Every year the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre hosts Cagematch, a long-running improv competition where UCB Harold teams and indie groups compete head-to-head with the winner determined by audience votes. So far this season, a triumvirate of ladies (Nicole Byer, Sasheer Zamata and Keisha Zollar) called Doppelganger have made a name for themselves by defeating a pair of UCB Harold teams and accumulating the fourth highest "Votes Per Show" margin in the tournament's history. I spoke with the ladi... [Read More]

Marking its seventh anniversary this week, the Providence Improv Festival will once again bring big improv fest atmosphere to the smallest state in the nation. [Read More]

If you like you some high-octane, all-star improvised comedy showcases, and would like to see them all in one concentrated neighborhood of NYC's Manhattan island in the sweatiest part of summer, ... [Read More]

A video introducing Shannon O'Neill's one-woman show warns that, among the thoughts that may enter your brain, are "deviant," "sexy" and "why did I find that sexy?" True, true, true on all counts. How does "Prison Freaks: A Talent Show" manage to be deviant, sexy and above all else, so funny? And how did it take O'Neill so long to develop her first one-woman show? [Read More]

Do you have an improv group and/or show that you'd like to share with the improv-loving comedy community? Why not share it at the one place where the biggest fans and performers of the genre will be congregated? Why, yes, I speak of the Del Close Marathon. The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre has announced the 2010 dates for DCM 12: July 30 through Aug. 1. [Read More]

You've heard of 2 Girls, 1 Cup, right? I'm not going to link to that viral video shocker that shocked millions with its NSFW depths. But the Upright Citizens Brigade's Ian Roberts, co-star of the upcoming Spike TV sitcom, Players, decided that without a proper marketing budget, he would re-create that video all by himself in "1 Guy, 1 Cup." As UCB co-founder Matt Walsh sat by and told him repeatedly not to do such a thing. [Read More]

Alan Schuler, who performed to a sold out crowd last Friday night at Theater 168 in Scottsdale, is now in the burn unit at Maricopa Medical Center. His friends said doctors have pulled him out of a medically induced coma, but that the member of the Jesterz Improv Troupe still has a long ways to go before he's making people laugh again. [Read More]

The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre presents two special performances of their long-running improv show, ASSSSCAT, to raise support for Mercy Corps' relief efforts in Haiti after the devastating earthquake of January 12th. Every dollar raised at the show will go directly to Mercy Corps' relief efforts in Haiti. [Read More]

The big buzz in the world of comedy this weekend is the thoughtful email back-and-forth that comedian Paul F. Tompkins published on his website yesterday between himself and Charlie Todd, the creator of the public prank comedy troupe Improv Everywhere, those people who spontaneously sing in supermarkets and stuff. [Read More]

Thomas Crane is driven. Which is nothing new in the world of improv. iO Chicago, the famed improvisation company and school, has had students drive from Detroit for classes. Second City once had a student who flew in every week from Georgia. Thomas Crane is special. He is 24 and unemployed. Until recently he served as emcee at a dance club. After seeing iO on a TV report about improv, he decided to take a class where Chris Farley, his favorite comic, took classes. But the commute stinks. [Read More]