Fest Spotlight On MEAT!

We aren't talking about a Spotlight on Ground Chuck here folks, but we are Spotlighting MEAT. If they were a popular cut of the beast, they would be Prime Rib! MEAT is a group of ladies that is putting their own brand on their herds of loyal fans (not to call us cattle, but a metaphor is a metaphor). This amazing foursome makes up one of the funniest sketch troupes working today.

People who attended the 2005 dccomedyfest will remember their performances with awe. It's not every day you are so scared that you laugh until it hurts (see our write-up the Evil British Children). And the raw fun of sketches like Shelac alone will be putting people in the seats for their return visit to our nations capital. So don't miss your chance to see these ladies do what they were meant to be doing.

We talked with MEAT and they were kind enough to fill us in about the phenomenon that is MEAT:

dccf: How did the members of MEAT originally get together?

MEAT: We met at an audition for a different project. I think it is one of the things that makes MEAT unique. Most groups come with a history from college or high school or were started by two friends, etc, but we REALLY met for the first time at that audition and got together out of a mutual respect for each others' writing and acting abilities. We have of course become friends more like family, but the respect is still there, which I think allows us to be more honest about our work.

dccf: What kind of process does MEAT use to generate it sketch ideas?

MEAT: It varies. Sometimes one person will have an inspired moment and write a complete sketch and it's brilliant and we just let it fly and then tweak it after a performance or two. Let us be clear that this sort of confidence comes from working together for so long. More often, someone brings something in and we all give our feedback and they make the call on what suggestions they want to use-- our rule is that if you wrote it, you make the call. We will also get together and write something with one other person... each of us has a distinct sensibility, and so it can be very useful (for example, Biz is the queen of the high energy, ridiculous and insane sketch, Becky's the queen of the experimental and absurd, Livia is the queen of mean people and fast paced dialogue, and when it comes to high drama and camp, nobody does it better than Reggei). The other thing that we'll do is just hang out with each other and ideas will come from that- we all chime in and it becomes sort of like conversational-improv. One of our favorite sketches, "Mr. Knickerbocker," came from that.

dccf: What has been the biggest surprise for the group since it formed?

MEAT: How well we've been received around the country. When you live in New York (and some of us have been here a looooooooooooong time!) it can become isolating... like, we think, "How can anyone vote for George Bush? He is the worst president EVER." Well, it's obvious now that when it comes to that issue, we're really out of touch with how a huge portion of the population thinks about him. (Although not anymore! Ha-ha!) Anyway, sense of humor is particularly relative-- Blue Collar Comedy was a hit and Arrested Development was yanked: what is funny to New Yorkers is not necessarily going to be funny to college kids in the Midwest or people who blow glass in Portland, Oregon. But we've been lucky-- our shows have been appreciated by all sorts of audiences, and we are very appreciative back. We work hard for our audiences and we want them to have a great time while being true to our voice. We aren't just writing sketches for our drunk friends.

We would also like to note that we have been excited at the discovery that there is an incredible sketch community out there, across the country. There are amazing people doing brilliant sketch comedy and we encourage you to search it out. You can always check out our links page at our website to check out the groups we love from around the country.

dccf: MEAT has appeared at many different comedy festivals in the last several years. What has this kind of exposure done to your fan base?

MEAT: It's allowed us to bring them closer to Christ.

dccf: What is the strangest review that MEAT has ever received?

MEAT: I guess this is a review. At one of our shows we had a drunk guy stand up and repeatedly yell "Asshole" at us. We were doing a sketch about priests. While he did not like that sketch, he apparently loved our sketch about George Bush Shitting in the mouth of America. It turned out that we was a priest, by the way. A shitfaced priest.

dccf: If dccomedyfest audience members saw MEAT perform last year, what can they expect to see this year?

MEAT: They can see new "episodes" of some of our reoccurring characters like the Evil British Children and Shelac. I don't believe we did Velvet Scrunchie last year which is our acapella punk band. We also have several new sketches covering everything from mixed cds to Pacman. This will be all new for DC.

dccf: Any thing you want us to make sure dccomedyfest blog readers know about MEAT?

MEAT: We have a new website up with some videos of our sketches and a blog we maintain poorly. Ha ha ha. We also have some fun projects going on, like Biz has a popular blog called "Princess Pony Party Amazing" with Jordana Barnes from Portland's The 3rd Floor, Livia hosts a variety show every week and is working on a solo show called "Goodnight, O.J." and Becky is in the awesome sketch duo Becky and Noelle and a kickass band with other talented NY comedy ladies called "Stickerbook." We are also going to be doing a series of short films with the brilliant and talented Michael (Baz) Balzer from the Chicago sketch group, "Animal Club."

So get your number at the butcher's counter (more specifically order tickets now) to catch them either at the Warehouse Theater or during our fest fanale at Lisner Auditorium. You won't regret your decision to spend some time with MEAT.