Sierra Mist brands his face into the brains of the American Public. On any given night, an elderly couple relaxes in the living room after Wheel to settle in for the evening, with Grandpa in the armchair nursing a glass of single malt, straight up. Grandma cozies into the couch, knitting a scarf for her gay grandson. The newest soda-selling scenario arrives to their home, via the screen in the corner of the well-lit room, the short a spoof on the latest terrorism scandal, a “Liquids on a Plane” scare.

“Well, isn’t he a nice young man? And so funny!” says Gangy.

“Sure is. And handsome," says Grandpa, who then swallows all of his scotch in one smooth gulp, "I wonder if our grandson’s cotton to him.”

You’ve seen this before. The set-up is not new to you. You’re obviously a genius.

It’s a picture like this all across the country. Some may not be as elderly as this couple, but the thought remains the same for most, excluding those who already held these truths, those familiar with that face even before the pop hocking, prior to VH1’s decision to make sweet love to popular culture, decade by tedious decade, prior to those nights that your mom made you stay in and watch Ed with her. To these “others,” Michael Ian Black proves himself as a staple in their comedy sketch archives, most recently with the short-lived Comedy Central series Stella, and as far back as MTV’s underground hit The State.

The State surfaces as the most well-loved and accepted of the television sketch comedy ventures, and its adoration comes as a double-edge sword, as a Catch-22, if you will. Until recently, the show’s fans relentlessly accosted the group and Warner Brothers to release the seasons in DVD format, as the one available means to it otherwise could only be found on YouTube. Finally, as noted by Black in an interview with Mediabistro’s Dylan Stableford on 8-31-06, MTV will be using iTunes to release those sketches. Black states, “If those sell well — and there's no reason to think they will — they will take the time and expense to create a full State DVD.”

On October 6th of this year, of this very month, but of a week’s past, Black kicked off a new adventure in his pillaging of the entire comedic arena. Well-known as a comedy writer, actor, and producer, the specialty of stand-up comedy can no longer safe be from his wit. Along with fellow comedian/actor and friend Michael Showalter, also of Stella and The State fame, the two have embarked on a nationwide comedy tour, covering sixteen cities in twenty-four days. On a most glorious Wednesday afternoon, one of the 12th, Black took a few moments to chat it up a bit with Dane101.

Dane101: Just wondering, is it snowing in Cleveland right now?
MIB: Actually, yes, I saw some flakes on the way, but we’re not in Cleveland yet.

Dane101: Oh, where are you, then?
MIB: I don’t know.

Dane101: Fair enough. So you’re on your 7th day of your first stand-up tour, as far as I’m aware. Is it everything you’d hope it could be?
MIB: Gee, I don’t know. I guess I knew what I was coming into so, yes, it has been everything that I expected. It’s been more professional than my other tours. No socializing, really, just doing the show, going back to the hotel, playing poker, and going to bed.

Dane101: You started doing stand-up this year from what I’ve read. How have you seen your stand-up progress in the months since you started?
MIB: Well, it started out in English, but then it transcended into an ancient Gaelic language, which is kind of strange for me, being that I don’t even speak Gaelic.

Dane101: Was there a specific catalyst that made you want to branch out from your previous comedy endeavors to doing stand-up, besides it just being “the right time to start exploring it”?
MIB: No, it really was just the right time, and it’s been something that I always wanted to pursue. Really, the television show that we were doing bombed, which opened up some time. Stella was cancelled because nobody watched it, and it really turned out to be blessing.

Dane101: Nobody watched it? I watched it.
MIB: Well, I meant nobody except for you watched it.

Dane101: I noticed that you’re doing a show in New Orleans on the 23rd, which I whole-heartedly commend, especially being things aren’t as funny as they used to be down there now that Night Court star Harry Anderson’s Comedy Club has closed. How did you decide to pick the cities for this tour?
MIB: It was really just a function of geography. I wish there were altruistic reasons to doing that show, to having certain stops on our tour, but really it just all about a route. We picked a route and chose cities on that route that we wanted to go to. New Orleans was a city we wanted to go to, and I’m sure we’ll have a great crowd there, full of people with big hearts.

Dane101: Was it a coin-toss or a thumb war that decided which one of you got to headline the show? (Showalter opens, Black headlines.)
MIB: Coin-toss. Looking at how the show’s set up, it just worked out better with having it how it is.

Dane101: You’ve accomplished so much for being relatively young. Was it that you were given great breaks at an early age or that you made some great breaks for yourself?
MIB: Considering I’m 23, yes, I’ve done a lot so far. Overall, it’s been a combination of the both. I believe that you manufacture your own luck, that you have to find out what you want to do with your life. You can’t let people tell you no. You just have to create as many opportunities for yourself as possible.

Dane101: I’ve been pushed by people to ask you about The State not being released on DVD, but I intend to paraphrase a response you gave to mediabistro in August about that. Is that cool with you?
MIB: Yes, please. Paraphrase away.

Dane101: Being that Warner Brothers is back on the horse about releasing The State, what’s the current status of The State’s finished yet unreleased album, Comedy for the Gracious Living?
MIB: Oh, you’ll never see that. It’s just going to be a very rare gem for someone to unearth one day. It’s not even that good, really. Some parts are funny, but it’s just kind of a mess. If there were a State DVD someday, it could be probably be bundled in with it as an extra, but it really has no chance of getting out there for the public.

Dane101: What about the book State by State with the State? Did you have anything to do with that?
MIB: Why, yes, of course.

Dane101: It’s not currently being published, so original copies are averaging around $75 a copy on Amazon, some selling for as much as $150. Were you aware of this, and are there plans to put out a new edition?
MIB: I was kind of aware of that. That was something we did that wasn’t paid attention to at the time, and now it has some kind of value and popularity. There are no plans to get that out there again. I just don’t think there’s any American interest in it.

Dane101: This week, our issue of The Onion this week said that you must feel doomed to the lives of cult-only success, and it seems as if you’ve echoed similar sentiments about being doomed to an eternity of doing the “I Love the…” series. What do you think your relationship is with this so-called doom attached to your career?
MIB: Man, you’re really bumming me out. I think what I do and what Michael (Showalter) does is specific. We’ve got a real point of view, and I don’t know that it’s a point that Middle America is ever going to fully embrace. I just rather do what I want to do and do it for me rather than have it universally accepted.

Dane101: A film you wrote and directed called The Pleasure of Your Company is due to be released soon. I also noticed that in an interview with the Chicagoist that you’re working on a children’s book. Can you update me on the status of those and other ventures that you’ve been pursuing?
MIB: Well, there’s the stand-up tour, and the movie which should be released in 2007. Then, there’s the book which will be out in 2008. Other than that, just pursuing the adventures of grocery-bagging.

Dane101: Yeah, whatever works. Fair enough.
MIB: You’ve got to pay the bills, you know?

Dane101: Yeah.

Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter will be performing in Madison at the Barrymore Theatre this Sunday, 10-15-06, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets, $15 advance and $17 day-of-show, are available for purchase online here.