Interview Fri Nov 11 2011

Interview: Urlakis & Cusick

By Nellie Huggins

Sean Cusick (L) and Dave Urlakis (R) met while both were cast members of the critically acclaimed religious satire, The Best Church of God. Already seasoned veterans of comedy, the two got together and created a two-man show in which they discuss everything from parenthood to death. The show opens this Saturday, November 12th, at Stage 773. Here's what the two had to say about finding time to write, parenthood and comedy.

This Saturday is the opening of your two-man show, Urlakis & Cusick. What was the impetus for this show?

SC: Dave and I started doing this thing backstage at a "Best Church of God" show, where we pretended we were aging Eastern European vaudevillians, planning our own suicides.

DU: We both had fun doing it, so decided to start working on a show together. Of course, we never put that depressed vaudevillians scene into a show, because we'd like our shows to be, you know, good.

Speaking of The Best Church of God, what was that experience like?

SC: Godless. No, seriously, it was surprisingly challenging. We knew that we were dealing with some sensitive subject matter, so we went out of our way to make our references, our jokes, our bits, completely untouchable. If anyone was offended, it's because we knew their religion better than they did.

DU: It was a lot of fun, I'm really proud of it and I'm glad my Catholic grandmother never saw it.

Dave, you have a viral YouTube Channel and a successful improv group, and Sean, you have several writing and directing credits under your belt. You both have so much going on, when did you guys find the time to write a show?

DU: I just carve out little chunks of time to write when I can. I might write a scene on my laptop between rehearsals or come up with an idea on the train and email it to myself on my iPhone or I might think it's a perfect time to write when I really should be paying the electric bill. I don't know, I just grab the time to write when I can.

SC: Yeah, that's always the problem, right? It's a matter of getting into the habit of thinking about jokes and bits when you're doing other things. I'm a dad, so when you're changing a poop-laden diaper, it's pretty easy to let your mind wander to ANYTHING else.

Actually, can you each talk a little about your independent projects?

SC: I've directed musicals, sketch shows and I still teach comedy at the Second City and the Annoyance theatre. To be completely honest, my biggest independent project has been "Dad." (CUE AUDIENCE "Awwww" moment)

DU: How am I supposed to top that? I'm an ensemble member at ComedySportz, I'm half of the two-person long form improv group Batterymouth and I'm the creator behind the Awkward Spaceship YouTube channel, so I'm writing, producing and acting in videos for that quite a bit.

If everyone who sees your show walks away with only one piece of knowledge....

SC: That Christmas is for suckers.

DU: Or that you can be a little smart and a little stupid all at the same time.

Urlakis & Cusick opens tomorrow at Stage 773 at 10:30 p.m. and runs every Saturday until December 17th. Tickets here.