CH: True. My paintings were deadly serious, that I was doing. Matt made a couple of serious dramatic shorts at school, and then all the comedy that we were doing together was strictly extracurricular. I was a math major. It took us awhile to really settle into comedy. But, in a way, it was almost inevitable. Part of the reason that Matt and I meshed so well is the scary overlap of our influences, not just in comedy. When we’re editing videos and sitting in front of Matt’s computer with Final Cut open, it’s very easy for us to talk about, well, this needs to be two frames shorter, because we watched the same Bugs Bunny cartoons separately, when we were little kids, and we know about that Tex Avery timing and what that needs to be.

CD: Some of my favorite videos you’ve made are based on tiny ideas, but you manage to wring so many laughs out of them. For example, “Roommate” is basically just about trying to get a guy to move into a very small room. That’s pretty much it.

MP: Nobody’s ever said that to us.

CH: That’s really all it is.

[Pause. Both laugh]

MP: We usually try to button it with some difference at the end, but not even always.

CH: That’s what I mean by, comedy is problem-solving. The hard part is finding the interesting problem or the weird incongruity, and then resolving it in a satisfying way in three minutes, which is exactly what you’re talking about. It’s the opposite of being on stage in an improv troupe and then just layering on as much insanity as you possibly can before the blackout.