Matt Walsh of the Upright Citizens Brigade
by Daniel Robert Epstein for SuicideGirls (http://suicidegirls.com/)

Matt Walsh is one of the hottest up and coming funnymen in the business. But unlike a lot of so called famous funny people, Walsh has a ton of talent. That talent is on display nearly every week at one of the Upright Citizens Brigade theatres which he founded along with Matt Besser, Ian Roberts and Amy Poehler.

Three years ago, Matt teamed up with Ian Roberts to write and star in the independent film Martin & Orloff. Though the film was hysterical, it was a bit weird and scared off many distributors. Now the movie is getting its due in a deluxe style DVD from Anchor Bay Entertainment.

Martin & Orloff is about Martin Flam [Ian Roberts], an advertising executive with a ridiculous job: to come up with wacky mascots for various corporate commercials. After he attempts to kill himself, he is placed in the care of Dr. Eric Orloff [Matt Walsh], a glib but caring psychiatrist who leaves in the middle of their first session together to attend a softball game. Martin begins following him around going on a series of bizarre adventures.

Check out the official site for Martin & Orloff

Daniel Robert Epstein: So we’ve come full circle; I talked to you when I first saw Martin & Orloff a few years ago, then I talked to Ian when you guys got a limited release and now we’re talking about the DVD release. At what point did you guys just say that it was time to get Martin and Orloff out on DVD rather than to keep trying for a full blown theatrical release?

Matt Walsh: I think it had a limited run in New York, Boston, Chicago, college towns. Then basically, for whatever reason it had run its course. I think they just started pursuing it logically to get more people to see it.

DRE: You guys were cool with that?

MW: Yeah, I think so. There was no huge distributor that would get behind it; it wasn’t the kind of movie in the category of, “Oh, we know what to do with this.” I think it was a pretty easy decision because everyone realized it was funny.

DRE: You must be pretty happy with the fact that Anchor Bay is putting it out, that’s a very big DVD company.

MW: Yeah, it is. I haven’t actually gone into stores to see if it’s on shelves, but I’m assuming it’s out there.

DRE: How was doing the commentary for the DVD?

MW: The commentary was really fun. It was a bit of a burden because it was just me and Ian, so it’s a lot talking. Also I was a little hungover so we had to take a few breaks.

DRE: How involved were you guys with putting together the DVD in general?

MW: Very involved. We came up with a boardgame for the inside of the DVD and we tried to dig up all the old scenes with [director] Larry [Blume] and we pushed for our commentary. We just wanted to make it for fans of the movie.

DRE: I interviewed David Cross about his CD. I asked him how his experience was on Martin and Orloff. He said it was a lot of fun, but he thought the movie sucked.

MW: That’s his opinion. I don’t think that. I don’t think it’s perfect, but I think there’s definitely enough laughs throughout.

DRE: I’m sure he didn’t have that opinion when he was on set.

MW: No, he had a good time. I think he made a movie that he thought sucked as well; I don’t know what his standards are. We’re still friends.

DRE: I’m sure he didn’t mean the experience.

MW: He read the script and was really flattering about it. He was very happy to do it. So maybe he didn’t like the execution by the director.

DRE: You mentioned that you thought Martin and Orloff wasn’t perfect, was it just the normal stuff when making a low budget film?

MW: When I watch it, I think I didn’t act things well or I acted things too broadly. Since we basically improvised it, the film’s story happens over three days. With the advantage of a script, you can have a larger arc or just more elements. In this one we basically just track two characters. Whereas I think it gets more interesting in a movie like Pulp Fiction where you have four or five storylines collide. Structurally, the next movie I write, I would probably outline it more and be more ambitious with starting points for different characters and I would have them connect later on.

DRE: There is an alternate ending on the DVD, what is that?

MW: The ending was originally Jon Benjamin singing a rap song about two American oil companies running the world. Initially, we wanted it because he’s a Desert Storm veteran so it was kind of his spotlight.

DRE: I’m sure you meet fans of Martin & Orloff at the UCB theaters all the time. But have you met fans outside the UCB fan base?

MW: Yeah, I get a lot of emails and I’m surprised so many people have seen it. When we do shows out of town, I run into people on the street, I’m surprised because I felt like no one saw it.

DRE: Is Wild Girls Gone still an official UCB movie at this point?

MW: Yeah, that would be our first official movie. Martin and Orloff was something Ian and I just wrote during the second season of UCB. We always just wanted to do a movie and then we just cast Matt [Besser] and Amy [Poehler] because they’re friends.

DRE: What have you guys learned from the making of Martin and Orloff that you applied to the making of Wild Girls Gone?

MW: They’re kind of different movies. Wild Girls Gone was completely improvised and low budget. Martin and Orloff was more premeditated. For Wild Girls Gone we did a scene the way it was written then we weren’t afraid to burn some footage of ideas we had on the set. I think we got a little more experience in trusting our improv instincts. That would be the only difference after doing Martin and Orloff.

DRE: I saw the ASSSSCAT special on Bravo.

MW: Did you like it?

DRE: I did like it. I thought it came off really well.

MW: Oh good. Thank you.

DRE: Yeah, you guys had a pretty big director doing it, John Fortenberry, that was great.

MW: Yeah, he was awesome. I think the challenge was to make people feel they were inside the theater.

DRE: Filming improv is really tough; did the UCB get involved with the technical side as well?

MW: Yeah, we had a lot of input. We were originally going to film it in the New York theater, but the ceilings were too low. We were really pushing for that one because you get that feel of an intimate space with people packing in and standing right on top of you. It has a casual, informal attitude. We didn’t want it to be like a really polished TV show.

DRE: Where did it eventually get filmed?

MW: We filmed it at a studio in New York, where they filmed the prestigious Ricki Lake Show. We were really happy because people told us that it felt like the live show.

DRE: During the show you said something really dirty at one point; did you guys have any discussions about making it anything different than the regular show?

MW: No, the whole idea was to make it feel like the live show. We’re pretty lazy so we didn’t want it to be too high maintenance.

DRE: Do you want to do ASSSSCAT on Bravo on a regular basis?

MW: If the ratings do well, then they will give us a few specials. I think the idea would be to do four or five a year.

DRE: How is Wild Girls Gone coming out?

MW: We’re still finishing it because it’s a home made movie. When one of us isn’t busy, we get to focus on it but we’re all doing different things. It’s been a very slow process. Then we have to get all the legal paperwork done and stuff like that. It’s supposed to be finished, but it’s not.

DRE: Do you have a certain date you want to get it done by?

MW: No, we don’t have any idea yet.

DRE: What else is going on with the UCB brand?

MW: I think the biggest thing is that we opened that theater in LA. That’s starting to take off and we’re starting to teach improv classes there.

DRE: Did you move to LA just to get more work and to open up this LA theater?

MW: Exactly. There are three of us living in LA now, so I wanted a clubhouse so I could go hang, perform and have my own space. We fortunately found a theater with two guys that were trying to get out because they were tired of running a theater. The LA theatre is right across the street from the Scientology Celebrity Center.

DRE: That’s good, I guess.

MW: Sure, it’s fine. It is a landmark.

DRE: What about for you personally, did you do any pilots this year?

MW: Yeah, I’m doing a show in January for Comedy Central called American Lives. It was created by Dan Mazer who worked on Ali G for seven seasons. It’s basically a fake news team from Spokane, Washington that travels the country covering news stories.

DRE: Is it plot-driven or more like The Daily Show?

MW: It’ll be 50 percent interviews and 50 percent Curb Your Enthusiasm type scenes with the four characters. Zach Galifianakis plays the director, I play the news anchor, this guy A.D. Miles plays my intern and Andrea Savage plays the producer.

DRE: Are you a writer as well as performer?

MW: Yeah. We all come up with plotlines and relationships. My whole modus operandi is to get the producer to sleep with me. Then we have arguments in front of real interview people, so it’s kind of funny.

DRE: How many episodes did get picked up?

MW: We’re going to do ten starting January. Then I’m doing the next Todd Phillips movie.

DRE: That’s right; you were in Road Trip and Old School. Where did you meet Todd?

MW: He came to the theater, actually. I’ve known the guy he writes with, Scot Armstrong, for a while. He’s a big fan of the theater.

DRE: Do you have a bigger role than you had on his past movies? You didn’t get to say much in Starsky and Hutch.

MW: Yeah, Chris [Penn] and I got cut. If it all goes as written, yes, it’ll definitely be bigger.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck

web address: http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Matt+Walsh+of+the+Upright+Citizens+Brigade/