DVD Review: The Upright Citizens Brigade - Asssscat!
Published May 15, 2008
The Upright Citizens Brigade is an improv troupe that previously had a show on Comedy Central. According to the DVD, stars such as Conan O'Brien, Tina Fey, and Rachel Dratch have guest starred with the troupe. The current members of the group are Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh, Matt Besser, and Saturday Night Live's Amy Poehler. This DVD is a recording of one of their Asssscat! performances. Featured performers in this incarnation are Chad Carter, Sean Conroy, Andrew Daly, and Horatio Sanz.
Each show starts with a little bit of an explanation. Then the troupe will randomly pick an audience member and start harassing them. The guest monologist is then introduced. After that, the audience shouts out topics. The monologist must talk about the first topic shouted out. The monologist will tell a few personal stories, trying to relate that topic to their life.
After the monologue is done, the improv starts. All of the sketches are inspired by the monologues. They use its theme, setting, or characters. Any of the actors can start a scene, jump in on a scene, or stop a scene. That setup could lead to an interesting and funny show. Sadly, it does not.
The Show
During the audience harassment/show explanation the troupe calls the DVD audience "retards". There is nothing amusing about this; they simply insult the home audience repeatedly.
The monologists for this performance are Tom Lennon and Kate Walsh. Tom Lennon is famous for playing Lt. Dangle on Reno 911!. Kate Walsh is best known for appearing in Grey's Anatomy. They tell stories that are only slightly amusing but never funny. Tom Lennon's topic was medical marijuana. He talked about his experiments with it. Kate Walsh's topic was boyfriend. She talked about breaking up with her boyfriend and then immediately inviting him on a ski trip. While those tales are a bit outlandish, they are not entertaining.
The sketches that came from these topics were not remarkable. For the most part, they were just absurd. One sketch was about how smoking a particular joint was like attending Hitler's birthday. Another was about being trapped in a cave with the only way out being to dance up a cave-in.
One sketch that had potential was about a divorce party. That idea had potential but the comics just repeat the word "blowjob" a lot.
The only sketch that was amusing was about a father who wanted to give his daughter the meanest gift possible. He commissions a painting of her wetting herself at the big basketball game. After that, his daughter falls into a coma. When she wakes up, she apologizes for the way she has been treating her father. Then, he goes back to the store to return the painting. This sketch was funny because it was grounded in reality, even thought it was absurd in concept. It could feasibly happen. The same could not be said for the majority of the skits.
- DVD Review: The Upright Citizens Brigade - Asssscat!
- Published: May 15, 2008
- Type: Review
- Section: Video
- Filed Under: Video: Performing Arts, Video: Comedy
- Writer: Mark Kalriess
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- Mark Kalriess's personal site
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