On today's show, we talk to writer Sam Lipsyte . Based in New York City, Sam has written for numerous publications including The New Yorker , Open City , The New York Times Book Review , Esquire and The Paris Review . In 2000, a book of Sam's short stories was published, and since then, he has released three novels - The Subject Steve , Home Land , and The Ask . In 2008, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and Sam's latest novel, The Fun Parts , will be released by Farrar, Straus and Giroux o...
Nov 15, 2012•1 hr 26 min
On today's episode we talk to Gavin Spieller and Geoff Garlock about the concept of game and the way the Upright Citizens Brigade school teaches it. Two of the best improv and sketch teachers at the UCB, Geoff wrote for years on the house sketch teams iBadger, The Skuntz and Slow Burn, and Gavin has been a long-standing member of the improv team Death by Roo Roo, which performs at the theatre every Saturday night. Subscribe on iTunes and come see Beginnings: Live on December 4th at UCB East!...
Nov 08, 2012•1 hr 36 min
On today's show, we talk to Greg Barris . Greg is a stand-up, musician and artist based in New York City. For the last eleven years, Greg has been performing and for the last two, he has helmed a bicoastal comedy event called Heart of Darkness , a communal show featuring music, stand-up and more. Recently, he released his first comedy album Shame Wave on AST Records. A few weeks ago, Greg came over to the Manhattan Wrestling Team apartment for an amazing talk about consensual creepiness, experim...
Nov 01, 2012•1 hr 28 min
On today's show, we talk to Ben Blacker and Ben Acker of The Thrilling Adventure Hour , a podcast and staged show in the style of old time radio that frequently stars comedians and actors like Paul F. Tompkins, Paget Brewster and James Urbaniak. Acker and Blacker are also TV writers and have written for shows like the WB's Supernatural and networks like Fox, Nickelodeon and USA. They also work in comics and recently wrote a Wolverine graphic novel for Marvel and are working on a Kickstarter camp...
Oct 29, 2012•1 hr 9 min
On today's show we talk to Geoff Haggerty and Sam West, two of the creators behind The Onion 's YouTube webseries Sex House . Before becoming a writer on VH1's Big Morning Buzz Live , Geoff was the Creative Director for Onion Digital Studios and Sam is currently Head Writer. The remaining presence of The Onion in New York, Onion Digital Studios is responsible for producing videos for YouTube, which include a new series of TED-like talks, an incredibly dark food travelogue called Porkin' Across A...
Oct 25, 2012•1 hr 3 min
On today's show we talk to Thu Tran. Thu is an artist and entertainer based in New York City. Growing up in Cleveland, she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Glass from the Cleveland Institute of Art. Since then, she's been a frequent collaborator with mash-up musician Girl Talk, and in 2009, she created the show Food Party for IFC, which ran for two seasons. Part cooking show and part puppet show, Food Party was surreal and wonderful. A few weeks ago, Thu stopped by the Manhattan Wrestli...
Oct 18, 2012•1 hr 47 min
Yowza! This last Tuesday, on a rainy and cool night, we had some of our favorite comedians and one of our favorite bands sit down with us at UCB East for a delightful chat about the X-Men's Gambit, $10 words, the Lego stock exchange and everybody's favorite Christian rock band Switchfoot. Nate Bargatze ( Comedy Central Presents , his new AST album Yelled at by a Clown ) and Sara Schaefer ( You Had to Be There podcast, the forthcoming The Nikki and Sara Show on MTV) made us laugh and Cymbals Eat ...
Oct 11, 2012•1 hr 21 min
On today's show we talk with writer and actor Matt Oberg. With a background in theater, Matt moved to New York to pursue acting professionally and eventually made his way into the comedy world through the People's Improv Theater. He's had parts in many shows including 30 Rock and Delocated , and had major roles in two Onion productions, as the anchor in Sports Dome and as one of the many Tucker Hopes on IFC's ONN . He also voiced Mark Lily, the main character on the incredible cartoon Ugly Ameri...
Oct 04, 2012•1 hr 24 min
On today's show we talk to the primary member of the band The Mountain Goats, John Darnielle. John first started The Mountain Goats in college, originally as a lo-fi solo act, but since 2002 has recorded with a full band, which often includes Jon Wurster of Superchunk. Highly literate, emotionally intelligent and with a background in poetry, Darnielle has been referred to by New Yorker critic Sasha Frere-Jones as "America's best lyricist." A few weeks ago, I left work for a "doctor's appointment...
Sep 27, 2012•1 hr 14 min
On today's show we talk to writer and performer Chris Gethard about The Chris Gethard Show . Starting as a stage show at the UCB Theatre in 2009, The Chris Gethard Show was a showcase for Gethard's love of akwardness, sadness and strange stunts. In 2011, Gethard took the show to it's bizarrely logical next step and debuted it on the Manhattan Neighborhood Network public access channel, where it's since gained a national cult following, and is every bit the visual equivalent of Tom Scharpling's T...
Sep 20, 2012•48 min
Yams! This last Tuesday, Lizz Winstead, creator of The Daily Show , founder of Air America Radio and author of Lizz Free or Die ; David Rees, author of Get Your War On and How to Sharpen Pencils ; and Carl Newman of The New Pornographers joined us for a fantastically fun episode taped live at UCB East. Beginnzers, buckle your hearing-enjoyment nodules to your skull 'cause this a real barn-burner as we get in deep about The Shaggs, Paul McCartney and vaginal teeth. Hakuna dentata, friends! (also,...
Sep 13, 2012•1 hr 18 min
On today's show, we talk to Chris Gethard. Chris is a writer and prformer based in New York City, who started with the UCB Theatre over a decade ago and currently performs on their house improv team The Stepfathers. UCB is also where he incubated The Chris Gethard Show , a Best Show -like program which can be found weekly on the Manhattan Neighborhood Network. On addition to this, Chris has also penned a book of autobiographical tales entitled A Bad Idea I'm About to Do and was recently adopted ...
Sep 06, 2012•1 hr 39 min
On today's show we talk to Gabrielle Bell. Gabrielle is a comics artist based in Brooklyn, whose books and short stories have been published on a number of indie presses, from Drawn and Quarterly to Fantagraphics, and in anthologies like Mome and Kramer's Ergot . She also collaborated with filmmaker Michel Gondry on an adaptation of her story "Cecil and Jordan in New York" for the film anthology Tokyo . A few weeks ago, Gabrielle came over to the Manhattan Wrestling Team apartment and got in dee...
Aug 30, 2012•1 hr 43 min
Beginnzers! This episode was totes fun, hun! Last Tuesday, we were joined live at UCB East with some of our favorite comedians (and people! all nice and friendly!) including Thu Tran, creator of IFC's Food Party ; James Adomian, stand-up and C omedy Bang! Bang! favorite; Nikki Glaser, stand-up and co-host of the great podcast You Had to Be There and my new favorite band Swearin'. This is a super-fun episode, so break out your Enjoyment Slacks and dig in!Also! Don't forget the next live episode o...
Aug 23, 2012•1 hr 37 min
On today's episode, we talk to Katie Hartman and Leah Rudick AKA Skinny Bitch Jesus Meeting. As one of the best sketch groups in New York City, Katie and Leah have garnered many accolades since their formation, and have performed all around the country at everything from the Los Angeles Comedy Festival to the Ladies Are Funny Festival and internationally at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where The Guardian named them the “Biggest Revelation”. Currently, their show The Underdeveloped and Overexpo...
Aug 16, 2012•1 hr 36 min
On today's show we talk to Gregg Gillis AKA Girl Talk. Gregg is a musician based in Pittsburgh, PA, and in 2000, he began recording as Girl Talk, a mash-up project that's as much pop culture criticism as it is a dance party. After picking up momentum in 2006, Gregg's been selling out festivals all over the world, was on Time Magazine and Rolling Stone's top music lists and has even had a day named in his honor by Pittsburgh. A few weeks ago, we met up with Gregg in his hotel lobby while he was i...
Aug 09, 2012•1 hr 28 min
On today's show, we talk to Ethan Berlin about IFC's Bunk , the surreal gameshow he co-created with Eric Bryant. Hosted by Kurt Brauhohler (who was just named one of Variety 's comics to watch), playing a smarmy, high-status goof, Bunk takes the format of a typical gameshow and punches it in the spine, challengeing contestants like Thomas Lennon and Eugene Mirman to absurd games that yield nonsensical prizes. Bunk is a delight and one of the best shows that's been on this summer!...
Aug 02, 2012•32 min
On today's episode, we talk to Ian Roberts. As one of the founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade, Ian has been a strong comedic force for over two decades. Beyond the sketch show and the three theatres that bear the UCB name, Ian has been a part of many fantastic films and shows. He co-wrote and starred in the film Martin and Orloff , he was featured in the final season of Reno 911! , and he currently executive produces and writes on the Comedy Central show Key and Peele . At the end o...
Jul 26, 2012•1 hr 35 min
On today's episode we talk to Ethan Berlin. Ethan is a writer and performer based in New York City. Starting on the show C rank Yankers in the early 2000s, he's since written for Sasha Baron Cohen on Da Ali G Show , Lopez Tonight and Billy on the Street among many other shows. Currently he is the co-creator and executive producer of the absurd game show Bunk on the Independent Film Channel. A few weeks ago, Ethan came over to the Manhattan Wrestling Team apartment and talked to us about what it'...
Jul 19, 2012•1 hr 31 min
Wowzers! On Tuesday, July 10th we hosted another patented™ Beginnings: Live at UCB East, and what a doozy it was! We had Dapwell, hypeman for the hip hop group Das Racist as well as Das Racist labelmate Lakutis. Nick Vatterott, a stand-up who's been on Conan and Jimmy Fallon (as well as his own Comedy Central Half Hour ) joined us as well, but that's not all! Ali Wong - from Chelsea Lately , The Tonight Show , Are You There, Chelsea? and the new Oliver Stone film Savages - told some fantastic st...
Jul 12, 2012•1 hr 17 min
Live at the Del Close Marathon, which took place over the last weekend here in New York City, we had the pleasure of talking to one of our comedic idols: Matt Walsh! One of the founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade, Matt has been in a ton of films from Old School to The Hangover, he's helmed a number of series on Comedy Central and FX, and he's currently one of the leads in Armando Iannucci's HBO series, Veep. During a late night slot at UCB East, we talked with Matt about his childho...
Jul 05, 2012•50 min
On today’s episode we talk to Jon Daly. Jon is an improviser and actor based in Los Angeles, who got his start on the influential improv team Mother at UCBNY in the early 2000s. Since then he’s acted on TV in Human Giant and Happy Endings and on film in Mystery Team and the forthcoming The Secret Life of Walter Mitty . He performs regularly at UCBLA and also appears on Comedy Bang! Bang! as many different characters including Bill Cosby-Bukowski and Sappity Tappity, the drunk English rollerbladi...
Jun 28, 2012•1 hr 28 min
On today’s episode we talk to Fran Kranz. Fran is an actor based in New York and LA, and his credits include films like Jake Kasdan’s The TV Set and television shows like Welcome to the Captain with Jeffrey Tambor. In the last few years, he’s been involved in a number of Joss Whedon projects, playing Topher Brink on Dollhouse and starring in the critically-acclaimed smash The Cabin in the Woods as stoner Marty Mikalski. Recently, he played the role of Bernard in the Broadway revival of Death of ...
Jun 21, 2012•1 hr 4 min
Hey, Beginzers! (Like a yinzer, but you listen to Beginnings!) We sat down with some of our favorite people on Tuesday the 12th at UCB East for a frank and somber discussion of the merits of the Spanish bank bailout. J/K! We totes just joked around and talked about our earliest creative memories. We were joined by Kurt Braunohler, the host of IFC’s fantastic new show Bunk and Dan McCoy, a writer on The Daily Show , as well as the band Moon Hooch, who played some music for us and told some amazin...
Jun 14, 2012•1 hr 15 min
On today's episode of Field Guide , we talk about creativity and relationships with husband and wife performers Christian Finnegan and Kambri Crewes. Christian is a stand-up and actor who's been on Best Week Ever and has his own Comedy Central Presents . He also wrote for Colin Quinn's Tough Crowd and can be currently seen on the TBS sitcom Are We There Yet? Kambri is a writer, storyteller and producer who ran the incredible comedy room Ochi's Lounge underneath Comix and currently produces shows...
Jun 07, 2012•1 hr 8 min
On today’s show, we talk to Seth Reiss. Seth is a writer and performer based in Chicago, and is currently head writer at The Onion . He also contributes to McSweeney’s and previously wrote for the Sklar Brothers show Cheap Seats . Last week on Beginnings proper, we talked to Seth about his background in theater, and this week on Beginnings: Field Guide , we talk to him about his most favorite Onion article. Plus, don't miss us live! 6/12: Beginnings: Live at UCB East, 9:30pm w/ Kurt Braunohler (...
May 31, 2012•30 min
On today's show, we talk to Seth Reiss. Seth is a writer and performer based in Chicago, and is currently head writer at The Onion . He also contributes to McSweeney's and previously wrote for the Sklar Brothers show Cheap Seats . As well, Seth is 1/4 of the sketch group Pangaea 3000, which can be found performing all over the country. In April, Seth came over the the Brooklyn Wrestling Team apartment and talked with us about sweet Southwest PA, moms and baby dolls, and about being an asshole to...
May 24, 2012•1 hr 27 min
Matt Ruby is a stand-up based in New York whose blog Sandpaper Suit is one of the best resources for discussing the ins and outs of actually writing and performing comedy. Matt also co-hosts Hot Soup, a monthly stand-up show at UCB East and tours around the U.S. performing at clubs and festivals like SXSW and Bridgetown.Two weeks ago, we discussed his early creative experiences on Beginnings proper, and on today's Field Guide, he leads us through the origins of one of his jokes!
May 17, 2012•24 min
Holy Habitat for Humanities! This past Tuesday at UCB East we taped our 50th full episode of Beginnings, and hachi machi - our guests were so nice and funny that waves of good humor spread over the audience like a cool breeze coming from a desert oasis constructed entirely out of Ocean City, Maryland Fudge Factory brand fudge. Jon Glaser (writer on Conan, creator and star of Adult Swim's Delocated), Rachel Dratch (star of SNL, author of the new book Girl Walks into a Bar), Leo Allen (writer on S...
May 10, 2012•1 hr 25 min
Matt Ruby is a stand-up based in New York whose blog Sandpaper Suit is one of the best resources for discussing the ins and outs of actually writing and performing comedy. Matt also co-hosts a monthly show at the Upright Citizens Brigade's East Village Theatre and tours around the U.S. performing at clubs and festivals like SXSW and Bridgetown. A few weeks ago, Matt stopped by the Brooklyn Wrestling Team Apartment to discuss his creativity as well as cleverness and New Yorker comedy; hippies, sh...
May 10, 2012•1 hr 31 min
