The Days of Disco – An Interview with Charlie Day & Mary Elizabeth Ellis
You know that show that you love so much that you can’t believe that it actually made it onto the airwaves? The one that isn’t even on a paychannel, Comedy Central, or Adult Swim. It’s crass, but extremely well-written and it doesn’t pander to the mainstream television audience by diluting itself. When you watch it, you can sense that it is the result of an original idea followed through to the end with little or no corporate intervention and restrictions.
Oh, you do?! Now how about one that hasn’t been cancelled?
If you are still with me, you probably know about It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The FX Network program’s pilot was originally shot as a short film by 3 struggling actors in LA for no more than the price of the DV tape. They were then actually ballsy enough to try and sell it to networks by demanding positions as executive producers, head writers, and starring actors. It worked out and was so well received that Danny Devito actually returned to television just to be part of the cast.
If you haven’t seen it, or even if you have, I suggest that you save your tip money and go out and buy seasons 1 and 2 on dvd. Oh, you “need that money“?! No you don’t. Just smoke your friends weed. Bring the show over and they will be happy to kick down. The program has actually been Monster Fresh tested and approved to heighten the effects of chronic herbs. Your friends won’t kick you down? Sorry kids, but remember there are always knife hits.
I recently had the opportunity to interview Charlie Day, one of the 3 co-creators/writers/producers/stars of the show, and his wife Mary Elizabeth Ellis about their experiences as a couple and about starting the new third season, among other things. You may recognize Mary Elizabeth from the program, as well. She’s the one playing the coffee house waitress. Yep, that one. The one who Charlie (Day’s character) always tries to lay his mack down on, but she refuses to holla back. [If you haven’t caught on yet, this is a Sucker Free interview]
[Monster Fresh]: I appreciate you guys doing this interview with me, especially because I know that I have totally slacked on it, but I recently threw my back out, because I am, apparently, out of shape. People ask me how I did it and I have to tell them that I fucked it up by just standing in place or, possibly, from looking at something. Do either of you have any ideas about something a little more hardcore that I could use as an excuse? You know, maybe something involving leg wrestling or a puma?
[CHARLIE]: You could tell people that you got bit by a snake in the back just before you killed your first snake.
[Mary Elizabeth]: Here’s my secret
I know that the cast resides in L.A. but how much of the program is, or has been, filmed in Philadelphia beyond the opening credits? Do you take any specific measures to include or exclude anything that would disrupt the impression that it takes place in the city?
I’d say 40 percent of what you’ve seen was shot in Philly. We go every season and shoot there for a few days. We put the scenes in each episode to give the show it’s Philly feel.
Philadelphia has an age old debate that rivals the Hatfields and McCoys and even Popeye and Bluto’s hamburger feud. I have to ask, Pat’s or Geno’s?
During the pilot shoot, my first cheese steak was at Pat’s. It hurt some and I cried a little, but I felt like an adult afterwards. I remember looking in the mirror to see if I looked older. The next year I had a salad b/c I was a g.damned actress on a Real TV show now and I had to be skinny. So I guess I never really gave Geno a chance. He seems like a good guy though.
I don’t care for cheese steaks. They make me shit my pants.
I know that you Rob (Mcelhenney) and Glenn (Howerton) were all actors in L.A. and that the original idea was to have your characters mirror just that. The idea to switch it up to bar owners in Philadelphia works great but I was wondering if there were any other suggestions that were toyed with before settling with that.
The Network didn’t want to make another show about actors in LA so we changed it. Rob grew up in Philly and we liked the idea of the characters running a dive bar there. It was a simple decision really.
I think they needed an occupation that would give them as much free time and ability to be fuck ups as being an actor does. There aren’t too many other feasible options.
So you guy’s just recently did a promotional road trip to different colleges, is that right?
We did a few colleges on the list but not all of them. The guys and I have been pretty slammed trying to finish this season.
Charlie and I had some other shit going on for a few of the first schools and then we had what felt like Pneumonia so we only made it to Penn. It was really fun though. People who love the show really love it and they are awesome! Of course, there are always the crazies who want any random person’s autograph just in case they may become famous one day far in the future and that is weird. You can usually tell they’re the latter if they look blankly into your eyes begging for a piece of your soul.
This hands on advertisement seems fairly innovative and personable and the concepts for the contests that have been set up to promote the show have seemed fitting as well, but have you had any suggestions thrown at you guys that you had to turn down flat for one reason or another? Anything along the lines of “It’s Always Sunny” in-soles or bondage gear?
We tried to do any advertisement they asked us to do this year. There was nothing too crazy. One guy did come to us with the idea of making Sunny pizza boxes and giving them to pizza places in college town but the Network didn’t go for it. I liked the idea.
As far as promotion goes, it sure has taken a step up, this season especially. The biggest issue that I have found is that so many people have said to me, “When is this fucking show on? I keep hearing about it but I can never find it.” I’ve also heard that word-of-mouth may have been a main factor in keeping you on the air past the first season. I imagine that there must have been points when you guys were concerned about contract renewals. Does FX offer the benefit of still being at the point where they can afford to take the time to push something like this that they believe in simply for its quality, without the same pressures as a larger network might face?
As for people not being able to find the show, don’t get me started. It drives me crazy, but now the DVD is out so that should help.
I’d like to answer that by commenting on how many people told me how excited they are to check out the show’s first season this year. Never heard of it before. So yeah, publicity stepped up a bit.
One cancelled show that I loved was The State. Both of you appeared on the same episode of Reno 911 (created by members of The State) back in 2004, where you played in-bred twins. That was 2 years before you were married. Were you already dating at the time, if so, how does something like that fire up a romance?
We were dating at the time and asked if we could go in together. We got to choose to either play a victim or perp, so we decided to be brother/sister lovers. Obviously, right? It was so fun to improv with Thomas Lennon, Ben Garant, and Kerri Kenney. What a great feeling to crack them up. It’s been one of my favorite acting experiences so far, because I was obsessed with The State, as well. We shot so much more than what aired. It was a rad experience.
Nothing says, “This is the girl I want to marry” like pretending she’s your sister and making out with her to get a job.
Mary Elizabeth Ellis, when researching your name via google, I found out that you died at the age of 80 from a sudden illness, that you were born a “Free black in Lynchburg VA in 1835,” and that you have a background in theater, as does Charlie. Did you originally have a focus on stage work or did you always plan on going into film and Television?
I am an enigma wrapped in a riddle smothered with rhyme. I started on stage and continue to work on stage actually-doing plays with Red Weather Theatre in L.A. and my band/performance art group The Discount Cruise to Hell. Check that shit out. I just really love exploring acting and I’m no Naomi Watts apparently. Where are all my fucking starring film roles?! Can I not play opposite a gorilla or Viggo Mortensen? David lynch– call me!
Actually, I know that you are from Mississippi. All that I know of Mississippi, unfortunately, comes from 8-Ball and MJG songs and from what I learned from a woman in her 50’s that I sat next to on a Greyhound heading to Nashville from Atlanta. She told me that she grew up eating Cougar meat. What’s the craziest beast that anyone ever tried to serve you?
That woman was either crazy or she ate all the cougar before I was born ‘cuz I ain’t never et cougar. There is, however, a delicious recipe for “Cooter Pie” and “Mock Cooter Soup” in my favorite cookbook which is entitled “White Trash Cooking.” My mother offered it to my boyfriend in high school, and I was mortified. Now I make a pretty sweet M.C.S., if I do say so myself.
How do you enjoy playing someone who despises Charlie?
It tears me up inside.
I thought that I had seen your character listed as “Vanessa” or something somewhere before, does your character still not have a name, or am I still tripping in a Phish lot somewhere?
Oh, I think we’re all in that Phish lot sir. I believe it’s a plot point. Don’t screw it up.
Your character seems to show up just often enough to be effective as a “straight man,” or, in this case, just someone with average enough ethics. Is that how you view your role on the program?
Oh no- I have a whole back-story about what the waitress does when she isn’t where the cameras are catching the action. Oh man, I need some more work.
The characters often encourage each other to do horrible shit, but they can also at times prevent each other from it. It seems that one tactic that has been used, especially at the beginning of this new season, is to separate each other so that they are able to take things to the extreme levels that each character is capable of without any outside force to prevent them from going there.
I wish I had some force. Any kind of it.
You guys seem to use a few other characters at times as more ethical characters to play off and redirect energy in the script. Stephen Collins has appeared on the program, as well as Dennis Haskins and Lynne Marie Stewart. It’s clear that Danny (Devito) has taken openly to the scripts without hesitation, but do you find that these other actors welcome an opportunity to work in a forum that would, otherwise, not be expected of them at this point in there established careers?
People love to act on the show ‘cuz it is a very actor friendly set. We encourage these established actors to play with the dialogue in ways they might not always get to. But I can’t say that for sure, because I never worked on 7th Heaven or Saved By the Bell.
Lynne Marie Stewart was part of the Groundlings improv group, as was Kaitlin Olson, and Brittany Daniel was on That 80’s Show with Glenn. Is that how they were brought into working with you guys on the program?
Lynne Marie and Kaitlin auditioned, but Brittany was friends with Glenn so we just asked her to do the part.
I’ve noticed that you’ve been able to experiment with adding more background characters in scenes, as well as messing around with inner dialogue and acid tracer effects this season. These things seem to add to the show without fucking up its consistency. You’ve even pulled off some pretty bold moves, as in making Frank Charlie’s Dad and killing off Dennis and Dee’s mom, without missing a beat. How much debate goes into what to use that will help enhance the show without destroying it?
A lot of debate goes into the writing, but I don’t think a show can be destroyed. It’s a TV show not an embryo.
This season you made an episode availabe on Myspace that hasn’t even been aired and are now airing new back to back episodes every week. Was there a particular strategy behind that?
The Myspace episode leak was the Networks idea. I guess it had something to do with building hype.
You guys have always done the writing yourselves. Was it hard to add some writers this year?
It was easy to bring on new writers, but we still worked a lot on each episode.
As a wife who never sees my husband, I say, bring on more writers and editors. Please sweet Jesus.
I have one last question. You guys really seem to jab at each other in person like you do on the program, if not more. I know that you like to bust on Rob for being mistaken for Haley Joel Osment. Is Glenn’s girlfriend in a Trojan condom commercial, or does she just resemble that girl?
The Haley Joel Osment thing is crazy, one time we got off a plane in Philly and some woman cornered Rob insisting he was Haley. He denied it, but Glenn, Kaitlin, Mary Elizabeth, and myself confirmed the woman’s suspicions. As for Glenn’s girl being the Trojan girl, I don’t think that is the case, but it could be. That’s not the kinda thing you run around telling people.
I have no idea, but Jill is totally hot and she can be in my Trojan commercial anyday.
(It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia airs @ 10pm Thursday Nights on the FX Network)
Great interview. Fascinating insight. Good job!
http://www.ithappenedinplainfield.com
Oh man I really liked this interview. I love It’s Always Sunny and Charlie and Mary seem like awesome people. Too bad they couldn’t make it out to my college, but thanks for the interview. Really great : )
AMAZING. I have a crush on both them, now. Hot.
Dude–great interview, awesome substance, but for the love of god LEARN SPELLING, GRAMMAR AND PUNCTUATION!!! You must not give a damn but learning the difference between “your” and “you’re” and then taking the time to proof-read before you publish would make this site incalculably better…plus, you didn’t even spell Rob’s last name correctly (McElhenney). That’s just poor form, man. Take the extra minute to proof your content before posting it and readers would be appreciative.
Thanks for the comment you condescending dick. I’m glad you’re here to point out a couple of typos that I made a year ago on an article that has been transferred from a previous site.
It’s interesting that you are unable to bring attention to these errors in a more considerate and timely manner. If you would have been up on this program back before everybody and their fucking moms were watching it, we could have saved some original fans the anguish that you must have felt living vicariously through me.
As far as punctuation is concerned, you may want to look over your second “sentence”.
Granted, I spent a good deal of time photoshopping the image and I was exhausted and, no doubt, a little drunk when I posted this. After that, I moved on to a new project and have maintained an incredibly busy schedule.
It’s pointless for me to reference my scoring of 100% on the English portion of the A.C.T.s, being asked to take the S.A.T.’s when I was 12, or maintaining a consistent 99 percentile on the grammar sections of every National aptitude test I’ve ever taken throughout my entire life. It’s immaterial because the only real point to be made here is that I doubt I will be reading anything else that you’ve written anytime soon.
You are partially right though, I really don’t give a shit about your experiences. That’s why I’m not reading about them.
You’re welcome for providing your dumb ass with information that you would have otherwise be unable to obtain for yourself. Now to go back to drinking this beer and making things happen.
You know what dude, you’re right. While I didn’t intend to be condescending, my comment actually was pretty rude so I apologize for that. I just happened to read this article when I had already come across a bunch of similar misspellings in other content (not yours) so unfortunately this had the misfortune of being the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak. Anyway, I could have made a constructive criticism in a constructive way. I also admit my ellipsis usage isn’t the best punctuation either–but then again I’m just a dumb ass making comments on other people’s work, not creating anything myself. As for being new to the show, all I can say is I wish I’d found it sooner. It cracks my shit up and is obviously brilliant. I guess since I’m not an “original fan” though, my opinion doesn’t count anyway…. Oh yeah, and thank you for providing my dumb ass with information I would otherwise be unable to obtain for myself. Sincerely, thanks.
Woah! I only posted that to see if you would actually come back. The whole “original fan” comment was so ridiculous and elitist that I thought I was going to get called out on it. The point of my site is actually to introduce people to new things that they may not find otherwise. I did stumble across “It’s Always Sunny” myself, but it was completely accidental and random. The popularity of the program was built on word of mouth advertisement.
I also hate reading typos but I usually find them in huge, corporate, and nationally distributed magazines that should have no excuse.
At the time of the interview, I was trying to cram in any free time that I could find to work on the site. Not much has changed and I will be the first to admit that, by the time many of these posts are published, I am sleep deprived and in a daze.
Besides, talking shit is what the internet is all about.
I don’t censor comments. Instead, I post them and simply reply.
Thanks for reading the interview and watching the program. I respect them for working from nothing and making it work. We have an interview with the filmmakers of Murder Party coming soon. They have a similar, “Fuck it! Let’s do it ourselves!” ethic.
Ha. Nice grammar feud you guys. Go get em’!
Great article my man! After recently craving all the “Sunny” I can get, I was some back research on all involved.
Interesting to find out all the on set romances. In your interview, you mention that Charlie and Mary Elizabeth poke as they do in the show. Did they act so in person? Pretty solid people?
All I have to say is I hope this show makes it the distance with all the worthless crap on TV these days. Furthermore, I also hope that certain individuals can locate FX on their cable box? If not, they are truly missing out on some fresh new comedy.
Jealous you got to interview those cats. Nicely done.
CG
I was doing some…
haha cg, i love that you corrected your sentence, so funny. deadc, the internet is totally about talking shit; i just never actually do it. i was also surprised you replied to my original comment to tell you the truth…speaking of which, this is how i usually type…as thoughts pop into my head, without caps, ellipses everywhere, and without fixing typos. i’ll probably come back here now and again (dot, dot, dot).
the actors were great. i love that show. the interviewer needs to drop the facade and just act like a real person instead of a “kid” who’s “down” with the “lingo”. run-on-sentences are neat!
That’s a fairly sharp observation for someone calling themselves “da bomb yo”
You clearly didn’t catch on to the fact that I was cracking-wise on fools like yourself.
I’m surprised that you didn’t try to make your point by re-posting a glitter sticker jpeg from your myspace page.
you are noticing my username! i wish i were as cool as you.. this might be something i read on the interwebs as “sarcasm”.. if only i could comprehend it!
please explain to me: you were “cracking-wise on fools like (my)self”? i don’t know what that means.. i didn’t grow up on the streets. can you please fill me in? i’d hate to come off as ignorant! perhaps this means you were offering a peace treaty? i only understand english i am so sorry!
while you’re at it there’s a couple things i couldn’t understand in “your” one year old interview that you still adamantly (that means strongly) defend. can you help me?
1) usually the interviewer (that would be you) wants the interviewees (the people you are talking to) to talk.. however it seems the majority of the print seems to be black? does that mean you are more important than them? who should i be paying more attention to?
2) “You guys seem to use a few other characters at times as more ethical characters to play off and redirect energy in the script.” what does this mean? my native tongue is english so i may not understand yet how things work in your country. i may not understand grammar yet (your language is new to me, forbid me for reiterating (saying it again) as i just want to be as clear as possible!).. so i may be mistaking this sentence as just a garble of words. help!! i am pretty sure some prepositions (words like “of”) or punctuation (. , ‘) could REALLY help me out until i am more familiar!
3) as a new fan (not a “true” or “hardcore” or “real” fan) of these actors, i may not understand what they are used to in receiving respect. do they like it when their names are misspelled? or when their interviewer tries to write-off any and all typos by claiming he was ‘tired’ or ‘drunk’ or ‘copied off of another site’? couldn’t he have used cut and paste? i am confused and am only aiming to be less ignorant!
PLEASE HELP ME
and please lay off on the sarcasm as i do not understand this concept just yet!!
dickweed.
What it basically comes down to is that there are more than a few things that you are failing to grasp, as far as sarcasm through my comments. The whole “real” fan thing, for example.
I had been communicating with the couple, primarily Mary Elizabeth, via the internet for a while before the interview took place. Most of the conversation dealt with musical acts such as Silver Jews. Eventually, the idea came up to do the interview but, as I am located in Seattle, we decided to perform it by emailing each other. Charlie was busy with a lot of editing work for the show, while we were communicating so, I was forced to be more leading with some of the questions than I would have generally preferred.
My intention was to bring attention to something that I felt deserved it. At the time there was a lot less overall interest in the program. When someone trolls the internet to talk shit, I think that it’s pretty clear that their intention is to bring attention to themselves. If you want to come to my site and attack my work, while making assumptions about my intentions, you are displaying a clear reflection of your own personality flaws and intentions, whether you realize that or not. If you want to re-read the same drab sterile repetitive information about an artist, you can do that anywhere. You have no idea of where you are or who are trying to belittle.
I love how “amazing” you think these people are and how you feel they did such and amazing job with their answers, given such a terrible job that I performed.
I get it. You wish that you could have done the interview and you feel that you would have done a much better job. That’s great, but no body else really gives a fuck. By praising the actors and glorifying them in your comments, while attacking me, you make your feelings pretty clear. I don’t approach my interviews as a fan. I don’t get on my knees for them like a Wayne’s World sketch. I also don’t deal with projects or individuals as simple “assignments” that I have no personal interest in, simply based on the amount of traffic that I might be able to pull from them. Maybe this is what has been confusing you.
I respond to your comments because I respond to everyone’s comments. I try to remove the separation that the internet provides between content and humans, as much as possible. You talked shit to me, awesome. You sound like a fucking idiot that is getting incredibly stressed out over nothing. Maybe your dreams will come true. Maybe the cast will see your comments and realize what an amazing job you could have done. Maybe they’ll come to your house and take photos with you that you can post all over facebook and show your friends.
I figured that if I respond to you, you will come back. Then you’ll show all of your friends how I “got served” and they’ll come to my site. It’s like Snoop Dogg said when everyone was smashing his cd’s in the street. They had to buy those albums to break them.
Maybe what really upset you is that I am just some “kid” who doesn’t really give a fuck about rules of journalism. Read the slogan. I’m sure you have a lot of nice things. You obviously are more focused on presentation than content. “NO! Your content is bad!” I know whatever. Thousands of people have come here. You don’t like the article because you didn’t get to do one.
I’m someone with little money who has been finding a way to operate systems that he was previously unfamiliar with and who is making connections out of nothing. The cast built a show that they believed in with few connections and hard work. That’s the point of my interview and that’s the point of the site. What the fuck is your point?
Even in responding to you, I’m still tending to my own project. What’s your excuse? My advice is for you get a alprazolam habit. Hopefully you can blackout for a while and forget that you’re an asshole.
I know you are desperately awaiting my response so, I hope it was worth it. My gift to you.
Oops, I forgot the part about how commenting is your way of trying to immortalize your self as part of the overall content on a page that deals with your idols.
haha this is awesome
i don’t think i ever said they were “amazing” so the quotes are inaccurate, but yeah i definitely do want to find out more about them and i did, thanks to you. i meant everything i said in my first comment and still do. obviously if you care about it you are able to come across as intelligent, so why all the slang and swearing in the interview? if people are reading it they are already interested in the subject, there’s no need to ‘jazz’ it up by trying to appeal to, or make fun of, anyone. especially your audience.
i wouldn’t say i want to interview them. it’d be neat to get to know them but i’m not interested in dialoging in a professional level. also it’s not technically “trolling” as the main purpose of my comment wasn’t to piss you off, but to honestly comment on the interview itself.
it’s cute how defensive you are and honestly i didn’t care enough to read all of your response. like i was trying to put across earlier, i don’t care about you, i care about what the actors had to say. i’m not going to respond to any further comments you write in response to me but i will say this;
if you are intentionally trying “crack-on fools” as a sort of character when conducting the interview, don’t take it so personally when people get a certain impression of you. either stick with the character or don’t bother with it.
again, not trolling. just an honest opinion.
oh except for the second comment. that was completely just to piss you off haha. but i think technically it’s not trolling since it was in response to your rather angry comment… hmm.
It is pretty awesome.
Perhaps my biggest flaw is that I can’t bring myself to censor comments and that I respond to all of the comments that are left but, perhaps the greatest hope that I’ve had for any of the content on the site, was that it would be easily accessible and not distance the readers who feel distance everywhere else. There will always be a distance for some, however, especially with subject matter that has been able to fuse itself into the popular culture’s consciousness more than most of the topics that we’ve chosen to cover on the site.
I enjoy creating a dialog with readers even if they contain elements of spitefulness and resistance to actual communication. I’m not trying to come off as some unique elitist or enigma when I say this but, I think that my overall personality and character would confuse you regardless of where you met me or in what situation. Just because you like a show that we covered doesn’t mean that you would be interested in the interviews we’ve done with Jazz Organists or independent film makers. You obviously linked directly to this article and are not one of the rare individuals that read through my site from topic to topic. If you had read through other posts from me, however, I think that you may understand my confusion with the existence of some “character” that you are referring too. I also feel that the concept of some contradiction between characters may actually evaporate.
It’s not new to me to have someone impose their own viewpoints about how specific people should be operating in a specific situation. I used to go to my 8th grade honors classes with a mohawk and get resistance from my teachers even when I’d win the ridiculous and worthless medals and national scholastic awards. I think that my comments about being old and my back going out also may have been misleading. I wrote that when i was 28. The problem is only that your first post was packed with implications but they were coming from someone with a one dimensional point of view.
I’m not saying that this article isn’t for you because it is. It’s for everyone without censorship or exclusion. Just as you’ve used this comment section as your own forum (may I suggest linking to our forum “the Soapbox” which was created for people like yourself). What I am saying, however, is that the presentation was not intended for you. I write like I speak and, although some people feel that anyone who smokes weed or steals for any reason in any situation are “misguided” and “unintelligent”, that is not the consensus for me or the writers on this site. The contradictions that you feel you are seeing are only visible to you because of your own perceptions that have been projected. All of your perceptions are projections of yourself until you are able to see beyond them.
Thanks for the interview. Readers…find a hobby and stop nitpicking on a message board about an interview about a television show based on idiots who need hobbies. You all just seem petty. Also, feel free to insult or demean me in any way, shape, or form, as I will not be returning to this website to see if any of you felt compelled to reply to my comments. Thank You.
Haha this is some funny shit. These readers are all butt hurt because of poor gramar and what-not. To be honest i got to this article from google, so prior to that ive never been to the site. After reading the start of the article I thought this was a website for pot-heads or something… needless to say my expectations in the way of writing mechanics werent very high. Personally i dont give a fudge if dude wants to write the article like a text message, Ive gotten more entertainment reading about these salty viewers and seeing them get served up. Author guy, keep it up man!
Thanks. I will honestly admit that I helped to egg some of it on but the ridiculous part is that the grammar wasn’t actually “poor”. Anyone who reads the “’bout it” section will know that, back when I started the site and conducted this interview, my computer was crashing on me and I was using very questionable equipment. There were like 2 typos and the first got freaked out.
The irony is that, when it was all said and done, the second guy who freaked out told me that he thought I was “intelligent” and his only problem was that he didn’t think I needed to use profanity. Maybe he’s never seen the show before. The characters have sold coke, taken acid, sold oxycontin, got hooked on diet pills, smoked weed, and done a lot worse.
One guy on another site even told me that, after reading my interview, he could tell that it was “obviously fake” and that it wasn’t even real. Whatever. If you go to the front page right now there is an article about the new project that the Sunny guys are working on right now. It looks pretty promising.
P.S. I smoke weed and say bad words
Great post, thanks for the info
Thanks for the interview! Quality!!
It’s great that you were able to interview Charlie and his wife in the earlier stages of IASIP. Have you kept contact at all?
I almost had as much fun reading the interview as I did reading the comments. There is always some junior college prick that has to critique shit in order to feel better. I bet he never expected the author to reply. Anyways, I hope to see a follow up interview.
I don’t think it is, but if it is fake, then you did a great job portraying the characters accurately and in detail.
Paul-
Thanks for visiting the site and for your comments. My feeling has always just been that, based on the substance (or lack of) of some of the negative comments I’ve gotten on posts, people feel like they have authority over certain subject matter that they feel is “special” to them. Not they want to protect those subjects but, rather, they want to protect the “authority” and “specialness” that they feel they have regarding it. I realized a long time ago that, just because you like the same thing as somebody else, it doesn’t necessarily mean shit. A lot of people like pizza too.
This interview was conducted via email, due to me being in Seattle and them in L.A. As far as keeping in touch with them, I haven’t, which is unfortunate. Even during this interview, Charlie was swamped trying to edit and write everything. He was incredibly busy. Back then, everyone had myspace accounts, but Rob. I first wound up communicating with Glenn, after sending him a video that I made, which was denied entry into a competition that they had. It wasn’t I “didn’t win”, I wasn’t allowed to even enter. I also sent the video to the myspace pages of Charlie, Mary Elizabeth and, I think, Kaitlin. I wasn’t even being nice about it, I was telling them that, if they were gonna censor me, then they were all full of shit. Glenn, graciously, responded telling me that it was the best one that he had seen and explained that he also felt that it was bullshit but that they didn’t actually run the concert. The thing was that they didn’t really have anything to do with the contest itself. He went even further and sent me follow up emails, telling me that he showed it to the writers and that they loved it too and then he encouraged me to keep making videos. That was the first one that I had ever made and, in retrospect, it was pretty corny. Still, it was really cool of him to do that and I did make another one. Since I was joking (somewhat) to him about FX being racist and that it was the reason for them rejecting my video, I made a new video of myself as a white supremacist and they actually accepted it. That was the second post on the site, so Glenn kind of, indirectly, encouraged me and had an effect on me starting the site in the first place. Eventually, I sent him some pictures of men with beards of bees and, with the possibility of that weirding him out and the fact he had just started dating his now wife, the communication kind of disappeared. If you want, the post with all of that bullshit is right HERE
Then, one day, I got a response from Mary Elizabeth. She was the one that I spoke with primarily from then on and kind of helped me set up the interview. It was super casual; we were probably talking about Pavement or Ricky Gervais or something, and I just said that they should do an interview with me. There was little mention of them being a married couple back then, and I wanted them to both be in it as a couple. Like I said, Charlie was really busy so, most of the communications were made through his email about the interview, and there were only a couple of those.
I wish that I still had contact with Mary Elizabeth, though, because we’d send each other messages all of the time and she’s really awesome. We like a lot of the same music and she was pretty psyched about the concept of me photoshopping her into a mermaid. As their popularity grew, their facebook pages got swarmed and they all closed them down, one after the other. The shittiest part is that, the day that Mary Elizabeth closed hers, I got a message from her. The problem was that, when I went to check the message, her account was gone, which means that the message was gone. It sucks, because I’m pretty sure that the message that I got was probably a message telling me that she was shutting down her account but, ironically, that’s also why I couldn’t get it. I wouldn’t have any idea about how to get a hold of her now. For all I know, that info was in that missing letter. I was doing an interview with David Berman from the Silver Jews and she sent me a question to ask him, since were are both fans. I hope she comes across it, if she hasn’t, because he answered it. That interview was the most ill-received one since this one. It’s funny because I told her after that kid accused me of faking the interview and she told me that meant that I was “famous” and I clarified for her that it actually meant that somebody just thought that her and her husband were too famous to talk to me, because I’m not. Things might have changed but, at least back then, none of them seemed to act like stars or egotistical assholes. They were actually concerned about their show being renewed.
Again, thanks. If you can take time to read this shit and post a comment, I can take time to respond to it.
The interview seems very nicely done. A lot of information gathered.