Behind the Jokes of Quasi: Broken Lizard''s Interview on Their Latest Film!

What is going on guys? Beautiful purple background Trying to press all the people that I interview with these guys. I'm so happy you guys are going like that is awesome over here Oh, we're just so we would spend the day looking at people shabby ass bookshelves and stuff. It's nice Sure, you know people walking through the back Sure, he's got product in his hair Well groomed facial hair somebody shows up with you know professional I've been following you guys Louis since I was a teenager and now I'm 30 so it's kind of It's blowing my mind right now that I'm talking to the five of you right now So first I just want to say thank you guys so much for taking the time I have your busiest can be scheduled for talking to me today.

I really really Idea, that's great. Jay you have directed the most of the features So I'm assuming that before you go into your next time directing any of the features do you and Kevin have like a coin toss before you decide, hey, do we want to direct this next movie? I was directing a film called Easter Sunday for Mr. Spielberg. And so I was he produced it.

And so it was it was, you know, and search I wanted to make the movie fairly quickly. And they had a window of time between their television shows. And so we kind of it just sort of naturally, Kevin, you know, raised his hand and it just made sense. And I imagine Kevin says your second time directing. I know you hadn't directed in quite a bit as far as I'm aware.

So how to feel going back? - He's done 20 episodes of his television show. - Yeah, I direct a lot of our show. So it's kind of like, you know, it definitely had been something that I became very comfortable with, you know, over the last couple of years. But no, I mean, it certainly is, you know, between that last movie and this one, you learn a lot.

You know, I mean, there are things that you learn and just from putting things together and how to shoot things and be efficient. And, you know, I think we all have figured a lot of that stuff out over the years. And that was the great thing about this movie is that, I think the last two movies, "Super Troopers 2" and this one are certainly our most technically proficient movies.

And I think when you get to that level, it allows you to focus on other things, and focus on performance and improvising things and the comedy a little bit more. So I think as we've gotten more experienced and better at what we do, it allows us to focus on those things that are more memorable. Going to you, Steve, you play the titular Quasimodo on this one, and I don't know about you, but "Hunt for Notre Dame" was one of my favorite Disney movies of all time, and when I saw you playing Quasimodo, I just thought, oh God, what else is gonna go?

And I have to ask you, man, how was it walking around with that hump on your back every single time that the camera started rolling? - You know, it was a little painful. bending over like that for 12 hours a day. And the more I sweat, the heavier that hump got. But when you're an actor, it becomes much easier to play a role when you've got a prop like that, a prosthesis on your back, and it just bends you over, and you cover yourself in dirt, and you mess up your hair, and you twist your face around.

You don't really have to do too much more work than just getting into it and enjoying yourself. I had a blast doing it. - But by the end of the day, that hump, 'cause like made from the same material is like a Nerf ball, right? So that it just gets more saturated as the day goes on. I imagine you having to wring it out and wring all the sweat out of it.

- Yeah, it's kind of like, you know, when you go to somebody's house or like, you know, you pull the pillowcase off and they've got like a big brown stain across it from where their head sweat. Like that hump would get like that. Also, the hump was a little bit of an enfant terrible. (laughing) You know, like, 'cause it was a harness, and it's like, its tendency was to sink down lower on my back, and sometimes I had a hump wrangler, who I would say, "Can I get a little spruce here?" Like, a little rejuvenation, and they would come, and they'd, you know, tighten up the hump again, and, you know, get it higher up on my back, but like-- - Clump it up?

- Who was the hump wrangler? Who wrangled your hump? - Larry. Yeah, Larry, the wardrobe, his wardrobe department. So Larry would come and tighten up my hump. - Plump Wrangler. - Plump the hump. - Plump that hump. - That's what we do. - I just wanna say, I think it's brilliant how you have a hump Wrangler on set. That's just brilliant to say the least.

I wanna go to Eric on this one. So I know that all five of you have written all your films together, and I'm curious, how do you know specifically that when you write a joke on paper that it's either gonna work out just as well on set? Because I imagine on set regrets for comedies happen all the time. But how do you know that a joke when you write on paper is going to work even better on set?

I mean, we write everything so collaboratively and we riff a lot, as you can tell, like one person will jump on their joke. So by the time it gets to when you're shooting it, it's been tested, tried and true amongst the five of us out loud. So rarely everyone just goes straight to paper to being shot. It's been workshopped many times. - Vetted. - They've been vetted, yes.

- Yeah, because the part of the writing is performing it as you are pitching it to the other. So really it's being performed in the writer's room before it even ends up on paper. - And the truth is also, you often don't know. Like, and there are some jokes that like in the editing room, you know, one guy's like, oh, that's a good joke. And the other guy's like, I think that joke sucks.

And you're like, well, let's put it up in front of the test audience. And it's such a great little nuanced moment in Broken Lizard when we have the test screening and it comes to that moment and your heart is beating fast. And then you know and your joke that you were fighting for it gets a huge laugh and then you just kind of look down the row at the other guy.

And then you know and nobody's being a dick like it's all in good fun. It's in the pudding. Yeah it's in the pudding right. Now this one I want to go to Eric on this one. So you go on this one particular torture device quite a few times during this thing. And I'm curious, was there any point when you're lying down thing that the guy is just left there just to joke around with you?

Let me complain about the hump. Oh, my God. I had to be on the rack all day long. Yeah, at first, it might be cool. No big deal. But you're in that position chained up. And then you have like five minutes, your shoulders start giving out. I don't know why. It's just a weird awkward position. And Steve can attest to this because he also was in that position.

But yeah, after like five minutes, you start popping Advil and you still have about another 15 hours to go. So yeah, it was really painful. I mean, you were there all day long. I mean, obviously you'd come out and pop out and take breaks. And as soon as you finish the take, you're not in any longer, but there are days, there were long days and those things.

Yeah. And I spent a lot of time in that rack. Why have you asked him two questions in a row? It's because you guys are identical twins. - You're being a real player. - I mean, it doesn't intentionally happen, it just happens to happen, man. I don't know what to tell you. - I got it, I got it. All day long. - This next question goes to Aaron. - This next question goes to Paul, this next one goes to Jay.

- Oh, oh. - Yeah, I'm trying to give everyone equal, fair treatment, everyone love around this. You're like, all love around these guys. - You're trying to make everybody happy, you make nobody happy. - That's right, you're right. - I'm very unhappy right now. - Very not, how can we change that? You got to answer the question. - We're very happy. Ask Paul a question.

- Ask Paul a question. All right, well then, you know what then? All right, so let's leave this to this last question. And so, those oysters, man, they looked delicious. I'm just curious, man, how many oysters in total did you eat? - I should say this, first of all, I don't think I had ever had an oyster until late in my life. And then when we were in our 20s, Steve worked at a place called City Crab.

And he was the guy who first kind of put oysters on my radar screen. And I started eating them. And I loved them. And I was like, oh, this is so cool. He introduced me to this very delicious delicacy. And then there was a point in that movie where I was like, if I ever even have to fucking look at another oyster, I would just vomit on sight. And there were complications where we thought it was gonna be oysters.

And then the ASPCA said, no, you can't eat oysters because that's animal cruelty. And so we use these slimy mushrooms instead. And then that became disgusting. I was like, if I ever have to see another fucking mushroom. And, you know, I came out of this whole thing with like two things I never eat anymore, mushrooms and oysters. 'Cause you would just, you know, 'cause also you never, nobody ever just gently sips slowly an oyster in this movie.

You're always devouring them and shoving as many in your mouth as possible. And that's a surefire way to get sick of anything. - I like to, Paul, I didn't realize I had introduced-- - I haven't told you that. Yeah, thank you. - Well, Paul and I have a history of this. Like also, you know, growing up, one of my favorite movies was "Grease." And Paul had never seen "Grease." - Yeah.

- And so when it came to like, whatever, like the 20 year re-release of it, I also turned Paul onto the movie "Grease." And we went and we sang and danced. - Oh man, it was great. - Grease and oysters. - Well guys, I just want to say thank you so much once for taking your time. This was a blast. Congratulations on Kwasi. I can't wait for people to see this thing 'cause it's a lot of fun.

And guys, thank you once again for talking to me after my teenage years of following you for so many years of my life. - Thank you. - Thank you for inviting me. - Hit like, smash subscribe, and get notified for whenever reviews, interviews, and news go live. (dramatic music) (explosion) [BLANK_AUDIO]