Patton Oswalt as Remy in Ratatouille Courtesy of Pixar/Disney

You once mentioned that you learned a lot about acting from your role on the sitcom King of Queens…
Oh, boy, yeah. I just learned from, luckily, not being fired, and having nine years to observe Kevin James and Jerry Stiller and the rest of the cast and going, "Oh, that's how you do it."

What did you take from this experience?
Watching how Brad Bird could do different things to get certain reactions, or readings of lines that I never would have thought to have made. Going way bigger when your impulse is to go smaller, and vice versa. The power of becoming very quiet. It was fascinating. It was fascinating to watch him work. He'd be an amazing voice-over actor if his directorial genius wasn't getting in the way, keeping him out of doing that.

In the past, you've made a lot of references to Brian Dennehy in your stand-up act, even most recently on your CD Werewolves and Lollipops. So which came first, the jokes or your work together on this?
[The jokes] all came first. It's the string-theory of the universe, man. I ran into him in London a month before I got this job, and he was nice enough to talk to me — he didn't know who I was. He would just talk to me and was really friendly. Gave me fatherly advice about being a character actor. He was so sweet. It just worked out.

Has he heard any of the stuff?
I don't know. I'm going to ask him tonight, "Hey, look, I don't know if anyone's told you, but I do a very, very positive bit about you."

Is it true you are a bit of a gourmand in real life?
I'm a foodie, I'm a wannabe gourmand. I'm such a neophyte foodie, but very much a foodie.

Did that have anything to do with your being cast as Remy?
Yes. When they met with me and spoke with me they realized, "Oh, he actually does travel for food and likes good food and follows chefs the way that people follow authors and musicians and stuff." That definitely was a positive. It was like, "Oh, the universe is aligning," I guess. I don't know. But it was great.

Good thing this is the one Disney movie that can't, in good conscience, have a Happy Meal tie-in…
Nope. In fact, I remember right before the movie came out, totally unrelated to the movie, they didn't know who I was, but I was offered the voice for this massive Burger King radio campaign. And I just remember thinking, "I probably can't do this, because I really believe in this movie." And I didn't know if the movie was going to be successful, and in one of the few moments of integrity that I've ever had in my life, said, "I probably shouldn't also lend my voice to Burger King."