Michael and Michael Have Issues » At Home

Hi!

Michael Ian Black — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 23:56:34 +0000

Michael Ian Black here, just wanting to thank everybody for continuing to support MMHI. The response has been terrific and, as a result, my wife decided to postpone leaving me, in the hopes that we get picked up for a second season, thus ensuring a larger alimony payment when she finally goes. Of course, I have mixed feelings about the whole situation. On one hand, I'm thrilled that my wife is going to be living with me for a little while longer, but on the other hand, the respite is temporary. I suppose I could use this time we have together to improve our relationship, work on our issues, and try to repair our many many problems. Or I could go to Foxwoods like I was planning. My head tells me to work on the relationship, but my heart tells me Foxwoods needs me even more than my wife.

Anyway, as I said I'm thrilled for the continued support. I've spoken to the other Michael (Shoemaker?), and he agrees with me. You guys have been just great, and we really appreciate it. This week is a good episode, which features the deaths of many innocent animals.

Whipporwill & Whippormight

Michael Showalter — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 14:09:37 +0000

"This is the Show"

Stephie Grob — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:52:35 +0000

Many of you may be asking yourselves, your local city councilmen, and me via Twitter the following:"What IS Michael and Michael Have Issues"?

Michael and Michael Have Issues is one part sketch comedy, two parts show-within-a-show narrative, a behind the scenes look at the making of a fictional sketch comedy show aptly titled Michael and Michael Have Issues. Black and Sho essentially play exaggerated versions of themselves, and each episode taps into that "issues" theme, whether that be Michael and Michael's jealousies of each other, their combined forces against a common foe, or their collaborated attempts to do good.

For a prime example of such issues in play, see here:

(DISCLAIMER: This is real.)

To which I say:

Less Than Two Weeks To Go!

Michael Ian Black — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:36:37 +0000

Less than two weeks to go until our mighty new show premieres. I feel like my wife did when we were expecting our first child: nauseous and craving mashed potatoes. After a year of working on this show, it's exciting to see the whole thing finally coming together.

In the next couple weeks, Sho and I will be doing as much press as we can to promote the show. He's going to be on Letterman, I'm going on Ferguson, we're both going on Fallon, and lots of other print and radio stuff. Doing press is sort of fun and sort of a chore. The tough part is answering the same questions over and over again. Already, there are certain questions I've grown sick of:

1. So what are your "issues?"
2. Where's David Wain?
3. Which Michael gets top billing?
4. Why is Showalter such a dick?

The thing I am most looking forward to about finishing is getting to be with my family again, who I feel like I have not seen in two months. I guess the reason I feel that way is that I pretty much haven't seen them in two months. Once we started shooting, the hours were so long that I could only get home on the weekends, which made for a fairly monastic existence.
As populous as it is, New York can also be a lonely town, particularly if you make no effort to see anybody or do anything – which is what I did. That's because work is so energy-intensive that I just didn't want to hang out when I was done for the day. Consequently, my only friends during those long days were my internet connection and Ambien.

Once the press is done, I'm going to take off the rest of the summer and just be with the woman I love. And also my wife.

Home Alone

Michael Ian Black — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:13:49 +0000

Home for the weekend. Normally that's a good thing except my family is away until after the Fourth of July, which means I'm alone. Again, that's normally a good thing except that I've been alone a lot in New York working on the show, and so it would be nice to have human contact with people over whom I have dominion (my kids) and one over whom I claim dominion (my wife). Even the dog is at the kennel, so I am totally by myself. Tonight though I'm going to a birthday party for a friend who is turning forty. I remember when my mom turned forty somebody got her a penis cake. I was twelve at the time and very embarrassed, although not so embarrassed that I did not eat a slice. That single slice of cake is probably most responsible for why I turned out the way I did.

So we continue to edit our new TV show. All in all, I would say that it's going well. Comedy Central seems pleased with everything, except for one sketch that we have a big disagreement about. For a show like ours it's pretty good to only have one big disagreement. The way we've decided to resolve it is pistols at dawn, which seems a bit extreme to me but Showalter is very committed to the idea and I want to present a united front to the network.

So yeah, it's a slow weekend here at my Connecticut mansion. I gave the entire staff the weekend off, which was very generous of me especially considering the fact that I don't have a staff. But if I did, I totally would have given them the weekend off because that's the kind of rich guy I would be if I were rich.

Memorial Day

Michael Ian Black — Mon, 25 May 2009 13:14:56 +0000

We're off from work today to celebrate Memorial Day, which I am doing in my traditional manner: grilling raccoon. A lot of people say raccoon is gamy, but my guess is they're saying that, they just didn't use enough marinade. You've got to really soak those little guys overnight, because like all wild animals, they can be a little tough and yes, gamy. Here's my raccoon marinade recipe:

1 cup lime juice
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon Kosher salt
2 heads garlic
1/2 gallon Makers Mark scotch

Warning: be careful when you first put that coon on the grill as the scotch has a tendency to flare up. I've singed off my eyebrows more than once because I wasn't paying attention.

Best parts of the raccoon: thigh, breast, hindquarters, loin. For those of you unfamiliar with butcher terms, the loin is in the leg. Also, hold onto the pelts as they can be traded with the Canadians for blankets and trinkets.

Day 7

Michael And Michael Have Issues — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:33:16 +0000

Shot on location at the Skyline Hotel in Manhattan.

Well on our way to shooting in all five boroughs.

An episode called "College."

More luxury life after the jump –>

Michael and Michael have roommate issues.

Tight work space.

Executive Producer Michael Black, Associate Producer Steve Marcarelli.

DP Dan Shulman.

Sho contemplates the futility of life and/or television production.

Grace Helbig as "Anna," a coed.

Michael Black can be so petty sometimes.

A restless night's sleep.

Bronx, Queens, Manhattan down; Brooklyn and Staten Island to go.

Sunday at Home With Family

Michael Ian Black — Sun, 17 May 2009 18:51:26 +0000

A lot of guys would probably consider their weekends "time off" from making a brilliant new television show. Not this fella. Today I started the day by reading the New York Times for inspiration, then got on the treadmill and ran almost five miles. To keep the bod hot. Then I went with my family to see Disney's "Earth." For more inspiration. Now I'm surfing the internet and thinking about taking a nap. Also, to keep the bod hot. (Not sure how those activities relate to making me sexy, but I'm confident they do.) Soon I'll be grilling turkey burgers instead of beef burgers – again, for reasons of sexiness. Then I'm going to get on the train and head back into the city to start the workweek all over again. But not before taking an Ambien as I pull into Grand Central with the hope that I can get to my apartment before it fully kicks in. Otherwise I may end up wandering the city streets devouring fast food and picking up tricks. Just to reiterate: I'm not doing all of this for me. I'm doing it for you fuckers.

Working on the Weekend

Michael Ian Black — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 17:13:56 +0000

I'm currently writing this from the "Michael and Michael Have Issues" offices, where I have been all weekend long writing and rewriting. Frankly, I'm exhausted. Michael Showalter left the office at 2:00 pm on Friday afternoon for his weekly squash game with his old friends from the community college he attended. So I was left to shoulder much of the work.

Rather than go home Friday night, I decided to sleep in the office Friday night so that I could a jump on the weekend's work. I started at Saturday morning at 6:00 am and haven't stopped since. Am I exhausted? Sure. But, to me, the long hours are worth it because I'm doing what I love. Yes my family misses me, but they understand that great art means great sacrifice. And that goes for them as well as for me. It's probably hard for my kids to grow up without seeing their father for weeks at a time, but I hope they will understand when they are older and I am long dead.

Yes, I probably could have made it home for a little while if my partner Michael Showalter had shared the work with me this weekend, but he's got several cats to look after and I think he had Yankees tickets, so I definitely do not begrudge his absence. In fact, I hope one of us has a great weekend.

Of course, there will probably be some of you who think I am writing this post from the comfort of my kitchen in Connecticut, having just eaten some quesadillas and homemade guacamole, but that would be plain wrong. No, I am in my tiny office grinding out sketches for our new show, and not about to go out with my family for a spring drive.

I could obviously offer photographic proof of my location, but what would that say about the trust we all have for each other? Not very much. No, I think you just should take me at my word that I am hard at work on a Sunday in my terrible office and not full from delicious quesadillas, and enjoying the terrific weather my family.

Kumail

Michael Ian Black — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:27:33 +0000

Just wanted to welcome our writer and friend Kumail to the blog (see his previous post). When we asked him to contribute stuff to the blog, it was much more along the lines of "we're just being polite," than an actual invitation to post stuff. Now that's he's gone ahead and written something, I guess I'm more or less okay with it, although there's definitely a slight feeling of "who invited THAT guy?" to the whole blog now.

Maybe he'll end up being a terrific contributor. Who knows? I remember when I was in seventh grade a new kid moved into our town. On his first day, everybody took one look at him and the consensus was pretty much unanimous: dork. Even the dorks, of which I was one, thought that. But once we got to know him, he turned out to be a really cool guy. Then he burned down the school. I'm not saying Kumail is going to end up like that kid, but I'm definitely not saying he won't.