7 questions for Kyle Mooney
Saturday Night Live’s professional geek co-wrote and stars in Brigs by Bear, an offbeat comedy combining 1980s-style kids’ shows with abduction drama
1Kyle, can you tell us about the starting point for Brigs by bear? Sure. I was obsessed with the notion of a guy who watches a TV show that’s being produced just for him, and he’s the only person who’s ever seen it. But also, I’m really into ’80s and ’90s children’s television shows – I’ve got a big VHS collection of these shows that [walk] that line between sweet and cute and just kind of scary – and the TV show within the movie is a tribute to that. 2Do you have a favourite old show?
I am really into ones that are direct-to-video and produced regionally; there’s probably a couple hundred in existence. I especially like religious ones. A video I’m really into is called Prayer Bear. He’s an animatronic bear who lives with a family and he’s constantly trying to teach the good word of the Lord, and also let the family know when the good times are to pray. He also loves ice cream. 3Is SNL a high-pressure job?
The hours are pretty crazy. Monday we meet the host, pitch a few ideas, and then we write a full show to air live on the following Saturday. You’re working in three-minute to six-minute pieces where you’ve gotta do so many jokes per minute. We didn’t feel like we had to do that in the movie. We felt like we could take our time and kind of force the audience to go along with this character on this journey. 4The casting of Mark Hamill as Ted is kind of great because in a way, as Luke Skywalker, he ‘abducted’ all of us when were children. Was he always in mind for that part? No! The role was a tough one to cast. We knew we needed the actor to be able to change their voice and do the voice of Brigsby Bear. And one day I pitched to Dave [Mccary, director], ‘You know Mark is an accomplished voice actor.’ We got up a Youtube video of him in a press junket where he’s talking as himself and then he breaks into the Joker voice and it was like, ‘Yep, this is the guy. He’s perfect.’ I don’t know if we initially intended it, but he represents nostalgia and fandom and so there’s this whole added layer to this thing. 5 Brigsby Bear ultimately seems like a metaphor for Youtube – was that theme always part of the plan? Maybe subconsciously. I made a career out of working with my friends – I came from making Youtube videos and doing college comedy shows with my friends. 6Do you have much in common with the character you play in the film? I think there is a lot of James in me. I’m still super moved by a lot of the things I was into as a child. I’ve got memorabilia, posters and animation cels and toys.
7 One of the charms of the show-within-the-film is its cheesy special effects. Is it hard to achieve special effects that look bad? It’s fun! We got four or five vintage TV cameras, we handpainted sets, everything was practical. We used the same technology that existed had the show been produced in 1989. ■ Nick Dent à Brigsby Bear opens on Thu Oct 26.
“I’ve got a big VHS collection of ’80s and ’90s children’s TV shows”