From defeated-looking adult film stars to power-mad oil barons to enigmatic cult leaders, Paul Thomas Anderson knows how to fill a movie with indelible, idiosyncratic characters, many of whom are ripe for parody (remember that Saturday Night Live “I Drink Your Milkshake?” sketch? Or South Park’s homage to There Will Be Blood’s final scene?). Although his films are rarely without some humor element, intentional or not (depending on who you watched Blood with, Paul Dano’s preacher was either hilarious or haunting), turns out Anderson has the comedy bug nibbling at his auteur exterior.

In a recent interview with Moviehole, Anderson admitted he loves a good R-rated, raunchy comedy every once in a while, highlighting his admiration for Seth MacFarlane, of all people!

"I’d like to make a film like Airplane!” he told Moviehole. That never gets old. Or ‘Ted.’  It was a big hit. Why? Because it’s great…Movies that are that big a hit are never fucking bad. I mean, there’s no such… You know, people aren’t that stupid, that movie’s a hit because it’s hilarious. I hope [Seth MacFarlane] makes another film."

This will probably come as a surprise to some fans, considering most recent sendups of Airplane! have been pretty bad and Anderson’s recent more serious turns (Bret Easton Ellis tweeted that he wished Anderson would "spend his huge talent on something trashy and sexy and fun," so there’s that). But it’s silly to cock our heads and go “huh?” whenever an artist the general public considers “serious” admits to liking something goofy, or vice-versa. But, like, you’d expect someone who is really passionate about filmmaking to enjoy and appreciate all kinds, you know?

Anyway, Anderson’s next film, at least, definitely won’t be a screwball comedy, unless he gets really ambitious and makes an absolutely cuh-razy adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s Inherent Vice. But we’re hoping that if he gives hard-R comedy a shot, Daniel Day-Lewis is involved.