It’s like watching a movie in which there are several stories all connected, no predictability, and it’s based off of the text message you received from your not-so-sober roommate last Thursday night.
Sponsored by Campus Events Commission and On-Campus Housing Council, the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre will bring its Touring Company long-form improv troupe to De Neve Auditorium tonight at 8 p.m. Improv comedy has the attraction of taking these types of real experiences, words, phrases or even texts from the audience, invoking them as a creative spark to the performance, and then applying wit and spontaneity to create a series of unique and authentically hilarious scenes.
With theaters in both Los Angeles and New York, UCB has a well-known reputation in the comedy scene that has helped shape some of the careers of popular comedians, including Amy Poehler, Ed Holmes and Rob Riggle.
Joe Wengert will be performing long-form improv at tonight’s free event with fellow performers Alex Berg, Suzi Barrett and Jim Woods. Wengert said that the unique aspect of performing at a college is that they get to change up the content, depending on the audience.
“We bring a student on stage and interview them about their experiences in college. Then we take these true stories and turn them into things. All of the things we do are inspired from the interview,” Wengert said.
Not only will the content of the show be catered to the audience, but also the improv troupe will be a distinct group of performers.
“We’re not really sending out teams you would see at the UCB Theatre, it’s a unique improv group,” said Carter Edwards, director and coordinating producer of UCB TourCo. “I take 25 people, the best of the best. All of these performers are fantastic improvisers.”
Daniel Soto, director of speakers for CEC, said that campuses are the perfect environment for students to experience comedy; it is both convenient and a great way to gain insight into this growing trend of impulse and laughter.
“Especially in L.A. there’s a lot of young talent and we want to highlight that, and provide a forum for students to ask questions to other comedians for how they got their start, what inspires them, and if they have any advice for people who are interested to getting into the comedy industry,” Soto said.
Wengert said that performing in front of a college audience is a great opportunity to further the breadth of improv followers.
“I like college shows because improv sometimes has a bad reputation,” Wengert said. “It’s still young and growing all the time. These shows can expose new people to it.”
Wengert began his improv career at the University of Delaware, and said he knows firsthand how difficult the comedy world can be to navigate.
Tonight’s event will open with UCLA’s very own improv group, the Wait List, who can appreciate the opportunities to work with cultured improvisers that UCB and CEC continue to provide.
“It’s nice to get our stuff out there on stage with people we respect a lot and people who we feel influenced by. They’re regular people who went through the same hustle in college doing improv as we are right now,” said Chris Reinacher, a fourth-year theater student and a member of the Wait List.
Members of the commission said they hope to continue to feature comedy events on campus, as an interest in all sectors of comedy continues to mature among students. Their tradition of hosting speakers on campus includes comedians Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel from MTV’s “Human Giant,” as well as Dat Phan, the winner of the first season of reality competition television show “The Last Comic Standing.”
“One of the things we’ve been trying to do was to have more comedy events and maybe have a regular comedy program,” Soto said.