Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre

On Sunday, May 20, 2012, The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre will be participating in the annual New York City AIDS Walk. This team will be organized by UCBT's John Milhiser and Ryan Williams

This will be the first year that UCBT will be participating in the walk. UCBT performers, writers, students, employees, friends and hangers-on are invited to take on the challenge of raising funds for the AIDS Walk by asking friends, family members, co-workers, neighbors, audiences and teammates to... Read More

Congratulations to UCBT performer and teacher
Margot Leitman (Stripped Stories), who has signed a deal to have her book of stories published with Seal Press. Look for it on your favorite book retailer's shelf in 2013.

From the publisher's description:

Comedian Margot Leitman, a storytelling teacher at the Upright Citizens Brigade, puts tall girls into three categories. There’s the effervescent model-types, who glide from room to room with grace and elegance, whose clothes drape... Read More

Elle April 2012
The Other Woman
by Nojan Aminosharei

The creators and stars of NBC's Best Friends Forever share a love that cannot speak its name -- not if the censors can help it.

Since Lucy met Ethel, TV has spun comedy gold from female partnership. But it's never been so eerily familiar as in NBC's hilarious new Best Friends Forever, about a pair whose sweatpants-and-Steel Magnolias cry-fests are interrupted when one's live-in boyfriend enters the fold. Here, series... Read More

From Jezebel.com:

<b>
Introducing Pam & Sue, Your New Favorite Comedy Duo</b>

You might know
Sue Galloway, one half of the comedic powerhouse Pam and Sue, from her role as Sue LaRoche-Van der Hout on 30 Rock and, if you happen to have access to the UCB Theatre, you might recognize
Pamela Murphy from The C Word, her fantastic and hilarious one-woman show about getting cancer. Or maybe you don't recognize them at all. Either way, they are a delight and you should watch their... Read More

<b>
'Trale Lewous' Is Official Skittles Spokesman Thanks To Viral Videos</b>
Anna Almendrala

LOS ANGELES -- Police detentions, pratfalls, crazy dance sessions and a general sense of shamelessness have paid off rather well for
Nathan J. Barnatt.

The LA-based actor (with the help of his creative partner, director Paul Cummings) has just been selected as Skittles' official spokesman for an ad campaign called "Ride The Rainbow," but Barnatt didn't win the post through auditions or a... Read More

<b>
I Hate Being Single's Rob Michael Hugel Is Your New Favorite Hipster</b>
By Jen Carlson in Arts & Entertainment


Rob Michael Hugel's new web series a
I Hate Being Single is becoming a fast favorite amongst those who have discovered it, and we're here to pass it along to you. Hugel has created the opposite of the MTV brand of hipster caricature portrayed in I Just Want My Pants Back, and manages to cover the H-word nation in a much more refreshing way (yes, it's possible). So sit... Read More

<b>
SXSW Comedy Recap: Day 4</b>
Samantha Pitchel

By the mid-point of SXSW Comedy (and Day Five of the festival itself), you're probably over being jealous of everyone in Austin; with four more days to go, and four without sleep already down, the 'oh my god we're only halfway through this' panic is starting to set in. Luckily, Tuesday kept spirits up with perhaps the best all-around night of comedy on the Esther's Follies stage this week, from a satisfyingly awkward episode of Pete... Read More

From an interview with Judd Apatow ("Bridesmaids", "Knocked Up") on CNN's The Marquee Blog:

<b>"I think a lot of studios today are run by women, and we are entering a time when a lot of women have evolved in Second City and Upright Citizens Brigade and wanted to become writers and comedians. So we are seeing that come to fruition.”</b>

Read the full article
here. Read More

From Television Without Pity:

<b>TWoP:</b> With so many sketch comics finding success in film and television these days -- yourself, Amy Poehler, Rob Corddry, etc. -- do you think that form is getting more respect?

<b>Riggle:</b> I hope so. The education I got at the Upright Citizens Brigade theater in New York, I'd put up against anybody. For me, it was a Master's Degree in acting and writing and performing. As an improviser, if you're doing long-form improve like you do at the UCB or Second... Read More

<b>
NBC Brings Back ‘Community’, Schedules ‘Bent’, ‘BFF’ And ‘Off Their Rockers’, Shuffles Wednesday & Thursday</b>
By NELLIE ANDREEVA


NBC will make more changes to its Wednesday and Thursday lineups in the spring, when it will bring back cult favorite Community and introduce the remaining three unscheduled midseason series — comedies Bent and Best Friends Forever and the unscripted Betty White’s Off Their Rockers, which received solid sampling after the network’s Betty White birthday... Read More

Deadline February 10, 2012
Christine Woods To Star In NBC Pilot ‘Daddy’s Girls’, ‘Friday Night Dinner’ Adds 3
by Nellie Andreeva

Kevin Bigley, Gil Ozeri, and Aya Cash round out the cast of Greg Daniels’ single-camera comedy pilot Friday Night Dinner. The single-camera project, based on the British format, centers on a quirky family that has dinner together every Friday night. Bigley will play one of the older son Paul who is a little immature and sells batteries over the Internet.... Read More

Gotham Magazine January 23, 2012
The Stars of NBC's BFF Make Us Laugh
by Jill Sieracki
photo by Gregg Delman

Comediennes Jessica St. Clair and Lennon Parham met more than a decade ago at New York’s famed improvisational comedy theater the Upright Citizens Brigade, and as St. Clair recalls, came together over a mutual appreciation of sweater sets. Today, their friendship has morphed into a new comedy, BFF, which debuts on NBC this spring.

In the show, newly divorced Jessica... Read More

New sketch show, "Key & Peele" premieres on Comedy Central, Tues., Jan 31 at 10:30 PM/9:30 central! "Key & Peele" stars Mad TV alumni Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele. The show is executive produced by UCB founding member, Ian Roberts and his writing partner Jay Martel, and the writing staff is comprised almost entirely of UCB performers and alumni, including Colton Dunn, Charlie Sanders, Alex Rubens, Rebecca Drysdale and Sean Conroy!  After its premiere, "Key & Peele" will air every... Read More

Elle February 2012
Funny Games
by Nojan Aminosharei
photo by Brigitte Sire

Happy Endings' Adam Pally will do anything for a laugh.  We love a man who commits

<b>Who:</b> Adam Pally, 29

<b>What:</b> As Max, the manic gay perma-slob on ABC's perfectly smart and silly six-friends-in-the-city sitcom Happy Endings, Pally earns every laugh.  See: Max downing a meatball sub shirtless to disenchant an infatuated female friend.  But, faced with his scruffy, blue-eyed everydude charm, we -- and the... Read More

AV Club January 16, 2012
Interview: Ben Schwartz
by Steve Heisler

Ben Schwartz made a big splash on Parks And Recreation when he showed up as Jean-Ralphio, Tom Haverford’s friend and applicant for the job of Ron Swanson’s assistant. But lacking any real assistant skills, Jean-Ralphio promised simply to get Ron into the hottest clubs and pad out his entourage with another over-the-top wingman. That faux-swagger continued each time Schwartz returned to the show, notably in the... Read More

<b>
Amy Poehler, Molly Shannon et al. Lead San Francisco Sketchfest, 1/19 - 2/4</b>

 
SF Sketchfest will celebrate the 11th annual San Francisco Comedy Festival by honoring Eddie Izzard and the Upright Citizens Brigade with in-person tributes and by welcoming Drew Carey, Jennifer Coolidge, David Cross, Rachel Dratch, Chris Elliott, Will Forte, Elliott Gould, John Hodgman, Sally Kellerman, Marc Maron, Bruce McCulloch, Christopher Meloni, Laraine Newman, Bob Odenkirk, Amy Poehler, Paul... Read More

San Francisco Chronicle January 8, 2012

Amy Poehler talks of Upright Citizens Brigade
by Michael Ordoña, Special to The Chronicle
photo by Jakub Mosur

"I don't remember when it started. I hope it never ends," Amy Poehler says of the Upright Citizens Brigade, the inexorably expanding improv machine she co-engineered in the early '90s. The petite juggernaut - and the rest of UCB's founders - will be in San Francisco this month to be feted at SF Sketchfest.

"There have been... Read More

The 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards nominations have been announced! Congratulations to UCBT co-founder Amy Poehler on her nomination.

The Golden Globe Awards will be held on Sunday, January 15, 2012 on NBC.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical

<b>Laura Dern</b>, Enlightened

<b>Zooey Deschanel</b>, New Girl

<b>Tina Fey</b>, 30 Rock

<b>Laura Linney</b>, The Big C

<b>Amy Poehler</b>, Parks and Recreation

(source) Read More

Gothamist December 14, 2011
There's Going To Be An Entire Movie About Improv Everywhere
by Jen Carlson

Ben Folds, Aubrey Plaza, Harry Crane... these are all people who show up in the teaser for Improv Everywhere's documentary. The film is a work in progress, and the troupe has launched a Kickstarter to help raise the $125,000 they need to complete it. That may seem a little steep when you're confronted with lines like "And from there we took our pants off, and the rest is history,"... Read More

Congratulations to UCBT writers and performers on their nominations for 2012 WGA awards!

See all nominations below.

<b>
THE 2012 WRITERS GUILD AWARD NOMINATIONS </b>

TELEVISION NOMINEES

<b>COMEDY SERIES</b>  

30 Rock, Written by Jack Burditt, <b>Hannibal Buress</b>, <b>Kay Cannon</b>, Robert Carlock, Tom Ceraulo, Vali Chandrasekaran, Tina Fey, Jon Haller, Matt Hubbard, Dylan Morgan, John Riggi, Josh Siegal, Ron Weiner, <b>Tracey Wigfield</b>; NBC

Parks & Recreation, Written by Greg Daniels, <b>Katie Dippold</b>,... Read More