Reno: 911!'s Carlos Alzaraqui
for six quick questions. To our great surprise, he answered them.
Are we correct in assuming that Reno 911!: Miami is an homage to Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach?
It was actually the perfect place for us to be. Going from Reno to Miami, there’s limitless fish out of water potential. So in that sense, yeah, it was probably a bit of an homage to Police Academy 5.
You guys actually shoot the show in LA. Have you ever been to Reno?
I had been to Reno in my stand up days, performing at Bally and at The Hilton, so I was familiar with the vibe. It feels like a crystal-meth wasteland. A lot of cement. A lot of 4-wheel-drive trucks. It just has that low self-esteem vibe going through it.
How much of Reno 911! is improvised?
With the show, we’ll get an outline for the scene saying something like, ‘In this scene Officers Jones and Garcia go to investigate a strange animal in somebody’s backyard,’ and that’s all you’re given. So it’s not something you can plan out. You’re in the character, you’re in the moment and you’re like ‘What the fuck am I supposed to say?’
And was the movie as heavily improvised?
Were you a fan of The State before you started working with Ben Garrant, Thomas Lennon and Kerri Kenney?
I’d never seen an episode of The State. Looking back, that probably helped me because I’m sure I would have been nervous when I auditioned for them, thinking ‘Oh my God, these are the people from The State!’ All I knew was these guys were named Ben, Tom and Kerri.
There seems to be at least one instance of fortuitously blurred redneck nudity per episode of Reno 911! We noticed that the movie has an R-rating. Does that mean…
Oh yeah. There’s foul language, bigger explosions and yes, nudity.
