Cheeky Gets Nosy With Michael Showalter

The Michaels have hit the road. Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black, best known as the guys from The State (or cult comedy troupe Stella, or cult summer camp movie Wet Hot American Summer, or VH1’s “I Love…” series, or Twitter) have just aired the first season of their new Comedy Central project, Michael and Michael Have Issues. In the show they play themselves, basically, as characters creating a sketch comedy TV show. It’s a 30 Rock-like premise but with an indie, Mr. Show-like vibe. The future of the show remains unclear, so you know it must be good. For now, Michael and Michael are touring the nation with their live show called, well, Michael and Michael Have Live Show. On the eve of their Chicago stop at the Metro, we spoke with Michael Showalter about Chicago’s smart audiences, fighting with the other Michael, and feminine grooming euphemisms.

Cheeky: So welcome back to Chicago.

Michael Showalter: Good to be here.

Cheeky: How was Detroit last night? That was the first stop, right?

M.S.: That was the first stop. It was a good show, and we’d never played a show in Detroit before.

Cheeky: Oh really?

M.S.: No. Happy to be in Chicago.

Cheeky: On the show Michael and Michael Have Issues, you play characters based on yourselves. But you’ve said in interviews they’re not exactly yourselves — you still treat them as characters. So, in the live show, are you going on stage as Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter the comedians, or as Michael and Michael the TV personas?

M.S.: Well, there’s very little distinction between them. This is just me and Mike as the real people that we are. But so is the TV show, to a large degree. So this show is pretty much Mike and I as ourselves.

Cheeky: I liked the episode where you battle over who gets to headline and who has to open. Are you going to be appearing onstage together?

M.S.: We’re actually gonna be pretty much on stage together the whole time. We’re kind of trying it out and seeing where it goes. We did it in Detroit last night, and it was kind of an adventure. So, we’re gonna do it again tomorrow night.

Cheeky: This was initially a question for the other Michael, but maybe you can give some insight here. On his Twitter, he asked for us in Chicago to help make Detroit our bitch tomorrow.

M.S.: He said what?

Cheeky: He wants us to make Detroit our bitch. Aside from just showing up in massive numbers, how do you think we can best accommodate that request? What do you really want to see from your Chicago audience?

M.S.: Well that’s obviously a question that Michael would be able to answer better than me, but I dunno. Bring old-fashioned weapons or something? Like maybe one of those things that have a chain and a huge spiky ball on the end of it?

Cheeky: I’ll find out what those are called.

M.S.: I don’t know how that would effect Detroit in any particular way.

Cheeky: It would just make us more bad-ass, maybe. On the topic of dueling cities, do you find any general differences between, say, East Coast, West Coast and Midwest audiences?

M.S.: I wouldn’t say that it’s coastal or regional as much as just every city has a different kind of audience. The good news is Chicago is definitely, as I think Chicagoans know, one of, if not the, best cities for doing comedy. Chicago audiences know what’s funny. They have good taste. And also, it’s a good crowd. People in Chicago have a really good time, but it’s not crazy. The Pacific Northwest can get a little crazy. Good crowds, but it can get a little crazy. East coast audiences — New York, Philly, D.C., Boston — are all great. L.A. is weird. You never really know what you’re gonna get in L.A. I would say that my favorite cities to perform in are Chicago and San Francisco. D.C.’s great too.

Cheeky: Do you think that, because Chicago’s such a comedy town, we get more of the comedy-about-comedy bits?

M.S.: I think it’s that people in Chicago are more . . . what’s the word I’m looking for? In some cities, there’s a little bit more of a novelty to it, like “Hey, the guys from The State are here.” And it feels a little bit like that’s more important that anything we’re saying on stage. So we’re on stage trying to perform and the audience is screaming at us like, you know, “dip our balls in it.” Like they very much want us to know that they know who we are. Chicago, as you know, is more what it should be. They’re there to see a really good show, and there’s a good energy between the performer and the audience. I think that’s what comedians mean when they say it’s a “good crowd.” Responsive, but not rowdy. I’m gonna say the word I haven’t been using: Smart.

Cheeky: Ahhhh, very nice.

M.S.: I just had to say it.

Cheeky: Well thank you on behalf of Chicago. And Cheeky is a web site by, for and about Chicago women…

M.S.: And attractive. Smart and attractive.

Cheeky: Awwww. That’s what I was going to ask, actually, is do you have any words for Chicago women? Maybe specifically about why we should come out and see the show tomorrow?

M.S.: Well we actually have one of the female cast members from our television show, Jessi Klein, opening the show with a set. She’s a fantastic comedienne who does a lot of material I think all the ladies are really gonna relate to. And I’ll just give you one topic she’ll discuss. Which is um. Um. Upkeep of . . .

Cheeky: I think I gotcha.

M.S.: You got me.

Cheeky: I think so.

M.S.: Personal grooming methods.

Cheeky: Yep. There was that British commercial recently about mowing the lawn.

M.S.: You got it.

Cheeky: Well, we look forward to that, definitely.

M.S.: I think Mike and I are also . . . in terms of stand-up comedy, I don’t think that we are your typical “guy’s guys” as stand-up comedians. We’re a little more like nerdy John Hughes characters doing stand-up.

Cheeky: Right, right. I would agree. So, with you guys playing yourselves, essentially, on the show, one theme is how you’re always at each other’s throats. And you’ve said that in real life that’s part of your creative process.

M.S.: Definitely.

Cheeky: Coming from a female perspective, women are so trained to put people’s feelings first, and cage everything with kindness. And that can be detrimental too.

M.S.: Right, sure.

Cheeky: Can you talk about the advantages of kind of just being allowed to rip on each other?

M.S.: I just think it just saves you a lot of time, ultimately. But you know we work together enough that there’s a lot of diplomacy. It’s not all fighting. A lot of it is getting to “yes.” It’s a lot of negotiation. It’s really not all that different, unfortunately, from a relationship. You’re trying to avoid fighting as much as humanly possible. But I mean I think, just in general, it’s just better to be honest. Say what you think. Don’t candy-coat it. Let me have it.

Cheeky: Yeah. So on the show I think you definitely take that over the top.

M.S.: Yes.

Cheeky: But it’s grounded in a real belief that you just have to banter back and forth with each other.

M.S.: Yeah.

Cheeky: I recently came across JDub Records, and you’re one of their artists. Can you talk about them?

M.S.: They’re just a very cool, small record label, based in New York, whose artists are sort of alternative bands and musicians that are Jewish, I guess you could say. In one way or another. So they have a really eclectic line-up of young musicians, some of whom do klezmer and some of whom are just rock bands, and sort of jazzy stuff and hip hop. It’s a really cool label. And they have me. I’m their comedian.

Cheeky: And how did you get involved?

M.S.: I think I did one of their benefits or something, and I got friendly with the guys who run it. And we were sort of having the same thought at the same time, which is that I wanted to making a comedy record and they were thinking, “I wonder if Michael Showalter would be interested in doing a comedy record.” They’re great guys.

Cheeky: Another comedy question. How often do you look at life in a comedic way?

M.S.: I would say the vast majority of the time I don’t look at life in a comedic way. I think one of the great misperceptions about comedians is that they’re always on, or even funny at all, as crazy as that might sound. Comedians can be pretty serious people, except when they’re on stage. So, no, I would say for the most part I view life much the same as anyone would. Which is to say with terror and awe.

Cheeky: There is that phenomenon of bits flying around.

M.S.: Yeah, I think when a bunch of comedians get together that is what it’s like. It’s sort of how comedians communicate with each other. But when it’s just me and Mike hanging out or something, it’s not that way really at all. Although every once in a while something funny will happen.

Cheeky: Just as it does with regular people.

M.S.: Exactly.

Cheeky: So you guys did seven episodes of the show. And are there plans for more?

M.S.: When we finish the tour, we’re going to start writing new episodes. Comedy Central has ordered a batch of new episodes, but they haven’t picked it up officially to be shot. They’ve only commissioned new scripts.

Cheeky: I see.

M.S.: We’re hopeful.

Cheeky: And I’ve gotta ask one question about Wet Hot American Summer, because I was a New York camp kid in the 80’s and it’s pretty much our bible. There was talk last year of a possible prequel, with the joke being that you’re all, you know, ten years older and still playing the same characters earlier that summer. Any truth to that rumor?

M.S.: There’s some truth to it. I think David [Wain] doesn’t want to make another full-length feature sequel. He wants to make it as a short. And I want to make it as a feature. So, it’s tabled. But I know I want to. I would love to do it.

Cheeky: Good. That’s great news. And there’s one final question we like to ask at Cheeky, which is, “What is the cheekiest thing you did this week?” We define cheeky as “definitively bold; impudent or saucy.” Maybe something in Detroit.

M.S.: The cheekiest thing I did this week. I got a speeding ticket driving from Detroit to Chicago. They confiscated my ID, so I have no form of identification right now. I think that qualifies as impudent.

Michael and Michael Have Live Tour

Tuesday, October 13

The Metro

metrochicago.com

Tickets: $25

18 & over

Doors: 8pm / Show: 9pm