Scott Landes

Craft:  Comedy Writer 
In New York:  5 years
Why we think he’s cool: Currently writing for MTV’s Megadrive.
Where to find him: peepmeat.com & vbs.tv/hottdogs
Interview by: José
 


Jose:  So Scott - I found out that you and I were at UMass/Amherst at Southwest around the same time?
Scott: That’s right. I was in Patterson and JA in 2000 - long live Southwest!

J:  Did you do any stuff with comedy while you were there?
S: Yeah actually,  I had a comedy show up there called Feeding The Ducks.  We had  eight or nine episodes that showed on campus and the Amherst community on cable access.   It did well enough that there was enough of a fan base who started quoting it or knew who we were.  It was a lot of fun. 
 
J:  At UMass I was in a sex education theatre troupe called Not Ready For Bedtime Players  - you had to be funny, which was hard for me.
S: Yeah, that's the thing. If somebody is not especially funny, they can work on timing and that sort of thing. Some people got it and some people don’t.

J:  What's it been like since you moved to New York five years ago?
S: It's been great. I worked my way up and kind of got lucky along the way. I started hanging out at the $5 comedy clubs, figuring out who I thought was really good out of the people that weren’t known yet.  I then started working with them on small stuff, which lead to medium stuff--writing pilots here, web series there and helping out on videos and TV shoots. Lately I’ve been writing for a show on MTV called Megadrive.  Everything has been going really well.
 
J: Other than your current project, do you have a favorite?
S: I worked on a web series called Penelope, Princess of Pets. It was about a girl who, when she got her first period,  realized she could talk to animals whose mission was to save the world by killing a senator named Stone.   

J: [laughs] That’s pretty out there.
S: Loved it. I worked on that with comedians, Kurt Braunohler and Kristen Schaal.  It was most fun shooting that web series. 

J: Do you have a favorite comedian?
S: Out of my peers, Kurt and Kristen who I mentioned are great and The Variety Shac girls.  Out of the people who are bigger with the public, I think Louis C. K. right now is on fire. He’s amazing. 

J: What would you say is your style of writing?
S: I call it "sabotage comedy."   As soon as we (people I work with and I) or the viewer think something is getting boring or uninteresting, we will sabotage our own sketch with something funny or unexpected.  Instead of wrapping it up with a punchline, we change the direction entirely and move on without answering why we did so, and jump into the next thing. I did a web series a few years ago called Hott Dogs, and that’s what we did.
 
J: Give me an example of sabotage comedy.
S: There are too many shows about people talking back and forth saying silly things...so for me, if two people are saying funny things and a man runs by on fire in the background, and then we cut away to a kitten dry heaving--that’s something you can enjoy.  That’s what I try to do. It’s got to be visually stimulating as well. 

J: What’s your impression of New Yorkers?
S: I think native New Yorkers are hysterical because they have this experience of being so on guard their whole lives that they’re afraid of so many more things than would ever possibly happen.

J: Like what?
S: The average person when they move here is afraid of getting mugged, but native New Yorkers are afraid of not drinking out of a straw when they get a can of soda, or being pushed in front of the subway.  All my friends who grew up here have all these fears that seem completely irrational to me, but make perfect sense to someone who’s been here twenty or thirty years. 

J: For me getting a straw just made me look gayer than I already did.  
S:  Exactly! 

J: What’s your obsession with burgers, because I know you have blog called peepmeat.com? 
S:  Four years ago an old roommate and I thought that reading about burgers seemed stupid, so we thought we should have a blog based purely on what they actually look like when you’re buying them. We wanted everybody to say, “Now that one looks good!”, click on it and find out where it is.  Now people across the country are uploading their burgers!

 J: What’s your advice for any youngsters hopping off the Peter Pan bus?
S: Give yourself a huge window. My goal was to get real writing work within five years instead of a year.  It took a lot of the pressure off.  That’s the only advice I can give.

J: Do you have a favorite comedy club?
S: I always like the PIT (People’s Improv Theater). That’s where I have made the most friends and seen my favorite performers perform. For more stand-up club comedy, probably The Comedy Cellar, just because it's so legitimate as a New York place. 

J: What’s next?
S: I just sold a pilot to IFC with The Variety Shac.  Also, I’ve been writing with a couple of people on projects where the scripts are being shopped around, and working on a web series for this spring.  After that it's stringing together one job after the next. 

J: You’re a busy man. I’ll let you go, so you can get to it.
S: Alright, sounds good.  Take care. 
_____________________________________________________________________________________
 How did Scott answer our ‘Outsider’ questions?
 
1. List three things you’d like to find in your Christmas stocking.
S: Hiking boots, a digital camera, and plane tickets to St. Martin

 2. What was the worst gift you ever got?
S:  I got a stuffed soccer ball that had the name "Scott" on it!  I was not young enough to enjoy it. 

3. What freaks you out about New York?
S: Absolutely nothing. It's impressive that so many people can co-exist here. 

4. What's your favorite NY Icon?
S: The Chrystler Building

5.  Hot apple cider or eggnog?
S:  Nog...definitely Nog.  

Tags: Jose