When the Funny Or Be Murdered web comedy site asked if I wanted to be interviewed for their online magazine, The Occasional, I had one major demand which I expressed in a very courteous and business-like email to the offices of Funny Or Be Slaughtered Like a Hog in the Dirt:
“I am happy to be interviewed, but please do not send some comedy know-nothing fuckstain to talk to me. I want and, God dammit, DESERVE to be interviewed by someone who knows my body of work, my entire beautifully toned and oiled body of WORK! Someone who can have a thoughtful, in-depth conversation about my background, my influences, my phucking philosophy. In short, someone who respects me.”
Funny Or Be Force-Fed Barbiturates and Thrown in a Lake responded: “Andy, we get it, but we can only think of one person who fits your description. Why don’t you go interview yourself.” I have a suspicion this was meant as an insult and I don’t think they expected me to take them up on it. But I have a TV show to promote and an interview is an interview. So, here is...
Andy Daly Interviews Andy Daly for Even If You’re Funny You’re Still Going to Die’s Online Magazine The Occasional
AD: Hey, how are you?
AD: I’m great. How 'bout yourself?
AD: I’m great too. We’re the same person!
AD: I know! Hey, that’s a great shirt.
AD: So is yours! (laughs)
AD: (laughs)
AD: So, Andy, thanks for doing this.
AD: Thank YOU for doing this.
AD: Of course. I guess the first thing I wanted to ask you was—
AD: Wait, hang on. I thought I was interviewing you.
AD: Right. Well, I think we're sort of interviewing each other.
AD: Oh, like Interview Magazine?
AD: I guess so. However you want to think about it is fine.
AD: Yeah! Like Interview Magazine. Two incredibly talented, edgy newsmakers get inside each other's heads.
AD: Great.
AD: Greeeeeeaaaat! Yeah! Ok, so I guess the first thing I wanted to ask you was, what is Review?
AD: Great question, Andy. Review is my new show airing Thursdays at 10pm on Comedy Central. Now I have a question for you, fellow edgy newsmaker.
AD: Shoot.
AD: What's Review about?
AD: Great question, Andy. I play a character named Forrest who's a reviewer, but he doesn't review food, books or movies. He reviews life. So people write in and ask him stuff like, "What's it like to get addicted to drugs?" or "What's it like to sleep with a celebrity?" — stuff that they, for whatever reason, can't or are too afraid to do in their own lives. They send Forrest out to do it and rate the experience on his five-star scale.
AD: Cool!
AD: My turn to ask a question! If you had to try and describe what it is that makes this show hilarious, what would you say?
AD: Great question, Andy. There are a lot of things that make this funny — hilarious performances, really funny writing, but the funniest part about this show is probably just that Forrest is this deadly combination of arrogant, incompetent and committed. He believes he's uniquely qualified to weigh in on the value of any life experience, he believes his work is essential for the good of humanity and he's basically an idiot, a very well-spoken, tweed-jacket wearing idiot. He leaves a path of total destruction behind him and it's just fun as hell to watch it play out.
AD: Watching a pompous ass get himself into terrible trouble and fuck up everything he touches sounds like satisfying television to me.
AD: Absolutely. And also totally surprising. Because this guy is, by definition, doing crazy things that's he's ill-equipped to do, there are so many opportunities to take surprising turns the audience will never see coming. We take this guy to some completely insane places.
AD: What are some of the craziest experiences Forrest has to tackle?
AD: Great question, Andy. He goes to an orgy; he gets into a totally insane road-rage confrontation with guest star Jason Mantzoukas; he targets High School Musical star Ashley Tisdale for sexual conquest; he goes into outer space.
AD: This sounds like the greatest show of all time!
AD: It is the greatest show of all time. I think we've firmly established that.
AD: How have your experiences on other projects you've worked on informed this show?
AD: Great question, Andy. I think some of my favorite things about Eastbound and Down will be in evidence on this show. I loved the way that show didn't just reset at the end of every episode. It was a season long story arc, almost a miniseries really. The characters changed over the course of a season, none more dramatically than poor Principal Cutler!
AD: What a dope.
AD: What a dipshit.
AD: Forrest reminds me of him in a way because he starts out as this guy who's on top of the world, he really seems to have things figured out for himself and he seems happy. And then...
AD: Shit goes off the rails. On Eastbound, it was the arrival of Kenny Powers but on Review, it's this TV show Forrest has agreed to do— this insane, moronic TV show that just tosses him around like a dinghy in a storm.
AD: Obviously you've done a lot of improvising, with the UCB in ASSSCAT, as a frequent guest star in Reno 911, on Comedy Bang Bang and The League. Is this show pretty improvised or is it totally written?
AD: Great question, Andy. We put together a murderer's row of writers for this show: Andy Blitz and Kevin Dorff from Conan, Leo Allen from SNL, Carol Kolb from The Onion, and this super smart Harvard sitcom writer named Gavin Steckler. I ran the room along with Jeffrey Blitz, the genius behind that spelling bee documentary Spellbound and the movie Rocket Science. So we went into the shoot with amazing scripts but then improvised on top of that to help make things feel more natural and to find more fun moments.
AD: Sounds like the perfect approach.
AD: Good point, Andy. It was the perfect approach.
AD: And Jeff Blitz directed all the episodes, right?
AD: Great question, Andy.
AD: This is the first time I've disagreed with you. That was not such a great question.
AD: It was pretty good though.
AD: Okay. Agreed.
AD: Anyway, yes. Jeff Blitz directed everything, which is a major part of what makes this show so special. He's the real deal. He won an Emmy for directing The Office. He's the real fucking deal.
AD: Fuck yes.
AD: Well, it's hard for me to imagine anyone reading this and not watching Review on Thursdays at 10pm on Comedy Central starting March 6.
AD: Great question, Andy.
AD: That wasn't even a question.
AD: Well, whatever it was it was great. Anything else to add?
AD: Just that I'm super proud of our supporting cast: Jessica St. Clair, Fred Willard, H. Michael Croner, Tara Karsian, Antoine McKay, James Urbaniak— and our guest stars: Andy Blitz, Maria Thayer, Andy Richter, Emo Phillips, Rich Fulcher, Lance Bass, Betsy Sodaro, Julie Brister, Leo Allen, Carlos Sanz, Rance Howard.
AD: Amazing.
AD: No kidding. Well Andy, it was a great pleasure talking to you.
AD: I feel like this is one of the best conversations I've ever had in my life!
AD: Yeah! You might be the only person I ever talk to again as long as I live.
AD: I'd be fine with that. Hey, this might be kinda weird but can I kiss you?
(long silence)
AD: Sorry. Yeah nevermind.
AD: Yeah. I just—
AD: No no. No need to explain. That was weird.
AD: Yeah.
AD: Okay, well anyway. Great chat!
AD: It was! People should tune into Review!
AD: Fuck yeah they should!
AD: So long!
AD: Bye bye!