AVC: Has your sense of humor changed since you started?
ST: I would say not a bit.
DF: No, no, you've improved quite a bit.
ST: Oh. I'm much funnier.
KM: Our point of reference has changed, but it comes from the same place. There's baby scenes in the show, because some of us have babies. But it's still the same dark way—me and the gay one don't have any babies.
ST: We keep trying. But together, it's not working.
KM: Tonight, on the bus, we'll try again.
ST: You're ovulating, right?
KM: Yes, it's my ovulation.
DF: Actually, the weird thing is that the dynamic within the group is almost identical to what it was 20 years ago.
MM: [Mimes pulling out a gun.] Well, it's about to change.
AVC: Speaking of which, some of you have said you haven't all quite gotten along in the past, because you're so opinionated. Do you think that conflict is necessary to create anything worthwhile?
DF: I don't know if it's necessary.
KM: But it's inevitable.
MM: I don't know. I think there's a certain mythology to—when you're unsocialized 20-year-olds—I think you were even a teenager, Dave, when you started in the troupe—and you're guys without women, and you have no internal censor at all—it's like five computer geeks, only you're comedy geeks, and so we were really, really hard on each other. I think part of the reason we've been able to get back together is, we've sort of managed to put some Band-Aids over some of the things that were said in the club days and early TV days.
KM: When Camper Van Beethoven got back together, and—
MM: And I don't think—
KM: Sorry, sorry, sorry.
ST: See the conflict there?
MM: Hey, fuck you, you fucking talking fucking prick.
KM: You talky talk talk.
ST: You octoroon.
DF: You blue head.
KM: Sorry Mark. Go ahead.
MM: Now I don't fucking want to talk now. [Laughs.] I think there's a lot of myths about creativity, like, "Oh man, I was always great at writing when I was high," or something like that, and I don't think it's true. I think you're either funny or you're not.
ST: Well, that's true.
MM: I think you're either funny or you're not. I think the conflict maybe spurred us for a little while, but its value got spent pretty quick and pretty early.
ST: We went over the edge.
MM: We went over the edge, yeah.
ST: I mean, it's not—believe me, we still fight.
DF: Well, it was a great crucible in the early days. But after 10 or 15 years of it, it got to the point where it was more destructive than instructive.
MM: Everybody stormed out. Bruce spat on me. [Laughs.]
ST: You spat on me, too.
MM: Then I spat on you. [Pointing at Bruce.] Then you spat on me. Funny we didn't turn it into a sketch.
BM: We used to do a thing onstage where we'd spit on each other's faces.
DF: Yeah, yeah, you did. That wasn't right!
ST: [Laughs.] Of course I know it wasn't right.
BM: We used to do a scene where just spit in each other's faces. It was a vaudeville act called The Something Brothers. Ptui, ptui, aahh!
ST: [To Dave, laughing.] Your wife and I tangled!
BM: Guys, guys, you're going to take us back.
ST: We're going back to some horrible days. I kicked his door in.
DF: That's true. You once came over to my house and kicked my door in.
KM: You were that strong? Wow. Not anymore, huh? [Pointing to Scott's leg.]
AVC: It seems like what's contributed to your troupe's longevity is the emphasis on character-driven sketches over pop-culture references. Was that intentional?
ST: Absolutely.
DF: We didn't want to do current events. We figured that's Saturday Night Live's thing.
ST: And we'd have to read the paper.
DF: We didn't want to do parody because we were all big fans of SCTV.
BM: And some of us thought parody was a weak art form.
DF: Actually, a lot of people at SCTV thought that, too.
AVC: Considering your opinion of parody, was it difficult for those of you who worked for Saturday Night Live?
MM: Yeah. But I didn't work on Saturday Night Live, it turns out.
BM: The thing I found discombobulating about Saturday Night Live is—I mean, we're an impulsive troupe, and I remember they would talk about everything forever, all the Harvard guys. It was all so heady, and there wasn't so much performance in it. I think the thing that was nice about having our own show was that we did have to sell to each other, sort of, but if someone said, "I'm just going to go up to a beatbox and I'm going to dance," we'd kind of get to try it. We didn't have to have intellectual conversations about comedy. And in fact, we all hate having intellectual conversations about comedy, yet we'll all do it when we feel we need the floor.
DF: Anytime anybody really wanted to do something, they'd usually get to do it.
BM: Pretty much.
DF: Yeah.
ST: But we're not as educated.
AVC: Are you still in touch with Lorne Michaels?
DF: He calls every day, mostly just to ask advice. "Uh, I'm having trouble with the kids, my kids are really grown up. I don't know if I'm really there for them enough. Maybe I'm not giving them what they need." And we say, "Lorne, you're a good dad."
AVC: That's all he needs to hear?
DF: "It's all about love. You're just giving them the love they need." No, we haven't spoken to Lorne. [Laughs.] I don't know. The last time was, what, probably around Brain Candy days?
MM: He came to our last show in New York.
DF: I used to go over to Saturday Night Live every time I was in New York.
BM: I see him about once a year.
ST: Where'd you see him?
BM: Saturday Night Live.
AVC: That makes sense.
DF: Because that's the only place he ever is.
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