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The Upright Citizens Brigade is an improvisational comedy and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The current incarnation consists of Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, and Matt Walsh. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Besser, Ali Farahnakian, Drew Franklin, Adam McKay, Roberts, Rick Roman, and Horatio Sanz. Other early members included Neil Flynn, Armando Diaz, and Rich Fulcher.
The Upright Citizens Brigade began performing improv and sketch comedy at Kill the Poet in Chicago. Their first show was called Virtual Reality. The group followed with shows entitled UCBTV, Conference on the Future of Happiness, Thunderball, Bucket of Truth, Big Dirty Hands, The Real Real World, and Punch Your Friend in the Face.
In 1997, the Upright Citizens Brigade relocated to New York and began performing shows and offering improv training at Solo Arts Group. These shows and classes were so popular that the UCB were able to open their own theater, The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, at 161 W. 22nd Street in Chelsea on February 4, 1999, in a former strip club. On April 1, 2003, they moved to a new space at 307 W. 26th Street. In July of 2005, the UCB opened a theater in Los Angeles at 5919 Franklin Ave (between Tamarind & North Bronson Ave).
Television series
The group had a TV series dedicated to their sketch comedy on Comedy Central that aired for three seasons from 1998 to 2000. Each season contained 10 episodes, which included sketches inspired by their live shows and new material. What made the series stand out as a sketch show was that every episode had a central theme that would all be tied together in some way by the end. Additionally, episodes in each season would make reference to a fictitious element within the show's world and would culminate in a season finale that would focus exclusively on this element. The show also stayed away from overused staples of sketch shows by rarely doing pop culture parodies or celebrity impersonations (with the exception of several impressions of historical figures such as Einstein, Harry Truman, and Jesus in Episode 108).
The four main actors never appeared as themselves. They each took various roles throughout the sketches, which were linked by segments featuring Adair (Besser), Colby (Poehler), Antoine (Roberts), and Trotter (Walsh), the Upright Citizens Brigade.
The overall plot of the show was that these four were The Upright Citizens Brigade, an underground organization "with no government ties and unlimited resources" dedicated to creating and monitoring chaos from their secure underground base. The sketches depict chaotic or bizarre events in the world, events which are often directly engineered by the UCB. In the Season 2 finale, the FBI invaded the UCB lair as part of a raid to find a Supercool smuggling ring. Because of this, in the third and final season, the UCB had set up operation in a bakery delivery truck. The characters themselves also had less of a presence in the episodes, mostly only being shown quickly between scenes.
Another defining feature of the show was a series of real-world pranks, which tied in with the show's theme. Usually run at the end of each episode, these hidden-camera pranks featured the cast (as either the central UCB characters or other characters from that day's episode) interacting with real strangers. These segments featured such concepts as attempts by UCB cast to buy the fictitious drug "supercool" from real drug dealers in shady dance clubs, a UCB mother trying to convince a real store clerk to let her put up flyers advertising "baby fights," and the UCB at a sidewalk stand attempting to sell "poo-sticks" (sticks with dog feces on one end) as defensive weapons to passersby.
The show was not renewed by Comedy Central after the third season. Its players have since moved on to other projects while still performing in various combinations at their weekly improvised show, ASSSCAT 3000, which can be seen once on Saturday and Sunday nights in Los Angeles, and twice on Sunday nights in New York. Both Poehler and Sanz went on to perform on Saturday Night Live. Comedy Central released a DVD containing the episodes of the first season in 2003. In the fall of 2005, Bravo showed a one-hour special of ASSSCAT Improv with guest stars like Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey, and Andy Richter.
The show's motto was, "Don't think."
The show opened with this narration, voiced by improv legend and UCB guru Del Close: "From the dawn of civilization, they have existed in order to undermine it. Their only enemy is the status quo. Their only friend is chaos. They have no government ties and unlimited resources. If something goes wrong, we are the cause. Every corner of the earth is under their surveillance. If you do it, we see it. Always. We believe the powerful should be made less powerful. We have heard the voice of society, begging us to destabilize it. Antoine. Colby. Trotter. Adair. We are the Upright Citizens Brigade."
Episodes
Season 1
| Screenshot | Title | Episode |
|---|---|---|
| A Realtor shows a house featuring the "Bucket of Truth" and a "Hot Chicks Room". | ||
| Big Red Cat gets harassed by a poo stick while performing mini-movies. | ||
| In an attempt to destabilize society by eradicating prejudice, the UCB host a benefit featuring | the Saigon Suicide Squad.||
| "Power Marketing" guru Duke reveals the secret of his success: a new brain. | ||
| A pro-union puppet-show at the elementary school incites one boy to stand up to his bullying school-bus driver. | ||
| People use the heartwarming story of the toad to bring meaning to their lives. | ||
| A frat guy dates the Lady of the Lake, who bores him with the story of how she once presented King Arthur with Excalibur. | ||
| Andy goes back in time to play cards with Jesus and President Eisenhower. | ||
| The UCB's cyborg project goes wrong. | ||
| Little Donnie has a giant penis....but doesn't know it. | ||
Season 2
| Screenshot | Title | Episode |
|---|---|---|
| Great fights in history: Tesla vs. Edison, man vs. horse, and a young boy's struggle to become a Master Dialectitian. | ||
| The Wu-Tang Clan dig their way into the UCB's secret underground lair. | ||
| A boy repeatedly teased by his classmates seeks revenge with ninja throwing stars and a summoned monster. | ||
| The UCB collects freaks (such as Gilly, the color-blind girl, and a ferocious bikini-wearing Ingret) to star in a new season of "The Real World". | ||
| Wealthy women pay Eli to slap them in the face. | ||
| A friar infestation begins when deli meat and cigars are left out; meanwhile the UCB is busy investigating theme restaurants. | ||
| A man sees Jesus in a plate of spaghetti. | ||
| An urchin shows a rich man around the Big City. | ||
| Bong Boy is in a hurricane, but thinks he's watching it on TV. | ||
| A documentary about the drug supercool, including interviews with the Titté Brothers. | ||
Season 3
| Screenshot | Title | Episode |
|---|---|---|
| When a man tries "werewolf sex" to turn his girlfriend on, she shoots him with a silver bullet. | ||
| A thug from the Mafia tries to give back to the community by donating sperm. | ||
| Grim Reapers work in shifts at the hospital, until they claim Workman's Comp for scythe-related injuries. | ||
| The Breaker-Uppers go on tour; The Murderers perform at an old-fashioned caka-walka. | ||
| The Glendale Fitness Authority sets up Fat Camps to imprision the overweight. | ||
| When one player is possessed by a demon at the college basketball game, the only thing that can save the day is Santa Liqueur. | ||
| When Adair is reincarnated as a sandwich, the UCB must fulfill a sexy prophecy to bring him back. | ||
| A small town has a meeting to discuss dolphin-centric SATs, then "log-rolls" to see who will win the Apocolypse - and unfortunately, Satan wins. | ||
| Mike the Astronaut is trapped in Virtual Reality with a malfunctioning telephone, forced to eat nothing but edible panties, and both verbally and physically abused by the French. | ||
| The first televised Pro Thunderball game! Three balls in play at all times, gorgeous honeys and vicious hounds to distract the players, and a car that roams the infield... | ||
External links
- The official Upright Citizens Brigade website
- The official Upright Citizens Brigade Theater website
- Audio Interview with Matt Besser on The Sound of Young America: MP3 Link
- Audio interview with Matt Walsh on The Sound of Young America
- Matt Walsh and Ian Roberts feature film "Martin & Orloff" *
- The IMDB page for the Upright Citizen's Brigade
"Upright Citizens Brigade"