I recently sat down with the cast of Miss March, and we covered everything from Sketch Comedy dos-and-don’ts to why Ben Stiller may be the greatest working director in Hollywood today. Zach Cregger, Trevor Moore, and Craig Robinson believe in the importance of comic timing, the future of our children, and the power of Tina Fey. The Sax Hotel provided the setting for our conversation which never lacked the sort of edge these three talented young men bring to the table in their upcoming film. If you’re interested in why Craig Robinson [The Office] would possibly want to send me down a trap door, please read on. Enjoy.

Interview:

So, you guys started off doing improv and sketch comedy together in New York, right?

ZC: Right.

TM: Right, but not Improv.

Right, and that lead to The Whitest Kids I know and related endeavors in the sketch comedy department

ZC and TM: Correct.

I also dabbled in sketch comedy. I’ve actually got a Chicago-based group called “Life Coach.” Don’t worry, I’m not going to plug my own group or anything…

ZC: [Laughs] [Sarcastically] When I think of “Life Coach…”

TM: [Laughs]

All right [Laughs], let’s move on. When you guys started off down this path, with the odds being gargantuan against you—the task at hand being taller than Trevor… or Mr. Moore…

TM: Mr. Moore, thanks [Laughs]

Right. Well once you get into this situation where you’ve got a feature-film under your belt, and access to the likes of Hugh Heffner, how do you go back and re-trace your steps? Is it easy to figure out how you got here?

ZC: You never feel like you got “there.” Right now, I feel like I’m still hungry and fighting like crazy. I feel like my career is still on the way up. You’re always thinking bigger and better things.

TM: Yeah. There’s this constant feeling where you’re like, “Oh God, if this movie doesn’t open well, I’m going to be working at Best Buy next week.”

ZC: Right, I feel like I’m teetering at the edge of a cliff.

So it’s difficult to determine whether you’re “in,” or not?”

ZC and TM: Yeah.

ZC: [to Craig Robinson] Well, you probably feel like you’re “in,” right?

CR: No. I feel quite the same, not to the extreme of maybe having to work at Best Buy, but you definitely want to keep your hunger and humility, and broaden your sense of humor, and to know what makes you funny. There is a moment of looking around going, “Okay, this is awesome, I’m in a suite here at the Hotel Sax, and we’re kickin’ it doing interviews…” But it’s really like the old adage—You hit a rock a hundred times, inspiration strikes, and then you hit the rock again. You just keep going. You just take it in, and keep moving with it.

It’s interesting you say that. One of my instructors at The Annoyance Theater, her name’s Lily Allison [who also tours with The Second City]—she taught us that it’s important to regard the audience as a “group of retarded monkeys, once you hit a note, or find an action or phrase that’s funny—you just keep repeating it, and you’ll get a huge laugh every time.” Do you guys find any truth in that sentiment?

ZC: I don’t really agree with that.

CR: The “Retarded Monkey” theory is definitely ... [laughs]… Well, as far as banging away on something that’s funny, as far as stand-up goes, it might work. You could do something like that. It might be something you do on a callback or something. It might be a natural thing that you do because you did get them to laugh the first time. You might find yourself going back to it. I understand what she means by that. But [Laughs] that “Retarded Monkey” title’s kind of severe… [Laughs]

Yeah, sure.

CR: I do understand what she means, though.

TM: I think audiences are smarter than a lot of people give them credit for. Especially kids. I think kids get talked down to a lot in the comedy realm. Especially with this generation, with their exposure to the Internet. They are much more world-weary and savvy than any other generation before them.

ZC: Right, they get it, and they get it quick.

TM: Yeah. Youth-oriented stuff, now, I don’t think can pander. The kids are smarter than they ever have been.

Sure. I have little cousins who pick up on things so much faster than I remembers. My childhood was a bit dimmer for sure. The problem is, these kids get ridiculed for having little to no attention span in this day and age. Thoughts?

ZC: Why should they have an attention span?

TM: Every generation nails the generation behind them for that. The “Hawks” hit the “Baby Boomers,” you know?

ZC: I don’t think it’s bad that kids have short attention spans. Yeah, in some cases you need a longer awareness, but I don’t think we should fault a kid for not wanting to watch a half-hour sitcom. They’d rather watch a 30-second video online. Entertain yourself, you know?

TM: Kids nowadays also naturally multitask. They do five things at once. Their parents are still looking at the keyboard when they’re typing.

CR: And think about yourself. Honestly, when you go to look at a clip on YouTube, don’t you look at the time the video lasts? Don’t you ever go, “Oh, look at the time, this one’s forty-five seconds, nope, can’t do that right now?” [Laughs]

[Laughing] All the time, yeah. To steer the conversation back to sketch comedy—How do you make something translate to the big screen? You guys all have excelled in TV programs. This is a different league. Do you find it takes a different set of tactics to make your success on the small screen work on the big screen?

CR: There was a time when I had to realize that I had to take what I do on stage [as a stand-up comic] and translate it to what I do in films, or on television [The Office]. It’s an interesting question. If I’m on stage, and I’m bombing, then I have no choice—I have to dig my way out of it. The main thing I do in that situation is slow down. With The Office, it’s different, because you have a team around you, and you have other people to say, “Well, try this,” or whatever else. Somethings might not sound funny during a table read, but it may play funny when you act it out. There are all different ways to approach it.

[to ZC and TM] Since you guys have been working together for so many years…

TM: Yeah, nine years.

Right, and with somebody like Craig Robinson coming into the mix, do you guys find it’s easier to fail in front of each other and help each other out? Is that even something you guys think about?

TM: Honestly, I don’t think about it that much.

CR: We write everything together, so we think about it during the writing process.

TM: Right. We don’t do improv on stage, or during a shoot, but when you’re writing, that process is basically improv. With this movie, Zach and I were writing it, and we are in virtually every scene. So, most of the stuff is stuff that’s going to be coming out of our mouths. You’re really doing pre-pre-pre rehearsals right there. You know then, if a scene feels right. There is an energy of a scene that arises in that process where we go, “Oh, that works.” If something feels a little flat when we’re writing it, we tweak it a bit, and move on.

Okay, let’s say you’ve written it out, but then when you’re actually making the film, and you’re doing scenes that involve physical comedy, or one-liners than you want to hit—there’s not audience there. How difficult is it to garner up that energy?

ZC: That’s the whole challenge right there. That’s the whole thing. You never really know. On stage, you know instantly. On set, after every scene we wrap we go up to each other and go, “Did we nail that?” Then, you just hope you pull it out when you’re editing it, and make sure it works.

TM: I don’t think there’s one shot that either of us would leave in if we both didn’t say it worked.

ZC: You never know. That’s the great mystery of it.

I wonder how I’m doing on time.

ZC: Well, Craig has a button under the table that he’ll push, and then you’ll know your time is up. [Laughs]

Right, that just shoots me down the laundry shoot.

CR: Right, I’ll just say, “Enough!” [Laughs]

Okay, are you guys ready for the rapid-fire questions?

CR: That what?

For The Scorecard Review we use these questions to sort of humanize you stars of screen.

[Silence]

Sleep. Overrated?

ZC: No.

TM: Nope.

CR: Sleep?

Yes.

CR: [Sighing, in a whisper] No.

How many hours of sleep do you get, on average, when you’re working?

TM: Four, or five.

ZC: Yeah, I desperately need more.

CR: I wish four-to-five. But, about three, maybe four hours. It’s sporadic at that.

What are the top three bands on each of your iPods at the moment?

TM: T.I., Lil’ Wayne… and…

ZC: You’re pretty much just listening to those two!

TM: Yeah.

So the love of rap in your character is a reality for you?

TM: Oh, yes.

ZC: I’m listening to The Wild Beasts, Department of Eagles, and Panda Bear.

CR: Bob St. Clair, Slave, and Odyssey.

What do you guys prefer, 30 Rock, or The Office? ... kidding.

What director would you die to work with?

ZC: [Still laughing] That was a good one! You should have let that play!

CR: Yeah, everybody goes with 30 Rock…

Yeah, then you hit the button…

ZC: And you get ejected! [Laughs]

TM: I’d go with the Coen brothers.

ZC: Yeah, I would say the same.

CR: I like Ben Stiller. He has an amazing sense of comedic timing.

Yeah, I don’t know why people hate The Cable Guy.

TM: People don’t hate that movie anymore. That’s like a cult-classic.

ZC: I read for him once. It was terrifying.

CR: I just loved The Ben Stiller Show.

Yeah. That show was disgusting-good.