Danny McBride Hated Filming One Particularly Uncomfortable Eastbound And Down Scene

We've seen television series built around all manner of flawed characters (philanderers, criminals, cannibalistic serial killers), but I'm hard-pressed to think of a more boorish protagonist than Kenny Powers in "Eastbound & Down." Portrayed by Danny McBride (who's no stranger to playing dirtbags), Powers is a washed-up pro baseball player who's so self-absorbed that he's the only person on the planet who doesn't know he's washed up. 

The show opens with an exiled-from-the-majors Powers returning to his Southern home town, where he's been inexplicably hired to teach physical education at his old middle school. His presence is a disaster for everyone who comes into contact with him, while his efforts to return to the pros are equal parts hare-brained and self-destructive. And yet, he persists.

"Eastbound & Down" was not for everyone, but I eagerly tuned into every episode because, as low as I thought Powers could sink, he always found a way to drill a mile further below the surface. Even when he experienced a moment of clarity and realized he was the sole author of his own misery, that moment zipped by like one of his fastballs.

Still, while it's tough to single out the most despicable thing Powers did throughout the show's four seasons, it's hard to beat his season 3 dalliance with college freshman Andrea, as played by a then teenaged Alex ter Avest. In a 2013 interview with Vulture, Jody Hill (who created "Eastbound & Down" with McBride and the late Ben Best) recalled that the whole scenario was a nightmare for McBride, particularly when he had to pitch filthy woo to Avest during a beach scene.

Kenny Powers is dead set on prolonging his youth (mentally and emotionally, he's stuck in high school), so it makes sense he'd take up with Andrea. To visually ramp up the creepiness, though, the creatives on "Eastbound & Down" cast an, at the time, 17-year-old Alex ter Avest to play the young and painfully naive character. Initially, they tried to go older with the casting, but they were already achieving the desired effect on screen.

Jody Hill, who is clearly fascinated by delusional protagonists (as further evidenced by his Quentin Tarantino-approved 2009 Seth Rogen comedy "Observe and Report"), discussed the logic behind Avest's hiring with Vulture. "They were giving us girls who were, like, 26," he explained. "We kept making them go back because it needs to look shocking when they walk around together, like a borderline crime."

Avest was perfect, but Danny McBride, who's the furthest thing from Powers in real life, found himself struggling to play the scene where he obscenely seduces Andrea on the beach. As he attempts to talk her into sex, he gets down to brass tacks, telling Andrea, "I will be able to break it off a little bit. I'll be able to slap it, but I'm not going to have time to flip it and rub it down. Translation: I'm not sure both of us are going to c**." It gets much more disgusting from there.

If you're wondering how Danny McBride, who was in the third season of playing a character he co-created and hasn't let up much in the years since "Eastbound & Down" ended (see also: his squirm-inducing scene with Channing Tatum in "This Is The End"), suddenly had trouble with the part, it's because Alex ter Avest's mother was on set. "What you don't see is that off-camera her mom is standing there the whole time," Jody Hill added. "Danny hated doing that scene. He was miserable. He had to say all that terrible stuff about playing with her butthole right in front of her mom."

Kenny Powers would do worse things to Andrea, but he dug deep into his bastardly bag of tricks when he surprised Andrea's roommate, Kate (Amber Brooke), with the identical twin brother of her just-deceased boyfriend, Shane (Jason Sudeikis). It's all one big laugh to Powers, but it drives the grieving Kate into an asthma attack. I don't know if this is the meanest thing Powers did over the series' four seasons, but it's certainly in the running.

I can't imagine "Eastbound & Down" returning for another season, but if it did, my guess would be that Powers' meathead act could make him a popular podcaster. If he could rein in his language on air, he could even hit the ratings jackpot with a Pat MacAfee-like sports bro show. And now I've just talked myself into a fifth season. There's still some tread on those truck tires.