Downright Upright
“It was beautifully awkward at times — how she misses the kiss with Jay Pharoah because he’s bowing to her, how Bobby Moynihan ducks away in a hurry because he’s losing it, how seeing Bill Hader is the moment she starts to buckle and the first one where there’s no gag to the dance. And then how grateful she is that Kenan Thompson shows up and does a little “keep going” reset for her and makes her smile, how she and Seth Meyers boogie because that’s who they are, and how that moment with Sudeikis is obviously completely wrecking — he doesn’t look right for the rest of the number, honestly. And of course, because it’s live television, Andy Samberg doesn’t realize he’s almost pulling her dress up. And of course, because she’s not made of stone over here, she sneaks in a hug with Jon Hamm as the credits are rolling. The whole thing is really pretty perfect, and pretty perfectly human, right down to the fact that it’s so emotional that nobody is paying a lot of attention to the fact that they’re doing a “Ruby Tuesday” singalong with Mick Jagger. You can see, too, the miracle of people who can instantly make other people feel better — that’s what guest Amy Poehler is doing when it turns into that “Ruby Tuesday” singalong. She’s the one my eyes kept returning to when I watched it, because some part of me believes that she’s somebody who left, and who knows that it’s really, really sad to go, but that your life can also get really, really good when you leave something you love to do something else you also might love. And, of course, you can always come home.”—
Linda Holmes, NPR Monkey See | ‘Saturday Night Live’ Shows Its Heart On Kristen Wiig’s Last Night [x] (via lizchros)
Great show at Monday Night Improv tonight! I’m happy to be debuting my two-man team Dave vs. Sean (with the hilarious David Brown of Private Street, Bester Western, and of course Soulmates). In the same half, I’m performing with my team Dirty Business, and I *think* it’s the first time our new lineup will be completely present, which I’m pretty excited about.
There’s some extremely funny people performing all night, and Monday Night Improv is always crazy fun since the guys who run it are insane in the best way possible.
Check it out and if we make awkward, halfassed eye contact, I apologize in advance. It’s something I do, but you should probably just come over and say hi.
Guys! What are you doing? Lennon Parham and Jason Mantzoukas are doing a two-person improvised show this month at UCB and it’s somehow not sold out. Get your tickets right fucking now!
Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t really do or tend to enjoy “slow play” or “real” improv.
Well, I was wrong.
It’s kind of like that thing Besser was saying, that if you don’t like the Harold then you probably haven’t seen a good Harold. I’ve said before that I don’t like “slow play” or really “real” improv, even though I’ve seen it a bunch of times. But it turned out, it was because I didn’t like the shows, not because I didn’t like the form or style.
This past few weeks, I’ve had the joy of seeing two really great shows. One was just a video, above, of a show Adsit & Gausas did (above), which is just this really honest monoscene, with two great comic minds working through a real situation. It’s just a real joy to watch unfold and to discover the weirdness in seemingly normal points of view and situation.
Then last night, I got to see Alison Royer’s Date Night, which she performed with guest David Harris. It’s an improvised 2-person monoscene, and the one last night was a 20-minute piece about two co-workers at a Wendy’s who just discovered they’ve both been in love with each other for months. I just thought it incredibly funny and great, this perfect mix of sweetness and absurdity. I mean, you could have wrote it up as is and had a great one-act. I loved it, to say the least. (Click here to get tix for her next performance)
Anyway, so now, personally, that feels like the next big improv thing I’d like to tackle. And Adsit & Gausas and Date Night are the inspriation for that. Check out the vid above.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Billy Merritt is on the show! You know him from The Smokes, The Soundtrack, The Swarm. He’s also one of the hosts of the UCBLA Podcast, HOLLYWEIRD! I spend a lot of this podcast talking about the Merritts (get it?) of form. Billy also tells me not to sell out my scenes and frankly just gives some great improv advice. Subscribe, rate, comment, enjoy.
Click here to download/subscribe in iTunes
It’s a good time to be an improv nerd… Perlstein’s got Billy Merritt talking forms on Improv Obsession. This is perhaps the best episode yet… Check it out!
The best improv advice I ever received was around the time I was taking 201. It wasn’t from an improviser. It was from my former boss at Myspace, Manu Rekhi, who was mentoring me on my career and life in general.
He said, “If someone asks you for a favor, do it. If it’s at all possible, do it.” His point was that when you’re a good person, people respond to that. People will treat you better and you surround yourself with a higher quality of person without any effort at all. This makes you happier, more fulfilled and closer to succeeding at just about anything in life. Because you build a kind of karma and you foster a community.
Quick heads up LA peeps!
Freak Dance, the latest UCB movie directed by Matt Besser and Neil Mahoney, is playing every night this week at the UCB Theatre LA. You can purchase tickets by clicking here.
This is it. Part 3 of my interview with Matt Besser (Asssscat!, Improv4Humans podcast, Freak Dance), in which we talk about what to do when a scene’s not going right, monoscenes, Harolds, and shit gets personal. Let’s hop right into it, because this is the longest and best part yet.
Sean London: You said something in your interview with Stephen Perlstein about not needing the audience to find the game.
Matt Besser: I think that’s a silly definition. Otherwise, you couldn’t find it in rehearsal. It’s a good clue to where the game is for sure.
SL: Let’s say I’m in a scene and I’m hitting the game and I’m doing what I believe to be technically good improv. But I’m not getting laughs from the audience. As an improviser, what are you thinking? Do you stay on game, or do you think “The audience isn’t getting this. I got to mix this up.”? How much does the audience affect what you’re doing?
This is a fun one. He talks about sub-games, justifications, and walks us through pulling a premise from a monologue and beginning a set. Great stuff.
But first: his thoughts on the note, “Don’t be funny.”
Sean London: What’s your interpretation of “don’t be funny”? Specifically, if the point is, ultimately, to be funny.
Last night my team Soulmates worked with Ben Rodgers as our coach. Our team performs the Pretty Flower form and if you aren’t familiar, the Pretty Flower is basically a monoscene with tag outs. Other teams that do the Pretty Flower are Dierkes and Fernie, Sentimental Lady, and Winslow. It’s an…
Check out Sabrina’s post on performing a Pretty Flower, as learned from Ben Rodgers (Shitty Jobs, Reuben Starship). Soulmates has had pretty good success with the flower, but it’s always occurred to me that the tagouts could be faster and sharper, to contrast with the slower and more patient home scene. Ben got us on the path to achieving that and it was invaluable stuff for anyone looking to do fast play or perform the flower.
