Interview Fri Sep 23 2011

Garfunkel and Oates, who may be best known for the youtube sensation Pregnant Women Are Smug, will be performing their musical comedy at Chicago's Mayne Stage Theater on September 30 and October 1. I recently had the opportunity to spend a few minutes on the phone with Riki Lindholm, or as her fans know her, Garfunkel.



Riki Lindhome (R) and Kate Micucci (L)

Is this your first time performing in Chicago?

We performed at Just For Laughs last year, but this is our first time doing our own show...we're really stoked. I'm excited to spend some time...I was only there for one day the last time I came.

Are you going to hang out a bit this time?

Kate's getting in Thursday, I'm getting in Friday and we're just going to explore the city and eat some food...

Go to Hot Dougs...I don't know if you're into hot dogs, but that's my advice for food.

I am into hot dogs...I'll definitely have to do that.

You and Kate started working together on comedy shorts, right?

I saw Kate perform her music and decided to write a short for us ... to turn into a musical. That's how it started.

So you wrote it specifically for the two of you?

Yeah. We wrote a musical short and we put the songs on YouTube. And people responded to them.

Is it weird for you to be a YouTube sensation? You both have these impressive resumes, but a lot of people immediately recognize you from your work as Garfunkel and Oates.

It's awesome, it's exciting. It's kind of cool to come at entertainment in a different way, instead of auditioning and waiting for other people to give you a job. It's cool to have people find things you've made yourself...almost better in a way.

Can you talk about where you get the inspiration for your songs and videos?

Mostly it's just things that happen to us in real life. We'll talk about our day and be like, "This funny thing happened," then we work on an idea and see if it goes somewhere.

What's the responsibility share?

She writes more music and I write more lyrics, but we both help on both.

I was listening to your podcast today...I really like the premise of comics and writers interviewing their peers, who they think are cool.

That's the fun thing about it. You don't make any money doing podcasts, obviously, but who cares. You get to do whatever you want. There's nobody telling me what to do. It's nice.

It's always more interesting to hear someone do an interview about something that they're interested in.

Yeah. And it's not for everyone. It's mostly for people who are just starting out in show business, who could use some advice or inspiration. It's sort of a niche kind of thing, so I don't worry about making it for everyone. It's very specific, it's not trying to be for everyone.

How did the podcast come to be?

I just decided to do it one day. I was thinking about what kind of things I would have liked to listen to when I was starting out, and then I realized that I could actually do that. I'm in sort of the middle range where I still understand the struggle, because I'm in it, but I also have some perspective because I've been doing it for so long and I've had some success.

How do you decide who to interview?

So far, it's just been my friends. I'm sure I'm going to have to expand to people whom I'm not close with, but so far it's just been buddies of mine. If the podcast keeps going, I'm going to have to start really reaching out.

I feel like you two are about to be huge.

It's so weird. We're in that space, whatever the space between famous and not famous is, we're in that. People have an idea that we're someone they know, but they have no idea where from.

A lot of people don't realize that you've both done a lot of other work, as well.

Especially me. People seem to recognize Kate more from Scrubs and Raising Hope because she's playing her ukelele on them, and kind of playing herself, so she's easier to identify. But I play characters who are nothing like me, so people don't put it together.

What makes you laugh?

Comedy, other comedians, dark humor makes me laugh. Kate, too. We like really odd, dark things. Ours is kind of light, but what makes us laugh is really strange humor.

Your sound is pretty light, but a lot of your messages aren't. Some of those songs are pretty deadpan... you make light of things that aren't typically funny.

Yeah, for sure. I'm more of the deadpan one, Kate is more of the ham.

What's coming up for the two of you?

We're working on our HBO show right now, so hopefully that will turn into something. That's what we're really crossing our fingers for. And then we're going to start recording a new album.

Garfunkel & Oates will be at The Mayne Stage on September 30 and October 1. For tickets and information, click here. For more on Riki Lindhome or Kate Micucci, visit their personal websites.