.
You know I can’t pass up a chance to hear Besser rattle on. The man’s a genius. To prove it, why not listen to some Sound of Young America with Besser and UCBLA Improv.
Now, who loves you like I love you?
.
I was a guest on the last Haroldcast #3 hosted by Del Far last week. We talked about a lot of things comedy related including the importance of Funny or Die, Derrick Comedy, my first YouTube sketch, zombies in Williamsburg, Metrocards, ECNY Awards, and Improv Everywhere shirts off.
[audio:http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-43661/TS-52932.mp3]
Visit the Haroldcast to subscribe to the podcast if you enjoy it.
.
My current Improv 501 class at UCBNY, taught by Chris Gethard, has been busily working through keeping scenes real and our reactions truthful. Gethard is a huge proponent of keeping scenes as truthful as possible and the more I follow his direction, the more I find my scenes go beyond my abilities as an improviser into something much more profound. Playing my scenes as realistically as possible has given me a lot more confidence in taking the stage because while I may not always/ever have something funny to say, I will always be able to react truthfully to a situation.
Let’s not get caught trying to be funny.
However, the impulse to be “funny” in a scene is also very tempting. As any improviser can attest, a minute on stage without a laugh can feel like an eternity. I’ve been in class shows where we have “funnied” it up for an audience’s enjoyment at the detriment to our scenes. Unfortunately a lot of this “if you’re not getting laughs, you’re failing” comes from my own insecurities as a performer. We are performing improv comedy right? Comedy is about laughs? Laughs are about jokes? Without laughs you’re just two people in a big black box standing in front of an audience right?
.
Buzz Focus has a great write up on the DeCoster Premier at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.
My personal favorite scene of the evening was when Neuringer introduced her team to the Wizard of Oz yellow-brick-road exhibit, which each player cleverly tied into a historical metaphor. The scene culminated in a proclamation that the yellow-brick-road was a metaphor for the gold standard.
I couldn’t agree more, although my personal highlight was DC from Derrick and Ari’s really amazingly heightened analogous scenes about the savior and the eternally persecuted retailer. Really simple, really well played, and DC’s first Harold night scene.
Tomorrow night is the debut of Raynard who is a group of new players, some of which I have had the pleasure to play with. It’s not something you want to miss.
.
After watching 36 hours of a 56 hour improv marathon, improv stops looking so much like improv and more like a math equation. You can see patterns forming between performers and see differences in the way geographic locales play. After watching 36 hours of improv, you become a bit of a machine, analyzing each scene for what worked and what didn’t.It was however in this haze of performers, dank body odor, and beef jerky that I truly saw improv for what it is, a groundwork for group mind. A set of traffic patterns to allow a group of performers act like one singular entity. When a group was acting as a whole, they seemed to be reading eachother’s minds, moving in time with one another. When it worked it was incredible (Buiscutville [Creepy guys in a Van], Delta Force 2 [What Happened? Where Were You?], Bruckheimer [An Army of Homeless People], Reuben Williams [Pierre Runs Away]) and when it didn’t, it wasn’t incredible.
Punctuating this mass of performances were the UCB 4 themselves, who got on stage frequently to talk to the audience and answer questions. That for me, was one of my biggest highlights of the marathon. I must have heard Ian Roberts talking over 3 hours about life, love, and improvisation and the majority was truly brilliant. When the 4 got on stage together they really did seem to transform the space. While they really were performing bits the entire time, the energy was contagious.
.
UCBNY added 3 new Harold Teams to their Tuesday line up. The majority of the teams are made up, from what I can tell, of former Creep, Kill Your Darlings, and current members of Machine Wash Tuxedo, and Sherpa.
A big Improvoker congratulations to Jumpin’ Joe Spellman, Aubrey Plaza, Rob Cuthill, and all the other improvisers we don’t know yet.