Michael Showalter: The HEEB Interview

Text by Sam Smith

via (cc) flickr

As a 20-year veteran of the entertainment industry, Michael Showalter has managed to sustain a versatile and fresh career. A featured performer and writer in legendary sketch groups The State and Stella, Showalter has also starred in cult classic Wet Hot American Summer, and directed himself in the romantic comedy, The Baxter. Currently, he’s writing an autobiography and sharing his insights with students, teaching at New York University Graduate Film School. This July, he’s returning to television to team up with long-time castmate and collaborator Michael Ian Black on Comedy Central’s Michael and Michael Have Issues.

When you first started performing as part of the comedy troupe The State, which later led to Stella, did you think you’d have such great success and chemistry that it would last more than 20 years?

Not in our wildest dreams. But if it worked for the Beach Boys, it can work for us.

You were extremely rushed on the set of Stella, writing on set and editing a couple days before air. Was that a lot of pressure?

Yeah, but I don’t know that that’s actually very unusual. When you’re making a TV show, a lot of shows are in production and the shows are airing at the same time. It is a lot of pressure, but that also just comes with the territory.

What were some of the writing sessions like with the three of you [David Wain, Michael Ian Black]?

We tend to work in the nude. Sometimes that’s just awkward, and sometimes it’s freeing. We meet very early in the morning, sometimes as early as five o’clock in the morning–naked. And we have a very large catered meal. And then that usually kind of gets the ball rolling, and then we’ll probably take a nap [at] around eight in the morning. And then we work again from, like, four o’clock in the afternoon ’til 5:30 p.m.

Did you just joke around? Or did some of you offer ideas that you had come up with on your own?

There’s a website you can go to that has storyline premises on it’s sort of like iTunes. Most of the stuff that we got, we just pulled it off the Internet. We just got all our storyline ideas off of the Internet. A lot of ghostwriters–we had a lot of uncredited writers. Most of them were ex-members of The Kids in the Hall.

What percentage was improvised on the set?

I would say probably upwards of 8 percent. The Baxter was appealing because it balanced having storyline with comedy.

Was the screenplay modeled after other films?

I guess. I just tried to write a really good romantic comedy, and I’m very proud of the end result, and one day I’ll do another one.

Did showing your chops in that genre open any doors?

Yeah, I would never have been able to direct Iron Man if I hadn’t made The Baxter.

What are you currently focusing on for future projects?

I’m working on a book–an autobiography.

Can we get a preview?

Well, one of the stories is about the time that I thought I was having an orgasm, but I was actually peeing on myself. That’s just a little taste of what’s to come.

What is the concept of the new show Michael and Michael Have Issues?

It’s a TV show about us making a TV show–like 30 Rock. It’s a behind-the-scenes show.

Is sketch comedy the most difficult format to write?

I think it depends on who the writer is. For some people it’s easy, and for some people it’s really hard. Our show is really more of a narrative show than a sketch show, but it does have sketches in it. And Mike and I have been writing together for a really long time, so it comes fairly easily at this point.

What were some of your favorite sketch shows?

I liked Kids in the Hall and Benny Hill.

You’re teaching at NYU Graduate Film School. Is that something you always wanted to do?

In a way, yeah, it is. I like to teach quite a bit. I teach one class a semester and I have office hours, so it’s like five hours a week.

Do you focus on comedy or all types of film?

All types. I love it.

Michael and Michael Have Issues will premiere on Comedy Central this July, and The State: The Complete Series will be released on DVD July 14th.

What do you think?