Writer David Hochman is fresh from an interview in Los Angeles with funnyman Jack Black for an upcoming magazine cover story. We asked him to give us his take on one of Hollywood’s best, baddest, wildest guys:

"With Black, what I always appreciated was how he gets away with doing everything your mother told you not to do. He doesn't comb his hair. He dresses like a slob. He screams and jumps around and he never acts his age. At least, that's the impression you get from the persona he's created. In the flesh, Jack is a mellower man. In fact, it catches you off guard at first. Is he being aloof? Is he exhausted? Where's the legendary energy? What you realize is that Jack is 'on' so much that he looks for any chance to conserve his natural resources. He's not going to be your monkey, as they say. But that doesn’t mean he's not funny in person. The whole time we were together at Smashbox studios in Hollywood, where the photo shoot for our interview was done, he made me laugh by being real. He talked about parenting, about his childhood, about handling the joys and headaches of fame. That said, he'd occasionally break out into song — like when he told me how he likes to dance with his older son. 'I made an iPod mix with my all-time favorite dance songs on it,' he told me, and then listed them: DeeLight's Groove is in the Heart, The Beastie Boys' We Got the Power and N.E.R.D’s Lapdance. I knew that last one especially has some questionable language, especially for toddler dance time, but Jack scrunched up his face and gave me one of his faux I'm-gonna-kill-you stares. 'The boy is two! Come on!' he screamed, becoming the Jack Black we all know. 'The kid just wants to play with the jam.' In that respect, he's kinda like his dad."

For the rest of David's yak with Jack Black you'll have to wait for our Aug. 1-3 issue.

(photo by Robert Sebree for USA WEEKEND)