Attention Deficit Delirium

Brad and Colin show us the classic artist pose. But really, they just don't want to face the camera. (Photo © 2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

You’ve witnessed their shenanigans on VH1, TV commercials, movies and the long-running improv show Whose Line Is It Anyway? But have you seen them live? For the last six years, Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood have toured with their show An Evening With Colin Mochrie And Brad Sherwood (check their site for upcoming tour dates), where the dynamic duo takes their experience with comedy improv and encourages audience participation, including the sound effects game that was so popular on their long-running BBC/ABC hit show. But the best part of the night is the mousetrap game, where the duo alternate singing lines of an opera — the theme determined by the audience, each line beginning with a letter of the alphabet picked by said fans, then going in backwards order — while also walking the stage blindfolded through a minefield of mousetraps. You can imagine how absurd and painful it gets. And how funny.

Given their pedigree with improv, Mochrie and Sherwood have made a career out of throwing themselves to the wolves. Despite the unpredictability of a show or audience on any given night, they thrive on performing live without a net. Luckily, ADD was not as tough an audience when we sat this humorous twosome down in their hotel to discuss their long-running act, chemistry and love for spontaneous comedy. I also chatted with them for a new Stage Directions cover story entitled “MacGyvers Of Improv,” the extended online version of which can be found here.


Of all the people you’ve worked with, how did you two develop this chemistry, decide to work together and take this show on the road?
Brad: We’ve done different [improv] incarnations with bigger groups, but some of the guys were busy or don’t like to fly, and we’ll go anywhere. We’ve worked together for so many years…
Colin: We don’t like sharing stage time.
Brad: The bigger the group the less we’re on stage, so we thought, if there are only two of us we’re on stage the whole time.

Really inept Orkin men? No, just two mousetrap masochists.

Have you been doing a lot of press while you’re here in New York?
Brad: We just did the Fox News show and walked back here.
Colin: All we really wanted was you.

Excellent. How was Fox News?
Brad: It’s weird. I think it was [for] their weird online news outlet. So who’s actually watching an online live Fox TV show other than shut-in conservatives?

Did you perform at a White House gala in 2007?
Brad: It was the Congressional Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner. It wasn’t the White House one, it was the one being sponsored by Congress. So technically we were being hired by Democrats. I just want to put that out there. We were performing for the President, but we were hired by Democrats.

I’m assuming you weren’t quite in line with the last administration at that point?
Brad: I have never been in line with that administration.

So how do you get up and perform in front of people like Karl Rove, whom you might not like, and manage to make it work without politicizing it or creating any tension?
Colin: It’s pretty easy for us just because we never do political humor. I think when you improvise political humor it just becomes pretty much black and white, like, “Oh, they’re stupid.” That kind of thing. You can’t really satirize it like Saturday Night Live or other people who can spend time writing the sketch and fine-tuning it. Ours would be broad strokes. It’s really not our strength. We just tend to go for the silly.
Brad: Our show is goofy and very apolitical. We came in the year after Stephen Colbert did his skewering of Bush, so I think everybody on both sides of the aisle were interested in having a fun, light, apolitical comedy act, which is what we are. We went in there to make people laugh and didn’t have a political agenda. We weren’t sermonizing in any way, and we just did really goofy, silly stuff. We got great feedback. Everyone said it was the funniest thing that they had at one of those things. Usually it’s standups who generally don’t do political humor but feel compelled to write a complete political set for that event, so they’re doing stuff that’s way out of their comfort zone and doing stuff that’s making half the audience feel uncomfortable at any given moment, depending upon what their political bent is.

Colin listens to Brad's serious oration. Or perhaps a serious fart joke.

You may not be political, but you’re not completely safe either. Although you joke on your site that your show is family-friendly, unless you’re afraid of balding men.
Colin: The show has such a wide demographic, and we have a lot of kids and families in our audiences.
Brad: We have the widest demographic for any comedy show: 7 to 70.

You may not have raunchy humor, but there is racy humor. Even some of the improv stuff on Whose Line, Just For Laughs and various TV appearances you have made is not all G-rated. Some of it is PG content that almost pushes R-rated material.
Colin: It hits that spot where it kind of goes over the younger people’s heads but the parents get it.
Brad: Most of our stuff is [double] entendre. If it’s racy it’s vague enough that it’s not specifically filth. It walks that line where the adults know what we’re talking about, but the kids have no idea that there’s even a dirty reference going on.

Brad and Colin wade through the crowd at the Just For Laughs comedy festival in Montreal.

Like when you spilled red wine during the “lie down” sketch at the Just For Laughs festival and made a porn reference with the spillage.
Colin: Yeah, those kinds of things. Good, clean family humor!

Modern comedy has become more adversarial, which mirrors the way we are as a society. We have become more confrontational with each other. It’s been said that a lot of standup comedians have issues. Do you guys fit into that stereotype of trying to work something out on stage?
Colin: There is nothing going on with us.
Brad: I think improvisers as a breed tend to be more social because everything we do is interactive and requires more than one person, whereas standups tend to be a bit more misanthropic and asocial. They comment on and have an angry perspective on the world and talk about how everything is stupid, whereas what we’re doing is creating right there on the spot, and it’s a communal event between us and the audience. It’s a totally different mindset. Improv is for people that play well with others, whereas the social outcasts tend to be the standups, where they have their bitter take on the world and comment on what is wrong with it.

I get crankier as I get older.
Brad: I think the reason people get angrier as they get older is that as you get older you get wiser. But as you get older the world becomes full of more people that are less wise than you, so the population of people that is dumber than you continues to grow. As you become more enlightened the world continues to fill with less enlightened people. Your perspective is just so frustrating when you have these morons who are text messaging while they’re making your café mocha. It’s this new techno age of bonehead children who are completely asocial and think the world owes them something. I think that’s what frustrates you as you get older.

Colin Mochrie with Ryan Stiles (r) on the American version of "Whose Line Is It Anyway?"

That’s your rant!
Brad: I was doing standup.

Are there any roles that you guys would like to do, either comedic or dramatic, that would be different from what you’ve done and that would allow people to perceive you differently?
Colin: I don’t know if people would accept us as anything else at this point.
Brad: I’d like to play one of those villains in those Jason Statham type movies, like The Transporter. I think because I’m tall and look a little bit dour that I’d be good as the big guy that walks around with a trenchcoat and a gun.
Colin: I would love to do an action movie just because action heroes look like they could beat up a terrorist with their bare hands. Look at them. But with me it would be a surprise.

Or you could be the ringleader of a big bank heist.
Brad: I wouldn’t want to be the hero. I’d want to be the bad guy. The henchman to the little, evil, weaselly guy or the aloof, I’ll-kill-you-if you-look-at-me-wrong guy. Cowboy movies – I would like to be in violent, Clint Eastwood style spaghetti westerns.

There are so many entertainment choices now that everything seems to have been done, so it seems harder to capture an audience’s attention.
Colin: It’s been hard to be original. Every idea has been done. If you look at comedy, Saturday Night Live is doing what Sid Caesar did – a 90-minute show every week with live sketches. It’s just finding that different point of view, and after awhile everything becomes new again. I’m hoping that people forget some really good ideas so I can use them in the future.

Colin and Brad: The comedy bromance continues on tour.

Indeed.
Brad: Bryan, I was looking on your site, and you are a serious metalhead.

[Throws the horns] What about you?
Brad: I’m a total metalhead.

What groups did you see when you were younger?
Brad: I saw the Scorpions, Black Sabbath, Twisted Sister, Def Leppard, Triumph, Iron Maiden, all the good ones. But I never saw Judas Priest or AC/DC.

Brad Sherwood belting out a song on ABC's "Whose Line Is It Anyway?"

I saw Judas Priest in ‘84.
Brad: Those are two embarrassing admissions. I didn’t get to see them, but I saw pretty much anybody else.
Colin: I’m kind of shocked that you haven’t seen AC/DC.

How is the economy affecting your touring?
Brad: We’ve noticed the economy has affected our show, too. Luckily for us, comedy is the one that survives the most during recessions and tough economic times because people want to go laugh. They may not spend a big ticket to go see a play or a lot of movies or a band, but they need to laugh, so comedy shows are the best.
Colin: With us, it’s two guys and two stools.
Brad: We’re a cheap show to mount.
Colin: We have no overhead.

The most controversial and shocking horror film of the year is Deadgirl, a dark drama about two dysfunctional teens (a confused nice guy named Rickie and his bad boy pal JT) who discover a young woman chained up in the basement of an abandoned asylum. Rather than rescue and release her, they proceed to use her as their sex slave. The Deadgirl (bravely played and endured by newcomer Jenny Spain) seems barely alive and has the ability to heal from all the abuse her body sustains, which makes Rickie and the other boys he eventually brings into the sordid affair feel justified in their actions, even though what they’re doing is vile and inhumane. Disturbing and delirious, Deadgirl touches upon issues of sexuality, power, gender and class, and it also explores the blurred lines between adolescent love and lust and the confusion that those feelings bring. It’s also difficult to watch and will spark off debate before you’re even done watching it.

ADD conducted an exclusive interview with co-directors Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel just prior to their film winning “Best Villain” (Noah Segan as JT) at last month’s Chiller Eyegore Awards in Los Angeles. Rape and torture have been brutally depicted in such cult films as I Spit On Your Grave and Last House On The Left, and while those movies are more graphic in their portrayals — and, some would argue, irresponsible and exploitative — Deadgirl sinks into your psyche because of what is often implied and not shown, leaving your imagination to run wild into places you’d rather not venture. The film, which has received press from The Washington Post, the Hollywood Reporter and MSN, is both engrossing and repugnant, something it’s creators are strongly aware of.



What response have you gotten to the movie so far?
Gadi Harel: The response from the DVD release has been pretty awesome. Just the fact they we’re winning this [Chiller-Eyegore] award next to Rob Zombie and the SAW franchise is kind of unbelievable. Being in that group is pretty spectacular. We had a big premiere in Toronto, and it really helped make our small movie into something more noteworthy. It’s gotten a really great release from Dark Sky Films. We see it reviewed in the Washington Post and see it on Netflix within the first week and a half — 27,000 people have ranked or voted on the movie. The response has really been great. How do people personally respond to the movie? It’s usually [split] right down the middle, but they’re noticing it and definitely seeking it out. It’s been a really exciting time for us.

"Deadgirl": A sick and twisted look at adolescent lust gone awry.

I was fascinated and appalled by Deadgirl at the same time. It’s one of those films that you can like and hate equally. You can see the intent of the film, but at the same time it’s really twisted and disturbing.
Marcel Sarmiento: We had the same reaction when we read the script. At first we were like, “Holy shit, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Then we couldn’t quite get it out of our heads and started talking about how there was something really intriguing about this idea, why it’s so relatable in a twisted way, and was there a way we could actually make this movie and make it watchable?

When you were casting for the part of the Deadgirl, what were your responses to the different actors who were auditioning for the role?
Marcel: I think we knew that we would have to get someone very special. We started with the route you might expect, with certain kinds of people that would have no problem with nudity coming to audition, and we thought we were in trouble. We did not want the kind of people that we were seeing, and we really didn’t know what to do. We thought we might not actually be able to make the movie because she is so vital obviously, but then we heard about this actress Jenny [Spain] who lived in the Midwest somewhere and had never really acted before. She really got the script, was really enthusiastic about it and got what we were trying to do. She had great instincts, and I think we really lucked out with her. It was a kismet moment because we really didn’t know who to cast and how to cast the part.
Gadi: Jenny brought a lot to the part. The greatest thing she brought wasn’t just comfort with nudity. She brought more. It requires a lot more than that. We did get lucky.

Some of the miserable, pathetic men in "Deadgirl".

For me, the scariest image in the movie is when Rickie is having an erotic fantasy about the woman he really likes, JoAnn, and then it turns into the image of the Deadgirl chomping at him. JoAnn represents the love side, and the Deadgirl represents lust. And the Deadgirl comes off as the scary image in that particular montage. Were you trying to contrast the confusion between adolescent love and lust?
Marcel: Yes, and it’s also scary and new. Intimacy is terrifying when you’re a kid. I think as much as you want to have sex, even if you really don’t know what it is, there’s something really scary and dangerous about the unknown. I think a lot of Rickie’s feelings have to do with wanting this thing, and maybe it’s JoAnn, but at the same time what it represents is terrifying.
Gadi: In the same way, what Rickie is thinking about JoAnn is what JT is thinking about the Deadgirl. They’re both imagining and objectifying find this ideal — twisted or not twisted, normal or not normal — of what love and sex is. Both stories are the same, and that’s the real connection — being young and figuring it all out, and obviously we take it to a hyperreal place.

Jenny Spain in real life. Not undead.

I’ve discussed with directors like Dario Argento and Stuart Gordon the concern about how a lot of horror is viewed and criticized as being misogynistic. Gordon admitted to me that he thought a lot of horror was based upon the fear of beautiful women. A lot of genre filmmakers seem to have that issue, for some particular reason. Have you faced criticism on that front, particularly from people who don’t see further into the film than what’s on the surface?
Gadi: Yeah. Half the people just say that we’re living out some crazy rape fantasy that we have and dismiss it, but the other half really takes the time and sees a lot that we intended. Sometimes people see things that we didn’t intend. Feminists come out for it, and feminists come out against It. it’s just one of those movies that lays a lot out there for you, and a lot of people are open to it and a lot of people shut down immediately because of the subject matter, which we completely understand, too. Over the past year we’ve heard every reaction that someone can have to this movie.
Marcel: When you do a story like this, you know going in that a good chunk of people are going to easily dismiss it or label it because its [viewed at] face value. But that’s true of any movie. We just have a movie that you can get upset and excited about if it rubs you the wrong way or you don’t get it.

I’m a big heavy metal and horror fan, and I have discovered that some of those fans don’t get irony or symbolism. For example, you can have an anti-war song done from the perspective of a war monger to show how ugly the mentality is, but there are many people who will take it for literally what it sounds like. There are many horror fans that will go deeper into what’s happening in the genre, and then there were those that literally watch it for the gore and violence and don’t think about anything that’s going on underneath. Do you worry about people misinterpreting what you’re doing?
Gadi: We don’t worry about it because we know it’s going to come with it. We are really thrilled and excited at the number of people who are able to give the movie the attention and thought that we think it deserves. You never want somebody to dismiss something that you put a lot into and believe in and that you think says a lot. We had a screening where a mother and daughter talked about how much it moved them and captured the essence of being young and the fears, and they really responded to it. That’s really exciting.
Marcel: I’ll just add that I don’t worry about people misinterpreting it so much because in this story there are real consequences to what these kids do, and no one’s really enjoying themselves. I think those are two big differences from perhaps other movies that are pretty extreme. Nobody’s having a good time, even the “bad guys” who are doing it, and they all suffer real consequences. We’re not glorifying anything.

JT (Noah Segan), the film's villain. (Photo by Steve Dean.)

There are issues of gender and class at play here. At one point JT says, “This is probably the best we’re ever going to get.” Many people make certain decisions in their life and relationships because they’re taught or told that’s what they’re supposed to do. Were you thinking about that all when you are making this film? Were you contemplating the fact that some people don’t think they can get what they want and find themselves feeling trapped?
Gadi: Absolutely, and that’s such a key line. That’s not just a class thing or a gender thing. It’s just an element of life and of growing up and making decisions. When he yells, “This is the best we’re going to have,” it applies to so many things. When you’re a kid, it puts your entire future on a whole other level of having to really face, “What is my life going to be like?” And is that statement true? I think it’s a very universal thought and fear, whether it’s in this situation or not, and that was something that we really wanted to bring to the material — the truth of growing up and of looking at your life and the choices that you have to make. [It's] probably more so around that age, but I don’t think you ever really shake those moments. I think they come and go throughout your life. It was important to have these things that were timeless truths. It’s not just about kids and not just about kids today. It’s just about life, as pretentious as that may sound.
Marcel: We always argue about how people say this movie is so extreme and so awful, but when you really think about it and if you step away and break it down, what you see on screen is actually much tamer compared with some other movies. But for some reason our movie is considered much more horrific and awful and terrible because of the tone and the way we approached it. People come out saying they saw something that they never saw. They just imagined it. That’s really been fascinating and great.

A film like I Spit On Your Grave is a more brutal, extreme movie.
Gadi: Even with the recent [remake of] Last House On The Left, all we heard about was this brutal, intense, crazy rape scene in there, but it is in the form of this slickly packaged horror movie, and when you look at Deadgirl and see what we really show in terms of her and what the boys do, it’s actually quite tame in comparison. We’ll come out as a much more vile horror movie, but as Marcel said it’s because of our tone. It’s packaged in a really weird way that makes it feel a lot worse.

Rickie (Shiloh Fernandez) and JoAnn (Candice Accola) deal with the deadly denouement of "Deadgirl". (Photo by Steve Dean.)

Rape is a topic that is difficult to handle in movies. I recall seeing the Jason Statham action movie Crank. I like a lot of his stuff, but this had a ridiculous sequence where, in order to keep his heart rate up so he doesn’t die from the poisoning he’s been given, the “hero” wants to have sex with his girlfriend in the middle of a crowded marketplace. She’s a ditzy blonde who gives in to him, and everyone is cheering him on while he does it. It’s played for laughs, but that offended me because it was clearly a rape scene. And it wasn’t funny. But then when the serious, Oscar-winning Jodie Foster movie The Accused came out, one female film critic reported that some teenage boys snuck in at the end of a screening just so they could watch the gang rape scene in the bar.
Marcel: I will say that our movie is not very sexy, and that’s one difference between a lot of these other depictions of this kind of stuff. I’m sure there are people out that are getting a thrill from the movie — there are people for everything — but I feel like in all of those other movies, even The Accused, the aggressors are more powerfully shown and [as] having fun, whereas these kids in our movie aren’t ever. Even when they’re doing what they’re doing, they always seem miserable.
Gadi: There is a desperate sadness to all of their action. They so want something that they don’t have in life. It’s not even sex, its power or just feeling that they belong with their friends and aren’t different. There’s all this other stuff going on. But like you said with Crank, with this story most people we talked to just assumed we were making a campy, B-level movie like Zombie Strippers; a crazy, fun movie. If we did that, I feel we would’ve gotten a huge release, like playing in malls. Just going with the campy comedy really makes these actions much more acceptable, which is worse. It should be worse to make light of it, but for some reason it can almost be more accessible to people.