Matteo Lane and Liza Treyger Tell Us What to Expect when Joking Off Premieres on MTV2

Wednesday April 1 MTV2 will premiere its new comedy game show “Joking Off.” The new show follows the MTV2 formula of bringing together some of the funniest, young and diverse comedians performing today with Liza Treyger, Matteo Lane, Dave Ebert, Desus & Mero, James Davis, Matt Pavich, James Manziello, Kristen Acimovich, and Mike Camerlengo all competing in mini games and contests that will require their best stand up comedy and improv skills to win.

The contests involve memes, dating sites, tweets, Instagram photos, prank phone calls, voice overs, and more, and its all hosted by comedy veteran DeRay Davis. We talked with two of our favorite up and coming comedians in the country- Matteo Lane and Liza Treyger about the show.

Liza and Matteo have a lot in common these days.  Both came up in stand up comedy in Chicago, both are based in New York now, and both are being talked about all over the country these days.  They’re in that amazing phase of your career where your hard work is starting to pay off with real recognition. Matteo and Liza are also old friends and in fact, Liza was there the first time Matteo ever did stand up at a show called Kinky Comedy at Old Town Pub in Chicago.

Matteo gave us some of the details about what to expect from the show, and so far it sounds fast paced, and really really funny.  In one of the sub-games within the show, he told us they are asked to ridicule some OK Cupid internet dating profiles, or make jokes about a bad product being sold on late night tv, and there are prank calls and improv games.  And there’s also a lot of running.  But most of all there is a chance to be funny, often.  “It was really fun because you can make any kind of joke you want, and it’s fun to write one liners.” They filmed all 13 episodes in just a week, so it got exhausting at times.  “You’re writing so many jokes in such a short amount of time, I feel like I was just running off the stage at one point just like “(sound only Matteo and dogs can hear)” and then running back so, yeah –theres some jokes I’m not proud of –but overall it’s good.”

We asked Matteo what it was like collaborating with the other regulars on the show, many of whom he had never met before.  “They partner you up, so its three teams of two each, and every week you have someone different so the chemistry changes,” Matteo told us. “When Liza and I are together, her and I are both comedians so we are going for the joke.  We’re going for the wording of the joke and the punchline and ‘what’s funny’ and ‘is this too hacky’.  And then I would work a day with Davey Ebert who’s on Guy Code and he is a total improviser so our chemistry would completely change and I’d find myself doing all these act outs and doing all these weird things.  He would just grab me and say ‘let’s go!’  and I would have no idea what we were doing.”

Liza agreed that she had the easiest time when she was partnered with Matteo but for different reasons. She says she can be difficult to work with at times, and it helps, creatively, to not have to worry about hurt feelings.  “I’m like a pretty annoying, abrasive kind of person so it’s comforting to be in a creative environment with someone who already knows that.  It’s not like anyone is taking anything the wrong way or over analyzing anything. It’s nice to be able to creatively work quickly and not have to worry about people’s feelings–  so it makes for a really good environment to write jokes,” she said. “And we just make each other laugh, so that’s always fun.”

It’s no surprise that Matteo told us he was one of the more competitive comedians of the group, but only because he wanted to get to the last round of each game where you get to make prank calls.   “My goal was just to be funny.  I didn’t really care so much about winning as long as we got good laughs in,” he said.  Except for the part about getting to do the prank call round.  “If you get to the last round you get to make a prank phone call, and I’m the king of making prank phone calls…you don’t even want to know.”  We won’t give everything away, but his calls involve a character he’s been doing since seventh grade, and a gay cousin, so you won’t want to miss the last rounds. Liza also said the prank calls were her favorite part, calling them “close to my heart.”

Both Liza and Matteo agreed that host DeRay Davis, another comedian who hails from Chicago, is a great host.  “He was great, such an easy host to work with,” Matteo told us.  “We’re all just jumping in and trying to make jokes and then he would just jump in and make jokes with us.  He was really fun and had like zero ego, and you couldn’t ask for anyone easier or more fun to work with.”

And here comes the show gossip:  everyone couldn’t help but notice DeRay had a spectacular entourage.  Liza noticed right away that there were “stunning model-like women in the front row at every taping.” According to Matteo, “he’s just always surrounded by beautiful women!  I don’t know how he is finding them….I don’t know where they come from… but wherever he is there are at least ten beautiful women following him at one time. And I’m just asking every single one of them, do you have a gay friend?  Any gay friends? Single friends? Gay? Anyone gay? No? Alright.”

You won’t get to see that, but you will get to see a lot of running, because the contestants have to run into a circle at the center of the stage to make their joke.  It got exhausting for Matteo, but Liza had a different problem.  “I dont wear pants, I really never wear pants, so a lot of people saw my butt a lot of the time.”  We don’t know if the two things are related but we do know that Liza got to have a love scene.  Sort of.  “Me and this other guy, we had shot a love scene before, so I told him if theres ever a lull, we should make out.  And I got to make out with him.  He’s like really hot.  So hopefully that airs.”

Along with Liza and Matteo you’ll see special guests like Charlamagne, Timothy DeLaGhetto, Lil Duval, Jon Gabrus, Tanisha Long, Donnell Rawlings, Chris Distefano, Damien Lemon, Jordan Carlos, Monroe Martin, Shalyah Evans, Mike Winfield, Stephen Guarino, Awkwafina and Mac Lethal.

If you’re not watching MTV2 for comedy you’re missing out on some of the best comedy casting on television. MTV2 has undoubtably become a source to find some of the best young and diverse comedic voices. Tune in on Wednesday night to find out if you get to see Liza make out, if Matteo’s prank phone calls that he’s been honing since the seventh grade are as good as he says they are, and what is promising to be a very funny show all around.

MTV2’s Joking Off premiering Wednesday, April 1st at 11pm et only on MTV2.  And….if you have a single gay friend….thats instagram.com/matteolane. Look for the shirtless photo.

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