Published on June 19th, 2009 | by Sharilyn Johnson
6Del Close Marathon XI: It's live, baby!
For improv nerds, it’s a lot like Christmas. Santa came! And he brought us a complete schedule of the 11th Annual Del Close Marathon, August 14-16 in New York City!! Open it open it open it!!!
http://delclosemarathon.com/dcm11/schedule
Yes, folks, it’s as strong as the 10th anniversary. Was there ever any doubt?
The straight 72 hours of improv comedy will again take place at the festival’s home base, the UCB Theatre, as well as the Hudson Guild Theatre, Urban Stages, and the Kate Murphy Amphitheatre at FIT.
Of note:
–Respecto Montalban fans rejoice — Rob Riggle is in! Despite standup dates scheduled in San Francisco long before the DCM dates were firmed up, Riggle is all over the schedule, making his first return to the DCM as a westcoaster.
-Amy, is that you? Amy Poehler, the most famous 1/4 of the original UCB4 (sorry, boys) has obviously become scarcer and scarcer over the years. She was on the schedule last year, and vanished inexplicably. But her move to Los Angeles seems to not mean the end of her Marathon participation. Her name is right there in glorious sans serif text, attached to the Saturday Upright Citizens Brigade show and the Sunday Asssscat.
-Reunited, and it feels so good. Mother, which had been the longest-running UCB house team before going their separate ways back in September, will resurrect Mother: The Soundtrack Friday night at the Kate Murphy.
-There’s a nice big juicy gap in the Kate Murphy (FIT) on the Saturday night, which the last few years has been used for the fantastic Daily Show / Colbert Report Improv Jam. It would be a shame if this show were discontinued, but I’m certain that whatever ends up in that prime slot will be delicious.
-Ed Helms on Friday, are we sure? Aside from Seth & Ed’s Puppet Talkshow on the Saturday night, Ed Helms is also scheduled to participate in the Dave Matthews Band themed show Satellites on the Friday night. In 2008, Ed’s Friday participation was thwarted by The Office production schedule, something the DCM never had issues with when Marathon was in July. Will he make it Friday night? Let’s hope!
The standard favourites are all on the schedule: Let’s Have a Ball, Baby Wants Candy, Scheer-McBrayer, Bassprov, and of course the whole weekend kicks off with the Friday afternoon Press Conference.
Among the many hidden gems are Jason Mantzoukas, Seth Morris, and Brian Huskey performing No Posers at 4:45 am on Sunday.
The crazy, middle of the night shows include the return of Cosbyprov (“an all star cast of the best Cosbys in America, running around going “RUUUUDYYYYY!””), HeliumProv (“9 improvisers take the stage with helium balloons”), Finish Your Milk (“the cast of Finish Your Milk improvises original scenes while chugging a milk product of their choice”), and Douche-Prov (“7 Douche bags do some douch-prov”).
DCM iron man is shaping up to be Neil Casey, who is currently scheduled for 8 (eight?!) performances. I don’t know Neil, but I’m very interested to meet him sometime on Sunday after he’s performed in shows at 12:30am, 5:30am, and 10am.
The photos in this post are all from the 2008 edition of the DCM, which I photographed for the UCB (and should be doing again this year). Was your group in the DCM last year? I may have shot you, and you still don’t know about it! Look for yourself and your teammates here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sharilynj/collections/72157606696604855/
About the Author
Sharilyn Johnson is the author of the book Bears & Balls: The Colbert Report A-Z. Called "one of the city’s most discriminating comedy critics” by NOW Magazine, Sharilyn has been covering comedy for longer than she cares to admit. She served as the comedy reporter for Winnipeg's Uptown Magazine for five years, and was the host of the radio show Laugh Tracks for three seasons. Her work has also appeared in the Toronto Star, the Winnipeg Free Press, The Apiary, and on CBC Radio's national comedy programs LOL and Definitely Not the Opera.
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