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January 15, 2008

Vice interviews Asssscat

The latest issue of Vice Magazine -- the "Second Annual Fiction Issue" -- features interviews with improvisors Amy Poehler, John Lutz, and Jack McBrayer in the context of UCB's Asssscat.

Improv comedy is the bravest, most immediate form of making up stories that there is. It’s not always the funniest, or the smartest, or the best, but it’s always the bravest. The dawgs who do this shit have big balls, yo.

[...]

The basic theory of good improv is, we think, about letting go, accepting looking stupid, and making mistakes then turning them into gold at the drop of a dime. Most people who are great at improv, like Asssscat, learned this stuff first- or second-hand from a man named Del Close, who is to improv comedy what George Washington is to America or Thomas Edison is to, oh, you know, quadruplex-telegraph repeaters.

Anyway, on a good night, watching Asssscat perform is like being in a car speeding downhill with no brakes—in a funny way. They pretty much know the secret that unlocks the enchanted world of laughter, so we decided to try and get them to tell us…

Two minor corrections: it's Schaumburg, not Schomberg, and ImprovOlympic, not Improv Olympics. No S, no space. (Well, and it's iO anyway, now.)

Posted by Fuzzy at January 15, 2008 11:39 PM