'Curb Your Enthusiasm' star Jeff Garlin shrinks his carbon footprint, waist size (2024)

says

changed his life.

Of course, Garlin is a part of the great animated movie as the voice of the captain of the Axiom spaceship, but there's much more to it than a career move. Garlin is a successful stand-up comedian, a regular on

an actor who is in "The Bounty Hunter" and many other movies, and a director whose first movie,

was a critical success. He's written a book called

about trying to lose weight and live a greener, healthier life, and it all started with "Wall-E."

"It's the reason I did this," Garlin says. "I became inspired by the message in the movie. I'm prouder of it than anything I've ever done."

In the movie, Garlin's character decides to get off his duff and take action to help save the planet. That's more or less what Garlin decided to do after seeing the movie for the sixth or seventh time in summer 2008. He's always been overweight and suffered a stroke in 2000, just before the first year of "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Garlin tried to lose weight in the past, including working with Richard Simmons, but nothing worked for one big reason.

"I'm a food addict," Garlin said. "I'm not fat from eating too many apples. It's very serious, man. I could've died."

Garlin eventually managed to start losing weight by eliminating meat, chicken, sugar and processed foods from his diet. He is not a vegan because he eats fish, but he is in that neighborhood and happy about it.

"No choice, man," he says. "Getting to where I'm at was really hard, and I know the first bite of cake I take will send me right back to where I was before. I'm like an alcoholic who can't take a drink, only I can't eat a candy bar. I eat oranges. All the sugar I get comes from fruit."

Garlin went from about 320 pounds at his peak to around 260 now. He's not sure because he thinks constantly checking the scale is stupid and can be counterproductive. He feels healthier and more alert and productive and brushes off any notion that being slimmer will somehow affect his image in Hollywood.

"No way," Garlin says. "Being fat has nothing to do with why I'm funny. The only time I deal with it publicly is in my act, and I'd say it's only about 10 percent of it."

As for his shrinking carbon footprint, Garlin is friends with some of the greenest actors in Hollywood, including Ed Begley Jr. and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" creator Larry David, "pretty much the whole crowd I run with." He didn't have any specific tips for eco-friendly Portland ("the Internet is filled with great ideas") and says trading an SUV for a Prius isn't necessarily a planet-saving move.

"If you have a Ford Bronco and you want to get rid of it and get a hybrid, that's not really going to make the world a greener place," he says. "The better thing to do is drive it into the ground and then get a greener car. Hybrids aren't made in rainbow factories with flowers, either. It's all good."

After "The Bounty Hunter," Garlin's next project is "Toy Story 3," in which he plays Buttercup the Unicorn. He's delighted to be a part of the Pixar Animation Studios team -- "I am a Pixar guy, through and through" -- and had no update on when "Curb Your Enthusiasm" might return.

"Larry is writing, and we're all in a holding pattern until he comes up with something he likes," Garlin said. "Nobody knows when that will be."

In the meantime, Garlin is happy with the recognition he gets from the show.

"It's great," he says. "People come up to me and tell me I'm their favorite character, but I tend not to believe them."

Garlin will perform at 8 p.m. Friday at the Aladdin Theater, 3017 S.E. Milwaukie Ave. Tickets are $25 and available at the box office and through Ticketmaster. He will sign copies of "My Footprint" at 2 p.m. Saturday at Powell's City of Books, 1005 W. Burnside St.

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