Something a little different this week – a Q&A between frequent Guardian culture contributor Rich Pelley and Ben Schwartz of Parks and Recreation fame, who is currently on tour and touches down in the UK in July. Read on for the secrets to quick-witted comedy success, as well as our usual cultural recommendations below. – Hannah
You’ll know Ben Schwartz as Jean-Ralphio Saperstein from Parks and Recreation, Space Force, and as the voice of Sonic in the two Sonic the Hedgehog movies. But you should like him best for his true passion – longform improv, where he invents hour-long stories based entirely on the suggestions of his audiences. His latest improv show, Ben Schwartz & Friends, is coming to London this July, where he will be joined on stage by friends, to improvise an entire evening of entertainment. We caught up with him to find out just how it all works.
Hi, Ben! Could you make the show all about me if I tell you a story in advance …?
No. That’s not how it works. The show is made up on the spot, so even the idea of us conversing beforehand wouldn’t make any sense. We interview audience members, listen to their story, and then make up an entire show off of that. What I’ve learned the most is that the best stories are from the people that aren’t trying to be funny. They’re just telling us real things from their lives, and we get to connect with them.
How are you anticipating British audiences might differ from US ones?
I guess I just won’t be doing 1,000 weirdly specific Los Angeles references. I’m very excited to find out because this is the first time I’ve taken my improv out of the US or Canada. My “world” tour is in fact one city – London. I filmed a movie with Sam Rockwell called Blue Iguana in the UK, but I haven’t done a ton of stuff there. Anytime I get to go for work, it’s heaven.
What happens if you’re doing an improv scene but can’t think of anything?
If we were doing improv, I would save you. Whenever I see someone may be a bit lost, I’ll jump in and push the scene along. If I said: “Remember that awful thing you did?” and they go: “Uhh …” I’ll try to make one up. I’ll say: “Remember when you stole candy from a baby? It was literally yesterday!” and then the scene can move on from there.
Isn’t part of the fun – like in Middleditch and Schwartz [his Netflix series with Thomas Middleditch, pictured below] – trying to stitch the other person up?
When you’ve played with someone for a long time, I love pushing that just to mess with people – but only if it furthers the show. There’s a guy I do improv with a lot called Drew Tarver. There was a show that involved us all singing the theme tune to Friends – I’ll Be There For You by The Rembrandts – but it was clear that he didn’t know the words. The shows are an hour long. We were wrapping it up, and it turned into this big thing where the only way someone’s life could be saved was if Drew Tarver could sing a word-perfect version of the theme to Friends, and he was pushed to the middle of the stage. It was such a funny moment because he was really trying to remember the words.
Talking of Friends, can you tell us the friends who will be featuring in Ben Schwartz and Friends in London?
I’m only bringing two because it’s quite expensive to fly. So it will be two people who I regularly do improve with in the States, and hopefully another American improv comic who happens to be over in the UK when we’re there.
If you could pick any British actor to be one of your friends, who would you choose?
I love Stath Lets Flats, so Jamie Demetriou.
You did the voice of Sonic. Has this lead to any weird fanboy stuff?
I’ve been invited to conventions, but I haven’t done one yet. Every so often, people will come up and want an autograph. I used to get recognised as Jean-Ralphio from Parks and Rec the most: people would come up, quote lines, and ask me do to sign stuff. When Sonic came out, all of a sudden that was the thing people wanted me to sign the most. So the thing that you can’t see my face in, is now the thing I’m most famous for.
They changed the appearance of Sonic at the last minute. If you could change anything about yourself, what would you change?
I get injured easier and I gain weight easier now than I have in my entire life. I would love if I still had the metabolism of when I was younger and didn’t get tired so quickly. Just give me an injury-free, young body – which is not saying much because I was a bag of bones back then as well.
What would have happened if they had cast you as Paddington?
Oh my God, it would be a dream. But I don’t think my voice is calm enough for Paddington. My voice would be a Paddington who had drunk too much coffee, was in a bad mood, and was also Jewish.
Ben Schwartz and Friends is at the Eventim Apollo, London, on 27 July. See rejectedjokes.com
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Take Five
Each week we run down the five essential pieces of pop-culture we’re watching, reading and listening to
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ALBUM – Asake, Work of Art
Nigerian Afrobeats star Asake is a pretty fast worker, appearing on no less than nine singles in 2022 and releasing an acclaimed debut album, Mr Money with the Vibe. Now he’s back at breakneck speed with another genre-melding, multilingual LP that borrows from everything from 90s crooners The Lighthouse Family to hip-hop swagger. Quite frankly, resistance is futile.
Want more? In Times New Roman – the first album in six years from Queens of the Stone Age – finds the band on raw and occasional doomy form.
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PODCAST – Vergil!
A great LGBTQ+ podcast isn’t just for Pride month, but this one has arrived at a great time nonetheless. Vergil! A Mythological Musical is a modern-day retelling of The Aeneid, written by novelist and playwright Maria Dahvana Headley, and starring Will Young in the title role. Says Headley: “I braided the story of Vergil’s epic writer’s block with the story inside his poem, and ended up with a musical full of adventure, pirates, giant queer love affairs, and enormous battles. It’s not every day a person gets to write a 450-page epic and have it turn into something like this!”
Want more? New BBC Sounds pod Shiny Bob sees journalist Myles Bonnar delve into a conspiracy theory at the heart of Scotland’s criminal justice system.
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BOOK – Wannabe by Aisha Harris
Aisha Harris, formerly of the New York Times and now host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour, has written her first book, out now, subtitled Reckonings with the Pop Culture that Shapes Me. In it, Harris looks at the limitations of black representation in culture, how to navigate the thorny world of criticism in the age of fans turned stans while remaining “true to my own reactions”, and whether “rooting for everybody black” as Issa Rae once declared, is to ever be taken at face value.
Want more? Dealing with addiction and transmasculine identity, Ponyboy by Elliot Duncan sounds like an ambitious, timely debut novel.
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TV – Black Mirror (Netflix)
Charlie Brooker’s dystopian anthology hit is back for a sixth season, a testament to its true TV staying power. This time around, the likes of Salma Hayek Pinault, Paapa Essiedu, Schitt’s Creek’s Annie Murphy and Aaron Paul are among the famous faces suffering tech-themed terror, while things get experimental in Demon 79, co-written with Ms Marvel’s Bisha K Ali.
Want more? Prepare for megachurch mega laughs as The Righteous Gemstones returns to Sky Comedy in the UK on 19 June, and HBO in the US on 18 June. Plus: here are seven more shows to stream this week.
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FILM – Pretty Red Dress
X Factor winner and West End star Alexandra Burke (pictured above) is among the leads of Dionne Edwards’s uplifting debut feature, a drama which examines black masculinity, the lure of stardom, and the pressures of city life. And if that wasn’t enough, it comes complete with Burke belting out Tina Turner’s greatest hits, in her role as wannabe singer Candice.
Want more? Embattled DC Comics flick The Flash has finally hit UK cinemas, but Peter Bradshaw’s verdict isn’t too super.
Read On
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Stephen King and Ridley Scott lead the Guardian’s tributes to No Country For Old Men author Cormac McCarthy, who died this week aged 89
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‘We are the great unwashed!’: Iron Maiden, Metallica and more on 20 years of Download, by former Kerrang! editor Sam Coare.
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The discourse around The Idol continues with a piece from the Guardian’s Leila Latif, who reckons that Sam Levinson’s latest show has “single-handedly resurrected torture porn”.
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“Could you be sending your money to a North Macedonian teen hacker?”: Vulture (£) on a cool site for fans of eastern European cinema, which probably won’t steal your identity …
You be the Guide
Last week we asked for your favourite non-English language albums. Here are just a few:
“My favourite non-English album is probably Mon Laferte Vol. 1 by the Chilean singer Mon Laferte. She mixes pop with traditional Latin music like ranchera and an amazing Björk-like voice that she’s not afraid to use. A beautiful and sad album that I understand maybe 7% of.” – Michael Newton
“Maybe because I grew up with opera, I adore Italian rock – best Saturday-morning-in-summer jolt in the world. I love Luciano Ligabue, Eros Ramazzotti, the great Lucio Dalla and many more, but for that take-me-away feeling it’s La Più Belle Canzoni di Zucchero. Mind you, the majority of the foreign-language albums I listen to are – whether Italian, French or German – still opera. You can’t beat La Bohème!” – Hilary McLaughlin
“Adjágas are Sámi artists from Norway. Their first self-titled 2005 album is mesmerising. And my lack of knowledge of the Sámi language matters not one bit. I once described the sound as medieval bluegrass but actually I think it transcends description”. – Moira Dennison
”I recommend Gwenno’s sparklingly beautiful 2022 album Tresor, which I believe is all recorded in Cornish. I happened upon it while exploring last year’s Mercury prize nominees, and it was only on the 3rd or 4th listen that I even noticed that she wasn’t singing in English. Her delivery is so translatable, that I find I don’t need to know the words to understand what she is saying. Gorgeous”. – Carly Doyle
Get involved
This week, we’re asking for the best standup you’ve seen live. Let Gwilym know whose improv has impressed you and who has wowed you with their wit by emailing [email protected].
