The Definitive Guide to Comedy
In interviews over the years, members of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre often have referred to their organization as “the Fugazi of comedy.” It was no accident, then, that Fugazi frontman Ian MacKaye was chosen to deliver the monologues for a planned special reunion of the UCB’s founding four to …
Hey kids of all ages, kids who love dancing, and kids who love the Upright Citizens Brigade. If you live anywhere near Austin, Texas, then you have the chance to see the UCB4’s latest feature film before everyone else, as Freak Dance premieres this weekend at the Austin Film Festival. …
Over the summer, Gary Rudoren (co-author of Comedy By The Numbers) told me he had a brilliant idea for another comedy book. Rudoren wanted to publish an oral history of the Upright Citizens Brigade. But he said he was too busy for it. Turns out I was too busy to …
Guess who was spotted inside the new UCB East comedy venue last night? None other than Upright Citizens Brigade founders Matt Walsh, Ian Roberts and Matt Besser, giving a press interview in advance of tonight’s start of the 13th annual Del Close Marathon. At the DCM12 press conference, the UCB …
How to gear up for this weekend’s Del Close Marathon? How about warming up your comedic palette with this new web series from the Upright Citizens Brigade’s Matt Besser, “Inside the Master Class,” in which Besser and his Los Angeles students of a super improv master class learn some life …
Say the word "Trio" and you'll think of many things (but probably not about the short-lived cable network), which is why when I tell you about "Pilot Season," you'll maybe think of a real thing that happens in Hollywood each winter/spring, but you're not likely to think of the documentary …
People who know me know I love me some dancing as much as I do the comedy, so when Matt Besser from the Upright Citizens Brigade told me he was reviving Freak Dance, I said, how soon can I get to Hollywood? Oh. Not that soon. Darn it! But if …
Only now unwinding from my second tour through the Upright Citizen Brigade’s Del Close Marathon, which ended Sunday night (though starting the tour after an all-nighter to Washington, D.C., and back probably contributed to the fatigue on my end), and wished, as I did last summer, that I had gotten …
I caught up with Upright Citizens Brigade co-founders Matt Besser and Matt Walsh earlier today, or should I say, they caught up with me (thank you, telephones!). Don’t know how you’re spending your Memorial Day weekend, but Messrs. Besser and Walsh will be among the comedian contingent heading for the …
Watching Matt Besser’s Magical Sack of Dump at the Upright Citizens Brigade theater in New York City, you might have thought that it lacked some planning…but that’s all part of the plan. After all, Matt Besser has made his name as an improviser and sketch comedian who helped create the …
