Pitchfork

To promote the release of his very first comedy album, Sandwiches & Cats, Michael Showalter recently took to a handful of blogs and started writing. One of his juicier posts appeared on My Old Kentucky Blog, where he revealed that his mid-90s sketch comedy group the State, they of the beloved MTV show of the same name, "is reuniting (though in truth we never broke up) to make a sketch comedy movie. All I can say about it is that we're back together after a brief ten-year break, and it's going to be about the history of our country. Hopefully, funny."

Pitchfork's (and a whole bunch of other people's) interest piqued, I called Showalter to talk to him about the reunion and all of the other things he has on his plate at the moment. In addition to the obvious stuff (the reunion, his album, his tour with fellow State member and frequent collaborator Michael Ian Black), we talked about hecklers, the Writers Guild of America strike, and his relationship with Sandwiches producer and former Shudder to Think frontman Craig Wedren. And yeah, sue me, I talked to yet another person about baseball.

Pitchfork: Are you and Michael [Ian Black] performing on stage together at all on this tour?

Michael Showalter: No, no. Not really. We're traveling together, but we're not performing together.

Pitchfork: Have you influenced each other's sets indirectly in any way? Any sabotage, intentional or unintentional?

MS: I think so. No sabotage, but I think we feed off of each other in certain ways.

Pitchfork: What sorts of ways?

MS: Mostly we eat food off of each other's stomachs and stuff like that.

Pitchfork: Do you clean it up before you go on stage, or do you just leave it on your stomachs?

MS: We try to, but sometimes there's no time.

Pitchfork: So you gotta work on the fly?

MS: Yeah. And I go up first, so I'm usually a little messier.

Pitchfork: You go up first?

MS: Yeah. I open.

Pitchfork: How was that decided?

MS: Well, Mike is sort of the headliner because he's more famous than me. He just has a lot more exposure than I do. He's a more recognizable face than I am. So like, when I'm traveling with Michael, I would say that for every ten people [who recognize] Michael, eight of them also [know] who I [am].

Pitchfork: So it's like he is 25% more popular than you, is what you're saying?

MS: He is probably a little bit more like-- and popular is also not the right word. He's just more famous. He's probably 30% more famous than me.

Pitchfork: Is that just because of the VH1 talking-head stuff?

MS: Yeah, it's VH1 primarily, but it's also his commercial work. His Sierra Mist project.

Pitchfork: Oh, right.

MS: So, Mike's sort of the headliner and I'm his "opening act," but we're sort of co-headlining. But because of that, it means that if I'm not feeling like it I don't have to do a lot of material. I could just go up there and goof around for 20 minutes and then be done. So it's awesome. I love it.

Pitchfork: So it's not weird between you guys at all?

MS: Not in the least, because if I were touring by myself, I'd be playing smaller crowds and getting paid less money.

Pitchfork: Even if you were headlining, you think?

MS: I think so. I think in the next year or so I'll probably give headlining a shot and see how that works out for me. But right now, I'm perfectly content to play second fiddle.

Pitchfork: Have audiences been responsive to your new record? I guess it just came out a couple days ago, right?

MS: It just came out on Tuesday [November 13], and I feel pretty good about the response, I have to say.

Pitchfork: I wonder how touring behind a comedy album works as opposed to touring behind one with music, because it seems like people replay musical albums more than they do comedy albums.

MS: Yes. Well, I have a bunch of songs on my record.

Pitchfork: Right, that's true. Do you play those live?

MS: I don't play those at my shows. But I'm hoping that college radio stations pick them up or something, you know, because everyone likes to put a funny song on a mix tape or something. And the music is actually good. They're not funny songs. They're more actual songs that have humor to them. But I don't know how comedy records work. I don't know. I know that so far, I have read a couple reviews of it, and people seem to like it, which makes me happy.

Pitchfork: In terms of audience response at the shows, can you tell if people went out and bought it or downloaded it before the record came out?

MS: Not yet. I can't tell yet. It's too soon. Plus, I haven't been doing a lot of material that's on the record, so it's not like they're recognizing jokes and stuff.

Pitchfork: Is it really new material or really old material that you're doing?

MS: On the record?

Pitchfork: No, at the shows.

MS: Oh, the live shows are-- honestly, I haven't been doing actual material. I've been more just kind of talking, more just riffing.

Pitchfork: Do you just decide a topic and prepare very little before you go up?

MS: Yeah.

Pitchfork: Do you know what you're going to do tonight?

MS: I've been talking a lot about airport security because we've been doing so much flying, and I have a very, very difficult time with airport security. So I've been talking about that.

Pitchfork: When you riff, does it slowly evolve as you go from date to date?

MS: Yes, exactly. I'm kind of talking about it every night, and every night I keep stuff that was funny. I'm sort of improvising my way to something concrete.

Pitchfork: Does it work the same way when you're with Michael and David [Wain] in Stella or when you guys were with the State? With writing the sketches, do you guys start by improvising scenes?

MS: Yeah, pretty much. We sit in a room together, and we do the same thing. The way the State worked was, actually, just a person writes a sketch. And so that's kind of a solitary endeavor. Stella is much more collaborative. So we'll sit together in a room and just sort of talk through things. And keep things and lose things and just riff.

Pitchfork: David has directed a lot of the stuff that you guys have done. Is that correct?

MS: He directed Wet Hot American Summer, and he directed a couple episodes of "Stella", the TV show. And he also directed a lot of the sketches on "The State".

Pitchfork: Do you guys all have individual roles that you play, or do you share responsibilities more?

MS: We share, but I think everyone has strengths. In that process, certain people are going to take a more active role in one area. But that's not defined. It's just more something that happens.

Pitchfork: So it's not like you know that on every project, David could be behind the camera and--

MS: Well yeah, it's sort of a given that David is ultimately probably going to direct it, although Mike and I direct as well. So it's not an absolute given.

Pitchfork: Craig Wedren produced Sandwiches & Cats, right?

MS: Yes.

Pitchfork: He also did the soundtrack for The Baxter...

MS: Wet Hot American Summer and The Ten.

Pitchfork: And he's been in your circle for awhile. How did that happen? Whose friend is he?

MS: He's a childhood friend of David Wain and was at NYU, and the State went to NYU. And so everyone's just kind of known him forever, and he's kind of our de facto music guy. Him and another guy named Theodore Shapiro, who I went to Brown with. I went to college with Teddy. So Teddy and Craig together did the soundtrack for Wet Hot American Summer and also The Baxter. And Teddy and Craig also both did music for "The State".

Pitchfork: With "The State" being around in the mid-90s, that would have still been when Shudder to Think was around.

MS: Yup. Shudder to Think was at its peak during that time.

Pitchfork: That is so weird to think about.

MS: But he was just like the guy that we all knew from college. We're also huge Shudder to Think fans.

Pitchfork: Do you have a favorite Shudder to Think record, favorite song?

MS: I think that Pony Express Record is probably my favorite record, but they're all good. They have an EP that's really good, Hit Liquor.

Pitchfork: Named after the song from Pony Express?

MS: Hit Liquor? Maybe. I think it came out before Pony Express did. But it's a great EP. It has four songs on it. It has a song called "Red House", which was their first big song.

Pitchfork: Switching back to the tour, I saw that in one of your myriad of blog posts, you wrote about hecklers and the gift they can be to comedians. Have there been any notable hecklers on this tour?

MS: Yeah, there was one guy who-- I talk a little bit about how I live in Brooklyn and I was saying that I have noisy downstairs neighbors and that I'm like Mr. Roper, like the asshole neighbor who's always asking them to turn their music down, and the guy screamed out that Mr. Roper was the landlord and not a neighbor. And that ended up being a fairly long interaction between me and him. You kind of had to be there, though. There's two types of heckling. There's actual "I hate you" heckling, which I haven't really had to deal with that much and when I do deal with that, I tend to shut down.

Pitchfork: How so?

MS: How do I shut down? I just stop performing. I bail. If I'm really being heckled, if people are saying they don't like me, I'll usually just stop performing.

Pitchfork: In the middle of it, will you finish a bit or just--

MS: Yeah, I'll finish and then leave. But that's not normally the kind of heckling you get. It's more sort of audience-members-wanting-attention heckling. And those hecklers are fun because they really want you to rag on them. They want you to put them down. And so it's fun. You get to insult somebody and have a good excuse for it.

Pitchfork: Another one of your blog posts mentioned a reunion of the State.

MS: Yeah. We're making a movie together. It's sort of on hold because of the writers' strike. But I think within the next two years, you will be hearing about a State movie. In the vein of a Monty Python film, which is to say a sketch comedy film. Like The Meaning of Life or something.

Pitchfork: And it's going to be about U.S. history?

MS: It's going to tell the story of the history of the United States. Great moments in American history as told by the State.

Pitchfork: It sounds a little like [Mel Brooks'] History of the World: Part I too.

MS: I think that's a fair comparison, although I don't think it will in any way resemble History of the World. Because our definition of great events is fairly broad. And fictional. It's not been written yet, which is the truth. So I'm speculating.

Pitchfork: Is everyone from the State going to be in it?

MS: Yeah. Everybody. A total, full reunion.

Pitchfork: You mentioned the writers' strike. Have you had a chance to do any picketing?

MS: Not yet, but I intend to. After Thanksgiving I'll hit the picket line.

Pitchfork: Do you think it'll go for that long?

MS: I hope not. But I think it could go a lot longer than that. I think it could go many months.

Pitchfork: What does the strike mean for you specifically? Obviously, it doesn't mean you can't blog in support of your record, right?

MS: No, but it means that you can't get paid to write for the screen. Basically, my employment for 2008 was directly affected by the strike. I had projects that had been set up that were going to start around now that were my "this is what I'm doing in 2008" projects that are just 100% on hold. And so it's directly affecting me. It's my livelihood. Now I'm not getting paid for those projects, so I have to figure out other ways to make money.

Pitchfork: Have you thought about how you'll do that?

MS: Well I have a little bit saved up so that should be okay. You know, I make money touring, and I teach.

Pitchfork: You teach?

MS: I teach at NYU.

Pitchfork: What do you teach?

MS: I teach the thesis screenwriting class at the NYU graduate film school, and I'm looking into possibly writing a book.

Pitchfork: What about?

MS: I don't know yet. I've got to figure that out.

Pitchfork: You also blogged at Deadspin on that whirlwind tour, and you're a Yankees fan, is that right?

MS: Yes I am.

Pitchfork: Do you have any thoughts on A-Rod and where he ends up?

MS: Well, the way I feel about it is this. I'm very happy that he's staying with the Yankees.

Pitchfork: Is he definitely?

MS: I think it's 99%. Because obviously he's an amazing player and the Yankees need him. They need his bat in the lineup. That having been said, I feel like he really, really botched an opportunity to become a beloved sports figure in New York City.

Pitchfork: How so?

MS: Because he opted out of his contract. If you compare him to Jorge Posada, for example, who made it clear before the fact that his intention was to stay with New York no matter what, as long as a deal could be made. And that's all that Rodriguez had to do, was say, "I want to stay in New York, and I'm going to do everything I can to make it work." And instead, he bolted. And now he's coming back, and it looks a little bit like he's coming back because he realized he wasn't going to make more money anywhere else. And I think that, for that reason, he's going to remain someone who is sort of looked at with a raised eyebrow.

Pitchfork: Did you grow up a fan?

MS: No, I didn't grow up as a Yankee fan.

Pitchfork: Did you grow up a baseball fan?

MS: I grew up a baseball fan, but I didn't have a specific team that I rooted for. I kind of liked the Phillies just because I grew up in New Jersey. I more liked certain players. I had a lot of baseball cards. I was very into baseball cards. But I like the Yankees because they're just-- they are baseball. To me, the Yankees are baseball.

Pitchfork: How so?

MS: [mockingly] How so?! How so?!

Pitchfork: I mean, as a Cincinnati Reds fan, I'm a little offended.

MS: Well, the Cincinnati Reds are also baseball. The problem with the Cincinnati Reds is that they suck. And they've sucked for so long.

Pitchfork: Well...yeah. Did you get a chance to watch the World Series this year?

MS: Of course.

Pitchfork: As a Yankees fan, how does that work? Who were you rooting for?

MS: I like the Red Sox. I'm a Yankees fan who does not root against the Red Sox. My mother is from Boston, so I do have some Red Sox blood in me.

Pitchfork: You seem very opinionated about this stuff. Maybe you should try to get a job with the Yankees next year.

MS: I would love that. I would absolutely love that.

Pitchfork: That would be a sweet way to spend the writers' strike, don't you think?

MS: It would. Well, I'm going to keep blogging for Deadspin.

Pitchfork: Oh really? Are you doing anything in particular for them?

MS: No. I have to think of what I want to write about. I'm always thinking about something or other [that is] sports-related though. I'll think of something.

Pitchfork: Are there things other than the up-in-the-air projects that you mentioned before that you're working on now?

MS: No. But, I mean, I'm busy. There's a movie that I'm maybe going to direct that I wrote a draft of before the strike, which is a zombie movie. I don't have too much to say about it because it's not happening yet. But that would be something that would take up a lot of my time if it were to happen. It's a teen/comedy/zombie movie. It's like Superbad with zombies.

Pitchfork: So Superbad combined with Shaun of the Dead, maybe?

MS: Or Dawn of the Dead, actually.

Showalter shows (all with Michael Ian Black):

11-29 Somerville, MA - Somerville Theatre
11-30 Philadelphia, PA - The Fillmore at Theatre of Living Arts
12-01 New York, NY - The Fillmore at Irving Plaza