Catching Bigfoot's brother
An idiom meaning that your original plan doesn’t work out but something just as good happens. According to Demetri Martin last night at UCB, anyway.
301 graduation show!
It feels like I just had my 201 show, but it’s already time to advertise this one! It’s Saturday, 11/7, at 4:00pm at the UCB theater (5919 Franklin Ave.) if anyone would like to come down for a laugh. I’m particularly excited about this one since it’s the first graduation show where we’ll be performing a full Harold. It’s only $5 for the show and will definitely be a lot of fun, so stop by if you’re free in LA!
Last night I saw Sentimental Lady’s last performance at Harold Night at UCB, which was fantastic. There was a funny little tribute video before they performed, and they were great, as always.
I’ve really only been going to the theater regularly for about 5 months now, as long as I’ve been taking improv classes there, but in that short time I’ve really come to feel at home at UCB. There are a few teams there that I see on a regular basis now, but Sentimental Lady was the first one that got me in the theater every week to see their show. Watching them do Harolds was entertaining and impressive, and it made me think about improv and comedy in ways I hadn’t before. I’m really glad not only that I got to see their last performance at Harold night, but also that I got to see so many of their shows leading up to last night. They’re an amazing team, and I’m really looking forward to the new show they’re doing beginning in October.
I’m not afraid to admit I nerded out over finding this.And design wise it is quite beautiful.
Fuck Yeah!
I love, love, love this! I want it on my wall!
Reblogged from ADVENTURES IN MEDIOCRITY
Another level, another graduation show
Now that I’m done with my 201 improv classes, I have another graduation show to advertise! It’s tomorrow, 8/30, at 4:30pm at the UCB theater (5919 Franklin Ave.) if anyone would like to come down for a laugh. It’s only $5 for the show and will definitely be a lot of fun, so stop by if you’re free in LA!
From bottom to top: Drew Marks, Jim Woods, Nick Wiger, and Paul Rust stacking on top of one another during Last Day of School at UCB last night. This went on for a fair few solid minutes, even as the chairs Wiger was standing on precariously inched farther and farther apart. In the picture on the right, you can make out Heather Campbell jumping in behind them and trying to hold him up so the scene could keep going. I was really afraid there was going to be a bad fall before the blackout, but they managed to keep it going through the end of the show, after which David Harris gingerly lifted Rust down from the top as if he were getting a toddler down from a horse. Fantastically funny scene that couldn’t have happened without fantastically impressive team work.
Happy accidents
I love the improv at UCB, but I’ve found that some of the funniest things I’ve seen there are weird things that happen accidentally and the ways the performers react to them.
For example, at a Sentimental Lady show I saw a few months ago, Alex Berg pulled out a chair and somehow managed to put one of the chair’s legs inside his shoe when he sat down. I didn’t notice until Alex Fernie started the scene asking Berg if he felt safe and Berg replied, “I’ve never felt more unsafe in my life, I don’t know how but I put my chair in my shoe.” Huge laugh. During a more recent Sentimental Lady show, Berg stepped out during the group’s opening to begin a phone message, but instead started sputtering and then blew a long blonde hair into the air that had gotten into his mouth and beard. After getting the hair off himself, Berg’s phone message was “Fuck it, I gotta go” and he stepped back into the line. Hugh laugh. They managed to build on that for a group game later in the show.
Tonight was the funniest accident I’ve seen yet. During Convoy’s show, Todd Fasen spun so fast while miming using a broom to leg sweep Alex Berg that Todd’s glasses flew off his face and into the lap of a girl sitting in the front row. The audience got a huge laugh from it, and Alex Fernie was laughing so hard by the back wall that he had to go backstage for a minute to compose himself. It was funny in and of itself, but seeing Fernie react that way made me laugh so much harder.
Boundary issues
Now, when you go somewhere like UCB, there are certain lines that are not crossed. There are implicit rules, assumptions that can be safely made based on the nature of the venue. On the rare occasions those lines are crossed, the shock makes everything exponentially funnier. It’s so much better this way, because when there are no rules, there is nothing to transgress. We are never shocked because nothing is off limits.
To wit: When Casey Wilson takes off her shirt and runs around in a bra at a 9:30 PM Sunday show at UCB, everything is in order. When she reaches behind her back, pops the bra loose, and spends the next two minutes bounding across the stage, bare breasts swinging, things have gone sideways. We did not ask for this, and we certainly didn’t expect it, but we are laughing much harder than we ever would have if we’d known from the beginning that nudity was on the table.
Or, if you’re me, you gasp and hold your hands over your open mouth in shock, because you just can’t believe what you’re seeing. You also, if you are me, are specifically pointed out and referred to as “the blonde in the front” during a part where one of the players is talking to the audience. Embarrassing.
Reblogged from Incline
This fortune could not have been more aptly timed. I got it the day after my last day of work, and at a time in my life when I’m increasingly spending my evenings at (late night) comedy shows because I’m trying to really pursue improv. I hope it’s the universe’s way of telling me not to bother with another “job”, just focus on the stuff I really love, and let that somehow end up providing me with requisite income.
So, this happened last night.
Sentimental Lady is one of my favorites! I was so lucky to have Johnny (front middle) as my 101 teacher.
Reblogged from everything that i want to tell you
I had such a fantastic time at my UCB graduation show today! There were enough people there that some had to sit on the side stage, and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. My teacher told us that it was one of the best 101 shows he’s ever seen, which meant a lot to me coming from him. I can’t wait to start my 201 class!
This is a friendly reminder...
that you should come to my UCB graduation show tomorrow at 1:30pm if you’re free and in LA! Get all the info here if you’re interested.
The Idiot: A MIx From Me to You
1. Microphone - Coconut Records / 2. My Sword Hand’s Anger - Apostle of Hustle / 3. Run to Your Grave - Mae Shi / 4. Mannequin - Wire / 5. All My Friends - Broken Social Scene / 6. Hazmat - Via Audio / 7. The Wind That Blew My Heart Away - Fruit Bats / 8. Mostly on an Island - Volcano, I’m Still Excited!! / 9. Like Bullets - Snowden / 10. Take the Fifth - Spoon / 11. When I Goosestep - The Shins / 12. Almost True - Yo La Tengo / 13. I’m Sorry I Love You - The Magnetic Fields / 14. Cardinal Song - The National
(Click through/Here to download. Please enjoy and share, I made it for you!)
This mix is cool and I unexpectedly got a hard copy of it tonight when I went to see Let’s Do This! at UCB because Dave was filling in for one of the usual hosts and he was giving out the mix as part of Let’s Do This!’s giveaway month. I also got a popsicle, but I like the CD better. Thanks, Dave!
Reblogged from Self Absorption at Discount Prices.
My UCB graduation show!
I had my last improv class this past weekend and am now gearing up for the graduation show, which will be this Sunday, 6/28 at 1:30pm at the UCB theater (5919 Franklin Ave.) if anyone would like to come down for a laugh. It’s only $5 for the show and will definitely be a lot of fun, so stop by if you’re free in LA!
As promised, a photo mash-up of my awesome long weekend. I went to a taping of Conan, saw one of my favorite teachers from college and caught up with him a bit when he signed his new book for me, saw Away We Go a second time and The Hangover for the first, spent lots of time at UCB between having my class and going to shows (the best of which was my teacher’s Harold team, Sentimental Lady), and when I needed sustenance, I hit up Fred 62 a couple times. Exhausting, but so fun!
