Seattlest Interview: Dusty Warren
With SketchFest Seattle chugging into its final weekend, we had a sit-down with Dusty Warren. Seattlest figured he'd be a good guy to talk to, as he's been performing sketch comedy in Seattle since 2000 and is a member of two groups performing this weekend. First there's Flaming Box of Stuff---they just returned from New York where they were a part of a HBO showcase at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre---and then there's the two-man group Champagne.
Tell me about the groups that you're in.
Champagne is a 2-man show with Troy Fischnaller and I. Troy is also in the other group I’m in, Flaming Box of Stuff. I met Troy at a college theater conference in Wyoming in 1996. I was at Centralia Community College and he was at the University of Oregon. We pretty much saw each other, not in a dirty way, every February for a few years. When I moved to Seattle in 2000, my friend from U of O said [Troy] was here and gave me his number. After creating a few hundred inside jokes, we decided to put them in a show. One of the sketches in the show was written about 3 years ago, but we finally got the show on its feet this past May. It’s a show about bingo and murder. It’ll pretty much change your life. Flaming Box of Stuff is just a bunch of douchebags that try to get artsy-fartsy with sketch. We mostly use our fame to get laid.
Flaming Box of Stuff is made up of members from other groups. How did you guys get together?
I’m not real sure. I wasn't in the group originally. I believe Val (Bush) and Cory (Nealy) were looking for a new group after Mike Daisy left to go tell stories about working at Amazon (Bush, Nealy, Daisy and Jean-Michele Gregory were members of the sketch group Up In Your Grill). They just kind of picked the people they wanted from other groups Kirk (Anderson) and Evan (Mosher) from Bald Faced Lie, and Troy from Some Kind of Cult. The original plan, and I’m taking liberties because I know that nobody's actually going to read this, was to do some non-traditional sketch. For example, no sketches about talk shows, bad first dates, commercial parodies. The first real show to be performed in Chicago in January 2003 and they needed someone to be a dead body. I was going to be out there with Some Kind of Cult anyway, so they asked me. After my gripping performance, they asked me to be in the group.
How would you defend sketch comedy to those people who think that sketch comedy is hacky, and is mostly features talk shows, bad first dates, and commercial parodies?
I would defend it by saying that most sketch comedy on TV is hacky and shit. But that's because there's a lot of dipshits out there that want to see sketches about Paris Hilton running a scuba diving company. So yeah, I won't defend the sketch that's on TV, its pretty much crap. But, I will say that there's a lot of great sketch comedy out there that, quite frankly, to quote Stephen A. Smith, is better than the stuff on TV. TV execs have to put stuff on that's safe, and American’s have proven over the years that we have horrible taste. That’s why reality shows thrive and Arrested Development struggles. My defense is - don't judge sketch comedy based on what you see on TV, SNL, Mad TV, Blue Collar. Come out and see some shit live and, if you don't like it, die knowing that you did all you could.
At the turn of the century there were like 47 sketch groups in Seattle, why was this area such a hot bed for sketch comedy?
I blame grunge.
Do you see any difference between what Seattle groups are doing and what is happening in other cities?
Actually, yes, I do see some differences between Seattle and the rest of the country. We seem to be more theatrical than most. For example, Flaming Box shows have always had a theme and somewhat of a thru-line. The Champagne show is essentially a play. There is a story that you follow from beginning to end. Hypnagogia is all based on sketches Josh (Knisely) had while in a half-sleeping state. Bald Faced Lie used to do themed shows as well. They had a show called "Speechless" that featured no dialogue. It was brilliant. May they rest in peace. Train of thought shows are based around a word or phrase, for example New York or laid off. Whenever Flaming Box goes to festivals, our friends in other groups around the country ask us, "what's the next theme?" because they're excited about it, or have nothing else to talk about.-- ok, it's probably that. I like to think Seattle is just lazy, so we need some parameters to write around. Also, Seattle groups base more of their stuff around coffee and salmon. Seriously, have you seen the guys at the market that throw the fish? It blows my mind every time!!
What is like building an audience for a fringe theatre group in Seattle?
I don't really know what it's like to build an audience because we haven't built one. Right now, it's mostly our friends that come to the shows. I think they're getting tired of us. We have to let a lot of them in for free.
Finally, I’ll ask what we all want to know. Why do sketch comedians do well with the ladies?
Because in high school we couldn't play football because our dicks were too big, so we had to find a different outlet that allowed for baggier pants. We chose sketch. Now that we're all balding and easily-injured, the ladies are finally catching on that big dicks and bad knees are what they want.
