Elephant
Larry, the all-male sketch comedy group based at the People’s Improv Theater,
will be getting a big showcase in Sketchfest NYC with a prime time show at 9
p.m. Saturday, June 10 (at Soho Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street).
The group’s sketches
present more than meets the eye, beyond their seemingly simple premises, such as
a group of pirates competing at singing shanties, and a video-aided sketch about
Smurfs villain Gargamel.
While some of Elephant
Larry’s pieces -- like the shanties competition and another where a mad
scientist creates a philosopher monster -- bear a marked Monty Python stamp,
group member Alex Zalben says their biggest influence is The State (which had a
short but influential run on MTV in the mid-1990s and has since spawned Reno 911
and the ubiquitous Michael Ian Black).
As Zalben explains,
Elephant Larry doesn’t set out to copy their influences. “The State brought idea
driven sketch to the forefront, and that’s the type of sketch we love to write
and perform,” he says. “We’re actually very aware of what might seem like
something else, and if it seems to be too much like a Kids In The Hall sketch,
or a Monty Python sketch, we’d probably scrap it.”
The same goes for anything
too specifically referential of pop culture or known quantities, adds Zalben.
“The big exception is when you create a sketch that has the references, but
still functions as a scene with character and plot,” he says. “That way, you
still give the audience something to hang on to even if they don't get the
reference.”
Elephant Larry, for one
thing, is prolific, having built a repertoire of sketches to draw from for its
shows, with more in the works. The next show the group plans to stage in the
fall will have 90 percent new material, says Zalben. “If a sketch isn’t working,
we'll cut it out of the show. Sometimes, sketches that work amazingly for the
first two or three months we’ll start to get tired, and we'll switch them out of
the show for a little, to give them a break. If somebody brings in a really
great sketch to a meeting, or remembers an older sketch that we all forgot
about, we’ll put it into the rotation.”
The group offers a blend of
personalities, with Geoff Haggerty as the boldest, who can take on characters
like the aforementioned philoso-monster; Chris Principe as its ‘everyman;’ lanky
Stefan Lawrence as the oddballs like the mad scientist, with Jeff Solomon and
Zalben fitting character parts as well as playing the straight men to the
others’ oddities.
As in its Smurfs sketch,
Elephant Larry has been adding video to its shows, including full-fledged video
bits run between their live sketches (and also made available through their Web
site). The videos, in turn, improve the live show, says Zalben, by giving the
group more time to do more elaborate costume and set changes. “It’s evolving
format, but there’s definitely a concerted effort to push what we can do
production-wise with each show,” explains Zalben. “The audience is paying good
money to come see us, and we want to make sure they come away with something
that’s worth their time.”