Joel McHale’s red-carpet joke followed him into photo databases: during his early years hosting The Soup, he’d tell photographers who didn’t recognize him that he was Matthew Lillard. McHale says his face then appeared under Lillard’s name on IMDb and Getty Images.
Recounting the bit on The Jennifer Hudson Show on October 9, 2026, McHale said he later apologized to Lillard, explaining that he was a basic-cable clip-show host borrowing a movie star’s identity. Lillard had already played Stu Macher in Scream and Shaggy in the live-action Scooby-Doo films when McHale began hosting The Soup in 2004. McHale stayed with the E! show through its December 18, 2015 finale.
The joke lasted beyond those early carpets. In an April 2026 Bobby Bones interview, McHale said Lillard knew about the Getty mix-ups and that he still answers yes when someone mistakes him for Lillard. He said young fans also mistake him for Shaggy.
Lillard appeared as a guest on The Soup on August 20, 2014, while promoting The Bridge. By 2026, they shared the Scream 7 cast: McHale played Sidney Prescott’s husband, Mark Evans, and Lillard returned as Stu. Both attended the film’s February 25 premiere.
McHale says they’re now friends and called Lillard “one of the nicest people on the planet.” Their similar height supplied another joke: “So we look like the saddest, oldest volleyball team in history.”
