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 J: How did you decide to do “Scorching The Earth”?
MM: “Scorching The Earth” came up -- because I had gone through a
miserable part of my life. I was in the middle of a horrible divorce and
given that I’m the kind of comic that talks about himself, I had to
start talking about it, and I had to start talking about it while I was
in the middle of it. As it kept going on, I realized it was going to
bankrupt me and cost me a lot of money, I figured this has got to be
creative time, so I had to make something out of it, if I was going to
spend this much money, I might as well get a show out of it. That was
the beginning of it, and then it turned into something other than that.
It could be seen as spiteful intention, which might have been part of it
initially, but now it’s turned into a cathartic experience for me to go
through some of the more painful stuff that happened during that time
and share it with people and hammer it into a dramatic structure and get
some closure around it. It seems to resonate with people who have been
in similar situations as well.
J: Have portions of it changed during the time you’ve performed it?
MM: Yes, because I’ve just been in workshop mode with it. It hasn’t had
a real run. I never claimed to be doing anything other than a workshop
process. It certainly evolved as the feelings became less painful to me
and as I was able to find some closure around things. The Time Out
review said something interesting about how the most interesting thing
about the show was I had no hindsight and that I was in the middle of
what I was talking about. That made it very visceral and … I think I
still capture that. But as I do it, and as time goes on, my feelings
change and things change about how I look at what I went through.
Eventually it will have closure and it will be what it is.
J: You’re no longer in the middle of it while doing the show?
MM: Right. A little hindsight might make it better or maybe make it
worse. I don’t know, we’ll see.
J: Are you planning to take it beyond a workshop?
MM: Yeah, I’m going to take it to Montreal, to the Just For Laughs
festival. I have to make it an hour as opposed to an hour and a half,
which is what it’s been running at. Then hopefully, I’ll do a real
theater run with it.
J: Are there other projects in the works?
MM: The CD just came out, “Scorching The Earth” is there, ongoing
comedy, and “Break Room” for now. That’s enough.
J: That’s a lot.
MM: It’s good to be busy.
J: Are there other performers or a wish list of guests that you’re
trying to get on “Break Room”?
MM: I’d like Anne Hathaway to come on, but I don’t think she will
[tongue-in-cheek]. I like having my friends on. There are comics I would
like to have on -- I’d like Louis C.K. to come on. Eugene Mirman has
been on; Todd Barry came on; Sarah Silverman has been here; Janeane
Garofalo comes by; Jim Gaffigan has been here; Kristen Schaal came on.
I’d like Al Madrigal to come by, but he’s not in New York usually. Maria
Bamford I would like to have on. They usually come around if they’re
around; I get a hold of them.
I didn’t realize how many people we’ve actually had on. Usually I get on
who I want to get on.
J: What about more people like Richard Ben Veniste?
MM: I like talking to politicians or people who know about things.
Usually I can get those guys, so there’s no real wish list. Everybody’s
pretty available to do just about anything these days because no one
knows what people are watching, so you can get fairly high level guests
for Internet shows.
J: Where do you think it’s all going with the format of the Internet
show like you do, versus TV?
MM: I don’t know how anybody knows. Everyone assumes that eventually
everyone will be watching everything on the same machines, so trying to
figure out how to get them to watch your thing on that machine -- that’s
the trick. Who knows how the hell that’s going to work? People watch
certain things differently on the Internet. They watch TV shows the same
way they watch them on TV but stuff that’s specifically for the
Internet, they seem to pick and choose. I don’t think anyone has really
harnessed it yet. People will always watch TV shows all the way through
like they’re TV shows, so whether it’s on the Internet or on TV, what
difference does it make? But once everything’s all on the same machine,
I don’t know. I don’t think it’s been wrangled yet. I don’t know why
more people don’t watch our show all the way through. I think it’s
pretty compelling and interesting, and funny. It’s also a matter of
advertising and awareness, making the time.
J: Would you want ads tied to your show though?
MM: Sure. We have the coffee guy. We’ve changed their business. They
ain’t paying much for the ads, but they definitely got some customers.
J: Is the CD all one set or put together from different shows?
MM: “Final Engagement” is a two-CD set that was taken from four shows
that I did in Seattle, which I guess is the way people do it now. My
first CD, “Not Sold Out” is a continuous show, but most people -- the
way Robert (?) Schlissel and Stand Up Records does it -- he does Doug
Stanhope, Maria Bamford and Lewis Black’s older CDs -- he does a pretty
thorough job and he likes to mix it up. It’s weird because when I hear
it, I think, ‘that doesn’t go there.’
J: He’s doing his own sequencing.
MM: Which is fine. You have to trust people on some level. Especially
for someone like me, it’s not like every set … every set is relatively
organic. It’s not planned out. I don’t really have a middle point.
Usually I have a beginning and an ending. What happens in the middle is
anyone’s guess. For someone to structure it to have some sort of flow, I
don’t mind that. But I like the cover art. There’s a good picture on the
inside. I’m excited about it. |
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