Big Lake's Chris Gethard on Replacing Jon Heder, Keeping the UCB Streak Alive and What Happened to Fesh

Contrary to what you may have seen on Funny or Die, Adam McKay and Will Ferrell didn't find Chris Gethard living in the woods when they were looking to replace Jon Heder as the lead on their new sitcom. They just remembered the auditions for The Other Guys.

Chris has a brief appearance in that film as a bank clerk, but his big break arrives tonight with the premiere of Big Lake, a non-traditional traditional sitcom co-starring Horatio Sanz and Chris Parnell. Gethard -- an Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) veteran who performs weekly in Manhattan with Zach Woods (The Office) and Bobby Moynihan (Saturday Night Live) -- rang up Movieline to discuss how he landed Big Lake, the pressures of being the latest UCB member to find fame and just what happened to Fesh, the young comedy fan he brought to New York with much fanfare this past spring.

First things first: Was replacing Jon Heder very awkward, considering he left the project right before it began filming because of "creative differences"?

I wouldn't say it was awkward, so much as it was pretty overwhelming. He left and I got the audition -- the timeline was pretty crazy. I got the audition and less than a week later had the job and was at the first table read. As far as replacing him -- I really just hit the ground running. They enjoyed what I did at the audition, and it was kind of so fast that I didn't have time to question any of that stuff. What's the line that Jesse Ventura has in Predator? "I ain't got time to bleed?" It was like that: I don't even have time to wonder what happened, I just have to get in there and do this. It kind of solved the problem for itself with how much was asked of me.

So then how did you get the audition for Big Lake in the first place?

The Other Guys. My agent called me -- they were filming in town, doing auditions. And they wanted people on hand who could improvise to play off the actors they were auditioning. So the first time I met Adam McKay, I was helping with the audition. He got to know me there and over time that led to me getting a small part in The Other Guys. It's a pretty quick small part, but it involved a scene with a lot of technical aspects, so he remembered. And then when everything happened with Jon Heder, I was one of the few people they asked to audition for the role. It was one of those, "I got lucky" situations. But, at the same time, I had been working very hard to put myself in a place where I could act on that luck.

Were you intimidated to come in and work with Horatio Sanz and Chris Parnell?

I knew Horatio very well through UCB. I've been performing there for 10 years now and he's one of the guys who founded the group. Of course he left before they got the show on Comedy Central because he wound up on Saturday Night Live, but he's always been one of the guys at the heart of the theater in New York. So I've known him for a very long time and we generally perform together every Sunday. I didn't know Chris Parnell before getting in there, however. Being in New York and doing comedy as long as I have, I know a lot of people at Saturday Night Live, but we never crossed paths. It was intimidating, it's Chris Parnell. Everything he does is beloved, especially by comedy nerds like me. Just knowing that I get to go in there with two guys as funny as that was really cool and intimidating but I knew I had to step up and bring my A-game.

The thing about Parnell is that the guy's timing is insanely perfect. It was just a situation that I was really happy to be in. My perspective on everything was like, "This is my break, this is my chance." Instead of being intimidated, I took it as a challenge and tried step up and deliver. Being there with guys that hilarious brought out the best in me. (Pause) I hope.

With guys like that on the show -- and your background -- I would assume the set was very open to improvisation?

It was very open to improv, which was really fun. We did 10 episodes in 6 weeks, so there was a very communal aspect to it. The writers -- the scripts were being written up until the day of the table read -- would always be on the floor. And when we were filming, they were always looking for more: "Let's film what's on the page, but is there another joke? Is there something else we can go on?" There were a number of times where they were like, "In this episode we kind of mentioned this thing offhandedly, why don't we just take ten minutes and have you three guys take that ball and run with it?" That was the most fun. They were really open to letting us go, which was exhilarating. I think the fact that the writers were so cool about working with the actors and allowing us to flex that improv muscle allows us to have an added layer that comes across in the show.

UCB is basically a breeding ground now for the "next big comedy stars." Do you feel any pressure because of all that success? You don't want to be the guy who breaks the streak, right?

When you put it like that (laughs). The UCB is on a hot streak, and sure, I don't want to be the guy who drops the ball. But, it's not really like that. It's such a community. When I came up it was with Rob Huebel, Paul Scheer, Jack McBrayer, Rob Riggle, Rob Corddry -- these people busted through and they're hungry. And then people after me -- Donald Glover, Aubrey Plaza, Ellie Kemper. One of my best friends in the world Zach Woods. Another one of my best friends in the world, Bobby Moynihan. These are all people who have come up before and after me. It's always strange to see all these people show up in film and television and to see them do so well. And maybe it took me longer to bust through.

But at the end of the day, having worked with all those guys, being able to keep up with all those guys, it's a source of strength more than it is a source anxiety. And I am an anxiety-driven person, so I look for it anywhere I can. But that community is so strong -- I really feel like UCB is what Second City was -- and perhaps still is. It feels like that is a responsibility. I want to represent the place well, but I think you do that onstage before you get your big chance. All I think about is getting there, handling my business and keeping any lofty aspirations out of my head.

One of your most publicized UCB contributions was when you brought 17-year-old Fesh -- a young, comedy starved high schooler from Ohio -- to New York for your monthly performance of The Chris Gethard Show. It was a huge production -- would you ever do something like that again?

I don't know that I would bring another teenager to New York City, no. That was a massive amount of work and, emotionally, really draining. Bringing Mitchell Fesh to New York was -- I can't imagine having to do that much work again until I have to plan a wedding or something. (Laughs) I came up with that idea, committed to it publicly without thinking about it. But I tell you, the hardest part was coordinating all the schedules [Kemper, Glover, McBrayer and other famous faces appeared in a tribute video]. He is a huge comedy nerd, so a lot of it revolved around getting them to contribute to the show. And that right there was like, jeez -- balancing all these schedules and asking favors of people way bigger than I am. And then at just a general level -- I'm 30 years old and I'm bringing a 19-year-old kid to New York. I'm a responsible person, I was like, "I have this kid's welfare in my hands, if anything happens I have to call up a suburban parent." It was a lot of pressure. I can't imagine doing something that massive again. The amount of work and money that went into that... holy crap. I cannot believe how much work that took.

OK then! Well, have you kept in touch with him?

I have. We e-mail a lot. He came to New York this summer and stayed with friends he met when I brought him here and he's just experience the city and checking out to see if it's for him. It made me really happy. He was not feeling too good in Ohio and he might not end up in New York, ultimately, but I think the show we did motivated him to figure out what he's going to do in the future. And coming to New York is a part of that. I feel like we lit a fire under him to define what his life is going be. I feel like we did a good thing, y'know? But it was a lot of pressure. I remember when he was here, I took him to LaGuardia airport and after I dropped him off, he gave me this panicky call: "There's no plane to Ohio!" It turned out he was actually flying out of JFK, not LaGuardia. I had to get on the phone with his parents; his mother was not happy. I remember thinking: "This is a comedy show and I'm getting yelled at by a mother in Ohio? What kind of comedian am I?"