For this installment of “Why So Serious,” Reverb contributor Julio Enriquez talked to Randy Sklar of the twin-brother comedy duo The Sklar Brothers about life in the world of tweets, comedy and sports.
The understated twins make an impact whenever they’re given the opportunity — examples include an episode of “Grey’s Anatomy,” in which they played conjoined twins, or on “Entourage,” where they wanted to kill each other because of infidelity issues. The duo occasionally fill in for sports talk radio’s Jim Rome, spinning their crafty jokes in a less intrusive manner than some of the other hosts that fill in (i.e. Jay Mohr or Jason Whitlock).
Randy and Jason Sklar, who can also be heard frequently on their podcast, “Sklarbro Country,” will bring their impeccable comedic rapport to today and tomorrow (April 1-2).
I listened to the two of you on Jim Rome, filling in on one of his vacation weeks, and you had me attempting to drive while laughing uncontrollably. Fans can listen to you guys via the “Sklarbro Country” podcasts, but what about a syndicated show that will get you guys on the radio waves?
Right now we are committed to “Sklarbro Country” for a little over a year on this current contract, so we’ll be focusing on growing that for awhile. After that, who knows? I definitely could see us doing a syndicated radio show down the line. We love the medium and feel like it’s a great space for us to do what we do well. And we’ve definitely learned a lot by doing 35 “Sklarbro Country” shows and years of filling in for Rome. Whenever we actually do get to doing a syndicated radio show, we’ll have some good experience under our belts. At least well know the exact type of show we’d like to do.
Tell me a little about your radio appearance in Kentucky last month that had everybody talking — and the station trending on Twitter.
We went onto an amazing radio show/podcast on Kentucky Sports Radio, and they have such a crazy loyal following. We wound up really hitting it off with the host, Matt Jones, and it was great radio. At one point, he was busting on Conway Twitty talking about how his lyrics are so creepy and tell everything he’s thinking about women with no filter. And I came up with the fictitious Conway Twitty lyric, “Here, drink this and lie real still.” It kind of caught on. But we have to say that we’ve never been hit up that much on Twitter as we were after that show. That audience is fantastic and the show is great. So glad we’re now friends with that crew. Matt was actually out in New York this past weekend for the Final Four and he came to see one of our shows at Gotham Comedy Club. The connection is deeper then just doing his show.
Music plays such an integral role in your podcast and radio spots. Who are you guys loving right now, and more importantly, will you guys be going to Coachella and who else do you have lined up to do in-studio sessions? Also, who’s coming up on your in-studio sessions?
We won’t be going to Coachella, because we have kids and we travel a lot. So to say to our wives, “Hey, we’re heading out to the desert to see music. Can you take the kids again this weekend for the fourth time this month?” would mean the end of both of our marriages. Which is fine. It seems like a perfect festival if you’re 20.
The music we’re loving right now is, of course, the Henry Clay People, who just played live in episode 35 of “Sklarbro Country,” the Amy Poehler episode. Army/Navy, who will play live at the end of April on the show, Mike Doughty, Rhett Miller Har Mar Superstar, Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, Tennis, Warpaint, Darron Hanlon, the Yolks, the Hold Steady, Langhorne Slim, Cake, Andrew Byrd… the list goes on. But we’re all about finding and loving new music and groups. It’s been fun to merge that with sports and comedy like we have on the podcast. It kind of brings together a bunch of passions of ours at once. Which reminds me of another band we love — Passion Pit.
What kind of little league coaches do you think you guys would be?
Fantastic, and at times over the top. We love our sports teams so much we hate them. So it’s going to be interesting to see how we handle our kids and wanting for them to succeed. I’m helping to coach my daughter, Daisy’s, soccer team this spring. It’s my first coaching experience. Our father was always one of the coaches on all of our teams. It was so special to have him there, we really both can’t wait to be that for our kids. Jay’s son is quite the hoopster at 2 years old. He’s gonna be the next Jewish Jordan, according to us. But I’m not sure my girls are going to want me coaching ballet. I don’t look good in a tutu.
Who’s the better tweeter between the two of you — and who out in the Twitterverse has the funniest tweets?
We both tweet about equally, and have come up with some of our best and favorite tweets. So that’s a hard one to call. I sometimes think in that space a little better than Jay, but again, he’s had some gems, especially recently. We’re huge fans in the twitter universe of Paul F. Tompkins, Jen Kirkman. Rob Delaney, Patton Oswalt, Jordan Rubin, Morgan Murphy, Chelsea Peretti, Sarah Silverman and Rich Fulcher.
Tickets for the Sklar Brothers shows at Comedy Works on Larimer Square today, April 1 and Saturday, April 2 are $26. Visit for tickets and more information.
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Julio Enriquez is a Denver writer and photographer, editor of the blog and a regular contributor to Reverb.
