Inside With: Pete Grosz, Actor, Writer, Comedian
Pete Grosz is an Aspen-bound Chicago comedian who worked early on with SNL head writer Seth Meyers and Daily Show/Colbert Report writer and producer Allison Silverman in Boom Chicago. He's contributed to the redneck hilarity of Comedy Central's Naked Trucker and T-Bones show, and hopes to populate the world with hilarious babies with his wife and fellow comedian Deb Downing-Grosz, who may or may not be his Yoko Ono.
How did you first start getting involved in Chicago comedy? Was it more of a fun thing, or were you serious about it from the beginning?
I grew up in New York and came out to Chicago in 1992 to go to Northwestern. It’s odd to think that I had never heard of Second City, Improv Olympic or improvisation in general yet I came to Chicago anyway. Good fortune I guess. I tried to get into the improv group at school, the Mee-Ow show, but since I had never improvised before I had no idea what I was doing and was awful. By the time I struck out for the third time in my junior year I decided to take classes at IO. It worked. I was still relatively awful but at least I got cast in the Mee-Ow show. At first it was definitely a fun thing (I thought I aas going to be a photographer when I graduated college) but after school I
got hired to go to Boom Chicago where I… oh, let me wait. That’s your next question…
You performed at Boom Chicago in Amsterdam in 1997 with such comedy notables as Allison Silverman (Daily Show/Colbert Report) and Seth Meyers (Saturday Night Live head writer). What did you learn from working at Boom Chicago?
Good question. I learned that sleeping one room away from talented people doesn’t mean you are talented yourself. When Allison worked at Conan and Seth was at SNL we had this joke that I was going to get a job as a janitor at 30 Rock. That didn’t happen of course. Apparently I didn’t have enough “janitorial experience.” Assholes. I hope their trash cans are bursting with wadded up paper! As for Boom overall I learned how to take myself seriously as a performer even though I was taking drugs and going to amusement parks. Which, by the way, is a damn worthwhile way to spend your time. Damn worthwhile.
You're working on Comedy Central's new "Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show." (A random unnamed dude on IMDB described it as "Smothers Brothers Meets Hee Haw Meets Tenacious D.") How did that gig come about, and what's that experience been like so far?
First of all, that dude needs to stop going on IMDB and describing shows. He called Borat “Peter Sellers Meets Chaim Potok Meets Rick Steeves.” I got the job by submitting a writing sample to the producers, one of whom was Dave Koechner who also stars in the show. I had met him a couple of times before and he had seen the Sonic commercials and, amazingly, liked them. I had an interview where we talked, swapped Charna stories and after a quick reach around I was in… I mean I had the job… No, strike that, I mean I was in.
I loved working on that show. Everyone was really funny and very gracious with each other. That’s my only TV writing job so far but I know it’s not like that everywhere so I feel very lucky. I hope people like the show cause it was such a labor of love and Koechner (T-Bones) and Gruber (The Naked Trucker) deserve all the success in the world.
You've been chosen, with your Misled partner Pat O'Brien, to perform at the prestigious Aspen Comedy Festival this year. What's it like to get that call, and what do you hope to get out of your participation there?
Getting the call is pretty cool actually and was totally unexpected. We auditioned in Chicago thinking we just wanted to get in front of them and be seen. Then we got a call back in New York thinking we just wanted our New York friends to come see the show. Now that we’re actually going to Aspen we just want to have a great time. I think that’s the best way to go about it. If we really wanted something specific I bet we wouldn’t get it. That’s the way my life tends to work. I don’t get the things I want, I get the things I didn’t know I wanted.
I am also excited for the party at the end of the festival. I love watching desperate performers completely change their behavior around execs. Should be dripping with excitement.
What's the most valuable piece of advice you have to offer people just getting started in comedy?
Don’t be annoying. It’s one thing to be yourself and not let other people tell you what to do but it’s another to be so unaware of your own behavior that you wind up ostracizing yourself from potential collaborators. Unless you’re just a solo performer and you’re the funniest person in the world, ever. Then do whatever you want. Nothing I can say would be of any help to you anyway.
Choose one: Pete Grosz and Deb Downing-Grosz are the _________________ of Chicago comedy.
A) Nick and Jessica
B) John and Yoko
C) Elizabeth Taylor and Larry Fortensky
D) Bob Dole and Elizabeth Dole
E) Huh?
John and Yoko. Because Deb is a crazy Asian lady and last week I was shot outside of The Dakota. On a side note, read Quality Time, Deb's and my hilarious column on our MySpace page. It’s hilarious. I know, "column." It’s so old media. Whatever.
What would you like to accomplish over the next ten years, in comedy and in life?
Fuck you. How dare you ask me that? What are you my uncle? Fine, um… let’s see. I hope Deb and I have two or three hilarious babies, I hope to still be doing live shows that I love and I hope to write a joke that cures AIDS - preferably a joke about AIDS so it can be the last AIDS joke ever.
