An Interview With Kurt Braunohler

Today we bring you an interview with Kurt Braunohler; a comedian perhaps best known (for now, at least) for his work with Kristen Schaal. Their collaborative work produced the brilliant online web series; Penelope: Princess of Pets (which Channel 4 later commissioned a pilot for and foolishly didn’t pick it up for a full series), in addition to being nominated for a highly regarded if.comedy award (*formerly the Perrier Award, and currently the Edinburgh Comedy Award*) when they took their live show: Kristen Schaal And Kurt Braunohler: Double Down Hearts, to the Edinburgh Fringe. Here we discuss how Braunohler and Schaal met, as well as finding out what Kurt has been up to since they both started concentrating on ventures that didn’t involve each other.

The Humourdor: You often work with Kristen Schaal (is a horse!). Where did you two meet and at what point did you decide to work together?

Kurt Braunohler: Kristen and I met at an improv theatre in New York called the PIT about 7 years ago. I wanted to host a weekly variety show, and I asked the Artistic Director of the theatre for a slot and he mentioned that Kristen had just asked him the same thing. I walked right back stage and asked her if she wanted to host a show together and she said yes. We had never worked together, performed together, or really hung out. We had had one drunken conversation for about 30 seconds on a subway car once. Then it turned out that we really got along and performed well together.

H: Where did the idea for Penelope: Princess of Pets originate from and when did you decide to make it into an online series?

KB: It was an idea Kristen and I had for a movie. About a year later we got an offer from this website called superdeluxe.com to do a web series on “our dream idea.” So we said this was our dream idea. I’m not sure anyone understood what we really wanted to do, but god bless ‘em, they gave us money and let us do it. That was probably 5 years ago? I can’t remember.

H: There was a UK pilot of the show, starring Julian Barratt as Senator Stone. Were you happy with how that version of the show came out, or do you think it lost some of its original charm in some way? Why do you think it wasn’t picked up for a full series?

KB: I was happy with the way it turned out, yes. BUT BY YOUR QUESTION IT SEEMS YOU THINK IT LOST SOME OF ITS CHARM! WHAT THE FUCK KIND OF LEADING QUESTION IS THAT?!!? But seriously, I haven’t watched it in a while, but after I stepped away from it I remember thinking that it moved a little slowly. But it was our first time making a TV show and everyone was really great in allowing us to do exactly what we wanted to do. So if it does seem less charming, that’s totally our fault.

H: You’re credited as having worked on South Park, could you tell us more about that?

KB: I was employed for 5 days and then promptly fired. I’m assuming they fired me because they thought my ideas were just too good and didn’t want to get shown up.

H: What elements do you think are essential to a great comedic performance?

KB: Having a mouth and using it to mention dildos at least once every few seconds.

H: You’ve written for some pretty highly regarded shows, and yet you also have a penchant for improv. Which process do you think spawns the best material?

KB: I did improv for a very long time before I started writing. And if I could have made a living from it, I probably would still be doing it. But at a certain point I had to put improv aside and start writing and performing stand up, just so I could start making some money. And I’m happy I did. I love doing stand up. I’m happy to consider myself a stand up comedian. But I think the part of my brain that I honed from years of improv is what I draw from when I write.

H: What is Bunk?

KB: Bunk is a new anti-game show that I host in the States. We’re shooting in late February and it will come out on the IFC network in June. All the contestants are comedians, and none of the questions have answers. A favorite challenge of mine is “Shame this Puppy” where we show the contestants photos of puppies and whoever does the best job shaming them, wins. And by winning I mean they don’t get anything.

H: Are there any new projects coming up that you could shed some light on? Are you touring any time soon?

KB: I’ll be touring in the states a bit this spring. I’ll actually be in London this weekend to shoot a bit on Morgan Spurlock’s New Brittania. So that should be fun. And I’m continuing making fun of animals with my World Wild of Animals web series: kbwwa.tumblr.com - here’s my favorite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwOrUeUmM8I