For his role in The Hangover, Ed Helms actually had a tooth removed when the production’s makeup and special effects proved unconvincing.

The Hangover’s Ed Helms actually had a tooth removed for his role in the 2009 comedy. Helms plays Stu Prince in the movie, a highly-strung dentist celebrating his friend Doug’s (Justin Bartha) Las Vegas bachelor party. Joining them are Bradley Cooper as Phil and Zach Galifianakis as Alan, but when the party gets way hilariously out of hand, chaos ensues.

Following a night of debauchery, the movie sees Stu, Phil, and Alan wake up in a destroyed hotel room with no memory of what took place the night before. Their partying was so intense that they lost husband-to-be Doug and have to go on a madcap adventure throughout Sin City to get him home in time for his wedding day. But also missing when the gang wakes up from their collective stupor is one of Alan’s teeth, and Helms literally sacrificed his body to make the gag work.

In an interview on Hot Ones, Helms revealed that his missing tooth was no visual effect. After losing his baby teeth, one of Helms’ adult incisors never grew in, meaning he’s had a permanent implant since he was a teen. Makeup was proving unconvincing on camera when trying to visually remove Helms’ tooth, so the actor suggested to the crew he could ask his dentist about just having it removed.

It’s almost serendipitous that Helms’ incisor never grew in as the gag was in the script before the actor even came on board. But his sacrifice undeniably paid off. The Hangover spawned two sequels, making for one of the highest-grossing comedy franchises of all time. But Helms’ move was a bold one considering that he was also playing Andy Bernard on The Office during the time of production. Luckily, he was able to get a temporary retainer made to replace the absent tooth for his scenes on the show, though he says it made him sound like he was drunk.

Helms’ commitment to the missing tooth bit is admirable. With modern filmmaking techniques, there likely would have been some way to achieve the effect without Helms having to actually remove a permanent implant. But whether it was necessary or not, The Hangover likely benefited from his dedication.

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