July 30, 2026 • 33 mins
Fred and Carrie are joined by their longtime friend and collaborator, Jonathan Krisel. The name may be unfamiliar, but the work speaks for itself. Krisel's credits include writing and directing SNL shorts with The Lonely Island, directing episodes of Tim and Erik, The Kroll Show, and Baskets. If Carrie and Fred are the Paul and John of Portlandia - the face and heart of the group- you can think of Jonathan as the George - the soulful spine supporting the group. He conceived the "Dream of the 90s" sketch, helped them find the visual voice of the series, and even came through with some music suggestions. Portlandia would have looked a lot different without Jonathan's creative direction. Now, if they can just remember what they shot first.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, hey, watch.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hey, you're listening to Podlanda. This is Fred, and this
is Kerry and this is Ao Rewatch Ao rewatch a
Portlandia Rewatch podcast. Hy friend, Kerry, Hey, we have a guest,
ourst one, our first guest, and it's an important guest
in some ways, maybe the most important guest.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Agreed because you could say, if this was a three
person podcast, this would be our third person exactly.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
This is Jonathan Chryslon.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Hello, thank you for having me.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
This is our director, co creator, co creator.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Creator, co writer and the director exclusively for the first
two seasons three I think, okay, first three, yeah, I
think so, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I missed two of season four something like that. I
can't remember something like that.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
But we were like, as we've been going through these episodes,
you come up all the time naturally because we know,
you know, the ideas were yours and that like the
way it looks and everything, and it just keeps coming up.
So it's it's great to actually meet you. We did
(01:24):
the show for Zoom pre pre covid, pre covid, but.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
But when we the first episode I guess of the podcast,
we spent a lot of time talking about how the
show came together and we sort of talked up through
thunder Ants and friend and I and we did touch
on meeting you, but we wanted to get it from
your perspective. What do you remember freaks?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Okay, because I remember I had well, obviously I I
knew thunder Aunt, of course, because it was just around
and Doug was editing it. I remember that. And I
remember I was working SNL and there was this thing
in there Fred's doing a show and then I was like, oh,
(02:08):
and it's ThunderAnt with Carrie. It's being turned into a show.
And they're like, I think you guys weren't there. But
I met with Andrew Singer at Broadway Video Lauren's company,
and they were like, so it's going to be a
show where Fred and Carey work at an office and
come up with sketches. They get hired to make sketches
(02:28):
and every week. I don't know whose idea this was,
but they'll do like three sketches per episode, but they'll
be them work at this office that sells sketches or something.
I don't know, something like that. That's what it was
sold to me. But we're kind of shoot it in Portland.
We know that. I was like, okay, I mean, I
couldn't really understand that idea, but I just knew, like,
(02:52):
I'm a fan and I want to be a part
of it. That's this is what I remember.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
We want a way to pitch it. We didn't. That
was an rida no.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So then I said, so. Then I had a meeting
with Dan Pasternak at i FC, and I had been
thinking about it, and I knew it was going to
be in Portland, and I knew the Feminist Bookstore was
like one of this recurring things for sure. Maybe I
had talked to you about it at SNL or something
must have. And I was like, but what if it's
(03:21):
just the town is the unifying thing and it's just
like the random weirdos in Portland or something like that.
And the network was like, okay, yes, we like that,
and that seems like all it needs anyway, That's what
I remember from the early early talks.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Well, we remember you remember meeting with us, so too.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Right, I do remember meeting with you guys, Yes, I
do remember that.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
And we only met with one other potential director and I.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Know who that was. Did you talk about that?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
We didn't say their name.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
But we because there's actually a funny anecdote which we
could talk about later.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yeah, perfectly fine, perfectly fine.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
He was great, But yeah, i'd worked with you on SNL.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Got Tim and Eric too, That's right.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Yeah, I remember the meeting that we were like, yeah,
we like John, but I feel like you didn't necessarily
like I remember thinking like, this guy's not even not
into it, and then you called I well based on
I mean if you were thinking that it was in
office and you were like this is a terrible idea,
but I think you called back right or you like
(04:31):
talked to Andrew later, and maybe that's when you talked
about the being having a unifying Well, I.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Knew I had to go into the network where they
were like, well, we know you met with them, but
you got to meet with us. And then I was like, Okay,
I'm going to come in with the whole huge thing
because I'm like i gotta do this, whatever it ends
up being, just because I'm a fan of this voice,
this comedy voice, whatever it is. But then I also
remember it was at the Universe Left, They're like, Okay,
(04:58):
we're starting on the show, like it is happening and
it's going to be on such and such date. I
remember driving in and being like, is anyone here? I
don't even remember if I had, like anyway, It was
just very But then we were working in the Universal a.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Lot in that tiny office.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Yeah, that was great.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah, with Alison Silverman and we talked about a little bit.
And then we had Jason Benzuk's come in for a
couple of days of pitching.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
I don't remember that, maybe I do.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
And then we everything was one reason maybe that you
don't remember because it was so expedited, because.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
I remember it was just like because Fred had to
go back to us.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yes, we had to shoot the pilot really quickly. Yeah,
and then we went up to Portland.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
Yeah, what's the first thing we shot?
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Well, remember it's tricky because we weren't actually shooting what
became the pilot.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
No, I remember that the episode that song for Portland. Yeah,
but the very first peace that we shot, like the
first time.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
We were on set.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
It wasn't put a bird on it was it? Because
that seemed early to me.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Okay, I can't remember.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
It was either the dog outside the child being the
dog tied up outside the restaurant. I remember that very
early on but honestly, I don't remember.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Yeah, I don't remember at all.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Or was it I wouldn't have been Kyle the first day,
would it like?
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Or like one of those were weird because I always
had shoot in the Mayor's office like on Saturday. Oh right, right,
because it was the actual mayor's office.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
But burn on it. I have a memory of it
being a first something something felt.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Like maybe I remember we had the pigeon and Dan.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I remember Dan being there too, and best being on
that at that shop.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I mean, yeah, something felt like a first day of sorts.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
But I don't know.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
I remember having lunch on the first day on I
was on Alberta, right, so maybe it was maybe that shop.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Oh but that was on Mississippi, Mississippi.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Okay, wait, I remember having lunch with maybe Katie O Kady.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Yeah, yeah, maybe it was.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Maybe it was because there was another part of it
that we shot later, Yes, at the very end.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Yeah, we came a couple of days.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
The footage that you like, everything that you had on
that first the pilot, Yeah, how did you turn it
into it?
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Took a while. I remember I seeing an early early
early cut that was like probably like an hour long
being like, this is not good, but it will get good,
because obviously, when you have so much improvised stuff, it
takes a while to like whittle it down to what
that two minutes is or whatever. So there's a lot
(07:40):
of different and I just remember the Feminist books store
had a lot of stuff, but boom, it quickly got
a million times better and then I was like, whoa,
this is so good and I can't remember. We would
sit around the editor room going this is so specific
and is that gonna that seems great? We love it,
(08:02):
but like I've never seen a sketch show. At least
at the time, it just felt like this is such
a unique slice of the world that we're making fun
of or loving. We would always talk about we love
the characters, we don't make fun of them, or something
like that. So anyway, I don't know, it just felt
like I'm loving this, but will people understand what this is?
(08:23):
At least right when we were making that pilot, it
just felt like, wow, who was the editor? It was
Dan Loengino and Doug Lasson. How they both did the pilot? Yeah, yeah,
And I would always like in the early days, I
would edit like one scene and then by like season two.
I was like, I'm good, just because I had started
(08:44):
as an editor too with those guys too. Yeah, so
I just like, oh, there's one I want to do,
but quickly I gave that up.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
But yeah, what was your because you had not been
to Portland before? Right?
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Well? I had been to Portland but sort of in
a different eric as my grandfather lived in Welsh's, Oregon,
which is like like forty five minutes away. I had
been to the twenty four hour Church of Elvis, right
Remember that was like kind of a different era.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah, that was like the no was sort of late nineties,
late nineties downtown.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
But I didn't experience kind of what you had experienced
living there. I just experienced it more as a tourist.
I guess.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
What was your impression of like filming, like when you
crewed up in Portland and we were like, you know,
getting the DP, Like, what was your impression of just
like that whole millieu?
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Now was it that first season that we worked at
a gust Fan Sant's office?
Speaker 2 (09:43):
That was yeah? Second season?
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Well, because what I quickly found through David crest Do sir,
who's local that you had worked with and you knew
that there was such a film community there that and
it seemed like it was the gust fans, it kind
of Nike, I don't know what it was, but there
was like, Wow, this is a deep town of filmmakers
(10:07):
and people who really care about film and no cool
stuff and some cinematographers. But I was really like, I
need a cinematographer who gets comedy and like, we're not
making like a movie that's slow or making something this
victim of and then so yeah, then we met Bryce
Fortner and he had been shooting Wayney Days, David Wayne's
(10:27):
what do you call YouTube show back then web web
series websary Sorry sorry, So I was like, oh my god,
there's someone here who like totally gets it, Like Wayney
Days was actually really good and he totally got it.
And I was like, oh my god, this is so exciting.
And that really was huge to find someone local who
could do it. Obviously we had the crew like Kyler
(10:49):
Robinson and Amanda need Him and even Simon max Hill
who I just saw recently. Just a great group of
people that you that was essential to the show, Like
I don't, like, you couldn't. Everyone involved was like special
and made it the show even more special than just
the people at the top. So it was that that
was really I mean we just felt it felt like
(11:11):
a family very fast immediately. Yeah, and you knew a
lot of them already.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
I knew some of them. I had never met Bryce,
I knew Amanda, but a lot of the people were
new to me. I mean we had like TG and Aubrey. Yeah,
so it had a familial feeling right away. Remember that
one of the Baldwin brothers was in that building.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Yes, yes, I remember that.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
We were like sharing an office with Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Yeah, because he was making a movie there something.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Yeah. How did we get Amanda?
Speaker 1 (11:42):
You knew her?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yeah? And David and Amanda.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Yeah, Well, David crestlike was running a commercial productive company
in Portland and all the pas that kind of came
through there. He would say, what do you want to be, Oh,
I want to be a costome science. Okay, you set
that up, you get that going, and I'll hire you. Amanda, go, Simon,
I want to be a castic. Great, set up your
own company. I'll hire And so they each were like
(12:06):
trained by David. He was their mentor by Tyler too,
and they he just kind of was like launched all
these young people and then we got to hire all
of them and they were all amazing. So I think
David was press. I still think of it as just
like one of the best. When you would see the
Portlandia crew driving down the street, it was I don't
(12:27):
know if you guys talked about this, like the school
bus turned into a snack truck, like all the trucks,
the ice cream truck turned into the I mean.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
It was just it was like a children's show. It
was just like this circus coming into town. But you're
right that David really like helped inform the culture of
the show. Like I don't I think we talked about
this how he did not like we did not have
a video village, and like how that like kept us
so nimble. It was basically like no one sat on set.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Would allowed director's chairs because we don't. He was like,
we don't have time to sit. We got to just
keep moving.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
And he was that's right, we literally didn't have time really,
and it did keep us moving.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
And and I had a little monitor that had like
a little antenna on it, like a little TV, and
the signal was sent and it would come in a
little fuzzy sometimes and I literally could change the channel
and watch soap operas on this TV and it was
so small I could barely see it. So I'm like, Okay,
it looks pretty good this tiny. Then when I see
it in the editor, I'm like, wow, this looks incredible.
(13:25):
So but it was, Yeah, it was very handmade vibe.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
When uh, I was remembering that, like some sketches as
we started shooting, I did you know, I didn't know
what the end result was going to be? Like I
thought of did you read? I didn't have a clear
picture of.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
What that was going to be. How did you know that? Like?
How did you.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Deal with us as performers saying like, hey, you know,
we're tired, we don't even know what this is.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
How do you how did you manage to push?
Speaker 1 (13:56):
But you guys were very accommodating and easy, not exactly
always knowing exactly what you were being at. I thought
that that was always really easy. I mean, we the
editors and I we had just come up under this
system that we had sort of perfected over the years
of like editing as this true playground. So I just knew, like, okay,
(14:19):
here's the pieces, especially for something like that, and we
had already done I think at that point that other
one you got to get out of here, which was
kind of in a way like from the first season.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Like the beta version of that, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Where it just becomes like we can tell we can
make jokes that are not just dialogue that's written. That's funny.
It's like and we would talk about this in the
writers from too, like the different style of energy piece.
We always had different color cards kind of for that.
So that to me was like, this is more of
a textural piece that is like I mean, it was
(14:56):
a great observation. I think that was Harry's idea about
like did you read this article? Did you? And then
we take that concept and turn it into this like cacophony.
And I don't know if you remember, like when we
like Doug who's the master of editing that kind of stuff.
You use the same shot twice the second time you
see it, it is so funny, and we just we
(15:16):
really coming from to America and all that stuff, we
learned these tricks about how to make people laugh, but
not through just dialogue, through editing, how editing can and
it's true for all comedy editing is the key. You
have to just gather. You could be so funny on set,
and you could edit it to be unfunny. It's very
easy to do. So yeah, I don't know that that
(15:39):
just became like and I just felt like you guys
were already in that being both musicians that you kind
of you know, we could we could make stuff that
that was more rhythmic and percussive, and we did a
lot of music pieces. I remember the whole music thing,
Like just watching you guys make all that music was
like truly like a map was so cool.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
I remember when the day you came in with the
idea of the gream of the nineties.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Yes, I remember that too. It was a very dramatic day. Yeah,
but yeah, I had been driving around just thinking about
I mean just talks that we would have. Yeah, you know,
like you just kind of not always just on work,
but like the fact that and coming in as an
outsider to Portland going like, oh this is you know,
(16:27):
because I was a kid of the nineties, just kind
of like that that message that was coming through was like, yeah,
it can be yourself and that I don't know, the
whole Lollapalooza concert and everything was just kind of like
outsider world and that was like, oh, we have this town.
So I don't know. I just kept driving around, listening
to music, thinking about that and going guys, and I
(16:49):
was thinking about that, trying to prepare for this, like
the Suicidal Tendency song like Institutionalized or I don't know
if you remember this song, the Sweater song by Maren Kdell. No.
It was this kind of like I don't know, mid
nineties song, but it would be these songs where people.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Would talk wait, not Weezer sweater song.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
It was pre the Weezer sweater song. I or not
a surf at That song popular where they would talk
during the verses and I always liked it. And there
was another guy who did a lot of that and
I can't think of his name. It was about he was.
He did a bunch of songs like where he was.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Jesus, Oh, yes, yes, you know who's that.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
I can't think of it anyway. So it's like, let's
do a song like that. Because to me, the concept
of like writing a song like Lonely Island, I'm like,
I can't. I don't know how to do that exactly.
But this is we can talk about it and then
have this chorus that kicks it in as a song.
So it's like a different format that we used a
couple of times throughout the show.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
It's great.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
I love that suicide Tendency song. I think about it
all the time.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
Yeah, it's intense.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
It's intense, and he's like, oh and I just get
a PEPSI I just want to are you on drugs?
And then there's a chorus.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
I think, yeah, they say that institutionalized.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yeah, I remember when you came in that day because
even at the time, it felt momentous, like it was
like you just completely like cracked something that we needed,
Like we.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Made it to you guys in a car and I
played a song to kind of explain how it would work.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Yeah, it was like we needed a thesis for the
show and just like some idea like you know, you know,
guiding principle essentially, and it became that in this way
that like I think if we didn't have that in
the first season, like that was the and I was
what that anchored it and everyone understood and I remember
(18:48):
we you know, we talked about this, but Lauren understood
that the Yeah, and it was like to be the first,
but it was I remember you must have had because
I know that feeling too. We were like, this is
a good idea. I just have to make sure that
they get that it's a good idea, which we did,
and it did feel kind of big.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
Yeah when we watched it. The production is so huge.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Yeah, And that was a lot of David Cress because
I was just feeding him like, Okay, here's kind of
the idea, like I want this, and he'd be like,
how about a guy in a really tall bicycle or something.
I'm like, yes, he got it. Yeah, so just give
me all those elements of like nineties whatever.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
It was, Yeah, Like from a director's standpoint, like because
you know, we've talked about how the scripts were basically
outlined a little bit of dialogue that we almost got
you know, did away with immediately. Like how helpful were
the various departments that were like adding to the visuals,
Like like, how was that process for you working with
(19:51):
like Amanda Tyler.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
I mean both of them would just they a lot
of times there's a thing in the script and then
they wear this outfit. We didn't really put those details in.
They would just go, oh, I get this character. It
was always character based, like I get this character, I
get what their house would be like, and they would
really just provide so much exers that we really took
for granted and didn't realize how amazing it was to
(20:15):
have like that mind, those other minds adding to it,
because then all of a sudden we'd be on segue,
Oh my god, this is hilarious. We got to do
a scene over here with this thing that we didn't
even you know, like I think of so many examples,
but a very specific one was I mean, this wasn't
even anyone planned for. But when you're shooting in that
cell phone store with Koumeil and there was a display
(20:37):
of sun, yes, and all of a sudden we're like,
this has to be and he got it and.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
It just like or the Amy Man the sweater, the
tiny sweater and when Amy Man it does our house cleaning,
my god, and she shrinks the sweater and then I
wasn't in the script. Well, all I know is that
Fred brings it back in the dumpster divers, yes, and
that that would have been them just putting that in there.
I agree, yes, yeah, we're like, it definitely was in
the script. That she shrunk a sweater but later them
(21:05):
for them to think, like, let's have this connective tissue,
and then that became one of the funniest moments in
The Dumpster Drivers, where you're you literally put it on
your body. Yeah, and like that, like they were thinking
so deeply. And obviously we've worked on a ton of
shows with many talented people, but I will say from
like a production design and like costume design standpoint, like
(21:27):
that level, next level, like brain galacy stuff is really
it is rare. It's pretty rare.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Yeah, And I would say Simon too. At the casting
I mean the cast of I mean, obviously we brought
in like friends, celebrities and stuff for guest stars and stuff,
but the local acting pool is incredible and added so
much to it, and some very specific characters that just
became part of the cast and that weren't just I
(21:57):
mean Simon was like, oh, there's a guy in my heart.
I remember when we were looking for the nerd, which
was actually very hard to do.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
No, not remember oh the nerd for the nerds, it
was actually.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Very challenging to find because we were such well, the
nerd of the sitcom is like not it's not like yeah,
and he's like, there's a guy who works in my
hardware store. I'm going to try to bring him in.
And then the guy was great. It's probably the first
and last thing he ever did, but it was awesome
for us.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Yeah, I felt like it made the show look so
different and so site specific in that it wasn't just
populated by actors like I mean, yes, there was a
lot of low level but like that you hadn't seen before,
Like because we weren't shooting in La it was like, oh,
I've seen that guy on this other stuff. It was
just you only ever saw them on our show.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
But to us, they became celebrities.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
We loved them, we love yeah, and we would write
for them and be like this is they will be
in this sketch and I love It's. One of the
things I miss about not doing the show is there
was all those people who I stopped seeing super granted
I would see them every day. Yeah yeah. And also
back another thing I thought that and I don't know,
maybe you learned this and TiO min Eric because I
(23:07):
feel like your use of just like non speaking roles
like cutaways like where you know where.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
You get, well, that was a little bit of financial
respond okay, because we always make our list of like, okay,
we need I don't know, fifty guest stars for the season,
and David was, well, you guys, we only have a
budget at thirty. I go, well, okay, I'll play like
two of them and like ten of them don't need
to speak. So then it just became a thing of
like this can't speak because we're trying to cut corners
(23:33):
on the budget. And the show was very cheap. Oh yes,
Pino was one hundred thousand dollars. I remember that. Wow,
which in today's terms is probably a little more, but
still it was.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
It was really threadbare. It was running gun for sure.
We were just talking about the goat box earlier. I
remember stealing a shot driving like obviously we'd interacted with
those goats like time and that when we wrote there.
But I remember we were I think it was for
the cell phone when we were just talking about but
(24:04):
we would just be driving from one location to a
next next, or walking and we would just be like,
let's get a quick thing here. Like there was so
much of that, just like spontaneous.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Which the town is really helpful for that.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
The town is helpful and just so people understand that's
very hard to do. Like you, it is really rare
to be on any TV show and just be like,
let's steal this show possible, like without permits or without
like someone just under the auspices of someone be like,
sure you can do that without someone be like, hold on,
I got to walk in. Let's get the locations to
make sure we're going to walk in. We got to
get the contract going. We would do that after like
(24:36):
they'd be like, okay, thanks, can you sign this?
Speaker 3 (24:38):
It was an afterthought. Yeah, I remember, this is an
insurance thing.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
That I was waiting.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
I don't think, oh, I remember, I know what you're
going to say.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
A thing spike with bicycle rides the bicycle like when
I was well, when I got set out, I just
had think yourself. Yeah, I was by myself, which is
fine with me.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
I have no Maybe it was a car following you
or leading you maybe or a bike or something. Yeah,
but I remember I remember waiting for you.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
My memory is off.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
You go yeah, and then mean like but the driving
when we would just put all the cameras in the car,
you guys would just drive. I remember we were in
that ambulance. We used it, but we were just going
through stop signs and I just could.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Have You went on on a bike. I went out
on a ski do with a go pro way out
in the river. Remember them with the Sea World episode.
I mean you guys, there was not even someone like
near me to be like, well, for safety, we'll follow
her out.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
The show was very safe. No, it was the car
because there were so many cameras you couldn't even see.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
I was scared that because there were so many real
bicycle people that I thought one of these days.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
I remembered, I was worried.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
That I was going to hit someone on a bicycle.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Yeah, I remember riding on the back of a motorcycle
like with that stunt guy. There was definitely, Yeah, there
was a lot of that.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Yeah, for better or worse.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Yeah, this is something I don't This is a real question.
Yeah that I don't understand that I think both of
you probably take for granted. When I watched portl India
opening credits, the whole show, there is a color like,
there's a look to it and it can't be as
simple as oh, we just set up cameras. What is
this trick that made it look so rich and like
(26:26):
mysterious and what is the camera?
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Well, okay, i'll tell you the first two seasons. This
I was because I was always on these inexpensive, like
low budget projects. We're always like what's the next thing,
And on TI min Ark were always experimenting with stuff,
and we had shot with this still camera, which became
all the rage after. But we shot the first two
(26:50):
seasons of Portland on the still cannon, you know camera
that you just buy at the store, and the camera
operators are always complaining about it because it was a
pain in the US. But it looks really cool and
the lenses are like very beautiful and you get this
amazing look that at the time was impossible. We must
(27:12):
have been the first thing to shoot on that technology
in a big show or movie or something, because it
was very early on in that technology. So it definitely
gave it. But in my mind I was like, well,
if let's say Gus Van Sant or some indie film
independent film channel was making a sketch show like this
(27:34):
is what it would be. That was sort of the
north star of the vibe of it. So it was
more like low key and like your guys' performances were
always like very dry and grounded, and it's like, so,
can we do something that's not like in your face comedy.
This would be this version of it have its own aesthetic.
But I think, I think that's what you're talking about.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
That's exactly that's the exactly what I was wondering about.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Yeah, is there a filter on to intro, on the
intro and the interests?
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Yes, there was a lot. We were just throwing because
you got to understand the first episode, which that title
sequence was in, and from we finished. Okay, so we
shot the show in the summer. We did the pilot
quick turn around. Yes, we'll do a serious then we
shot it. Then you went to SNL. Then I went
to SNL too because I was still working there. The
(28:25):
editors came to New York and we would just work
on it like during the day and night. I fell
asleep many times in the edit room. So but then
Christmas time came around, everything went back to LA. The
show was not done and it got shipped to my
house and I had just had a baby, and so
(28:45):
literally I would go in. I would start at like midnight.
I worked till like six in the morning, just trying
to finish the show. So I'm sure I was in
some program throwing random filters on that title sequence because
there was a lot of like prosumer filters, and I
was just like, try to try that. I was just
trying and literally finished the show. I couldn't believe that.
(29:09):
And then they were like, you have to lay this
off for air. I'm like, I don't even know exactly
how to do that. I did it wrong. I did
it wrong. But when the show first aired, the volume
was wrong.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
What do you mean the volume was wrong? Like it
wasn't sound mixed.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
No, Basically, this is even crazier the first season sound mixes.
We didn't go into a sound mixing studio. I literally
just gave it on a drive to this friend of
a friend and he's like, I do albums. I'm like,
you're supposed to put tone at the beginning, like, dude,
so it sets the level for who's ever airing it.
(29:44):
And I was like, I think it should be this
or that. I said it wrong, so the show when
people they had to turn it up. This was too
low anyway, Wow, there was no one working on it
but me. It was crazy. I couldn't believe it and
I should I should have called somebody and be like,
what am I supposed to do?
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Yeah, we flew so under the radar.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
I mean it was a different time. Yeah, of television.
It was like i FC was like it was I
don't know what it was, but it was just like, really,
no one is paying attention. Yes, and an executive level, yes,
there were people paying attention. I've gotten in trouble for
think stupid things in the past. It's just like it was.
(30:24):
It was a wild West and it was great. It
made great content.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
We were just talking about we were just naming a
few shows like Delocated or Heartshet Hollered, like adults swim
adults swim human, I mean human. Yeah, but like just
things were like there would not that would just be
maybe on YouTube now maybe not maybe, you know.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
And I still I say this now, like comedy is
missing that throwaway like throw away but like that lower
budget thing where it's just like it's we're like kids
in the Hall or something where it say, it's just
like late night or something where you can just make
weird stuff. Not all comedy has to be so beautiful
and like you know, like you just need that punk
(31:04):
energy sometimes in making comedy, it's just you take it
too seriously. It kind of stifles it.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Yeah, even the way you're describing like your editorial process,
it's so anarchic, you know, and it's just like you
kind of like leaving the mistakes and it's like old music,
you know, you're like, oh my god, they're out of
key here, or like you can hear them.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Kind of energy is good.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Yes, yeah, it's just it's about feel And I think we.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Talked about that a lot. Did you talk about that?
Speaker 2 (31:29):
No, not really.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
We would always talk about the first albums of bands
that we love, right, Oh, yeah, I always talk about that, like, yeah,
the first album has a lot of mistakes in it,
it's really rough and they've been working on it for
ten years or whatever, and then the second album they
rush out and it doesn't work as well or something
like that. But we remember we talked about that a lot.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Yeah. I feel like when we'd first get to in
the writer's room, we'd have, you know, like you kind
of have like an analogy like that was definitely one,
and we would name like the albums that were like great,
great first albums. But for us though, I think we
were lucky that the first season was kind of truncated
because it allowed the second season to actually kind of
like drift off like some of that energy, but like
slightly just a little more refined. I felt like we
(32:12):
kind of hit our stride there, and.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
We also kind of knew what it was. I think
in the first season, we're like, we had some scenes
that we didn't end up using. We were like, is
it this? Do we have like interviews or remember yes.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Yes, or like the Dandy Warhol's the Courtney Corney tape
right Taylor Taylor.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Because we were just like, we don't know what it is.
It could be all these things. And then we kind
of found it and then second season was like, Okay,
boom boom boom.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Yeah, that feels like a good place to stop for
this first interview with John. We will be continuing in
the next episode.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
Thanks for being there.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
What un one one one one one one one one
one one one n
Hey, hey, watch.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hey, you're listening to Podlanda. This is Fred, and this
is Kerry and this is Ao Rewatch Ao rewatch a
Portlandia Rewatch podcast. Hy friend, Kerry, Hey, we have a guest,
ourst one, our first guest, and it's an important guest
in some ways, maybe the most important guest.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Agreed because you could say, if this was a three
person podcast, this would be our third person exactly.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
This is Jonathan Chryslon.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Hello, thank you for having me.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
This is our director, co creator, co creator.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Creator, co writer and the director exclusively for the first
two seasons three I think, okay, first three, yeah, I
think so, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I missed two of season four something like that. I
can't remember something like that.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
But we were like, as we've been going through these episodes,
you come up all the time naturally because we know,
you know, the ideas were yours and that like the
way it looks and everything, and it just keeps coming up.
So it's it's great to actually meet you. We did
(01:24):
the show for Zoom pre pre covid, pre covid, but.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
But when we the first episode I guess of the podcast,
we spent a lot of time talking about how the
show came together and we sort of talked up through
thunder Ants and friend and I and we did touch
on meeting you, but we wanted to get it from
your perspective. What do you remember freaks?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Okay, because I remember I had well, obviously I I
knew thunder Aunt, of course, because it was just around
and Doug was editing it. I remember that. And I
remember I was working SNL and there was this thing
in there Fred's doing a show and then I was like, oh,
(02:08):
and it's ThunderAnt with Carrie. It's being turned into a show.
And they're like, I think you guys weren't there. But
I met with Andrew Singer at Broadway Video Lauren's company,
and they were like, so it's going to be a
show where Fred and Carey work at an office and
come up with sketches. They get hired to make sketches
(02:28):
and every week. I don't know whose idea this was,
but they'll do like three sketches per episode, but they'll
be them work at this office that sells sketches or something.
I don't know, something like that. That's what it was
sold to me. But we're kind of shoot it in Portland.
We know that. I was like, okay, I mean, I
couldn't really understand that idea, but I just knew, like,
(02:52):
I'm a fan and I want to be a part
of it. That's this is what I remember.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
We want a way to pitch it. We didn't. That
was an rida no.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So then I said, so. Then I had a meeting
with Dan Pasternak at i FC, and I had been
thinking about it, and I knew it was going to
be in Portland, and I knew the Feminist Bookstore was
like one of this recurring things for sure. Maybe I
had talked to you about it at SNL or something
must have. And I was like, but what if it's
(03:21):
just the town is the unifying thing and it's just
like the random weirdos in Portland or something like that.
And the network was like, okay, yes, we like that,
and that seems like all it needs anyway, That's what
I remember from the early early talks.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Well, we remember you remember meeting with us, so too.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Right, I do remember meeting with you guys, Yes, I
do remember that.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
And we only met with one other potential director and I.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Know who that was. Did you talk about that?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
We didn't say their name.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
But we because there's actually a funny anecdote which we
could talk about later.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yeah, perfectly fine, perfectly fine.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
He was great, But yeah, i'd worked with you on SNL.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Got Tim and Eric too, That's right.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Yeah, I remember the meeting that we were like, yeah,
we like John, but I feel like you didn't necessarily
like I remember thinking like, this guy's not even not
into it, and then you called I well based on
I mean if you were thinking that it was in
office and you were like this is a terrible idea,
but I think you called back right or you like
(04:31):
talked to Andrew later, and maybe that's when you talked
about the being having a unifying Well, I.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Knew I had to go into the network where they
were like, well, we know you met with them, but
you got to meet with us. And then I was like, Okay,
I'm going to come in with the whole huge thing
because I'm like i gotta do this, whatever it ends
up being, just because I'm a fan of this voice,
this comedy voice, whatever it is. But then I also
remember it was at the Universe Left, They're like, Okay,
(04:58):
we're starting on the show, like it is happening and
it's going to be on such and such date. I
remember driving in and being like, is anyone here? I
don't even remember if I had, like anyway, It was
just very But then we were working in the Universal a.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Lot in that tiny office.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Yeah, that was great.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah, with Alison Silverman and we talked about a little bit.
And then we had Jason Benzuk's come in for a
couple of days of pitching.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
I don't remember that, maybe I do.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
And then we everything was one reason maybe that you
don't remember because it was so expedited, because.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
I remember it was just like because Fred had to
go back to us.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yes, we had to shoot the pilot really quickly. Yeah,
and then we went up to Portland.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
Yeah, what's the first thing we shot?
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Well, remember it's tricky because we weren't actually shooting what
became the pilot.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
No, I remember that the episode that song for Portland. Yeah,
but the very first peace that we shot, like the
first time.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
We were on set.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
It wasn't put a bird on it was it? Because
that seemed early to me.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Okay, I can't remember.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
It was either the dog outside the child being the
dog tied up outside the restaurant. I remember that very
early on but honestly, I don't remember.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Yeah, I don't remember at all.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Or was it I wouldn't have been Kyle the first day,
would it like?
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Or like one of those were weird because I always
had shoot in the Mayor's office like on Saturday. Oh right, right,
because it was the actual mayor's office.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
But burn on it. I have a memory of it
being a first something something felt.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Like maybe I remember we had the pigeon and Dan.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I remember Dan being there too, and best being on
that at that shop.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I mean, yeah, something felt like a first day of sorts.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
But I don't know.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
I remember having lunch on the first day on I
was on Alberta, right, so maybe it was maybe that shop.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Oh but that was on Mississippi, Mississippi.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Okay, wait, I remember having lunch with maybe Katie O Kady.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Yeah, yeah, maybe it was.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Maybe it was because there was another part of it
that we shot later, Yes, at the very end.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Yeah, we came a couple of days.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
The footage that you like, everything that you had on
that first the pilot, Yeah, how did you turn it
into it?
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Took a while. I remember I seeing an early early
early cut that was like probably like an hour long
being like, this is not good, but it will get good,
because obviously, when you have so much improvised stuff, it
takes a while to like whittle it down to what
that two minutes is or whatever. So there's a lot
(07:40):
of different and I just remember the Feminist books store
had a lot of stuff, but boom, it quickly got
a million times better and then I was like, whoa,
this is so good and I can't remember. We would
sit around the editor room going this is so specific
and is that gonna that seems great? We love it,
(08:02):
but like I've never seen a sketch show. At least
at the time, it just felt like this is such
a unique slice of the world that we're making fun
of or loving. We would always talk about we love
the characters, we don't make fun of them, or something
like that. So anyway, I don't know, it just felt
like I'm loving this, but will people understand what this is?
(08:23):
At least right when we were making that pilot, it
just felt like, wow, who was the editor? It was
Dan Loengino and Doug Lasson. How they both did the pilot? Yeah, yeah,
And I would always like in the early days, I
would edit like one scene and then by like season two.
I was like, I'm good, just because I had started
(08:44):
as an editor too with those guys too. Yeah, so
I just like, oh, there's one I want to do,
but quickly I gave that up.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
But yeah, what was your because you had not been
to Portland before? Right?
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Well? I had been to Portland but sort of in
a different eric as my grandfather lived in Welsh's, Oregon,
which is like like forty five minutes away. I had
been to the twenty four hour Church of Elvis, right
Remember that was like kind of a different era.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah, that was like the no was sort of late nineties,
late nineties downtown.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
But I didn't experience kind of what you had experienced
living there. I just experienced it more as a tourist.
I guess.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
What was your impression of like filming, like when you
crewed up in Portland and we were like, you know,
getting the DP, Like, what was your impression of just
like that whole millieu?
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Now was it that first season that we worked at
a gust Fan Sant's office?
Speaker 2 (09:43):
That was yeah? Second season?
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Well, because what I quickly found through David crest Do sir,
who's local that you had worked with and you knew
that there was such a film community there that and
it seemed like it was the gust fans, it kind
of Nike, I don't know what it was, but there
was like, Wow, this is a deep town of filmmakers
(10:07):
and people who really care about film and no cool
stuff and some cinematographers. But I was really like, I
need a cinematographer who gets comedy and like, we're not
making like a movie that's slow or making something this
victim of and then so yeah, then we met Bryce
Fortner and he had been shooting Wayney Days, David Wayne's
(10:27):
what do you call YouTube show back then web web
series websary Sorry sorry, So I was like, oh my god,
there's someone here who like totally gets it, Like Wayney
Days was actually really good and he totally got it.
And I was like, oh my god, this is so exciting.
And that really was huge to find someone local who
could do it. Obviously we had the crew like Kyler
(10:49):
Robinson and Amanda need Him and even Simon max Hill
who I just saw recently. Just a great group of
people that you that was essential to the show, Like
I don't, like, you couldn't. Everyone involved was like special
and made it the show even more special than just
the people at the top. So it was that that
was really I mean we just felt it felt like
(11:11):
a family very fast immediately. Yeah, and you knew a
lot of them already.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
I knew some of them. I had never met Bryce,
I knew Amanda, but a lot of the people were
new to me. I mean we had like TG and Aubrey. Yeah,
so it had a familial feeling right away. Remember that
one of the Baldwin brothers was in that building.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Yes, yes, I remember that.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
We were like sharing an office with Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Yeah, because he was making a movie there something.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Yeah. How did we get Amanda?
Speaker 1 (11:42):
You knew her?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yeah? And David and Amanda.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Yeah, Well, David crestlike was running a commercial productive company
in Portland and all the pas that kind of came
through there. He would say, what do you want to be, Oh,
I want to be a costome science. Okay, you set
that up, you get that going, and I'll hire you. Amanda, go, Simon,
I want to be a castic. Great, set up your
own company. I'll hire And so they each were like
(12:06):
trained by David. He was their mentor by Tyler too,
and they he just kind of was like launched all
these young people and then we got to hire all
of them and they were all amazing. So I think
David was press. I still think of it as just
like one of the best. When you would see the
Portlandia crew driving down the street, it was I don't
(12:27):
know if you guys talked about this, like the school
bus turned into a snack truck, like all the trucks,
the ice cream truck turned into the I mean.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
It was just it was like a children's show. It
was just like this circus coming into town. But you're
right that David really like helped inform the culture of
the show. Like I don't I think we talked about
this how he did not like we did not have
a video village, and like how that like kept us
so nimble. It was basically like no one sat on set.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Would allowed director's chairs because we don't. He was like,
we don't have time to sit. We got to just
keep moving.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
And he was that's right, we literally didn't have time really,
and it did keep us moving.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
And and I had a little monitor that had like
a little antenna on it, like a little TV, and
the signal was sent and it would come in a
little fuzzy sometimes and I literally could change the channel
and watch soap operas on this TV and it was
so small I could barely see it. So I'm like, Okay,
it looks pretty good this tiny. Then when I see
it in the editor, I'm like, wow, this looks incredible.
(13:25):
So but it was, Yeah, it was very handmade vibe.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
When uh, I was remembering that, like some sketches as
we started shooting, I did you know, I didn't know
what the end result was going to be? Like I
thought of did you read? I didn't have a clear
picture of.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
What that was going to be. How did you know that? Like?
How did you.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Deal with us as performers saying like, hey, you know,
we're tired, we don't even know what this is.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
How do you how did you manage to push?
Speaker 1 (13:56):
But you guys were very accommodating and easy, not exactly
always knowing exactly what you were being at. I thought
that that was always really easy. I mean, we the
editors and I we had just come up under this
system that we had sort of perfected over the years
of like editing as this true playground. So I just knew, like, okay,
(14:19):
here's the pieces, especially for something like that, and we
had already done I think at that point that other
one you got to get out of here, which was
kind of in a way like from the first season.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Like the beta version of that, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Where it just becomes like we can tell we can
make jokes that are not just dialogue that's written. That's funny.
It's like and we would talk about this in the
writers from too, like the different style of energy piece.
We always had different color cards kind of for that.
So that to me was like, this is more of
a textural piece that is like I mean, it was
(14:56):
a great observation. I think that was Harry's idea about
like did you read this article? Did you? And then
we take that concept and turn it into this like cacophony.
And I don't know if you remember, like when we
like Doug who's the master of editing that kind of stuff.
You use the same shot twice the second time you
see it, it is so funny, and we just we
(15:16):
really coming from to America and all that stuff, we
learned these tricks about how to make people laugh, but
not through just dialogue, through editing, how editing can and
it's true for all comedy editing is the key. You
have to just gather. You could be so funny on set,
and you could edit it to be unfunny. It's very
easy to do. So yeah, I don't know that that
(15:39):
just became like and I just felt like you guys
were already in that being both musicians that you kind
of you know, we could we could make stuff that
that was more rhythmic and percussive, and we did a
lot of music pieces. I remember the whole music thing,
Like just watching you guys make all that music was
like truly like a map was so cool.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
I remember when the day you came in with the
idea of the gream of the nineties.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Yes, I remember that too. It was a very dramatic day. Yeah,
but yeah, I had been driving around just thinking about
I mean just talks that we would have. Yeah, you know,
like you just kind of not always just on work,
but like the fact that and coming in as an
outsider to Portland going like, oh this is you know,
(16:27):
because I was a kid of the nineties, just kind
of like that that message that was coming through was like, yeah,
it can be yourself and that I don't know, the
whole Lollapalooza concert and everything was just kind of like
outsider world and that was like, oh, we have this town.
So I don't know. I just kept driving around, listening
to music, thinking about that and going guys, and I
(16:49):
was thinking about that, trying to prepare for this, like
the Suicidal Tendency song like Institutionalized or I don't know
if you remember this song, the Sweater song by Maren Kdell. No.
It was this kind of like I don't know, mid
nineties song, but it would be these songs where people.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Would talk wait, not Weezer sweater song.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
It was pre the Weezer sweater song. I or not
a surf at That song popular where they would talk
during the verses and I always liked it. And there
was another guy who did a lot of that and
I can't think of his name. It was about he was.
He did a bunch of songs like where he was.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Jesus, Oh, yes, yes, you know who's that.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
I can't think of it anyway. So it's like, let's
do a song like that. Because to me, the concept
of like writing a song like Lonely Island, I'm like,
I can't. I don't know how to do that exactly.
But this is we can talk about it and then
have this chorus that kicks it in as a song.
So it's like a different format that we used a
couple of times throughout the show.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
It's great.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
I love that suicide Tendency song. I think about it
all the time.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
Yeah, it's intense.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
It's intense, and he's like, oh and I just get
a PEPSI I just want to are you on drugs?
And then there's a chorus.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
I think, yeah, they say that institutionalized.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yeah, I remember when you came in that day because
even at the time, it felt momentous, like it was
like you just completely like cracked something that we needed,
Like we.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Made it to you guys in a car and I
played a song to kind of explain how it would work.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Yeah, it was like we needed a thesis for the
show and just like some idea like you know, you know,
guiding principle essentially, and it became that in this way
that like I think if we didn't have that in
the first season, like that was the and I was
what that anchored it and everyone understood and I remember
(18:48):
we you know, we talked about this, but Lauren understood
that the Yeah, and it was like to be the first,
but it was I remember you must have had because
I know that feeling too. We were like, this is
a good idea. I just have to make sure that
they get that it's a good idea, which we did,
and it did feel kind of big.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
Yeah when we watched it. The production is so huge.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Yeah, And that was a lot of David Cress because
I was just feeding him like, Okay, here's kind of
the idea, like I want this, and he'd be like,
how about a guy in a really tall bicycle or something.
I'm like, yes, he got it. Yeah, so just give
me all those elements of like nineties whatever.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
It was, Yeah, Like from a director's standpoint, like because
you know, we've talked about how the scripts were basically
outlined a little bit of dialogue that we almost got
you know, did away with immediately. Like how helpful were
the various departments that were like adding to the visuals,
Like like, how was that process for you working with
(19:51):
like Amanda Tyler.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
I mean both of them would just they a lot
of times there's a thing in the script and then
they wear this outfit. We didn't really put those details in.
They would just go, oh, I get this character. It
was always character based, like I get this character, I
get what their house would be like, and they would
really just provide so much exers that we really took
for granted and didn't realize how amazing it was to
(20:15):
have like that mind, those other minds adding to it,
because then all of a sudden we'd be on segue,
Oh my god, this is hilarious. We got to do
a scene over here with this thing that we didn't
even you know, like I think of so many examples,
but a very specific one was I mean, this wasn't
even anyone planned for. But when you're shooting in that
cell phone store with Koumeil and there was a display
(20:37):
of sun, yes, and all of a sudden we're like,
this has to be and he got it and.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
It just like or the Amy Man the sweater, the
tiny sweater and when Amy Man it does our house cleaning,
my god, and she shrinks the sweater and then I
wasn't in the script. Well, all I know is that
Fred brings it back in the dumpster divers, yes, and
that that would have been them just putting that in there.
I agree, yes, yeah, we're like, it definitely was in
the script. That she shrunk a sweater but later them
(21:05):
for them to think, like, let's have this connective tissue,
and then that became one of the funniest moments in
The Dumpster Drivers, where you're you literally put it on
your body. Yeah, and like that, like they were thinking
so deeply. And obviously we've worked on a ton of
shows with many talented people, but I will say from
like a production design and like costume design standpoint, like
(21:27):
that level, next level, like brain galacy stuff is really
it is rare. It's pretty rare.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Yeah, And I would say Simon too. At the casting
I mean the cast of I mean, obviously we brought
in like friends, celebrities and stuff for guest stars and stuff,
but the local acting pool is incredible and added so
much to it, and some very specific characters that just
became part of the cast and that weren't just I
(21:57):
mean Simon was like, oh, there's a guy in my heart.
I remember when we were looking for the nerd, which
was actually very hard to do.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
No, not remember oh the nerd for the nerds, it
was actually.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Very challenging to find because we were such well, the
nerd of the sitcom is like not it's not like yeah,
and he's like, there's a guy who works in my
hardware store. I'm going to try to bring him in.
And then the guy was great. It's probably the first
and last thing he ever did, but it was awesome
for us.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Yeah, I felt like it made the show look so
different and so site specific in that it wasn't just
populated by actors like I mean, yes, there was a
lot of low level but like that you hadn't seen before,
Like because we weren't shooting in La it was like, oh,
I've seen that guy on this other stuff. It was
just you only ever saw them on our show.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
But to us, they became celebrities.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
We loved them, we love yeah, and we would write
for them and be like this is they will be
in this sketch and I love It's. One of the
things I miss about not doing the show is there
was all those people who I stopped seeing super granted
I would see them every day. Yeah yeah. And also
back another thing I thought that and I don't know,
maybe you learned this and TiO min Eric because I
(23:07):
feel like your use of just like non speaking roles
like cutaways like where you know where.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
You get, well, that was a little bit of financial
respond okay, because we always make our list of like, okay,
we need I don't know, fifty guest stars for the season,
and David was, well, you guys, we only have a
budget at thirty. I go, well, okay, I'll play like
two of them and like ten of them don't need
to speak. So then it just became a thing of
like this can't speak because we're trying to cut corners
(23:33):
on the budget. And the show was very cheap. Oh yes,
Pino was one hundred thousand dollars. I remember that. Wow,
which in today's terms is probably a little more, but
still it was.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
It was really threadbare. It was running gun for sure.
We were just talking about the goat box earlier. I
remember stealing a shot driving like obviously we'd interacted with
those goats like time and that when we wrote there.
But I remember we were I think it was for
the cell phone when we were just talking about but
(24:04):
we would just be driving from one location to a
next next, or walking and we would just be like,
let's get a quick thing here. Like there was so
much of that, just like spontaneous.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Which the town is really helpful for that.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
The town is helpful and just so people understand that's
very hard to do. Like you, it is really rare
to be on any TV show and just be like,
let's steal this show possible, like without permits or without
like someone just under the auspices of someone be like,
sure you can do that without someone be like, hold on,
I got to walk in. Let's get the locations to
make sure we're going to walk in. We got to
get the contract going. We would do that after like
(24:36):
they'd be like, okay, thanks, can you sign this?
Speaker 3 (24:38):
It was an afterthought. Yeah, I remember, this is an
insurance thing.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
That I was waiting.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
I don't think, oh, I remember, I know what you're
going to say.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
A thing spike with bicycle rides the bicycle like when
I was well, when I got set out, I just
had think yourself. Yeah, I was by myself, which is
fine with me.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
I have no Maybe it was a car following you
or leading you maybe or a bike or something. Yeah,
but I remember I remember waiting for you.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
My memory is off.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
You go yeah, and then mean like but the driving
when we would just put all the cameras in the car,
you guys would just drive. I remember we were in
that ambulance. We used it, but we were just going
through stop signs and I just could.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Have You went on on a bike. I went out
on a ski do with a go pro way out
in the river. Remember them with the Sea World episode.
I mean you guys, there was not even someone like
near me to be like, well, for safety, we'll follow
her out.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
The show was very safe. No, it was the car
because there were so many cameras you couldn't even see.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
I was scared that because there were so many real
bicycle people that I thought one of these days.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
I remembered, I was worried.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
That I was going to hit someone on a bicycle.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Yeah, I remember riding on the back of a motorcycle
like with that stunt guy. There was definitely, Yeah, there
was a lot of that.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Yeah, for better or worse.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Yeah, this is something I don't This is a real question.
Yeah that I don't understand that I think both of
you probably take for granted. When I watched portl India
opening credits, the whole show, there is a color like,
there's a look to it and it can't be as
simple as oh, we just set up cameras. What is
this trick that made it look so rich and like
(26:26):
mysterious and what is the camera?
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Well, okay, i'll tell you the first two seasons. This
I was because I was always on these inexpensive, like
low budget projects. We're always like what's the next thing,
And on TI min Ark were always experimenting with stuff,
and we had shot with this still camera, which became
all the rage after. But we shot the first two
(26:50):
seasons of Portland on the still cannon, you know camera
that you just buy at the store, and the camera
operators are always complaining about it because it was a
pain in the US. But it looks really cool and
the lenses are like very beautiful and you get this
amazing look that at the time was impossible. We must
(27:12):
have been the first thing to shoot on that technology
in a big show or movie or something, because it
was very early on in that technology. So it definitely
gave it. But in my mind I was like, well,
if let's say Gus Van Sant or some indie film
independent film channel was making a sketch show like this
(27:34):
is what it would be. That was sort of the
north star of the vibe of it. So it was
more like low key and like your guys' performances were
always like very dry and grounded, and it's like, so,
can we do something that's not like in your face comedy.
This would be this version of it have its own aesthetic.
But I think, I think that's what you're talking about.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
That's exactly that's the exactly what I was wondering about.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Yeah, is there a filter on to intro, on the
intro and the interests?
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Yes, there was a lot. We were just throwing because
you got to understand the first episode, which that title
sequence was in, and from we finished. Okay, so we
shot the show in the summer. We did the pilot
quick turn around. Yes, we'll do a serious then we
shot it. Then you went to SNL. Then I went
to SNL too because I was still working there. The
(28:25):
editors came to New York and we would just work
on it like during the day and night. I fell
asleep many times in the edit room. So but then
Christmas time came around, everything went back to LA. The
show was not done and it got shipped to my
house and I had just had a baby, and so
(28:45):
literally I would go in. I would start at like midnight.
I worked till like six in the morning, just trying
to finish the show. So I'm sure I was in
some program throwing random filters on that title sequence because
there was a lot of like prosumer filters, and I
was just like, try to try that. I was just
trying and literally finished the show. I couldn't believe that.
(29:09):
And then they were like, you have to lay this
off for air. I'm like, I don't even know exactly
how to do that. I did it wrong. I did
it wrong. But when the show first aired, the volume
was wrong.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
What do you mean the volume was wrong? Like it
wasn't sound mixed.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
No, Basically, this is even crazier the first season sound mixes.
We didn't go into a sound mixing studio. I literally
just gave it on a drive to this friend of
a friend and he's like, I do albums. I'm like,
you're supposed to put tone at the beginning, like, dude,
so it sets the level for who's ever airing it.
(29:44):
And I was like, I think it should be this
or that. I said it wrong, so the show when
people they had to turn it up. This was too
low anyway, Wow, there was no one working on it
but me. It was crazy. I couldn't believe it and
I should I should have called somebody and be like,
what am I supposed to do?
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Yeah, we flew so under the radar.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
I mean it was a different time. Yeah, of television.
It was like i FC was like it was I
don't know what it was, but it was just like, really,
no one is paying attention. Yes, and an executive level, yes,
there were people paying attention. I've gotten in trouble for
think stupid things in the past. It's just like it was.
(30:24):
It was a wild West and it was great. It
made great content.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
We were just talking about we were just naming a
few shows like Delocated or Heartshet Hollered, like adults swim
adults swim human, I mean human. Yeah, but like just
things were like there would not that would just be
maybe on YouTube now maybe not maybe, you know.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
And I still I say this now, like comedy is
missing that throwaway like throw away but like that lower
budget thing where it's just like it's we're like kids
in the Hall or something where it say, it's just
like late night or something where you can just make
weird stuff. Not all comedy has to be so beautiful
and like you know, like you just need that punk
(31:04):
energy sometimes in making comedy, it's just you take it
too seriously. It kind of stifles it.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Yeah, even the way you're describing like your editorial process,
it's so anarchic, you know, and it's just like you
kind of like leaving the mistakes and it's like old music,
you know, you're like, oh my god, they're out of
key here, or like you can hear them.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Kind of energy is good.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Yes, yeah, it's just it's about feel And I think we.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Talked about that a lot. Did you talk about that?
Speaker 2 (31:29):
No, not really.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
We would always talk about the first albums of bands
that we love, right, Oh, yeah, I always talk about that, like, yeah,
the first album has a lot of mistakes in it,
it's really rough and they've been working on it for
ten years or whatever, and then the second album they
rush out and it doesn't work as well or something
like that. But we remember we talked about that a lot.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Yeah. I feel like when we'd first get to in
the writer's room, we'd have, you know, like you kind
of have like an analogy like that was definitely one,
and we would name like the albums that were like great,
great first albums. But for us though, I think we
were lucky that the first season was kind of truncated
because it allowed the second season to actually kind of
like drift off like some of that energy, but like
slightly just a little more refined. I felt like we
(32:12):
kind of hit our stride there, and.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
We also kind of knew what it was. I think
in the first season, we're like, we had some scenes
that we didn't end up using. We were like, is
it this? Do we have like interviews or remember yes.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Yes, or like the Dandy Warhol's the Courtney Corney tape
right Taylor Taylor.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Because we were just like, we don't know what it is.
It could be all these things. And then we kind
of found it and then second season was like, Okay,
boom boom boom.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Yeah, that feels like a good place to stop for
this first interview with John. We will be continuing in
the next episode.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
Thanks for being there.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
What un one one one one one one one one
one one one n
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