Third Beat

The crowds at this year’s DCM seemed larger than ever before, and it was never so obvious as when I arrived at the UCBT on Sunday afternoon. 3 years ago, I arrived at 2pm and easily got a seat in the front row. This year? I arrived at 2pm and it was already standing-room only.

The second thing that hit me was the smell of… fermentation? It had only been 12 hours since I’d last experienced it, but how quickly we forget. I took a stroll through the backstage, which was free of all the insanity I’d fought my way through for a free beer the night (er… morning?) before. The theme of the day: standing water! There was lots of it back there, even though the concrete maze had been well-cleaned by the volunteers.

Unfortunately, the stage hadn’t been cleaned quite as well from the previous night’s Match Game watermelon fiasco, which is where I ended up having to sit for over. five. hours. with. no. back. support. in order to get good photos. I could stretch during that precious moment of blackout time between shows, and peel myself off the watermellon-y floor for a few seconds, but holy hell, I’m OLD. I felt this for a solid 48 hours afterwards.

Sticky buttcheeks aside, Sunday afternoon always presents my favourite shows of Marathon.

Scheer-McBrayer was genius as always. I can’t get enough of Paul and Jack, and could have watched this for another hour easily. Those who got to see the extended show at FIT were very fortunate.

Let’s Have a Ball is, in my opinion, the best regular show at UCBT. I was glad to see Becky Drysdale in this edition, but Laura Krafft and Christina Gausas were very missed.

Jason Mantzoukas filled in for Rob Riggle alongside Rob Huebel in Delta Force 2: Operation Stranglehold. Which makes perfect sense, since Huebel filled in for Riggle alongside Mantzoukas in Friday night’s Mantziggle (you follow?). The two ended up spitting some water at each other, which the improv-savvy audience heightened by instantly providing dozens more bottles of water. I obviously lack photos of this, as camera gear and litres of water do not mix. But what DOES mix is water and stage filth. While Huebel ran in place for about 3 minutes post-waterfight, he worked up what I can only describe as a “murky froth” on the surface of the stage. Yum!

Although a note to future volunteers: mopping the puddles of stage filth away from the middle of the stage doesn’t mean mopping it towards those of us sitting on the floor. Thanks.

Mantzoukas did apologize for the “wet t-shirt contest” when he returned for First Date, sans Jessica St. Clair. He had an audience volunteer be his “date”, and Pam Victor did a fantastic job of keeping things just awkward enough, while being open to whatever direction Manzoukas nudged her in. She blogged about the experience here.

Can anyone get enough Baby Wants Candy? Featuring 2 of my all-time favourite improvisors, Peter Gwinn and Becky Drysdale (the rest are no slouches either — Jack McBrayer, Thomas Middleditch, etc) BWC continually stands up as the best musical improv show I’ve ever seen. Try as I might to catch their semi-regular performances at the Barrow Street Theatre while I’m in town, I failed through the previous 52 weeks, so this was a very welcome fix. This particular story took place on a submarine, and almost immediately one of Gwinn’s castmates bestowed the profession of “ballet dancer” upon him. He replied pointedly that there would be no dancing, because “the floors of this submarine are very wet!” Loved it all. Was it as memorable as last year’s adventure at the Kit Kat Kaboodle? Not quite, but I don’t think anything could be!

Mmmmm… fooood! Walsh & Roberts actually cooked something appetizing this year! Matt and Ian put together what was essentially an elaborate quesadilla, complete with chicken and roasted veggies, and had no trouble finding audience volunteers to sample it. Maybe the biggest selling point was their admission that they couldn’t find soap backstage, and instead washed their hands with Comet. Owen Burke stole the show, as always, by playing the perfect lowbrow idiot stage manager while Matt and Ian berated him from the Moe/Larry perspectives.

Last year, I skipped the Sunday night Asssscat to catch a flight that never got off the ground (the first of three, thanks Air Canada). I did attend this year, but frankly I was burned out and not engaged by improv happening 50 feet away from me in a giant space at FIT. I can’t remember much other than the audience interactions, including a monologue from one girl who got fired from her temp job for opening a secret file and painting a unicorn and falling asleep (I’m not sure we ever got to the bottom of what that meant, to be honest). I do wish I’d taken advantage of a “free” evening in NYC to do something a little more productive (like nap, before my friend convinced me to go for Korean food after midnight when I had a 5:30am wake-up call) and will likely skip Asssscat next year.

Assorted additional thoughts from DCMXI:

-I had the privilege of attending special DCM workshops with Joe Wengert, Anthony King, and Chris Gethard. All I can say is that these guys confirmed to me why UCB’s training program is so highly regarded (in case I was in danger of forgetting?). I was initially intimidated to be in classes alongside a bunch of 501 grads (I only have my 201 from UCB) but it’s amazing how comfortable you can get in a class led by someone really passionate about what they’re teaching. Simply awesome.

-The crowds in past years were getting out of control, but now just are out of control. I read one report that someone waited 3 hours to get into the theatre in time for Lazy Man on Saturday evening, and didn’t make it in. My opinion: they should consider moving the theatre cleanings to prime times (seriously, like 11pm on Saturday). It may not be popular, but it would be fair to people waiting in line all evening.

-In a related issue, I mentioned this elsewhere, but I think it’s poor form for the lineup changes to not be reflected on the website. Riggle dropped out, Ed Helms missed the Friday show, Jessica St. Clair wasn’t in First Date… yet all their names still appeared on the schedule. And it wasn’t because of an inability to change it, because Mailer-Daemon was added just a few days before DCM. When audiences are forced to make difficult scheduling choices, doesn’t it seem fair to give them accurate information?

And since I’m on a complaining streak, this would be a good time for you to bring up photography.

“Hey Shar, where can I find all these photos you keep yakking about?”

Why thanks for asking. Here’s the situation:

Sample photos & lengthy explanation after the jump.

Throughout the week leading up to the 11th annual Del Close Marathon in New York, improv folks from all perspectives enlighten us with their expectations for this weekend’s 3-day improv extravaganza.

Today, Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre NYC Artistic Director – and the man behind the DCM schedule – Anthony King.

Tell us about the selection process for groups submitting for the first time. How much competition is there, what do you look for in on a tape, and does being from out of town help significantly?

There is incredible competition for DCM shows. We got over 1000 submissions and could only admit just over 300. We do try to include as many groups as we can from all over the country – and the world (there’s a group from Finland this year!). When I watch tapes, I’m looking for, well, good improv. I also try to get recommendations from improv teachers and theatre directors I know in major improv cities that send lots of submissions (LA, Chicago, etc.). That’s incredibly helpful. We also try to include as many people as possible in the marathon, so two- and three-person groups have a tougher time getting accepted if they’re not mind-blowingly awesome.

Dealing almost exclusively with UCB-trained improvisors throughout the rest of the year, do the styles of non-UCB groups really jump out at you? Can you tell right away who has been UCB trained and who hasn’t?

I don’t know that I can tell if a group has been UCB-trained or not. I can usually tell if a group is good or not. All the improv theatres are doing, basically, the same thing – we just approach it a little differently. So I find that the good improv from almost every city and theatre looks very, very similar. It’s the bad improv that is radically different – and bad for different reasons. But most of the submissions I get are good. We just don’t have room for everything.

Ok, so spill it: why no Wicked Fuckin’ Queeyah this year? (and while we’re at it, why no Daily Show / Colbert Report Jam?)

No one submitted Wicked Fuckin’ Queeyah! Those knuckleheads were too busy punching pregnant women and throwing full cans of beer at Jeter. There’s no Daily Show/Colbert show this year because a lot of the regulars from that show are now busy in LA being famous. So we replaced it with the 30 Rock Jam. They’re also busy being famous – but they’re doing it in NYC.

The dates for Marathon have moved around the last few years, evolving from mid-July to now mid-August. Why the change, and what can we expect for next year?

We’re always looking for the sweet spot in between other festivals and conflicts. The end of July is the Just For Laughs festival in Montreal where the UCB Theatre had a stage this year. I’m not sure when the DCM will be next year. We may experiment with the beginning of July or we may leave it in August. We try to announce the date in late spring so people have lots of time to make plans.

With the second UCBT location opening in the East Village in November, has thought been given to whether it will be used as a DCM venue? Is there a chance this will be the last year people can venue-hop without a Metrocard?

I hope we’ll be able to open in November! We don’t have an official opening date yet since we’re still jumping through all the legal hoops you have to deal with in New York City. So until that becomes official, I honestly haven’t given much thought to the role that space will play in the marathon. We might just open the pipes and turn it into a turkish bath.