UCBLive! Where meet-cutes get real.
Looking to meet other non-racists? There’s an app for that.
From our friends at Above Average!
Watch this and then do something.
Don’t wait for someone to tell you you’re good enough. You are good enough.
Sue Galloway and Megan Neuringer co-create new web series, ‘Escape From Brooklyn’
“Escape From Brooklyn” chronicles the mishaps of Jen (Sue Galloway) as she attempts to return to Manhattan from Brooklyn. Co-creators, Galloway and Megan Neuringer, discuss the inspiration behind the series and working with guest stars.
LK: So what inspired Escape From Brooklyn?
SG: I was feeling really pregnant. Just big and uncool and awkward and it was kind of a strange feeling. Not that I’m super cool all the time, but when you’re pregnant people treat you differently, like they are a part of your journey in some way, and I just felt more “mainstream” than I usually do. Like I had become some completely accessible character (“Pregnant Lady”) instead of just being a human being. Don’t get me wrong. It’s nice to have people treat you with compassion and chivalry when you’re pregnant. There seems to be some underlying benevolence in the world and those who normally wouldn’t talk to you walk up to you on the street and engage and smile and it’s almost creepy. I guess I thought about putting this character I had sort of become in a situation where things weren’t exactly dangerous, but were different for her. It was meant to almost be an Alice in Wonderland situation. And I wanted to have a friend be a part of the journey, and so Megan was the borough sherpa.
MN: Sue initially came up with the idea because she had this nice new car and wanted to use it as a shooting location. I just wanted to be a part of whatever she was creating because she’s a great friend and also genuinely one of the funniest writer/performers I know. I loved playing a version of a hipster Brooklyn weirdo who goes on mini-adventures with a normal, pregnant woman who just wants to get home. I also have a real love for New York City, and was so happy to make something that featured its landscape.
SG: Megan, I totally forgot that. Yes. It was that I had a car so I had a new location I could shoot in. All the other ideas were after that. We actually didn’t shoot all that much in the car.
LK: How did you decide to work together?
SG: Megan and I have been friends for years, and I know she’s super cool (I want to type stoopid cool. It that wrong?). Also, there is nothing I love more than just working together with someone who I think is awesome. It’s really fun to collaborate and see what your brains make together.
MN: Sue asked me, I said yes immediately. She’s been making videos for years and I’ve always loved them. Her comedic tone is so unique and wonderfully silly. It can be tough to collaborate with people, especially friends, but working with Sue was easy. She’s very organized and motivated, two qualities that are as important as being funny. I should also add that she was always courteous and kind to our crew, in a way that was very meaningful. You don’t want to work with a selfish cranky meanie.
LK: The characters are all wonderfully strange. Have you done mostly character-driven writing in the past?
SG: I only work in character mode. I access everything I work on or watch through character. I get fooled by plots all the time.
MN: I’m all about character. Without that, who cares what kind of trouble you get into? That said, I like to write characters as heightened versions of real people I know or based on real aspects of myself.
LK: The series highlights a more eccentric version of Brooklyn. Was this choice based off your own sentiment towards Brooklyn?
SG: We wanted to create an over-the-rainbow/through-the-looking-glass/labyrinthine world that was just over the bridge. I think this is the Brooklyn I dream about — the day never ends, people are nicemean, meannice, you don’t quite know what people mean by what they say. Are there dragons?
MN: I love Brooklyn with all my being. I was born there. It is the most diverse and incredible borough. It’s actually magical and weird and can make you feel like you’re in a fever dream and we wanted to give that feeling.
LK: Is there an episode you particularly enjoyed working on?
SG: I think my favorite was Will Hines, the episode we very creatively call “Will.” I quite rudely asked Will if we could shoot it at his apartment, and in the depths of his kindness Will said yes. We wrote it with his voice in mind, and when Megan and I read through it for rewrites, we would laugh and say, “I can’t wait to hear Will saying this stuff.” And then we did, and he our words flow in only a way he can. I just love Will Hines and I never won’t. In the montage in the episode, we were laughing so hard I was crying. Also on that day, there was a horn sound and Josh Ruben and Will kept joking that it was an Orc Horn being blown from a nearby roof — which is again the Brooklyn that I dream about. It was magical. Also we had tacos, which are basically like sandwiches, I don’t know if you’ve had them. They were really good.
MN: I loved the Will episode but the Bartender episode was my favorite to shoot because we got to use my friend’s beautiful restaurant, Dear Bushwick, as a location, and Sue’s hilarious husband John was very fun to work with and also I got “accidentally” drunk during the shoot.
SG: I also gave birth to my baby less than a week after shooting that episode. So we really got in under the wire.
LK: Do you have any anecdotes from working with the guest stars?
SG: We made Gavin [Speiller] wear that outfit, and sweet Gavin was so generous in sharing his time and freezing his rear off in no shirt, open sweatshirt and tiny shorts and legwarmers, etc. We were driving through Bushwick from the outdoor shoot location to the indoor shoot location, talking about what a silly outfit we made him wear and how cold it was out, and we saw a guy wearing ALMOST THE SAME OUTFIT but not as a joke. He was wearing an open sweatshirt, no shirt, and super tight pants, and had abs you could grate cheese on. It looked like he was going to brunch or about to have a dancefest. We thought it was funny. Also, in the Bartender episode, Megan “accidentally” actually got drunk. We got to work with directors Todd Bieber (Jaff, Drug Dealer, Lutz, and Becky episodes) and Josh Ruben (Will and Cops). They were awesome and brought great crews; it was just a good time all around.
MN: All our guest stars were comedy dreams. Ben Kronberg played our Drug Dealer and was so deadpan and creepy. Nate Smith had one line but who doesn’t love his naked body crossing through frame? Will and John and Gavin are so funny I still laugh out loud watching them in the edit.
LK: What is your spirit animal? Why?
SG: My spirit animal would have to be my son, Daniel. It might be the hormones talking, but I don’t care. He’s my dragon.
MN: My spirit animal is New York City. Or the lowly seahorse.
Check out the first two episodes of “Escape From Brooklyn” here and here. Follow Sue Galloway on Twitter @suedgalloway and Megan Neuringer @MeganNeuringer.
Lauren Kahn is an intern with UCBComedy. She’s on Twitter too, @likahn.
Let us not be too quick to judge our “complimentary” entertainers in subways and other public arenas.
From our friends at Cracked!
