Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter have been linked for almost their entire comedy careers. They met in college at NYU, performing sketch comedy in the group that would later become The State, which in turn spawned its own MTV series. They appeared together in Wet Hot American Summer, The Baxter, and the comedy trio Stella, embarked on a joint stand-up tour in 2006, and both released comedy albums in 2007. Their latest project was Michael & Michael Have Issues, a joint venture that aired seven episodes on Comedy Central last summer. It was a show-within-a-show concept, with the Michaels working on a sketch show of the same name and bickering relentlessly. Now, the pair embarks on a shared stand-up bill for “Michael & Michael Have Issues Live Tour,” which makes its way to the Pantages on Thursday. The disagreeable characters Black and Showalter play on MMHI and on the stand-up stage are exaggerated versions of themselves; still, after so much time together, there’s bound to be some tension. The A.V. Club found out what issues the Michaels of Michael & Michael Have Issues, well, have.
The A.V. Club: In other interviews, you guys have stated that you’re creatively really hard on each other. When did that antagonistic relationship begin?
Michael Ian Black: It started in The State, because we were all bastards to each other. And that has carried through our entire careers.
Michael Showalter: One of the things that is always difficult about a collaboration is that you don’t necessarily find the same thing funny. And so the challenge becomes, how do you tell the other person that you don’t think something’s funny? The best collaborations tend to be when you are willing to be told that. But there’s also ego involved, and so there’s a lot of frustration in knowing that you’re writing something, and the other person, on some level, needs to think that it’s funny. One of the things that was unique about The State right off the bat was that we told each other if we didn’t think something was funny. And that has carried through.
MIB: Our arguments are always creative; they’re never personal. It’s always just business, you know? If I have to break his knee or something, that’s just business, and you need to understand that.
AVC: Have you been upset to let certain ideas or jokes go?
MIB: All the time. But as soon as you let it go, it’s gone. You fight for it, fight for it, fight for it, and then when it’s gone, you just forget about it. It’s like an abortion, you know? You get pregnant, you love the baby, and then you abort it. It’s done.
AVC: How much of this process is influenced by the fact that you’re presenting versions of yourselves on the show and in your stand-up?
MIB: Although we’re playing ourselves, I still very much feel like I’m playing a character, and it’s the character of myself. What that means is, I have to understand who I am—and you can substitute “my character” for “I”—in the context of this television show, and in the context of this television relationship. So the conversation that Showalter and I are always having is, “Would I do this here?” That character is still evolving. Any project has its own voice, and you have to find that voice.