Fambly is a comedy sketch group who regularly perform at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City. They are Madalyn Baldanzi, Dan Black, Zach Broussard, Nicole Byer, Dan Chamberlain, Colin Elzie, Mamrie Hart, Patrick O’Brien, Veronica Osorio, Kathy Salerno, Jason Shebiro & Ben Wietmarschen. Times Square spoke to Fambly writer Ben Wietmarschen after Maude Night on Monday, February 13th.

Times Square (TS): Who have influenced Fambly the most?

Ben Wietmarschen (BW): Our two directors, Chris Kelly and Arthur Meyer, have been our biggest influences. Chris was our director when we first formed and Arthur took over last April. We really like and respect the work they both have done as comedians (Chris writes for Saturday Night Live now and Arthur is in a great sketch group called Pangea 3000). We have responded to the high standard they set for us when putting together shows as they helped us form a solid group expectation to both work hard and really enjoy the shows we put on.

TS: Tell us about the how the ideas evolve into the sketches presented to the audiences on stage?

BW:The nuts and bolts answer to that is, leading up to our monthly show, we have a meeting where everyone pitches ideas. Then we have writers meetings, where each writer works on sketches individually and brings them to meetings. Here they get notes from the other writers and the director. Afterwards, the director chooses which sketches get in, we have a week of rehearsals and then the show.

As a group, we spend a lot of time together as friends and a lot of what we find funny when just joking around makes its way into our sketches. For instance, we did a show one month entirely about the Sting song "Brand New Day" which started just from us drinking at a bar together, listening to that song and making a whole little world out of the idea that we love it and want to celebrate it from every angle possible. It was definitely my favorite comedy thing that we've ever done, by far, and it all came from one evening in a bar.

TS: Is the group often split on whether something is funny?

BW: There are a lot of small disagreements but very rarely are the disagreements not resolved by a short conversation. In terms of final decisions for what we include in shows, that's what the director is there for, to make the tough decisions to cut things that some people love but aren't working in one way or another. And then when people get their stuff cut they cry and cry like little tiny babies but its fine because it gets stressful sometimes working on somethng and then it possibly not even getting into a show. One thing that makes us all laugh is when we get too serious about some sketch or joke or whatever and then we realize we're all just a bunch of adult dopes farting out jokes and then we laugh and laugh and kiss. 

TS: Do you ever censor your work or draw a line to prevent it going that bit too far?

BW: I wouldn't say we ever censor anything, but we definitely do draw a line for when we consider things wrong for our show. Like, we want the audience to have a good time at our shows so we don't want to do anything to make them feel too uncomfortable. And being vulgar just for vulgar's sake isn't funny at all. But at the same time, we do want to suprise people and push limits in terms of what people expect when they come to a comedy show. So I'd say the only line that we draw is when something goes from something being suprising and challenging but ultimately fun for the audience to when it becomes suprising and not fun, and we just guess where that line is. Sometimes we get it wrong and sometimes we get it right. 

TS: What does New York have to offer a comedy sketch group such as Fambly?

BW: There's no way we'd be able to do the shows that we do in front of so many smart, discerning people probably anywhere else. New York is a perfect for comedy because there are so many fucking people around looking to do stuff all the time, so getting a few of them to watch you goof around on stage, even though it’s not super easy, is still way easier than if you tried to do it in other cities. Secondly, New York is filled with a lot of people who aren't necessarily "show" people, meaning people who want to do shows for a living (the worst people). I imagine in LA so many audiences are filled with just other people who are trying to work on a TV show or a movie or whatever, and New York has some of that too obviously, but a New York audience is also gonna be filled with, lawyers and dentists and dentist's assistants, and other non-dentists. That's all to say, there's actual real people watching the shows instead of just more people just like us.

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