UCB

Last Friday night, I went with a small group of friends to the UprightCitizens’ Brigade Theater to watch some improv comedy (inexpensive, too! $10).  We went to the original theatre, which apparently used to be a seedy strip club.  The theatre itself is still very cramped and run-down, but that only added to the immediacy of the comedy, I think. 

The most famous founding member of UCB is probably Amy Poehler.  The group that we saw was The Stepfathers.*  Most people probably recognize Zach Woods the most; he now plays Gabe on The Office, and I found him to be the funniest.  I loved it.  It’s incredible how well they know how to read each other, how to take a joke and run with it, how to create a hilarious backstory out of a surprising one-liner.  They were also adept at referencing old jokes, keeping the random sketches coherent while also feeding off the audience, who, at the recognition of a previous bit, would laugh louder. 

Jokes included hostile yet sensitive robots made out of copiers and laminating machines who were sympathetic to their mad scientist creator's feelings of inadequacy; a troupe of bad trapeze artists whose failures led to decapitation and, somehow, the revitalization of Walt Disney’s cryogenically frozen body; a video store clerk who re-edits all the films to show suicide followed by an image of a crying baby; and more bizarre storylines.

*Before you tell me, I know, I know, I need to see ASSSSCAT.