Broken Lizard isn't a crippled gecko, but five sick college friends who have made good in the movies. Jay Chandrsekhar, Steve Lemme, Kevin Heffeman, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske make comedy that harks back to the Golden Age of the '70s and '80s where lust and laughs mixed like knee and slap.
The group first exposed its ribald tales with Puddle Cruiser (1996), but it was the sleeper hit Super Troopers (2001) that made them a cream factory of sex and silliness. The cherry on top of that comic sundae is Club Dread (2004), a riff-happy hybrid of teen-sex comedies and slasher films that hits DVD on May 25, 2004.
Mr. Skin had the pleasure to take an afternoon off to yuk it up with Erik Stolhanske, who is not only a founding member of the troupe but a seasoned actor who's flexed his funny bone on such hits as HBO's Sex and the City and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Great to talk with you Erik, we're all huge fans of Super Troopers and Club Dread here at Skin Central.
Thanks, I'm a big fan of your site. I first heard about you on Howard Stern. I think Mr. Skin is pretty great on the show. And we hope some of our people are on Mr. Skin.
Oh, yes, you're well represented. And if you keep the nudity coming you'll always have high ratings on our site.
There's a pretty good chance of that, as you can tell from our track record.
Broken Lizard has been a reliable source of skin on screen. Why wasn't there any skin in your first Broken Lizard outing, Puddle Cruiser?
There's only half-a-shot. This woman named Kayren Butler, who was in Prophecy 3 with Christopher Walken. She and Steve [Lemme] fool around and Steve is on top of her, so you just see the side angle. You see the breast, but only a little bit of nipple. There's always male nudity.
You had a bit part in The Sweetest Thing, so who is the sweetest thing: Cameron Diaz, Christina Applegate or Selma Blair?
I've always had a soft spot for Christina Applegate ever since Married... With Children, she was so sexy in that (Picture: - - ).
Were they any scenes between you and Christina that ended up on the cutting room floor?
No, I wish. But it was kind of funny because the scene I shot was pretty sexual with Selma Blair. And even though she was pretending to, um, you know, "perform the act," it was still really sexual. The scene I was in I played a paramedic who comes to rescue Selma Blair who gets stuck - she's giving a guy a blowjob, but he has a piercing and it gets stuck in the back of her throat. My job is to come and rescue her. So, when we were filming we were only pretending, but it was still veryarousing. It's a tough job.
You're part of a comedy troupe called Broken Lizard, but what the hell is a Broken Lizard?
It's a euphonium for a male of lost virility in a Tijuana whorehouse. That's what I like to say sometimes. We like to keep them guessing. We all went to college together and lived together in New York City, performed on stage for a long time and got into movies.
Speaking of movies, Club Dread is mamm-orable for few beautiful things, and they show up in the first scene thanks to Elena Lyons and Tanja Reichart.
Well, you know, it's a take-off on '80s sex comedies and horror flicks, so we thought what better way to start off our movie than with a threeway! Instead of just two people going off into a cabin to fool around we put them in an old cemetery and had them do a threeway.
You're always pushing the envelope. Did you cast these cuties yourself?
Yeah, we put it on the breakdowns that there had to be nudity and we're really grateful that we got actresses who have done stuff, like Tanja was in Scary Movie. We recognized them and they were fun to hang out with. We were shooting in Mexico. And when the cameras aren't rolling, you always wish there were cameras around. But I think there are a lot of people who don't want that to be public.
Anything on the cutting room floor that's skin-worthy?
There's a scene when Lindsay Price (Picture: 1) is running away from the killer and she runs down to the beach and she trips on a couple having sex. And they're like, "All right, this party just keeps getting better!" I think it's going to be on the DVD extras.
One big coup in Club Dread is the first skin from Cheryl Ladd's gorgeous daughter Jordan Ladd (Picture:1 - 2 - 3 - 4). How'd you get her to flash that impressive rack?
She was a fan of Broken Lizard and Super Troopers and liked the spoof-comedy aspect of the old horror movies. And she trusted us. She's a friend of the director Jay [Chandrasekhar]. It's her only skin scene.
In Cabin Fever, Jordan had that sexy scene, but she didn't show nudity. I remember reading some stuff where people asked why she didn't do it in Cabin Fever versus ours. I don't know. I wish I had a magical answer. We put it in the breakdowns and she wanted to work with us.
We tend to make these rated-R movies that are pretty racy, so it's a requirement that if you're going to be in our movies you're going to have to show it. Brittany [Daniel] (Picture: 1) was the only role that we cast that didn't require nudity. So you had to make a decision going into the casting session. That's kind of a requirement that we have from now on. If you want to come to our prom you got to drop the dress.
I think that's great. More people in the industry should follow suit - or lose the suit, that is.
It's such a conservative environment out there. This is innocent and fun. It's too bad that it gets criticized so much. When we were growing up I remember seeing Airplane! and Fast Times at Ridgemont High and those were all scenes that we just flocked to and watched over and over again. I remember seeing Airplane for the first time and that extreme close-up of the woman's boobs - that's just fantastic! I must have been 12 or something like that. It was just great. But back then you had to keep going back to the movies you couldn't rent them. I'm sure I spent all my allowance and candy money sneaking back into the theater.
Now that you have a DVD what's in heavy rotation at home?
Fast Times at Ridgemont High is still a classic. Phoebe Cates, I mean, how do you beat that (Picture: - - )?
I beat off to that.
Phoebe Cates was just so great coming out of the pool. At that age, it just sort of captured it. God, fantastic. You know what else was classic for me, Jacqueline Bisset in The Deep (Picture: 1 - 2). That influenced me the most. She was just so sexy, and even though she had that white top on it was just clear and see-through and for some reason I found that so sexy growing up. I like the tease of it. There was that great Cheryl Tiegs poster growing up where she's wearing that bikini and you could see her nipples through it.
How about that Farrah Fawcett poster?
That was a great one, too. My English teacher used to have that up in our classroom. It was private school, but for some reason he had it up. Everyone always looked forward to going to English class. It completely distracted me. I never learned a word of English. How about you, do you have some classic?
When I was growing up it was Nastassja Kinski. I had the snake poster and the movie remake of Cat People, that was my Platonic ideal.
Ah, and Raquel Welch (Picture: 1 - 2 - 3), she was about the largest-breasted woman. I do enjoy the breast.
In Super Troopers you get to enjoy some breasts.
I really do. That was a great part and it's the beauty of being a writer. Maria Tornberg (Picture: 1 - 2 - 3), a really great girl. It was unfortunate, we barely had any time to shoot. We would have liked to take more time with that. But we barely had any money to make that movie.
To my dismay, it was supposed to be a full-day shoot, but we get to that scene at about five o'clock and the sun starts going down and we only had an hour to shoot. I had been looking forward to that scene for a long time. She's really sexy.
We thought about getting somebody who was a little bit more buxom, but we decided to go with someone who was grounded that you'd find sexual because she was believable. Pretty but not over the top, sexy real breasts. And we wanted a European flair to it and she was Swedish.
Also in Super Troopers there's Lynda Carter (Picture:1 - 2), which you heartlessly didn't cast in a skin scene. But did you sneak into her dressing room to see her wonder womans?
She did keep it pretty clean. She's got kids. She came that day in the morning and left in the afternoon, but she was by far the biggest excitement. There was just a buzz whenever she was in set. She read the script and thought it was funny. We wanted to have one of those classic '70s TV stars that we grew up with from Dallas or Knotts Landing. She was on the top of our list, but we also had Victoria Principal, Linda Evans, that sort of thing.
The classic jiggle era - I'd like to see a whole movie of your '70s TV stars.
Yeah, I know it'd be fun. The '70s are great, we love the '70s movies. It just seemed more open, fun loving and laid back time - Smokey and the Bandit - more innocent. It's just breasts after all.
Next on your plate is a non-Broken Lizard production, the as-of-yet untitled Onion movie, which is based on the hilarious parody news weekly.
Last I heard it was The Onion Sketch Comedy Movie.
Are we going to be able to post that on MrSkin.com?
God, I hope so. The scenes that I shot did not have nudity.
What's next for the Broken Lizard gang?
We have a couple of films we're working on right now. We're pitching a movie we call Beer Fest. It's two guys that get kicked out of October Fest and they come back to America to put together an all-star drinking team. It's sort of The Magnificent Seven with quarters and beer bongs. It's a sports movie with a twist.
Considering your skin content has grown exponentially with each new production, our viewers can only imagine what Broken Lizard will serve up next.
We'll make a cockumentary.
The group first exposed its ribald tales with Puddle Cruiser (1996), but it was the sleeper hit Super Troopers (2001) that made them a cream factory of sex and silliness. The cherry on top of that comic sundae is Club Dread (2004), a riff-happy hybrid of teen-sex comedies and slasher films that hits DVD on May 25, 2004.
Mr. Skin had the pleasure to take an afternoon off to yuk it up with Erik Stolhanske, who is not only a founding member of the troupe but a seasoned actor who's flexed his funny bone on such hits as HBO's Sex and the City and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Great to talk with you Erik, we're all huge fans of Super Troopers and Club Dread here at Skin Central.
Thanks, I'm a big fan of your site. I first heard about you on Howard Stern. I think Mr. Skin is pretty great on the show. And we hope some of our people are on Mr. Skin.
Oh, yes, you're well represented. And if you keep the nudity coming you'll always have high ratings on our site.
There's a pretty good chance of that, as you can tell from our track record.
Broken Lizard has been a reliable source of skin on screen. Why wasn't there any skin in your first Broken Lizard outing, Puddle Cruiser?
There's only half-a-shot. This woman named Kayren Butler, who was in Prophecy 3 with Christopher Walken. She and Steve [Lemme] fool around and Steve is on top of her, so you just see the side angle. You see the breast, but only a little bit of nipple. There's always male nudity.
You had a bit part in The Sweetest Thing, so who is the sweetest thing: Cameron Diaz, Christina Applegate or Selma Blair?
I've always had a soft spot for Christina Applegate ever since Married... With Children, she was so sexy in that (Picture: - - ).
Were they any scenes between you and Christina that ended up on the cutting room floor?
No, I wish. But it was kind of funny because the scene I shot was pretty sexual with Selma Blair. And even though she was pretending to, um, you know, "perform the act," it was still really sexual. The scene I was in I played a paramedic who comes to rescue Selma Blair who gets stuck - she's giving a guy a blowjob, but he has a piercing and it gets stuck in the back of her throat. My job is to come and rescue her. So, when we were filming we were only pretending, but it was still veryarousing. It's a tough job.
You're part of a comedy troupe called Broken Lizard, but what the hell is a Broken Lizard?
It's a euphonium for a male of lost virility in a Tijuana whorehouse. That's what I like to say sometimes. We like to keep them guessing. We all went to college together and lived together in New York City, performed on stage for a long time and got into movies.
Speaking of movies, Club Dread is mamm-orable for few beautiful things, and they show up in the first scene thanks to Elena Lyons and Tanja Reichart.
Well, you know, it's a take-off on '80s sex comedies and horror flicks, so we thought what better way to start off our movie than with a threeway! Instead of just two people going off into a cabin to fool around we put them in an old cemetery and had them do a threeway.
You're always pushing the envelope. Did you cast these cuties yourself?
Yeah, we put it on the breakdowns that there had to be nudity and we're really grateful that we got actresses who have done stuff, like Tanja was in Scary Movie. We recognized them and they were fun to hang out with. We were shooting in Mexico. And when the cameras aren't rolling, you always wish there were cameras around. But I think there are a lot of people who don't want that to be public.
Anything on the cutting room floor that's skin-worthy?
There's a scene when Lindsay Price (Picture: 1) is running away from the killer and she runs down to the beach and she trips on a couple having sex. And they're like, "All right, this party just keeps getting better!" I think it's going to be on the DVD extras.
One big coup in Club Dread is the first skin from Cheryl Ladd's gorgeous daughter Jordan Ladd (Picture:1 - 2 - 3 - 4). How'd you get her to flash that impressive rack?
She was a fan of Broken Lizard and Super Troopers and liked the spoof-comedy aspect of the old horror movies. And she trusted us. She's a friend of the director Jay [Chandrasekhar]. It's her only skin scene.
In Cabin Fever, Jordan had that sexy scene, but she didn't show nudity. I remember reading some stuff where people asked why she didn't do it in Cabin Fever versus ours. I don't know. I wish I had a magical answer. We put it in the breakdowns and she wanted to work with us.
We tend to make these rated-R movies that are pretty racy, so it's a requirement that if you're going to be in our movies you're going to have to show it. Brittany [Daniel] (Picture: 1) was the only role that we cast that didn't require nudity. So you had to make a decision going into the casting session. That's kind of a requirement that we have from now on. If you want to come to our prom you got to drop the dress.
I think that's great. More people in the industry should follow suit - or lose the suit, that is.
It's such a conservative environment out there. This is innocent and fun. It's too bad that it gets criticized so much. When we were growing up I remember seeing Airplane! and Fast Times at Ridgemont High and those were all scenes that we just flocked to and watched over and over again. I remember seeing Airplane for the first time and that extreme close-up of the woman's boobs - that's just fantastic! I must have been 12 or something like that. It was just great. But back then you had to keep going back to the movies you couldn't rent them. I'm sure I spent all my allowance and candy money sneaking back into the theater.
Now that you have a DVD what's in heavy rotation at home?
Fast Times at Ridgemont High is still a classic. Phoebe Cates, I mean, how do you beat that (Picture: - - )?
I beat off to that.
Phoebe Cates was just so great coming out of the pool. At that age, it just sort of captured it. God, fantastic. You know what else was classic for me, Jacqueline Bisset in The Deep (Picture: 1 - 2). That influenced me the most. She was just so sexy, and even though she had that white top on it was just clear and see-through and for some reason I found that so sexy growing up. I like the tease of it. There was that great Cheryl Tiegs poster growing up where she's wearing that bikini and you could see her nipples through it.
How about that Farrah Fawcett poster?
That was a great one, too. My English teacher used to have that up in our classroom. It was private school, but for some reason he had it up. Everyone always looked forward to going to English class. It completely distracted me. I never learned a word of English. How about you, do you have some classic?
When I was growing up it was Nastassja Kinski. I had the snake poster and the movie remake of Cat People, that was my Platonic ideal.
Ah, and Raquel Welch (Picture: 1 - 2 - 3), she was about the largest-breasted woman. I do enjoy the breast.
In Super Troopers you get to enjoy some breasts.
I really do. That was a great part and it's the beauty of being a writer. Maria Tornberg (Picture: 1 - 2 - 3), a really great girl. It was unfortunate, we barely had any time to shoot. We would have liked to take more time with that. But we barely had any money to make that movie.
To my dismay, it was supposed to be a full-day shoot, but we get to that scene at about five o'clock and the sun starts going down and we only had an hour to shoot. I had been looking forward to that scene for a long time. She's really sexy.
We thought about getting somebody who was a little bit more buxom, but we decided to go with someone who was grounded that you'd find sexual because she was believable. Pretty but not over the top, sexy real breasts. And we wanted a European flair to it and she was Swedish.
Also in Super Troopers there's Lynda Carter (Picture:1 - 2), which you heartlessly didn't cast in a skin scene. But did you sneak into her dressing room to see her wonder womans?
She did keep it pretty clean. She's got kids. She came that day in the morning and left in the afternoon, but she was by far the biggest excitement. There was just a buzz whenever she was in set. She read the script and thought it was funny. We wanted to have one of those classic '70s TV stars that we grew up with from Dallas or Knotts Landing. She was on the top of our list, but we also had Victoria Principal, Linda Evans, that sort of thing.
The classic jiggle era - I'd like to see a whole movie of your '70s TV stars.
Yeah, I know it'd be fun. The '70s are great, we love the '70s movies. It just seemed more open, fun loving and laid back time - Smokey and the Bandit - more innocent. It's just breasts after all.
Next on your plate is a non-Broken Lizard production, the as-of-yet untitled Onion movie, which is based on the hilarious parody news weekly.
Last I heard it was The Onion Sketch Comedy Movie.
Are we going to be able to post that on MrSkin.com?
God, I hope so. The scenes that I shot did not have nudity.
What's next for the Broken Lizard gang?
We have a couple of films we're working on right now. We're pitching a movie we call Beer Fest. It's two guys that get kicked out of October Fest and they come back to America to put together an all-star drinking team. It's sort of The Magnificent Seven with quarters and beer bongs. It's a sports movie with a twist.
Considering your skin content has grown exponentially with each new production, our viewers can only imagine what Broken Lizard will serve up next.
We'll make a cockumentary.
