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.
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