Interview with Michael Showalter @ Pitchfork 2010

Actor and comedian Michael Showalter got his start on MTV’s cult favorite sketch show The State in the early ‘90s. A gifted writer, Showalter’s bizarre brand of humor and characters may seem like improv, but as I learned, almost everything he does is rigidly scripted. From the lovably off-the-wall skewering of 80s sex comedies in Wet Hot American Summer to the short-lived Comedy Central oddities Stella and Michael and Michael Have Issues, Showalter is always pushing the envelope: trying the patience of many and constantly questioning “What is funny?” His set at the Pitchfork Comedy Stage proved once again that Showalter might be the new incarnation of Andy Kaufman.