Broken Lizard comics leaping from film to stage

 By Diana Nollen

Broken Lizard just keeps regenerating.

The brains and brawns behind the movies “Super Troopers,” “Beerfest” and “The Dukes of Hazzard” remake are digging back to their standup comedy roots. They'll plant their feet on the Englert Theatre stage in downtown Iowa City on Saturday night, for a mix of group sketches, individual shtick, songs, storytelling and film clips.

“It's like a good, old-fashioned cavalcade of humor show, with audience participation and characters from our previous movies doing bits with the audience,” says trouper Paul Soter, 40, of Los Angeles. Kevin Heffernan, also 40 and living in Los Angeles, shared his wit and wisdom in the recent phone interview, too.

The remaining Lizards are Jay Chandrasekhar, Steve Lemme and Erik Stolhanske. All are about the same age, relocated one by one from New York to L.A. and are part of the comedy tour.

They began as a sketch comedy group for a student show at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y. After graduating in the early '90s, they moved to New York City to start working the clubs. Unlike those early days, where their Web site says they “performed live shows in exchange for sexual favors,” the guys now work for money.

“Cash pays the bills better,” Heffernan says.

“It's getting harder and harder to tell our wives we're going on the road to perform for sexual favors,” Soter adds.

Their shenanigans are still cheeky and fun.

“Our shenanigans are very wholesome in spirit, if a little bit raunchy in their delivery,” Soter says.

“More fun than cheeky these days,” Heffernan adds.

It's the fab five's fans who get cheeky, shouting out buzzwords and lines from the movies that have earned the Lizards cult-hero status.

“In Houston, some guy yelled out ‘Farva's number one' repeatedly,” Soter says. (Farva is Heffernan's character in “Super Troopers.”)

“It's cool about people having such devotion to the lines, but I can't put myself in the head of a person who pays $25 and yells ‘Farva's number one.'”

When asked if the name Farva was a play off Favre, a running gag in the Farrelly Brothers' comedy, “There's Something About Mary,” Heffernan concedes. “It's a little bit Favre. We were trying to think of a name that sounds disgusting, like ‘larva' is a disgusting word. It's a hybrid of Favre and larva.”

And even though “Super Troopers” doesn't paint the prettiest picture of the state troopers the Lizards portray, they've felt no repercussions from the law enforcement community.

“We've had no backlash - only forward lash,” Soter says. “The completely unexpected fringe benefit of making that movie - and I'm probably jinxing that - is that the five of us are untouchable from the law. We can get away with anything. The stuff we get away with is shameful.”

“Not murder or anything,” Heffernan quickly adds. “It's been great. Every stop of the tour, the (officers) backstage in the wings will come back and hang out with us. We gotten out of speeding tickets, too.”

On the downside: “It kind of screws you up,” Soter admits. “Your expectations become very strange. If I'm pulled over, I'm furious if the guy doesn't let me off. I left a softball game a couple months ago and didn't have my lights on. I got pulled over and got a ticket. I couldn't have been more livid.”

The Lizards have a new film coming out Dec. 11, with a typically intriguing title, “The Slammin' Salmon.” It's not about fish abuse, verbal or physical.

It deals with mobsters, waiters, money-raising schemes and a former heavyweight boxing champ played by heavyweight actor Michael Clarke Duncan (“The Green Mile”). Other heavy-hitters in the cast include Will Forte and Vivica A. Fox.

“It was shot on a soundstage (in Los Angeles) during the writers' strike, in 25 days,” Heffernan says. “We had friends and fun actors come up and do a day here and there. It was fun - like putting on a stage play.”

Not ones to sit still for long, the Lizards, who write their material by committee, have another screenplay brewing.

“In addition to the tour, we're writing a film for Universal for us to star in,” Heffernan says. “It's called ‘Rogue Scholars,' about a group of professors at a college who get into a little war with the students. It's kind of like ‘Animal House,' but this time the good guys are the professors.”

No doubt with more than a few shenanigans up their robed sleeves.

FAST TAKE

What: Broken Lizard Live

When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7  

Where: Englert Theatre, 221 E. Washington St., Iowa City

Tickets: $30 adults; $25 children and students; at the Englert Box Office, (319) 688-2653 and www.iowatix.com

Information: www.englert.org and www.brokenlizard.com