We Are the Sklara Brothers, and This Is How We Work

The Sklar Brothers, the most famous current comedian, are known for their work in a wide variety of media: stand-up comedy (including six albums); TV shows such as Cheap Seats and performances at SportsCenter and Better Call Saul ; and their podcasts Sklarbro Country , View From the Cheap Seats, and Dumb People Town . We talked to them about how they create the series, how they write and hone their stand-up, as well as a live show where they joke with other comedians’ jokes.

Current Concert: Comedians, Writers, Actors, Two Podcast Anchors Current Computer: Apple Mac Book Pro Current Mobile Device: Iphone 7S and iPhone 10X One word that best describes how you work: Constantly

First of all, tell us a little about your past and how you got where you are now.

We grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. As a child, we were big fans of comedy: Airplane , Glittering Saddles , Letterman, and then comics such as Seinfeld, Schendling, SNL. We were sponges who took it all by heart, memorized the actions of little-known comedians and simply poured them out to our parents’ friends when they came to our house and played bridge in our basement. As twins, we drew a lot of attention to ourselves and thought how great it would be if we used that attention to make people laugh.

We started performing in high school and continued to college at the University of Michigan. We both studied English and learned to write in college, which has helped us today as we write for television.

We moved to New York in 1994 and continued to perform. Three years later we did our own show on MTV, Apt. 2F , hybrid sitcom with sketch and stand-up. It was great and connected us with many greats in the comedy world such as Zach Galifianakis, Stephen Colbert, Amy Poehler, Jeff Ross, Patton Oswalt, David Wayne, Michael Showalter and many other amazing people.

We moved to Los Angeles in 1999 and a few years later got Cheap Seats on the ESPN Classic, which ran for four seasons and 77 episodes. From that moment until today, we have consistently worked in film, television, stand-up shows, and now in podcasting.

Tell us about a recent work day.

Get up, take the kids to school and then we start OUR day. We get together to write one of many things. We usually meet at Randy’s house around 9:30 and work until 3 when it’s time to pick up our kids from school. Then we’ll be with them until nightfall, and then we’ll put them to bed and go outside and play stand-up comedy until dawn.

We’ll write sketches for future podcasts or work on passages that we throw away. We currently have two television projects in different stages of development, so we will meet with the writers we work with throughout the day to complete these projects. If we have podcasts to record, we’ll go to Starburns Industries, where we record and record any of the many podcasts, either View From the Cheap Seats , our sports / comedy podcast, or Dumb People Town , our weekly research and dumb tidal wave celebration. washing our society. If we’re working on a TV show or movie, our hours can of course be crazy and long and we’ll be on set all day.

What apps, gadgets or tools, besides your phone, can’t you live without?

Randy: My turntable. Love it to death. Listen to it with your family during breakfast and dinner, on weekends, and while we write.

Jason: The basketball hoop is at a cul-de-sac near my house. This is where my son and I are going to hang out and mingle. It’s more fun than being a part-time operator on his TikToks or telling him to leave Fortnite.

How do you work on the rack?

We write stand-ups like a band writes songs. Usually one of us has the core of an idea, a concept, and we pass it on to the other and try to understand what is funny about it and what overarching truth we use from the point of view of the premise. Then we write about 40 percent.

Then we bring what we have to the LA stand-up stage and show it up, looking at what works and what doesn’t. Maybe some fun friends and I can help the riff and clean it up further, but the more we put it out, the more we can see where we laugh the most and work to write in those areas.

Then, finally, by playing the beat many times, we really feel like we have something. Whenever it makes a lot of laughs in any environment, it becomes an integral part of the new set, and we can add one or two tags while continuing to do so.

What’s going on in the release of each of your podcasts?

Our amazing fans are sending crazy stories to Dan Van Kirk, our co-host at Dumb People Town . They tweet him and he picks the first person to send it to him. Dan breaks the stories apart. We book a guest by talking to our wonderful comedic friends and our studio producer Noah Eberhart helps us with the organization.

When we walk into the studio, Dan is the only one of us who has read this story, so our reactions and riffs with the guest are real, alive and unfounded. We love this idea, the fact that our reactions to our dumb world are reflected in this podcast. The comedy is fast, furious and hilarious.

With View From the Cheap Seats, we’re trying to tell us about the biggest sports story of the week. Whether it’s a drop in attendance in Major League Baseball or comparing LeBron’s tenure as Laker to Samuel L. Jackson in a Capital One ad, we’re trying to passionately (comically) bring up a big topic in the world of sports as soon as we can.

Then we book a sports guest, an athlete like Blake Griffin, or a person behind the microphone like Bob Costas, or a comedian who knows a lot about sports like Talk Soup and John Henson from Wipeout (HUGE Knicks fan), and we interview … or talk to them about sports. Then we find three smaller and weirder funny stories from the world of sports and take them apart to discuss with the guest. Finally, we get one of our great voice actors to leave a voicemail, or we interview them in the form of Christoph Waltz or Ozzy Guillen or Tiger Woods or Bill Walton or Nick Cage, which gives us another chance to do snapshots in the current sports landscape through the minds of the great character improvisers.

How does partnering with a brother affect your workflow?

We are really good at picking each other’s weak points to give each other the breaks we sometimes need to spend time with our family or to fulfill personal responsibilities. Being part of a team means never keeping track of what you’ve done compared to the other guy. It’s just “do it for the good of the duo.”

And we always say that the best part of teamwork is that we can share money.

We have a rapport and we both trust each other when it comes to representing the team.

What’s your favorite shortcut or hack?

Randy: I make my kids’ lunch the night before from the leftovers of our dinner so I can take my time the next morning. Gives me more time with AM. (Randy)

Jason: TSA pre-check: for comedians who travel a lot, this is a godsend and an amazing way through a rather frustrating process.

Tell us about an interesting, unusual, or challenging process you have at work.

Jason: Since I usually post actual posts to our shared Instagram account and IG Stories, Randy often sends me photos, posts verbiage, and orders me to post them.

Who are the people who help you achieve results, and how do you rely on them?

Noah Eberhart, our studio producer for our podcast, helps us coordinate guest work and manages our very fragmented podcast schedule. Starburns’ Jason Smith has helped shape our podcast, build a strong fan community, and create new opportunities for us. We rely on Dan Van Kirk, our co-host, to help organize the show and interact with the fans and, most importantly, to partner with the creation and production of each show. We hope our booking agent TJ Markwalter gives us the opportunity to perform live.

How do you keep track of what you need to do?

Google Docs and Calendars. We also constantly communicate with manufacturers and colleagues. We really could do our job better by fulfilling all our commitments.

How to recharge or relax?

We are both meditating. Every morning. We play tennis together and with friends. Listening and watching music is a great exercise.

Randy: Traveling with my family in and around California. There are so many interesting things to see in the driving distance, and although my children, ages 11 and 13, still want to hang out with me and my wife, this is a great reset for me.

Jason: I love watching my son play sports in the rec league. He’s 10 years old, so it’s actually fun to watch, and it was incredible for me to watch him learn to play baseball and basketball and build relationships with other kids and coaches. Hiking and spending time with the family is also energizing.

What’s your favorite side project?

We started organizing a stand-up show called Tag It. We book our funny comic book friends, and while they make their sets, we frantically write tags for their backstage jokes. We keep them on stage after the show and tag them all our stuff for their material and riffs with them, and we often come with this material to new places. It’s a very difficult show for us because there is never a sub-second here, but it’s so fun and so enjoyable when something clicks on the pitch and riff.

What are you reading now or what do you recommend?

Randy: The Beastie Boys Book . It’s incredible. Would highly recommend to anyone and everyone.

Jason: All Richard Russo’s fools . I think Russo is fun, dark, warm and shiny. His books are revelation. I believe he is one of the best living American authors.

Can you share the music playlist you’ve created for work or somewhere else?

Here’s a playlist we made to appear on Josh Adam Meyers’ awesome podcast The 500 :

• What Time Is It – Dirty Projectors
• Mr. Tillman – Father John Misty
• Don’t Knock Out My Boy Girl – Anna Calvi
• Cool football mommy
• Still not a player – Big Punisher
• Khala, my friend – Amanaz
• Sail On, Sailor – Beach Boys
• Worry About You – Rolling Stones
• Where Are You Tonight – Bob Dylan
• In Bloom – Sturgill Simpson

Who else would you like to see to answer these questions?

Lionel Messi, Gary Busey, Jeff Tweedy and Bill Walton.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

John Stewart, many years ago, before our MTV show, went bowling with us and told us: Always make sure that the mistakes you make are your own and that you don’t fall for the mistakes of others. You can deal with your own shortcomings, but it’s hard to swallow your dream because of someone else’s failure.