On the road, Broken Lizard has returned to their roots. The comedy sketch group Broken Lizard is performing live as they tour 50 cities across America to promote their soon to be released feature film “The Slammin’ Salmon.” Broken Lizard was founded at Colgate University as a sketch comedy group, compromised of Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Hafferman, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske. They are the minds behind the films “Super Troopers,” “Club Dread” and “Beerfest.” on Oct. 8 and 9, the group performed at the Lakeshore Theatre. On October 16, Hafferman dropped by Northeastern Illinois University’s radio station WZRD to promote that night’s shows.
“We used to do live shows when we started and then we started making movies. We got away from the live stuff and decided to go back on the road and do some live shows,” said Kevin Hafferman. The shows consist of original sketches, standup performances by each of the members, some audience participation a la “Beerfest” and showing some clips from the new movie “The Slammin’ Salmon.”
When asked about the difference between making the movies and performing live, Hafferman said, “The immediate response from the audience is awesome! And we kind of forgot what that was like… but the immediate gratification is the best part, the biggest difference.” In Hafferman’s performance, one can expect to hear about the experiences that he has had making the movies.
In making their movies, all of the members of the group contributed to the stories and ideas that went into them. Hafferman mentioned how the movies were truly a collaborative effort.
“Super Troopers” was very much like a series of sketches. We would come up with a funny idea what would happen with a cop and then craft it together from that. This new movie ‘The Slammin’ Salmon’ is very much like that too. With ‘Beerfest,’ we had the story first. We’re going to do this beer competition and put it together from there,” said Hafferman. “The Slammin’ Salmon” marks Hafferman’s first directorial effort and ranks as one of his proudest moments along with getting “Super Troopers” made.
Make sure to catch “The Slammin’ Salmon” which will star Broken Lizard as well as Chicago’s own Michael Clarke Duncan. You can also catch Broken Lizard’s live performance on Nov. 6, in Milwaukee at the Pabst Theatre.