GREG HALL’S INTERVIEW WITH MOCK MAGAZINE
(July 2007 issue)

MM: Let’s start with the basics. When did you first know you wanted to do improv comedy?

GH: I’ll never forget. It was a Thursday.

MM: Do you remember your first skit or game?

GH: I had to do a speech once. Everyone in class had a partner but me. I was the odd man out. My little sister had this hideous doll named Chucky so I used it in a bad ventriloquist act. We wore matching tube tops and Speedos. We took turns back and forth as if we were partners. Reactions were mixed. You don’t usually see that kind of approach in Seminary. I was asked to leave the Order the very next day BUT I got some laughs. I know I did. I killed but in a real quiet way. Still, killing is bad. So I turned Chucky in.

MM: You started the Early Monday Morning Show in Michigan back in the mid-1980’s. You were one of the first improv troupes in the state. How receptive were the audiences?

GH: Very. It was in the middle of the standup boom and I think people liked seeing something a little left of center. Plus SNL was very popular then. We did a lot of skit work so I think they found us fun and refreshing.

The problem came in with booking the show. Comedy clubs couldn’t get the concept that there would be 5 of us onstage…with one mic? And theaters thought we weren’t scripted enough like a Neil Simon play would be. So they usually freaked out.

We sold ourselves to comedy clubs as ‘hey, you’re getting FIVE comics for one price!’ and we sold ourselves to theaters as ‘book us or we’ll burn your building down.’ It was Detroit so you could do that legally.

MM: You had a very successful 5 year run in Michigan. How did you wind up moving the show to Maryland?

GH: I moved here in ‘90-something. I had ‘retired’ from doing improv for about ten years. Went back to standup and did a ton of writing. Mostly alphabetical. We had clicked over to a new millennium and I just shot a movie about standup comics. I was at a venue called Tracys which was more of a raffle hut than a comedy club. Sure, they had acts, usually the same 5 guys every week, but they mostly bought time between the drawings. Anyway, I had won Ron Burr. I asked what he could do. He said improv.

Well, I wasn’t just going to have him lay around the house. So I started up EMMS again.

MM: Ron is the only original Maryland member in the troupe left other than you...

GH: There is a strict ‘no return’ policy.

MM: Now EMMS is entering its 7th season of doing shows in Maryland. I bet you’ve seen a lot of members come in go through those years?

GH: More than I can count. 23. Let’s see…Laura, Ian, Carlos, Miranda, Gompers, Rukman, Anne, Belle, Spitting Dave, Candi, Bratton, Erica, Ashley, Amy, Aimee, Brad, Eric…that’s 23, right? Two more quit just in the time it took me to think of these folks.

MM: Is there any former member you wish you could have back in the troupe?

GH: Improv is a tough beast. Because we’re not like a play that only runs for a few months and then you’re done, people burn out at different times. We go year after year, maybe taking a few weeks off over the summer to regroup. It’s a huge commitment. We’ve had one guy, Bill, who has left and come back so many times, we’ve had to change his name and make him grow a beard. So I don’t blame anyone for leaving. Except Aimee who skipped town just because I got her pregnant.

If I had to choose anyone, I’d say I really miss Laura. She was brilliant and she would fit in so well with this new troupe. On the other hand, Laura quit because she realized I was a pawn of Satan. Kind of hard to argue ‘So?’ to that one when someone is running away.

MM: How do you rate this current group to past ones?

GH: This is probably the best troupe I’ve had talent-wise since our kickass days in Michigan. There is a real chemistry now. And a wide range of strengths vs. weaknesses. We have some eager and open minded young peeps exploding with potential and some long time vets who have done this for decades. I’m really happy with this mixture. And for the first time ever, everyone is tossing in fresh material. For too long, I was the sole writer. And I’m only really good with verbs.

MM: What are your favorite skits?

GH: 3 Old Men is our little ‘classic.’ Always fun to pull off the shelf. I like the insane ones like Debbie Does Dundalk or Cohen, Snyder and Fatty Fatty Fuckface. I get to watch the audience let their jaws drop and the only laughter I get is from backstage. My favorite character will always be Sparky, host of Let’s Spawn. He was a bad comic in the 80’s and never bothered to update his material 20 years later. I’m trying to figure out a way to get him his own spin-off series on the WB or BET or CNN, wherever.

MM: What’s the closest you’ve ever come to being famous?