Interview: Frank Alvarez of THE BASEMENT YARD at State Theatre Minneapolis

The Basement Yard made its way to Minneapolis on September 23, bringing the podcast’s live show to the State Theatre for a night of laughs, stories, and plenty of interaction with the audience.

For fans who know Frank Alvarez and Joe Santagato from the podcast, seeing them on stage adds a whole different element to the experience. The live show has the same kind of humor and back-and-forth fans are used to, but the audience gets to be part of it too.

After the Minneapolis show, we caught up with Frank Alvarez to talk about taking The Basement Yard on the road, working with Joe Santagato, some of their funniest conversations, and what makes the live show different from the podcast.

What’s it like taking The Basement Yard from the podcast to a live show? Does being in front of an audience change the way you and Joe interact?

It’s definitely a different energy. On the podcast, it’s usually just Joe and me talking like we would if the cameras weren’t there. When you have a whole audience in the room, you can feel their reactions in real time, which makes everything more immediate. Joe and I don’t really change how we interact, though. We’re still going to argue, make fun of each other, and go down whatever ridiculous rabbit hole we end up in.

You and Joe have been doing the podcast together for a long time. Is there a particular moment or conversation between the two of you that still makes you laugh?

There are way too many to pick one. A lot of the funniest moments are when something completely normal turns into a 20-minute argument that neither of us planned on having. At this point, I think some of our funniest conversations are the ones where we both realize halfway through that we have absolutely no idea how we got there.

Have you been to Minneapolis before? If you have, do you have any favorite places here, or is there somewhere you’re hoping to check out while you’re in town?

Minneapolis was great. We don’t always get a ton of time to explore when we’re on the road, but it’s always cool getting to experience a new city and meet the people who come out to the shows. The audience was awesome, and hopefully we’ll get the chance to come back soon.

For someone who has never seen The Basement Yard live, what should they expect when they come to the show?

Expect the same kind of humor and conversations you know from the podcast, but with a more interactive experience that really emphasizes being there in person. We want people to leave feeling like they got a good balance of what they know and love about The Basement Yard, along with something more that you can only get from seeing it live. There’s a lot of energy from the audience, and we’re very playful with the format and layout of the show, so it feels like a full live experience rather than just watching the podcast on stage.