‘This Is 40’: Graham Parker happily sinks fictional record label

For a musician, there are probably more flattering movie roles to be offered than that of a guy who single-handedly ruins a record label with his dismal sales. Fortunately for British rocker Graham Parker, who plays such a character in the new Judd Apatow comedy “This Is 40,� his decades in the music business have left him with a thick skin and a good sense of humor.

In this clip from the Envelope Screening Series with The Times’ Rebecca Keegan, Parker talks about his real-life reunion with his band the Rumour after 31 years and how they got involved in Apatow’s film.

“After I’d foolishly reunited the Rumour and said, ‘Let’s do an album,’ I started to make the preparations for the studio time and all the stuff,� Parker said. “And then somehow Judd popped up and got a hold of me, and I went to meet him. He thought [that I would] be a great, you know, loser, really, in the film.�

Apatow jokingly interjects, “Those are the words I used when I asked him to do it.�

When Apatow told Parker he would essentially destroy the record company of Paul Rudd’s character in the film, Parker’s response was, “I’m good at that -- that I can do!�

Later in the clip, Apatow happily pointed out that Parker’s new album, “Three Chords Good,� is getting positive reviews and that the band is selling out shows on the road.

“There’s been like an inverse story,� Apatow said. “The movie is the opposite of what happened.�

Check out the full video for more, including a glimpse of Parker’s self-described “bad Sammy Davis impersonation.�

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