Kate Berlant and John Early Discuss the Origin of ‘Would It Kill You to Laugh?’ and Their ‘Absence of Sexual Tension’

variety.com:

Sasha Urban editorWhat is the most famous gay and half-Jewish comedy duo you can think of? If you’re coming up short, the answer is Kate Berlant and John Early, who have solidified that reputation in the zeitgeist with their Peacock special, “Would It Kill You to Laugh?,” which premiered on Friday.The special, directed by Andrew DeYoung, is extremely high concept.

It sets the scene of Berlant and Early’s decades-long feud and public falling-out from their hit sitcom, “He’s Gay, She’s Half-Jewish.” Meredith Vieira (yes, the real broadcast journalist) sits them down for an interview and things quickly go sideways, as the two battle it out over who got the rights to which comedic bits in their settlement. (Berlant got the right to cross her eyes, while Early got the right to do a mechanical robot arm movement.) It then transitions into seemingly unrelated sketches that traverse time and space: the two of them have a meltdown in a children’s hip-hop class, they wear full beaver costumes at an airport (everyone else is human and they are never acknowledged as beavers) and they play a multitude of characters eating at restaurants where hot caramel is accepted as a form of payment.

It also includes flashback scenes from their sitcom — in which Early was “the first gay man to shit on television” — and even includes a meta behind-the-scenes romance between the two of them in their dressing room for the Peacock special.To Berlant and Early, however, the origins of the special weren’t high concept at all.

The characters, sketches and central premise all derived in some form or another from inside jokes the two comedians have had over the years of their friendship.