What’s that two-headed freak doing in the shadows with your household pet? Why, it’s reading the new installment of “Why So Serious?,” this time featuring musical-comedy duo (get it? Two famous musical sidemen, together at last — in the form of two female singer-guitarists).
The duo, which runs a weekly show at the esteemed Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in L.A., has been called a female Flight of the Conchords, and the comparison isn’t completely off-base. Like the Conchords, they’ll soon have an HBO show that promises to bring their quirky songs to a much wider audience.
We had intended to publish our e-mail Q&A with them in advance of their show on June 25, but an e-mail SNAFU put the breaks on that. So, for your belated reading pleasure, here’s the full text of our virtual chat.
You’ve had some great guests on your UCB show in the past. What have been some of your favorites — and your favorite moments with them?
Donald Glover and Sarah Silverman were great guests. But our favorite moment may be when Justin Long read Michael Madsen poetry to the audience. It was pretty amazing.
The Flight of the Conchords comparisons will only get more frequent given the HBO deal and comedy-folk musical format. Does it bother you that that’s most peoples’ only contemporary reference point? What influences would you want people to know about when it comes to your comedy and/or music?
We don’t mind the comparisons at all! It’s flattering, since we love FOTC. And it’s probably a good thing that it’s some people’s only contemporary reference point — that means there aren’t too many comedy duos flooding the market. As far an influence goes, I think our biggest inspiration is musical theater. We’ve both been huge Broadway fans since we were kids.
Do you have a song you used to love to perform that you now can’t stand?
We go in waves. We get tired of certain songs, but then we always come back around to liking them.
What’s your favorite joke/song of the moment (yours or someone else’s)?
Riki: “You Grew on Me” by Tim Minchen
Kate: “Come on Me” by Shayna Ferm and the Upper Deckers
When you come to Denver this weekend you’re playing the Gothic, which is a vintage theater. Do you prefer those over comedy clubs or bars, or do you even have a favorite type of venue?
Anywhere there is an eager audience, we are happy to play. We once played a tent in the rain and it was awesome.
What are you most excited about in the next few months, professionally or personally? Where are you at with the HBO show at the moment?
We are traveling to a lot of cool places this summer, playing in Ireland, Montreal and New York. We are also excited to start recorded our second album in August. And currently we are shooting a webseries for HBO and working on writing the pilot.
Do you consider acting to be your main gig and this to be a side project, or the other way around? What’s your true “passion”? (as cheesy as that sounds…)
It is kind of cool because thanks to the HBO project, our acting world and Garfunkel and Oates are combined. We love acting and we love performing our songs, so it is the best of both worlds.
What’s your favorite thing to do outside of music/comedy/acting?
Kate: I like building sandcastles and painting pictures.
Riki: I watch TV.
You have a great perspective on the comedy scene, so who should we know about that’s up-and-coming in the stand-up world?
There are seriously too many to name. But we just did a show in Australia with Hannibal Burress, Moshe Kasher and Tom Segura and they are all amazing.
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John Wenzel is an executive editor of and an award-winning A&E reporter for The Denver Post. He is the author of (Speck Press/Fulcrum) and maintains a of random song titles and band names.
