#Upright Citizens Brigade

[sage-lights]

introducing!

the angela giarratana cinematic universe (or the "agcu" for short) ❤️‍🔥

additional info 1. the bolded names are the people who currently perform at ucb (according to the ucbtla website) 2. the names with an asterisk* are the people who star in "d(e)ad," izzy roland's indie movie

[hipsternumbertwo]

Favorite Angela Moments 32/∞: Holy Sh*t Improv

[gazebo-components]

Improv Is Cool Now: reflections on the past, present, and future of improv on the internet

DISCLAIMER: this is LONG -- not because it’s comprehensive or correct, but because I have a lot of thoughts. i am not an authority on improv, i just like it. these are some things i have noticed & been thinking about over the last couple years.

TLDR: the world of digital comedy is getting increasingly improv-ified. because of this, improv is forced to adapt to digital forms, which is sometimes awkward but (i think) generally very exciting! it's taking on a new life and reaching more people than ever before and it's maybe... even... cool now ? i investigate dropout’s and smosh’s recent improv ventures to find an answer and then i talk a little bit about saturday night live. also, there's color-coding.

IMPROV OVERVIEW

- Basically there are 3 big improv schools/theaters that are seen as launching-off points for comedy stardom: Second City, Groundlings, and Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB). SNL hires from them, a bunch of famous comedians have come from them, etc. Of course there are other schools and other ways to “make it” in sketch/improv, and many people have critiqued the school system for being gatekeepy/culty, but the big 3 schools are pretty much the center of the improv/sketch world. 

- The big 3 each have their own class tracks for sketch and improv that can eventually lead to auditions for house teams, which are SUPER competitive. At UCB you audition for Harold teams (improv) and Maude teams (sketch). At Groundlings you audition for Sunday Company and are then possibly invited to join the main company. I know the least about Second City but I think you audition for a touring company & are then possibly invited to join the main company? IDK.

- I cannot stress how competitive these auditions are, at all 3 schools. Over 1000 people audition for UCB Harold teams every year and less than 1% get a spot. Getting on a house team is a BIG FUCKIN DEAL. 

- There are (basically speaking) 2 kinds of improv: short-form (more structured: games, wacky characters) and long-form (less structured: scenes, plotlines). Short-form is often seen as "easier" and more palatable for a non-improv audience than long-form, which can be really esoteric and confusing and hard to watch. Groundlings and Second City focus on short-form & sketch, UCB Harold is long-form, UCB Maude is sketch.

RECORDED/TELEVISED IMPROV

- Improv on TV, especially long-form, has historically not been good or successful — UCB experiments with recording/televising longform shows in the 2000s, but nothing really goes mainstream. One exception is Whose Line Is It Anyway (a short-form show by Second City alums), which runs from 1998-2007 and is pretty popular. Whose Line comes back in 2013 but is on shaky shaky ground, might be over now? IDK.

- 2020: Recorded longform improv has its first big moment in Ben Schwartz and shitty guy Thomas Middleditch (both former UCB Harold performers), whose special Middleditch and Schwartz prompts Vulture to ask, “What if improv were good?" IMO, this is the point where Improv Starts Being Cool.

DROPOUT

- Early CollegeHumor team is full of improv comedians, mostly UCB. Many (Brennan, Siobhan, Trapp, Ally, Zac, Grant, etc…) have been on Harold/Maude teams.

- 2020-ish: Big dramatic CollegeHumor -> Dropout shift; one major takeaway is that unscripted content does much better than scripted content. Dropout pivots to focus on unscripted, eventually premiering Make Some Noise, a short-form show often compared to Whose Line. (Sam Reich says MSN has brought more people to Dropout than any other show.)

- 2022-2023: Dropout introduces multiple longform improv shows, including Play It By Ear and Very Important People (both hosted by UCB Harold performers). VIP performs exceptionally well and is even submitted for Emmy consideration.

- 2023: Wayne Brady from Whose Line appearing on MSN is a MAJOR passing-the-torch moment for improvisers. Wayne tells Sam that only two productions have ever gotten filmed improv right: Whose Line and Dropout.

- 2024: Dropout Presents, a set of original comedy specials, includes 2 longform improv shows: Bigger! With Brennan And Izzy and From Ally To Zacky -- a performance by Yeti, a graduated UCB Harold team made up mostly of Dropout regulars.

- TAKEAWAY: DROPOUT IS DOING MORE LONGFORM. I mean, they're doing more of a lot of stuff, including short-form. But VIP and the longform Dropout Presents specials indicate a willingness to try recorded longform à la Middleditch and Schwartz, which makes perfect sense given that so many of them were/are UCB Harold performers. Will it pay off?? We'll see!!

SMOSH

- 2016: Smosh’s first Try Not To Laugh, a version of the improv game Bus Stop/Park Bench. To my knowledge, the cast at this time has no one from the big 3 improv schools -- of course, this does not mean they aren’t good improvisers (because clearly they are!), just that Smosh isn’t connected to the traditional improv world at this point.

- 2020: Smosh hires its first professionally trained improvisers as cast members: Ify (UCB), who eventually leaves to do a bunch of Dropout stuff, Jacklyn (Second City), who eventually leaves to join Second City NY, and Amanda (Groundlings), who was on Sunday Company and gets on a UCB Maude team in 2022. In other words, they’re all excellent school-trained improvisers.

- 2022: Smosh hires two UCB sketch/improv performers, Angela and Chanse, who were on a Maude team together with Smosh writer Patrick McDonald and editor Josh Fleury.

- 2023: Anthony comes back and they start doing old-school sketches that incorporate the rest of the cast. They do ok, but unscripted content like TNTL continues to be more popular (echoing Dropout’s experience)

- 2024: Angela and Chanse are announced to host the variety/sketch/improv show Bit City. The first episode contains 2 sketches, a 10-minute character improv piece from Amanda, and a 10-minute reunion (semi-improvised). The cast are clearly very excited about being involved in "traditional" sketch/improv (as opposed to just being in pit/games stuff).

- TAKEAWAY: SMOSH IS GETTING MORE INTO TRADITIONAL IMPROV. Try Not To Laugh continues to be one of their most popular series, Bit City is being extremely hyped up, and the cast has gone to multiple Groundlings workshops together. My guess is that Smosh will stick to short-form, because their audience is less comedy-nerd-y than Dropout's and none of the Smosh cast are UCB Harold alums (remember, Angela and Chanse were on a Maude [sketch] team, and Amanda did Groundlings, which is short-form and sketch). Again, this doesn't mean they can't do long-form (they definitely can), but I do think their skills/interests lie mainly in sketch and character/short-form improv.

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE

- SNL is decidedly not an improv show, because improv is much scarier to do on live broadcast television than sketch is, but it is still a live show and historically many of its performers have been improvisers. Again, SNL hires improvisers almost exclusively from the big 3 theaters.

- SNL undergoes an identity crisis around 2020-2022 as many well-loved cast members (many of whom are improvisers) leave, hiring mainly standup comedians, not improvisers, to replace them

- Current SNL cast improvisers: Bowen Yang (UCB), Chloe Fineman (Groundlings), Ego Nwodim (UCB), Mikey Day (Groundlings), Heidi Gardner (Groundlings), Chloe Troast (indie, to my knowledge!). The rest are stand-ups, or are named Colin or Kenan.

- TAKEAWAY: SNL IS SAME OLD SAME OLD, BUT... Lorne Michaels is speculated to leave after this season (50), discussions of a “new era” and major shifts for the show. Possible replacements include Tina Fey and Seth Meyers (both are career improvisers, unlike Lorne) — could SNL incorporate improv in the future? Again, historically difficult because of broadcast television rules, but idk, it's an interesting thought

CONCLUSION

- improv is cool now! more and more digital comedy productions are turning towards improv, maybe a reflection of greater desire for authenticity/humanness on the internet? idk.

- the big 3 theaters continue to be a driving force of the improv world, despite some people's desires to move away from that kind of institutional importance. UCB in particular is being showcased a lot because of dropout, though idk if that translates to anything in the real world.

- dropout is doing more longform (yay!!) and is making their real-life improv connections/teams/relationships more explicit with filmed live improv shows and bringing in established groups of improvisers like Improvised Shakespeare.

- the current smosh cast contains three classically trained improvisers, and the channel seems to be making moves towards traditional improv in the style of the big 3 schools, but will probably stick to shortform. (also, no, the smosh-dropout merger is not happening anytime soon.)

- young people think SNL is cringe now (imo it's just as cringe as it ever was... live sketch is HARD). the show will have to make some major changes if it wants to stay relevant, and they'll be looking to the success of digital comedy as inspiration and competition. my prediction: after season 50 they'll do a big overhaul, get a new young host, might even poach a couple Dropout stars.

- there’s A LOT OF stuff I didn't get into: the evolution of standup/crowdwork/recorded standup specials, SNL hiring trends over the years, the pandemic + comedy (particularly TikTok sketch), the Smosh Sitcom Live, what the hell a Harold even is and why it matters. this is already very long and i am, frankly, very tired.

FURTHER READING:

UCB Harold/Maude rosters -- command-f your favorite dropout people to see who they were on a team with

Improv Nation -- the ultimate improv history book; i read it my sophomore year of high school and i was obsessed

this guy’s blog post about wayne brady on MSN

this breakdown of SNL cast member origins up to 2013, which ends with a series of wildly incorrect predictions (fewer standups, no internet performers)

thanks for reading!

[hollyevolving]

The auto-captions failed.

"I've lived my entire life under the assumption that demons would have a certain gravitas."

And the seeds of Bazathrax and Wretchrot were sown.

[she-needs-a-starkid-blog]

10 minutes into this show and it already feels like a fever dream!

Highly recommend!

Update: Mariah and Angela sing Money Money Money and it’s actually fire

I’m losing my mind.

[newwavesylviaplath]

pov: i invited u over and u think ur about to get laid but instead i just wanna show you my signed edition of comedy bang! bang! the podcast: the book

[fettuccino-alfredi]

Chanse is so obsessed with Dune he does musical improv of it. One of my favorite parts was him as Duke Leto Atreides training Philip's Paul

[dailydarcycarden]

D'Arcy Carden and Jason Mantzoukas

[willfrominternet]

New Yorkers of Tumblr: You must not sleep on this one-night-only event. The Chris Gethard Show was basically my lifeblood for several years and I didn't ever shut up about it on The Old Tumblr. While I only attended TCGS tapings back when it was on public access TV and then cable TV, I have heard stories of the UCB-era shows. Sheer chaos. Immaculate vibes. There is no better way for the UCB to return to New York than with Gethard and friends doing their weird, wonderful thing.

I do not live in New York anymore, and I have no means of getting to the Big Apple on Friday, September 13th. But you, you stalwart New Yorkers of Tumblr, you have access! Attend this event and spend what might just be the best hour of your life! Do it for me! Do it for Geoff!

(An explanation: The Chris Gethard Show is a one-hour-long comedy show hosted by Chris Gethard and his friends. Every show is different and usually involves hijinks, strangers, and at times physical and mental gymnastics. It was a live comedy show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City, then a public access TV show on the Manhattan Neighborhood Network, and finally a cable TV show on Fusion and then TruTV. It included a character named the Human Fish. Please do your own research to learn more. Thank you.)

[soggy-platee]

Guess who finally got to a UCB show??

[sage-lights]

they’re the same person i love them 😔😔😔

[hipsternumbertwo]

Favorite Angela Moments 29/∞: Mamma Mia! But Different (Baby, Baby Version)

SPOILERS AHEAD

Syd and Olivia writing this in one night (and having cameos in the show)

Vic as a mommy influencer and mom to Blakely (Gabe)

Nurse Mariah's recurring "1 in 10 babies are born premature" bit

Mary Lou as Pearl "left in the NICU for 15 months" recurring bit followed by telling the audience to not feel bad for her whenever they go "Awwww"

The babies are divided into two gangs - breastfed and formula fed

The "gangs" only get together to welcome new babies in the NICU and sing Voulez-Vous

People in the chat really concerned with the rope potentially tripping people (extremely valid considering Mariah and Angela moved all over the stage)

Also why are they connected in the first place???

Vic being inside that plastic thing for the majority of the time just vibing - no lines, no singing, only dancing at times and getting trapped by the curtain to the backstage several times LOL

The Romeo and Juliet subplot

Rick Angela closing the NICU to open Mommy Influencer NICU instead

Nurse Mariah (her voice is soooo gooooood) and asshole Rick Kaiser Permanente Angela duet Money, Money, Money

Pearls and Blakely's duet Does Your Mother Know because of their 15 month age gap

When Everest (Romeo) was shot by Skyler (BECAUSE 1 in 3 AMERICANS OWN GUNS????) and the gangs set aside their differences to save him

Pearl performing surgery since she's been watching the doctors all that time (the whole scene playing out over the group singing SOS)

Mariah's name was Baby #2 so that makes Angela Baby #1 and the rope is their umbilical cord for some reason. They don't like each other and belong to rival gangs

Vic's solo song number Thank You for the Music causing donors (Syd and Olivia) to donate and save the NICU

Angela putting that rope (that she had been dragging all over the floor) in her mouth (popcorn PTSD all over again)

Plot Twist! When Nurse Mariah revealed she was Pearl's real mom and that she fucked Rick (Angela) and got money from him so she can finally bring Pearl home

Of course Mamma Mia as closing number

[gazebo-components]

dropout presents, bit city, and the improv renaissance… HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM maybe i should write a little thinkpiece about snl/dropout/smosh/ucb/middleditch and schwartz/etc

[rhysdarbinizedarby]

Rhys Darby posted announcement for his comedy show at Upright Citizen Brigade Theatre!

[nezoid]

The Return of ASSSSCAT at the UCB Theatre - 09/01/23

Featuring D'Arcy Carden, Lisa Gilroy, Mary Holland, Brandon Scott Jones, Lauren Lapkus, Oscar Montoya, Ego Nwodim, and Carl Tart with guest monologist Will Ferrell.

[newwavesylviaplath]

posting my drafts cuz i wanna delete them. none of these were good enough for my blog apparently.