page 5
Q: I think the humorous aspect of putting these ideas together is what I responded to the most in your work. Watching the performances over the last couple of years, the conflation of vampires and photographers…
M: Do you think I'm just making a monkey out of myself?
Q: No, I wouldn't...
M: Sometimes I feel that way
Q: I wouldn't go that far.
M: But where do I go from here?
(both laugh)
Q: You're talking about the game, right?
M: Yeah. [Monkey falls] Ah, fuck.
Q: That's a big question to answer about your practice.
M: Well, when I was doing that chair performance last week, I really enjoy doing stuff like that, but at some point am I just writing bad jokes to make people laugh? I mean, there was a point to the piece, I know it's not just making jokes. But for me I think it’s hard to try to figure out what I'm trying to do with my life.
(both laugh)
Q: I think in those performances, the jokes are really necessary to the way the whole thing reads with this undercurrent of stand-up comedy that doesn't let it get too dry or too serious or too inaccessible. But you never push that. I've never felt that it gets to the point where then you can't appreciate everything else you're doing, the content of the performance. But that humor is also really important to the style of performance that you are doing.
M: That's just the only way I know how to write. So, when are you going to do a live performance?
(both laugh)
Q: I did my one live performance.
M: Oh, the reading, yeah.
Q: My one reading and I think five people showed up.
M: There was more than that.
Q: Six people. Performance is not something I have any experience with.
M: Yeah.
Q: Or particular comfort in.
M: How did we come to the conclusion that we would play video games while we were interviewing each other?
Q: I think we had a lot of trouble scheduling (Mike laughs) to get in the same room to do this.