Chattin' With The Common Guy

Chattin’ With The Common Guy

Beerfest and Beyond

A Conversation with Erik Stolhanske

By Paul Hall – Common Guy’s Film Reviews

Sitting down at a local watering hole, I prepared myself for an interview with Erik Stolhanske from the Broken Lizard comedy troupe. But what would I expect from a guy about my age that has been on tour promoting a new movie in a new city every night…about BEER! I was nervous, but I’m nervous before any interview.

I didn’t know if I could hold my own in the interview, but a couple of my friends in the local media had just finished and now it was my turn. Erik actually had one of his longer nights of sleep on the tour when we sat down (about 4 hours as he recounted). Having seen Beerfest the day prior and being a fan of many of the jokes the Lizard’s had given us in Super Troopers, Club Dread, and Dukes of Hazzard

After some introductions, I had to start with the obvious question…Tell me in your words, what is Beerfest?

“Beerfest is about two brothers who go to Octoberfest and while they are there they are spreading their Grandfather’s ashes … and discover this super secret century’s old competition,” Erik expressed.

They develop an instant rivalry with the Germans, even though the Canadians are the defending Beer Olympic champs (in reality). As Erik mentions, the Canadians just don’t seem to be as “villainous”.

The two brothers then come home to assemble an American team to make everyone proud, featuring of course, the rest of the Broken Lizard guys. Beerfest features all of the R-rated hi-jinks you have come to expect in a Lizard film. In fact I asked Erik for his thoughts on the ability to make R-rated films in Hollywood today.

He responded pretty much as I expected, “studios of course are terrified of R rated films.” But these guys that were raised on R rated films like Animal House and the feeling exists that rated R films just weren’t being made any more. Because this was the staple of things they grew up with it is a “type of film they make is more natural” to produce and thanks to the success of Wedding Crashers and 40 Year Old Virgin a “whole new world has opened.”

Never fear Lizard fans, this is a typical R-rated comedy and will probably include an unrated DVD in the future. With the new era of the DVD including lots of extras; the guys have shot some extra footage for when the DVD rolls out and if you stay during the credits of the theatrical release you’ll get treated to a number of fun outtakes. Erik shares things like the voyage to the home of Beerfest that is very reminiscent of Jean Claude Van Damme’s voyage in Bloodsport. (Psst, watch for their doubles from the troupe along the way – you’ll hear that on DVD.) The guys have the “freedom to shoot stuff for later” with the bonuses that can be included on DVD that you’ll get to experience.

So after talking about Beerfest for awhile I had some other things on my mind…I then proceeded to tee up some other topics like, how do they get people like Cloris Leachmen, Brian Cox, and Jurgen Prochnow to jump in to a raucous Broken Lizard film?

Erik shared that for Beerfest, they actually wrote for Cloris Leachmen, because she had “just a great bawdy sense of humor” and was “ideal person for this part”. In Super Troopers actors like Brian Cox were always cast in very serious roles. “Brian always loved Jerry Lewis growing up and wanted a chance to do big broad physical comedies”, which of course led to his role in Super Troopers. In Beerfest as well, Jurgen’s roles are usually the “most evil of the evilest.”

I of course needed to ask what it was like putting films together as a group of 5.

Erik related that the guys break the film out in outline form and reassemble to “fight” for their jokes. Sometimes the “last resort is to beat Kevin (Heffernan) in a wrestling match” in an attempt to own the joke. Steve (Lemme) has described the process after they get back together with a hockey analogy, an assist, to an assist to a goal.

Ok…I had to get a little personal then, I needed to know about Erik – The Early Years, so I pried a little. Erik has Midwestern roots, his Mom and Grandfather were from Richland Center and Mom first taught in Wauwatosa, WI. He grew up in Minneapolis before going out to Colgate and getting together with the rest of the guys. Which led, of course, to the big break that he reminded me still is tough and it started with two independent films that were maxed out on credit cards (and the like – wink wink).

But now my curiousity was piqued, with his past history…was he a football fan and if so…Packers? Vikings? Or? And of course it was the question he was dreading from a Packer fan…YES he’s a big football fan, but growing up in Minneapolis, a fan of the Minnesota Vikings. He even recently made a trip back to Minneapolis, rented an RV and drove to Lambeau Field for a Monday night Packers/Vikings match-up. He would call himself a die-hard Vikings fan that used to get in the snowmobile suit and moon boots to go and watch games. (Do I have to admit in the realm of full disclosure here that I too wore moon boots? Just wondering out loud.)

He is the proud owner of a signed Daunte Cuelpepper helmet that his wife got him and we proceeded to talk about the upcoming season. (Personal to Erik – any time you want to jump into a Fantasy Football League – You’re ON) This discussion had turned from me interviewing a writer/actor to two guys just talking about guy things. Beer, movies, football and just chatting in a local watering hole, a great afternoon.

This is what is appealing about Erik and the rest of the guys in Broken Lizard. They are common guys just like me that take a great approach to what they do. No matter you’re opinion of Super Troopers, Club Dread, BeerFest or anything else…these guys have a great start and can only get better. Their movies have a certain repeatability factor that let you catch many subtle jokes on repeat viewings.

I enjoyed my time with Erik and look forward to sitting down with him in the future. The next Broken Lizard film (The Greek Road) will be on my list of things to look forward to, but for now…I’ll have to enjoy Beerfest and get ready for a fun NFL season. Erik…I’m sorry you’re a Vikings fan but anytime you want to shoot me a smack talk e-mail…it’s paul@commonguy.com – bring it on!

BEERFEST opens in theaters everywhere August 25, 2006. Super Troopers, Club Dread and Dukes of Hazzard are all available on DVD now.

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