This isn’t something that I’ve really heard a lot of complaints about in the LA theater. In LA the theater is not that big so it would be easy to spot someone doing that so maybe people don’t do it as much. Sometimes people will do it in Asssscat and I guess we don’t care because we’re not doing written material. On the other hand, I had a guy tape me when I was doing my one man show in North Hampton MASS. It’s 30 seconds of part of one of my bits and it’s totally out of context so I’m not sure make any sense, and then it cuts to me doing my outro where I plug my CD and website. So that’s a pretty lame representation of my show.
If comedians told us that it is a regular problem then we would have our theater manager patrol the audience a little more. If we saw someone taping then we’d ask them to stop and cut off a finger (not a thumb). If they did it again we’d cut off a hand. A third violation is when we then cut off the hand of the mother of the perp.
Matt’s punishment strategy is sound I believe. Even douchebags love their mothers.
But Matt’s got an even better attitude about it, perhaps stemming from his improv background. Check out this recent Australia performance where he actually gets up close and delivers the address about his dog Martin Luther King and his dream for the audience member’s camera, heightening the conviction of the bit.
It’s not necessarily something stand-ups could do, but it’s a brilliant example of a talented player using what’s in the room.
Edited to take out the Australian referrence. It was in the YouTube video but apparently is not accurate. Thanks for the correct, Jouster!
Horatio Sanz had to bow out of his featured performance at the 2007 Dirty South Improv festival for health reasons less than a day before the showtime. It’s unclear what exactly was affecting Horatio’s health, but a post on the comedy message board A Special Thing mentions that he did go to the hospital. Whatever the case, I definitely hope he is well or on the mend. If I find out anything else, I’ll post it here.
Louis CK apparently stepped in on short notice and flew down Friday to Carrboro, North Carolina to fill Sanz’s slot. According to that same post, it was an incredible performance - much of it new and already apparently quite strong despite him recently completing an HBO special at the end of last year, effectively retiring that material. I’ve heard Louis CK describe how he’s been following Chris Rock‘s model of treating the shows between specials like training for prize fights. If Louis C.K. can maintain the high bar he set in his special Shameless, he and Chris are on to something. If there’s a model for how to pursue being a comic right now it’s him.
As one of the four members of the Upright Citizens Brigade, Matt Besser has founded a theater, a school and a community that finally made New York a rival to Chicago for improv. He’s since moved to Los Angeles, extending the community and establishing another coast for students and peers to play, where the industry can see much of the best live comedy performed today. However, Matt right now is more concerned with the middle of the country, as he is taking his one-man show about religion, atheism and the fighting Razorbacks “Woo Pig Sooie” across the South for a series of dates in June. We talked about the reaction he hopes his show will spark in the bible belt, as well as some of the politics surrounding it, along with touching on maintaining the integrity of the growing UCB and the sometimes cult of Del Close.
How do you think your Southern performances of “Woo Pig Sooie” will differ from our LA or New York performances? Are you expecting more negative reactions?
If I get negative, that’ll be a lot of fun. (laughs) You saw the show and it’s kind of a dialogue too, I like to talk to the audience a lot. And yeah, in California and New York, kinda preaching to the converted in a way. And I still expect to have liberal audiences, but I also expect because it’s in the bible belt I’ll get more reaction to certain things.
Usually when I do that show, everybody has different lines. Some people will be laughing along, and I’ll start talking about the pope or priests fucking kids up the ass and all of the sudden they’ll be like, “Whoa! Not funny any more!” (laughs) The Jews will be laughing and I’ll make fun of the Sabbath and “Hey, not funny anymore!”
You make that point in the show. Does the dialogue ever get too thick or does that comment defuse things right away?
I encourage it a little bit. If you know my work, I like a little bit of confrontation. I think that’s fun. I’ve only done this in New York, San Francisco and LA, pretty liberal audiences anyway. The only time it really got a reaction was I had a Catholic in the front row who kicked a chair against a chair. I engaged him and said, “What’s your point? There’s a story about priest molestation in the paper every Sunday, how do you feel about that? If there was a story about truck drivers molesting kids in the paper every day, we wouldn’t have trucks anymore. We’d find a different way…”
This show was packed. According to one account, only 300-350 were anticipated and 600 people showed up. It made for a rowdy crowd, perfect for shouting out suggestions to the improvisers. The show was billed “adults only”, but, in some ways, it’s only because what naturally happens whenever you solicit for ideas from an audience. As the show went along, people were following along, chanting for the improvisers to “puppet up” (which is simply picking a puppet to put your hand inside).
Host Partick Bristow was great at working the crowd for suggestions and for tossing off one-liners. When one suggestion resulted in a scene where characters are carpooing to the Church of Scientology to make a human sacrifice, he simply tossed off “enjoy my obituary.”
The show was impressive, since the performers not only have to figure out what to say but how to represent it physically through the puppets. I sometimes appreciate improv because it’s the mental equivalent of the trapezee act, it’s amazing simply to watch these performers catch each other from the leaps they make. By that measure alone the show is a success.
The show is a bit more “Who’s Line” than “UCB” with the focus on games more than creating scenes. Improv fundamentalists might be a little bothered by the occassional lapses of “Yes And”. During one scene, one improviser choosed to make a random noise provided for the game a “mini-helicopter”, but the other improviser denied the choice and made it a “vibrating propeller condom.” Sometimes improvisers actively asked in character for their partner to provide the answer for predicaments they were in. These are perhaps purist’s concerns, but yes-anding a bit more could help some scenes. Still, it’s a dazzingly inventive show, and worth seeing for the high-wire aspects.
Aspen, besides hosting the annual industry event, is primarily known for it’s slopes. But I won’t be hitting them. And why, if you indulge me, is comedy related.
Late 2001, I took a Level 1 Improv class with the UCB (back when you had to stand in line to sign up for classes). I don’t consider myself a performer, but I thought it would help me a faster writer - more trusting of my first thoughts. Though I was nervous, the group mind encouraged by Armando Diaz was very powerful and you quickly felt safe enough to just play.
To my shock, my play demonstrated to me that my comic persona was Chris Kattan - far from the wit I had imagined myself. In future improv classes, I would settle down. But for the time being I was embracing turning off my ever-chattering brain to let my body initiate and respond to my partners however it felt like.
So when I initiated a scene where I ran at my scene partner while pretending to hold a football, I was purely focused on the joy of just flopping around on stage. While attempting to avoid my scene partner’s grasp by hurdling a chair Hertz-style like O.J. Simpson, I landed with a far too straight leg. I went down thinking of nothing but pain - the worst I’d ever felt before or since.
Class was paused. A ice-cold soda can was produced in lieu of actual ice. I think my partner inappropriately felt incredibly guilty, but I don’t know as my screaming knee swallowed up any empathy that was coming my way. The pain dulled after a few minutes, I managed to finish the class and hobbled on it for a couple days.
Late last year I finally had surgery to fix the joint. Turns out I had managed to give myself an Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear - an actual football injury from playing fake football. Though I walk just grand now - no sudden pain or “floating sensations”, Doc says it’s six months ‘til I can do anything like skiing. So in Aspen, I’ll just be focusing on the performances, hoping nobody else has to live a cliché like I did.
John Belushi, more than twenty years after his death, has finally received the biography he deserves. “Belushi“ assembles anecdotes and stories from John’s family, friends and collaborators in the oral history style of “Live from New York”. The form befits “Belushi” more than “Live,” fitting the form of a scrapbook where the phrase “Eat a Bowl of Fuck” is the norm. I talked with Tanner Colby, co-author of the book with Judy Belushi Pisano, via e-mail about the book and the man. You can meet Tanner, Judy Belushi Pisano and the webbed wonder Dan Aykroyd at
the Lincoln Center Barnes & Noble (66th & Broadway) tonight at 7 PM for a signing/discussion.
As a comedy writer who didn’t have the chance to work with John Belushi, did collecting these interviews ever make you feel like the guy who arrived late to the party (i.e. “You shoulda seen this guy…”)?
Quite the contrary. I was six years old when John died, so the chances of my making it to that party were fairly slim. Collecting the interviews, and helping Judy set down the definitive portrait of John and his era, let me be a small part of what went on in those days, which was pretty damn great.
This past Saturday’s Aristocontest was another great show. Thanks again to comics Roger Hailes, Jack Kukoda, second timer Joe Lipari, Seth Herzog and winner Kurt Braunohler, whose rendition of the Aristocrats act as an autopsy report was completely inspired. Thanks again to PIT Aristic Director and Elephant Larry-ite Alex Zalben, who organizes the whole thing including me. Go see Elephant Larry’s sketch show BOOM!
Reportedly: SuperDeluxe to be folded into AdultSwim. SuperDeluxe did some brilliant stuff - hopefully some level of web content will continue under the AdultSwim brand.
Comix publicist Kambri Crews foils a scammer posing as stand-up Todd Barry. Con man, as Barry, claimed he needed money to get his car out of the impound lot. Barry does not even own a car.
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As one of the four members of the Upright Citizens Brigade, Matt Besser has founded a theater, a school and a community that finally made New York a rival to Chicago for improv. He’s since moved to Los Angeles, extending the community and establishing another coast for students and peers to play, where the industry can see much of the best live comedy performed today. However, Matt right now is more concerned with the middle of the country, as he is taking his one-man show about religion, atheism and the fighting Razorbacks “Woo Pig Sooie” across the South for a series of dates in June. We talked about the reaction he hopes his show will spark in the bible belt, as well as some of the politics surrounding it, along with touching on maintaining the integrity of the growing UCB and the sometimes cult of Del Close.
So when I initiated a scene where I ran at my scene partner while pretending to hold a football, I was purely focused on the joy of just flopping around on stage. While attempting to avoid my scene partner’s grasp by hurdling a chair Hertz-style like O.J. Simpson, I landed with a far too straight leg. I went down thinking of nothing but pain - the worst I’d ever felt before or since.
John Belushi, more than twenty years after his death, has finally received the biography he deserves. “
“ assembles anecdotes and stories from John’s family, friends and collaborators in the oral history style of 
. The form befits “Belushi” more than “Live,” fitting the form of a scrapbook where the phrase “Eat a Bowl of Fuck” is the norm. I talked with Tanner Colby, co-author of the book with Judy Belushi Pisano, via e-mail about the book and the man. You can meet Tanner, Judy Belushi Pisano and the webbed wonder Dan Aykroyd at
