Jerry blossoms

Jerry O’Connell would like you to know that he is nothing — at all! — like the pretentious preppy he plays in Broadway’s “Seminar,” the Theresa Rebeck comedy now at the Golden Theatre. “We all know this guy,” says O’Connell, the clean-cut star of “Jerry Maguire,” “Crossing Jordan” and more. “[Douglas] is a character you run into at parties and in literary circles — pompous and smug, and I’m self-deprecating and pessimistic.”

Puppy-like is more like it. At least, that’s how he seemed when he slouched into Joe Allen’s in a gray hoodie, hailed everyone in the place and tried valiantly to pick up the check. At 37, he’s thrilled to be making his Broadway debut and glad to be back in his hometown. In fact, he and wife Rebecca Romijn and their nearly 3-year-old twins are living in the Chelsea apartment in which he grew up while he performs alongside Alan Rickman, here playing a supercilious literary superstar. Between gulps of steak tartare — “I call it meat sushi!” — here’s what he told us.

So what’s it like hanging around with Alan Rickman?

This cast is really close. Alan lives down in the West Village, near all those great restaurants. But you have to be fast with the check because he’ll always try to buy. I know he has all that “Harry Potter” money, but still! My dad’s British, and that’s cool because [launching into perfect Rickman-ese] when Mr. Rickman gets veddy British and some people have trouble understanding him, I know ex-act-ly what he’s saying. My wife met him for the first time recently, and she said, “He is SO handsome!” And I’m like, “Calm down, Becca!”

When did you meet “Becca”?

Eight or nine years ago, at a party in Las Vegas, believe it or not. She was newly single, I was single. She was in a VIP section, and I was in the regular people’s section. I had to stand on the other end of the VIP rope and get in her eye line. I’d met her once before and I got her attention, and she told the bouncer, “He’s OK, let him in,” and we swapped phone numbers.

And then came the twins. What was it like finding out you were expecting two?

It blew my mind! I was playing video games online that day with my brother, and my wife said, “Can I talk to you?” I told her not yet. Then I remembered she’d gone to the doctor, so I turned off the game and she handed me the sonogram and said, “There are two of them.” I said, “I don’t understand!” and she said we’re having twins. The first thing I thought was, “My God, how am I going to pay for this? I’m going to have to get another job!” And then I went back to the video game. I needed time to process it.

Twins must be a handful.

It’s crazy, but they have each other. They’re in the same class now. Eventually, they’ll have to be in separate classes or they’ll burn that school to the ground! Just seeing them in New York is so much fun. We signed them up for preschool and a program at the Joffrey Ballet and gymnastics at Chelsea Piers. I need to find ways to tire them out. I try to design their days so they go to bed at a decent hour . . . They’re obsessed with taxi cabs. They always want to get into the yellow car.

Is that how you’re getting around these days?

I take the train. I’m a big fan of the 1 train — it’s the coolest train in the city. It’s the cleanest, it seems to run the most frequently and they seem to have redone the stations. Sometimes I’ll jump on the ACE but, no offense, I go out of my way to jump on the 1.

Love your passion! Sounds like the Tom Cruise parody you did on YouTube. Heard from him lately?

I have not. I actually feel a little bad about it. A friend and I did it as a joke for Funny or Die. We were parodying that interview he had done [about Scientology] maybe four years ago. It was a fun outlet. We didn’t know it would be that viral. I felt bad about it afterward.

Then again, you’ve also played a guy who got his penis bitten off . . .

Yes. Well, that was a really fun movie to work on. The principal of my kids’ preschool asked to see me after I dropped them off and said, “I saw you in ‘Piranha 3D’ last night on TV. You know you can never show that to your kids, right?”

Will you ever move back to New York?

I’d love to. It’s fun seeing how much Chelsea has changed since I was growing up here. And Brooklyn is — I’m not young or hip enough for that! When I go to Brooklyn, I feel like the old guy. We went to a show in DUMBO, and I couldn’t believe how cool Brooklyn was. I was blown away. If I were ever to come to New York, I’d probably look in Brooklyn.

Even though it’s too cool?

I want to be in on that party, man. I want to be one of those cool people!