Were jazz dance routines to radio hits and the "The Lost Boys" soundtrack a foreshadowing of the comedy success to come for sisters Shelley McLendon and Wendi McLendon-Covey?
Courtesy Shelley McLendon
Successful siblings are not rare in comedy (think Amy and David Sedaris or Eddie and Charlie Murphy), but funny isn’t in the genes, is it?
State of Wonder sat down with local improv and sketch comedy virtuoso Shelley McLendon and her sister Wendi McLendon-Covey to make a case study of the matter. Among the wide-ranging topics of conversation are the roots of their comedic talents, playing Twister with Christian co-eds, making out with Nicholas Cage and why you should check in with your coccyx. All in the name of science, of course.
You may recognize Wendi from "Reno911," "Bridesmaids," and her current gig, ABC’s "The Goldbergs," but before all that, the McLendon sisters were killing time by performing plays, shows, parades, dances and beauty pageants on their patio for each other.
“Our parents didn’t schedule every minute of our day, so we had a lot of time to use our imaginations, and that kind of brought out the strangeness in us," Wendi says. “We didn’t set out to be funny; we set out to be entertaining.”
But funny they became. The hilarious sister-duo was raised Baptist in Long Beach, California, and their taste for performance and comedy definitely didn’t come from their parents. Asked by Wendi whether they were raised in a funny household, Shelley could only reply, “It wasn’t like assisted living, but it was, you know … well, you and I were funny.”
Wendi, who launched her career from the Groundlings — the Los Angeles improv troupe and school that trained "Bridesmaids" co-stars Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy along with many other successful comedians — inspired Shelley to try improv herself.
Shelley quickly became a mainstay in Portland’s improv scene, eventually producing parodic adaptations of 80s movies "Road House" and "Lost Boys" and Christmas classic "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer." Late last year she opened a new home for her comedy production company, Bad Reputation Productions, in Old Town/Chinatown: the Siren Theater.
But what about Wendi’s experience kissing Nicholas Cage in her new movie, "Army of One?" What about Shelley’s shameful history with Twister? Listen to the full interview, above, to find out.
And if you're interested in learning why it's important to check in with your coccyx, watch the story the sisters told of love, guilt and growing at tail at Back Fence PDX in 2011.