Kristen Schaal

You might recognize Kristen Schaal from the award-winning Eddie Murphy vehicle, Norbit.

She's since moved on.

When she's not making shows for SuperDeluxe, appearing in The Flight of the Conchords, or hosting her Hot Tub Variety Show at Piano's, she's working on being slightly crazy.














Chief Magazine: You grew up in Colorado and were involved in the 4-H Club. Did you like growing up in a rural environment? At what point while growing up did you realize that doing comedy was an option, and how, if at all, does your upbringing impact your performance?

Kristen Schaal: Growing up on a farm was okay. I remember being jealous of kids who lived in town because they had sidewalks to skate and ride their bikes on. Oh, and other kids to play with. But now that this portion of my life is in a city coated in cement and packed with playful people, I feel balanced out.

I always knew that I wanted to act. I would dress up in old curtains and perform shows on the fireplace mantle when I was little. Sing to the cows. I didn’t realize I couldn’t be taken seriously until I left Colorado. And I didn’t realize I should just focus on comedy until I couldn’t get any auditions in New York.

I use a lot of animals in my comedy. I think that’s probably from being surrounded by them growing up. And not really liking them very much.

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What comedians or performers did you admire as you were growing up?

I loved The Muppets, John Ritter’s Jack Tripper, Eddie Murphy, and all the Police Academies.

I was going to ask what your worst job ever has been, but considering that you worked as a character at FAO Schwartz, you can’t have had a job worse than that, and if you did, I probably shouldn’t know about it. Are most of the people in costumes at that store actually budding actors? I wouldn’t have realized that FAO Schwartz is a gateway into showbiz.

Yeah, good instincts, FAO was by far my worst job ever. Mostly actors work there. They were cool about letting you leave for auditions. But there’s nothing worse than dressing up in a pink wig and tutu and “acting” like you love toys. For six hours. It takes a special kind of human being to enjoy that.

Your variety show Hot Tub with Kurt Braunohler will be transplanted to Pianos in May after having run for quite a while at PIT and then Comix. Is there a noticeable difference in the kind of crowds that the two previous places got – in other words, does Comix feel like a Meatpacking District club? And which venue do you plan to move the show to after Pianos?  

There actually wasn’t a difference. I was very nervous that there would be, that Comix would be a hotbed of hecklers. To the point where I wrote a script for a video of me and Kurt giving an instructional lesson on how to be a better heckler, to play in response to any out of control heckling. We didn’t get a chance to schedule shooting it, and luckily we didn’t need it. The audiences at Comix were as awesome as our audiences at the PIT.

After Pianos, Kurt and I will probably move the show to the 8 Mile.

Do you like having a regular forum for material, or does hosting your own show start to feel a bit burdensome?

The Hot Tub show has been extremely important in providing a deadline to create new material. It is the best lab ever to experiment with comedy. But booking the show is a major drag. It’s one thing to write a new show each week, it’s another to book it. If anyone reading this is interested in booking the Hot Tub show please contact us.

Is Kurt someone with whom you hang out when you aren’t performing together? How has that relationship evolved over the course of doing the show?

Yeah, Kurt and I will hang out. We love each other’s company. At least, I love his. I’m always happy to see him. The relationship has gone from friends to family. He feels very much like a brother to me.

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You’ve hosted a slew of guests throughout the course of Hot Tub, including David Cross and Janeane Garofalo. Do you have a favorite guest, someone who was fun to work with and fit in well with the show?

Hmmm, how do you pick just one? Reggie Watts. Nicest guy you will ever know and also brilliant.

Onstage, your voice is sweet and girly, maybe reminiscent of Victoria Jackson’s from early-‘90s SNL. How would you characterize your delivery, and how similar is your onstage persona to your everyday persona?

I don’t know. I’ve never tried to create an overall persona. I just let the jokes be the personas.

I read that the Aspen Comedy Festival contacted you after your inclusion on New York Magazine’s list of the “Ten Funniest New Yorkers You’ve Never Heard Of.” So do you get a ton of phone calls as soon as a list like that hits the newsstands? I often see various ten-people-I’ve-never-heard-of lists, but I am never quite sure where those ten people go from there. Does a list like that inevitably lead to some offers that you would never be interested in?

I can’t remember any offers that panned out from that. But I do remember that being a career shift for me.

You won the award for Best Alternative Comic at the Aspen Comedy Festival in 2006. How has your experience been at that festival? Does the pressure to get laughs there feel more intense than at other shows? Do you also get to watch everyone else?

I thought it was stressful. I was never sure what pieces I should perform, and there was a vibe going into it that there was a chance they might not “get me.” Which wasn’t true. And my entire family drove up to see me. Some for the first time ever. But once I got on stage, after all the build up, it was fun.

So here is your opportunity to defend Norbit: Go.

The talking dog is funny.

Fair enough. Did you have much interaction with Eddie on the set? Do the rumors about his egotism seem overblown?

Eddie wasn’t on set for the half -hour it took me to say my line. I haven’t really heard the egotism rumors. Do you mean in the fact that his ego let him believe that fat jokes are still funny?

You were in two high-profile network pilots last season, Ugly Betty and Six Degrees. Do you see yourself doing network TV, or do a lot of the scripts that you read seem to be anathemas to your comic sensibility?

Yeah, I could see myself in a sitcom. But I would like it to be on a show that makes me laugh, like The Office or Arrested Development. Maybe even on a show that I create. The majority of the scripts that I read are not funny. Networks don’t like to take risks with their shows, so they crank out a lot of the same formulaic shit every year. It’s depressing that that’s where all the money is and that’s what reflects American culture: what’s safe enough to air that will sell a burger and a jeep to Middle America that night.

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When we interviewed Eugene Mirman a little while back, he mentioned that he, too, was involved in the new Flight of the Concordes show on HBO. What is your character like? Has the show started shooting, and how soon will it air?

I play their only fan, Mel. She is really dedicated to their music. She’s also strongly sexually attracted to them. We started shooting in March and it aired June 17th after Entourage.

You were in an episode of Law and Order: SVU, and you have parlayed that into a great comic bit where you perform your audition speech for the role of “Chubby Grocer” on an episode of Law & Order, all the while finding solace in a box of chocolate donuts. Do you have any legitimate interest in dramatic acting, or are you most satisfied doing comedic work?

I can’t help but have more respect for comedy, because I think it encompasses everything- including drama. But I would like to take on the challenge of feeling raw emotion without winking at the audience.

I auditioned for a very dramatic film, a scene where the character breaks down and commits suicide. I tried to get myself to that dark place, but it was tough. It occurred to me that I needed to be slightly crazy to break from reality and convince myself that this was happening enough to really feel it.

So, I’m working on it.

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Do people ever recognize you from your Starburst commercial? It seems to have been a popular commercial. Do commercials end up being an easy enough way to make a decent paycheck?

People don’t recognize me, that I know of. The guys at my deli made the connection. Commercials remain my biggest source of income. I’ve still had to keep a day job from time to time, but they’ve freed up my schedule enough to allow me to write and do shows.

You often seem to end up dancing onstage for whatever reason. Do you like to dance, or do certain sketches just happen to end with you dancing?

Now that you mention it, Kurt and I do incorporate a lot of impressive choreographed dance pieces into our work. It’s all subconscious. It must come from our bodies’ aching desire to touch each other.

Any story of a nightmare performance from throughout your career?

When I first moved to New York I got to do a showcase for industry at Stand-Up New York. I had this character that’s completely incoherent, she speaks beyond gibberish, and acts out her favorite movies for the audience. I decided that would be a great way to introduce myself. It bombed beautifully, and I hopped in a cab that took me back to my temp job at Sullivan and Cromwell where I was copy checking a case until four in the morning.

Who should we make a point to see perform these days? I know there’s a long list of amazing comedians in New York, but give me some names in no particular order...

Shayna Ferm. John Mulaney. Anne Carr. The Striking Viking Story Pirates. Brett Gelman. Heather Lawless. Pete and Brian. Chelsea Peretti. Jack Kukoda. Nick Kroll.  

Can you tell us about the birth of Penelope: Princess of Pets? Will you keep making episodes if people watch the hell out of it and comment every time?

Penelope: Princess of Pets was an idea that Kurt and I had originally developed for a movie. But when Super Deluxe asked us to make stuff we thought it would be fun to turn it into a series for the web. They had wanted us to make shorts of our sketches, but we pushed for this. They only ordered three, but people seem to like it so they have ordered more. Which is great, because Kurt and I have the story arch all mapped out. Penelope is set to go on quite an adventure. You just have to be patient, it’s going to take us a bit of time to make the new episodes.

What do you find funny these days? Do you ever watch videos on YouTube.com? Do you watch much TV?

I’m not watching YouTube, unless it’s LonelyGirl15, and I’m not watching much TV either. I find my friends extremely funny. Which I know is a boring answer because you haven’t met them. But they’ve always got me laughing every time I see them. I’m very lucky.

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And finally, do you have a story about a time when you came very close to dying, or a time when you did something crazy but got away with it?

Hmmm. I wish! I did get stuck in an elevator for half a day. But it was all worth it when the firemen pried the doors open with an axe. I got alcohol poisoning once and quietly barfed all over the N train. When I was working at a restaurant I licked chopsticks and then served them to a famous but appallingly rude director. I touched a Van Gogh painting once! That’s everything.

That’s plenty.




Website
www.hottubvariety.com

Photos

Bradley Meinz
Kristen Schaal
Illustration, Michael Arthur

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