i hope they don't think that charles dickens stole an idea from dav pilkey.layful, you know, anarchy of his work. >> i am a huge dav pilkey fan. i grew up reading all the "captain underpants" books. my mom got them for me. >> i need another me! >> reporter: pete davidson gets top billing in the film. >> time to stop the super cop. >> all the young kids in my family read "dog man" and they are obsessed with o"dog man." then we got the offer. >> at last! the final showdown. >> reporter: an offer davidson says to play "dog man's" nemesis. petey the cat. >> how evil can one cat be? >> pretty evil. [ laughter ] >> reporter: it's fun to play a villain? >> it's fun. it's a fun, loud layered character. i don't get a lot of opportunities to stretch like that. >> help has arrived. step one, insert dna into the dna chute. >> reporter: readers of the "dog man" books know -- >> step two, press start button. >> reporter: things change when petey tries to clone himself. >> step three, open door to clone. >> reporter: instead, he creates an adorable kitten. >> what? >> his c

this author -- >> dav pilkey. >> jimmy: oh, my gosh. >> he's a genius. >> jimmy: "captain underpants.nd darkness and all that stuff. and it's a really tough thing to do for a movie like that. so, yeah. >> jimmy: it's a great original story, and i think all families will love it. and i heard your voice, and i go, "that actually sounds perfect." and i was like, were you -- for a second go like, "oh, i might try a little weird --" >> oh, yeah. i tried like, a bunch of things, and they were like, "no." [ laughter ] you know when you first get into the booth and you're like, "should i -- do you want me to do a little voice?" and they're like, "of course." and then you do it and they're like, "yeah, just do -- jimmy." or "just do --" [ laughter ] >> jimmy: i've been there a a thousand times. >> but i always go for the grinch, like the jim carrey version. >> jimmy: something, yeah. >> like, "merry christmas!" you know? [ laughter ] you know. >> jimmy: "i'm petey the cat!" >> yeah, "i'm petey the cat!" >> jimmy: "i'm petey the ca-at." and they go, "that's great. just do --" >> "just do you."