The road is a way of life for most working comedians, so playing clubs and theaters is no big deal, right?
Wrong. One of the most terrifying things performers can do is hit the road, especially if they’re better known for their movies than their stage shows.
Take Broken Lizard, the comedy troupe behind cult flicks such as “Super Troopers,” “Club Dread” and “Beerfest.” Members Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske have played countless clubs and college campuses over the years since forming at Colgate University in 1990.
But other than a handful of stage appearances, including at Aspen’s defunct U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, Broken Lizard has barely registered as a live entity recently, so undertaking a five-month, 50-date North American tour was a gamble.
“This is the first time we’ve done a full-fledged, cross- country show,” Soter said from the road earlier this week. “A lot of people didn’t know what to expect.”
Luckily for Broken Lizard, it’s gone far better than they could have imagined. The tour, which takes them to the Boulder Theater on Thursday, has become a rallying cry for fans of the troupe and its silly, profane movies.
“Some nights, it’s just a bunch of people dressed up in costumes as your characters,” Stolhanske said. “Every night is different, and you don’t know what kind of crowds are going to come. But it pleasantly surprises me when we come to different cities and have so many fans show up.”
No one would confuse Broken Lizard with better-known troupes, such as Kids in the Hall, Upright Citizens Brigade or even the State. Despite the members’ raft of writing and acting credits, they remain firmly in the cult sphere.
Still, the prolific quintet boasts more brand-name films than all the aforementioned troupes combined. Chandrasekhar has directed TV shows (“Undeclared,” “Arrested Development”) and movies (2005’s “The Dukes of Hazzard”) and all the members have lately dipped their toes into producing. They also have a new movie dropping next month, “The Slammin’ Salmon,” and no shortage of projects in the hopper.
The tour, it seems, came at the perfect time, especially since the group will celebrate 20 years together in 2010.
“The biggest compliment I’ve heard from people is that (the live show) is funnier than they expected,” said Soter, who grew up in Littleton. “There’s a little bit of improv, and we take some sketches from ‘Beerfest’ and ‘Super Troopers’ and bring people up from the audience.
“A lot of people just haven’t seen us in this medium, and they’re impressed because it’s more of a variety act. There are songs, some sketch, some stand-up, improv and stories. People leave with higher expectations.”
Of course, “higher expectations” is a relative term in comedy. Broken Lizard is usually pegged as crude and lowbrow — and unreasonably proud of both — by critics.
That description often obscures the troupe’s wide-eyed absurdity and deft timing, or its intricately cut characters. An oft-quoted scene in “Super Troopers” consists of nothing more than a couple of troopers psychologically terrorizing motorist Jim Gaffigan by casually inserting the word “meow” into as many sentences as possible.
“It basically comes down to five guys and a microphone with our live show, and that’s going back to our roots in New York,” Soter said. “It’s been fun to just use dialogue and crowd reaction and crafted jokes, and it’s been really eye-opening for us to see the reactions.”
John Wenzel: 303-954-1642 or jwenzel@denverpost.com
BROKEN LIZARD.
Stand-up and sketch comedy. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. Thursday. 7:30 p.m. $38-$40. 303-786-7030 and
