WILLOUGHBY, Ohio — Since coming together at Colgate University decades ago, the five men of the comedy troupe Broken Lizard have been collaborating on myriad projects, including several movies.

Most recently, Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske served up “Quasi,” a satirical and predictably silly take on “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame,” Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel and its unusual protagonist, Quasimodo, which debuted on Hulu in 2023.

Other features they’ve written and starred in, with one of them directing, include 2004’s “Club Dread” and 2006’s “Beerfest.”

None of those, however, have resonated with the public quite like “Super Troopers,” the 2001 romp in which the guys portray not-so-serious Vermont State Police officers under the charge of a character portrayed by veteran actor and future “Succession” star Brian Cox. The movie gave the world, among other antics, the “Cat Game.”

“Super Troopers 2” arrived in theaters in 2018, with the Broken Lizard guys giving it pretty good to Vermont’s neighbor to the north, Canada.

Like its predecessor, it did relatively well at the box office, and thus the lads are back with “Super Troopers 3,” in theaters on Friday, Aug. 6.

In the tale, the status quo is shaken when the oafish Heffernan’s Trooper Rodney “Rod” Farva and Sarita Makundan (Hannah Simone), the beautiful sister of Senior Trooper Arcot "Thorny" Ramathorn (Chandrasekhar), fall in love. This, of course, causes great distress to Thorny, who counts on his co-worker’s boorish ways being too much for his and Sarita’s Indian parents (Iqbal Theba and Sakina Jaffrey) and, as a result, the engagement falling apart.

“We’re trying to bring back the good, old-fashioned R-rated American theatrical comedy,” Chandrasekhar says, as the five men sit at a conference table in a posh downtown Cleveland hotel on a Monday afternoon, hours before an appearance that night at the Music Box Supper Club in the Flats to promote the movie. “We want people to smoke a joint, go to the movie, laugh with their buddies — and then go back.”

“It just seems like there haven't been a lot of those kinds of comedies in the theaters that people kind of come together for,” Heffernan adds, “and we’re hoping this will be one of them.”

“We’ve had our test screenings — you know, theaters filled with 300 people all laughing together,” Lemme contributes. “And some of the comments you heard afterward were, ‘I forgot how much fun it is to sit in a room while all these people watch a good comedy and laugh.’ And that is the way it’s supposed to be watched.”

At this point, we feel compelled to offer that because of some confusion over the home screener having been provided to us, we were, um, forced to watch it over the weekend — after enjoying a few beers during a family gathering.

“I’m so sorry you had to experience that,” Soter jokes.

In a conversation edited for length and clarity, the quintet talks about “Super Troopers 3” and more.

Q: You guys formed more than 35 years ago at college, correct?

Lemme: You don't have to say that.

Q: Is it safe to say that "meow" you guys won't have to grow up and get real jobs?

Heffernan: (laughs) Is it? I guess so. In the back of your mind, that's always the thing: "Am I going to have to get a real job?" Yeah, I think we'll be all right.

Q: When you were making "Super Troopers," I assume you were confident this would one day be a trilogy?

Heffernan: (laughs).

Lemme: We always knew the way that story was going to unfold 25 years later.

Heffernan: Oh, we did?

Q: Why do you think that movie landed with so many people?

Heffernan: I think we captured a group of friends hanging out and having fun together and just kind of (screwing) around, which I think is what a lot of people do. … You always think, “You know, people should make a movie about a bunch of guys hanging around.” We did it. And I think people felt like they were a part of that group, so it resonated with them that way.

Stolhanske: Every work environment has that group of friends, no matter what it is. They all have a Farva, apparently.

Q: Is it safe to assume you have plenty of fans in the police community or the state trooper community?

Chandrasekhar: Yes. We do. And the military. And the firemen.

Heffernan: Anyone in uniform. Anyone with a mustache.

Chandrasekhar: TSA. Secret Service.

Q: Let's talk about “Super Troopers 3,” in which Farva is marrying Thorny's sister. Where'd the idea come from?

Heffernan: It was the idea that everyone knows a Farva. The idea was, “What if Farva was sleeping with your sister?” And we thought that was really funny. And then, “What would happen if he was going to marry your sister? How would you feel about that?” We put it with Jay's character because of the relationship that (Farva and Jay) have had in the movies. And then it became interesting because of the Indian culture — could we put Farva into that cultural world?

Lemme: Yeah, then the rest of (our characters), like any good group of friends, can just make fun of poor Thorny. And you don't even have to connect it. At any point you can say, “Oh, by the way, Farva's having sex with your sister” and walk out of the room, which is what a good group of friends does.

Q: Jay, you're back in the director's chair for this movie, and you've directed all the “Super Troopers.” What's your style? Are you just cracking the whip the whole time during the shoot?

Soter: (Imitating Chandrasekhar): “Speed it up.” “Speed it up.” “Take the pauses out.” “Take the pauses out.” “Speed it up.” “Speed it up.”

Chandrasekhar: That's mostly what I say — “Take the pauses out.” “Stop pausing.” “If you want to keep pausing, I'll cut away — I'll take you off camera.” “Stop pausing.”

Soter: Because Kevin has also directed, there is a kind of a mom-and-dad-on-set thing, too. What has ended up happening is, Jay's inclination, yes, is about tempo, but also about probably grounding it more, not going too big. If Kevin had his way, we would go as big as possible. And so the three of us are always like, “You get one guy coming over doing this. You got another guy coming over doing that.” And you find you're like, “Who do I listen to?”

Lemme: I remember I walked on the set, and Kevin was doing his “lobster” monologue. And it was very subdued. And I was like, “I think Kevin is sick today.” And I went up, and I was like, “You OK?” And he's like, “Jay told me to take it down.” And I was like, “Shoot it back up! Let’s go! Let’s go!”

Q: You must come in with a full script, but is there much improvising during a shoot?

Lemme: Now there is. When we made the first “Super Troopers,” the budget was ($1.25 million). And so on 35 mm film, if you (messed around with) an improv like “You’re costing us money,” so we had one or two takes for everything. Now it's, you know, we were supposed to stick to the script, right? But we're just freeforming it and frustrating the hell out of Jay, who's like, “Could you please just say one of those things once? Come on.”

Q: We talked about Thorny's sister. She's played by “New Girl” alum Hannah Simone. Was she high on the list of potential actors?

Heffernan: Oh, yeah. She's wonderful.

Chandrasekhar: Top of the list. I worked with her on “New Girl,” so we were friendly already.

Soter: (It’s great) when somebody comes in with a lot of energy and excitement. We're always excited to be doing this, but one of the great things about having guest stars is they show up and they're excited to be there and it just brings the energy up. And I think Hannah, more even than everybody else, (had a) great attitude every day, great smile, (is a) total professional, knew every line. It just injects a lot of good energy when that happens.

Lemme: In this movie, she's going to have to get into a very lascivious relationship with Farva. If you've ever seen the movie “Grease,” the way, like, Rizzo and Kenickie kiss each other — like, it can be pretty graphic. And, you know, you have to be very gung-ho and enthusiastic to do it.

Heffernan: What are you saying? I’m not an appealing human? Is THAT what you’re saying?

Lemme: That's exactly what I'm saying.

Soter: (Addressing Heffernan) At first, you were a little tentative: The lips went out, but the body didn't come. And this was the first kiss where you're also backlit by a flaming car. And you couldn't see what the rest of us were seeing — this, like, Harlequin romance cover image. And the one thing that was missing was that the kiss was a little chaste, and we kept (saying), “Come on, let's get steamy here!”

Q: We talked about your relationship with the law enforcement community. How does Canada feel about you guys, given some of the jokes in these movies?

Heffernan: They were not happy. In the last one, we had a lot of Canada jokes, and they were not happy. We got a letter from the Mounties — the Royal (Canadian) Mounted Police or whatever they are — and they asked us to cease and desist. They asked us not to use their uniforms. And I think we smoothed that over a little bit, but they were not happy about it.

Lemme: (Employing a Canadian accent) “I'm ‘sore-y’ to have to send this letter to you, but we're not very happy with you!”

Heffernan: And then on this one, we did some Canadian jokes, and there's an office of the studio (Searchlight Pictures) up in Toronto. And we got feedback that they weren't that happy up there in Toronto. Right? Wasn't it that office up there?

Chandrasekhar: Just makes us want to make them more though.

Q: What about India? Are we nervous about how this movie is going to play in that market?

Heffernan: I am.

Soter: But Jay has checked in with them, and they're OK.

Chandrasekhar: If you get a bunch of Indians alone, you'll hear some things that'll shock you. So they're going to be just fine with this movie.

Heffernan: Farva, you know, he takes some liberties with the cultural references and things like that. And I was a little concerned about it, but Jay said he would protect me.

Q: Not sure if this is a spoiler, but at the end of “Super Troopers 3,” you tease a fourth movie. Where does that fall between something you hope/plan to do and a gag?

Chandrasekhar: It's called “manifesting.” We just make everybody think there's going to be a “4,” and then the studio is like, “There's going to be a ‘4,’ right?” And then we go make it.

Soter: It's also a wink to the end of “Beer Fest,” which teases “Pot Fest,” which we never made. And people are furious and yell at us constantly.

Lemme: Yeah, they have to stop believing us. Why do people believe us?

Q: Hey, if Brian Cox will keep taking your calls, you've got to make these movies, right?

Heffernan: It is stunning!

Q: Returning to the subject of the bond shared by the five of you, how much does Broken Lizard feel like a job, feel like work to you guys? Do you want to kill each other sometimes or is it just a big playground?

Heffernan: I think it's mostly a playground. I mean, it was great to get back in the uniforms and shoot another movie. And, you know, stuff happens. … Then we take some time off from each other and come back together. There are our ups and downs, I guess.

Stolhanske: It’s like family — brothers.

———

©2026 The News-Herald (Willoughby, Ohio). Visit The News-Herald (Willoughby, Ohio) at www.news-herald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.