Kristen Schaal at the premiere of 'Toy Story 3' in Los Angeles, June 13, 2010.
She's one of the funniest comedians working today. Kristen Schaal has played the stalker Mel in the television show Flight of the Conchords and has had roles in several movies this summer, including Toy Story 3 and Dinner for Schmucks. She is also a "special commentator" on The Daily Show, where her boyfriend Rich Blomquist is a writer. Now, she and Blomquist have joined comedy forces to write The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex, an advice book like no other. Both authors talked to The Globe and Mail about their burning desire to write the book.
Sexy sex is a very sexy topic. Did you want to write the book for very sexy reasons?
Blomquist We just wanted to share our sexual knowledge with the world rather than hog it to ourselves. There's so much turmoil going on in Afghanistan and Iraq, and if people would just lighten up and maybe put out a little bit we wouldn't be in this thing.
Schaal Yeah, put down guns and pick up your dongs.
How did you find writing a sex book as a couple?
Schaal The biggest hurdle with this book was getting my hands off of Rich and onto the keyboard.
Blomquist I've painstakingly painted a silhouette of my crotch onto her keyboard so it made it feel like she was still touching me.
I've heard that's a classic writer's trick.
Blomquist That's how Hemingway worked. Actually, they painted a bottle of booze on his typewriter.
How did you select what you wanted to put in the book?
Blomquist It was just a matter of getting the funniest jokes onto the page. Kristen and I sat down and came to a consensus about what we thought was the funniest and most important sexual knowledge to share.
Schaal We thought if it could tickle our funny bones it could tickle all bones.
Did your friends know prior to writing the book that you were equipped with such vast sexual knowledge, or did it come as a surprise to them?
Schaal It was a surprise. We don't really have friends with benefits, so they were shocked.
I read on the ever-reliable Wikipedia that initially you wanted to write the book under pseudonyms. Is that true?
Schaal Because people don't know this side of us, I thought maybe we should keep it secret. And because we have parents who are literate.
Blomquist My parents think I'm a virgin.
Schaal Neither of us are married, so we technically should be virgins.
Do you guys have a favourite chapter?
Schaal Every time we open it up there's a new chapter that's calling out to us. But we like the masturbation chapter a lot. That's for everybody.
Did you consult a lot of previously published sex manuals before writing the book, or did you just go at it blindly?
Blomquist Typically we go at it blindly.
As two comedians, do you work well together, or do you fight over what's funny?
Blomquist We have a similar comic sensibility. By saying that we'll only put things in the book that we both think are funny, that's a good way of doing quality control.
Schaal Sometimes we make each other laugh and sometimes we make each other groan.
What's it like working together on The Daily Show?
Blomquist It's really fun. Some of the funnest work I do is working with Kristen at The Daily Show because she's my muse.
Kristen, you've been in a lot of movies this summer. Your next movie is called Butter . What's it about?
Schaal It's about a butter-carving contest in Iowa. I'm one of the competitors. So I'll actually be in the movie more than usual. But I wouldn't say that I'm a major star.
What do you hope people who pick up the book will get from it?
Blomquist We hope that people learn to have fun in bed and approach sex with an open mind and hopefully open legs.
Schaal I think our goal always is, as comedians and performers and writers, to make people laugh in an unexpected way. And so that's my greatest hope, that people find themselves laughing at something they couldn't imagine laughing at before.
This interview has been condensed and edited.