ProDuNKTion, excellence in comedic music

By Sebastian Gonzalez de Leon

There is a musical and comedy group out there that you really need to listen to (you should also watch their videos). We are talking of ProDuNKTion, a fantastic ensemble integrated by Alyssa Rivera, Ashley Renee Clopton (who we’ve interviewed before), and Colleen Gburek. As you will learn, they are three awesome and upcoming comics who show insightfulness, passion, and lots of humor through comedy and music.

Women In Comedy: Can you tell us about the backgrounds of Alyssa, Ashley Renee, and Colleen?

Colleen: I have a theatre degree from Ithaca College. I have done the Second City’s Comedy Studies, and Conservatory programs, and completed iO’s improv program. The entire time I’ve been in Chicago, I’ve been writing and performing with ProDuNKtioN. We’ve performed at almost every comedy venue on the north side.

Alyssa: I also have a theater degree from Ithaca College and used to primarily act. I think that all of us were musical theater kids in high school. The switch to writing and comedy came for me after I completed the Second City’s Comedy Studies Program. After that program, I finished the iO program, The Second City Conservatory and The Annoyance.

Ashley: I have a BFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. There I studied drama as an actor, director, and writer and I minored in film production. I’ve trained at Second City and The Annoyance.

Women In Comedy: How did the three of you come together to create ProDuNKTion?

Colleen: Alyssa and I went to college together, and we met Ashley here in Chicago at the Second City’s Comedy Studies program. Through that program, we noticed we had similar ideas when it came to creating shows and thought it would be a good idea to get this thing started!

Alyssa: We were all in the Second City Comedy Studies program together. Colleen and I went to college together but didn’t know each other particularly well but we lived together in an apartment a few streets away from Ashley. None of us went to college in Chicago so we had a limited number of people in the city that we knew so on the weekends we would hang out and bounce ideas off of each other or edit each other’s work for class. Once our semester was over in Chicago and we had to go back to our actual colleges we all kind of just decided that we would all move back once we graduated and hopefully perform together.

Ashley: Kindred spirits have a way of finding each other.

Women In Comedy: What inspires you to write the lyrics in your songs?

Colleen: Mostly things that are happening in the news and in social media. There are some also some songs that we do that we just plain find really funny. What’s been great is that they have all been really well received and a lot of people have mentioned to me how relatable they are.

Alyssa: I think that we always try to come up with an idea to riff on that has a lot of truth and one that we can get three distinct points of view on. The three of us are very different people so if all three of us find something funny or relatable we assume most people will. I feel like most of them start grounded and then end kind of surreal. For example, “Your Mom Loves Me” came from Colleen and I both having ex-boyfriends whose moms would still reach out to us even though their sons broke up with us. We were always like “How come this guy doesn’t get how great I am, his mom does!” Then we all saw Ashley’s verse as an opportunity to make a different joke, what if his mom was IN love with you.

Ashley: If something strikes me as funny, odd or bizarre, I usually immediately write it down to think about later when I’m writing. Also whenever I have a friend confirm that they do something that I hide and think is embarrassing, then I just want to jump right in and show the world because I know there are other people out there like me. Our song Lazy Girl Cute is just like that.

What is your favorite part about making your music videos?

Women In Comedy: What is your favorite part about making your music videos?

Colleen: I LOVE the first time we see the footage all together. It’s always hilarious to see what someone else was doing while we were filming that I may not have noticed at the moment.

Alyssa: Being able to share it or show people. We have performed live for so long, which we love, but it’s much easier to send people a link than to get them to come to a show we are performing in. It gives people who live outside Chicago or the festivals we perform at an idea of what we do.

Ashley: The actual making of them on shoot days. So much planning goes into it but when the day finally comes that we are filming together and trying to make each other laugh, that’s the magic.

Women In Comedy: What has proven hard when creating your videos?

Colleen: I love the instant gratification of getting a big laugh in a live show. That’s probably the most difficult thing for me to get over while filming.

Alyssa: Scheduling. Always Scheduling. It’s typically already pretty difficult to sort out our own personal schedules but adding other actors, PA’s, Director, DP, etc. and it can be a nightmare. If we are filming outside that’s also an added stress because you never know what the weather in Chicago is going to do.

Ashley: I second Alyssa. Scheduling is a bitch.

Women In Comedy: Who have been the biggest inspirations/mentors for what you do today?

Colleen: I’m inspired by the people I encounter every day. I think every single person is a total weirdo, and I love exploring that. Even someone who never has anything to say is unique! That person will leave me wondering why they are the way that they are, and what sort of scenarios can I think up that might make for an interesting/funny scene or video.

My mentors are Alyssa and Ashley. They push me to think bigger, dig deeper, and create material that I am truly proud to put my name on.

Alyssa: We joke a lot that we are the Destiny’s Child of Sketch Comedy but I think we are more accurately the female Lonely Island. I feel like we follow a similar style where what we do sketches but they happen to also be raps. I’m inspired by comedy duos and groups like Key & Peele or Derrick Comedy. I think a balanced group dynamic where everyone shines is actually very difficult to pull off. Though not a formal mentor, I’d say Andy Miara is the person who taught me everything I know about writing sketches.

Ashley: When I’m looking for inspiration, I usually think back to episodes of Chappelle’s Show, Key and Peele and In Living Color. I refer to Key and Peele in my head as my comedy grandfathers. Outside of comedy, I find inspiration everywhere. I can write a sketch based on a song, a kiss or the lady on the bus that poked me in the hip with her walking stick that had a vibrator taped to the handle. Life and how weird everything is in the world keeps me inspired.

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