Millennial comedians take a humorous magnifying glass to the pop culture of their childhoods (the 1980s and 90s) in a sketch comedy troupe they call “Clip Show.”
One night each month at the Peoples Improv Theater, the nine of them take to the stage to put on a comedy sketch show calling out the absurdities of things like “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Mighty Ducks,” “Legends of the Hidden Temple” show and “Top Gun,” to name a few.
It’s a show that their peers will likely appreciate, but they’re sure to write the jokes in a way that every age group can understand. It may be nostalgia heavy, but it’s not all about the ’80s and ’90s, they say. Sometimes they hearken back to old 1930s and ’40s radio and film tropes. It’s like “an unlabeled VHS tape a friend tells you to watch because ‘you just gotta see it,’” according to its members.
The show’s videos have been featured on Funny or Die and the Huffington Post, and its writers have graced McSweeny’s, The Yale Record, NationalLampoon.com and PointsInCase.com, among other comedy beacons.
We spoke with three of its members about the troupe before their next show on Oct. 6 at the Peoples Improv Theater in Chelsea.
Why did you think the nostalgic angle would be good for a sketch comedy show?
Ryan Stanisz: It wasn’t an active choice — each month we pick a bunch of ideas and a lot of our best ideas were revising the ways in which we revisit favorite movies and TV shows in the past. We have fun with taking this thing we’re familiar with and hold in such high regard and throw it against the wall.
Myles Hewette: It happens because we write so many sketches and we are all looking for another idea, and I watched “The Mighty Ducks” 47 times as a kid.
Heather Beeman: The whole group has gravitated toward each other, like we have a group mind. We have impressions from childhood that are fun to play with. We’re nerds like that.
What particular topics and childhood favorites come up?
Ryan: We like making fun of “Mighty Ducks,” specifically the locker room speech that gets them all pumped up. Ours is closer to reality and we talk more about present situations. It’s less about the hockey game and more about how this is the best thing that will happen in their lives.
Myles: It’s a biting satire of mid-1990s economic recession.
Ryan: Another sketch we do is the game show “Legends of the Hidden Temple.” It always seemed kind of impossible. Children run this thing in one minute, but what if the child had a weapon? It’d go much faster.
What are some of the more absurd or funny things from childhood?
Heather: Some of these shows… you feel like you’re on drugs when you’re watching it. How are the children responding to this?
Ryan: We do a sketch on “Beauty and The Beast,” and there’s something funny about a cartoon turning into a live action film. Not all the elements are going to seamlessly flow into the other one. What if Gaston actually had to eat four dozen eggs in real life on camera? It probably would not look good. We do what that scene looks like.
Myles: There’s no way he’d be able to do it in one take.
“Top Gun” is another one of my favorite sketches. I like our version better.
Ryan: “Goose” is an actual goose.
Myles: Like, why would your nickname be “Goose?” They get sucked into plane engines.
Ryan: The sketch is pretty audio/visual heavy with music cues and pyrotechnics.
Myles: Even though it’s nostalgia heavy, someone could have no idea what we’re talking about and still have an awesome time.
How is it working in a group of eight writers?
Ryan: It’s pretty manageable. I’ve been working with most people in the group for three to four years. When we meet up it’s just like hanging out with friends. When rehearsing the scenes, they change each time. It’s like writing eight drafts of every scene that gets up there.
Heather: This show is a lifestyle. We all have prop closets at our houses.
Myles: I have no room in my trunk and it looks like I am definitely a serial killer with all these weapons and disguises.
How did the show start up?
Ryan: I founded the group two-and-a-half years ago because I wanted to do a show that just was outside of the main comedy theater systems. My writing tends not to fall into the mold of what is seen at other comedy theaters and I wanted to be around people that felt free from the restraints, and we kind of just got going from there.
Ryan: We had a kumbaya moment at the end of last year — “What does everyone want out of this experience?” Everyone is really committed to wanting to work in comedy. We had that moment and we’re cool and all on board, which makes it easier and makes me feel better. There isn’t a day that goes by we aren’t communicating with each other. It helps to know everyone has a shared goal and we’re all in it to win it.
Myles: I am just now realizing there wasn’t a day we weren’t in communication. I thought I got away with it last weekend in Atlantic City with my wife, but actually I was texting Ryan about the wardrobe for a sketch.
The monthly show is back on Oct. 6 at 9:30 p.m. at the PIT (123 E. 24th St.). Tickets are $12 on todaytix.com or at the door.
For more hilarity, the members of the Clip Show tell a joke a day on their Twitter account, @clipshowcomedy.
