John Cooper Stars Ilana Kohanchi & Dustin Ybarra on Stoner Comedy

Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Movies | Tagged: The Second Coming of John Cooper

John Cooper Stars Ilana Kohanchi & Dustin Ybarra on Stoner Comedy

The Second Coming of John Cooper stars Ilana Kohanchi & Dustin Ybarra spoke to us about stoner comedy, Kevin Kraft's directorial debut & more.

Published Sat, 13 Jun 2026 14:32:08 -0500
by Tom Chang
|
Comments

Article Summary

• John Cooper stars Ilana Kohanchi and Dustin Ybarra break down the film’s stoner comedy and mockumentary appeal.
• Ilana Kohanchi explains why playing the straight-laced Jessa made John Cooper’s wild chaos even funnier to her.
• Dustin Ybarra shares how Kevin Kraft’s collaborative directing style gave the John Cooper cast room to improvise.
• Kohanchi and Ybarra reflect on Lane Compton, Trevor Goober, and the funniest scenes that changed in the final cut.

Ilana Kohanchi and Dustin Ybarra have had a similar rise in Hollywood, emerging late in the 2000s. Kohanchi worked her way up primarily on the TV side with appearances on The Newsroom, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Veep, MacGyver (2016 reboot), Chicago P.D., WandaVision, and M.I.A. Ybarra's had a mix with Hop (2011), We Bought a Zoo (2011), Californication, Us & Them, Gotham, The Goldbergs, Us (2019), Rick & Morty, Home Economics, and Ghosts. Their latest is the stoner comedy The Second Coming of John Cooper from Bonus Level Productions, MVD Entertainment, and first-time director and writer Kevin Kraft. The film follows John Cooper (Lane Compton), the biggest Hollywood star of his generation, who partied away his career and vanished from the public eye. Years later, a documentary crew finds him living on the couch of his biggest fan in a tiny one-bedroom apartment and captures his moronic attempts to rebuild his career from scratch. Kohanchi and Ybarra spoke to Bleeding Cool about working with the flexible Kraft, how Kohanchi's straight role as Jess Morgan contrasts with Ybarra's stoner Dubs, Compton, Trevor Goober, and more.

The Second Coming of John Cooper Stars Ilana Kohanchi and Dustin Ybarra on Navigating Through Stoner Comedy, Kraft, Compton, Goober & More

BC: What did it teach you about 'The Second Coming of John Cooper?'

Ybarra: What intrigued me about it was that this is pretty cool, so my buddy, Kevin Kraft, the director and writer, I've known for like a long time. I just met him through the podcast area and random interviews at Sirius. I did his podcast. I was like, "Dude, this guy's really funny, and we ended up being really good friends." He had told me, "Man, I'm working on this movie, and I got a part for you that I think you'd be great for." I read the script, and the person's (original) name was Dusty," and I'm like, "I think that that's the part he's talking about, because I'm Dustin," and that ended up being a little too on the nose. He changed it to "Dubs," very stonery, and I know Kevin was always a funny dude and driven. I would say Kevin intrigued me, "You know what I'm saying?"

Kohanchi: That's so sweet. I love that answer. I did not know anyone on the project ahead of time. When I auditioned for it and first read the script…what intrigued me aside from the fact that it's funny, I mean, the script is funny, but it's not exactly my type of humor. I wouldn't necessarily choose this type of movie, and so what intrigued me was that Jessa feels the same. Jessa thinks this is all ridiculous. She's like, "More drugs again?!" And so, I related to her in that, and the character intrigued me more, and I like mockumentaries; you don't see that often, and they're always funny.

Ybarra: What was crazy on set, too, is you were the one telling the most dick jokes, so I don't understand why.

Kohanchi: That's such a lie! [Laughs]

Ybarra: She was [chuckling] farting up a storm and telling dick jokes. I was like, "Wow! I was not expecting this."

Kohanchi: Could not be further [from the truth].

Expanding on the previous question here, what's it like working with Kevin as a creative, and how does he compare to others you've worked with?

Kohanchi: Kevin's awesome. He lets you do whatever you want. Kevin's a fantastic director, because he has a very good sense of making a project collaborative. Like, he's able to say, "Okay, what do you want to do? What are your ideas?" It's not just, "No, it has to be like this," and I think that's really cool as an actor. It makes you feel free, and I love it.

What did you like about working with Lane [Compton] and Trevor [Goober], their chemistry, and the way you guys throw yourselves in there? Did you have a favorite bit or scene you guys filmed together?

Ybarra: I'll take this one [Both laugh]. No, Lane and Trevor were awesome, man. Going back, this is Kevin's first movie directing, so it was cool because he wasn't an asshole, you know what I'm saying? [Kohanchi laughs]. He wasn't beaten down by the system at all. So yeah, he was very collaborative with things. Lane and Trevor were hilarious, and so was the whole cast. They were just fun and easy to work with. It's one of those things where it's like, sometimes you'll have an idea, and he'll let you do it in a take. It might not hit, and then he's like, "Oh, okay, I get it. That was…"

Kohanchi: But at least you got to try it. There are many sets where you don't get to, and you wonder, "Well, what if?" You didn't have to wonder [on this set].

With many of John's money-making ideas and pitches from the workout, music video, and you even had the raunchy bit there, were there any of the sequences that ended up on the cutting room floor?

Kohanchi: There were definitely scenes that we shot that didn't end up in the final cut. Now I'm like, "What were they?" But I remember when I watched it at the first screening, like I thought, "Oh, wait, what about this part? What about that?" But that's always the case, which goes back to what you said earlier about Lane and Trevor: they were just funny guys and their chemistry was awesome. You want to film everything because it makes you feel like the camaraderie and everything. If it didn't end up in the movie, then that's how it goes, you know?

Ybarra: Yeah, that happens in Hollywood. I was in 'The Last Samurai' (2003); they cut my part. Note: He wasn't.

Kohanchi: Seriously?

Ybarra: Yeah, I was Tom Cruise's stoner buddy, and for some reason just didn't make the final cut.

Kohanchi: You know that happened to me with 'Jungle Cruise' (2021). I was Dwayne Johnson's girlfriend, and they…

Ybarra: They cut it out. It's Hollywood. I know. Note: It was an uncredited role.

The Second Coming of John Cooper, which also stars Rob Corddry, Brian Posehn, Doug Benson, and Mads Lewis, is available on Prime Video, YouTube, and Fandango.

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!