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Looking for some quality comedy entertainment to check out?
Who better to turn to for under-the-radar comedy recommendations than comedians?
Neighbors Houseseries, which premieres its second edition this Sunday at midnight on Adult Swim.
Its kind of amazing.
They created their own world that has certain rules that bounce around and recur.
Same thing with Monty Python: Were just gonna have these sketches all linked together.
Its a new take on that.Mr.
Showdoes the same thing.
Theres also kind of a sitcom element to it.
RC:Its hard to describe, right?
Not just the literal format, but its hard to describe.
Probably my favorite thing in the whole series.
They lay down their second, third, fourth beats of a joke in different episodes.
He actually falls in love and they have a musical number at the end.
BH:Matt Berry seems to have a very particular thing.
Hes kind of obsessed with the musical aspect of doing comedy.
Those two guys, their voices coming together, thats why it is so particular.
RC:Was this appreciated in the U.K.?
I know those guys come from really big shows likeMighty Boosh,Toast of London.
But was this a big show there?
BH:I think its sort of like our comedy community.
The reductive read of that is Rich is the crass American bore and Matt is the English aristocrat.
But I dont know what that is in service of.
Are there any characters or elements that stand out to you?
NeighborI think, Ive borrowed that absurd Does this line make sense right after this other line?
vibe thatSnuff Boxand many other British shows of the time have.
I remember thinking Oh my God, you could do that?
They just sort of take the formula and then just make you feel something else or do something else.
Have you worked with Fulcher at this point?BH:We kept trying to get him intoMr.
Neighborand every time hed say, Yeah, Im into it!
and then the timing would not work out.
We were always trying to set that up.
RC:He was in the opening credits of the pilot.
BH:We had a moment of him and he was very funny.
I see him at auditions, so we compete against each other.
RC:He did an episode ofChildrens Hospitalwhere he played Lolas stalker boyfriend.
He gets his head cut off at the end.
We also did a video with him.
BH:Oh yeah!
And we wanted to fit that into the interview, we wanted to talk about Guided by Voices.
Hes adept with who he is and how to use his body and his voice.
They basically improvised a college lecture.
He went to law school.
Hes a brilliant guy.
And I love that he doesnt give a shit about ever appearing as smart as he is.
BH:Its brilliant to play dumb.
Its also great to see him play off of Berry for three hours.
It can have sketch and a through line and we can do whatever we want with it.
We have all the tools, we can do it.
We should do it!
We have a history together, we love each other, we share the same sense of humor.
In England, they would.
Not gonna fly here.
RC:Thats a great point.
BH:A lot of times, two ends of the spectrum ends up working out.
I dont know if it works out as far as fluidity in the process.
They had two different vibes coming together, which is very satisfying.
How difficult is it to use dark subject matter in a comedy?
Lets unfold the story to people and have it track and not make fun of that.
Then I think we would just find funny wherever we need it or as a response.
But for me personally, we never said, Lets make fun of him being crazy.
(Director) Bill Benz said, This is so fucked up.
And I said, Thats what you think is funny about this show?
Yeah, its so fucked up.
So for Bill, he was delighted by this whole other element.
He has created a completely fantastic universe that he lives in.
Horror and comedy are siblings.
Its a fun place to go.
BH:They play hangmen, but its not about that.
Thats a funny layer.
A dark element of it.
RC:Its also really funny to see something scary on a comedy show.
BH:I felt very uncomfortable sometimes.
Does this feel like were making a horror?
I guess we are, kind of.
