Pee Your Pants with Laughter and Fear: an interview with Madeline Evans and Lila Mensing
with Ames Doyle
Are we covering our eyes or laughing hysterically? Why not both! We sat down with writer-performers Lila Mensing and Madeline Evans to chat about the new, immersive spooky sketch show at Dad’s Garage, The Bottle Tree, where jump scares and absurdity join forces for an evening of immersive, frightful hilarity.
DG: What’s your favorite part of fall (not necessarily just Halloween?)
ME: I LOVE everything about it to be honest!! Be gone, summer, and HELLO, BEST TIME OF THE YEAR! I naturally get happier around this time of year; the brisk air, the holiday season upon us. Fall is full of activities that bring people together. Maybe it’s because fall always meant marching band season growing up (some may see this as football season), but those are my happiest memories in high school and college, so there is a lot of nostalgia and excitement surrounding it. I also associate fall with love–it is cuffing season, after all–because I have always fallen in love around this time. The parties, the pumpkin carving, the weather, the movies, getting creative with the DIY costumes, finally being able to go outside without sweating–I AM SO EXCITED!
LM: I feel like fall gives us permission to be a little weird because it really creates a social excuse to lean into things that are strange. Suddenly there’s a socially acceptable reason to dress like a sexy version of anything, watch scary movies, go to haunted houses, or decorate your house like an abandoned hospital. October is a month-long collective madness and it rules.
The writer-performer cast of The Bottle Tree.
DG: What do you prefer personally: comedy or horror? Which genre do you favor as a writer?
LM: I’ve loved horror since I was 10 years old when my dad showed me Halloween so it has a very special place in my heart. But I think horror and comedy are actually really similar because they both evoke such a visceral response. Whenever I jump or scream at a horror movie, it’s almost immediately followed by a laugh. As a writer, I love playing in that space between fear and laughter. I love the idea of taking an audience right to the edge of discomfort and then finding the absurdity on the other side of it. Both horror and comedy are about timing, anticipation, and knowing exactly when to pull the trigger. And with both, you’re asking the audience to surrender to the experience and let themselves feel something.
ME: I think they complement each other well. I love building tension and, through that, comedic relief can take place. I love making compelling characters that absolutely gut the audience when something happens to them. As a writer, I actually gravitate towards a lot of love-based themes (hence why I wrote a solo show all about love this year, Always the Goat.) I think comedy and horror is also made better when there is love incorporated in the stories. If the audience cares and loves the relationships and characters, they’ll be more invested when there are comedic beats or death scenes.
Basically, I’ll watch it if it’s romance—which is what I’ve found after watching all 13 Friday the 13th movies, 12 Halloween movies, 7 Scream movies, and countless other slasher movies. My faves are the ones with compelling relationships.
Madeline connecting with an audience member about love in Always the Goat.
DG: What’s your favorite horror movie and/or comedy movie, and does it inspire your writing or performance? How so?
ME: I love Scream. I love a murder-mystery and I am very good at guessing the killer! Maybe it is the predictability, but I love following the clues in Scream (but not Scream 7 which was BAD, BAD, BAD) and the series also does a good job of building relationships, nostalgia, and fun death scenes because it is satire. I loved Thanksgiving for the same reason.
I can’t do demons or ghost movies—they freak me out and I have to talk through them the entire time. As far as comedy goes, I admire Will Ferrell, Jim Carrey, and Robin Williams for their effortless joy and commitment physically and vocally. My favorite comedy, however, is When Harry Met Sally, which I could watch repeatedly in one day. I just love relationship-based work because the audience can see themselves in it and thus become invested.
It's not necessarily a movie, but my favorite piece of all time is Frankenstein because of the complexities surrounding who is the monster. My dream role is the creature (who I was fortunate to play in a shorter piece a few years ago). The stage version of Frankenstein is one of my absolute favorites and a major source of inspiration. (The recent movie is another story, however.)
LM: Jaws is my favorite movie of all time, and I think a big part of why is that it’s such a masterclass in suspense. You barely have to see the shark for it to be terrifying. So much of the fear comes from what you imagine is underneath the water, and I think that’s one of the most effective things horror can do—it makes you fill in the blanks, which can be way scarier than showing you the monster.
I also really love found footage horror because it doesn’t rely on much to produce such big scares. There’s something about the simplicity of it that I really respond to as a comedian and a writer. It reminds me that you don’t need a huge production or a million moving parts to get a strong reaction from an audience. Sometimes the simplest idea, executed really well, can be the most effective.
And then there’s Young Frankenstein, which is probably one of the biggest influences on my sense of humor. Mel Brooks was so good at taking something genuinely dramatic or scary and finding the absurdity inside of it. He never had to make the horror less scary to make it funny—he understood that the two things could actually make each other stronger. That’s something I really try to bring into my own comedy. I love taking something that feels familiar or serious and pushing it just far enough into the ridiculous.
I think all of that has made me a better comedian because I’m really interested in the audience’s physical reaction. A scream, a gasp, a laugh—they’re all signs that you’ve made someone feel something. Horror has taught me about tension and anticipation, while comedy has taught me about timing and release. The sweet spot for me is when you can do both at the same time.
DG: How ready should an audience be for something to chill them to the bone?
LM: Our goal is to make an experience, not just a show. We want you to feel like you’ve stepped into our little Halloween nightmare with us. You’re going to laugh, you’re going to scream, and hopefully there will be a few moments where you have no idea what’s coming next!
ME: The first time our group connected, we all talked about our goals for this show. A lot of us wanted to scare the audience or make them laugh so hard that they went to the bathroom in their pants. So I guess…get ready for that? We have an amazing lighting and sound design team that should also help amplify the experience and really spook people! We have some silly work, but there’s also some unnerving parts! Please tell us if we end up giving you nightmares—that would be so cool and unreal.
DG: How immersive is the show?
ME: There are a few moments throughout the show where we go into or go to the audience for inspiration. Even though this is sketch, we want the audience to be on the journey with us—and we want them to come back! So there are parts that will be different each night. The final run order is not decided yet, but I have a piece where I interact with the audience (which is one of my favorite things to do in improv and standup), so I am really excited for that one!
LM: I think it’s immersive in the sense that we really want the audience to feel like they’re stepping into this world with us. There’s a lot of atmosphere, and we’re playing with the feeling of being surrounded by something a little unsettling. It’s not just, “here are some scary sketches.” We want the whole experience to feel like an evening of Halloween.
DG: What's it like working in a group to make a cohesive show?
LM: Everyone brings their own flavor and voice, and I think that’s what makes working on a group show so exciting! You get such different comedic instincts and perspectives in the room, and then you get to see how they play off each other. Someone will throw out an idea, someone else will add to it, and suddenly it’s become something none of us would have come up with individually. You’re building something together, and everyone gets to leave a little bit of themselves in it. Tim and Nate have also created such an incredibly supportive and collaborative environment, which makes it really easy to take risks, throw things out there, and see what lands.
ME: I admire this crew so much. I think we each have a unique writing and performance voice which is really inspiring to work with. You can’t be precious in this process, so anytime I write something, I immediately look to the cast for punch ups or ideas to make it the best it can be. I know the work is a lot stronger with all of our talents combined than working alone. Also there are times when someone brings something brilliant which pushes me to want to work harder and bring something of the same caliber. It’s really motivating.
Not to mention, Tim and Nate are great directors and I trust their input and insight. It’s really amazing to work with people who you want to be like and feel honored to work with every day!
DG: Can you give us any teasers about the upcoming show?
LM: Bring a change of undies because you're gonna pee your pants from laughter AND fear!
ME: It’s a taste of all your favorite pieces of fall all packaged into one! A great activity to add to your October lineup of things to do!!! And I guess….Kevin.
…erm, Kevin? We’ll find out what that means! Catch The Bottle Tree on Fridays and Saturdays at 10 p.m. October 2 - 30, 2026.
