Conspiracy theorists kept trying to contact Joel McHale after his stint on The X-Files

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For actors, sometimes life imitates art a little too much.

Such was the case for Joel McHale when he guest-starred on the 10th and 11th seasons of The X-Files as Tad O'Malley, the host of a right-wing conspiracy theory television show. Speaking with PeopleTV's Lola Ogunnaike for a new episode of Couch Surfing, McHale reveals that because of his character, he was contacted by real-life conspiracy theorists.

"Chris Carter is an amazing writer and showrunner because he is able to take everything that is happening on the planet and fold it into these dramatic scripts," McHale says when asked about the prescient nature of his character's arc on the show.

"[Afterward], I was being contacted by conspiracy theorists to go on their radio shows," he continues. "And then I was like, this is where people go, 'Oh, he said that, so he must be that.' And I thought that that was really interesting."

Those experiences aside, McHale says he's ultimately very thankful for his stint on the beloved sci-fi series: "The fact that I can say forever that I was on that show, I'm just thrilled to death."

For more with McHale, including insights about the difficulty of memorizing his character's lengthy monologues and what it was like working with Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny, check out the video above.

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