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A Stud...With Camp Friends |
MyCampFriends.com congratulates "A Stud...With Camp Friends" creator/star Peter Grosz on winning a 2008 Emmy Award as a writer for Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report". We're big fans of "The Colbert Report", and even bigger fans of "A Stud...With Camp Friends", the original comedy video Peter created especially for MyCampFriends.com! Check out the video below, and then be sure to read our exclusive one on one interview with Pete about camp, comedy, and what it's like being one of the Sonic Drive-Thru guys.
MYCAMPFRIENDS.COM PRESENTS AN ORIGINAL COMEDY VIDEO:
"A STUD...WITH CAMP FRIENDS"
AN INTERVIEW WITH PETER GROSZ
October, 2008
“A Stud…With Camp Friends” Credits:October, 2008
(editor's note: Peter & MyCampFriends.com co-director T.J. Shanoff toured the country and worked together for many years at The Second City theater in Chicago. They created and performed in a politically-themed talk show called, appropriately enough, "Talk Show" at the Second City e.t.c stage. MyCampFriends.com co-director Brad Spirrison attended the show the night of the John Edwards/Dick Cheney VP debate.)
MCF: First of all, congratulations on the Emmy Award for "The Colbert Report". Despite this, you were recently grilled by Stephen Colbert on the show for being spotted at a Don Rickles show. (Watch the video here.) How did that feel? Do you care to give any insight on Mr. Colbert's motives?
PETER: It felt wonderful. Stephen is a terrific boss who's kindness and professionalism is matched only by the tenacity with which he reads all our emails.
MCF: Let's talk about camp for a bit. Where did you go?
PETER: I went to Camp Greylock. It's in Western Mass in a town called Beckett. Some say it's in greater Metropolitan Pittsfield. I prefer to think its on the outskirts of Lenox.
MCF: What are some of the most vivid memories you have of your Greylock days?
PETER: Most of them either involve partying as a counselor at the local bar and drinking $3 pitchers when I was 16 or oddly specific camper things like the time the bunk next door was out of camp for a hiking trip and me and my friends re-arranged everything in their bunk. We basically took someone's entire area - bed, clothes, posters - and moved it all to someone else's area, from which we had moved all of their stuff as well. It took the guys a while to figure out what happened and we just sat next door listening to their confusion through the wall. It was just shy of mean and pretty damn funny. Like a Dada prank.
On the touchy feely side, my last year at camp a few friends and I would sneak out of our bunks at night and go up to the baseball fields, hang out and talk, look at the stars and listen to Van Morrison. Hard to convey how great that was. Just being 15 and feeling all potential energy in a heavenly place. (ed: press "play" to get a feel for what Pete's talking about...)
PETER: It gave me my first sense of how important friends are. When you're 10-15 at home you're going through puberty, school gets harder, you start getting beaten up by older kids and teachers but at camp everything is a game. And the people you get to play those games with become stars in your eyes. I think I still idolize some of those people.
MCF: Is there any way to put a finger on exactly why seemingly every Jewish kid goes to camp? (ed: Peter & T.J. are both Jewish, Brad thinks he's Jewish)
PETER: Tradition!!!
I think it probably started after the war that North Eastern and Midwestern Jews had a little money and sent their kids to camp and since Jews talk to each other and have that networking gene everyone hears about everyone else's experiences and wants the same for their kids.
Also, Christians send their kids to Christian camp and, well, we don't.
MCF: Tell me about your first camp girlfriend.
PETER: Her name was Vivian Barbanique DuChamp (Name changed). She actually lived very close to me back home but we didn't know each other. You know when there's one or two couples in your division and everyone decides that they're going to live vicariously through them? That was Vivian and I. So much so that once we were making out in my bunk and my friend Justin Annes (Name not changed) brought a bunch of people into the bunk next door to watch us through the wall. Real classy.
MCF: Are you still in touch with any of your Greylock friends?
PETER: Many. As I said, they are my idols. I grew up in NY and so when I moved back here I saw a lot more of them. About 9 of us got together a month ago and it was pretty great. It was like "The Big Chill" without the women or the cocaine.
MCF: You're one of the Sonic Drive-Thru guys, and those commercials are on TV all of the time. What's the strangest communication you've ever had from a fan?
PETER: I have a folder in my email that is dedicated to weird autograph requests I get, often from people overseas who have no idea who I am and clearly just found my name on some list of "celebrities". The following is one of those emails and I swear I did not alter this in any way:
MCF: You performed with MyCampFriends.com co-director T.J. Shanoff in "Talk Show" at Second City. Any thoughts on that?
PETER: It was great. It was a little like Bill Maher meets "The Daily Show" hosted by two people who politically agreed with each other on everything. I'd to say we had Barack Obama on before he got big but we did have Dan Bakkedahl on before he got big. Very impressive.
MCF: Finally, Peter, you worked your way up through the ranks at Second City, star in a successful ad campaign, and write for one of the most popular shows on TV. Is there anything you'd like to share about your experiences thus far?
PETER: If you love something, keep doing it until someone tells you to stop. Then start doing it again. Anything worthwhile takes commitment. Forget your fear, take that first step and don't look back.
Also, if you're going to have people in your office a lot you should seriously invest in some breath mints.
PETER: It felt wonderful. Stephen is a terrific boss who's kindness and professionalism is matched only by the tenacity with which he reads all our emails.
MCF: Let's talk about camp for a bit. Where did you go?
PETER: I went to Camp Greylock. It's in Western Mass in a town called Beckett. Some say it's in greater Metropolitan Pittsfield. I prefer to think its on the outskirts of Lenox.
MCF: What are some of the most vivid memories you have of your Greylock days?
PETER: Most of them either involve partying as a counselor at the local bar and drinking $3 pitchers when I was 16 or oddly specific camper things like the time the bunk next door was out of camp for a hiking trip and me and my friends re-arranged everything in their bunk. We basically took someone's entire area - bed, clothes, posters - and moved it all to someone else's area, from which we had moved all of their stuff as well. It took the guys a while to figure out what happened and we just sat next door listening to their confusion through the wall. It was just shy of mean and pretty damn funny. Like a Dada prank.
On the touchy feely side, my last year at camp a few friends and I would sneak out of our bunks at night and go up to the baseball fields, hang out and talk, look at the stars and listen to Van Morrison. Hard to convey how great that was. Just being 15 and feeling all potential energy in a heavenly place. (ed: press "play" to get a feel for what Pete's talking about...)
MCF: How has camp helped make you who you are today?
PETER: It gave me my first sense of how important friends are. When you're 10-15 at home you're going through puberty, school gets harder, you start getting beaten up by older kids and teachers but at camp everything is a game. And the people you get to play those games with become stars in your eyes. I think I still idolize some of those people.
MCF: Is there any way to put a finger on exactly why seemingly every Jewish kid goes to camp? (ed: Peter & T.J. are both Jewish, Brad thinks he's Jewish)
PETER: Tradition!!!
I think it probably started after the war that North Eastern and Midwestern Jews had a little money and sent their kids to camp and since Jews talk to each other and have that networking gene everyone hears about everyone else's experiences and wants the same for their kids.
Also, Christians send their kids to Christian camp and, well, we don't.
MCF: Tell me about your first camp girlfriend.
PETER: Her name was Vivian Barbanique DuChamp (Name changed). She actually lived very close to me back home but we didn't know each other. You know when there's one or two couples in your division and everyone decides that they're going to live vicariously through them? That was Vivian and I. So much so that once we were making out in my bunk and my friend Justin Annes (Name not changed) brought a bunch of people into the bunk next door to watch us through the wall. Real classy.
MCF: Are you still in touch with any of your Greylock friends?
PETER: Many. As I said, they are my idols. I grew up in NY and so when I moved back here I saw a lot more of them. About 9 of us got together a month ago and it was pretty great. It was like "The Big Chill" without the women or the cocaine.
MCF: You're one of the Sonic Drive-Thru guys, and those commercials are on TV all of the time. What's the strangest communication you've ever had from a fan?
PETER: I have a folder in my email that is dedicated to weird autograph requests I get, often from people overseas who have no idea who I am and clearly just found my name on some list of "celebrities". The following is one of those emails and I swear I did not alter this in any way:
HI,
This is to introduce myself as a serious autograph collector.
I am a great admirer of your achievement which has made the landmark in the history.
It is my humble request to your good self to please send me your autographed photos for my collection and oblige.
Kindly accept my gratitude and thanks for the same in advance.
This is to introduce myself as a serious autograph collector.
I am a great admirer of your achievement which has made the landmark in the history.
It is my humble request to your good self to please send me your autographed photos for my collection and oblige.
Kindly accept my gratitude and thanks for the same in advance.
MCF: You performed with MyCampFriends.com co-director T.J. Shanoff in "Talk Show" at Second City. Any thoughts on that?
PETER: It was great. It was a little like Bill Maher meets "The Daily Show" hosted by two people who politically agreed with each other on everything. I'd to say we had Barack Obama on before he got big but we did have Dan Bakkedahl on before he got big. Very impressive.
MCF: Finally, Peter, you worked your way up through the ranks at Second City, star in a successful ad campaign, and write for one of the most popular shows on TV. Is there anything you'd like to share about your experiences thus far?
PETER: If you love something, keep doing it until someone tells you to stop. Then start doing it again. Anything worthwhile takes commitment. Forget your fear, take that first step and don't look back.
Also, if you're going to have people in your office a lot you should seriously invest in some breath mints.
##
Peter Grosz (writer/creator/Jeff) has been performing improvisation and sketch comedy since 1995. He performed in four reviews on The Second City’s ETC stage, was a founding member of the Improv Olympic ensembles JTS Brown, Preponderate and Four Square and now improvises with Asssscat and Two Square at the UCB in New York. He has appeared in the films The Weatherman, starring Nicholas Cage, Stranger Than Fiction, with Will Ferrell, and will be seen this spring in The Promotion, featuring John C. Reilly. Peter was a writer on Comedy Central’s The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show, and currently writes for The Colbert Report. He also co-stars with TJ Jagodowski in a series of commercials for Sonic drive-in restaurants. Peter attended Camp Greylock, in Becket, MA.
Sue Galloway(Home Friend) is an actress who lives in New York City. NYC theater: Beaver (Horsetrade Theater Company), Rosemary with Ginger (The Actors Studio), The Basset Table (HERE), Free To Be Friends (NY Fringe). Television: 30 Rock (NBC), Munchies (Fuse), and The Nighttime Clap (Fuse). She went to Camp Tockwogh, but wishes she had gone to the more sailing oriented Camp Tickwagh. To this day she's not much of a sailor.
James Harris Jr.(Director)
Laura Krafft(Home Friend)
Peter Gwinn(Dan)
Joselyn Hughes(Beth)
Scott Markman(Camp Friend)
James Harris(Camp Friend)