INTERVIEW: John Lehr On Quick Draw, Improv & The Streaming Age

Way back in 2013, Hulu was just getting off the ground, and experimenting with their first few original shows. Although it only lasted two seasons, one of these, Quick Draw, became an underground sensation. The reason? This comedy-sketch-Western, created by Howler Monkey Productions, was entirely improvised.

The show followed Harvard graduate Sheriff John Henry Hoyle, played by the show’s co-creator John Lehr, as he attempted to use forensic science to protect the people of Great Bend, Kansas, and tame the wild, wild West. Now, almost ten years later, the show is just as popular as ever, with new pandemic fans popping up out of the saloon woodwork to rope and ride with the gang.

We spoke with Lehr about improv, the streaming age, and which of the cast looked best in a dress.

To start off, I’m a Quick Draw fan but I only found it like two years ago, mid-pandemic.
That’s been happening a lot! During the pandemic, I started getting lots of people reaching out who had never seen it before. Like, “When is the third season coming out?” And I had to be like, “Ah, well…”

Quick Draw’s co-creator Nancy Hower, and your production company Howler TV – how’d you two get connected?
Well, Nancy and I met working on an independent movie. I think the total budget was $5,000. It was called Memron, and it makes fun of the Enron scandal, which was that corporate scandal in the 80s. And we shot that together and loved working in this style– the movie was all improv. Nancy directed, and I was in it, and it won Slamdance [Film Festival]. And that kind of gave us enough credibility to go in and pitch.

We pitched this show– we knew we wanted to do TV, and there was a big grocery store strike happening at the time in LA so it was on our minds. But Nancy was one who said, “Why don’t we do a show in a grocery store?” And we were both like, “Yeah! Why hasn’t a show been done in a grocery store?” And, you know as soon as you ask that question, you’re onto something. So we pitched a show called 10 Items Or Less, to Sony, who bought it in the room. They gave us the money to shoot a pilot, and then shipped the pilot over to TBS. They bought it and we ended up doing three seasons of 10 Items Or Less on TBS.

So you did 10 Things on TBS, and then Quick Draw goes to Hulu. What has that been like on your end? Was there any change in the pitch and creation process for you? Is it any different producing for a streaming service versus a network?
You know, it’s not that different. It’s not that different, surprisingly. From our point of view, from the creator side, it’s essentially a sales presentation. That’s what a pitch is, right?

It dawned on me after doing it for a few years. I was like, “Holy shit, I’m not an artist, I’m in sales.” Because you come in, it’s just a PowerPoint, or sometimes you show visuals or videos– sometimes we go old school with cards with things glued on– and we’d rehearse it. There’s all these tricks that I’ve learned over the years, and now a lot of what I do is coaching other people about pitching which has been really fun.

When did you realize Quick Draw was a hit?
Oh, I don’t know. Quick Draw had a real underground following, a real dedicated fan base. And when people found out it was all improvised, they were just like, “What? Sure!” and loved it.

We sort of learned how to create this style that was very different from anything else that was going on at the time. I mean, you had Reno 911 which was improvised– and I love Reno 911– but it doesn’t really focus on a strong story. And Nancy and I really wanted to carry a storyline, and break it up into vignettes.

But I mean, the fans would reach out to me, and they were shocked that I would reply– that shocked me because the whole reason to do this is to connect with people– but anyway, it became something kind of cultish. And I just, I loved the different kinds of people that Quick Draw attracted, because we had people who were older, conservative, pro gun, Western fans. And then we had people who are young comedy fans. So you had this incredible mix of people, and they all liked each other, they all got along. It was a beautiful thing.

And the fan meetups came out of those conversations?
Yeah! I didn’t have to do anything– we really didn’t do anything. The fans created it, they asked if we would come, and we said yes. There were three, I think, maybe more than that. Anyway, there was all kinds of online stuff and stuff we did via Zoom– or whatever it wasn’t Zoom– but I remember we did all kinds of watch parties.

It was so fun. It’s so fun. You have this common thing that you all love, and you get to meet people that you never met, and I became friends with a lot of these people! You know, there’s a Vietnam vet, a fan of ours, Harold, and I’ve stayed at his house in St. Louis when I perform.

I just love that about TV, you know? You get to meet all these people you would never meet.

Alright, bit of a fan-girl question here: season finale, season one, You, Eli (Nick Brown), Shank (Bob Clendenin), and Tidwell (David Hoffman), are all dressed up like female prostitutes to go make an arrest. In your opinion, who was the most attractive woman out of the four of you?
Oh my God. I’ll tell you who I think– I was. I think I was the most attractive woman.

Because, and here’s why, I’ll tell you who was the least attractive, and that was Nick Brown. He was hideous! Which, you know, it was kind of fair because he was the most attractive man on the show by far. But as a woman he was hideous. I don’t know why, but we couldn’t quite figure it out. That’s all we could talk about that whole day on set. We were just joking around about how ugly he was.

So I was the most attractive. That’s, that’s by far. I mean, maybe Tidwell is up in there, but I’m definitely more attractive than Bob.

Let’s talk about Bob for a moment. Correct me if I’m wrong, but there are only one or two scenes throughout Quick Draw where it looks like you’re about to break, and the one I remember most is with Bob.
Yeah, I don’t break that often. But the only time I do is with Bob. And it’s from the fact that I’m laughing at what he’s saying, but it’s also just the joy of doing it with him. When you’re working with somebody, and they’re just, you know, they’re just bending you in different ways– it’s surprising.

With improv a lot of people take classes, which is great. I think it’s been really good for improv. But one of the things that I think is interesting is that improv, as it’s gotten a little bit more mainstream, has developed rules and concepts in order to keep the scenes going and let everybody play.

The one that you hear the most often is this: “Yes, and….” Am I right? “Yes and…” or “don’t ask questions.” And those are great rules for people who are learning, or people who maybe aren’t performers because it’ll help to keep a scene going, sure. But I say no all the time, and I ask questions all the time. Because there are times to say “no.” Right?

At its root improv is about trying to find the abyss. You’re trying to find that place, true improv is where you’re like, “I want to be totally along for the ride.” And that’s when it’s the most fun. So when you’re with people like Bob, who also love to live in that space, that’s when the real just shit that you could never write comes out. Like that scene you mentioned, a lightning Bolt striking a penis tree or whatever. I mean…

So you’re writing Quick Draw, you already worked with Bob on 10 Items, you know you’ve got to use him, right?
Right away. We actually, Nancy and I, create a role for Bob in everything we pitch. I mean, he’s just, he’s amazing. You know, he just delivers. He’s great to work with, and everybody knows him because he’s been in fucking everything.

So who was the easiest to break on the cast?
God, that’s a good one. Who was the easiest? Hmmmm. Trying to think…Tidwell broke, I remember he broke a lot. You know he’s the guy who does all those commercials now with the Big Bird.

Oh, Liberty Mutual!
Yeah! Incredibly talented.

What about some of the history behind Quick Draw? Specifically, those two episodes that deal with the town of Nicodemus – I think it’s a really interesting way to deal with the racial issues on the frontier post-Civil War. So you’ve got Nicodemus, an all-black town, and then these characters Betty and Margaret that flip the old mammy stereotype on its head. They’re not the nurturing, welcoming, mammy-esque character. They’re hyper-sexualized, they’re confrontational. Was that a conscious decision you and Nancy made? Or were those just two actresses who were unbelievable with improv?
Yeah! Well, two things happened at once. We discovered Frangela– that’s what they call themselves– and they were Frances [Callier] and Angela [V. Shelton]. Okay? So Frangela, and they played Betty and Margaret.

They wanted to be credited as Frangela, which was kind of difficult. I remember we had to jump through hoops because SAG wouldn’t let us do that. But we saw them on YouTube, I think Nancy found them first, and we were both like, oh my God, we have to get these women. They’re just amazing. And so then we were like, well, how can we bring them in?

But I don’t think we directed them. A lot of things like that will happen on the set when everyone is just improvising. And they started in about how hot my deputy was, and then we just rolled with it. We just set them on those chairs and shot them for a while, and then cut that throughout.

With some of that other history, my best friend from high school was our historical consultant on the show. He grew up in Kansas, and he’s got his PhD in sociology and archaeology. So he started feeding us facts from the wild West days in Kansas, and so there’s a lot of stuff in the show that’s factually correct.

Like, you know, there’s the Benders, which is the Bender family– they were real. And maybe it’s unknown to at least to white people, but black people all know about this: there was the exoduster movement when the slaves were released and they created towns in in Kansas and other states– towns completely populated by freed slaves. So Nicodemus was an actual town in Kansas, and it was a shithole because, you know, white people gave them the worst land. It was a dust bowl, just horrible. But our idea was like, no, let’s make it like heaven on earth. They had
paternity leave, they have the resting time, all of it. They kill it. Those two Nicodemus episodes actually, we did one each season, and those were the two highest rated episodes of the show.

What’s next for John Lehr?
Well, I just did a movie, it’s called Coronavirus Conspiracy, and it’s a comedy, I swear. You can stream it anywhere. I did it because there’s only two people in the movie and I wanted that challenge. Plus, nobody was shooting. This was in the thick of the pandemic and nobody was doing anything. It’s a nutball movie, but it turned out so, so good. It’s a really good little indie movie, and Lionsgate is distributing it now.

And the other great thing is that live stuff has come back. So I do a lot of live comedy. I do a one man show called Addiction 101, where I talk about my addiction, but it’s not a feel good, self help thing. I’ve been sober for like 25 years. It’s funny and tight– I talk about getting arrested on LSD, and getting sober, and being crazy, but it has a good heart to it. Almost everybody is either an addict or knows an addict. I mean, with the opiate crisis, we’re all sort of connected. So it’s dark, but it’s pretty funny.

And then I’m also doing a play right now. But that won’t be for a while. Now I’m memorizing lines, which sucks. I’d much rather improvise…

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