| Formation | 1990; 35 years ago (1990) |
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| Type | Theatre group |
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| Location | |
| Website | ucbcomedy |
TheUpright Citizens Brigade (UCB) is animprovisational andsketch comedy group that emerged fromChicago'sImprovOlympic in 1990.[1] The original incarnation of the group consisted ofAmy Poehler,Matthew Walsh,Matt Besser,Ian Roberts,Adam McKay, Rick Roman,Horatio Sanz and Drew Franklin. Other early members includedNeil Flynn, Armando Diaz,Ali Farahnakian andRich Fulcher.
In 2013, Besser, Roberts and Walsh wroteThe Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual.[2]
The Upright Citizens Brigade began performing improv and sketch comedy at Kill the Poet in Chicago in 1991. Their first show was calledVirtual Reality. The group followed with shows titledUCBTV,Conference on the Future of Happiness,Thunderball,Bucket of Truth,Big Dirty Hands,The Real Real World, andPunch Your Friend in the Face.[3]
In 1993, the Upright Citizens Brigade (Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, Amy Poehler, Adam McKay, Rick Roman, and Horatio Sanz) were regular guests on stage at theNew Variety produced and hosted byRichard O'Donnell at the Chicago Improv comedy club, 504 N. Wells.[4]
In 1996, prior to opening their own theatre, the Upright Citizens Brigade relocated toNew York performing their signature improv show, ASSSSCAT, first atKGB Bar, and then later at Solo Arts. Solo Arts was the first semi-permanent home to the Upright Citizens Brigade's Harold Teams and is considered by some to be the group's first theatre.[5][6][7] The shows and classes at Solo Arts were so popular that the UCB were able to open their own theater, theUpright Citizens Brigade Theatre, at 161 W. 22nd Street inChelsea on February 4, 1999.[8] This was a 75-seat auditorium that used to be the Harmony Burlesque Theater, an all-nudelap-dancing club—essentially a storefront. The original theatre was closed on November 18, 2002, after a building inspector ordered the theater to be shut down due to fire code violations. In the months that followed, the theater found a temporary home at the Access Theater on lower Broadway, then moved to the Chelsea Playhouse for a short time before finding a permanent space.[9]
On April 1, 2003, the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre moved to its second official space in Chelsea, a 150-seat theater at 307 West 26th Street in NYC in the former Maverick Theater. The new venue had several advantages over the previous theater on 22nd Street, such as double capacity, a more professional tech booth, larger green room with a greater separation from the stage area, two dressing rooms, storage rooms, twice the number of bathrooms, and a "chill out room".[10][11]
In 2005, the Los Angeles branch of the theater opened at 5919 Franklin Avenue in Hollywood, offering improv, sketch and stand-up comedy shows nightly with a 120-seat capacity. Soon after,Comedy Bang! Bang! (formerly Comedy Death-Ray), a Los Angelesalternative comedy show, moved from its former home at the M Bar to join the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, appearing on Tuesday nights.[12]
In September 2011,[13] UCB opened a second theater on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, at 153 E 3rd St. This theater featured 124 seats, two lobbies, and a full bar known as the "Hot Chicks Room" in reference to an episode of theUpright Citizens Brigade TV show.[14] Often referred to as "the Beast" (aportmanteau shortening of "UCB East"), the theater was initially opened in hopes of showcasing morestand-up comedy. This venue ran smaller-scale shows for $10 or less.[15][16] The UCB East permanently closed on February 9, 2019. In its stead, the group once (but no longer) offered three nights of programming per week in the nearby SubCulture theatre on Bleecker Street.[15]
An expansion in Los Angeles started in 2014.[17] In 2014, UCBLA announced the opening of UCB Theatre Sunset located at 5419Sunset Boulevard for November 1. The venue played home to Upright Citizens Brigade's training center, an 85-seat theatre, cafe/performance space called Inner Sanctum, video production offices, and even retail stores on street level.[18] This location was sold in December 2020, leaving the Franklin theater as the only space owned by UCB.[19]
At the start of 2017, ticket prices increased (the first in ten years).[20] In October 2017, it was announced that the UCB Chelsea location would close. The last show in Chelsea was Wednesday, November 28, 2017.[21]
The next UCB space, from November 30, 2017, was at 555 42nd Street inHell's Kitchen,[22] the former home to thePearl Theatre Company.[23]
The Upright Citizens Brigade has performed in the Comedy Tent at theBonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee.
Prior to theCOVID-19 pandemic,[24] UCB had locations in theNew York City neighborhoods of Hell's Kitchen and theEast Village, and onSunset Boulevard inLos Angeles. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this location and the New York training center were closed on Tuesday, April 21, 2020, leaving no NYC locations of UCB, with no confirmed plans for revival.[25]
In March 2022, former owner and CEO ofThe Onion, Mike McAvoy, and co-founder of Mosaic talent management, Jimmy Miller, acquired UCB and its lone remaining theater with the backing of private equity firm Elysian Park.[26] They reopened the Los Angeles UCB comedy theater and Los Angeles training centers in September 2022.[27] On June 29, 2023, UCB announced its return to New York at 242 E. 14th Street, featuring a 130-seat theater, a bar, and a lounge. The space officially reopened in September 2024.[28]
TheUpright Citizens Brigade Theatre (shortened toUCB Theatre or justUCB) is an Americanimprovisational and sketch comedy training center and theatre, originally founded by UCB troupe membersMatt Besser,Amy Poehler,Ian Roberts andMatt Walsh.[29][9]
The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre Training Center teaches long-form improv, sketch, writing, parts of directing, and various other comedy skills.[29] The training center's philosophy of improv is based largely on the teachings ofDel Close, with a strong emphasis on the "game" of the scene.[30] In 2013, they co-authored a manual titledThe Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual.[31][32] The primary improvisational form is "The Harold", and the theater in all its incarnations has had a group of "Harold Teams", house teams that perform regularly.[33]
The original group,Matt Besser,Matt Walsh,Ian Roberts, andAmy Poehler, have had two TV shows—Upright Citizens Brigade andThe UCB Show—and their showASSSSCAT has been televised twice. In addition, they had a TV movie calledEscape From It's a Wonderful Life and appeared weekly onLate Night with Conan O'Brien in the '90s.
In 2002 they created and starred in the filmMartin & Orloff, and made another movie in 2007 titledWild Girls Gone. Neither film was particularly successful or well received.
The group has participated in web series including the ongoing seriesUCB Comedy Originals, created in 2008, which occasionally shows sketches, andI Hate Being Single, created in 2012.
In 2016,Universal Cable Productions announced signing Upright Citizens Brigade to afirst-look production deal.[34]
Saturday Night Live has been known for seeking top talent from UCB's pool of students.[35]
TV shows likeThe Chris Gethard Show created byChris Gethard, andBroad City created byAbbi Jacobson andIlana Glazer, started out as UCB experiments.
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