Interview with Drinking Made Easy's Zane Lamprey

Would you invite this man to your wedding reception? If you want your mother-in-law Steve McKenna'd you would.

When it comes to all things drinking related, writer/comedian Zane Lamprey definitely knows his stuff. Since hosting the show Three Sheets starting back in 2005, Zane has criss-crossed the world in search of the ultimate pub scene, while taking in much of the city’s attractions at the same time. Lamprey’s travels have taken him to faraway places ranging from Lithuania to Costa Rica and many places in between. Along the way, Lamprey has created a drinking game inspired by his own show, a new term for getting uber-drunk and a developed a penchant for carrying around a little stuffed monkey.

With the future of Three Sheets still being discussed , Zane has embarked on a 50-city stand up tour, while working on episodes of a new show called Drinking Made Easy, which will air on cable/satellite channel HDNet later this year. Zane was making his way from a sold out show in Boston towards Pittsburgh when I had a chance to talk with him. We discussed the origin of him getting the Three Sheets gig and discussed his recently released book. Here’s my interview with Zane:

MyCityBuzz: Is this your first stand up tour in a long time?
Zane Lamprey: It is. I’ve been so busy with Three Sheets and putting my efforts into my book that I never really had time to do stand up. The tour really came about as I kept on waiting to figure out the fate of Three Sheets and thinking “do I accept another gig on a show or just wait around for Three Sheets?” So, in the meantime, we did about 7 or 8 shows in December and the audience loved it. This time around, it is a 50-city tour and we’ve had a really great time so far. The last 5 dates of the tour was sold out, so it’s been a great experience.

MCB: How did you originally get the hosting gig on Three Sheets?
ZL: A bunch of years ago, I was going in to audition for a show on the Food Network called You Should Open Up A Restaurant. As we started to sit there and talk about ideas, the creators told me that I wasn’t right for that gig, but they had another show they were developing about drinking, which became Three Sheets. I don’t know how they came to that realization, but it worked out. Typical Hollywood, you know… (laughs).

MCB: What was the preparation like for an episode of Three Sheets?
ZL: Well, the shoots were usually 4 or 5 days and we took hours upon hours of footage and had to pair it down to a 22 or 23 minute episode. There was usually some research done in the beginning about local customs, drinking or otherwise. But as time went on, I didn’t want to know too much about the customs and city before I went into it. I wanted things to be organic and not prepped- I just didn’t want to be a know it all. I think the shows went better when it was more organic.

MCB: Was there a city in particular where you wish you could go back and film a follow up episode?
ZL: To be honest, I really would have liked to go back to most of the cities we visited. It’s tough to do a show like this within a 30 minute time frame. I would have really liked to make each episode of Three Sheets an hour long. That way, I could have talked the details of alcohol, beer and spirits and discussed things like fermentation or the differences between scotch and whiskey and explained things I bit more.

AM: You recently released a book entitled Three Sheets: Drinking Made Easy! 6 Continents, 15 Countries, 190 Drinks, and 1 Mean Hangover! What did you set out to do with the book?
ZL: I wanted the book, as well as the stand up, to be a stand-alone deal than the stuff I did on Three Sheets. I didn’t want to sit there and recount old stories that I ran into on Three Sheets, as I wanted it to be a unique experience. We get a lot into the history of beer, wine and spirits, deal with things like fermentation and distilling- that sort of thing. It is all done very tongue in cheek and meant to be an entertaining way to look at drinking.

Zane Lamprey plays the Royal Oak Theater this Saturday, June 12^th- Doors are at 8pm. Tickets are $25 (a $50 dollar ticket includes a pre-show meet and greet) and available through www.tickets.com. Additional info and tour dates can be found at www.zanelamprey.com.