No, it’s not the big gas-guzzling beast your grandma
drives, it’s Bruin United Improv Comedy Kraze, better known
as BUICK Improv.
BUICK, which will perform its third show ever at the Cooperage
tonight, was founded last year by students Elliot Deutsch, Leslie
Klein and Corey Wish when they saw that the studious students of
UCLA didn’t have a bona fide improv group to give some comic
relief.
The troupe’s formation was proof that life really does
imitate art when, just like an impromptu sketch, the three students
who had previously met attending Comedy Sportz competitions in high
school haphazardly met at UCLA before deciding to start the
group.
“The group is just a bunch of people randomly thrown
together, who got together spur of the moment,” said Wish, a
communication studies student. “Then we had to improvise and
figure out along the way what we were supposed to do.”
While many improv groups like The Groundlings have been stepping
stones for celebrities such as Phil Hartman and Will Ferrell,
there’s no room here for analogies to BUICK being the vehicle
that will drive the members to stardom. BUICK, comprised primarily
of non-theater students, is anything but a group of Hollywood
climbers, but rather just a wacky bunch of students with a zest for
improv.
“Only one or two of us are theater majors, so it’s a
good place for us to do some improv since we don’t get to do
anything like it in school,” said Klein, a second-year
undeclared student.
According to the members, other theater groups have the tendency
to be too cliquish or cut-throat, but BUICK tries to keep its fun
factor at a constant high.
“It’s not a competition for us,” Wish said.
“No one’s trying to outdo each other. We just like
going out and having a good time.”
BUICK’s roots are in the family-friendly Comedy Sportz
which requires members to wear a paper bag over their heads as a
punishment for getting a little too raunchy. Staying true to its
comedic mothership, members try to keep their minds out of the
gutter and their mouths out of the potty.
“Our show is entirely clean aside from the occasional
innuendo,” said Deutsch, a second-year mathematics and jazz
studies student. “You can make anyone laugh by saying
“˜caca’ or “˜bitch’ but at the same time,
you’re not making them laugh, it’s the word. It’s
a cheap form of humor.”
Instead of crawling the lowly poop- and boob-joke-lined path,
the group takes what they consider the high road of humor using
puns and physical humor. The humor of BUICK’s motley crew of
students from various majors (including one TA) runs the comical
gamut.
“We have 10 different people with 10 different
styles,” Wish said. “Some people are dry, some go for
one-liners, some use more physical humor. We had a guy who was
6-foot-4 and 300 pounds but would act like he was 4-feet-tall and
sit on people’s laps. He was like a St. Bernard that thought
he was a Chihuahua. Everyone has their individual style and when
you combine it, it seems to work.”
While the big happy family already has 10 members, they’re
always looking for more. According to Wish, the group thus far has
taken everyone who has auditioned under its rubber-chicken
wing.
“The bigger the better,” Wish said.
“We’re always looking to add funny people. Everybody
out there has something to offer.”
BUICK will perform in the Cooperage for free tonight from 7 to 9
p.m. For more info, e-mail buick@ucla.edu.