently it’ll be on in every city in America every single night, which is weird. We’ve entered ‘Courtship of Eddie’s Father’ territory -- it’s just out there, forever.”

Plans are also in the works for a movie version of “The State,” the cult sketch comedy show that launched Lennon’s showbiz career back in the ‘90s. “Being in ‘The State’ was the best. It was like boot camp for working at a movie studio -- a roomful of people who will criticize you with no reservations about hurting your feelings,” Lennon says. “It’s just starting to happen that people who grew up watching ‘The State’ are getting positions of power. Right now, they’re very powerful assistants. But in a couple more years, people who liked ‘The State’ will be running this town.”

pauline.oconnor@latimes.com