_ TRIVIA SOURCE |
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_ TRIVIA SOURCE |
Below are some trivia questions and answers, compiled from the early days of this website. We will not add to this page, but if you have an intellegent question, send it to us and we'll respond to you by e-mail. And don't forget to check our FAQ first and make sure your question isn't already answered there!
In the Antonio The Foreign
Exchange Student sketch, did Thomas really frontflip? I think he did.
No - we hired an olympic gymnast to do
that stunt, and he coincedentally bared a slight resemblence to Thomas
Lennon, so the shot turned out great. The gymnast does the flip and we
cut right to Tom coming up.
Who is the goofy bald guy in
the 'Roughing It' and 'Leonard Harris Show' skits (to name a few)?
That's The State's longtime friend Craig
Wedren. He's the voice you hear at the end of the State Theme, which he
created with Eli Janney. His latest album with his band Shudder To Think
("50,000 B.C.) is out now, and Craig also does all sorts of other musical
stuff including some upcoming movie soundtracks. Shudder To Think also
appear on an upcoming Viva Variety!
In the "Doug and Dad" sketch,
when Doug says, "Well, understand this dad, I'm Doug." Then he says something
like "'soda meant a" Doug". What exactly does this mean?
"Solomente Doug." That's Spanish for
"only Doug."
In the norwegian cruise sketch,
why did you take out the cats that were originally thrown into the ocean
on the later episodes? let me guess...the aspca...or maybe just dr.crank's
friend terry calling from backstage?
You guessed right. We had to pull the
cats after the sketch aired once, because MTV received 1 (one) call from
an animal rights organization.
Was that REALLY Ben Garant on
the Buzzkill episode with "Butts Across America?
No.
If there was even a remote chance
of the state returning to MTV or Comedy Central -- say, for a marathon
-- would you ever consider showing the episodes that were not released
to MTV? (i.e. the pilot)
We have nothing to do with any of that.
MTV owns all of the episodes, as well as the pilot and the many unaired
sketches. The only television work that's owned by The State is the CBS
special and the skteches we made for CBS and didn't air.
What is that thing/skit going
on during the credits of one of the later episodes...it Joe and Ben dressed
as ambulance guy's or something, and Ben keeps cracking up. In the end
it has Thomas Lennon dressed as a preast talking to Joe about Rosemary
bleeds. What is that man!!?
That's our tribute to the 70's comedy
movie "The Cannonball Run" starring Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLouise. It's
a shot-for-shot, line-for-line reenactment of the closing credit sequence
where they showed bloopers from filming, mostly of Dom DeLouise cracking
up.
Will other cast members from
"The State" beside the ones already mentioned make an appearance on that
new "Viva Variety" show on Comedy Central? I remember the skit it was based
off of contained the entire cast (or most of them, at least).
Aside from Michael Ian Black, Thomas
Lennon, Ben Garant and Kerri Kenney, no other statemembers are scheduled
to appear on Viva Variety at present time, with the exception of a cameo
appearance in one episode from Kevin Allison.
Who wrote the Strip Battleship
skit, and how did Michael and Thomas feel about performing it?
Michael Black and Tom wrote the Battleship
segments, and that it felt great to be naked in front of a camera crew.
Tom and M. Ian Black: Did you
really use $240 worth of puddin' for the Barry and Levon skit, and how
did it feel to stick your butt in it?
Yes it was real pudding, and, again,
it felt great.
Was Science Fiction Laboratory
originally meant to seem as if it was written by a small child? Or did
you just realize it seemed like that and added the dying boy skit before
it later?
You guessed right. The "link" with the
little boy came after all the skit in the show were finished and put in
order.
In one sketch, David Wain explains
that the members of The State have different specialties, and his is editing.
Is this true, and if so, who does what? Who writes, who directed the episodes,
who produced the sketches?
David did a lot of the editing of The
State on MTV and CBS, as did Michael Patrick Jann and Mark Perez, the supervising
producer. Michael Jann directed the larger scale film and video sketches
and David directed the smaller scale ones. The sketches were written by
all the members of the group. Ben Garant was "head writer" on the CBS special.
The sketches were produced, at different times by Jim Sharp, Mark Perez,
Michael Jann and David Wain. But the entire supervised all creative aspects
of the production.
Why is The State movie on the
back burner for the moment?
Because in order to do a movie, we have
to find the right match of all our schedules, a good idea and a company
that wants to pay for it and it hasn't happened yet.
Why was the CBS special so
un-publicized? Did the entire cast return to be in it? Is there any chance
you could air it again, maybe this time on Comedy Central?
CBS seemed to have lost interest in us
even before the special aired. Todd left the group before we did the CBS
special, but the remaining ten were still there. At this time there are
no plans to air it again or release it on tape.
What, in your opinion, was
the best skit or piece of work by the State?
Speaking personally, some of my (David
Wain's) favorites are Cannonball, Taco Man, The Jew, The Italian &
The Red Head Gay, Cutlery Barn, Leonard Harris, Restaurant, Ride, MTV Sports,
$240 Pudding, Dixon: Guidance Counselor, Balogna Feet, Porcupine, Pope's
Visit, Hits from '70s, Bearded Men, Louie/Last Supper, Bikini Thong, Cavanaugh,
Prison Break, Free Market & Ros Fanaroff. Other statemembers' favorites
will be posted as soon as they are submitted.
how many of you will be at
that book signing in April?
We don't know - whoever's in town at
the time. It could possibly be the whole group.
Was Michael Ian Black in the
movie speed?
No.
Do you know of a release date
for the CD? Do you know when Ken Marino's pilot will be aired on the WB?
We don't know when or if either of these
things will happen but as soon as we know, we'll post it on this site!
1. In what towns were the scenes
shot that took place at a house or in a residential neighborhood?
2. Did Chelsea ever respond?
3. In the episode with the fan names, were
those really names of fans?
4. Could you put my name in something?
5. Exactly what do muppets taste like?
1. They were shot all over the tri-state
area: Westchester, Brooklyn, Long Island, New Jersey etc.
2. No.
3. Yes.
4. Yes it's in our webpage.
5. We didn't really eat them. And they weren't
real Muppets. In the "Doug and Dad" sketch
(solamente Doug), when his dad asks him about the condoms in his room,
why does he say something like: "I put them on my DICKUS when I want to
have sex!"
What is that word? Is it just a slurred speech
of dick but you couldn't let him say dick on the air?
The word is "dinkus", pronounced DEENG-kus.
It's slang for dick. We thought it was funny.
What was the name of the sketch
where everyone was looking for prom dates and they would freeze and talk
directly to the audience about how they really felt?
That's called "Asides" and was written
by Michael Showalter.
Yet another Science fiction
Laboratory question...What is the last line that Kerri says in the end?
It sounds something like "Dame's ooh berries" ???
"Them's the berries" which means: that's
the way it goes and ain't nothing we can do about it.
Who wrote the music for Porcupine
Racetrack?
That music (based on Tom Lennon's lyrics
and basic melody) was written and almost entirely performed by Teddy Shapiro
, our friend who composed the majority of the original music on The State.
The remainder of the music on the show was composed by Craig Wedren.
Is MTV planning Skits and Stickers
2?
MTV has no plans now to release another
State video -- but the more demand they have the more likely it is they
will release another video and/or re-air the episodes.
On the episode where you pretend
that Ken Marino dies someone says that his full name is Kenneth Joseph
Margaret Marino. Is this true? Also were those his real parents in the
sketch?
The "Margaret" part was a joke and yes
those are his parents....
I just saw a little movie called
"The Waiters" on the cable channel Bravo. After I was done watching I was
left with one question: What the hell was that? It looked like you guys
made that in college since it said something about NYU at the end. Is that
where you guys met and could you give me any info about this extremely
strange (and funny) movie. And what was with the waiter at the end? I didn't
see the whole thing.
"The Waiters" is a student film written
and produced by Thomas Lennon, associate produced by David Wain, and worked
on also by Joe Lo Truglio, Kevin Allison and Michael Patrick Jann. It features
among others, Joe, Kevin and David. It was directed by Ken Webb, who was
a member of the group before it was called The State, when all of us were
at NYU.
In the Prom Skit it is said
that most of you guys couldn't get a date to the prom (espically David).
Is that true? Also how did you end up finding 11 people to go to the prom
with in the skit?
The "David can't get a date" joke was
included because the prom sketch was directed by David, who was also one
of three camera men gathering up hours of material at the real prom. It
was shot at the prom for the high school Mike Black went to, and after
having gotten many real fan letters asking us to various proms, we arranged
for us to get ten dates at this high school. They were volunteers from
the list of students who bought tickets to the prom but didn't have dates.
I recognize the place where
you shot the car stealing mime sketch... it was in a town called Pine Plains
in upstate NY which is where I graduated high school from in 1994! Am I
right??? Also, when was it shot and how did you decide to shoot there?
Yes it's true -- and we shot almost every
skit in a small town or in the country there in Pine Plains. The town has
always been hospitable to us and we love going there. And they have everything
you'd want to find in a small town!
Did anyone respond to the "Lunch
with the State" contest and the "Sleep with the State essay concept"??
Yes - but they all thought it was a contest
where THEY would get taken out to lunch - not where they have to take US
to lunch - at a restaurant and time of our choice. Of the many responses
we got, not a single one got it right.
If the State had nothing to
do with the "Skits & Stickers" video, what did they think of it? Could
it have been better?
One problem was that MTV didn't have
the rights to put on the home video a lot of the music we used in skits
on the show, which prevented them from being able to include many of the
music driven/montage pieces. Also everyone has favorites so it's tough
to choose one tape's worth from 26 episodes.
How'd you get the mailbox to
move like that in "Taco Man"? Was the mailbox supposed to fall down?
Ken Marino was lying on the ground moving
it. It was not planned. He just did it.
Were those real meatballs in
Monkey Doin It II?
Yes.
On the cover of your new book
"State by State with The State", there is a reflection of some guy in ben's
sunglasses. Who is that? Was that intentional? Is that another Satanic
message?
That's an unintentional reflection of
the photographer's assistant.
In the sketch "International
Symbols", what is up with the part about "the waiter is dyslexic, so he
brings a wheelbarrow full of radishes"? I was never able to figure that
one out.
It's a joke.
Every time when Louis comes
out, he has his 'balls.' What kind of balls are they? Are they golf balls?
You are correct.
I was wondering if you guys
liked the Kids in theHall (another sketch show) and if you inspiried in
anyway by them.
We started doing together at about the
same time as KITH debuted on TV, so we weren't influenced by them like
we were by Python, SNL, SCTV, etc. Also in college we didn't have HBO so
we didn't get a chance to see much Kids In The Hall till we were already
doing our own show. We all respect KITH; some of us enjoy them more than
others.
Was that Ken Marino on ABC's
Spin City tonight as the embarassed date at the bar?
Yep.
Who's Idea Was the Amish And
Gang Fight? And who performs the music playing in the background?
Michael Showalter wrote that sketch.
The music created from samples by Craig Wedren, who did the State theme.
How was "State by State" written?
Did everyone collaborate, or was each state (and each little aside) written
by different members?
Each member wrote different little articles
and we all read each other's stuff and put it all together with photos
we took. Joe and Showalter drew pictures. And our friend Cindy helped us
put it all together.
Who wrote "Monkey Torture"
and what kind of monkey was it?
Monkey Torture was written by myself
(Tom) and Michael Black. I have no idea what kind of monkey it was, maybe
a gibbon, it was however two hours late to the set.
Here's a few questions about
"State By State With The State": 1. It seems as though you make a lot of
Jewish jokes, which of the original 11 'State members are Jewish. 2. On
the cover M. Black is holding a beer bottle in one hand, what is in the
other? 3. Also on the cover, Thomas Lennon seems to be wearing Mickey Mouse
ears. Is there any special significance for this?
1. Black, Wain and Showalter (1/2). 2.
Dunno 3. He's owned and licensed by Disney.
On the State by State With
The State book cover...is Ken Marino suppossed to be taking a crap? It
looks like it, but you see his pants,on,sticking out behind Joe. Are there
any other mistakes on the cover?
That's no mistake. He's taking a crap
in his pants.
(1) Was Ken Marino ever in
the movie Class of Nuke'm High? (2) I caught the "Hard On Shakespere" sketch
from Shut Up and Laugh. Considering the point of the sketch, did MTV ever
ask you to change anything about it? (3) I am still looking for a copy
of Skits and Stickers. I was wondering what sketches are on the tape?
1. NO 2. They made us change it
Were there any sketches you
made, but Mtv wouldn't air them for being to vulgar, or explicit?
There were a few. We did a sketch called
"Tar Baby" where a senator gives a press conference with a tar baby doll
on the podium with him, and is repeatedly asking the press to ignore the
tar baby that he eventually reveals is his lover. They also cut a lot of
explicit things (usually references to guns or drugs) in the scripting
and shooting stages.
How many members of the state
have actually been naked on the show?
All the members have been naked on the
show, and you can see a two page naked spread of us in the November 1995
issued of Madmoselle magazine. (No joke!)
What are your favorite Monty
Python sketches? The Pythons used to say that different members had different
styles, some wrote more physical comedy, others wrote more verbal stuff.
Is that true in the State? Who writes what and are there little clues (like
words that are worked into sketches) that we can look for?
Yes, it's true that we all wrote different
types of stuff. A subjective, incomplete answer to your question: Showalter
wrote a lot of dialog driven, more naturalistic sketches; Ben was most
directly influence by Python and other British comedy (Tom too); Marino
wrote a lot of the bigger full cast physical concept pieces (Hormones/PMS
etc)...
When are the birthdays for
all The State members?
Kevin Allison - Feb 16 Michael Ian Black
- Aug 12 Ben Garant - Sep 14 Michael Patrick Jann - May 15 Kerri Kenney
- Jan 20 Thomas Lennon - Aug 9 Joe Lo Truglio - Dec 2 Ken Marino - Dec
19 Michael Showalter - June 17 David Wain - Aug 1
Was that Kerri I saw in a Calgon
ad?
Yes it was.
In the episode where you were
all camping indoors, was Craig Wedren in it?
Yes he was.
(1) Did the group enjoy doing
recurring characters, or did you think that they were a waste of time?
(2) Has Hyperion expressed any interest in a second book?
(1) We liked the ones we did OK, but
we wouldn't have used them as often were it not for pressure from MTV.
As we hope was obvious from the show, our main interest was in creating
new characters for each sketch. (2) Right now they're just hoping not to
lose money on the first one. So buy more copies!
In the 3rd Do You Know Where
Your Children Are? skit, what is Tom saying in Spanish, or is it made up?
Tom answers: I'm saying "welcome to the
United States" in Spanish.
On the Halloween Special, in
the skit with the Hebras and Manzelles, are the Manzelle's antlers supposed
to fall off when he is attacked by the Boyote?
That was a mistake that happened while
we were filming that we thought was funny and left it in.
Who wrote the potato chowder
sketch,and has anyone in The State ever known people like that?
That sketch was an actual conversation
that happened between Showalter, Joe, Ken and Tom at the MTV cafeteria
one day. They typed it out right after lunch.
I was looking at The State
episode guide, and noticed in the pilot that never aired, some titles were
familiar, like Chair Wresling, Hormones, and Sid & Nancy. Are they
the same sketches that were in later 1st season episodes?
Yes - although "Hormones" was reshot
for the series.
Was that actually Alice Cooper
in the skit about the guy who just finds out about the word "And?" If so,
how did you get him, was he a fan? Did he contact you or did you ask him?
Yes that's him, and he was in town doing
something for MTV, so we grabbed him outside the MTV studio for two minutes.
He told us he had seen the show and liked it.