On today's episode, we talk to Dan Klein and Arthur Meyer, the creators of the delightful and odd webseries The Jerry Seinfeld Program and part of the sketch group Pangaea 3000. As well, Dan is a writer for The Onion and previously wrote for Sportsdome , and Arthur is a contributor to The Onion , half of the sketch group Two Fun Men and a writer on Jimmy Fallon . Back in February, Dan and Arthur came over to the Brooklyn Wrestling Team Apartment to discuss the origins of their webseries, as well...
Apr 26, 2012•54 min
Hello, Beginningsers! On today's episode we talk to Andy Zaltzman, a writer and stand-up based in the UK. Along with the Daily Show 's John Oliver, he co-writes and co-hosts the podcast The Bugle , a satirical news program. Since 1999, he's performed a new hour of stand-up almost every year at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and he's written and performed in a number of BBC Radio programs including currently 7 Day Sunday . A few weeks ago while Andy was in town to do some shows, we met up with hi...
Apr 19, 2012•1 hr 2 min
Holy crumbs, friends! On April 10th, we sat down with some amazng people for our third live episode at UCB East! I hope you're ready to have fun because we have Kevin Allison from The State and the Risk! podcast explaining how his creativity changed after coming out. We also have Daily Show writer Hallie Haglund discussing her steamy re-write of Little Woman. Plus the lovely and wonderful Savoir Adore plays a few songs and tells us tales of being hams as children. Our next live show's Tuesday, M...
Apr 12, 2012•1 hr 15 min
On this episode, we talk to stand-up comedian and writer Dan St. Germain. With the force of personality of a literary heavyweight, Dan has made a name for himself appearing on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and MTV, and writing for Fuse and The Onion , among many others. He's been a "New Face" at the 2011 Montreal Just For Laughs Festival, has been nominated for multiple ECNY awards, and this year he'll be featured on John Oliver’s NY Standup Show . A few weeks ago, Dan came over to the Wrestling ...
Apr 05, 2012•1 hr 13 min
On this episode of Beginnings Field Guide (Beginnings' sister show, where we have creators walk us through a particular thing they've created), we talk again to Devin Clark, the creator, director and executive producer of Ugly Americans, and if you're not watching that show, you're a stupid ass-beast. Get it? Anyway, on this episode, Devin talks to us about a painting of his called Fire-Breathing Meat Knife that will be featured in an upcoming art show. Plus, this is our first enhanced podcast, ...
Mar 29, 2012•23 min
Devin Clark is the creator, executive producer and director of the fantastic Comedy Central show Ugly Americans, which began its life as an animated webseries called 5ON, which Clark created for CC's Motherload. Clark is responsible for the look and tone of the show, and he began his art career at Syracuse University, where he was a video art major and also created a thrice-weekly comic strip for the school newspaper. Eventually he realized he could combine his two loves – video and cartooning –...
Mar 22, 2012•1 hr 10 min
Beginnings Live at UCB East’s second show! On this episode we are joined by the wonderful and funny writers/performers Julie Klausner and Elliott Kalan. Klausner has written for Best Week Ever , is the author of I Don’t Care About Your Band , is host of the podcast How Was Your Week and is the writer and executive producer of a forthcoming NBC series based on the novel Apocolipstick . Kalan is an Emmy Award-winning writer on The Daily Show , has written a number of stories for Marvel Comics and ...
Mar 14, 2012•1 hr 8 min
Jodi Lennon is a writer, performer and director based in New York City. Lennon got her start in Chicago performing at Second City, IO, and the Annoyance Theater, and studying under people like Del Close and Dave Pasquesi. In 1995, she co-created and co-starred in the Comedy Central sketch show Exit 57 with Amy Sedaris, Mitch Rouse, Stephen Colbert, and Paul Dinello. Recently, Lennon has produced a documentary about Marc Maron called The Voice of Something: A Day In the Life of A New York Comic ,...
Mar 08, 2012•1 hr 23 min
On today’s episode we talk to two of the three creators of the insane webseries Teen Wheels. Dan Klein is currently a writer for the Onion and their Get Out of My Face videos and used to write on Sportsdome. He’s also ¼ of Pangaea 3000, one of the best sketch groups in the city. Kelly Hudson is a editor at College Humor and previously worked at Broadway Video, ONN and Vice. She’s also a UCB performer and can be found acting for the house sketch team Beige and writing for their video group Scraps...
Mar 01, 2012•46 min
On February 12th, we sat down with Michael Kupperman and Sean Patton at the UCB's East Village theater and had a ton o' fun! Michael is one of our favorite writer/artists/funny people. He made cartoons for TV Funhouse , created the comics Snake 'n' Bacon and Tales Designed to Thrizzle , and wrote and illustrated the book Mark Twain's Autobiography 1910-2010 . All are amazing! Sean is also one of our favorite stand-ups. He tours all around the US, has been on Jimmy Fallon and Conan, and hosts a s...
Feb 23, 2012•1 hr 6 min
Myq Kaplan’s a brilliant stand-up whose been on Letterman , Conan , The Tonight Show , Craig Ferguson and many other programs. Last week on Beginnings we discussed his creative past and whether comedians have any more neuroses than the average person, and this week on Field Guide we talk about a song he wrote with his music partner Micah Sherman. Why not drop us a line at jokes@wrestlingteam.org and tell us your favorite mammal?...
Feb 16, 2012•25 min
Myq Kaplan is a super-funny stand-up based in New York City. He holds an advanced degree in linguistics and his love of language is apparent in his act, which he’s performed on The Tonight Show, the past season of Last Comic Standing as well as on his own Comedy Central Presents special. His first album Vegan Mind Meld came out in 2010, and it’s great! A week ago, he stopped by the Wrestling Team apartment to talk about lingusitics, creativity and stigmata sex, and we had tons of fun joshing aro...
Feb 09, 2012•1 hr 31 min
John Gemberling has been a house performer at UCB for over eight years, many of them spent on the team Death by Roo Roo, who are widely recognized as one of the best improv groups in the country. John's also been featured on Adult Swim's The Heart, She Holler , the Comedy Central special This Show Will Get You High and as the voice of Blastus on the Cartoon Network show Robotomy . Today, we talk to John about the show he co-created and co-starred in for Adult Swim: Fat Guy Stuck in Internet ! Co...
Feb 02, 2012•53 min
Jamie Lee is a writer and stand-up based in New York City. She was on the final season of Last Comic Standing, performs all over the country and has created a number of webseries including College Humor's "Kid Farm” and "Edna", which we discuss on this episode of Field Guide . And don't forget to check out last week's Beginnings interview with Jamie! Plus, Beginnings Live at UCB East on February 12th at 6pm! Come on down!
Jan 26, 2012•29 min
Jamie Lee is a writer and stand-up based in New York City. Maybe you’ve seen her on the last season of Last Comic Standing? Or maybe on “Kid Farm” the College Humor webseries she co-created? Or when she co-hosted VH1’s Critics Choice Awards? Or the MTV show Ridiculousness that she wrote for? No matter where you’ve seen her or her writing, she’s hilarious and great! Jamie stopped by the Wrestling Team apartment last week and we talked about her ZZ Top photographic parents, overcoming your hatred ...
Jan 19, 2012•1 hr 24 min
On today’s show, we talk to Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, the creators and stars of the great webseries Broad City . The two have been performing comedy in New York for many years before starting their show, and after two seasons and growing buzz, it’s now in development at FX with Amy Poehler as one of the executive producers. While hearing Ilana and Abbi’s inspiring story of their hard work paying off, we also found time to discuss the sadness of strip clubs, sneak attack feminism vs. stealt...
Jan 12, 2012•1 hr 20 min
Halley Feiffer is a actor and playwright from New York City. She’s been in many films including The Squid and the Whale , Margot at the Wedding , and You Can Count on Me and guested on a number of television shows including Flight of the Conchords and Bored to Death . This last year, she made her Broadway debut in The House of Blue Leaves with Ben Stiller and Edie Falco and in 2012, she’ll release her film He’s Way More Famous Than You , which she co-wrote and stars in. Earlier this week, Halley...
Jan 05, 2012•1 hr 31 min
Jesse Moynihan is a storyboard artist/writer on the amazing Cartoon Network show Adventure Time . He's also an amazing comic artist and has been making his own comics for years. On last week's Beginnings episode, we talked about how his past has opened him up to new ways of seeing the world, and on this week's Field Guide , we talk to Jesse about his latest collection of comics Forming vol.1 , now out on Nobrow Press!
Dec 29, 2011•36 min
Jesse Moynihan is a bit of a Renaissance man. He’s a storyboard artist/writer on the amazing Cartoon Network show Adventure Time . He’s also a comic artist who’s been making hilarious, weird and thoughtful comics for years, and his latest collection Forming vol. 1 was just published on Nobrow Press. Jesse’s also a musician and plays in the experimental pop group Make a Rising, who have two fantastic albums with a third on the way. Jesse sat down with us in the Wrestling Team apartment a few week...
Dec 22, 2011•1 hr 19 min
Jared Logan is one of the most jovial, friendly stand-ups you might meet. He’s been on Comedy Central’s Live at Gotham , tours colleges all over the country, and co-hosts a fantastic weekly stand-up show called Righteous Kill . On last week’s Beginnings , we talked to Jared about growing up in West Virginia and about his theatrical roots. On this week’s Field Guide , we discuss one of his favorite recent jokes.
Dec 15, 2011•20 min
Jared Logan is a hilarious stand-up who got his start in Chicago. After being featured on Comedy Central's Live at Gotham in 2008, he moved to New York and has been tearing up the Big Apple ever since, especially with his weekly show Righteous Kill, which he co-hosts with fellow stand-up Joe DeRosa. A few weeks ago, Jared sat down with us in the Wrestling Team apartment. What transpired? Jared taught us that gay stereotypes are true if you only know one gay person! Andy explained his narcissisti...
Dec 08, 2011•1 hr 1 min
That's right, friends, we're doing something special on this week's Field Guide: we interview ourselves! Or, as many might call it "simply having a conversation". Coming up in the next month, we're going to do some special Field Guide episodes where we talk about specific shows and videos that we both enjoy with their creators. To kick that off, we thought we'd discuss a sketch that we perform called "The Newlyweb Game". Our discussion though quickly turns into a referendum on the state of Wrest...
Dec 01, 2011•57 min
Eddie Pepitone is a stand-up and actor who started with Chicago City Limits in New York in the late ‘90s and quickly became part of the city’s comedy scene. He’s performed on Conan O’Brien , Jimmy Kimmel and regularly on Marc Maron’s live WTF s in LA. You might recognize Eddie from season six of Last Comic Standing , as the cook on The Sarah Silverman Program or from his role in the film Old School . He also co-hosts a popular podcast called The Long Shot and has a daily comic strip video series...
Nov 23, 2011•1 hr 2 min
Tom Scharpling is the host of the weekly-call in program The Best Show on WFMU . Tom is also one of the best straight men in comedy, and uses his skills in the duo Scharpling and Wurster. Recently Tom has begun to direct music videos for groups like Ted Leo and the Pharmacists and The New Pornographers, and on this episode of Field Guide we talk about the trailer he made for John Hodgman’s new book. If you want to check out Tom’s full interview, why not listen to the last episode? And we intervi...
Nov 17, 2011•19 min
Tom Scharpling is the host of the critically-acclaimed weekly-call in program The Best Show on WFMU . Grounded by Tom’s sardonic glee, the show features phone calls, comedians and a weekly call between Tom and his comedy partner Jon Wurster, where Wurster plays numerous characters, usually from the made-up town of Newbridge, NJ. Tom was also a writer and executive producer on USA’s Monk , and most recently, he has been directing a number of well-received videos for everyone from The New Pornogra...
Nov 10, 2011•1 hr 8 min
John Lee, along with his co-producer Vernon Chatman and their production/art collective PFFR, are the creators of some of the weirdest and funniest television of the last decade. They’ve been responsible for Wonder Showzen and Xavier: Renegade Angel . They executive produce and direct Jon Glaser’s show Delocated , and their new six-night miniseries The Heart, She Holler debuts this Sunday on Adult Swim. Last week, we talked to John about how Jim Jarmusch inspired him to create, and this week, we...
Nov 03, 2011•18 min
John Lee, along with his co-producer Vernon Chatman and their production/art collective PFFR, have created some of the weirdest and funniest television of the past decade. Wonder Showzen , a show that shoved absurdity, politics and social commentary into a nonsensical children’s show ran on MTV2 for two seasons and Xavier: Renegade Angel , a psychosexual spirit quest wrapped up in fast-paced absurdity and N64 graphics was an Adult Swim hit. Among other projects, John currently executive produces...
Oct 27, 2011•1 hr 6 min
Henry Zebrowski is a member of the terrifying sketch group Murderfist, who were named by the Village Voice as the “Best Sketch Comedy Group in New York.” He was an actor on the Comedy Central show Michael and Michael Have Issues , and has been in numerous College Humor videos. In the forthcoming film Gods Behaving Badly , he plays Hermes alongside Christopher Walken and Sharon Stone! On last week’s Beginnings episode, we talked about turning fear into laughter, and on this week’s Field Guide , w...
Oct 20, 2011•28 min
Henry Zebrowski is an actor and sketch writer living in New York City. He is part of the anarchic sketch group Murderfist, who won the ECNY awards in 2010 for Best Sketch Comedy Group and was named by the Village Voice as the “Best Sketch Comedy Group in New York.” Henry was also an actor on the Comedy Central show Michael and Michael Have Issues , and he plays Hermes in the forthcoming film Gods Behaving Badly with John Turturro, Oliver Platt and Edie Falco among many others. A few weeks ago He...
Oct 13, 2011•1 hr 1 min
Mike Sacks is a humor writer who has contributed to numerous publications including McSweeney’s , GQ and The New Yorker . Many of those pieces were collected in his book Your Wildest Dreams, Within Reason . He’s a member of the Pleasure Syndicate, a writing group composed of writers from places like The Daily Show and The Onion and his first book, And Here’s the Kicker is an anthology of his interviews with famous humorists from Paul Feig to Bob Odenkirk. Last week on Beginnings we discussed Mik...
Oct 06, 2011•25 min
