THR has a new oral history of The Groundlings Theater, the LA-based comedy institution where Phil Hartman, Kristen Wiig, Will Ferrell, and also people not on SNL, like Paul Reubens, Lisa Kudrow, and Jim Rash, honed their chops before breaking into movies and TV. The piece contains the story of Reubens creating his character Pee-Wee Herman for a Groundlings workshop, a big fight between the creative heads of the theater, and a story about Lorne Michaels responding to a Groundling asking him how it feels to have Phil Hartman on SNL with, “I don’t even have to go into work.â€
