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We at improvoker are very pleased to announce the addition of Philip Buuck of mychicagoimprov.com to our writers. We are excited to see what’s happening in the Chicago improv scene and egarly look forward to hearing Philip’s thoughts on improvisation.
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Hey how about that Del Close Marathon, right? Anyone? Crap.
So it’s been entirely too long and I haven’t updated improvoker. This is due to one unfortunate problem, those damn Del Close Marathon notes. See the thing is, I took notes in a dark theater in a little notebook and when I looked again at my notes, well, nothing made any sense. it was all scribbly “numer 4.5 — don’t wear slutty cloths on stag.”
Luckily I recorded the whole press conference on my iPhone, but I haven’t been able to copy the audio files over to listen to the pieces I need to finally post those notes. I feel terrible about this and I apologize profusely and hope we can still go to the sock-hop together.
Come on baby, where you going?
The good news I have not given up and will try, to make sense of what the UCB 3 said on that stage in the dark. Thanks for bearing with me while I flake a little — I’ll try to be better in future.
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So as commenter The Gooch rightly noted, I have not written about Bobby Moynihan, of UCBs Stepfathers, being picked up by SNL. This is of course amazing news. Bobby had auditioned for SNL last year and was not added to the cast, but I think all of us expected if he auditioned again he would get the spot.
One of the many words of wisdom I got from Bobby was back in my UCB 401 improv class, Bobby was subbing for Billy Merritt, and he spoke about this face he does which always gets a laugh. He did the face, which is a magical shrug, and we all laughed. I then decided to create my own face which I could do and always get a laugh. Unfortunately Bobby was unavailable to coach me on the face and had to cobble together my own face from various sources, but at the end of a year — I had a face. It’s not Bobby’s face, by any stretch, but it’s good enough for government work.
All that is totally true.
Bobby is one of the nicest, most supportive, super talented people I have ever met. He’s been a staple at UCB since I started and I’m really sad to see him go, but at least it will give America a chance to see that lovely man’s face. (Oh, and America, I just danced with Bobby the other night and let me tell you, Bobby can dance too.)
Also totally true.
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Well, big announcements from the old UCB HQ today, New Harold Teams have been announced. There are quite a few surprises, new faces, and quite a few familiar performers.
The biggest news is the reshuffling of 1985 and the remaining members of fwänd into two separate groups — The Law Firm and Amazon Tusk. I think it also bears pointing out that UCB has granted one of our biggest requests of a mostly female group Sensual Ha, which from outward appearances looks pretty incredible. Sensual Ha also features Pat Baer, the longtime tech and dude in charge for keeping things running at the Theater. Returning faces of Eddie Dunn, Nate Lang, Brian Berrebbi, and the incomparable Jeff Hiller are a welcome addition back. Bastian and Decoster are the only two teams unaffected by the reshuffling.
Congratulations to all the new performers making their Harold debuts. We can’t wait to see what they bring to the Harold Night.
Lastly, our condolences to the talented performers who were not added onto the teams this round — you guys rock.
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So, it’s been a rough week with UCB Harold auditions consuming most of my attention this week, but I thought I would point out that UCB Theatre New York has announced this years Del Close Marathon on August 8–10. For anyone who’s never attended or knows nothing about the DCM marathon, it’s the 3 day improv festival dedicated to the memory of Del Close and longform improvisation. It happens across multiple theaters in New York, with most of the action happening at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.
The event is huge. There are special shows leading up to the marathon by groups like Baby Wants Candy and Weirdass, special intensive improv classes both for resident and visiting improvisers, as well as special ASSSSCATs on the last day of the marathon
If you’d like to submit your group to be a part of DCM10 check out www.delclosemarathon.com. Deadline for submission is May 12.
See you there.
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Ah, spring is in the air and UCB, contrary to previous rumors to the contrary, is once again holding open auditions. Complete information after the jump
The only question we have is, when the sign up process end? We are assuming the sign ups are from Wednesday April 16th to Sunday April 20th. This is purely an educated guess, please don’t rely on us. We will let you know if we hear any different.
(Cue Rocky Theme)
If you’re thinking about taking your time to sign up, just to let you know, it’s already been a madhouse at UCB. 50 people waiting on line at 5:30 on Wednesday. After I had signed up at 7, the sign in sheets were 3/4 filled. Get thee to the training center.
