By Rob N. LeDonne
The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater has been a haven for comedy performers and audiences alike for the past eight years right in our own backyard- New York City. Founded by current Saturday Night Live cast member Amy Poehler and her team of Matt Walsh, Ian Robert and Matt Besser, The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater (or UCB, as it is commonly referred to) features improvisational, sketch and stand-up comedy in a 150 seat theater at 307 West 26th street. On any given night, three shows are usually featured, with admissions ranging from absolutely free, to a measly eight bucks for the most notable. The infancy and upbringing of the theater is quite a story that stems from Chicago, Illinois.
Poehler and company met up in the windy city in the early ’90s and started a stage show entitled Upright Citizens Brigade, along with fellow SNLer Horatio Sanz and Adam McKay (who later went onto becoming an SNL writer and director of such films as Anchorman and Talladega Nights). Its performance style was based on that of a man named Del Close who has since passed away and is considered the godfather of the UCB. The team decided to try their fortunes in New York and soon after, the theater was born in what used to be a strip club.
From there, it steadily gained interest and a TV deal with Comedy Central followed where their wide variety of bizarre and improvised sketches took for. As the show progressed, increasingly more people fell in love with their unique brand of humor, but the program was cancelled in 2000 after three seasons. As a founding member and owner of the UCB, Amy Poehler is enjoying a multitude of success appearing in SNL’s staple segment, “Weekend Update”, and such films as Mean Girls and the upcoming Blades Of Glory alongside husband Will Arnett. Her UCB cohorts are also enjoying success in the world of comedy where Matt Walsh can be seen in Old School, Starksy and Hutch and School For Scoundrels.
The four founding members are not the only people that have found fame due to the UCB theater, a plethora of actors and actresses have walked through the UCB’s doors. During the initial years of the theater Andy Milonakis had a one-man show when MTV talent scouts came along and gave him a successful show. That trend will repeat once again as another UCB mainstay, a sketch group that calls themselves Human Giant, will premiere a show of the same name on MTV in the coming weeks. VH1 has also taken notice of the UCB and many commentators on Best Week Ever and other shows of that nature on the network have taken talent straight out of the theater.
One of the most popular shows at the UCB is entitled “Asssscat” which runs on Sundays and a grab bag of special guests from SNL, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report could pop up and perform long-form improv and monologues–the fun is that you never know who is going to show up. A shortlist of past talent that popped up on the stage includes Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch, Conan O’Brien, Jack Black and Robin Williams.
As the interest in comedy has been on the rise in America the past couple of years, so has the success of the UCB. In the summer of ’05, a sister theater in Los Angeles was opened and March ’06 brought the opening of a comedic training center in New York where young comedians can brush up on the art of improv and sketch writing.
There looks to be no stopping the UCB. As local magazine Time Out New York puts it, “It is inarguably the city’s premiere improvisational/sketch comedy venue…and may also be the city’s busiest. It is a hothouse of humor.”
