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Kurt Braunohler: A Man of Many Talents

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Kurt BraunohlerGoing into an interview, a writer normally likes to prepare and do some background research on the interviewee. When you research Kurt Braunohler, you question how he has any time for a personal life. Kurt is involved in projects for television, does improv and has started doing more and more stand-up on the road. This may have led to the fact that we had to reschedule our first appointment for a phone interview because he was on deadline for a television show. The second time? Well, just read below.

Do you have time today…are you ready?

Sure I can do it. I mean, I’m at Costco, but I think I can totally do it at Costco, man.

That sounds great…I appreciate it so much. Sorry, I have a cold also, so I’m a little stuffed up.

Dude, if you’re going to make this interview really difficult with you having a cold. I don’t know if I want to do it anymore.

I hope the germs don’t go through the phone.

(Laughs) Well, I’m sorry that you’re sick and you should never apologize for being sick, but I’m sorry that you are.

I guess we’ll get started. How did you get your start in comedy?

I started improvising at Upright Citizens Brigade Theater when it first opened in 1998. I had moved to New York from Baltimore where I went to school and just saw a show there and started improvising there. I improvised there for about four years and then about six or seven years ago I met Kristen (Schaal) and started writing…writing stuff for the both of us to perform and maybe three or four years ago really got serious about doing stand-up on my own.

Alright, like you said you started out improvising. What drew you to that? Were you in theater before or did something draw you to that aspect of comedy?

Yeah, I had done theater before…I did theater in high school and college and I never liked improv. I always thought improv was short-form stuff, which always grossed me out…I hated it. Then I came and saw a long-form piece that was done by the group The Swarm, and they were legendary New Yorkers back in the day and it kinda blew my mind that is wasn’t cokesy and it wasn’t dorky like all the other short-form stuff I had seen and it really was just very, very funny and I took a class and I walked off stage and I was like ‘I want to do this for the rest of my life’ and I had never had that feeling about anything. I kinda have been one of those people who is kinda good at a lot of stuff, but not great at anything…didn’t have a passion for anything and I didn’t know what I wanted to do and truly the second I walked off the stage after my first scene I was like, this is it…I knew.

You do have a lot of things in the works right now for TV and you have a new improv, anti-game show you are working on for IFC called Pointless. What does that consist of?

We actually had to change the name of it, because there is another show called Pointless. It’s actually called BUNK! now. It’s not really improv as much as it is like a parody of a game show where comedians compete. And so, none of the questions make sense…they don’t have real answers and it just kind of gives the comedians an opportunity to be funny…an opportunity to just fuck around. It’s (a) very cool, kind of chaotic show…that’s what I love about because I can barely control the chaos really. Everyone’s playing for non-charitable causes…I’m really excited about it. I think it’s going to be a great show…we shoot in two weeks.

Do you know when people can start looking for it?

It’ll be airing in June, but I don’t have a specific air date yet.

I will keep an eye out for it, that does sound very cool. 

I’m not allowed to say who we have booked on the show yet, because they haven’t released that information but we have some really big names of comedians as well.

Very awesome. You also have your web series, Penelope: Princess of Pets that was picked up for a Channel 4 pilot in the UK. Do you have any updates on that?

Yeah, they’re not going forward with a series on that, but we did make a pilot that did air over there. I’m actually heading out tomorrow to London for a few days to do a spot on Morgan Spurlock’s new show for the BBC.

You mentioned Kristen Schaal and that you met her a few years ago. Where did you guys meet?

We met at an improv theater in New York City called The Pit, probably about six or seven years ago. We had not performed together or really done anything together…we really didn’t even know each other, but I wanted to do a variety show and I remember going to the artistic director of the theater and being like, ‘Hey, I want to host a variety show’ and he said Kristen Schaal just asked me the same thing. I literally walked backstage, because I knew she was backstage, and I was like ‘Okay, you want to do a variety show together?’ and she was like, ‘Okay’  (laughs). That proves how we really get along because we never really spoke with each other before that.

You also have Hot Tub with Kurt and Kristen, which was voted “Best New Variety Show” by Time Out New York‘s readers…Tell our readers a little bit about what you guys do with that.

Hot Tub‘s been a weekly show we’ve been doing for the past six years…we’ve taken a few hiatuses here and there, but for the most part it’s been pretty consistent for the past two years. It’s really just a place…without Hot Tub, I don’t think Kristen and I would be able to create the material that we created together that we kinda like toured with and (have) taken to Australia and to the Edinburgh Comedy Festival and stuff like that and of course for my stand-up. Essentially what we force each other to do is to write ten new minutes of standup a week and also ten new minutes of material for the two of us every week. So, of course a lot of it’s horrible, but we do find the stuff that does work and that’s how we’ve been building our act for the past few years and really for the past six years.

You are doing stand-up now, besides the improv. Which do you enjoy more, the stand-up aspect of it or improv?

Right now, it’s definitely stand-up 100%. I’m not really improvising, just because I don’t have enough time…I’m working on the TV show and traveling to do stand-up and because stand-up is just so much newer for me. I’m really digging this…I’m really excited about it right now and I think I’m going to be getting some of my stand-up on television on a John Oliver special…I think we’re shooting that in March. First time I’ll have like eight minutes on TV.

Do you have any upcoming tour dates?

I’ll be in South by Southwest (SXSW) in March doing some stand-up shows. On March 13th, we’re doing a live version of BUNK! at SXSW and then I’m going to be doing a show with some kids from Montreal on the 16th in Austin and then it looks like I might – there’s just an offer, so who knows if it’ll happen or not – but it looks like I might be going to Australia in May and then otherwise I’m just going to be touring and doing shows in New York until then.

We posted the episode of you on Inside The Actor’s Studio Apartment, which was hilarious. What was it like doing that and are you friends with Daniel Bowers?

Thanks. I didn’t know Daniel until I saw the first one that he shot with Justin Akin, who’s a friend of mine. I thought it was great and a lot of fun…I thought it turned out really well. I like it.

It seems like you are always working and doing stuff with the TV shows and the stand-up and everything, so is there anything, if you have free time, that you enjoy doing?

Yeah, I mean I’m a big surfer, but I live in New York City year-round and that is something that if I’m not having to be writing for a television show or something like that, that is something I would like to do when there’s waves. That’s what I’m going to do in Australia if I go there.

For more information on Braunohler, you can visit his website www.kurtbraunohler.com or find him on Facebook and Twitter @kurtbraunohler. Don’t forget to also check him out on Inside the Actor’s Studio Apartment

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