B.L. You have known each other for 30 years, going back to your days on SCTV. Is it still scary doing improvisation, and what is it that makes it work so well between you two?
E.L. Being scared.
C.O. Yeah, being sincerely scared.
E.L. I kind of get nervous, but it's an exciting nervous. It's always like, "Oh boy, here we go again." It's a lot of work and it's not easy. I mean it's fun, but you've got a lot riding on what you're doing and what you're coming up with on the spot.
C.O. The first day is really scary when you first open your mouth.

B.L. Eugene, you were part of the writing process of A Mighty Wind and helped create the characters we see on screen. So how much do you sit down with Catherine and the other actors and say, "This is what I'd like you to do?"
E.L. It doesn't work like that. We kind of do the outline, Chris (Guest) and I, and we put that together and then the script goes out to the actors and they look at it and go, "Okay, I get it. This is good." So they get the information and then they start figuring out how they can build, and where to go or develop ideas or whatever, but there is no discussion. I don't call Catherine and say how about being ....
C.O. .. French Canadian!
E.L. Yes, a French Canadian singer. These are touches that just come. It was a brilliant touch to have this kind of slight French Canadian dialect which has been kind of lost over the years but is still kind of there. It's so great.
C.O. My sister in law is from North Bay and she has a lovely soft musicality of a French Canadian accent. So I got her to make a tape for me.

B.L. Why do you guys think that folk music makes great fodder for parody?
C.O. It's not parody, is it? Sorry to contradict you, but we were trying to get inside the world.
E.L. Yeah, exactly. I don't think it's a parody. Somebody else yesterday talked about the biting satire involved in A Mighty Wind. I don't think it's satirical at all; with satire you think of the word sharp or cutting-edge satire. This, I don't think, is that: it's more social commentary. It's a character piece, set against the backdrop of folk music, which is something Chris and I were very familiar with. That's what it is, we aren't lampooning anybody and it's not setting up these people for ridicule. We have great affection for the world of folk music. So it's really just character work with a backdrop that happens to be folk music this time.

B.L. Especially with your characters, Mitch and Mickey. I have to tell you that there were some real tender moments there that I found myself tearing up!
C.O. You're right, it is a sad and serious story that we have.

B.L. It was very tender between these characters. don't get me wrong, there is a lot of really funny stuff in this movie, but is it difficult to bring it down a level?
C.O. I was nervous because looking at the script; my character's storyline is very serious. She was married to this man and they had a great career but they had a really rough break up. They've not talked in 28 years and I'm married to this guy, and we just have this quiet life and I'm thinking, "This doesn't sound funny!"
E.L. Catherine was a little nervous.
C.O. I was very nervous!
E.L. She was saying there's not a lot of laughs in this thing and I said, "I know" but it was one of the things that was inherent in our storyline and was a key storyline in the movie. It was a different way to go.
C.O. Yeah and no matter what the result, funny or dramatic or what, you still do the same work and still do the same research and try to develop a character inside. I tried to improvise a lot of hours in my scenes with Eugene or in talking to camera. I tried to do funny character things that weren't story things but ultimately they didn't serve the story! (laughs). I think that people are funny, just human beings are funny and they are insane and lovely and are in denial of dying. So there's always something to work with. It's funny but it's basically a serious story.