This show rocks!
Last Man on Earth has been receiving great reviews throughout its two seasons on air. And with such a great cast that includes Will Forte and Kristen Schaal, it is no surprise that this show has been getting such great feedback. On Sunday, May 15th, the show aired its season two finale and to celebrate the end of such a successful season, both Forte and Schaal came to the Paley Center for Media to do a panel discussion about their show together.
Before the panel started, guests were treated with an advanced screening of the finale that was to be aired later that night. What is so great about this show is that it takes the concept, the end of humanity, and makes it funny. It is also one of the rare comedy shows that is able to be humorous without taking away from the plot (and this show’s plot is strong). This has been a great season for the show. It has evolved from just a comedy into a hybrid of comedy and drama with a lot of dark and emotional moments. And this season’s finale gave viewers a great episode with well written jokes and a bunch of emotional moments that could make people shed a tear or two.
Once the screening was over, Forte and Schaal took the Paley stage to answer questions that fans of the show were dying to know. One of the questions asked about the inspiration behind shaving half of Forte’s beard off. He admitted that the idea came to him one night earlier on in the season and that he was waiting for the right time to let his idea out. And when asked how long he had to keep that look, Forte said that he had that appearance for a solid month. And of course, everyone wanted to know what was going to happen in season three after that cliffhanger in the season two finale. Forte then admitted that he doesn’t even know what will happen. The process for each season is to have a general idea on where the story will go but they don’t know the details until they start writing it. And sadly, Forte wanted to keep his ideas for season three a surprise, a decision we can both respect him and hate him for. Kristen later added when asked about what she loves about the show is that she gets to live out her wildest dreams through it. She admitted that there would never be another instance where she would be able to drive a steamroller or do all of the other crazy things her character gets to do. And when asked about what it was like working with Will Forte, she responded with saying that he is a great boss and that nobody that she has worked with before works harder than Will. When working with him there is an ease to it and it doesn’t really feel like work at all. And this dynamic definitely shows when you look at their chemistry on the show. Overall, Schaal and Forte had nothing but great things to say about each other and about the show. The only glimpse into season three that they gave away is that there is definitely going to be more farts.
Check out our exclusive interview with Will Forte and Kristen Schaal below:
Kristen Schaal and Will Forte
Q: Can you talk about the writing process for making each episode and the process for creating the jokes in the show?
Will: It’s a pretty typical writing process as far as shows go. Beginning of the season we are trying to come up with the big, bold story arcs and then get into the nitty gritty of each episode as you go along. Typically, the staff will go and write the stuff and then I’ll take a crack at it and do a re-write on it; we just keep going. And then it goes back to the staff and then back to me and then we all come together and we really get in there a bunch so by the time we are out there we have a script that we like.
Kristen: Usually they will put a bunch of nouns and some adverbs into a bucket—there’s a stairwell that goes from the writer’s room to the stage and so however they land we’ll pick them up and stream them together and that will be the joke.
Will: That is how we start.
Q: So it’s kind of like a dartboard situation where you just throw random things together?
Kristen: Yeah, let the universe decide.
Q: Can you talk about some of your favorite moments to shoot on set?
Kristen: Oh, the sex scenes for sure. That’s the most fun.
*Insert Kristen and Will both making mmmmmm sounds at each other*
Kristen: But there’s not enough. We should show them in each episode that they’re making love. They get cut. But, I would say that any scene where I find myself like ‘oh my god, this is my job!’ Just playing things like the wind dancer or being on a steamroller. Like this is my job! It’s really great.
Will: And stuff done on the beach is always fun because you’re just hanging out on the beach with a bunch of your buddies. Everybody in the cast now is pretty tight.
Kristen: So tight!
Q: So where do both of you want to see your characters go in the next season?
Will: We never know until we go in there and start writing. I would assume that Tandy would grow more. Tandy is a dipshit. He is trying very hard but at his core he is a dipshit so he will always stumble around but definitely in season two you could tell that he was really trying. Carol, where would you like to go?
Kristen: I would just love to see Carol just doing more things and more jokes. I can’t even imagine, she has got to do so many fun things. I am drawing a blank because I am already living my wildest dreams by being here. I have been doing so many things. I don’t know what else is left, I mean maybe flying a plane and skydiving out of it.
Will: Definitely more farts for all the characters.
Kristen: I had a huge fart scene that got cut out of this last finale. We spent a whole day shooting it, just Carol farting, I don’t know why it got cut.
Will: We wanted to save it for season three; it’s going to be a real fart filled season.
Photo credit: The Paley Center for Media