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By: Mo Diggs »
April 16, 2007
Inside With: Chris Hardwick & Mike Phirman, Hard 'N Phirm
By: Billy Nord
Chris Hardwick and Mike Phirman, two of LA's revered stand up comedians, form the duo Hard 'N Phirm - a multi media, music-comedy hybrid that has showered the alternative scene since 2003. After meeting at UCLA in the mid-90s, the two would often collaborate on the campus' stage, delivering some early incarnations of what Hard 'N Phirm is today. This month, the duo embark on a West Coast tour with Reggie Watts, stopping at Coachella with The Comedians of Comedy. Before hitting the UCB Theatre for tonight's 8PM show, Chris and Mike sat down to answer some pertinent questions.
Hard 'N Phirm seems to mesh together perfectly, whether it be while you're harmonizing vocally or setting one another up for a joke. What was the precise moment you knew you two had clicked?
Chris Hardwick: UCLA comedy club, 1993, doing dueling Homer Simpson impressions (it was okay to do that in '93)
Mike Phirman: Well, getting into my car after our first show in the dorms at UCLA, I had unlocked his door first, and as I was walking around to my door, I could see him reach over and unlock mine. That's when I knew we were going to write a lot of dick jokes.
Had either one of you been a part of a comedy duo prior to joining forces?
CH: No. I was barely a comedy single back then.
MP: In high school, a friend and I did a daily morning radio-type thing. I guess I've always preferred performing with a partner.
The hilariously absurd video for your song "Pi" recently celebrated its combined one-millionth download.
CH: Excelsior!!! I thank, in part, the fact that it's a holiday song of sorts. We always get a spike in downloads on 3/14.
At the time of this interview, the clip has generated 855 comments on Youtube, delivering some interesting perspectives from all sides of the spectrum.
CH: I know! According to the feedback we're either brilliant, gay, or make people want to give you fReE rINgToNez.
MP: I salute each and every "wtf." I do not, however, salute anyone who claims that the video has wasted their time, yet has the time to leave a comment that says that the video has wasted their time.
Speaking of "Pi", you're re-teaming with the video's director, Keith Schofield, on a series of shorts for Superdeluxe.com.
CH: Yes, William! Especially considering that "Pi" spoofed "Zoom," a PBS-type show and our shorts are PBS-y in nature. That Keith Schofield is one talented fellow.
The series' premise sounds pretty unique, how did it come about?
CH: It accidentally came out in a phone conversation with The Dans (Dan Pasternack and Daniel Weidenfeld) who are overseeing Super Deluxe. We were pitching a musical version of the Science Channel's "How It's Made," and somehow it just evolved into being about Country Music Television having a PBS and writing country songs about science and culture. We already had one song in the hopper called "Trace Elements," which is an ass-kicking scientist song based on the style of country music's Trace Adkins. That came about because Brian Posehn told us that that guy was such an apologetic hick that it was impossible to satirize him, so we made his music academic.
Mike, you've done a bit of visual effects work in the past (CSI: Miami). Can we expect to see you manning the controls for any of Hard 'N Phirm's upcoming projects?
MP: I don't know about manning the controls, but I hope to get a few shots in somewhere.
Chris, a few years ago you hosted the great dating show Shipmates which we would often watch. On occasion, I could've sworn you would purposely mispronounce the show's title on air, welcoming the viewer back to Shit-mates. Were my ears deceiving me?
CH: Whether or not I said that it was hard not to hear that, based on what that show revealed about the nature of humanity. It may be one of those lingering mysteries like Manfred Mann's "Blinded by the light, wrapped up like a douche..." or The Clash and "Fuck the Casbah." Except most people have heard of those two examples.
For quite some time, the combined nature of stand up and music was directly associated with the mainstream, catching flack from the alt-comedy universe. Though, lately it seems music is finding it's way into the alt scene, whether it's well-respected comedians incorporating it into their act (Sarah Silverman, Zach Galifianakis) or straight, music-based comedy (Flight of the Concords, Reggie Watts) What do you think changed, allowing this form to be embraced by the same crowd that's shunned it previously?
CH: I think maybe what they were shunning, if anything, was just a specific kind of comedy music--the "Excuse Me While I Kiss This Guy" Factor, as Mike calls it. Parodies that lacked self-awareness, that kind of thing. I don't know if all iterations of it were being shunned. Six years ago Zach told me he thought comedy would evolve into much more of a theatrical kind of presentation, mainly, I think, to grow away from classic one-man joke-telling. It seems true, certainly in our circles. I know that now when we're backstage at UCB-LA, and we have our instruments, and people are running around putting on costumes and spray-on hair color and getting props and setting up films to show and going over stand-up notes, I feel like we're in a kind of New Vaudeville (but not as retarded), mashing up all types of comedy. I mean, if that universe to which you refer encourages anything, it's experimentation so I think it's all kind of a logical progression.
MP: I think the scene is just expanding as well as evolving. Now that there are more venues and more performers, you're going to get more talents and people trying new things. But I don't think that audiences were less open to alt-comedy music before--I think there just wasn't much available to them outside of Tenacious D (and Spinal Tap and Tom Lehrer and a few songs from Kids in the Hall and Monty Python). A hacky, wacky "guitar comic" that sings top-40 parodies on the road will probably still find himself as shunned as ever.
You've recently landed a development deal with Film Roman, the animation studio behind great programs like The Simpsons and The Critic. Can you talk a little about what kind of project you have planned?
CH: The most we can tell you is that it will involve white people.
Can you tell the readers what they can expect with tonight's performance at The UCB Theatre?
CH: Well, we've done probably around 100 shows since we were here last August, so we're a lot tighter on stage than we used to be. We have a tendency sometimes to meander and be very loose on stage because we get a little too comfortable but being on the road has cut that down a lot. Most audiences don't want to hear you say to your bandmate, "So... what song do you want to play?" "I dunno. What about you?" "Oh, whatever. Shit, no wait..." That's not as bad in music venues but it can be a quick death in comedy venues. I'd day about half the set is new and half the set is "refined classics." (I just didn't want to say 'old') And I play guitar now. Sort of.
Hard 'N Phirm perform TONIGHT at the UCBT. Check out their MySpace page for their full schedule. Above photos by Anya Garrett.
Posted by The Apiary at April 16, 2007 1:48 PM
Comments
Go see this show! Mike and Chris are hyper excellent!
Posted by: Keith Whitener at April 16, 2007 5:45 PM
I'll back Keith on this one. Hard 'n Phirm will make your stomach both harder and firmer ... with laughter!
Posted by: Rick Paulas at April 16, 2007 5:51 PM