Kroll looking to build success after ‘The League’

“Kroll Show” premiered on Comedy Central Jan. 16, starring Nick Kroll as a variety of characters. The show satirizes the television-obsessed culture we live in, as well as the many fan bases surrounding reality television. Viewers will see established characters, like Bobby Bottleservice and Fabrice Fabrice, but will also see new characters and storylines throughout the season.

The show follows on the heels of Kroll’s success with other shows like “Community,” “Children’s Hospital” and “Parks and Recreation.” His standout performance as Rodney Ruxin on the FX comedy “The League” has been his most popular role to date, garnering an impressive fan base and following, according to Comedy Central.

Kroll executively produces and writes the show, in addition to transforming himself into many of the star characters. He has enlisted the help of a wide variety of guest stars, including Fred Armisen, Andy Milonakis and Jon Daly. More than just a sketch comedy show, Kroll said the show allows his fans to see his take on relevant pop culture, sports news, nightclub culture and what defines “celebrity.”

 

Q. I usually find that sketch comedy has a tendency to shuffle around a bit too much, but can we sort of expect more of the same series or a new line of similar scripts on TV shows?

A. Yes, in general, a lot of the storylines we establish with different characters and worlds start to recur and, invariably, a lot of the episodes start to take on a similar sort of structure of a big storyline like PubLIZity and a slightly smaller storyline like ‘Wheels (Ontario)’ and then a runner, as well. So, it allows you to keep a nice pace of not ever sitting on something for too long, but also continuing to learn more about these characters and worlds.

 

Q. I know ‘The League’ reaches a very large student audience. Were you trying for the same audience or a different audience with ‘Kroll Show?’

A. I mean, I think ‘The League’ appeals to a broader audience, because I mean, one, the way in is fantasy football and obviously football is so popular in the country. So, you know, I think that my show’s going to be very different than that. I hope a lot of the folks who like ‘The League’ will come by and check out ‘Kroll Show’. I don’t think we’ll keep all of them, because there will be people that come to ‘Kroll Show’ that don’t necessarily watch ‘The League.’ The shows can help one another build the audiences, though.

 

Q. I’ve seen your list of supporting roles and previous work you’ve done and things that were never truly your own thing, so what’s it like now that you write your own, star in your own and do all of this for your own TV show?

A. It’s interesting to me, because, you know, you guest star on other people’s shows, and it’s really fun and you hopefully get to benefit from the audiences that they’ve built, but two, you also get to see how other people run their shows and get a sense of the vibe on another show, to get to pick and choose the things that I really like. The key for me is collaborating with more and more people, those people you can work with, and that’s a huge part of it. All of these comedy shows are dependent upon the ensembles both in front of the camera and behind the camera. The comedy world is an incredibly collaborative world, and I think it’s a real model for how artists can create their own material and also participate in other people’s material. The water really rises.

 

Q. You talk a lot, on your personal blog, about masturbating in D.C., getting crabs and countless other personal things. Where do you draw the line and how do you keep the paparazzi from running with your disclosures?

A. You know, to me, all of those things are hopefully, but maybe not completely or so clearly, a joke. The hope is that nobody would ever really think I got caught in front of the building of NPR masturbating. And to be honest, I’m not too worried about the paparazzi. They’re not really interested in me — I’m not handsome enough to be worried about. I don’t actually share that much real stuff, just to sort of maintain some level of sanity.

 

Q. You’ve been on several TV shows and movies that many would consider excellent goals — do you have anything in the works now, for after ‘Kroll Show’?

A. You know, if you had asked me when I started doing comedy and if you had told me in college that years later I would have two TV shows, one with my name on it, I’d be like, “Well, I did it…” And I’m particularly grateful at this moment to do exactly what I want to do, which is both do my own show and be able to be on someone else’s show as just an actor and get to have fun and do stand-up. I’ve got a few other things — I’m on season two of ‘Burning Love,’ which is a really funny web series that’s on Yahoo. It’s a spoof of ‘The Bachelor’ that Ken Marino writes and stars in. And I’m going to be coming back on a few episodes of ‘Parks and Recreation;’ I’ll be starring as ‘The Douche,’ who’s the local radio DJ of Pawnee. And I have a couple of little movie things that I’m working on that are small or haven’t come to fruition yet. But honestly, if this is what the career is, I’d be over the moon about it. It’s a pretty rare position that I get to really love what I’m doing.

Staff Writer Kali Daniel also contributed to this story.