Improv Review ...Because Improv is Art, Dammit

The Upright Citizen’s Brigade’s ASSSCAT had a prime spot on a prime night of the Chicago Improv Festival, and the sell-out crowd was prepared to be wowed. Perhaps that’s why they were so disappointing.

The format was interesting: bring out a guest monologist to initiate stories that the subsequent improv would be based on. The first problem was that guest monologist. Indie Rock iconoclast Steve Albini (late of the band Big Black) looked uncomfortable from the moment he entered the stage with the troupe, and even as he was performing his monologues appeared unsure of his purpose among the Brigadiers. The stories he told, as much as they may have served their function of inspiring the improvisation, went on to long and were generally banal.

The five improvisors, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, Amy Poehler, Matt Walsh and guest Kevin Dorff, late of Second City, fared only okay during the improv set, but they spent the time they weren’t improvising standing around casually, looking like they were preparing to get doused with ice water at any moment. Only Ms. Poehler broke from this by actually enjoying herself, whereas her antitype was Mr. Besser who looked like he might have been more comfortable watching the proceedings at home on television.

The short sketches they performed were much in the idiom that the group is famous for: over-the-top depictions of a world that is just slightly off kilter from our own, with a tip of the cap to the absurdities our pop culture creates. The greatest strength of the group lies in their motto: “Don’t Think.” They jump in and onto each other’s offers with lightning speed. Scenes are already fleshed out before you were aware that another had ended.

Pandemonium quickly breaks loose with strong initiations like “Tina won survivor! Let’s do some looting!” Powerful links were also formed between scenes, as games went on to the point of ridiculousness, always to the delight of the crowd. However, during some other scenes the audience was baited with lengthy set-ups that let down in the end, and the group often went blue by default instead of by choice.

The reputation of the group is well deserved for the talent they displayed; perhaps they should only retire the format. When they hit they hit big, so it’s somewhat sad that they didn’t hit so often.

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