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.

I’m tempted to say the second group of New Faces performers was slightly stronger than the first one I saw, but based on the improvement in audience energy that may be an unfair assessment.

The list:

Andy Ritchie
Good joke writer. “I remember when college girls used to look at me. Now they just keep an eye on me.” On his shower head being stuck on the massage setting, “I feel like a ’60s civil rights activist”.

Matt Knudsen
The man wore a suit for us! We’re honoured! Good stuff, including a bit about spending 2 months’ salary on an engagement ring but picking 2 months from 1986, and a nice extended closer about all-you-can-eat buffets which is one of those bits that you know he’ll be rewriting and adding tags to for years to come.

Mary Mack
Sounding just like Maria Bamford is probably both a blessing and a curse for her. She deals with her high-pitched voice off the top, but is able move on quickly. My favourite line: “Stay positive! Every time I catch myself being negative, I cut myself.” I dug her vibe and her connection with the audience, but found the closer (playing Don’t Fence Me In on the recorder) a little more offbeat than funny, and maybe best kept to alt shows.

Chris D’Elia
It may have been an odd setlist construction coincidence, but the bulk of his material centred on stereotypes. His friend buying him pants for his birthday (kinda gay), black guys getting away with wearing anything, and how Germans sound like they’re talking in rewind. On paper, it doesn’t sound amazing, but delivered it went over huge. Good material coupled with fantastic physicality equals the biggest ovation of the night.

Mike Bridentstein
Started off with some standard I’m-an-average-guy stuff about being the fattest he’s ever been right now, but my favourite bit of the night was his impression of his commercial agent’s assistant leaving him voicemails. If you’re going to do that bit, might as well do it infront of an industry crowd!

Kumail Nanjiani
I think this guy is more recognizable to New York comedy tourists than the Naked Cowboy. He does every show in town, and thus the only guy on the bill who I’ve seen before. I already liked him. I still like him. He’s one of Variety’s 10 Comics To Watch, so does he really need more ink?

Renee Gauthier
See my review from the previous New Faces; not sure why she was on both shows, but I wasn’t complaining about seeing her again.

Alex Koll
This guy looks like Zach Galifinakis fell asleep for 100 years. “Welcome to wizard comedy night,” he appropriately greeted us. He did bits on April Fool’s Day, Prince, and alchol before surprising everyone with a move that I won’t ruin here. My favourite joke: his girlfriend rolled out of bed onto the floor, so he yelled “5 second rule!” and kept fucking her.

Myq Kaplan
It’s rare to watch a young comic be somewhat improvisational and have it not come across as sloppy. He opened with 2 jokes, one visual in response to one of Alex Koll’s gags, and another in reference to a joke told by host Adam Hills. Always risky, but it worked and certainly endeared the crowd to him. Standout bit: how losing your cell phone is like losing a child (a child who knows all your friends’ and family’s numbers, so it’s like losing an autistic child).

I should note that it’s hard to do a proper assessment of New Faces. These guys for the most part ARE new, so you can’t review them up against the other acts at the festival. But they’re not open micers either. My expectations going in were closer to the open micer realm, so I’m pleased. For what they are, they all did very well. No overwhelming nerves, no bombs, no tragically stupid mistakes.

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About a year ago, a British comedy nerd friend of mine recommended Ross Noble. I didn’t pay much attention, because people are always giving me advice on what I should check out, and less than half of that advice is any good. But after my exposure to Ross Noble last night, I feel quite the fool for ignoring the recommendation.

Infront of a giant greyscale psychedelic poster of his own head, Noble had worked up a sweat within the first 2 minutes. A woman walked across the front of the stage at the very beginning, and Noble latched onto the idea of her being lost while on a tour of the JFL Museum (the show’s venue), leading to the expectation of schoolchildren and Japanese tourists being not far behind. This, I would discover, is his style. Audience-inspired tangents using the improvisational “if this, then what?” frame of mind.

It was completely impossible to tell which moments were scripted. Some of them had to be, and surely he would direct his stream of consciousness slightly to end up where he wanted to end up. But for the life of me, I couldn’t identify where the improv ended and the prepared material began. I believe I’ve been outsmarted. Well played, Mr. Noble, well played.

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The pace and energy of the Montreal edition of the Sketch Show was vastly superior to its Toronto counterpart (I made the decision in advance to not review that one, which I’m happy about). The show was hosted by the hilarious duo Garfunkel & Oates (Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci) who opened with what should be a childfree anthem, Pregnant Women Are Smug. The highlight of the Imponderables’ set was a an action movie trailer parody, with Waldo (of Where’s Waldo) as the villain. As fate would have it, the Idiots of Ants opened with a bit featuring Waldo as well, which may have actually benefited by the parallel thinking. Birthday Boys supplied 3D glasses to the crowd for an “experience” that may have worked better for those seated directly infront of the thrust stage, but was mighty cool nevertheless. And 2 White Guys – aka Rebecca Drysdale (one of my favourite people to watch anywhere, anytime) and Jordan Peele – went all-out with their upbeat sex educators schtick which I’m bummed I can’t find video of to show you. But I will show you the trailer from the Imponderables. Half a million hits on YouTube, and justified.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg4ztJ32iPI]