My interview with Kevin Allison

Remember MTV's the State? Well back in the early 90's a bunch of NYU students got together and decided to put on a show. The cast: Kevin Allison, Michael Ian Black, Ben Garant, Michael Patrick Jann, Kerri Kenney, Thomas Lennon, Joe Lo Truglio, Ken Marino, Michael Showalter, David Wain, Todd Holoubek.

The MTV show premiered in January of 1994, at which time it received some extremely bad reviews, which were proudly displayed in the highly talked about "more miserable crap" promo on MTV. Since then, the series was renewed twice, garnering increasingly good ratings, reviews and feedback as the critics and audiences caught on. (including being one of the top 10 shows of the year in the Wall Street Journal and highest rated sketch show in Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone.)


While riding the subway I managed to run into former cast member Kevin Allison. He was extremely nice and open. So I bring to you my interview with Kevin Allison.

What are you up to now?

There's two things I'm really excited about.

First, my brand new sketch comedy group, Big Flux. Normally when you put on any sort of show, you get people saying, "Hey, nice job." But at Big Flux shows recently, people have been coming up to us afterwards and saying, "Whoa. You've really got something here. This is the beginning of something." People are walking away pretty invigorated because the stuff is surprising and daring and pretty insane.

It occurred to me the other day that I'm the only member of The State who is now doing what The State was so devoted to, sketch comedy. Everyone else is doing hybrid forms of comedy now, and a lot of it is great. But I feel like Big Flux is pushing the envelope in the classic sketch form like Python and Mr. Show and The State. We're going from genre to genre, telling miniature stories and taking people completely off guard with most of it. It's a great challenge.

I met all the guys in Big Flux by teaching sketch comedy classes. New classes start in January, so if any of your readers are in the New York area, they should check out www.bigfluxcomedy.com to find out how to apply for the class. The web site is brand new, so there's not a lot of material there yet. But you can check out a few video sketches that Big Flux has done. We're going to keep uploading content--comics, funny stuff to read, merchandise and so on.

Also, Big Flux has two shows coming up at The Pit on December 16 at 7 pm and December 18 at 11 pm. There will be free booze at both shows, so people should definitely come out for a good time. You can make reservations by going to The Pit's site at www.thepit-nyc.com.

The other thing I'm really excited about is film reviewing. I'm getting published by magazines like Premiere and Giant. I love writing about movies and want to keep at it no matter where the rest of my career takes me. There aren't enough people writing really passionate, eloquent, mind-bending analysis out there.

How did you get started in comedy?

Before The State was The State, they were called The New Group. I saw their first show at NYU as a freshman. I was blown away. There was a palpable energy to the group. So in my sophomore year, I started deliberately signing up to take classes that I knew other members of the group were in. After classes, we'd go out drinking and I'd take off all my clothes and hop around singing whaling tunes. Eventually they thought, "Okay, Kevin is some kind of madman. Let's put him in shows."

We put shows together every few months the same way that Big Flux is doing now and eventually got some MTV folks to see us. That's how it all got rolling.

Do you find it harder to do political comedy giving the current climate in this country?

Our material gets extremely offensive, but in ways that are so absurd, you'd be an asshole to be offended.

Just like The State used to do, Big Flux steers clear of direct references to pop culture, because it's so common and so cheap feeling. So I'd never appear onstage as George W. Bush like SNL or Mad TV would do. But I have appeared onstage as a generic Bush-like jackass and people appreciate it as an archetype. Keep in mind, we've never performed outside of New York City yet. But no, I've never paid any attention to the cultural or political climate of the day in creating comedy. I prefer doing stuff that's not so specific to the news and thus more timeless.

I will say I hope the arts just get smarter and more inspired and more revolutionary now. This is the most corrupt, deceptive, heartless and incompetent presidential administration in our history.

What do you like better West coast or East?

What I remember about LA from the last time I was there was that everyone loved Elton John's latest hit, "Bennie and the Jets." Also, I shat on my dad's lap.

Have you ever considered trying out for SNL?

I have considered it. The thing is, I watch that show and have no clue as to what the sensibility is. Every now and then, a sketch is pretty odd and tight and smart. Then the next one lasts seven minutes and hits you over the head with the same joke 30 times. Then the next one seems like a paint-by-numbers deal where they literally just jotted down a few lines from some TV show that no one takes seriously in the first place and they re-deliver the lines but change a word here or there so that it's like parody Mad Libs-style.

I just don't get the impression I'd work well there. I have such a bizarre sensibility. What SNL is good for is that every now and then a dynamic performer like Will Ferrell or Molly Shannon is able to shine. But I much prefer the sort of set up that Python and the Kids in the Hall and The State had, where the writers are also the actors. That way, a group can really develop a voice.

What do you like better, writing comedy or performing comedy?

Writing. I love writing of damn near any kind. I'm just one of those people who finds putting ideas into words really gratifying. But one thing that's also really rewarding about Big Flux is that the group is more into group writing than The State was. It's only natural, because The State was 11 people, so it broke into cliques. Big Flux is just five guys, so it's easier to hash out a sketch idea all as one creative head. My own writing benefits from that collaboration. We revise and revise things until something one guy wrote may very well have changed into a different animal by the time we perform it.

Has there been talk of a State reunion? (I know you've heard that one a thousand times but I just had to ask.)

Yeah, we were all on the phone together about maybe doing a few TV specials for Comedy Central a couple years back. But then Reno 911 kicked into gear and I guess it was just too much to take on. Honestly, I have no idea if we ever will do something. The State was a pretty dysfunctional family--lots of love but lots of tension too. It would surprise me if we could all find time in our lives to get back together and then find ourselves on the same page creatively. But if everyone else was up for it, I'd certainly give it a shot.

What was the title of the book you were reading when we met?

"For Keeps." It's the best of the film criticism by Pauline Kael. She wrote for The New Yorker from 1967 to 1990. One tough cookie but an absolutely brilliant writer.