That's the thing that most people don't realize. In real life, comedians aren't funny. They save it. They save it up.
Michael ShowalterI think narcissists are endlessly watchable. The way they view the world and the way they interact within the world.
Michael ShowalterI tend to a lot of improvisational ranting, and that's fun. For me, stand-up has been, performance-wise, a really good outlet.
Michael ShowalterIn my perfect world order, it is cold all the time. Everyone wears sweaters and drinks coffee. People don't speak to each other; they read the newspaper. There is no loud music, and cats are in charge.
Michael ShowalterOne of the things that is always difficult about a collaboration is that you don't necessarily find the same thing funny. And so the challenge becomes, how do you tell the other person that you don't think something's funny? The best collaborations tend to be when you are willing to be told that. But there's also ego involved, and so there's a lot of frustration in knowing that you're writing something, and the other person, on some level, needs to think that it's funny.
Michael ShowalterWill Ferrell is probably the funniest comic actor, certainly of my generation. I am a huge, huge Will Ferrell fan. I'm not a huge comedy buff, truthfully. What I find funny is either something unbelievably stupid, like Dumb And Dumber or Airplane!, where the jokes are just so stupid and pointless, or something like The Office or The Comeback, where the humor is in the excruciating awkwardness of a situation. Stella kind of explores both of those, stupidity and awkwardness.
Michael Showalter