We Are The Creators And Cast of The League on FXX - Ask Us Anything!

Okay, I guess I'll ask the awkward question that probably won't get answered: did the news about Rannazzisi's 9/11 hoax story complicate filming at all?

JACKIE AND JEFF SAY: It didn't complicate filming because Steve apologized to everyone, including the crew. No one - including and especially Steve - is making an excuse for, or condoning what he did. But it is our experience after all these years together that he is a supremely good dude who made one supremely stupid mistake. We all love him and and accept his apology, and hope everyone else does too.

Are you astounded by how much your show is engrained into fantasy football and regular culture #pocketdogs ?

Seeing the list of "most popular fantasy team names" as released by espn every year - and counting about 1/3 of names from our show in the top 20 is the ultimate compliment. Mine is the Toilet Kitchens (Jackie) - Jeff's is "The Yank Bankers"

Without naming names, were there any athletes you wanted to get but once it came to the appearance fees you were like, 'nope, hard pass?'

Can you believe it? NOT ONE. Some actors as guest stars, but never an athlete. Not once!

The product placement definitely stepped up recently. How do you feel about it?

I agree, it's fucking ridiculous how the last episode was just fanduel shit over and over again. I can't wait to watch the shitty finale. Thank god we had 5.5 clean seasons.

JEFF SCHAFFER SAYS: Product placement has not stepped up. If anything it’s gone way down. There used to be a time we had to mention a beer a few times. Which of course was easy because these guys drink a lot of beer. If you’re referring to draft kings… we sought them out. We wanted to do a season long story to address the sea change in the fantasy world. Leagues are giving way to one week money plays and we wanted to address it. We wanted our guys to be able to talk about just like everyone else who plays fantasy was talking about it. It would be weird if we didn’t talk about it. And it was important to us to use a real company. So we weren’t talking about “FanFriends” or some fake stupid name. We needed a real company to be authentic. And Draft Kings fit the bill. Yes, they pay FX money to advertise on the show, like Bud light, coors, Directv and others have before them. But because it’s gambling or money is involved or something different rules apply with the FTC so we have to have a “promotional consideration” card at the end. Truthfully that was a surprise to us that we found out about as we were sending the shows to FX, but we wanted to the show to feel real, and that means using a real company. They don’t dictate the content of the show in anyway, shape or form. And you’ll see tonight how it all pays off…. We’ve had a plan….

I once had a person tell me he came up with getting his car towed in order to catch a ride home from the bar. He had never seen the show before! What real life experiences made it into the script?

So many that everyone we know should be genuinely concerned when they spend time with us. We always say we get the best ideas for the show just going out into the world because people are generally terrible and terrible people make for great stories. I guess now that we wrapped Season 7, our "friends"will feel a bit safer... for now...

Question for Paul: What was the worst outfit you had to wear on the show? Lets bring that MoTown sound back to DreTown lets go DreTones!

PAUL SCHEER SAYS: Worst Outfit might have been the Uncircumcised Penis Sweater. It's not a great feeling to have a cast of men rub you like a dick head

How often do random strangers shout obscenities at you all? And has it escalated over the years?

NICK KROLL SAYS: People shout "forever unclean" at me all the time. Most upsetting is in airport bathrooms. If you do have the misfortune of seeing me out and about, our conversation will likely be shorter if you scream "forever unclean" at me in a bathroom.

I can't imagine many places more fitting for that than a public restroom.

JASON MANTZOUKAS SAYS: People yell stuff all the time. Worst is in bathrooms.

Have you guys ever considered crowd funding / Kickstarting one of taco corp's business plans?

Some shitsipper took Neckflix to Shark Tank and tried to pretend our fans would not notice....

A question for Jon, any plans to continue making music? I really miss your youtube music videos.

JON LAJOIE SAYS: I'll be making more soon! More songs about genitals will ensue, however I'm really excited about a super secret musical project that I've been working on, which I'll be releasing in January.

What is the scene that took the longest to film because no one could keep it together?

Hands down in the Scrote Squad when Rafi asks Ruxin to be his Ballsy Guard like Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. Nick said RIP - and Jason freaked out "Oh No , Whitney's dead!!! How is Michael Jackson taking it?" And we just pretty much came to a doubled over laughing standstill

What are your favorite on-set memories?

This one we love because it’s reality imitating art. Context: We (Jeff and Jackie) play in a fantasy league with the 6 cast members - The league of the league. It’s very fun and all the team names are things from the show (The Toilet Kitchens are squaring off against The Yank Bankers in the championship this week). In the make up trailer one Monday, Steve Rannazzisi (who plays Kevin) is venting about how his team played like shit, can't believe he lost etc.. Jon La Joie (Taco) is sitting next to him and sweetly asks "Who where you playing? Steve turns to him with the face is red as a tomato can and says "You I was playing you! You didn’t even set your line up! You had players on a bye! AND I STILL LOST!”

For Jason: What was the best part and the worst part of playing rafi? Why does rafi take all his clothes off to poo? Did you cause anything traumatic to the children on set?

JASON MANTZOUKAS SAYS: He takes in clothes off in case things get crazy, I believe he said.

Who was the funniest athlete you guys had on the show?

I vote JJ Watt - Jackie. Katie would probably say Randall Cobb because he had 2 dreamy eyes, each a different color. I think it's like the NFL version of her girl crush on Kate Bosworth.

Have you ever done an episode, looked back on it and thought, "Wow, that one really sucked."?

Not being sarcastic, I wonder this stuff about TV shows.

JACKIE AND JEFF SAY: There are a few episodes where you are in the edit room and you just think, “This one has some funny stuff, but it’s just okay.” The biggest thing is ending well. If it ends strong you can forgive some dull spots in the middle, but if the end isn’t strong then you’re left with a sour feeling. That being said, when we looked back through the episode list as we’ve been doing press these last few days, there were very few (like 3) where we thought “That was not a good one.” But there were so many that we’d forgotten how funny they were and all the great things in them. There’s so much crammed into everyone of these shows...

what is the one episode you always wanted to make but never got to it or couldn't?

The Bro Lo Weekend. Jason (Rafi) improvised this line in a scene with Ruxin and we always wanted to make that episode. It will always be the one that got away....,

Since your show is largely Improv - Who is always the first to break and laugh? Who is the best at getting everyone to break?

Jason Mantzoukas is Nick Kroll's Kryptonite

I'm from Yemen and I chew qat, did taco really chewed qat ?

JACKIE AND JEFF: Qat is not as easy to come by as you might think. Jon la Joie was chewing on spinach. However, the bath salts Rafi takes are real.

What's it like in Andre's Mancave?

PAUL SCHEER SAYS: Man Cave make out was probably the most physically uncomfortable as I had to lie under a couch while 2 people were on top dry humping above me. The smells and the heat made me feel like a crumb stuck in a fat mans folds

PAUL ALSO SAYS: It's full of Magic, Cologne and Don Henley tunes. You come for the Soy but you stay fashion show

Question for everyone: What was the most uncomfortable scene/episode any of you had been in? What was the most fun? If any of you could change one episode or just erase one episode, which would it be?

STEVE RANNAZZISI SAYS: The scene where the kid had to watch Jenny and I having sex from inside that cabinet

KATIE ASELTON SAYS: hands-down the scene where the little kid was in the cabinet watching Steve I have sex.

MARK DUPLASS SAYS: And by little kid she means me.

PAUL SCHEER SAYS: Man Cave make out was probably the most physically uncomfortable as I had to lie under a couch while 2 people were on top dry humping above me. The smells and the heat made me feel like a crumb stuck in a fat mans folds

What're you guys going to miss the most about The League ?

JACKIE AND JEFF SAY: Shooting show is incredibly intimate. We shoot entirely on location so if we are at Kevin’s house we are in the tv room of an actual house, not a set. And there’s no writing staff, there are no other directors, there are no other producers - the show is made everyday on set by us and the cast. And every scene is a live rewrite. It’s an incredible, raucous experience. And it’s the thing we’ll miss the most. Sitting in Kevin’s tv room or at the bar with the funniest fuckers on the planet making stuff up that makes us laugh.

Amazing show. Sad to see it come to an end but do have an antiperection for tonight

Sorta lame but my question is what was your favourite or funniest scene to shoot over the 7 year tenure? Mine would probably be when they found out Andre was firing blanks and were subtly making fun of him at taco's "therapist" office

In episode 409 “Bro-Lo El Cuñado” the guys have to go to Rafi’s place. Which is a gross hole in the wall. And one of the walls is just made up of “load-bearing chairs”. It also has a toilet kitchen. Which is a bucket below a spigot. Rafi offers it up to the group in case “anyone wants a cup of coffee or to take a shit.” The concept of the toilet kitchen is so stupid and so funny - really enjoyable.

Then Rafi’s landlord comes in, he’s a Hispanic gentleman who speaks very broken English. Rafi complains that his toilet kitchen is clogged. The landlord can’t find his cat - it’s madness. And then (much of this didn’t make the air cut, but is in the extended dvd) the landlord and Rafi start arguing about who invented the toilet kitchen.The rest of the cast couldn’t take it. They couldn’t stop laughing. It took an honest extra hour just to get through it. Every time the land lord said “Toilet Kitchen” someone lost it.

It was the particular way he said it. Hard to explain but I’ve never seen our guys and the crew laugh that hard that many times at a word they new was coming. And that scene has one of the great endings of all time..when the landlord leaves Rafi says, “You know what he’s going to find when he unclogs that toilet kitchen, his fucking cat.”

Huge fan of everybody in show! You wouldn't believe the effect you guys have made in me and my league. Very sad to see you losing end. My qeustion is so you guys play in a league together? And if y'all do, who is currently in first? Thanks guys! Love y'all!

We do - 8 team league. Sad just like it is on the show. The League of The League. Winner gets the Aselton Cup (named after Katie, Year 1 Champ). Currently the championship is Jeff vs Jackie...

Hello guys! I only made a reddit for this AMA! So here are some of my questions, what are all of your plans after this? I just want to know where I will find more of your works after this is up. This question is mostly dedicated to Lajoie, as he is the one who got me into the show thanks to his dead YouTube channel, and to mark duplass, as he is my favorite character on the show! (Sorry, everyone else ties for second, though!)

Part two: What future works do Jeff and Jackie plan on making? Has the league influenced your future projects?

Thanks to all of you, for making my favorite show. I made a fan account, @mrmcgibbiets (emphasis on the fact that it's an I and not an L) if any of you wanna check it out!

JACKIE AND JEFF SAY: This has definitely influenced how we will make content in the future. Making something on a shoestring budget is better than a network forcing you to cast people you don't think are funny. It is everything we hoped for when we decided to do this show. Hard to imagine making content any other way now...

Is Jay Cutler as cool as he thinks he is?

Yes he is. He is also very sweet and makes homemade baby formula. NO JOKE.

We are finishing up the first year of our league. We all love the show and have been trying to come up with a losers trophy as terribly awesome as The Sacko. What should our losers trophy be?

It should be personal to your league. Surely you all have some terrible skeletons in your closet - get that up on a trophy! Losing trophies are the best, because when someone wins the league, one person is happy. When someone loses, everyone else is happy.

Who has the worst farts?

This is an excellent question. We are soliciting answers now - particularly from Steve and Mark... Stay tuned....

NICK KROLL SAYS: Mark "fart bubbles" Duplass

KATIE ASELTON SAYS: Mark then Steve

JASON MANTZOUKAS SAYS: I don't fart. I do have the worst diarrhea though

MARK DUPLASS SAYS: YOU GUYS MISS MY FARTS LIKE CRAZY!

John, how does it feel to put Canada on the map?

JON LAJOIE SAYS: Canada isn't on a map. At least not on the maps here in the United States where I live currently. U S A! U S A! (Sorry fellow Canucks, I have to say this shit or else they're going to kick me out). Trump 2016!

Which episode was your guys' favorite?

JEFF: One of my personal favorites is Bro-lo El Cuñado. Between the toilet kitchen and the La lucha fight. It’s just really fun insanity. I also really loved this seasons draft episode (702). Watching them all in period costumes, Rafi thinking it’s a slave auction, the bartsitsu fight…Maybe I just really like fight sequences. I may be in the wrong genre...

Hey gang, I realize this is about The League but between all the oral histories and this AMA I'm pretty sure I have all my answers.

So I'll just say thanks for all the great times and Nick, any chance of Oh, Hello going on tour/more shows on (off) Broadway?

NICK KROLL SAYS: we hope to do more oh, hello shows but its really up to george and gil. George claims he is still finishing his novel "Rifkin’s Dilemma" and Gil is studying to become an unlicensed Dula so their schedules are pretty packed. but if i were a betting man, i think they might hit the road at some point.

Did any of you get attached to Chicago while filming there? Favorite spots?

JACKIE AND JEFF SAY: We never shot in Chicago. Not once. We tried to go out there to shoot establishing shots, but FX wouldn’t spring for it. Thats how Gibson’s became the bar. When we were shooting the pilot we needed bar stock shots that had night and day. And it was cheap. Then the show got picked up and all of the sudden the guys are hanging out at Gibson’s, even though we know the inside of Gibson’s looks nothing like our bar in downtown in L.A. Once we did do a "LEAGUE LIVE" show at House of Blues in Chicago and we went there afterwards for a drink and ended up stuffing our faces on their giant desserts.

Jackie and Jeff,

Thanks for introducing us to all of these characters. Great job on bringing this cast together. Whats next for you two?

JACKIE AND JEFF SAY: First we are going to make extended episodes of the shows. There is so much great stuff we couldn’t fit in the time allotted. And that includes the season finale. There’s 15 more great minutes of stuff we can’t wait for you to see. Then - we are going to go to football games. Watch the Seahawks claw their way back into the playoffs. Then back to work at making more funny stuff to please our beloved shit sipping fans.

Big love to all you shit-sippers for the great show. Gutted it's coming to an end.

Whats the best improvised scene/addition you had while filming this season, and did it make the cut?

Cheers, from Scotland.

In episode 702 were orginally going to have Rafi’s “girlfriend” be a sex doll. But that seemed lame on the day, so Jason and Jackie and I started talking about other things. Craft services was about to slice up a watermelon. That would do. Then we cut a hole in one end. Then Alex Lehman one of our excellent camera operators piped up and suggested “What about a second hole?” Done and done. And Rafi’s girlfriend Margaret was born. She makes a triumphant return in tonights series finale by the way.

Paul, I saw you perform improv with Jack McBrayer years ago at the Del Close marathon at UCB. Do you get to do much improv these days? If so, where at/with who?

PAUL SCHEER SAYS: I actually still do a weekly show at UCB in LA with Jack McBrayer, Rob Huebel, Rob Riggle, Seth Morris and more.

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JEFF AND JACKIE SAY: That’s simple. As Jenny would tell you herself, she doesn’t have lot of women friends.