J: What are some of your influences (along with Marx Brothers and physical comedy)?
MB: Growing up, for me, I always used to stay up late watching Benny Hill and the Three Stooges. Oddly enough, one of the people who influenced me in movies -- it’s weird to say -- but Bruce Lee. I always felt a connection with Bruce Lee and always loved his work -- maybe his acting isn’t Marlon Brando, but what he put into it was unequaled. He decided what he wanted to do and was a go-getter and master of his domain. I always liked that. He directed a lot of his movies, and his ideas of thinking outside of the box in general with martial arts.

He would take … martial arts is a tradition in China that they grow up with and at that time it was very traditional and something that a lot of people didn’t want shared with other cultures, and he brought it to America. He would also take those traditional fighting styles and add his own elements and make them more fluid. So it’s not like just showing a certain strategic way of fighting, but he made it a little more loose so people didn’t know what to expect. As a general model for life and pursuing creativity, I really admired him. He really thought outside the box, and that has influenced me in trying to take things from different angles, which is what improv teaches people to do too.

Just based on how you grow up or the people you’ve been around, you’re influenced. Everybody has certain limits they put on themselves. Improv helps you think outside the limits you put on yourself and teaches you to stretch the imagination further.

J: What have been your best and worst experiences in performing?
MB: One of my favorites -- on stage, I really enjoyed “Keanu Reeves Saves The Universe” because that was the first time I was able to do not only really be a lead in something but also do a lot of physical comedy, do fight choreography, which considering my influences, was something major for me to be a part of. There were a lot of brilliant performers in that, and we got to do a musical number too, and it was all combined into one piece. It had all these different elements, which I really liked. At the time, when we first started, it was probably the most popular stage thing I ever had done. We sold out our first run completely and even had people from Keanu tribute Web sites come check out our show.

I probably have turned down more projects than I’ve accepted. You have to feel it out and see if it’s going to be right for you and what makes you feel good as a performer. One time I was really hesitant to do a show -- it was a one-act that was part of a group of one-acts, four or five 15-20 minute pieces combined together in a night. A lot of times you might be asked to do something before you see a full script. That was somewhat the case. I said yes before I knew exactly what it was going to be. I read the script and saw a call for someone to be naked on stage completely.

Originally they asked me to play that character, and very rarely does nudity actually translate well on stage or help the idea of what they want to create. Sometimes it can, but it’s one of those lines you have to walk. In this particular case, it didn’t, so I definitely didn’t want to do that. Then they asked if I wanted to do a different part, but I also asked if there was a way to give the idea of the nudity, without the actual nudity, because I knew this was a small venue and it would be in people’s faces. I ended up rehearsing with them and the performers were really fun, the director was great, but then it got to the point where I thought it would go the other way, and they decided to go with the nudity. Sure enough it was one of those things that was tasteless. It was hard for me to enjoy the piece after that. I was performing the whole time really not enjoying it. It’s like doing a sloppy show. I don’t like doing something sloppy. It stuck out in my mind as one of those things where I’m doing it, but really didn’t want to. We did get a review and they got our names wrong, so they said it was me that was the one running around nude, which was a funny irony to the whole thing.

J: How do you develop your characters?
MB: In Drop Six, I created Joey Jerkins. It was part of a group scenario where they already had four established characters and I had to slip one in because I had just joined the group. So I came up with a character that balanced the other characters and wouldn’t step on the others. I think of it in terms of performing it, almost putting myself onstage in my head as what I would want to see. Suddenly I’ll think of a line or something that will help me spark the character. It’s very inner-monologue-esque in how I think of characters. Or if I’m in a scene with someone else, just balancing what they’re doing. When you break it down it’s all about the dynamic of the characters in the scene and the tones and everything. Sometimes it becomes really easy. If one is a high-energy character and so is the other, there should be something to balance that. Then I would go with something low-energy but maybe more witty comments. I really feel it out. It’s all through feeling it. I do a lot of at-home preparation for characters. Sometimes just looking in the mirror and seeing what expressions this character would do. Often whether I’m aware of it or not, I’ll find myself talking to myself as this character or pretending I’m performing as the character to just practice it and work it out.

J: How do you practice in the mirror like that and not crack yourself up?
MB: After you do it for awhile, it starts to become more normal, but in the beginning … I started to do it a number of years ago when I was doing a short film and was going to play a very physical-comedy type character. I talked with the director about what he was looking for. I came up with this character and had to train myself to do a lazy eye or cross-eyed type thing. It was all a comedy but it was this character who sniffs glue and is a little weird. That’s when I started looking in the mirror because I had to train myself to do that. It’s the only way I could see if I was getting it. It took at least a week or two. It’s a new skill.

J: And Joey Jerkins became a solo monologue in the Drop Six show.
MB: It started when we were first starting and didn’t have much material, but we had this piece called “Nova,” which they had already somewhat developed, and had done it in a different fashion. I basically had to insert a character. I was at home and thought of how could I balance against these other characters, who all had very specific things they were talking about, so I thought of ‘emotions,’ [says in Brooklyn accent]. … It was a self-help class where all of us were part of a group, and Alicia’s character talks about feng shui, and Tim’s character talks about style, so we did hat modeling.

Shortly after I joined (Drop Six), I found myself not being able to do as many rehearsals as I wanted, due to another time-consuming acting gig. To maintain a balance in the show, I had to come up with a solo bit, and that’s when I decided to develop Joey into his own piece, which I’m glad I did because that’s one of my favorite characters to perform.

J: Some people think improv should be done purely for its own sake and others think its purpose is to generate sketches.
MB: It depends on what people’s process is to develop things. I don’t think it’s necessarily to say this isn’t a way to learn. That seems like you’re putting yourself in those limitations. As an improviser or sketch performer, you’ll never know it all. There’s always someone out there who can teach you something different. As soon as you think you know it all, you’re putting yourself in your own limitations again.

J: What are Drop Six’s further plans?
MB: We have a lot of new sketches in the works. We’re consistently coming up with new ideas and creating. We’re definitely applying for more festivals. It’s always in the back of performers’ heads that we would love to have a living doing what we love without all the side gigs. With sketches it’s hard, you can tour around for a long time and do all of that, but eventually what it has to come down to is television or something where you can get advertising involved. That’s been in our heads for awhile -- potentially become another Kids in the Hall or Upright Citizens Brigade, but who doesn’t want to do that? Who doesn’t want to take it further into other creative outlets?

Computers are like the new television, and fewer and fewer households don’t have them so they’re thinking of that in terms of prime-time slots where people will go to the computer and watch this tonight. But also even for television, thinking of it as a preliminary test, see how they do on it, see what their creativity is, and if they like it, maybe move them into a television slot. It’s like doing that trial run and seeing how it goes.

J: So Web video provides more chances to perform?
MB: Also it’s cheaper -- even though they have tons of money and potentially could kick out some from the executives (salaries), and actually do more projects (laughs). But it’s cheaper for them to produce things for the Internet. They make their money through sponsors and a lot of that is still involved, somehow incorporating sponsors into your show. It’s fun, it’s another way to be creative and get your creative output in viewing range of people.

J: Are there other ways the Web changes what’s possible, where there are limitations on stage that there aren’t on video?
MB: Definitely it has potential to expose you to greater amounts of people. We see a lot of this happening already through websites like YouTube. Tons of people are putting their work up there. In fact we’re thinking of taking clips from shows we’ve done and putting a sketch up there for people to see, that they find interesting, or they laugh out loud while looking at their computer and then want to come see us live. That can even help feed the live shows. But it’s another creative outlet to do some work. Not everything translates from stage to film. It’s another way to express the way we are and our vibe on film. You definitely still want to have that energy.

That’s one of the things I like about Drop Six so much. I feel we have a unique energy compared to a lot of the sketch groups or just stage shows in general that I’ve seen. It’s very inviting and we stay away from a lot of blue material. It almost feels like we’re family friendly. We do that for ourselves too -- seeing what we can do without using a raunchy effect or … who knows, maybe next week we’ll explore some raunchy stuff -- I don’t want to count it out because there’s definitely some good stuff in raunchy (laughs)!