Anyone who attended This weeks Harold Night at UCBNY got an added bonus to their entry when Chris Gethard, longtime Nights of Our Lives contributor, performed one of his hilarious written pieces after UCB house team 1985. The reason for this impromptu performance was for the story to be recorded for the NPR Radio programThis American Life. The story itself was about the Stupidest thing Gethard ever did.
We still are unaware what is to become of this recording, or if and when it will air, but we can only hope the best for Gethard. We’ll let you know if we find out anything more.
So, being that I update this website by myself, one of the many tricks up my sleeve for creating content out of thin air, is to write a bulleted list of things which I am entirely too lazy to write about in more detail. This is the trick in my bag I will use today to get you all up on what’s been happening in the New York improv scene. It should be noted, however, that all of these bulleted points probably deserve far more fleshing out than they shall be giving here.I apologize for not getting this information out earlier but I was in England and Ireland on a well deserved vacation (6 years) and had put improv on the back burner for a bit. Sorry.So, lets recap this bitch:
UCBComedy.com, the long awaited streaming video component of the Upright CItizens Brigade website, launches with sketches from UCB’s biggest and brightest.
Word on the street is UCB New York has tightened up their approval system for getting into upper level classes. The majority of comments in the community is positive, aside from people who didn’t get into said higher level classes.
UCBNY Harold Night’s 2008 season debuts with some strong performances and enough references to masturbation to appease any high school student.
The independent scene has been strengthened by teams creating repeating showcases of newer groups at independent venues. This is giving rise to improvisers who are getting very good at performing earlier in their improv training.
Howdy improv gang. It’s been a few weeks since Decoster debuted and I have been furiously drafting new tidbits for the site, but being the procrastinating perfectionist I am, they have taken more backseats than a 1950’s chearleader. So in the interest of time here is a breif runddown on the last 3 weeks in bulleted form:
Raynard, the all new rookie Harold team, debuted at UCB to a solid start. The group shows a strong line up of all new faces, and the return of Amber Petty formerly of Beatrice and T.R.U.C.K.S. They are made up of new performers to the theater, some of which have only just completed 501. I am expecting great things from Raynard, especially as they grow as performers. Students should be especially aware of this group.
Twelve Thousand Dollars, the all new more seasoned Harold team, debuts the week after. Made up of experienced indie improv performers, belonging to groups from Sherpa and Machine Wash Tuxedo, the team shows amazing poise on it’s first night. Each performer is incredibly strong and has incredible stage presence.
Sadly, one of my improv groups, Joe Loves Hobos, is disbanded after enough members decide that never having a bad show is reason enough to never have another one. RIPJLH.
Under St. Marks cooks with weekend indie team performances of Rogue Elephant, Sherpa, Moonshine, Shark Tank, and the debut of Bad Data. I am reminded how much I love USM as a performance space.
UCB Harold Night features the one year anniversary of fwänd, the team created with the remaining members of Mailer Daemon, who performed a death Harold.
Not a particularly interesting post by any stretch, but a post none the less. Perhaps I will expand further, perhaps not. Now that I have a blank slate to write more… expect more silence.
This weekend, I returned to the site to begin writing once more after my overworked hiatus and began to peruse through the site’s archivevs. That’s when I realized it was a nightmare to navigate with all those “aside links”, so without further ado, I have relegated my daily links to it’s own del.icio.us tag set. This should hopefully improve the link area and also slim down the site considerably… it does mean the old asides will be removed or repurposed, but for right now they are still on the site until we can find a better place to stick them.
We have also received quite a few comments with suggestions on where to stick them. Thanks guys. Thanks a lot.
Turns out I can quit my day job — because I am rich, rich man.
Mitchell Adenuga esq.
Principal Attorney
Alpha Juries Chambers
12 John sole street Amuwo
Lagos Nigeria
Dear Whitehouse,
Compliments. I am writing to inform you, that you happen to be the next of kin to my late client Mr. Morris Whitehouse an oil contractor who died along with his immediate family in the ill-fated plane crash involving a Boeing 727 UTA chartered flight that took off from Cotonou, Republic of Benin and crashed into the Atlantic ocean on Thursday, 25 December 2003. About 111 passengers were killed. For details of the plane crash, please visit:
The money for his last contract with Mobil Oil Producing Limited was paid into his account before his death and only his kin that bears the same surname can come for the claim and for the past 3 years nobody has come, I am contacting you to come forward for the claim of the funds so the money can be paid to you after which you would pay me 20% of the total amount as payment for my legal fees and holding fees for the past 3 years.
The policy of the Bank however stipulates a limited time period for such inheritance to be made or the fund will be written off going by the record of the incident, the time limit for the claim is closing up. In this consideration, I am contacting you to make haste for your right, remember the total sum of money is US$9.1M (Nine million, one hundred thousand U.S dollars only).
Contact me back for further instructions on how to proceed to claim these funds, providing me your private telephone numbers for easy communication.
Yours truly,
Mr. Mitchell Adenuga Esq.
Principal Attorney
Alpha Juries Chambers
Long have I held the belief that a packed audience for any show, including a graduation show, is the key to a great performance. Today the New York times in an article What’s So Funny? Well, Maybe Nothing cites a study which further proves that having familiar people (in your social circle) in the audience, will lead to easy laughs for you.
Laughter can be used cruelly to reinforce a group’s solidarity and pride by mocking deviants and insulting outsiders, but mainly it’s a subtle social lubricant. It’s a way to make friends and also make clear who belongs where in the status hierarchy.
The study showed that people put in a situation where they needed support, or felt at a disadvantage, were far more likely to laugh at even the lamest of jokes. This might also be an explanation why some improvisers find themselves laughing on the first day of classes out of nervousness of not being accepted.
Primal laughter evolved as a signaling device to highlight readiness for friendly interaction, sophisticated social animals such as mammals need an emotionally positive mechanism to help create social brains and to weave organisms effectively into the social fabric.
While there still is no magical formula for creating the perfect joke and getting an easy laugh, this is interesting news for performers seeking laughter. Although my favorite joke still remains this one.
This weekend, I returned to the site to begin writing once more after my overworked hiatus and began to peruse through the site’s archivevs. That’s when I realized it was a nightmare to navigate with all those “aside links”, so without further ado, I have relegated my daily links to it’s own _01_small.jpg)