Michael Showalter doesn’t come off as a person who can sit still for long. Coming up with a comedic army in “The State,” he went on to star in many TV projects with various Statemates as well as starring in the cult classic “Wet Hot American Summer.” In addition to his work before the camera, Showalter has filled many roles behind it, most notably as a screenwriter and director. He’s also a stand-up comedian with an album to his name (the aptly titled “Sandwiches & Cats”), an artist, and a teacher. With the release of his new book, “Mr. Funny Pants,” he is now a published author as well.
In our conversation, Showalter made it abundantly clear that he isn’t a person who feels bound by comedic routine. It was equally obvious that this sense of diversity isn’t so much in order to stay fresh in the public eye or due to any PR calculation. Instead, it’s a sign of Showalter engaging in a more pure exploration of his abilities.
Y Spy: What is Mr. Funny Pants about?
Michael Showalter: Oh, boy. It’s a book about trying to write a book, among other things.
Y Spy: How did you go about the process of trying to write a book?
Showalter: You sit at your computer and you open a file that says Book. Then you start writing. It starts with you and writing, and then you go from there.
Y Spy: How did it go for you?
Showalter: Well, it was a lot of trial and error, but it was fun.
Y Spy: Is there a lot of autobiography in the book?
Showalter: Yeah. I talk about my childhood, and I talk about my career. There’s a saying: “Write what you know.” I sort of went with that. I tried to write about what I know.
Y Spy: And what do you know?
Showalter: I know where I live; I live in Brooklyn. I know that I like coffee. I know that I like cats. I know that I watch a lot of television. Very banal stuff.
Y Spy: Is the book a mixture of comedy with that sort of “This is my life; I got up, and so on and so forth”?
Showalter: It’s mostly just “This is my life; I got up, and so on and so forth.” I actually think that would be a great book. I tried to be funny, but I tried to focus on stories that maybe had something inherently funny to me, or tragic, and in tragedy there’s comedy.
Y Spy: Not forcing jokes to make it a humor book, though.
Showalter: I think it could function as a humor book. It certainly has plenty of goofy stuff in it. There are stupid lists. There are fairly long sections of the book that essentially are just humor writing. So it’s kind of a combination of a memoir and a humor book, a joke book.
Y Spy: How much of your screenwriting experience came into play in the writing of this book?
Showalter: I talk a lot about screenwriting in the book, but in terms of actual storytelling, this was more in the vein of an early Steve Martin or Woody Allen book where it was basically odds and ends, funny stuff, bits and pieces, twigs and yarn of just humor, loosely tied together with a narrative. I do talk a lot about screenwriting and the Hollywood system, so I incorporated those experiences into the book in the form of stories.
Y Spy: Are there any stories about pants in the book?
Showalter: No. The name Mr. Funny Pants happened [because] I was giving them title suggestions, and for one reason or another they were rejecting all my title suggestions. So out of frustration and completely as a joke, not thinking they would take it seriously, I said: “How about Mr. Funny Pants?” Why don’t we call it the stupidest title I can think of? And they loved it.
Y Spy: On the Mr. Funny Pants tour, you’re doing both book signings and stand-up shows. How much will the book tie into your stand-up?
Showalter: It’ll be kind of old stuff and new stuff. At the signings I’ll be reading from the book, but on the tour I’ll be doing stand-up material. Some of that material will be inspired by the book.
Y Spy: I’ve always had the impression that you’ve been a person who wants to explore as many different forms of comedy as possible. Do you feel that you are actively chasing that sort of diversity?
Showalter: Sort of, yeah. A lot of it has to do with being easily distracted. I think the comedic careers of people I was influenced by would be Steve Martin, Woody Allen, and the Monty Python guys, who I grew up on. They worked in every medium. They would do a movie, a TV show, a book, a play, an album, a tour. It didn’t really matter, and that’s how I feel. It’s interesting to explore the point of view in any of these mediums. I do like doing all of it.
Y Spy: Has coming up with such a large comedic group as The State given you a greater freedom to pursue these different avenues than a solitary comedian might have?
Showalter: I guess. I don’t know. There’s a body of work there that gives you a certain credibility. It’s always nice when the audience is already on your side, where you have fans or people who like what you did and have followed you through these different things. You’re not needing to convince anybody that you’re funny, even if you aren’t, which I probably am not. It is nice to have slowly built up people who have been with us.
Y Spy: I have a few questions about the status of some projects that have been mentioned in the past. First, I heard you were planning on remaking Night of the Living Dorks. What’s the status of that?
Showalter: That’s something that was gonna happen a long time ago, and I don’t know what’s happening with it. I’m attached to direct that movie, but I think it’s been in turnaround for a long time.
Y Spy: What’s the status of the State movie?
Showalter: It’s another thing that we’ve talked about for all these years that we’d love to do, but it’s just something where it’s hard to get everybody to commit to it. I think people want to do it, but everyone’s very busy. We’re also now pretty spread out and getting old, and now everyone has kids. I just think it’s a logistical thing.
Y Spy: I assume I’ll get the same answer here, but Wet Hot American Summer II?
Showalter: Same thing. I want to do it, but it hasn’t happened yet.
Y Spy: Are you planning to release another comedy album?
Showalter: I’d like to. The book is on tape, which feels pretty comedy album-y. I would like to do another comedy album, but I haven’t gotten around to it. The people I did the first album with, we’ve talked about doing another one, and it’s definitely something I’d like to do someday.
Y Spy: The greatest and saddest thing I found in Sandwiches & Cats was the moment when you were so dismayed at being misidentified as Screech from Saved by the Bell. Would you care to expand upon those feelings about this mistaken identity?
Showalter: You know what I will say: I’m friends with somebody who did a show with him in New York. I’m not sure what the show was, but it was some improv show that he was in. I think he was playing himself, in the show playing Screech. Apparently he’s not as bad as he’s made out to be.
Also, when he walks down the street people scream at him, everywhere he goes. Like, “Fuck you, Screech!” And I thought that was sad. So I actually have sympathy for him because that must be very hard, being America’s dork. Basically everywhere he goes, people scream at him and ridicule him. That’s not right.
So I’m going to say I’m proud to be compared to Screech.
Y Spy: Does your sense of adventurousness and diversity, your leaping into different mediums and roles, come in any part from a desire to not be similarly typecast?
Showalter: If anything, it’s that I’m still trying to find a comfort zone and figure out what I want my career to be. A lot of it is trial and error to figure out how I want to proceed.
Y Spy: Do you feel as though your direction has become clearer as your career has progressed?
Showalter: Just in the last year, I do think so. I think there are certain avenues which I feel comfortable about not going down.
Y Spy: Like what?
Showalter: I don’t ever see myself being a big Hollywood person. I think I’m starting to become more comfortable with the idea that I’m more of a New York niche person. I like the idea of focusing on smaller projects. I really liked writing the book. I’m going to write another one. I’m also working on an art book of my artwork. I have another idea for a small film, and after that I’d like to develop something for a one-man show, or a longer stand-up act. I’m feeling less compelled to conquer L.A., which is something that I have debated back and forth in my mind for a long time. Do I want that? I don’t think I do.
Y Spy: Do you think your acceptance and confidence have come with age and experience?
Showalter: Yeah. You need to have the experiences to back it up. I live on the East Coast; I like the East Coast. I teach at NYU, and I get a lot of gratification out of that. That’s not to say that I would not work in L.A. I would. It’s just that, bigger picture, I don’t know if that’s a universe I feel I’m being pulled toward. I’m more interested in writing another book, making a small film, or doing something theatrical. That’s more my truer self.
Michael Showalter will be in Seattle on Tuesday, March 8th, at the University Bookstore at 4 pm and The Triple Door at 6 pm. “Mr. Funny Pants” is available now.
Y Marks the Spot 