Transformers alum Josh Duhamel popped by the studio of Michael Rosenbaum’s podcast Inside of You, in which he shared stories from his early days in Hollywood, working with Michael Bay, using AI, and, yes, even his line of men’s wellness products.
Late into the conversation, Rosenbaum said his guest’s last name out loud, then stopped to double check if his pronunciation — “Doo-Mel” — was correct.
Indeed it was, but clearly this was a bit of a sore point for Duhamel, who mentioned that this had recently come up when watching Seth Rogen’s popular inside-Hollywood satire The Studio.
The cast of ‘The Studio’ taking selfies near a Kool-Aid billboard.
Apple TV+
“Have you watched The Studio?” Duhamel asked Rosenbaum, who confessed that he’d only seen the first episode.
“There’s a whole episode with me being cast as the Kool-Aid Guy,” the actor explained.
Rosenbaum expressed surprise, then Duhamel said, “Yeah, somebody who was watching it told me about it. And I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s cool, I love Rogen and all them. But you’d think they would have called me and said like, ‘Hey, do mind if we use your name and likeness for this?'”
He continued, a little irked. “Or at least, ‘How do you pronounce your name?’ Because they pronounced it wrong.”
Duhamel then explained that they pronounced it “do-HAH-mull.”
Rosenbaum surmised that “they did that as a joke, though,” to which Duhamel said, “They might have. Maybe.” He then added, “I don’t care. I’m kind of flattered by it.”
Josh Duhamel at an event in New York City in 2025.
Bryan Bedder/Getty
Indeed, on The Studio, Rogen’s Matt Remick is working on a movie version of The Kool-Aid Man, but Duhamel is actually in discussion to play the live-action dad of a family, with Jessica Biel as his wife, and with Ice Cube potentially playing the sugar drink mascot. Rogen’s character soon turns himself in knots worrying about whether or not casting Ice Cube in the part would be offensive, which leads to some quality comedy.
In a fun case of life reflecting art, Rogen, whose nervous, wannabe “good guy” character dreads having a sensitive conversation with Ice Cube, said in an interview with PEOPLE that he was “petrified” when he approached the actor-rapper to appear on the show. He said his Zoom meeting with Ice Cube and Ziwe (who also appears in the episode) was “very reflective of the joke in the show [itself], where I’m trying to not be offensive and I’m trying to explain my creative position.”
He added, “Thank God people seem to get the joke as well. But I was pretty nervous.”
Is Kool-Aid the Kool-Aid Man’s blood?.
Kool-Aid
Anyway, Duhamel’s part is ultimately recast with Don Cheadle in the part.
Luckily this is all fictional, but the idea of a Kool-Aid Man movie really isn’t that far-fetched, is it?
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You can listen to the full appearance by Josh Duhamel on Inside of You below.