Jon, you are a member of the San Francisco Bay Area sketch comedy group Killing My Lobster. (We can't wait to see you perform at our Wrap Party tonight!) Say, what is sketch comedy all about?

That's a tough question to answer briefly, seeing as how we ask ourselves the same question all the time. I think sketch is about distilling a single thought or idea into the simplest or most absurd arc imaginable. It can be a ten-second scene or a ten-minute scene, but I think it takes root in a weird or inspired or silly single thought (a bad example being: all pets look like their owners). Then you try to give that thought an unexpected easily-to-spin-out-of-control execution. Wackidy shmackidy doo!

Where did this name come from? Do you adhere to the flash-freeze-before-boiling approach to cooking crustaceans?

The sad truth is that none of us are super-huge fans of shellfish. Nor have we ever done something as trite as go to Red Lobster together. A distant cousin of mine once taught me how to put a lobster to sleep by turning it over, standing it on its head with its claw/arms pointed out and rubbing its back (no joke). I don't think it puts the lobster to sleep—I think it actually just confuses them to the point that they won't scream in the boil. But it seems to work as a fun party trick at the very least.

As to where our name came from? I wish it were a better story—and I know I'm not the only one who wishes that. Years ago, before I was in the group, a bunch of the members were playing the game Celebrity at someone's house. They had had too many Pimms cups and Paul, trying to guess the clue "Killing Me Softly," instead goofed and yelled "Killing My Lobster." Uh-oh! Instant hilarity. People thought it was a pretty funny idea for a name, and it came to be an expression amongst those guys. They'd use it to mean "You're bumming me out." "Man, you're killing my lobster."

I don't think it's been used in that context since. And I don't know of any sketch group that's truly really psyched about the name they came up with—so somehow it fits and it's just fine with me.

And finally, what is funny?

I'll tell you one thing: this interview sure as hell isn't (and that's my fault). This is another hard question. I think discrepancies are funny. Something large next to something tiny. I'm also a fan of the old fish out of water premise (characters being uprooted from their time and dropped into a new epoch). I think egocentric or conceited characters falling down flights or stairs is funny. Comedy seems to me to be all about surprise or sudden reversals--so anything where that is earned in a way that works is usually really funny. I also love things that are simple, and sometimes involve one element of something you know and love being moved or somehow messed with.

Like this, and this.

You can read Jon's Cameo here.