Nothing we say to each other is innocent of emotional manipulation. Everything that we do on stage, is to effect each other, in some way and if we notice, very carefully, how those swine we are working with are trying to get to us and get at us — Sometimes I suggest we perform on stage as though we are a whole bunch or raving paranoids, that these paranoids adjust nothing I hear is going to be simple. Nothing you say to me is going to be accepted at face value. Ohh? It always means something else.
–Del Close

So I read this post the other day on Anthony King’s Tumblr and realized that I had the video of Del’s Death Party. However, it’s taken me a few weeks to figure out how to post the huge video file to the site. The video starts with the Upright Citizen’s brigade phone call and features Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, Charna Halpern talking to the one and only Del Close.

And I gotta say, this excerpt from the chapter about Del’s “death party” makes me feel very proud to be the Artistic Director of the UCB Theatre:

“His wheelchair was rolled to a telephone in one corner, where he spoke to the Upright Citizens Brigade (who were shooting in New York); the camera rolled as Del issued the final instructions to the UCB via telephone.

“Del told Matt Besser that they did it: they were spreading improvisation and the love of improvisation, creating Theater of the Heart. Del said he wanted everyone to know the tenets of improvisation, how to listen, and how to work with a group. He knew the world would be a better place when people cherished one another, treating others like poets, like geniuses.”

We heart you Del.