20 questions with Peter n’ Chris

Meet comedy duo Peter n’ Chris (aka Peter Carlone and Chris Wilson).

Peter n’ Chris are currently crowd-funding for their webseries Hardley Men and will appear next at the Vancouver International Fringe Festival with their shows and Peter n’ Chris and the OK Corral (Sep 4-12) and The Mystery of The Murder Motel (Sep 17).

Meet Peter n’ Chris

Peter n’ Chris (aka Peter Carlone and Chris Wilson) are a Canadian Comedy Award winning, and three-time Canadian Comedy Award Nominated sketch troupe from Vancouver. Having formed in 2009, Peter n’ Chris have toured the Fringe Festival and Sketch Festival circuits for the last 5 years, where their narrative driven, cinematic and extremely physical style has already earned them a following and rave reviews across Canada and the U.S. Their list of accomplishments are long: they were a headlining act and two time “audience choice” winners at the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festiva;  won the Just for Laughs Best Comedy Award at the Montreal Fringe Festival consecutive years; were the official selection of the San Francisco, Chicago, and Seattle Sketch Comedy Festivals and were featured at Gilda’s Laugh Fest in Grand Rapids Michigan.

The two met while getting their BFA in Acting from the University of Victoria and have been working together ever since. Together they have written five full length sketch comedy revues that have all individual toured to over ten cities each. Each of these sketch comedy plays explores and parodies the genre of cinema while sending every day life up to absurd heights. With a focus on physical comedy and narrative, Peter n’ Chris have pushed the envelope on what sketch and theatrical comedy can be.  Peter Carlone and Chris Wilson are also contributing writer’s to the sketch comedy program The Irrelevant Show, on CBC Radio and to CBC’s comedy website Punchline.

When they aren’t touring, Chris Wilson lives in Toronto where he writes and acts in television, most notable on the second season of City TV’s prank television show Meet the Family, as well as improvising with Toronto’s narrative improv company Bad Dog Theatre.  Peter Carlone works regularly in Vancouver as a film editor, writer of children’s shows for Telus World of Science, and is the Artistic Director of Vancouver Sketch Comedy Festival and an actor/improvisor in the city.

20 Questions with Peter n’ Chris
(CW= Chris Wilson / PC = Peter Carlone)

1. Your first job.

CW: My first job was as a Lifeguard in Victoria. I wouldn’t have trusted my 16 year old self with the lives of children and elderly length swimming men and women, so I’m not sure why that recreation center did.

PC: My first job was as a suit Salesman in Calgary. I thought I was going to be the richest 16 year old at my school (it was a commission job) – but it wasn’t until I was older that I realized I was hired to weed out the customers that just wanted to buy socks.

2. The job you always wanted as a child.

3. Your pet peeve.

CW: There are certain phrases that get on my nerves, and not to be a dick, but ‘pet peeve’ is one of them. I also hate the phrase ‘nest egg’ when talking about saving a little bit of money. I don’t like anyone who walks in front of me on the sidewalk because they are slower than me, and I don’t like that my iphone doesn’t hold a battery charge as long as it used to.

PC: That I can’t, on a whim, turn myself into a tank.

4. Your hero.

5. Your biggest indulgence.

CW: Drinking coffee everyday and probably my personality; Really indulging in the fact that I think I’m funny enough to make money doing it.

PC: I really don’t want to come off like a ‘can’t get over his own childhood’ weirdo, but Oreos and milk. Ooooh boy, do I ever love a good Oreo and Milk session while watching the nightly Colbert Report.

6. One thing no one knows about you (and you’re willing to share).

CW: I have a benign cyst in my scrotum. It’s fine. It’s not even noticeable 95% of the time. But it’s there. and now everyone knows it about me (but I’m willing to share)

PC: I just read Chris’ entry before mine, that’s messed up! I didn’t know that! I once gave my sister a bad gash with a hanger… We were fighting over a metal hanger for some reason (was I poor growing up?) and she had the hook end facing her. I thought it would be a brilliant strategy to just stop pulling and push it towards her. She got cut pretty bad, and I was told that I might be a psycopath.

7. Three things you would want with you on a deserted island.

CW: Some sort of palm tree to sit under; for shade and stuff. But that probably comes with the island? Is that a given? Okay, let’s assume this island already has a palm tree, maybe even two. I’d want a hammock to string between them. A computer with wifi, and netflix. American Netflix though. and a fully staffed kitchen.

PC: 1) A passive clay-water filtration system. 2) A fire knife (It’s a hunting knife that you can also use to start fires as it has an integrated firesteel in the handle). 3) A tarp, at least 10 sq ft would be great. Sorry, you probably wanted a funny answer, but I don’t mess around on those types of questions.

8. The one word your best friend would use to describe you.

CW: Ask Peter. He’s gunna be mean about it though I bet. “neat” – he’d say I’m ‘ a neat guy’. But snidely.

PC: I don’t want to be arrogant and SAY that he would describe me with the word ‘genius’ but also, I can’t guarantee that he WOULDN’T say ‘genius’.

9. If you were not a performer what would you be doing right now?

CW: Sitting on bags of money with a family and just the best life.

PC: I would be an engineer or venture capitalist, but also same here about the bags of money.

10. Hero or villain.

CW: What am I? Or what do I prefer? Villians are more fun. I dunno, ask Peter.

PC: Chris prefers villains. I’ll go hero, just to spice things up, but not one of those super-power heroe pansies. No, a real Batman type. OR a hero who can morph into stuff like maybe a tank.

11. Your life’s motto/mantra.

CW: “Fiiiine, I’ll get McDonalds AGAIN…ugh..”

PC: “Bite of more than you can chew. Then CHEW it” Seriously. This is framed over my desk.

12. Your favourite playwright or author.

CW: I should read more…okay? You got me. I need to read more. Now I feel stupid. I think there are some amazing playwrights on the Fringe festivals every single year. If I was to start naming them all this would be a very long questionaire. I’m inspired by the authors and playwrights who tour the fringe festivals every year. There is amazing stuff on the fringe.

PC:I really liked Douglas Adams. I remember reading Hitchhikers Guide with a flashlight under the covers as a kid, and I can still recall how hard I laughed.

13. The last book you read.

CW: “My Custom Van” by Michael Ian Black.

PC: The first half of “Abundance” by Peter Diamandis.

14. If you were a breakfast cereal what breakfast cereal would you be?

CW: Not sure of the brand, but I’d be the knock off brand of your favourite cereal, with a name like“Fruit hoops” or “Honey nut Happy O’s” .

PC: Frosted Flakes. Not sure why? I just have a VERY strong feeling that I would be Frosted Flakes.

15. What will it say on your grave marker?

CW: “Pardon?” or maybe “Peter or Chris – not sure which one it was, never could tell them apart”.

PC: “This Gravestone dedicated to the brave men and women who fought to take down Mecha-Peter after he had discovered how to morph into a Tank”.

16. Who would you most like to have dinner with?

CW: Any member of the X-Men. Or like, Cher or something. Or Jesus or something. As long as he doesn’t talk with his mouthful.

PC: James Gandolphini (rest his soul). Oooh man, I’ve been watching a lot of Sopranos, and BOY can that guy eat! He just has such a cool eating-food style. He definitely talks a lot as well, but unlike Chris, that wouldn’t bother me.

17. Your idea of happiness.

CW: Friends on a day off.

PC: I feel it most when I realize there is a new episode of Bob’s Burgers out there. Like, when it’s a Sunday night and you just KNOW a new one is out.

18. If you could go back in time, what would you tell your twenty year old self?

CW: “As far as I can tell, you don’t mature that much more. Is your hero ‘yourself ten years from now’ Cause this is it. How do you feel?”

PC: “Hey man! We do alright! Definitely keep working with Chris, that goes well. And maybe just start doing lots of pushups right now. I wanna be ripped when I get back to the future”

19. The one thing in your life that makes you most proud.

CW: Well, without just joking this question away because I’m uncomfortable opening up in questionnaires, it would be all the comedy that I have created with Peter.

PC: Awww thanks Chris! … except mine would have to be this Castle I made once in MineCraft. I think Chris would be okay with that. He’s seen it. It is a siiiiick castle.

20. Pirouette or fouette?

CW: That’s a cool question. ‘If you were an animal what kind would you be?”. That is another cool question. “why do people like kale?”. All good questions.

PC: Carl Sagan once said “We’re made of star-stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself” and I think this holds the answer to the question. Our privliedge, or even our responsibility, is to BE. Our job is to experience this world, live our story, engage in other people’s stories, and upon our deaths, fade back into the Stardust from whence we came. Like some kind of child in a toy room, we borrow some molecules, build a body, live our lives, and when we are done we put the molecules back. Sorry, I don’t mess around on THIS question either.