Remember those heady days before the 2004 election? When all anyone ever talked about was red vs. blue? Those were good times for America, and good times for internet comedy site JibJab, who captured the zeitgeist with a little Flash-animated featurette called "This Land." We didn't hear much from JibJab for a while, but they're back with the Great Sketch Experiment, in which they teamed up with legendary comedy film director John Landis (Animal House, Blues Brothers, Coming to America, to name a few) to produce six short films performed by some of the best independent comedy troupes in America.

In not such a coincidence, there is one Seattle comedy troupe up for the big money, Train of Thought. Seattlest had a hot toddy with John Boyle, Ryan Miller, and Kaci Aitchison to discuss how they became huge internet celebrities.

How did you get involved in the Great Sketch Experiment?

John: JibJab contacted me first. A friend of mine from New York recommended us to their talent director. She'd worked with him on a variety of projects, and she was looking for some non-big market comedy groups. And we're the only group who made it to the final six who are not from New York or L.A. I knew that the contest was going to be themed, and I thought, "oh, okay whatever," and then I get the guidelines, and the theme is policework and prison. I've never been in a prison!

Ryan: The set we filmed on was like a police precinct and they had a courtroom. We never used the courtroom, so that's where the craft service was, and you know you're on a good production when you've got the craft service.

J: So I submitted the script, I overnighted it, and then I forgot all about it. I was like, well, I hope I did my buddy right. When your friend recommends you, you have to look good. And then I got an email saying "John [Landis] will make his final decisions this weekend." They called me first thing Monday---Gregg and Evan, the JibJab founders, and the talent director, Lydia---and I couldn't believe we got picked.

Kaci: I thought he was lying.

R: 9:30 in the morning he calls me at work and says, "Remember that JibJab thing?" I’m like, "What the hell are you talking about?" "Remember, we sent that script?" "Ohhhh yeah..."

K: And they were so quick too! We had to be in L.A. in a week and a half.

J: The pace was just really crazy. And I couldn't believe we were the only non-LA/NYC group, [especially since] over half of the groups involved from those cities already had separate representation or were involved in industry somehow. We're really the little engine that could. Or the Cinderella story.

So did you find writing a law-and-order type skit to be hard when you didn't have any experience with it?

J: Well, I created some characters, Tom and Tina, and they've been in several of our shows. They basically argue through a proxy, and I thought that would really work with an interrogation scene.

R: Because prison, oddly enough, is not very funny. Strangely depressing there. I'm glad we went in another direction.

More about working with John Landis, checking in with Puppet Tom, and other Train of Thought-related shilling after the jump.

So how was working with John Landis?

R: He was very cool. On any film shoot, there's a lot of down time. But for this one, it wasn't boring at all. Partly because we were on such a hectic schedule, but partly because John just kept us entertained. He has so many stories, and he's such an interesting guy. I would love to get him drunk and talking.

K: What he did that was cool is that he could tell us stories, he was personal, but he could maintain the level of respect that he needed from us to be able to just turn it on, "do this, do that." It was like clockwork. We could be buddy-buddy, but when the cameras started rolling, he was very clear about what we needed to do.

J: He really respected us. He worked with John Belushi, and who the hell are we? But he was great, really respectful, and he threw in a lot of blocking that really added to the scene. He knew what we had worked on, what we had created, and he was great.

K: We took pictures with him after we were done, and he was directing how the picture should be taken.

R: "No, no, you see what you did? Let's try this again...." One of my favorite parts was when we started to take the picture, I said, "John, stand right here." Because he had told us where to stand all day.

It must be interesting for you to create this piece of work, and then this other guy comes in and tells you how he sees it, how he would play it.

K: And that's where lack of ego became key. Anybody in entertainment has an ego, but all three of us said, "You tell us whatever you need to tell us, and we'll do it." John [Boyle] didn't want us to really rehearse and direct it ahead of time, because it'd be easier if we just let one person direct it. At the time I said, "You're crazy," but it ended up being a really smart move.

J: I didn't want us to have the idea of "this is the way that it goes."

R: That's one of the reasons we were so successful with our filming. In a creative environment, you can't be too territorial. It just slows things down. You shouldn't be a doormat either, because you're still there to make choices, but we were there as actors to make acting choices. John [Landis] was there to make storytelling choices, and for us to not be territorial was a huge asset. I think the performance John got out of us and what we brought to the table really benefitted from that.

K: Hey, if all we get out of this is the experience we had, I am good with that. If we don't win, I'll still say good for them.

J: It'd be great if we won, but it's really not all about that.

K: This is the only time I can say, "It's just an honor to be nominated." I will never say that again, but it is reaaaaally an honor to be nominated.

Anything else to plug or shill?

J: The new show opens November 3rd. It's a "best of" show, our fifth, and the best of the previous four. At the Northwest Actor’s Studio.

R: Comfy couches.

K: And drinks. Couches and drinks make us funny.

J: Puppet Tom is still doing really well. We actually took him to MySpace headquarters. They went totally crazy.

R: We get there and Puppet Tom's in his little gym bag. Eventually John whips him out, and the receptionist yells, "Puppet Tom! Oh my God!" She starts calling people, and next thing you know there’s employees flooding the reception area.

J: It was like they were coming to meet Santa Claus. They were in a line.

R: They all wanted their picture taken.

K: And they talked to the puppet. John is standing right there, and they're ignoring him and us, and just talking to the puppet.

R: They took us on a tour, and we went everywhere. The employees just loved it. We got to the products group and they all took this big group photo with us. It was far and away a much bigger reception than we were expecting, though we didn't get to meet Human Tom.

J: Puppet Tom's going to shill the hell out of our new show in November. It's going to be great.

R: It's about time he starts paying the rent.