David Koechner is way more likable than those two hilariously off-putting characters he’s best-known for: Champ Kind, the sexist TV sports reporter from the hit “Anchorman” movies; and Todd Packer, the generally deplorable traveling salesman on beloved sitcom “The Office.”

In conversation, Koechner is bright, considerate and thoughtful. It’s wild to hear coming from the familiar face and speaking voice of Kind and Packer.

On a recent afternoon, Koechner checked in from his Los Angeles home for 30-minute video call to talk about his career, backstory, standup comedy tour and “The Office” trivia live shows. Edited excerpts below.

David, even though you were on the show is there stuff you’ve learned from doing your “The Office” trivia shows didn’t know about “The Office” before?

David Koechner: I didn’t know how intensely invested so many people were. I mean, that’s the only way to describe it, almost religious. That show, by the way, sells out before my [standup] shows, and people come dressed up, they’re giddy, they’re all part of the same club type thing, there’s a knowingness. And so it’s a really differently charged atmosphere. It’s very cool.

I feel like that’s a big reason “The Office” was so successful. Viewers feel like they can step inside of it. Like, we all know a Pam or a Jim or a Todd Packer.

They did such a great job of finding a representation of so many slices of humanity. I think that’s a huge part of its success. And that’s Greg Daniels [”The Office” producer/showrunner]. Clearly, the engineering of that show, and deciding each one of these positions that identify different parts of people’s personalities, lives, cultures, all those things exist. Pretty phenomenal.

It’s impossible to imagine another actor playing Todd Packer. How much input did you have on creating and shaping that character?

Well, thank you. He was already written, obviously, and I was a big fan of the British [original version of] “The Office” and that character was Finchy on the British “Office” who’s an awful human. So to me, it was just this free license to be pretty much awful. And who doesn’t want to go say things to other humans’ faces that you could never say? You know, it’s kind of joyful. Like, “I’m not gonna get in trouble for saying this to another human person, right?” And I’ve known Steve [Carell, who played “The Office” lead character Michael Scott] since 1990, so for me, it’s like, “Oh, I’ll get to work with my buddy.”

Your connection with Steve Carell goes back to your time at Second City [the Chicago improvisational theater]? What’s the magic of that place? Steve, you, Bill Murray, so many talented people have come from there.

There’s about 30 people I was studying with that ended up getting lifetime showbiz careers. So I was there with Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Mike Myers, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Rachel Dratch, Tim Meadows, Andy Richter. The list goes on and on.

There’s the actors we all know, nut there’s tons of writers that people don’t know that have been engineering late night success for 30 years, like Brian Stack [”Late Night with Conan O’Brien”], Brian McCann [“Conan”], John Glaser, actor/writer [”Parks and Recreation,” “Late Night with Conan O’Brien”], Kevin Dorff [”The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien”]. All these people. Just phenomenal.

But I think what happened was all these people were watching “Saturday Night Live” in their adolescence and we all came to Chicago at the same time. Because we knew that’s where they all got their training.

And I think when you’re in Chicago, it’s about the work. It’s about being good. It’s not about being famous because you’re insulated, you’re just another person and so you’re not affected by what’s going on in L.A. or New York. So it’s about the work. I mean, that’s the way I’ve always looked at it.

And you can pretty much recognize early who’s funny, who’s not, who’s developing more and more skill and who’s not. Someone might just have a bag of tricks that works for a short amount of time, and then there’s nothing else. But, you know, everyone that keeps expanding their repertoire and growing and growing and growing, they just get better.

Like when we were there, if you did the same character twice, people were like, “What are you doing? Relying on a bag of tricks?” There was a real drive to be original every time we get on stage.

But then later on you go, oh, I wish I had kept a recording or a diary about every character I ever did, or every line I can remember that worked. But that was kind of cheating with more of the purists of improvisation. It’s got to be original all the time.

As a guy who grew up watching “Saturday Night Live” what was it like when later you actually got to be cast member on “Saturday Night Live”? I loved the Bill Brasky skits you and Will Ferrell used to do on there.

Yeah, those were a lot of fun. It was beautiful – kind of like you got your ticket punched. It’s almost like you’ve been playing double-A or triple-A ball and now you’re in the majors. That’s what it felt like. You get the chance to show what you do what you thought you could do.

What was the camaraderie like behind the scenes on “SNL” back then?

Well, on “SNL” we were all new. They cleaned house and so it was me and Will and Nancy Carell and Molly Shannon, Mark McKinney, Jim Breuer, Chris Kattan, Cheri Oteri … I don’t know if I missed anybody.

There’s a bunch of new people, so we’re all coming in having this real ensemble feel. Like, oh wow, we’re doing this together. Good for you. You got hired too. Yay!

That the initial thing. And then everybody has to make the determination of what you want to do to thrive and survive. You know, it can be a cutthroat thing. Not that anybody is impeding your progress, but you had to be uber focused on what you want to do that means success to you.

What are some subjects you’re getting into in your current standup comedy sets?

Coupling. Marriage. Divorce. Guns, grave diggers, manatees. What else is in there? Kids’ parties. Also, auctioneers. [Laughs]

What are some of the lines fans say back to you the most from your acting career?

Obviously, “Whammy” [Champ Kind’s “Anchorman” catchphrase]. And then, “I will smash your face into a car windshield, and then take your mother Dorothy Mantooth out for a nice seafood dinner and never call her again.” That’s from “Anchorman.” And then from “The Office, “What’s up, my nerds?”

And I do sprinkle those into my show, because you have to. I realized that’s what most people know me for, and they’re thinking, “Oh, he’s the guy that does the thing.” So I am the guy that will do the thing at some point in my show.

Do you have any souvenirs from any of the sets of “Anchorman” or “The Office”?

I have one of those paper buckets from Champ’s Whammy Chicken [restaurant]. It’s in my closet.

But I didn’t keep the hats. Here’s the thing is they always take the props back because you might do reshoots. They don’t send the boots or the hat or nothing home with you because here might be reshoot or there might be a sequel, right?

So on “Anchorman” one we did have some reshoots. By and large, you don’t get to take the stuff with you because they might have to make it again. Now, the chicken buckets they had a bunch of them, so they gave me some extras.

Oh, there was a ring, Channel Four news teams, there was a ring that says, “Channel Four” on it, and I think one of my sons stole the ring so I don’t have that anymore. [Laughs]

Good comedy to be feels like it’s improvised and natural even if it’s scripted. How much of your stuff on “The Office” and “Anchorman” was improvised?

“Anchorman,” a ton. Because Adam McKay [who cowrote the script with Ferrell] came from an improvisers background, so we knew exactly what he was going to do and how he’s going to use it.

Now, not every director understands that. But McKay is one of the sharpest, smartest, brightest human beings I’ve ever met in my life. He’s magnanimous enough to go, “I’ve written this. I’ve labored over the script, but I’m allowing you to find something new in a guided way,” right?

Adam would say, “We’re here. Who cares? We’ve already got what we wrote, so we’ll film what’s scripted a couple of times and all we can get is bonus.” And sometimes it’s half a written line, half an improvised line.

The difference in “Anchorman” was now, obviously, it’s the job of the actor to be actively listening to their player. That’s what’s supposed to really happen in acting. But if you’re improvising, you really have to listen. And that’s why I think it has a different charged chemistry in the “Anchorman” movies.

Now “The Office,” much less improvisation. Because it’s television. It’s a writer’s medium. It’s a 12-hour day, every day, you can’t have people just going off-book. Plus, you’ve got 10 to 12 who have worked 40 hours banging out the script. You only have 23 and a half minutes. If you add a line, someone else loses a line.

If you really think you can have an offering you talk to the writer on set or the director, you just don’t start improvising. That’s unprofessional.

Now, as the seasons went on, I believe and certain people are better at it than others — I wasn’t a regular so I can’t speak to too much – but certain people I think if they had the time they’d allow them to perhaps improvise.

There were certain instances where I was allowed, you know, time permitting you can maybe have another idea, and they don’t mind it. To my knowledge. But when the writing’s that good, it’s effortless and seems improvised. What a compliment to everybody.

What’s the chance there will be a “The Office” movie or a third “Anchorman”?

I don’t know anything about an “Office” movie. I’ve heard people talk about it, and I think there’s a lot of message boards that, you know, put it out there and then people pick up on it. I don’t think there’s going to be an “Anchorman 3.” We should make a Champ Kind movie though. [Laughs]

Outside of those signature roles of Champ Kind and Todd Packer, what’s another work from your career of appearing in more than 200 movies and TV shows you’re proud of? I really liked “Thank You For Smoking.”

Nice. “Krampus” [the 2015 Christmas-themed horror film), fantastic. And then I would say “Cheap Thrills” [2013 dark comedy thriller] …not for children, but a really good film. You will not forget it. “Extract” was another one of my favorites, the Mike Judge [creator of “Beavis and Butt-Head,” “Office Space,” “King of the Hill”] film [from 2009]. I get to play delicious character and that thing was really a lot of fun.

The great character actor M. Emmet Walsh passed away recently. He was in movies as varied as “Blade Runner” to “Raising Arizona” to “Knives Out.” To me, like him, you make whatever it is you’re in a little better. What’s the most challenging thing about being good in that character actor space?

Well, first of all, thank you for saying those flattering words. I guess the difficulty is getting the job in the first place. Once you have the job, it’s freedom. Now, it’s taking the director’s direction. If you’ve auditioned, you’ve really won it and if you’ve been offered to it, you’ve kind of won already.

Film is certainly more collaborative, because you’ve got more time, and you have a singular person that is there every day. And in television you might have a different director every week, or a different person who’s responsible for that script every week.

Usually [in film] the director, they may have written it or may have, you know, co-authored or whatever it is. So you might be responsible to have a relationship with just one other person, rather than to a multitude of people. So the collaboration is a little bit different.

I get to work in comedy so much, so to me it’s just the joy of it. But the challenge is getting the job.

Carl Weathers also recently passed away. In the 2007 football parody comedy movie “The Comebacks” he played the rival coach to your lead role of Coach Lambeau Fields. Got a cool moment or just a reflection of what Carl Weathers was like to work with?

Oh, man. In a word, just lovely. We hung out quite a bit on “The Comebacks” and then years later I would have dinner with him every once in a while. And those were great because I’d get little pearls of wisdom from him here and there. So yeah, just kind of a friendship and a mentorship.

Then, during the pandemic, comedy clubs weren’t open, so I did some comic cons, and it was thrilling to run into him a couple times, and we’d always have dinner. It would be just delightful just to hang out together. And you know, he had a presence too.

It was great to see Carl Weathers in recent years on “The Mandalorian.” That show’s had a few comedians in notable guest roles, and I think you’d be good on there too.

Well, as they say, from your mouth to God’s ears. I would be thrilled to be part of that universe.

But I love show business. I love the ups and downs, I like the struggles and the triumphs, I love every piece of it, and I’m gonna be in it until the day I die. I’m so blessed that there’s these opportunities, and I’m flattered that anybody would think I was worth it.

David Koechner performs at Stand Up Live in Huntsville, Alabama 7 p.m. tonight, 7 and 9:15 p.m. Friday and 6:30 and 8:45 p.m. Saturday. At 4 p.m. Saturday he’s hosting “‘The Office’ Triva With Todd Packer”. Tickets are $25 and $30 plus fees and a two-item minimum, via etix.com. More info at davidkoechner.com.

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