The Cory Lane (of Business Casual) Interview
Fresh out of out the UCLA Acting Program, Business Casual is the ground-breaking comedy trio of Hunter Saling, Cory Lane, and Jeremy Elder. From the second they hit the stage, an unmatched electricity fills every room. Each of them bringing a refreshing approach to improv and live comedy, while simultaneously taking influence from comedy royalty. They all work so well off of each other, it can only be described as a match made in heaven.
I was given the opportunity to sit down with one third of Business Casual, Cory Lane, for an impromptu audio interview over burritos and fish tacos.
This is that interview.
So to start us off, how did Business Casual begin?
So we have our little origin story I guess, but it started out with Hunter Saling and I doing improv together, just the two of us. We were calling ourselves Stupid Man Suit from Donnie Darko. We had watched that movie together and we thought that was awesome. So the two of us were doing shows together, and we're doing OK. Then one night in our first quarter of our freshman year, Hunter, Jeremy Elder, and I were at this Student Industry Night for the entertainment industry. It was mostly just assistants and people from the news and It was good for some people but we were actors and comedians. We went and sat down with the only agent that was there and he went like "First things first: If you're not a lady get out of my table" we were like "What?" And so we left, we were all dressed nice, and it just so happened that down the street was this place called the Improv Space And every Wednesday night they sort of do the equivalent of an open mic but for improv. So we went down, the three of us, put our name in and we were like we're all dressed in business casual. So we put on as Business Casual and we got to do like a 10 minute set. Then Jeremy just sort of filled in, in my opinion, like the gaps between Hunter and I. Hunter and I improvised in a certain similar way, and Jeremy like balanced us out in this really awesome way. He's a really patient improviser in a way that I think Hunter and I are not, or at least at the time weren't, and we just loved working together. So we just started submitting to shows, putting up our own shows and what really got us to like get known in our small like UCLA Community, was when we submitted to this competition at this improv festival, this March Madness competition. So it was a bracketed improv competition and you'd go up against a different team. The audience would vote who got to go on next and we ended up coming in second. So that was when we we're like "OK look we're good at this." We worked well together. It's just sort of grown from there.
So you guys are from L.A., You guys went to UCLA. How was it being an improv group at UCLA? I know you were in the improv group at a high school in San Diego. But I'm sure it's got to be a different scene, a lot more competitive.
Well I mean like in the microcosm of UCLA, we went through like this little improv renaissance where there's so many different improv teams on campus. Normally like at a college, there's the one team, and you audition for the one team. But we had like three or four different teams to choose from. It's actually funny, Hunter and I didn't get on the main best group our freshman year. We auditioned and we got callbacks but for whatever reason, him and I both weren't able to make our callback. So Jeremy got on, and Hunter and I did not. so we started performing that as the three of us but we ended up getting asked to do the same shows that the big groups were getting asked to and the groups were like 10 person improv teams. So they would all go up and do 10 minutes and then the three of us would go up and do 10 minutes, so that was really fun. Like people go and see shows at UCLA, they go and see improv shows, and we'd have lecture halls full of people coming to see improv. They wouldn't just come to see us. They'd come to see all of the Improv teams and all the stand ups. We ended up working our way in where we would open those shows, that we would be the first act. We had a good like energy that we could bring to it. But then there's also the Improv Space, which is a rentable theater. Like 40 bucks an hour, You can just throw up a show there, and from a greater L.A. perspective, Once we got cars, Which was sophomore year for me. We would submit a google form and you could do a show on the east side, you could do a show at this tiny theater in Culver City, you could do all these different shows and we would have a schedule. We were at one point doing two or three shows a month, where we would just do 20 minutes or 15 minutes at this strangers bar, or club, places like that. It just got us used to performing for people that weren't our friends.
Yeah exactly. I'm sure that's a big thing to get you exposure.
Yeah it's awesome! I don't trust my friends to tell me if I'm funny. When a stranger tells me like it that means more.
Who you guys looked to in inspiration?
I'll tell you like a couple of people that probably no one would know. Then I'll tell you a couple people that people would know. I'd start with like, when I was 16 I saw this group called Jetzo. It's Chad Damiani and Juzo Yoshida, they do this two man, improvised clown thing and they're ridiculous. They're insane. They're high energy. It's like not quite straight improv, like they'll break the fourth wall, Interact with the audience. I saw them in San Diego when I was 16 and then when I moved to L.A. I was like oh they're based out of L.A. and I went and saw their shows more often and they were a huge influence. I mean like all of us did improv in high school. Jeremy did Comedy Sports and Hunter and I did improv. I went to Del Norte and he went to Westview and so like we had like you know at the very start, It was like the whole "whose line" like that was it for us. But then you know, We bonded over old SNL and less so new SNL. You know. Yeah but like how many sketches. Oh definitely. OK bonded over those bonded over. What was it like kids in the hall. Mr. Show. Yeah. We also had the guy who ended up producing us in Edinburgh this year. His name's Zach Zucker and he. I saw him the summer between my sophomore and junior year I started I went to his shows in Scotland and like. He was incredible and he like he's sort of like sent us down this path sort of altered our trajectory from just being an improv team to being more of a clown influenced one. Our show definitely OK because we originally were just we would just do 30 minutes if that was in a street fight of just improv and we would normally get something to open for us like a standup or another in order. But then once I got back from Edinburgh, which was kind of was like a turning point, it was like 2017, we started doing one hour shows where we would do sketches and improv and it was sort of like stopped being any improv, and doing like what you saw at the show, which kind of looks like loose sketches where we can interact with the audience, it's bits. like it really is just bits. I try to think of like any other influences, but yeah. We would we would go to the Del Close marathon in New York and we would just see all these incredible improvisers and we'd see them perform at 2 a.m. for 10 people, as if it was a packed house at 8 p.m. and it's like seeing that really had a big influence, as young as I was.
I just remembered this, fun fact/side note: Kyle Mooney actually grew up in Scripps Ranch [San Diego]. I think he was doing a bit for SNL. He was showing like these old rap music videos he used to do, and he was literally pumping gas into his car at that ARCO gas station across the street.
That’s right! like his stuff too. Also Beck with Beck Bennett, like the inside SoCal was shot in OB [Ocean Beach]. It was kind of cool, especially for Kyle Mooney, to see a person from my neighborhood essentially. You can come from suburban San Diego and end up on SNL. Which was a huge, like, let's call it inspiration.
Have you guys ever really considered doing just stand up on like like single stand up single person stand up?
Our freshman year we would actually go to the open mics, like just stand up open mics and when I was like a kid I wanted to be a standup, and then I sort of evolved into wanting to be an actor. But when I went to college I was like" I'm going to try to stand up again" and so I did a fair amount of stand up, like I would go to a couple open mics and I was part of the standup club at school and so was Hunter. Jeremy never really did a lot of standup, I've seen him do it once and it was very funny I forget the joke that he did but he had one joke that he would do and that he would go offstage, I forget what it was. Hunter and I would do standup, and it's still something. Like I want to develop a one man show and we'd be like you know kind of standup-y,kind of clown-y a kind of sketch, but just me, and so that's a goal of mine. So it's definitely something that's on my mind but like the idea of like "I'm going to be at the Funny Bone in Missouri" It doesn't sound super appealing to me. I don't really want to hit the road as a stand up comedian. I'm much more interested in like going to like Fringe Festivals and being a part of that. As opposed to like I'm "in Daytona Beach!" not that that's like anything wrong with that, like I love Tom Segura, I love like Ali Wong, I love standup. I think at a certain point I was like "I don't know if that's exactly what I want." I can't speak for the guys but I think that it's similar. We ended up going towards like the acting and writing and the improv.
That probably leads to more opportunities as well. I think you kind of end up hitting a glass ceiling to a extent when it comes to playing those kind comedy shows.
Yeah. I feel like it gets exhausting. I mean the thing is like I have no idea. Like I'm 22. In ten years that could be what I want And I think that like we've sort of set ourselves up in a way where it's like the first step is within reaching distance, you know? like it wouldn't be a cakewalk but like I think that being a part of the comedy community, I know what I would have to do to like at least start.
How difficult would you say it was to gain traction as an improv group rather than, Not just a standup comedian but as an entertainer in general?
I mean in the moment it felt tough. But I think that we had it pretty made for us. Being at UCLA, We're so lucky people come to shows, and having this improv theater down the street, being in L.A. I mean like, it'd be way different to be doing improv at some small liberal arts college in New Hampshire. We're in Los Angeles. We can take classes from the best of the best. But we still put a lot of energy into it, like we practice. We also got to a point where we will warm up. But we spend so much time together that practicing is almost moot. Like we'll take workshops and stuff and we'll focus on it. But to the point of whether or not it was difficult getting those shows and getting people in there, I think we had like a standard to uphold for sure, and I think that we held up to expectations. But then once we sort of like starting transitioning out of improv into sketch, like that's a challenge for me. Like writing sketches is more of a challenge that improv is, the show that we did this weekend, is more challenging than just going out doing an improv set. Then you know getting into the Edinburgh Fringe, is my friend Zach that I ended up seeing, becoming friends with them the next year, and he's producing me this year, producing Us this year. He really sort of greased some palms and helped us get our show in Scotland. But it's because he knows that we are gonna work hard. I worked for him in Scotland for a summer and he knows my work ethic. I vouch for my guys. And I think it's like sort of like He's giving us a lot and we're gonna give him a lot back because we're gonna flyer for him and we're going to help to promotional stuff. But it was tough. But it was never anything that I didn't want to do. You know like I have to do a lot of admin stuff. Like getting our money together and getting all the stuff together, that gets like a little bit tedious. But ultimately it's so that we can do a show for people, that's what makes it worth it. Getting those shows booked in San Diego this weekend was pretty tough. But doing those shows just made it so worth it. Like my sister had never seen us do our full show and she got to see it, like seeing my sister like have tears in her eyes laughing, that was really cool.
How does the writing process work for coming up with bits? I know improv is improvised obviously, but when you guys said you're doing bits and stuff what's the writing process?
We'll like text each other when we have an idea. But in the last year or two we'll get together and we'll be like "OK what do you have. What do you have what you have?" And we'll sort of present our idea. Most of the time it's a concept. Sometimes we'll show up with a script already in hand. we'll be like "OK I have this idea for a bit where it goes like this this this and that". Then we'll hear the person out and then it kind of goes to the floor to be punched up like "oh what if we went this direction, what if we went that direction?" And the cool thing with us is that like, you know they say like you have to kill your darlings. We have no problem killing our darlings. There's so many things that we think is so funny and it just does not work on stage like. But then I guess on the flip side there's stuff that like wasn't funny, like Lessons in Seduction was a bit that we did, and we only recently had the idea to pull someone up on stage. Originally we were just doing it with a mic in the center of the stage, and it was not working. Like Jeremy had the idea, "What if we put someone on stage and we do it to them?" and if that doesn't work then we're cutting the bit and it works! like it did pretty well. I think that it did a little bit better the night before because we're much more comfortable making a guy uncomfortable because we had a guy volunteer. It's 2019, I don't want to make a woman uncomfortable. So we like held back a little bit. We'll probably choose dudes in the future just because we're tall white boys. But anyway, like we'll have serious nights, like we still go back to our college to rehearse and some of the rooms like let's get on our feet let's try this out, there's other nights for the "track and fields" and the short bits, where we'll just get drunk and pitch them to each other. I think that's the really fun part. That's what's great about being in this with friends.
So it’d be safe to say that it’s a lot of trial and error to a extent?
Yeah, we've been doing the show over and over and just fine tuning it, taking out parts, putting in parts…
Again speaking with the whole male versus female type situation when it comes to your shows, I don't want to ruin anything but it gets a little risque occasionally. Have you guys faced any uncomfortable audience members, backlash or anything like that? upset parents possibly?
You know it's funny. Not really. I think that we were pretty conscious or at least we attempt to be pretty conscious of the fact that we are straight white boys. But we also have a lot of friends in the improv community that are queer, or women and sometimes they'll come up to us after the show and they're like "That wasn't so good" And we'll be like, you got it! I'm glad that those friends of ours feel comfortable being able to voice that with us, because then we can make the adjustment and move on, and not make that mistake again. But it's funny that you asked, We told the owner of the theater that you saw us at, he was like "So what would you give your show a rating of?" And I was like "Fuck, it's probably R", he's like "We try to do most of our shows PG to PG-13" I was like "OK. We can push to PG-13." Then when I showed up He was like "OK PG-13 show?" and I was like "we said R" he's like, "you said that you're going to try to do PG-13" I'm in my head like "It's kind of x rated" we show a picture of a butthole, we show a picture of two dudes fucking, Jeremy masturbates (mimed). Not to give away my whole show, I don't know if anybody's going to see this in Edinburgh But. we thought the owner of the theater is going to get mad. Then after the show he ended up saying like, "guys it was awesome!" and he invited us back. We're like "Yeah that was kind of shot in the dark" So we've been lucky with that. I Think that I think that we're pretty cognizant, or at least we attempt to be, And I think that we've become more cognizant from being 18 year olds doing improv to now 22 year olds. Yeah I think that we've had a bit of a jump. But we still try to push where we can. Like we did a sketch about the Grinch being a creepy pedophile. I mean that's offensive maybe, or it's risque, but it's not like violently offensive, it's not sexist or racist. So we definitely edge away from that.
That’s so funny, I remember seeing you guys in high school all the time, and There's parents and young kids in the audience. Even then it's like, improv is obviously improvised to the point where sometimes you can't help what comes out of your mouth, that's just the next thing. So sometimes you end up saying something completely risque at a high school improv show. So I feel like it's hard to gauge what rating an improv show is, you can't really control what the next thing coming out of your mouth is.
Exactly! I mean like in the show I remember at one point I just yelled "Fuck" and in my head I was like "I'm not supposed to do that. I told them I wasn't gonna do it, Sorry" When we've been doing the show so much, I forget where it is, we're just in the show. I try to interact with the audience that's there, but the outside world kind of melts away. It's like the audience and us. I think that was the freeing part about moving from high school to college. Just being able to say whatever I want.
Totally, there’s a lot of freedom in being able to work blue.
Yeah. And that's more fun. It's just more fun for us.