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Here’s an interview a blog did with one of my comedy troupes awhile ago. Somehow I come off sounding very angry. Guys, am I very angry all the time ? Yeah? Fuck you too, then.
Sketch comedy troupe, Cleanest River in America formed in the summer of 2005 and since then has performed at: Providence Improv Fest, Improv Asylum in Boston, Brandeis University, Syracuse University, The PIT-NYC, Juvie Hall-NYC, RiFiFi-NYC The Conservatory Theatre-Chicago, and in the Slightly Known People’s New Year’s Jamboree. Its members are Daniel Leif, Jake Goldman & Jessica Stickles.
-What for you is the purpose & practice of sketch comedy all about?
DL: Above all, I really, really, really like doing it, especially the performing aspect. I like getting up on a stage, yelling and not thinking about anything else at that moment. When I was a freshman in college, I had never really performed anything before, but Jake convinced me to get up there dressed as a woman (the ugliest woman the world has ever known, by the way). People laughed–like fucking hard–and that sent me off to a mental happy place.
JG: People take themselves far too serious. Everyone makes a big deal over the smallest, tiniest shit and it just drives them and everyone else around them crazy. I don’t need that. I’m around that all day at work–so for me, doing sketch is my only release. We go to rehearsal 3-5 days a week, and we’re just in a room screaming at each other but in that nice way. And of course, I want people to leave our shows happy. Yes, I’d love to put on incredible, wow-fantastic shit. But honestly, if these people leave happy, then I did my job.
JS: To me, Sketch comedy sort of acts as this filter, where you can openly look at the ridiculous things in life and just make them even more ridiculous. A lot of the time, in my life, I’ll find myself just hearing ridiculous things or meeting people that just fascinate me, in their raw oddness. And it’s sort of rude to say to that person’s face or in that moment “Hey, you have a parrot on a leash; you had a strange childhood I bet.” Instead I write a sketch about it.
-How would you define the style of CRA?
DL: Soluble maybe? All I can say is that it’s genuinely us. We’re not trying to be dark, silly or smart. We just do whatever feels naturally funny, but when push comes to shove, I’d say soluble. We can definitely be dissolved in water or solution.
JG: We’ve all got this wild, raw sort of energy. Lots of quick transitions and lots of “scenes.” We don’t do much parody or political humor or like, I don’t know, historical stuff. We’re also very weird. In short, I’d say we do scenes about people in normal situations with a weird twist.
JS: The style of Cleanest River…it’s like that poem by Whitman. You know the one.
-Do you all define yourselves as comedians, or do you, as so many
artists do, shrug off the definitions? Why?
DL: I’d define myself as a comedian. The things I perform are intended to make people laugh. The phrase ‘comedian’ gets looked down on because the word makes people picture some middle-age white guy spouting off plankton jokes at a club in the Poconos. Yeah, plankton…the shit whales eat. If you’re trying to make people laugh, you’re a comedian. You can have other labels, too, of course: actor, writer or social commentator. Me? I’m a comedian and a telephone.
JG: First and foremost we’re comedians. Our goal is to make people laugh. Period. We want to have fun doing it but people coming to our shows want to laugh. That is the very definition of a comedian, I believe.
JS: I wouldn’t shrug off the definition of being a comedienne. If you make people laugh and that’s your goal, then you’re a comedian or comedienne. But more accurately, I think this sort of goes to say that if you want to be a comedian or comedienne as a professional, then there needs to be a deeper level of “well this is my craft.” So in that sense, instead of an artist, I would call myself a blacksmith of comedy.
-Where do you pull major ideas from for your work?
DL: Usually, when I want to write a sketch I’ll just sit down at a computer and start thinking about events and words and people I know. Then some situation will come to mind, and I’ll try to make something out of it. That rarely leads to anything, but I’ll stay with it and one thing will lead to another…and in the morning I’m pregnant.
JG: Personally, just about anywhere. It’s mostly observing things and then saying “Well what if I took this situation and added this twist…” Sometimes I don’t know where my ideas come from like when I write a sketch about a father leaving dead rabbits on his son’s bed.
JS: Most of my ideas come from improvisation and talking with other people. You create a scene from normal life (say I’m talking with my parents, and they ask me what I want for breakfast.) Instead of saying ‘oats,’ I would say ‘my childhood back.’ And to be perfectly honest, that actual example comes from a real life story. I was talking with my mother on the phone and she said to me “What do you want or need from the store?” I replied “My Childhood that you stole from me.” She, I suppose, could not hear me so she several times guessed at what I was saying “crackers” “chicken” “toothpaste”…saying things not even close to the words I had said almost as though she wasn’t listening. That later became a sketch about a mother and father messing with their kids.
-Do you all find major themes that thread throughout the sketches?
DL: The themes I see (and I’m not even trying to be funny here): death, guns, crazy guys.
JG: Not really. Each of us has a very distinct writing style. A lot of our sketches aren’t structured like a normal sketch; they’re often like mini-plays because the jokes aren’t built in. It’s just people saying odd things. You never really see a pattern or common thread. I think we’re more character-driven than plot driven. I love that stuff.
JS: The major theme that I would say, if there was one, is “People are odd.” There can be social critiques and just little themes that lead you to initially write the sketch. I mean, with sketches I have written, I sometimes will end up saying things that I don’t mean to that actually make me look quite brilliant. But I find that’s true of all writing. Like I bet Shakespeare really was just talking about a sword. Not a penis.
-Do you guys have any artistic influences? Who are they?
DL: Definitely Monty Python. They could be so unbelievably silly, but somehow they made everything flow together to work. When I really started to get into them, I realized what you can do with comedy, how you can really flip the whole world upside down. During the five months I’ve lived in New York, I’d say I’ve been influenced by a lot of the
smaller groups that I’ve seen regularly.
JG: Upright Citizens Brigade. Quite possibly the best sketch show ever next to Flying Circus (Monty Python). I really love Lenny Bruce and Jim Gaffigan too. And I have a crush on this NYC Improv group Death By Roo-Roo. We go see them pretty much every Friday. They are unbelievable.
JS: I’d say my artistic influences are probably the same as a lot of people. Upright Citizens Brigade, Kids in the Hall, Saturday Night Live, Seinfeld, George Carlin, Monty Python. And then it’s weird, because there are moments I remember finding comedic influence in random movies, like Dances With Wolves. I remember, at age 8, seeing that idea, of peaceful acceptance of different cultures… hilarious.
-How would you define humor? How does that definition apply to CRA?
DL: One reason I like humor is that it’s really hard to define; most cool shit is hard to define. (Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, speaking about hard-core pornography) said “I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced,…but I know it when I see it.” I feel the same way about humor. You know what? What I really like is humorous pornography. Have you ever seen the video clip where a girl is like giving a blowjob or getting naked or something and then she stands up and hits her head on a shower curtain pole? I mean, I feel fucking bad for that girl, but that scene is very funny. It’s all over the Internet I’m sure.
JG: I don’t really like defining humor. There’s so many different styles and ways people are making other people laugh that to try and define “humor” as one “thing” kind of short changes comedy in general. With us, we just do what’s funny. I definitely like absurdity and randomness and groups that bring in new forms and ideas that you haven’t seen before.
JS: Humor is a tragedy with really good timing. Humor is taking something sad and actually seeing that it is in fact not sad but hilarious. Like that Alannis Morrison song about spoons. And that’s all Cleanest River tries to do. Live up to that song.
-Working in humor, which tends to be as most art is so subjective, do
you think that it’s possible to create a sketch without
misinterpretation or offense?
DL: You could quite easily write a very boring sketch that won’t offend anyone. You could show two guys sitting on a park bench and then one guy goes “I need new sneakers!” Then the other guy goes “Shut your head!” Then the lights go down. I can tell you we’ve actually thought about writing shit like that into shows. But, truthfully, I think people kind of like being offended. When we see something and say “that’s just wrong” to the person sitting next to us, we’re offended on some level. Usually when people say that, they’ll be laughing at the same time. Or, sometimes you’ll get a person who doesn’t laugh. The person just says “that’s just wrong,” and they get angry, write something in a blog, newspaper or a sternly worded letter. I applaud their anger. If everyone liked everything, then making people laugh wouldn’t mean anything.
JG: People are always going to find a way to take offense to comedy. That’s how it’s always been. People take themselves too seriously and feel like they’re always being misrepresented. Whatever. We don’t go out and set to offend anyone or misrepresent them, but you also have to do what you find funny. That’s the bottom line, and if someone takes offense, oh well. That said, I feel it’s actually pretty easy to write sketches without offending people. You don’t always have to stereotype when you write, or write about specific types or groups of people. You can simply write scenes about people and their relationships and it can be just as funny without touching on “issues.” I often hate issue-driven comedy. It’s comedy. Let’s just laugh, okay dickwad?
JS: Of course. I mean, if you hit someone in the face with a cream pie (always hilarious by the way), it’s hard for someone to take that for more than what it is and say “Oh wow, someone putting on white face, that’s racist”…although, OK. So maybe everything can be misinterpreted. But I mean, that’s sort of where the comedy or humor of something exists…in the open-ended interpretations. The different interpretations give something a depth of humor…a variety or reasons to either laugh or gafaw.
-How do you counter the fear, if you feel it, of sharing your work
with the public?
DL: The reward on the other end pushes me over the fear of a bad audience reaction. If we can get people into a sketch, the feeling of being onstage is unbelievable. I just want to get to that feeling so I’m willing to risk rejection.
JG: Just by going out and doing it. That’s it. You’ll never get over it if you’re always worried how people are going to perceive it. Write it. Do it. That’s it.
JS: Del Close, the master of Improv, said, “Follow the fear, that’s where the laughs are.” That, I would say, is how you counter it. Just embrace the moment and not worry. Don’t think. Go have fun. It’s like orphans playing little league baseball. They have no parents to put the fear of fucking up into them; they can just go rip shit up. But then again, they have no one to take them to McDonald’s after the game, so it’s win-lose.
-Ultimately, what is your goal with your sketches? What do you want
people leaving the audience to think and say about the work?
DL: I just want them to say: “That was original and really fucking hysterical.” Also, I want them to go out and buy hats. I don’t care about brands or styles or any of that. I just want people everywhere buying hats all the time.
JG: The best shows I’ve left, I’ll sit and think about each sketch or scene for hours after and my face will feel tight. I want people to do that. Or at least say “Good show,” after. I also want my mom to still like it.
JS: I just want them to leave and say, “goats raping lions…” and I want them to think about that all day the next day. That’s when you know you’ve succeeded. Laughter is nice and a sense of enjoyment is good. But I really just want to infect their subconscious.
-What is one question that you’ve never been asked about your sketches
that you’ve always wanted to be asked?
DL: “Can I pay you $100,000 to do that on TV?”
JG: “Why would you write this trash?”
JS: “Why do a lot of your sketches involve goats raping lions?”
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