Broken Lizard’s Jay Chandrasekhar on ‘Woke’ Culture: ‘We’re Equal Opportunity Offenders’

April 20th has seen the release of Quasi, the latest feature film from the Broken Lizard comedy group. Coinciding with the release, star Jay Chandrasekhar spoke with Variety about the film. He noted how it was no mistake at all for the movie to be released on 4/20, as even though the film isn’t at all about cannabis use, Chandrasekhar still very much considers it to be a “stoner movie,” given how much of that was happening behind the scenes when the screenplay was being written.

“[Our movies are] stoner movies in the sense that we wrote them at least partially stoned,” Chandrasekhar says. “A major part of the writing process takes place when we’re smoking and riffing on a lot of silly stuff through the first half-dozen drafts before we go into a sober phase where we do the structural work on the narrative. Then, we smoke more joints and add more jokes.”

Chandrasekhar, who says the Broken Lizard members are all big fans of classic John Landis films and R-rated comedies like Beverly Hills Cop, went on to weigh in on how the landscape has changed in comedy in recent years. Quasi doesn’t hold back with the same style of humor Broken Lizard has maintained throughout all of their films, and that’s because Chandrasekhar admits he’s not concerned about what might be offensive, describing the group as “equal opportunity offenders.”

“The way we look at our humor is, if they come with pitchforks, I will stand at the podium and defend every joke,” the funnyman says. “Woke culture is coming from a place of, can’t we just be considerate to one another? Which I’m all for, but I’m also in favor of making fun of things. We’re equal opportunity offenders.”

Related: Exclusive: Adrianne Palicki Plays the Queen in Broken Lizard’s Quasi

Quasi Doesn’t Hold Back

Chandrasekhar knows what it’s like to come under fire for offensive comedy. He recalls how the 2006 film Beerfest had drawn some complaints at the time in Germany, though he also notes how the movie has since become embraced by Germans.

“We made Beerfest, which took place in Germany, and they tried to ban it in Munich,” as Chandrasekhar explains. “They said it made German culture look bad. Now, it is a very popular movie there. I don’t know about the French, though. They can be prickly, but we’ll be OK.”

As for what’s next for Broken Lizard, the plan is to finally make Super Troopers 3 as their next project. Chandrasekhar also teases that other scripts set in Ancient Greece and outer space are being considered. For now, you can stream Quasi over on Hulu.