Steve Delahoyde is a Chicago-based filmmaker who contributes a lot to the Chicago comedy scene. He does a lot of good work with Schadenfreude and is responsible for one of our favorite short comedy films, "Dungeons and Dragons," starring Jared Logan, Kumail Nanjiani, and Robert Buscemi. Delahoyde will be at the Hideout tonight at 6:30 as a guest on Mark Bazer's Interview Show, along with author Marcus Sakey and other guests.

How did you get roped into the comedy shenanigans here in Chicago? Aren't you a "straight" filmmaker?

With most of everything I do, I have absolutely no idea how it happened. I moved from Phoenix to Iowa City, Iowa about five years ago. My then-girlfriend, now-fiancee, lived in Chicago, so, for about two years, I would drive here and stay every weekend. So Chicago felt a lot more like home than did Iowa. She and I had met through writing for humor magazines, and she was already traveling in Chicago's writer-y circles, so I got to know a lot of her friends and they'd introduce me to other funny people (getting in good with writers is always a great idea, as you're more apt to get written about that way). Also, for years, I'd been putting up films on this poorly-built website of my own devising and that got passed around a bit somehow and I was invited to screen things here and there, and it built from there. Chicago really has such a tight-knit community, so it's easy to get to know everyone pretty quickly.

"Dungeons and Dragons":

What's your filmmaking background? Where did you learn to do what you do?

Besides a little dabbling in high school, I have no real background in filmmaking. I started off wanting to be a writer of some kind and that's really what my focus was. When my long-time collaborator, Wakiza Gamez, moved back to Phoenix from college in California, I was still doing a lot of writing, but we'd both gotten really into recording music, so we spent most of our evenings and weekends just writing and recording hundreds upon hundreds of these funny, absurd little songs to amuse ourselves. From there, I bought a little consumer camera and found it to be pretty similar to producing audio (especially the editing), so I just kind of got really interested in it (again, just to make stuff for ourselves that we thought was funny). So, I guess, instead of film school, I just spent the last few years making mistakes and screwing up and learning how to do things better. Truth be told, I still don't really have any idea what I'm doing.

"Roboclones Industrial Film":

Did you always want to be in film? Did you have an early interest? Any particular inspirations?

I don't think I had any specific ambitions, but I grew up around the business, so it probably seeped in. My dad was a voice-over actor, a newscaster, a long-time radio DJ, and was in dozens of commercials and industrials and films. So spent a lot of hours as a kid being bored to tears in recording studios, on sound stages and at auditions. And as a summer job during high school (and then for a couple of years while I push college aside), I worked at a modeling and talent agency as an agent's assistant, so I was running around a lot between big shoots and production companies and castings. I was also an actor for years, doing a lot of community theater and professional work. But beyond just enjoying working within whatever perceived glamor there is in that business, I don't think I really had any ambitions to be behind the camera as a filmmaker.

Do the comedians usually come to you with the ideas, or how does the creative process work in a group like that?

I'm pretty quiet and insular in general, so I tend to work with a lot of the same comedians or groups, just so we can get right to work and there's not a lot of that introductory process. It works out though and tends to go both ways, as I'll shoot someone's idea for them and, in exchange, I can usually get them to show up and perform in something I've thought up. While we're shooting, that familiarity also helps because it's nice to not have all your actors thinking your an idiot when you're kind of mumbling your direction or that you're a jerk for giving them line reads. It's also nice because I usually work with a stable of people I can talk to and who understand the process, knowing about when things are working and when they aren't.

"Regrets: Hobbies," starring Chicago improv legend David Pasquesi:

How long does it take to shoot a short comedy film, and how long does it take to edit?

From my short attention span to the fact that I've always got a billion things to do, I like to work as quickly as I possibly can, so I can shoot and edit a film in a hurry (those Hillary Clinton films we just made, those took a total of six hours from the first shot to having them up on YouTube). I think that's both a blessing, leading to a big pile of stuff I've put my name to, and a curse, in that I'm sure some of my work doesn't always look as polished as it could if I'd paced myself.

What's an average week like for you, in terms of work and projects?

I work during the day at the design firm/ad agency, Coudal Partners, so I'm there during the normal days and hours throughout the week. For the past couple of years, I've also been employed as an editor for mediabistro's UnBeige, so I'm required to find and write three to five news stories every night about the design industry. After that's all wrapped up, I usually spend my nights first finishing up freelance film projects (I do a lot of motion graphics work). If there's time, and sadly there rarely is as much anymore, I try and work on any fun stuff I have on the side, like short films. Weekends are a grab bag, depending on what I have going on, but that's usually when I do most of my shooting and catching up on editing.

What do you like to do when you're not doing film stuff?

I don't get a ton of time to get away from my work, but when I do, it's just nice to sit and do nothing. Strangely, I'm not a big film buff, but I'll watch movies here and there. I'm a reader, so books are where it's at for me a lot of times. With the election, I've gotten addicted to political news and blogs, so I do some of that, getting mad at the world. And after a few seasons of false starts, something finally clicked last year and Claire and I got really into golf. So when the weather's warm, we're on a course every weekend and I'm at the driving range nearly every day after work. Sadly, I still stink at it.

What are your goals and hopes for the next 5 years or so, in terms of your work, and your life in general?

I usually say that I'd like to start directing more commercials and work on projects with larger budgets, but to be honest, I really don't have a clue about how you plan a trajectory for this sort of "artistic career" I've started building for myself. I'm getting married in October and we just bought a house, so I should probably figure it out some day. But it's such a nice spot to be in right now where I can just kind of do and make whatever I want and somehow squeak out a pretty decent living at it. And I guess longevity has helped make every year better and better for me, so I figure, as long as that keeps up, I'll be happy.

-Elizabeth McQuern