Interview: comedy/music duo ‘Garfunkel and Oates’

They are Garfunkel and Oates, the indie-fave, cult comedy/musical hybrid group formed by actors Riki Lindhome (Garfunkel, aka the tall one) and Kate Micucci (Oates, aka the one from the future). Funny or Die faves, the ukulele, guitar, and sometimes keyboard duo are responsible for the songs “Present Face”, “Handjob, Blandjob, I Don’t Understand Job”, “Gay Boyfriend” and many others. All of this success has brought them to the mountaintop, a place on our Champions of Nerdom list. Their prize? This exclusive interview and twin $10 (expired) gift cards to Ground Round.

You’re both actresses who’ve had memorable roles on notable shows like Raising Hope, Big Bang Theory, Scrubs, and Happy Endings, to name a few. Do you crave group success or dual individual success? You can also feel free to go with option C: Individual success while the other falls off into a cold ditch of obscurity. Your choice.

Kate Micucci: I think right now what we most crave is group success but
hopefully in the future, we’ll get to branch out and do our own
things.

Riki Lindhome:  We’re pretty in sync right now and we spend all of our time
together, so if one of us ended up in the cold ditch of obscurity,
that’d be weird.

You have a knack for obscure, brilliant pop culture references and
name checks in your songs. Is there a fear that you’re stamping an
expiration date on your songs and what’s your favorite reference?

Riki: There wasn’t a fear about the expiration date until you said
something. Now I’m totally freaked out.

Kate: I don’t know, I guess we don’t really worry about it.

Riki: Yeah, we just write whatever we think is funny and leave it at
that. And hopefully, we’ll keep cultivating new material so that our
references are always only fifteen to twenty years behind.

What’s the creepiest way you’ve been asked about “Handjob,
Blandjob, I Don’t Understand Job”?

Riki: We’ve had a lot people offer up their penises for us to practice
on, which is so sweet. Because that’s what’s really hard to find for
girls like us. Meaningful relationships, lasting love- that’s easy. What’s really hard for us to find is penises.

Kate: Especially on the road. No guys anywhere.

I noticed on iTunes that your most recent album, “All Over Your
Face” has a “Parental Advisory” warning. Obviously that puts you in
league with Jay-Z, Kanye, DMX, and other hardcore rappers. My question
is, how are you different and how are you the same as your fellow
gangsta rappers?

Riki: We’re the same because we all spit the fucking truth.

Kate: But different because we call vaginas “Georgia O’Keefe bouquets”
and I think the rappers call them something different.

Speaking of the latest album, in “This Party Took a Turn for the
Douche” you mention Ed Hardy. I’ve got an Ed Hardy shirt, it’s brown
with a magenta panther on it, I’ve been hiding it for almost a year
now. Should I throw it out or wear it and bear the shame that I have
doubtlessly earned?

Riki: You had me at magenta panther. I can only hope that the panther
is bedazzled, because that just sounds like a classy and timeless
wardrobe statement. Also, there’s nothing sexier than a man in brown.

[Editor's note: My magenta panther is be-glittered, not-bedazzled.]

You’ve got some new videos up on your site, GarfunkelAndOates.com,
“Save the Rich” which is absolutely the feel good anthem the 1% has
been seeking in response to those rapscallions in the Occupy Movement,
and “Scary Fucked Up Christmas”, care to share any details about a new
album?

Kate: We’re in the process of recording our new album, and hopefully it
will be done early next year. It’s going to be called “Slippery When
Moist” which I think rivals “All Over Your Face” for grossest title.

Riki: Save the Rich will be on there and we’re going to send all the
proceeds to the semi-destitute, Wall Street millionaires who can’t
afford a private chef on their yachts anymore. It’s really a sad
state of affairs when you see how far they’ve fallen.

Kate:  Scary, Fucked Up Christmas won’t be on there, but we kinda love
that song, if only for the fact that we got Doug Benson to play a
stoned Santa Clause in the video.

Riki:  Hopefully, it will be our best album yet. It will certainly be
our stupidest.

—–

You can find out more about Riki and Kate, aka Garfunkel and Oates, on their website which, I’m told, is on the internet. Kids today…

Written by Jason Tabrys (@jtabrys)

The former editor-in-chief, Jason still reappears in the rafters of our fair site from time to time but he now spends his days leaping from one place to another, trying to put right what once went wrong. You can still find his words across the toxic constellation that is the… More »