Tony Shaloub’s gearing up for the season premiere of his awkwardly funny detective comedy / drama, “Monk,” on Friday, July 7th…and to get the season started right, he’s called in fellow thespian Stanley Tucci to join in the fun.

Tucci and Shaloub are probably best remembered for teaming up in the 1996 comedy, “Big Night,” but they actually worked together in the theater ever before then. They’re clearly a real pair of cut-ups when they’re together; if you can’t tell that from their responses to Bullz-Eye’s questions at a recent press conference – particularly when they take advantage of the moderator’s request that they identify themselves before answering a question – you’ll definitely know when you check out “Monk” on July 7th.

The full transcript appears after the jump.

Bullz-Eye.com: Hi, guys.

Tony Shaloub: Hi.

Stanley Tucci: Hi!

BE: Did the camaraderie from “Big Night”…and prior…re-establish itself pretty quickly when you got to work together again?

ST: This is Stanley. No, it was awful. It was excruciating to work with Tony again.

TS: This is Tony. I was shocked to see how much his ego had just ballooned…

ST: (Laughs)

TS: …and it was one of the more difficult experiences.

ST: Yeah. No, this is Stanley again, and to answer your question seriously, the camaraderie has never disappeared since “Big Night,” don’t you think, Tony?

TS: This is Stanley again…

ST: (Laughs)

TS: …taking back what I just said. No, it was fantastic. It just felt like getting together with family again, and it was a really, really productive and creative few days we had together.

ST: Yeah, it was…for me, it was…this is Stanley again…it was one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had in a very long time, so it was just great.

TS: And just for the record…this is Tony again…we’re now in our fifth season of “Monk,” but I had come to Stanley a number of times over the past few years to try and talk him into doing a part with us on the show, and his schedule was always busy, so the timing never worked out. So this was long overdue for me.

ST: Yeah, certainly, likewise. Likewise.

BE: Alright, thank you very much.

ST: Thank you!

Since all participants in the press conference were asked to limit themselves to one question at a time, we immediately got back in line…and when our name was called a second time, we figured what the hell, let’s ask each of them a question this time.

BE: Stanley, at Bullz-Eye, we did a feature recently on the best disaster movies of all time, and “The Core” placed a very respectable #13.

TS: (Bursts into laughter)

ST: Really! The best…thirteen out of how many?

BE: Out of fifteen. But, still.

TS: Oh. Okay.

ST: Really. Because there only have been, like, fifteen made, right?

TS: Are you saying disaster like the movie was a disaster, or…

BE: Thankfully, no.

ST: Just that it’s about a disaster.

BE: We said, “Stanley Tucci takes his performance as Dr. Conrad Zimsky places where only Jonathan Harris has gone before.”

ST: Yeah, wow…

BE: Did you have a lot of fun making that movie?

ST: Uh, well, I don’t know about fun. But it was a really wonderful group of people: Bruce Greenwood and Tchéky Karyo and Hilary (Swank). So, yeah, it ended up actually being quite fun. It was the longest shoot that I’ve ever been on, but it was okay.

BE: Was there a lot of acting against the blue screen?

ST: Yeah, all that stuff. I’m not used to that stuff so much. It was unusual. Those space suits or terra-naut suits or whatever…it wasn’t the most comfortable experience.

BE: And Tony, are you glad to see your former “Stark Raving Mad” co-star, Neil Patrick Harris, getting his own hit series (“How I Met Your Mother,” on CBS)?

TS: Uh, yeah, I really like his work. And, y’know, I just went to see him in a play in Los Angeles. He was doing “All My Sons” here at the Geffen with Laurie Metcalfe and Len Cariou, and it was just an outstanding production, and he was just amazing. It was like he was completely transformed, and I have a lot of respect for the guy, so I’m happy that his show is doing great. And, of course, I wish I was on network, too; I understand they actually pay good money there.

ST: And twenty years younger, too.

TS: Well, yeah. And I wish I had hair like he has hair.

ST: I wish I had any kind of hair.

TS: I wish you did, too.

ST: Thanks.