Is Laugh, Dammit! the the only regular comedy game show in town?

Derek Phelps: I believe there are a couple live game shows in Austin. But, ours is the only regular one that I know of, especially on this scale. We’ve been going for about a year now and it’s been getting bigger and better and more fun each time out. Recently we’ve settled into a comfy home at Cap City Comedy Club and we couldn’t be happier.

Where did the idea to launch this project come from?

Derek: My brother and I were inspired by the old tv show “Make Me Laugh”, which was a great vehicle for comics like Garry Shandling and Gallagher. Other comics like “The Unknown Comic” (a one-liner comic with a bag over his head) used to kill on that show but we never seemed to see him doing anything else. There are some very funny people who are funnier than ever when they are on our panel. I think the fact it is a completely unique way of performing comedy makes most of our comedian panelists even funnier, especially now that they know what they’re getting themselves into. Fans of stand-up and improv really love our show because it’s a whole new way to experience comedy in Austin.

How has the show evolved since the first performance?

Derek: When we first began we focused on developing the “game” of the show but once we nailed our elements down we focused more on our “show”. Our show is a game, with panelists making audience members laugh, within the framework of a show, which is our host David James, our “vanna” Roxy Castillo, and our “pardo” Duncan Carson. We’ve developed their characters and they are just such exceptionally funny people that we know every show is going to kill even though the game itself can be incredibly unpredictable. We didn’t expect unpredictability would be something we would embrace but the show’s funniest moments have nearly always been completely unplanned. We love how that happens and we’ve developed some great triggers to make sure every single show is side-splittingly funny.

The show mixes different types of performers. Have you noticed differences in the way a stand-up approaches a contestant vs. an improviser or a sketch performer?

Definitely. When we book the funny people for the show we try and mix up the comedians based on their backgrounds in comedy and what we’ve seen them do. But, there are always surprises. Cody Hustak (regularly performs as a stand-up) once ate part of the set in an attempt to make the contestant laugh. Sometimes improvisers are used to performing in a group and part of the show they have to be on their own, so it sometimes brings out a different side to their comedy. These surprises are my favorite parts of the show and Laugh, Dammit! is never short on surprises.

What’s your favorite show that you’ve done?

Each show is a tribute to a movie. We’ve done The Breakfast Club, Rocky, Pulp Fiction, and Die Hard. We’ll be performing Star Trek for the first time at Austin Sketch Fest and can’t wait. We’ve performed our tribute to The Notebook several times and the second time we did it was amazing. We had Scott Hardy with us for the first time (he is now a part of our regular team) and he absolutely killed. More than one person was wiping away laugh-inspired tears at the end of the night.

What are you looking forward to at the Fest?

Derek: Oh man. Well, we’re biased, so I’d have to say our show first. Ha. But, we’re also big fans of Master Pancake Theater and are excited to see that in a different venue than they usually are.

Whatcha got cookin’ for your ASF show?

We can’t wait to perform our show – which is so different from traditional sketch and improv comedy – for diehard fans of funny. And our plans for our Star Trek tribute are… out of this world funny. We can’t wait. We’ll have our full cast, David, Roxy, Duncan, along with a panel of funny people including Scott Hardy, Amy Botelho, Rob Gagnon, and Trey Galyon (all the way from NYC!).

Laugh, Dammit! will be at 10pm, Sunday May 26th at the SpiderHouse Ballroom. Get tickets here or at the door.

Was there a moment of inspiration for this show? How did it come together?

Brendan K. O’Grady: I’ve always liked chat shows, and especially the style of guys like Charlie Rose and Dick Cavett, who were known for in-depth interviews. And I think that the explosion of podcasts in the last few years has demonstrated that there are a lot of people out there who enjoy listening to conversations that last longer than the four or five minutes of your average late-night talk show. So one night I was watching some long interview with Conan O’Brien on YouTube, and that age-old, cliched dinner party question popped into my head: “If you could have a conversation with anybody who ever lived, who would it be?” I put two and two together, called up some comedy friends, and the next thing you know I’m talking to “John Wilkes Booth” in front of a live audience…

Another origin story is that I’m a big fan of Paul F. Tompkins, and I might have ripped off his idea from The Dead Authors Podcast. But that’s probably just a coincidence, right? (RIGHT?)

Were you a history major?

Brendan: Nope. In fact, you’d be amazed by how little I seem to know about history for a guy who hosts a history show! Actually, I have always had a great interest in history and historical figures, but the nature of studying history is such that you can never REALLY feel like you “know” much of it at all. There are so many eras, so many differing accounts and points of view, and new things are learned so frequently that history is constantly being written and re-written. But that’s part of the fun of history as a subject! Geez, I sound like a nerd now, don’t I?

Can you reveal any of your famous guests for your ASF show?

Brendan: Aw, come on, what would be the fun in that? I’ll tell you what, here’s a hint: I hope that audiences is as fascinated by the turn of the 20th Century as I am. And also by David Bowie. He’s a clue too. But, Lance Gilstrap and Joe Hafkey are confirmed as cast members.

What are you looking forward to at Austin Sketch Fest?

Brendan: Oh, man… Superego with PFT, of course, and Ennis & Kaye with Your Terrific Neighbors (and Ramin Nazer opening) is a killer lineup. Locals-wise, I’m a huge Stag fan, and the Master Pancake guys are always genius. And “Laugh Dammit!” is closing out our night at the Ballroom. They’re coming off of what I heard was a great show at Moontower, so I look forward to that. And, speaking as a stand-up, it’s really cool to see so many great comics become a part of the fest, too!

An Historic Evening with Brendan K. O’Grady starts at 7pm on Sunday, May 26th along with a set from stand-up comedian Bob Khosravi. Get tickets here.

You guys sure like to travel. What do you enjoy about taking your show on the road?

Lance Gilstrap: Snacks

Dave Youmans: I got some trail mix in Toronto called “Cranny & Banany”. Probably the highlight of the trip.

David Jara: It’s interesting to hit the road and see which sketches work with which audiences. It’s also incredibly satisfying to go to a city that has never even heard of you and win them over. This is the first I’m hearing of “Cranny and Banany”, though. I may have to change my answer.

Do you guys have a favorite show you’ve done?

David: Gosh, I like all of our shows for different reasons. I’d probably have to say I enjoyed our most recent shows of new material the most. They were the least stressful show I’ve ever been a part of, the crowds were great, and I feel like the material was some of the strongest we’ve ever done.

Joe Parsons: I feel like the shows keep getting more ambitious, more complex, and better overall. I feel like with these last two shows, we’ve really found our voice and the work is the best its ever been.

What’s your writing process like?

Dave: It’s like making love to a beautiful woman with five of your closest friends and Joe.

Joe: It’s like making love to- Hey!

David: It’s not as drunk as it used to be. I miss that.

Joe: We typically write individual scripts based on concepts then read them as a group for feedback. That said, we also work collaboratively, base sketches off of improvised scenarios and characters, and have what we call “Challenge Rounds” where one person in a group challenges another person to write a sketch based on a premise.

Lance joined your group last year. How do you decide to add a new member?

David: It’s funny, because there was absolutely no decision process for adding Lance whatsoever. We’ve all known Lance for years and have worked with him in some capacity. So, when the time came to start on our most recent show, the rest of us were sitting around and one of us basically said, “Hey, do you guys wanna add Lance?” And we all agreed. Because when someone that talented is available, you’d be a dummy not to snatch him up.

What can we expect from your ASF show?

Lance: Expect to be educated. An unintentional theme in this show is education because we are all teachers at heart. Also the Klan because we are all great friends too.

What are you looking forward to at Austin Sketch Fest?

Dave: The waterslide!

Joe: Sketch is a bit of a small world. Doing sketch in Austin, we have all become familiar with what the other troupes do and what their humor is like, but ASF gives me the opportunity to see what’s going in other places. I have seen some really great comedy at ASF in the past that I would not have seen otherwise.

David: I’m looking forward to all of the shows I’m in (STAG!, The Hustle Show, Mascot Wedding), because it means I made it to the shows, and that’s important to me.

Lance: I’m looking forward to all the shows David isn’t in. Mostly because he is so nice to me that it makes me uncomfortable and I always assume he wants something from me… something unspeakable.

STAG! performs Thursday May 23rd, 8pm at the SpiderHouse Ballroom with There’s Waldo and Danny Palumbo. Tickets here.

What’s a typical Hustle Show like?

Sam Malcolm: A typical Hustle Show features sketches written with distinct voices but that all share a similar flavor of absurdity. So one might be 7 minutes with a page long monologue while another might be 3 minutes of us mashing fruit into our faces, but it all seems to fit.

Jeff Whitaker: The Hustle Show is a super unique show because it features so many different voices. The cast consists of people with years of sketch experience with people who may not have the most extensive sketch background. What makes it work is the trust that we are all going to take care of each other on stage. Each show is approached with one goal in mind, to make eachother laugh. Everything else just falls into place month after month. In short, the show looks like a bunch of people having as much fun as possible on stage.

You guys have not been afraid to get the stage a little messy, right?

Jeff: The Hustle Show wants to formally thank the interns at ColdTowne Theater for staying late nights and sacrificing their social lives to help clean up our chaos.

Sam: Listen, fear is not something we acknowledge at the Hustle Show. I had to clean Mac’s scorpion tank blindfolded before he would even consider performing a sketch I wrote. Joe Rogan is our spirit animal.

Is he your spirit animal for comedy? I only ask because he’s not funny.

Sam: Oh no no no. Never. That would be Kathy Griffin.

What’s the writing process for Hustle Show?

Sam: Basically, it starts with everyone bringing a rough outline of an idea to everyone else. Except then Curtis has a fully written, high concept sketch that makes the rest of us feel bad about what we brought. That discourages us for a couple weeks, but then the deadline of the show itself motivates us to produce. At least that’s how it works for me.

Jeff: The writing process is unlike any other that I’ve been a part of. It’s very fun and collaborative, but also allows for each writer to have their own unique voice. We usually show up to meetings with some idea of a sketch and then riff on it until we have something we can use. I’m the WORST at pitches so it’s nice to get everyone’s input on that weird thing I thought of. It’s always very clear after meeting what direction I want to go with a sketch.

What’s your favorite show that you’ve done?

Sam: We did a night of one-person shows, and I loved being able to see everyone featured individually. You really got a sense of what each performer brought to the table and got to see the show broken down into its parts. It made me appreciate the shows we’ve done as a group that much more.

Jeff: I loved the one-person shows show, but there’s another one that really sticks out. There was one show we did in May of last year where it was POURING rain outside. I think it was the first time that a show hadn’t sold out, so I know I was a bit bummed about that. Well, we decided that we wanted to just let it all go and do the highest energy show that we could. The audience had an amazing energy and felt like a hundred people. We delivered one of the most fun and loose shows to date. After that, it changed how I wrote because I knew what we were capable of.

What are you looking forward to at Austin Sketch Fest?

Sam: Truthfully, all of it. The local groups that I don’t often get to see. The out of town troupes I never get to see. The masters like Superego, Paul F. Tompkins, and Ennis & Kaye.

Jeff: In all honesty, Sketch Fest is one of my favorite things to do in Austin. It’s such an awesome atmosphere and I’m incredibly fortunate to be a part of it again this year. I’ve made it a goal to see every single show this year and I fully intend to do just that. I personally feel like sketch is such an underrepresented form of comedy around Austin so it will be great to have a few days dedicated to seeing great stuff.

Sam: I was fortunate to be on the selection committee and see the submission videos, though, and the show slot I’m most intrigued by is LanceLife and Beige. They are two extremely funny, well crafted shows that are very, very different.

What can we expect from your ASF show?

Jeff: Well, since we usually do at least an hour long show and we have a shorter time slot for Sketch Fest, i’s pretty safe to say that everyone will see a jam-packed, high energy show. We have a lot to get out of our system!

Sam: Sketch comedy, right?

Jeff: I’m looking forward to opening up for Rabbit Rabbit and I know that The Hustle Show will deliver. Smug? Maybe. True? Yes. Maybe? True.

The Hustle Show performs Saturday May 24th at 7pm along with Rabbit Rabbit at the SpiderHouse Ballroom. Get tickets here.

Erik Horn: For me it really came out of years of being frustrated by different clients. I always want to make the best and funniest thing I can for every client that walks in the door, but sometimes they just want a “mini-documentary” or an “infographic animation” – basically not funny stuff… I hear “no” a lot in my job – and after doing my improv training it was so refreshing to only hear “yes” on stage. We joked one day at the office (Brad Parret and I are Creative Directors at Arts+Labor) that we should just produce one of our ideas that had been rejected for a particular client without them knowing about it – and the idea of the “Unsuspecting Sponsor” was born. Brad coined “Non-consensual advertising” and I think that sums it up really well.

I thought it would be a good format for a sketch show. I’ve always liked the SNL commercial sketches more than anything else, and thought a show of just fake commercials would be really funny. I pitched the idea to John, Andy, Joe and Robert and they liked it. We did our first show at Moontower last year for P. Terry’s and it was a blast.

Do you guys have a dream client?

Erik : It’s fun because when we do the show we only pitch it to dream clients. Because the unsuspecting sponsor doesn’t pay for anything we produce it’s hard for them to say no – and then we have ultimate freedom. This isn’t supposed to be mean spirited at all – so we’re only picking brands that we really like and want to work with anyway – hence P. Terry’s – Hops and Grain – and upcoming Good Pops. Since meeting Josh at Hops and Grain I’ve turned into even more of a total beer nerd, even home brewing my own and frequenting the brewery tours for “inspiration” for the show.

But I would love to do one in the future though where the Sponsor literally has NO idea we’re doing it. For a really big brand like Coke or Honda. That would be fun – but hard to get them on stage.

What’s your writing process like?

Andy Smith: It usually involves us eating and/or drinking somewhere and just making jokes and either trying to top each other or just add onto someone else’s joke or idea. There’s a lot of laughing and is always a good time.

Erik: It’s very similar to how I write for work actually. We whiteboard ideas in the conference room at Arts+Labor and brainstorm – it’s just later at night and with more beer.

You guys won the Sketch Fest 24 sketch challenge. How was that?

Erik: That was totally unexpected and fun. We did something more like our improv material (we’re all in a brand spanking new troupe called Car Chase that will premiere at ColdTowne in June). It was super meta and involved time travel and a lot of video sketches. It was a great experience and humbling to be among a bunch of great sketch troupes that we’ve seen at OOB, Sketch Fest and around town. Your Terrific Neighbors actually put on my favorite set of the night – they were totally robbed.

What are you looking forward to at Austin Sketch Fest?

Andy: Hopefully being done with all of our preparation for our show so we can enjoy seeing some of the out of town troupes, watching local favorites and hanging out with everyone afterwards. And, of course, Superego and Paul F. Tompkins.

Erik: I’m sincerely hoping we’ll wrap up all of our videos before the fest starts so I can enjoy all of it. But I think I may turn into a squealing fan boy when SuperEgo and P.F.T. takes the stage. I haven’t been so into a sketch troupe since The State. I quote them all the time around the office and confuse everyone.

John Gross: Superego once made an Ellen Cleghorne joke that made me weep with laughter.

What can we expect from your ASF show?

Erik: Free beer! Everyone in the audience gets one free Hops and Grain. I’’s part of the show.

John: Unless you’re a cop. And if you are you have to tell us. It’s the law.

Erik: We’re working on some spots for HG that I’m really excited about but can’t talk about. My favorite part of the show is watching the client’s first initial reaction to our mockery of their life’s work. It’s super fun and all in good sport. I think they’ll actually end up using some of these for real.

Unsuspectingly Sponsored By performs Sunday May 26th at 8pm along with Old Fashioned and Kat Ramzinski.

You guys moved from Austin to NYC last year. How’s that been going, y’know, comedy wise?

Katie Sicking: It’s tough going from a town where you did 3-4 shows a week to going to a town where you have to build up your street cred from scratch, but I think we’ve both accomplished great things in the time we’ve been here.

Nick Ramirez: New York is cool. I wear sweaters more now.

Katie: There are bagels.

Butter us up, what do you miss about Austin?

Nick: The girls.

Katie: That’s not fucking funny, Nick.

Nick: I miss the tex-mex.

Katie: I miss all of my Austin pals, but what I miss most is how Mac Blake takes his weekly dump right in the ColdTowne Theater parking lot every Monday. It’s super gross but he’s so passionate about always doing that, just pooping in public. I hope that as the editor of this blog he doesn’t censor me.

Not cool, Sicking. I didn’t tell anyone about your aggressive heroin habit.

Katie: Thank you for keeping my secret. Please don’t tell anyone.

What’s your writing process like?

Katie: Well, we live together, so there’s never really a distinct break between the writer’s room and just hangin’ out. It’s very organic, we’re constantly doin’ bits, rewriting things, polishing stuff.

Nick: Yeah.

Thanks for helping out with that answer, Nick.

Nick: No prob.

What’s your favorite show that you’ve done?

Nick: There was a show we did once at 12am, and we had to cast the third part to whoever was around the theater at that point.

Katie: Oh yeah! I recognized this girl name Emily Bogue from a workshop we had taken together and we asked her. She was so funny in our show! That was actually how we became friends.

Nick: We didn’t think the audience would be that big but it was pretty full, and everything came together just right.

What are you looking forward to at Austin Sketch Fest?

Nick: I’m going to see Paul McCartney!

Katie: That’s not a part of Austin Sketch Fest, you doofus.

Nick: No, Paul McCartney is playing at ColdTowne Theater on Wednesday at 10pm!

Katie: No, that’s P! Company, not Paul McCartney.

Nick: I hope he plays “Yesterday”!

What can we expect from your ASF show?

Nick: Our show isn’t a random collection of sketches, it’s a cohesive show centered around a radio station pledge drive.

Katie: It’s going to be very good. This is a show that we’ve been working on and doing for 6 months.

Was that a goal, to do a show with a more prominent through-line?

Nick: Yes, absolutely. We wanted to produce something that felt like a complete work.

Katie: We wanted the show to be as polished and engrossing as possible.

Also HOT SEAT question, since you live together, who has the worse taste in music?

Katie: Uh, I think we both lose. I like Herb Alpert and instrumental movie soundtracks.

Nick: And I mostly listen to ska.

Katie: He insisted that one of his improv groups go under the name “Ska Wars”

I lost a lot of good friends in the Ska Wars.

Old Fashioned performs Sunday 8pm May 26th at the SpiderHouse Ballroom along with Unsuspectingly Sponsored By and Kat Ramzinski. Tickets here.

For folks at home, what’s the process of forming a UCB sketch team?

Jon Bershad: Unlike the way 99% of sketch comedy groups form (a group of dudes in a college dorm realize they tell complimentary Star Wars jokes and use the same weed dealer), the house sketch teams at the UCB Theatre are put together through a big audition and submission process. The Artistic Director and his cabal of advisers go through all the potential writers and actors and try to put together the best team possible made up of people who will work well together. Sometimes the process doesn’t work. We like to think that, this time, it totally did because we all mesh perfectly.

Except for our one member who really doesn’t fit at all. Come to our show. You’ll be able to pick him or her out.

What’s your writing process like?

Jon: We have six writers, six actors, and four weeks to put together each new show. At the beginning of the month, everyone gets together for a pitch meeting. Then the writers spend a week working on scripts with our director. Then we do a read-through with the actors. After that, the writers do one more draft and we choose the next show which leads into our rehearsal week.

In the writers’ room itself, we try to be as collaborative as possible. Everyone throws out ideas for each others’ sketches. It’s great! And, while the writers aren’t known for their acting, they’ve all gotten really good at politely smiling and pretending like they aren’t going to instantly ignore those suggestions once the meeting is over.

What’s your favorite show that you’ve done?

Jon: Oh man, it’s tough to choose. We’ve done a lot of shows and there are a lot of us choosing. Some of us might say the big musical show we did while some of us are still have night terrors where they wake up screaming about choreography. So, to go for a choice that everyone can agree on, let’s say our first show.

In a crazy coincidence, our first show premiered the exact same day that the gosh darn New York Times published an article about how much fun sketch shows at the UCB were. Combine that endorsement with the fact that people in the community love seeing new teams, and we had a ridiculously packed house. Watching the videos now (is this a good time to plug our YouTube channel?) there were definitely some kinks to smooth out in the months that followed, but the energy in that room was just so amazing.

As much as we love all of our shows, it’s a lot like doing Buzzcock (a crazy street drug they only have in New York); It’s always fun to do but nothing will ever be like that first time you shoved the Buzzcock-filled caulk gun in your nostril and got that first high. Just pure magic.

What are you looking forward to at Austin Sketch Fest?

Jon: On a sentimental note, our actress Kelly Hudson is a local girl so it’ll be really nice for her to perform for a bunch of her friends and family. Fingers crossed they finally tell her they love her. She’s really been waiting for that.

In addition, I know a bunch of us are excited to see Superego. And we really just want to pop into as many shows as possible so we can go back home and have bullshit, naval-gazing conversations about how “New York comedy is like this while Texas comedy is like this.” We won’t be in any way accurate but it’ll totally make us sound smart at the bar.

What can we expect from your ASF show?

We’ve tried to put together some of everything. We’ve got some dark stuff, some sweet stuff, some weird stuff, and some silly stuff. And we’re going to perform it all with the enthusiasm that only a group of Buzzcock-addicts who caulked up right before the show started can bring!

Seriously, I think you guys will love all of it!

All of it except for our one shitty member. Ugh, they are totally the worst, you guys.

Thanks and please bring us a couple guns of that sweet Buzzcock

Beige performs Saturday 10pm May 25th at the SpiderHouse Ballroom along with LanceLife. Tickets here.

How did your group come together?

Quinn Buckner: Bryan called us together for sketch cover night and we decided to keep doing stuff.

Bryan Roberts: Yeah, that was good. I think there’s a tape of one of those sketches floating around YouTube. Ah, here is is.

What’s your writing process like?

Quinn: One of us usually comes up with an idea and more often than not we have a cast picked out. Then we run through the sketch fleshing out lines and ideas iteratively.

Bryan: Yeah, this is kind of a version of the way I learned how to develop sketches from Dave Buckman when working on the ColdTowne Mainstage show. It generally works like a dream, especially when you do it with people who know what their strengths are. It gets funny pretty quick, and then you get to experiment with it, which makes it EXTRA fun.

What can we expect from your ASF show?

Bryan: Just friends hanging out, doing things that bother each other in a lighthearted way. And also we’ll share things with you that you probably wouldn’t have otherwise wanted to know. It’ll be great!

What are some of your biggest comedy influences?

Bryan: Mel Blanc. That guy just knew how to say a thing the right way. Um, early-to-middle aged Simpsons…I also get a kick out of-

Kyle Traughber: MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!*

Why sketch comedy?

Bryan: I just like the idea of it. It’s not a MOVIE, it’s not a SHOW, it’s just a little morsel of comedy. It also allows you to make your comedy super-crazy because it will only exist for around 5 minutes at a time. So even if you don’t like a certain thing, there’s another thing coming around the corner.

What are you looking forward to at Austin Sketch Fest?

Bryan: The out of town groups, of course. I don’t get out that much so it’ll be nice to see and meet people from other parts of the country. And the workshops!

Kyle: MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!*

*- Kyle’s responses fabricated by Bryan.

How did your group come together?

Scott Moss: Austin’s City Theatre asked Dan Sawtelle and Bobby DiPasquale to do a sketch show because they’d both done sketch comedy and they both owed the City Theatre a LOT of money. They each charged a friend to be in the group, who in turn charged another friend to be in the group, thus forming the first multi-level marketing sketch troupe.

What’s your writing process like?

Scott: Everyone writes sketches. We bring them in, trash them and start over.

What can we expect from your ASF show?

Scott: People wearing pants, fat guys, a lot of grit and determination, jokes only dogs can hear and perhaps a cameo by Kelsey Grammer.

What are some of your biggest comedy influences?

Scott: Dane Cook. Klaus Kinski. Keenan Thompson. GEICO commercials. Shannon Sharpe. The Allman Brothers. Buffalo Bills fans.

Why sketch comedy?

Scott: Some of us do improv comedy. Some of us do stand up. Some of us do theater. One of us stayed awake during a Lars Von Trier film. Plus, we tried doing haiku comedy and it didn’t go over very well.

What are you looking forward to at Austin Sketch Fest?

Scott: Drinking mint juleps and wearing fancy hats.

The Austin Comedy Hour performs Wednesday May 22rd at 10pm along with The P! Company and Joe Hafkey.