By Pam Victor
[“Geeking Out with…” is a series of interviews with well-known, highly experienced improvisers. It’s a chance to talk about stuff that might interest hardcore, improv dorkwads like Pam. The series can be found in full frontal geek out version on My Nephew is a Poodle and in pithier version on the Women in Comedy Festival blog. For behind-the-scenes action, ‘like’ the “Geeking Out with…” Facebook page.]
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As is my unfortunate habit, my introduction to Brian
Stack of Conan involved me making an ass of myself. I first contacted Brian while
researching Rachel Dratch’s early career in preparation for our live interview.
In the ‘90s back in Chicago, Brian and Rachel were in a couple troupes
together, Gambrinus: King of Beer and Jazz Freddy. During my research, I asked Brian to comment on a juicy quote I read and for some reason attributed to Armando
Diaz. I wrote to Brian, “Armando [described] Gambrinus as, ‘less like a legitimate improv
group and more like a drunken, undisciplined softball team…. Jazz Freddy was
the complete antithesis of Gambrinus in terms of discipline and focus.’ Though
he went on to say they had great t-shirts.”
Brian Stack’s response was polite and generous: “I think
that quote might have actually been from an interview I did years ago. Maybe
I'm wrong, but it seems very familiar. If it was Armando who said that, I
certainly agree with every word.”
He was correct. Horrified that I had misquoted Brian
Stack to Brian Stack, I apologized. True to his reputation as being the “nicest
guy ever,” he was understanding and, yes, very nice.
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| Stack, the man and the beer |
In addition to being very nice, Brian Stack is enormously talented. During the 1990s heyday of the Chicago improv scene, Brian played on some of the most renown, respected groups at the time, such as Blue Velveeta, Jazz Freddy, and the original cast of The Armando Diaz Theatrical Experience and Hootenanny, which also included such other greats as Armando Diaz himself, Matt Besser, Jimmy Carrane, Kevin Dorff, Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey, Neil Flynn, Noah Gregoropoulos, David Koechner, Adam McKay, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, and so many more. (For a complete list of the wildly impressive original and second cast plus some guest monologist highlights, check out this interview.) From this illustrious beginning, Brian went on to work at Second City, both on tour and on the Chicago stage.
Through the bonds formed in Chicago, Brian Stack was
hired to fill in for an injured writer on Late Night with Conan O’Brien in
1997. They liked him so much, they kept him on…and apparently those bonds still
stay strong, as Brian has worked with Conan O’Brien ever since. Brian Stack worked
as an actor, writer, and editor when O’Brien transitioned to The Tonight
Show in 2009. And he continues to work
now on Conan on TBS. Over the years,
Brian Stack has become known for his many popular, recurrent characters, such
as The Interrupter, Kitty McBagpipes, Frankenstein, James Sinclair St. Wallins,
Brian LaFontaine, and Joe Galliano (John’s brother,) among many others. For
this work, Brian has won five Writers Guild Awards for Writing in a
Comedy/Variety Series and has been a member of the writing team nominated every
year since 1998 for an Emmy (Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy
Program,) which they finally snagged in 2007.
Most importantly, Brian Stack is a dedicated husband
to comedian Miriam Tolan and father to two lovely girls, Nora and Colette. And
a super nice guy.
* * *
PAM
VICTOR: My first question usually is about the first moment
you fell in love with improvisation. I understand it was love at first sight an
intro. class during your senior year at Indiana University?
BRIAN STACK: The brilliantly hilarious Mick Napier
lived on my dorm floor at IU and had a great improv group that also included Faith Soloway and Joe
Bill. But I never had the guts to audition for it, despite Mick's
encouragement. I used to see them
perform though, and it looked like so much fun. I took a beginners' acting class my senior year just for the
hell of it, and one day they had us do an improvised scene as an exercise. I'd
never had that much fun before in my life, and I was hooked from then on.
PAM: What was it about that first scene
that struck you?
BRIAN: I think it was the thrill of not knowing what was
coming next, and just discovering what was happening as we went along. All the same things that make me still
love improv all these years later, as corny as that sounds.
PAM: Not corny
at all. It's so fantastic that you were there for that kismet incubator of
comedy people who convened together at Indiana University in the ‘80s. Name
some of the people who lived in Mick Napier’s dorm and were at IU at the same
time as you. There were Mick Napier, Joe Bill, Faith Soloway...do you remember
the others?
BRIAN: I didn't actually meet Joe Bill until years later in
Chicago, but I did meet Faith very briefly at a college party, and I remember Mark
Sutton being at a lot of parties since he was a friend of Mick's. Everyone
called Mark "Howard" back then. I don't remember seeing Mark do
improv himself in those days, but he's obviously turned out to be a great
improviser.
PAM: Yeah, they
roped Mark into Dubbletaque (their troupe) after a while. I think Faith's sister Jill was around too, maybe? Of
course, you could have no idea that nearly each and every one of these people
would play a pivotal role in improvisation, but what were your impressions of
them at the time?
BRIAN: I briefly met Jill
Soloway later on when I was going to grad school at UW-Madison. I had been performing at the Ark
Theater, and the late, great Chris Farley was in my very first improv
group there. Chris had moved down to Chicago in '87, but he came back to visit
Madison in '88, and Jill and James
Grace came along with him.
That was the first time I met James, too. He might've still been a teenager at the time.
PAM: I hear such wonderful things about
Chris Farley as an improviser and all-around nice person to work with. I assume
he was dynamic even from the beginning?
BRIAN: It was obvious to everyone who saw Chris perform,
even in those days, that he was very special. He had incredible stage presence,
and he was one of the funniest people on Earth. I just wish more people
could've seen him on-stage in Madison or later on in Chicago at iO or Second
City. I've never seen anyone who
could completely wipe out a roomful of people with laughter the way he could at
his best.
PAM: I
understand you really dove into your studies of improvisation during graduate
school in Madison at The Ark. What brought you to Chicago after graduate
school?
BRIAN: I'm actually from the Chicago area, so I was
basically just heading back home after grad school. I've always admired my
friends who moved to Chicago to do improv. I like to think I would've had the guts to do that myself if
I hadn't been from Chicago, but I was lucky enough to be living there already.
PAM: Which
teachers and performers most influenced you in your early days?
BRIAN: In the early days, the people that had the biggest
impact on me were Mick Napier, Del Close, my fellow Ark performers like Chris,
and great performers like Dave
Pasquesi and Joel Murray who I saw at ImprovOlympic before I'd ever started
performing myself. Mick had told
me about ImprovOlympic, and I took a class with Charna
Halpern during the summer between college and grad school. Just being around those people made a
huge impact on me, and I feel very lucky that I got to work with them later on. They're still very inspiring too, obviously.
PAM: Absolutely.
That's a who's who list of the greats. I just saw a couple TJ & Dave shows last weekend that blew my socks off
all over again. What were you seeing in Mr. Pasquesi back then that made an
impression on you?
BRIAN: I think it was his combination of intelligence and
playfulness. He seemed like a cool Philosophy professor who did comedy to help
him process all the ideas that were bouncing around in his head. He's also
always had a kind of Bob Dylan quality that said to the audience, "This is
where I'm going right now. You're
welcome to come along, and I hope you do, but I'm going there regardless."
PAM: Ha. Yeah,
that's perfect.
Were you studying first at Second City and then iO?
Were you studying first at Second City and then iO?
BRIAN: When I moved back to Chicago after grad school, I
took classes at Second City and iO at the same time. There was a lot of crossover at that time. Many of my friends were doing the same
thing.
PAM: It seems like iO resonated with you
more strongly, no? Or was it just circumstance?
BRIAN: I think both places had a very big impact on me for
different reasons. It was always
my dream to work at Second City, so even taking classes there was very
thrilling, especially at first when I had my Level 1 class in the Mainstage
space. I don't think that happens
a lot nowadays.
iO
was where I first met many of my lifelong friends and fellow improv performers
though. It's impossible to
overstate how much I owe to that place on a personal and professional level.
PAM: It really
does seem like your time at iO proved to be the basis for your professional
life.
BRIAN:
Absolutely. I've ended up working with so many iO people later on, and
not just at Conan.
PAM: Like who? Where? I know you work with
Brian McCann and Kevin Dorff at Conan…
 |
| The Late Night writing staff in the late '90s |
BRIAN: Well, at
Conan I've worked with Andy Richter,
Jon Glaser, as well as Brian and Kevin. Outside of our show, I've worked with
countless others in various ways here and there, including the brilliant Tina
Fey and Amy Poehler. My association
with the UCB folks like Amy, Adam McKay, Horatio Sanz, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh,
and Matt Besser can all originally be traced to the iO-Chicago days, too.
PAM: Wowwee-kazowee. What a lucky man you
are. Can you name some of the fantastic teams you were on in Chicago?
BRIAN: I do
feel incredibly lucky to have been around Chicago during the late 80's and
early to mid 90's. It was pretty
insane when I look back on the people I was lucky enough to watch and work with
back then.
I
really loved my old iO team which also included Matt Walsh's brother Pat, and
Betty Cahill among others. I'm
also very proud to have been part of the group Jazz
Freddy which included my wife Miriam Tolan, Dave Koechner, Pete Gardner,
Rachel Dratch, Pat Finn, Carlos Jacott, Kevin Dorff, Noah Gregoropoulos, Jimmy
Carrane, and others. That group
led directly to several of us working at Second City, and I loved working with
all those people so much.
 |
| iO team Bouquet of Flesh: Brian Stack, Beth Cahill, Jenna Jolovitz, Pat Walsh, Dennis Sheehan, Pete Rodriguez, and E.J. Peters |
[Readers, stay tuned for a mini-Geeking Out with…
about Jazz Freddy, which was inspired by my time with Brian Stack and our
discussion of this influential group.]
PAM: You’ve
described the early ‘90s in Chicago as a kind of golden age in improvisation
comedy. I’d love to hear about that experience for you.
BRIAN: It was a very inspiring time. There were lots of
great groups around like The Family, Ed, and Film Dome, and everyone came out
to see each other's shows.
I
remember the crowd being full of improvisers on the opening night of Jazz
Freddy, and I'll always be grateful for that kind of support. And over at Second City in those days,
you'd see amazing people like Farley, Pasquesi, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell,
Amy Sedaris, Jane Lynch, and other greats. I can't believe that at the time they were just the local
entertainment.
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| Jazz Freddy back in '92 at Live Bait Theatre: Cast included (but not pictured in this order): Chris Reed, Dave Koechner, Pat Finn, Miriam Tolan, Pete Gardner, Stephanie Howard, Susan McLaughlin, Rachel Dratch, Carlos Jacott, Noah Gregoropoulos, Kevin Dorff, Jimmy Carrane, and Brian Stack. |
PAM: That's amazing. And really
incredible when you think that you went to college with Mick, Joe, Mark, and
Faith. You are like the Forrest Gump of improv.
BRIAN: I do
often feel like ol' Forrest in many ways.
I should probably be sitting at a Chicago bus stop rambling on and on to
strangers.
PAM: I think
this interview is the virtual equivalent of a bus stop. Sans
chocolates, sadly.
BRIAN: I do
wish I had some chocolates, but my daughters seem to have eaten them all.
PAM: Dang. They'll do that. My daughter is 14. How
old are yours?
BRIAN: My oldest daughter Nora is 15, and my younger,
Colette will turn 11 next month. I
can't believe that.
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| Brian and his beautiful family (taken before they were old enough to eat all the chocolates) |
PAM: Speeds up there once they hit 10,
doesn't it?
BRIAN: You're
right. Time's really flying by.
PAM: Speaking of time, back to the '90s. I
know about The
Family, which basically was the iO team from which the UCB Theatre was born.
But I don't know much about Ed and Film Dome. What were those groups?
BRIAN: Ed was
a very influential group that included John Lehr, Chris Hogan, Carlos Jacott,
Pete Gardner, and my wife Miriam. They took long-form into actual theaters, and
certainly paved the way for groups like Jazz Freddy and the Family. Their combination of discipline and
playfulness was very inspiring. Before
that, it was rare for an improv group to get together for workshops more than
once a week. Ed and the later
spin-off show Film Dome proved that you could get great results from putting in
the time off-stage.
PAM: What do you mean bringing long form
into actual theaters?
BRIAN: I just
mean that it was much more common in those days for improv groups to perform in
bars or cabarets. Ed performed their second run at the Remains Theatre where
plays were typically performed.
Pete Gardner liked the results of that so much, he wanted Jazz Freddy to
also perform in a theatre, and that's what we did at Live Bait, a wonderful little
place.
PAM: Oh, I see. Who was the director/guiding
force of Ed?
BRIAN: The
guiding force behind Ed was Jim Dennen.
He was a very interesting guy, and he and Del Close developed a kind of
mutual respect for each other in those days.
PAM: Cool. How did you come to join Blue
Velveeta?
BRIAN: I used to sit in now and then with Blue Velveeta
when they were an ImprovOlympic team, but I later worked with those guys more
regularly when they split off to form The Comedy Underground in '91 or so. I also did shows with them at the
Improv on Wells Street before Jazz Freddy started.
PAM: It sounds like Blue Velveeta performed
both long and short form, is that right?
 |
| Backstage at ASSSCAT in NY Lennon Parham, Jack McBrayer, Amy Poehler, Horatio Sanz, Miriam Tolan, Alan Zweibel, John Lutz and Rachel Dratch. |
PAM: And who was in Blue Velveeta with you?
Was that post-Susan Messing era?
BRIAN: When I
sat in with them at iO, Susan was still in the group, but later on
at Comedy
Underground I worked with Jay Leggett, Mitch Rouse, Brian Blondell, Kevin
Dorff, Andy Richter, Jimmy Carrane, Brendan Sullivan, and Dave
Koechner. At the Improv, it was
usually just me, Jay, Brian, Mitch, and Kevin.
I didn't
work at the Improv very long, though.
I didn't really enjoy working in a stand-up club, so I went over and
joined Dave, Kevin, Rachel Dratch, Noah Gregoropoulos, Andy, Jimmy and others
in a fun, drunken joke of a group called Gambrinus: King of Beer.
It was named after a legendary Czech king who supposedly beat Attila the
Hun in a drinking contest. It was
basically the antithesis of Jazz Freddy in many ways in terms of the discipline
and all, but it was a lot of fun.
PAM: You
described that group to me as “a drunken joke of a group.” When we were chatting
earlier, you remarked about the transition between Gambrinus and Jazz Freddy,
“It's funny that Gambrinus came right before Jazz Freddy. It was kind of like
going out on a three-night bender with friends just before you go to college
with those same friends. A very fun college, though.” [Dear readers, I must note that it was
very satisfying to quote with accuracy Brian Stack to Brian Stack at that
moment.]
BRIAN: That's
right, yes. In many ways, it was
the perfect thing to do just before Jazz Freddy since it was such an
undisciplined mess. When Pete
Gardner brought his Gambrinus/iO friends together with his Ed friends to form
Jazz Freddy, we all felt ready to get more serious about the work, while still
not taking ourselves seriously.
PAM: The more I
read about the transition from one to another, it seems like it was necessary
to move through Gambrinus to get to Jazz Freddy. Do you see it that way?
BRIAN: I do, yes.
I think doing something as playful but unfocused as Gambrinus made us
appreciate how rewarding it was to do Jazz Freddy right after that.
PAM: These
groups seemed to have a formed outside of iO. Is that right? Was that common in
the early ‘90s, to form freelance teams?
BRIAN: In many ways, I feel like I've never left iO since
I've worked with so many iO people even after I stopped doing Harolds. Back then, though, it was pretty
typical for groups to splinter off and try things on their own, especially
since iO didn't get a permanent home until '95 or so. It was great to go back there at that time to do shows like The
Armando Diaz Experience. It's
so great that the Armando Show is still going after 18 years, both in Chicago
and LA.
PAM: Tell me
about what made Jazz Freddy so unique.
BRIAN: I'm not sure how truly unique the show was, but it
was incredibly rewarding. We were
basically just trying to do the best scene work we could do. Luckily, we had such a great mix of
people in the group. The chemistry
was special because were all pretty different from one another.
PAM: Were there other groups doing
slow, reality-based scenes in Chicago or was Jazz Freddy the first?
BRIAN: I saw a
lot of really slow, patient work at iO before then actually, and as I mentioned
before, the group Ed helped pave the way for patient improv work being done in
a theatre. But it's been very nice to hear from people I admire, like Craig Cackowski
or the guys in The Family, that Jazz Freddy inspired them to try new things on
their own.
PAM: What do you think they were seeing that
inspired them?
BRIAN: Based
on what I've heard from people like Craig, it was our combination of patience,
support, listening, and playfulness.
We always tried to find the humor from the characters or situation
instead of pushing for laughs.
PAM: You left
Jazz Freddy when you were offered a spot on the Second City touring company,
GreenCo. True to form, your castmates during those times were pretty stellar,
such as Pat Finn, Suzy Nakamura, Adam McKay, Neil Flynn, plus, for a time
Rachel Dratch, Jon Glaser, and Amy Poehler…and then there was that woman named
Miriam Tolan who would become extremely significant in your personal life. What
a team! It sounds like you had a blast together. Can you recall some
highlights?
BRIAN: As much as I loved doing the resident company shows
at Second City later on, many of my fondest Second City memories come from my
Touring Company days. I'll always be grateful that I got to tour with all those
hilarious people.
There
are too many wonderful memories to name here, but one that stands out is the
time that Steve Carell came down to visit his girlfriend (now wife) Nancy Walls
when we were doing a month of shows in Dallas. Steve wasn't famous yet, so no
one in the audience recognized him when he pretended to be an audience member
giving a suggestion in the improv set.
Adam McKay ended up calling him up onstage and "forcing" him
to improvise. Steve's such a
brilliant actor, that you'd have sworn he was just a nervous guy being dragged
out of his comfort zone. Adam even
tackled Steve at one point when he tried to leave the stage. I was literally crying with laughter in
the wings.
PAM: That's a great story!
BRIAN: Glad you liked it, thanks!
PAM: Was Adam McKay a big influence on you as a
writer?
BRIAN: Definitely. In addition to being one of the funniest
people I've ever met, Adam also approaches writing and generating ideas with so
much enthusiasm that it's very contagious. He's obviously brought the same
sense of playful anarchy to movies like Anchorman,
and it's no mystery to me why so many brilliant comedians want to work with
him.
PAM: Most interviews
I've heard or read about you refer to what a genuinely nice guy you are. At
least in the improv world, there are a lot of genuinely nice people, so you
must be off the charts nice.
BRIAN: I really appreciate that people think I'm nice, but
I'm always a little surprised when people comment on that. I know so many nice people in comedy. I
remember Steve Carell talking about this very same thing on Fresh Air.
PAM: That's why I mention it. There must be
something especially special about your brand of niceness. Does it bug you that
you're typecast that way?
BRIAN: Well,
thanks. I do appreciate that.
Maybe my red hair and freckles make me seem even less threatening. It doesn't bug me to be seen that way,
but I'm grateful that I've often gotten to play characters that are nothing
like me at all. It's more fun to
mix it up.
PAM: I recently came upon a very adorable Second
City sketch video of you and your wife. The "role playing" one.
Do you remember it?
BRIAN: I do
remember that, yes. Miriam was
very funny in that scene. She's
always cracked me up.
PAM: You were
pretty funny in it too, Brian.
BRIAN: Thanks a lot.
PAM: I would
love if you would tell the story of how you proposed to Miriam backstage at
Second City, if you would be so kind.
 |
| Backstage at ASSSSCAT (NY): Brian Stack, Jack McBrayer, Miriam Tolan, John Lutz |
BRIAN: Miriam and I were both still in the Second City
Touring Company, but Miriam was understudying in the Second City mainstage show
on New Year's Eve, and I went backstage to see her at intermission. I had been
planning on proposing to her one of those days, but I just impulsively blurted
out a proposal right then and there in a dimly lit backstage stairwell filled
with garbage bags.
Luckily,
she said yes, but I could've obviously picked a better spot. In some ways, though, it was very
fitting since we'd originally met in Second City classes a few years
before. Because of my proposal,
Miriam was a little late for her call in the second act, and Scott Adsit
jokingly asked her, "What did he do, ask you to marry him or
something?" Yes, he did.
PAM: Awww! Yay! Was it hard to score the
girl back then? There was a heck of a lot of competition.
BRIAN: I'm still pretty surprised she gave me the time of
day. Maybe our mutual 100% Irish
heritage helped tip the scales in my favor. She stuck with her own kind.
PAM: That's so sweet. I love to watch
couples do comedy together. I'm such a sap.
BRIAN: It's amazing how many improv couples
we've known over the years. I'm
often reminded of that when we see all our old Chicago and NY friends at
backyard barbecues here in LA.
PAM: I’ve heard
that for some people, LA is re-creation of their Chicago lives – complete with
the same, longtime friends and co-workers – except with palm trees.
 |
| Amy Poehler and Tina Fey from back in their iO days |
BRIAN: I think
you're absolutely right about that.
There's an incredible bond that forms between people that have been in
the improv trenches together, and an incredible level of trust that forms. It doesn't surprise me at all that
people like Tina or others like Amy Poehler work that way. I see the same kind
of thing with UCB people on shows like Childrens Hospital.
People obviously tend to reach back and recommend the people that they know are
really funny, and very fun to work with.
PAM: Oh, yeah.
That UCB generation of Paul Scheer, Jason Mantzoukas, Rob Huebel definitely
pull up their own as they move up.
BRIAN: They
sure do. And I think back to Stephen Colbert recommending Carell for The Daily Show, or Adam McKay hiring
Tina at SNL. As Amy Poehler once told an aspiring
improviser who asked for advice, "Don't expect to own anything or make any
money for years, but if you're talented and you don't give up, sooner or later
one of your friends will give you a job."
PAM: Ha! That’s
great. It's also a good reminder to be a NICE person no matter what level
you're working at.
 |
| Mr. Stack and Ms. Poehler in her Conan dressing room in 2012 |
PAM: Amy's adorable. So fun to watch. Sounds
like a dream gig.
(Awkard segue alert:) You’ve been at working with a
lot of the same people from your iO and Second City days for a couple decades
now, primarily at the various incarnations of Conan O’Brien’s shows. Let’s talk
about how improvisation itself, as well as the skills it hones, helps you
develop material on Conan.
BRIAN: Our show has always had a strong improvisational
feel. Conan and Andy both come
from improvisational backgrounds themselves, and some of our favorite moments
on the show are when things don't go according to plan. In many ways, our show
has always felt like an extension of the Chicago improv community, and not just
because of all my old improv friends like Kevin Dorff, Jon Glaser, and Brian
McCann have worked on the show.
PAM: Do improvisers work collaboratively
differently than other comedic writers?
BRIAN: That's
a good question. I've been lucky enough to have a great collaborative writing
relationship with writers from non-improvisational backgrounds too, but there's
a certain comfort level that comes when you're doing a live bit and the other
people involved are experienced improvisers.
PAM: It seems
like there is a lot of room at your show for play and experimentation. And failure.
Those are certainly improv-specific skills.
BRIAN: Definitely.
PAM: Many
characters have been developed by "accident" it seems.
BRIAN: That's
true. For example, once before a writers' meeting, I pretended to shoot Brian
McCann in the leg. He sang a happy
little song on the spot about having "bullet-proof legs," so I shot
him in the chest and he fell off his chair, dead. Apparently, only his legs
were bulletproof. Neither of us would've thought of that insane concept at our
computers, but it went on the show the next night.
PAM: As Susan Messing says, "A mistake
is your greatest comic gift." Actually, I'm probably paraphrasing. She may
have said, "A mistake is your greatest gift, you beautiful bitches."
Let’s talk about the working environment and process
at Conan and how it compares to other shows that create sketch. From the way
you describe it, Conan seems like a
less intensely competitive environment than what I’ve heard about SNL. Is that just your experience or do you
think it's a little less competitive at Conan because there is only one central, on-screen talent?
BRIAN: Since SNL just does the one show per week,
there's obviously a lot more competition when it comes to which sketches get on
the show. If we really like something, and we have too many things in one show,
we can usually just toss the unused stuff in a later show. I know SNL can sometimes do that too, but not
as often as they might want to.
PAM: The other
day, I was debating with a very experienced improviser about why people tend to
get hooked on this art form despite that it pays bupkis and doesn’t produce a
lasting product that might lead to great professional opportunities. For
example, you work really hard in quality, paying comedy jobs, but you still
seem to try to find time to improvise. What it is about improvisation that
brings you back?
BRIAN: I think
it's the same thing that hooked me right from the start. When you're with the right people, and
improv is really working, there's nothing like it. I remember someone asking Amy Poehler why she still did free
improv at UCB when she had already "made it," and she looked at them
like they were insane.
PAM: Hahaha!
BRIAN: These
days I don't get a chance to do improv very often, but I still love to do it
when I can, and it's still just as fun for me as ever. It's nice that I still get to improvise
with many of the people I came up with too.
PAM: Where do
you perform when you get a chance? Weren't you recently on Armando at iO West?
BRIAN: I did do an Armando Show recently, yes. It's so
gratifying that a show we started doing in '95 is still going strong in
Chicago, and now here in LA. I
also do the occasional "Joel
Murray and Friends" show at iO-West with old iO-Chicago friends, and
some ASSSSCAT or Gravid Water shows
at UCB. And I've done a couple
improvised "Dead Authors" shows at UCB with the hilarious Paul F. Tompkins. He may be primarily known as a
stand-up, but he's a born improviser, too.
PAM: I don’t know if you agree, but I often
tell young improvisers working on “making it” in screen comedy to work on their
writing as much as possible by taking classes and then just plain sitting down
to write sketches and getting them on stage or online. But may be just talking
out my ass since I've never been on national TV. That's just what I observe.
What is your advice to improvisers who hope to move into TV?
BRIAN: I think
your advice is right on the money. I would also advise young performers that if
they do what they love right now as an end in itself, then it's much more likely
to become a means to an end. As corny as it sounds, it really shows when people
have genuine joy in their work, and those are the people that other people want
to work with in other ways later on, maybe even on TV or in film.
PAM: I know that you loved The Interrupter character. Did you know
there was a Facebook page to bring him back? Is that even a possibility now on
the new show?
The Interrupter
(Miriam appears at the end of this sketch!)
BRIAN: I did not know about the Facebook page, but I'm
flattered that anyone took the trouble to do that. I don't think we'd have the
legal option to bring him back since our Late
Night characters are technically "owned" by NBC, but maybe it's
for the best. I always loved doing those old characters, but I'm glad they
never felt overused or stale.
PAM: Is there a character that you’re
particularly enjoying writing for and doing these days?
BRIAN: Among
other things, I really enjoy working with Todd Levin on the crappy knock-off
songs that I sing as the awful lounge singer in "Basic
Cable Name That Tune."
It's fun to toss in little ad libs at Conan during the live taping, like,
"I am God's worst mistake," just to see how he reacts. I'm thankful that he actually encourages
that kind of unscripted riffing around.
PAM: Sounds like
you all are having an awful lot of fun over there.
That's always nice to see.
BRIAN: It's always been a great place to work, and I don't
take that for granted at all. Some
days are better than others, but I'm very grateful to have gotten to work with
so many great people over the years.
 |
| Brian as Frankenstein and Tom Hanks at Late Night |
[All photographs (except for the Gambrinus) in this piece come from the collection of Brian Stack...because he's a really nice guy who sent a whole slew of fantastic photos to me. Thanks, Brian!]
* * *
Read Geeking Out with...Susan Messing
in which Susan says,
"I am not for the faint of heart,
but if you can handle the messenger
you'll definitely get the message."
in which Susan says,
"I am not for the faint of heart,
but if you can handle the messenger
you'll definitely get the message."
...David Razowsky of iO West
…with Joe Bill of BASSPROV
...Charna Halpern, co-founder of iO Theatre
...Jimmy Carrane of The Improv Nerd podcast
and many more!
And "like" the "Geeking Out with..." FACEBOOK PAGE please.
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