O: Michael Ian Black, I’ve read that you toured America as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Is that true?

MIB: That’s true. Michael [Showalter] was in How I Learned To Drive, which won a Pulitzer Prize. I was in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

DW: Which won a Tony.

O: What was it like touring America as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle?

MIB: In a word: smelly. My primary memory is that it was smelly, and that there was a lot of pizza involved.

DW: My understanding was that you were not actually in the show, but rather did the live appearances in malls and stuff before the show.

MIB: That’s right. Me and Ben Garant from The State toured the country promoting the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the show. We were turtles promoting other turtles.

O: Was that a fulfilling experience?

MIB: It was, actually. It was a fulfilling experience financially for me at the time. I was 18 or 19.

O: Do you ever wish you could reprise that role?

MIB: I have. Many times.

MS: Mike’s wearing a turtle costume right now.

MIB: I’m dressed as Donatello.