Q&A with Elephant Larry, Long-running NYC Sketch Comedy Group

I spoke with Chris Principe, 27, and Jeff Solomon, 26, two members of the New York-based five-piece sketch comedy group Elephant Larry, which was formed in 2002. There is nobody named Larry in the group, nor are there elephants.

How did Elephant Larry get together?

Chris: We all went to [Cornell] together, so we all have been doing sketch comedy together for close to ten years now, in different combinations. After school is when the five of us formed the group. We're all from around here. So it was kind of just a casual idea. We were like, "Hey, we're all around, and we all love what we did in college, so let's keep doing it." It was pretty organic actually.

And how do you define sketch comedy?

Jeff: I think what's funny about sketch comedy is that people tend to know what it is, and not know that they know, actually. So if you say, "Oh, it's like Saturday Night Live," they're like, "Oh, that thing, yeah." And then if people don't like SNL, you say, "It's like SNL, but funny."

Chris: It's all sketch comedy, but there are so many different ways to take it that you don't realize. It's so much more than Saturday Night Live.

Can you describe a typical Elephant Larry show for someone who's never seen you before?

Jeff: We try to keep our shows pretty short and sweet, and hopefully leaving people wanting more. Generally our sketch shows don't have a clear, overarching theme. It'll usually be disparate ideas. Probably not the kind of recurring-character sketch that you see on SNL, but more like something like The State or one of the newer shows out there like Human Giant. And we'll do live sketches interspersed with videos, so that we try to have a seamless 45 minutes.

How has the growth of sketch comedy in New York affected Elephant Larry?

Chris: It's funny, it's like everybody has a comedy group now. It's kind of like the equivalent of a rock band. You'll see groups everywhere, just popping up. I think it's a good thing. I don't look at it in that competitive way. You can go any night of the week and see a sketch comedy show - and specifically sketch, not even improv or standup. It makes sense, kind of, that sketch has really grown.