“It’s an early catch phrase based on Robyn von Swank’s [publicity] photos — very dark. I do think I kind of like sketch that people who hate sketch would like. I wish that there was not a repetition of the traditional tonality, even though SNL has that format — brick wall, band, super identifiable pop culture figures. When SNL started, it was something that hadn’t been done before but now most sketch is a parody of itself.” Susan chimes in.
“You can tell what comedy school the person went to — oh this is Groundlings, IO, UCB… I think that all of us have really diff perspectives, even though Emily started at Groundlings, Lizzy and I went through theater programs — but neither are married to any school of thought. Many people say they’re surprised how dark the comedy is.”
Lizzy is nervous in the interview setting — she’s been quiet so far. She laughs and mentions feeling a bit robotic, trying to imagine what she would say, rather than talking. Susan agrees.
“I always get scared that I’m going to say something weird out of nowhere. [When doing] stand up, I have a fear that I black out and then tell a really personal sex story onstage.”
But after the initial interview-beginning shyness, it’s fascinating to watch the trio riff off one another, verbal jenga. I ask them about how they found one another.
The Origin Story
Susan: We all knew each other through stand up, Roxanne [Benjamin, their manager] talked about starting a female sketch group. So I meditated, since there are so many talented women but who would I really want to work with. I thought of these two … it’s been amazing ever since.
Emily: I don’t know if [meditation] is how you should form all sketch groups, but energetically it’s always been very magical.
Lizzy: The first day we started with our laptops and came up with ideas right away.
Susan: And there was an earthquake!
Lizzy: That’s right! We almost called ourselves the California Condors.
Emily: That’s how it started — no cuz you thought of Birds of Prey…
Susan: Off of condors!
Lizzy: And we were like “California Raisins!” But someone already had that.
Emily: We’ll get so sidetracked in conversation and then we’re all laughing — and there’s an idea.
Lizzy: We wait til we’re all in REM sleep and then we have ideas.
Susan: We cut each other and bleed together and then ideas come.
You’re three women doing comedy — traditionally, kind of a boys’ club. There are a huge number of male comedians out there. So who’s the sexiest?
Lizzy: “Eric Andre!”
A friend of all three girls, and talented stand up, he also happens to be sitting at the counter behind us.
Emily: I know who my answer is but I’m embarrassed to say … Zach Galifianakis is like sweet and oddly sexy … It’s weird because you know we kinda know him and now he’s a big deal so it’s kinda corny to say.
Susan: I think everybody who’s funny is sexy … I can’t think of one person.
Emily: (to Susan) I think it might be you.
Susan: (to Emily) I think it might be you!
Lizzy: Why doesn’t anyone think I’m sexy?
Emily: Now I’m embarrassed. I said too much.
She’s nervous about the Zach Galifianakis shout out, so I let her know I can just change it to Russell Brand.
Emily: Oh I know who’s cute! Joel McHale.
Meanwhile, Susan is locked in a staring contest with a baby at the next table.
Susan: That baby is stealing my soul.
Lizzy: You’re having a full-on connection.
Emily: We should all raise a baby together.
The Three Women and a Baby scenario sounds like a great plan. But what would it be like? What would they teach it? They muse for a moment until Emily replies.
Emily: It would start with slapstick.
Lizzy: (feeling her stomach) What would we teach a baby? We would all teach the baby different things.
Emily: I’d teach it how to smoke. It’s kinda weird how well we get along and how well we write together. Individually, we’re all pretty different. That’s how we’d be with a baby, we’d be great parents.
Lizzy: We would not be deadpan parents.
What can one expect from a Birds of Prey show?
Emily: The last show featured a lot of really fun high concept sketches. We ended up writing something very simple and conversational to counter that. We start the show with the Norwegian black metal coffee shop sketch. Characters are HUGE, literally — on stilts, a ladder etc. We end with this Insane Mom Posse sketch, they’re juggalos but mommalos — going crazy for mom rap music. We won’t do it again because there’s so much ICP stuff now, but then we hadn’t seen it before. Somehow, juggalo sketches got oversaturated.
Susan: Juggalos have ben around for 20 years but suddenly they blew up like this year.
Lizzy: Do you think kids know what a gigolo is more, or a juggalo?
Emily: I think you have to be an 80-year-old woman to know what a gigolo is.
What’s in the pipeline for the future?
Emily: Videos right now. We have 4 or 5 scripts out to [two notable comedy websites].
Susan: The next live show we do will probably be all new. The next one might be the Church of Birds of Prey — we walk in, walk down the aisles and kiss everyone on the mouth.
Lizzy: Comedy without boundaries.
Susan: What if we just turn this into a religion?
It’s nice to know that if the comedy thing doesn’t work out, Emily, Lizzy and Susan can pursue a future as pastors of a titillating and eventually flu-ridden church. Or three-way couple parents teaching a child about comedy and little else. Maybe even a tribute pop band made of dried fruit. Luckily, none of these Plan B scenarios seem necessary, as these ladies are funny as shit, and it shows from just sharing a coffee with them. You can find out more about these classy broads at http://www.kawkawkaw.com.
Great to get a glimpse into the creative process of a trio of funnyladies!
These ladies are AWE-SOME.
Being that I think with my stomach, I totally get why interviewers are obsessed with their subjects’ appetites. Also, I love how free-flowing and ADD their creative process is! It makes me feel so much better about my — ooo cupcakes.