It is always a curious thing when a person can give a group a word such as “balcony,” and it turns into a scene that follows two wedding guests meeting on a balcony and suddenly trying their hand at romance.
But creating new worlds that stem from one word is what happens every night with the Upright Citizens Brigade TourCo. Dallas got to share one of those moments Saturday night at City Performance Hall in the AT&T Performing Arts Center.
The legendary improv comedy and sketch group Upright Citizens Brigade was founded by comedians Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh, and Saturday Night Live and Parks and Recreation alum Amy Poehler more than 20 years ago, and remains a haven for improvisers in Los Angeles and New York City.
The UCB Touring Company, or TourCo for short, is made up of various UCB-trained improvisers who go around the country performing for audiences that range from city-goers who want a little spice in their nightlife rituals to college students workshopping their own improv. What makes the tour even better is that no one, not even the group, knows what to expect.
Saturday night, four of UCB’s finest strolled onstage and told the audience they were going to do some scenes for them, but first, they wanted to hear stories about something someone was excited about.
One lady was there with her work friends (from AT&T, who would have guessed?), and she was excited about being pregnant. Amidst the other audience suggestions, she was chosen to come up onstage and do a Q&A session with the group so they could gather some bits for their upcoming scene.
Her stories consisted of awkward encounters at Hobby Lobby, taking her dog to an inexpensive doggy daycare in a part of Dallas where she saw a drive-by once — she still takes her dog there — and overspending at work when it came to broadband spectrums. This is how the set formed, bringing out the funniest — and weirdest — parts of the Q&A.
Describing the scenes themselves would be tricky, because with UCB,much like any improv group, seeing the show is kind of a one-time-only deal for anyone involved.
I will say that these comedians were able to create a world where someone’s dog brought drugs home, and the doggy daycare was actually a dog warehouse/daycare all along. They also created a world where AT&T workers needed to figure out how to gain back the money they had overspent, so they decided on no more phones and changed their name to “TT,” which is how it was referred to throughout the rest of the show, even when the performers called back to the scene.
The sold-out show was one for the books. If anyone wasn’t able to snag a ticket for themselves, make sure to do so next time they come around because these guys were quick on their feet, invested in their work, and naturally funny. It’s clear that the members of the UCB TourCo have fun no matter where they are or what stories they have heard. Their radiance on stage is contagious and makes the show even more fun for the audience, especially for those who constantly ask, “How do they do that!? Like, how can they think of something like that so fast?” (That’s a harder question to answer than creating a scene is for improvisers, just an FYI.)
And if you do manage to see a UCB performance, whether with the TourCo or at the company’s flagship, who knows, you might be lucky enough to be a part of their next set.
