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See.Hear.Speak 3: Austinist interviews Brock LaBorde
Saturday, January 26th
Coldtowne Theatre (4803-B Airport Blvd)
8pm and 10pm, $10
[info] | [tickets]
Gentleman Brock will be performing in the 10pm slot of “Speak,” but his alter-ego, Brock LaBorde, will also be appearing in “See” with Studio8.net, the LA-based online sketch troupe of which LaBorde is a founding member. We recently spoke with Brock—both the gentleman and otherwise—about his participation in see.hear.speak.
Can you tell me about the show you’re doing for see.hear.speak?
Gentleman Brock: I’m going to be doing a couple of things. One of them, I’m going to be doing with Craig. We’ll be doing some singing and comedy stuff along with showing some videos. Mostly some of the newer stuff we’ve done.
My other show is on Saturday. I’m going to be reading some passages from my book, which is called The Semi-Complete Guide to Sort-Of Being a Gentleman. I get into this Gentleman Brock character—he’s really just like a pompous asshole. I’ll be reading that and doing a Q&A, and then I’ll be reading a little essay that he wrote.
What can you tell me about your book?
It is a parody of etiquette and self-help kind of books. [Gentleman Brock] is ridiculous. You could never follow all of the rules in the book. It’s just this guy who takes chivalry to an impossible level.
What was your inspiration for writing it? What are you parodying?
I actually read a real etiquette book—I think it was called How to be a Gentleman. It just seemed ridiculous—so many of the supposed social rules were just so outdated. And this was a current book. I was just like, "I have to make fun of this.” So I sat down and wrote a book about it.
It’s one of those books that you can read on the toilet or put on your coffee table. It’s not a novel or anything.
You live in LA with Studio8, right?
Yes.
So outside of the realm of these antiquated guidelines for being a gentleman—what is expected from a woman of a modern-day LA guy on a date? How does a guy act chivalrous in LA?
In Los Angeles? It’s different than from where I was brought up, in the South. And people care more about their image out here. So if you really wanted to hook a girl up on a date, you’d get her a meeting with an agent. Get her some exposure. Take her headshot.
Is it acceptable to be on a cell phone for the entirety of a date in LA?
As long as both people are on their cell phones. If it’s just one, then it’s rude. And not talking to each other.
What about Bluetooth? Is that chivalrous?
Tell you what—I’m on a Bluetooth right now, buddy. I don’t want brain tumors. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a Bluetooth. In fact, it’s preferable—just for health reasons, not to look cool.
What can you tell me about—I know that Studio8 was what, in the New York Times recently?
We were actually in the Wall Street Journal.
That’s right. How did that affect your web presence? What has come of that?
It was basically this guy Steven Starr that runs the website Revver.com. He’s one of the guys who created the The State on MTV. Revver has been really nice to us; it has featured most of our videos. [Starr] was doing an article on online video creators and he just mentioned us along with three or four other people.
It lends us a little bit of credibility, I guess. But no one is like, “dude, I read about Studio8 in the Wall Street Journal and decided to check you guys out.”
Do you think online video and producing sketches exclusively for the internet has to be a stepping stone for writing for television, or could that be the end goal in itself at this point?
If you’re the Ask a Ninja guy you definitely could. There are definitely a couple of—I don’t even know what you’d call them. Right place, right time, break-out phenomenons that exist solely online and make a ton of money doing it.
It definitely doesn’t hurt if you’re trying to get a job in the TV and film industry. I’ve talked to other people that have gotten directing gigs and writing gigs based on one or two videos that they’ve done because they were so rival.
I hope that one day it’s the end goal. That would be nice.
Has there been any pressure on you guys at Studio8 to exploit this lull in TV production and get more attention for yourselves?
Totally. We’re represented by some managers that are really savvy dudes. They’ve signed a lot of good web-video creators and they’re meeting with a lot of people and taking this as an opportunity to get us more attention.
You’ve been to Austin before. I met you in Austin.
Yeah. Only once.
What did you think about Austin?
I was there for like four days, and I didn’t get to see a whole lot. I will this time around; I’ll be there for a little longer.
Austin is my favorite city in Texas. I grew up in Texas; in a town right outside of Houston. If I ever had to live in Texas again, it’d be in Austin. Let’s put it that way.
