During a visit to “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” on Friday, Mel kept a sense of humor while addressing the tape released by the former “Maccabees” writer.

“Was it just you just swearing at the guy?” Jay asked the “Gringo” star of the tape, in which the actor can be heard shouting obscenities.

“Yeah, pretty much… maybe you don’t know this about me, but I’ve got a little bit of a temper,” he told Jay with a chuckle.

On a more serious note, Mel said he reacted with anger because “14 or 15 months” had gone by before Joe produced a script.

“It’s kind of like you build a house, you hire a guy to put a roof on it. He comes over and talks about the roof and then you get rained on. Wouldn’t you be kind of peeved?” he told Jay. “He finally got one, but it was so bad that Warner [Bros.] rejected it.”