Episode UCB2 — Bonus: Ask The UCB 2

[JulyDiaz 2797]

Humans, welcome to another episode of Ask The UCB with Matt Besser! Get a peek into Matt’s workshop with the UCB’s Harold Teams as part of the 15th Annual Del Close Marathon featuring scenes by improvisers Brennan Mulligan, Ryan Haney, and Carrie McCrossen. Enjoy! You can now get the UCB Comedy Improv Manual at http://ucbstore.com/books/the-upright-citizens-brigade-comedy-improvisation-manual, Matt Besser’s new comedy album at mattbesser.com, and Dragoon’s new album at dragoongalaxy.bandcamp.com!

[lylachka 134]

Besser is such an awesome teacher. I am super jealous of these improvers, it learned so much just in this hour and it definitely convinced me to buy the book. Mission accomplished.

[MichaelStanford 69]

Very insightful episode!

 

It's always great to hear people talk about things they're passionate about. As an improv noob, getting this kind of information for free is incredible

[lylachka 134]

....getting this kind of information for free is incredible

 

Definitely. I would pay to listen to eps like this in the futch.

[Basil Marlowe 16]

This was fantastic.

I would listen to this every week!

I got to know Besser through the Earwolf challenge and I loved his teaching style, logic, analysis of philosophy and notes.

Then Improv4Humans came out and is so funny and so skilfully performed. It makes me want to get the UCB manual.

And after having listened to this ep, I'm certain the manual is gold.

 

More of these, please.

[Jon Onyx 1226]

Great episode. Would love to see matt dissect improv scenes in future podcats.

 

I love the inside baseball stuff

[peanutbutterbreakfast 0]

Please, please do more of these. This was incredible.

 

I've always wanted to take a class with any one of the UCB 4, but since they don't seem to teach any more (out here in L.A., anyway) this is the next best thing.

 

Thanks, Matt. Loved this.

[Hot - Slunch 772]

Hey Matt, I don't know if you're checking this thread out but I was wondering if you could clarify something for me. I may be paraphrasing a bit here... You mentioned that doing improv in a super supportive environment could hurt your improv and likened it to doing standup for mostly comedians as an audience.

 

In regards to the standup thing, do you mean that it could harm you because you won't have to win over a crowd? Or is it because comedians will naturally get what you're going for a little bit more, and therefore you won't learn to develop material as well? Or am I just misinterpreting things?

[Kickpuncher 5012]

This was really fascinating and, whether fully intentional or only a nice side effect, was a really good advertisement for the UCB book, because it made me want to dig deeper into this stuff even if I have no real desire to get into performing improv.

[Somebody 12]

This was amazing.

 

I loved the bit about taking your mind off "Better" and going for "Good." It's counterintuitive because, as an artist, you want to avoid going for the easy thing; you want to do something amazing that's never been done before and is gonna blow everybody's mind.

 

But you're absolutely right, that's a terrible place for your mind to be when you're creating anything. It takes your mind away from creating and towards criticizing and doubting. If you're painting something and each stroke you're thinking about making something "better" instead of making something "good" you'll keep trying to take that painting in different, better directions and end up with a huge mess (you'll also end up hating it & scrapping it).

 

Start with a good foundation. You can take that good thing mindblowing places later.

[Poika 615]

This was absolutely fascinating. Improv4humans is my go to podcast after Comedy Bang Bang. Besser is a very good teacher and is a tremendous asset to anyone that doesn't have a delicate ego.

[Erika 249]

Earwolf really needs to advertise stuff like this better, I almost missed it. Agreed with everyone else that this was really insightful, hoping for more Ask the UCB in future!

[Spotting Waldo 10]

This was fantastic.

I would listen to this every week!

I got to know Besser through the Earwolf challenge and I loved his teaching style, logic, analysis of philosophy and notes.

That was a great show. I loved the way Matt would break down the elements of the podcasts and provided thoughtful, sometimes harsh, feedback. But you can tell that he was tough because he wants to help people up their game and improve their craft. I think that shows in this Ep as well.