Jerry Trainor Went ‘Nuclear’ to Get Function as ‘Loopy Steve’ on Drake & Josh

Jerry Trainor needed to go towards his coaching to land his breakout function on Drake & Josh.

Trainor, 48, opened up about getting forged on the present as “Loopy Steve” throughout a panel at Richmond Galaxy Con earlier within the spring. Trainor first appeared as Steve, a quick-to-anger worker on the native movie show, in a season 2 episode titled “Film Job,” which premiered in 2004.

“After I auditioned for Loopy Steve, it had already been forged. Anyone else was already forged as Loopy Steve,” Trainor remembered. “However I suppose when he obtained to the set, he was not loopy sufficient for them, and they also fired him.” 

Trainor took half in a “rush audition” to fill the function. “And you need to perceive, I had simply gotten out of faculty, majoring in theater, the place they’re telling me to, like, tone it down, carry it in, drop it in. Subtext, subtext, subtext,” he mentioned. Trainor had studied on the College of California, Santa Barbara. 

Trainor got here in and did the basic Steve “bit”: “Mainly, I am calm, after which I fly off the deal with.”

“I went in that day, I used to be like, ‘Yeah, I can do that,’ ” he mentioned. “And I did it massive. And the casting director’s eyes simply, like, lit up, and he or she goes, ‘Oh my God, are you able to go larger?’ And I used to be like, ‘Yeah, I can go larger.’ ” 

He continued, “And so then I did it, like, crazier, and he or she goes, ‘Are you able to go crazier?’ And I went, ‘Let me cease you proper there. I can go nuclear. What would you like?’ ”

“She was like, ‘As massive as potential.’ And I am like, ‘You do not need that,’ ” he mentioned. “And he or she goes, ‘Actually, that is what we’d like.’ And I used to be like, ‘Okay, right here it’s. And I did it.’ The remaining is historical past.”

In Trainor’s first episode, Josh (Josh Peck) talks to Loopy Steve about how a lot he loves the movie show, however offers him a small criticism a couple of wobbly cup holder. Loopy Steve snaps and begins screaming at Josh, calling him a “little whiny punkhole.” Steve quits, and the theater’s supervisor (performed by Yvette Nicole Brown) is so grateful that she hires Josh, who works there all through the remainder of the collection. 

Trainor’s function ended up changing into a recurring one, and he appeared in eight episodes, plus the film Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh. His function on the Nickelodeon collection from 2004 to 2007 led to him being forged on iCarly alongside Drake & Josh star Miranda Cosgrove. Trainor performed her whimsical older brother (who’s additionally her guardian), Spencer. The unique collection ran from 2007 to 2012, and he reprised his function for the 2021 revival. Paramount+ abruptly canceled the series in 2023. 

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In each his Drake & Josh and iCarly roles, Trainor’s pure yelling skills have been an asset. He informed Entertainment Weekly in 2012 about his screaming abilities, “It’s positively turn into second nature. However I used to be all the time what you’d name an ‘amplified individual.’ ”