It seems like "Dick in a Box" was just the beginning of a new phase for Justin Timberlake.

In his supporting role in the new Mike Myers comedy “The Love Guru,” the pop superstar rocks a shaggy ‘70s-style ‘do, a handlebar moustache, and a Quebecois accent as French-Canadian hockey goalie Jacques “Le Coq” Grande. The nickname refers to the character's legendary below-the-waist endowment, barely covered by his preferred wardrobe: a velour sports jacket and one very tight Speedo.

It's quite a departure from the dapper duds Timberlake dons for his public appearances and sold out concerts. Then again, the unique trajectory of Timberlake’s career has primed fans to expect the unexpected.

After an inauspicious start on Disney Channel’s reboot of “The Mickey Mouse Club” ("Mickey Mouse, rock the house!"), Timberlake segued to fronting boy band/global phenomenon ‘N Sync, followed by a solo career that elevated him to the status of contemporary pop icon. More recently, he's established a credible acting career based mostly in edgy fare (the true-crime tale “Alpha Dog,” the southern-fried melodrama “Black Snake Moan”).

But back to "Dick in a Box." Timberlake flexed his funny bone with two hosting gigs on “Saturday Night Live,” the second of which produced the instant YouTube smash: a raunchy R&B parody featuring Timberlake and "SNL" regular Andy Samberg packaging their packages for their respective girlfriends.

Timberlake recently chatted with us about the near-surreal popularity of that sketch—which earned him an Emmy last year for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics—his disappearance into the role of Jacques Grande, and the necessity of nerves before a concert.

Did you spend a lot of time perfecting Jacques’ accent for “Love Guru”? Or did you work with a dialect coach?
Both, yeah. I figured the fastest way to do it was to get the accent down proper [before filming]. For the first couple of days that I was on set, I just kept the dialect coach with me and said, “you have to help me find ways to milk this so that [it’s funny], because we’re in a Mike Myers film, OK?” Somebody just pointed this out to me—I’m the only other caricature, really, in the film. I mean, [other than] Mike and myself, everybody else plays it straight. I’m the other guy who’s basically in a clown suit.

It's quite a transformation, did you go out in public dressed like Jacques to see if anybody recognized you?
No, but funny enough, the first day that I worked, there was a handful of crew members who didn’t know it was me for half the day. The director came up to me, and he said, “you’re gonna love this, but a couple of the crew guys just came up to me and said, ‘hey, isn’t Justin Timberlake supposed to start today?’” So when things like that started to come to my attention, I was like, “this is gonna be something memorable!”

Were you always interested in comedy?
I know that there are certain people in the world like Mike, who just enjoy making people laugh. And my earliest memories as a kid [are of the times that] I would always try to make my mom and my stepdad laugh at dinner, or make my friends laugh in class. It’s something that I really enjoy doing.

Did you have any idea “Dick in a Box” was going to take off like it did?
[in a sarcastic tone] Yeah, I was looking at Andy when I finished the last lyrics and melody, and we said, “Emmy!” Uh, no. We knew it was funny to us. We knew we were laughing, and that must count for something. I think comedy translates that way, just like I feel like even the live shows translate that way—if you’re having a good time, it [transfers over to] the audience, you know?

Isn’t it true that you and Samberg performed “Dick in a Box” live in concert once when you were on tour?
We did it at the Garden!

How did it go over?
Imagine a sold-out Madison Square Garden singing the whole song. It was pretty magical.

Do you get nervous at all before going onstage at a concert?
No, not before a concert.

So you don’t even get butterflies in your stomach before performing for a stadium crowd?
Oh, yeah, you get butterflies. It’s not like, “oh my God, I hope I do good.” You just get caught up in the electricity of it. And if that’s what you mean, yes, that still happens to this day. And when that stops happening, you should stop, you know what I mean?

What about with acting? Do you ever get nervous on a film set?
I think it depends. For instance, [in] “Black Snake Moan” my character was basically an emotional wreck the whole movie, so there’s a lot of concentration that goes into filming those scenes. I think you just feel the weight of them, more than anything. I think for a performer, any kind of nervousness that comes in, the focus kind of jumps in as well, and it supersedes it, and it just becomes easier to focus.

With the level of success you've achieved, how do you stay grounded?
A lot of it goes back to family. I think it’s how you’re raised. I was born and raised in a home where we were always taught that everybody puts their pants on the same way every morning. My idol when I was a kid was Michael Jordan, and I remember when I was really young, my parents telling me, “he’s a great basketball player, but that doesn’t make him superhuman. That makes him a great basketball player.” And I think that’s just what I was taught.

Are you ever surprised at the way things have turned out for you, in terms of transitioning so smoothly from music to film?
A lot, a lot. Yeah, every day, I look at it, and say, “how did [I do that]?” But it’s interesting. Everybody says, “everything happens for a reason!” I don’t know about that, but I know that one thing leads to the other, and I think I’ve just been lucky enough to have some opportunities thus far to do films with good dramatic roles, or good stories to tell, or Jacques Grande.