Upright Citizens Brigade: Seasons One and Two

There are two main ways for a comedian to hone their skills. One is to take to the road and do stand up comedy. With this method the comedian in training takes on an audience armed only with a microphone. The other path is to join an improvisational comedy troupe. Many consider this the better way to go since it teaches the new comedian to work in concert with others and think on their feet. Such famous groups as ‘The Second City’ in Chicago has given rise to many comedians on television and film like Alan Arkin, Joan Rivers, John Belushi and Bill Murray. Also originating from the Windy City is a less known but extremely funny ‘The Upright Citizens Brigade’. One incarnation of the cast made it to cable television as skit and improvisational series. At that time the group consisted of Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, and Matt Walsh. The series ran on Comedy Central between the years 1998 to 2000. Now the first the first two seasons are available on DVD released by Paramount Pictures. The comedians never perform in their own personas. They take on characters named Adair (Besser), Colby (Poehler), Antoine (Roberts), and Trotter (Walsh). Together they call themselves the Upright Citizens Brigade. They are dedicated to the creation and monitoring of chaos in our society, from their secret underground location. They proudly claim that they have no associations with any government organization and area able to do their work with unlimited resources at their command. The series typically had the format of various skits featuring the main four characters and other members of the real life troupe. Each episode has a pervading theme that helps to tie the bits together. Typically the premise is based on a particular experiment that the UCB is unleashing on a clueless society. They provide some stressor and sit back and watch as chaos takes control.

In the first episode of season one the brigade locates an object floating in space. It turns out to be the ‘bucket of truth’. They return it to their headquarters where they discover that anyone who looks into the bucket will see undeniable, absolute truth. Antoine takes the bucket to a modest suburban home where a realtor is showing the house to a snobby couple. The house includes a laundry room with eight high speed dryers and a special ‘hot chicks room’. While the husband seems intrigued by the idea his wife is less than thrilled by a room filled with girls gone wild twenty fours hours a day. There are several skits in each episode with the cast playing multiple characters and the characters moving between skits. For example the daughter of the house hunting couple is Poehler in a Girl Scout uniform. A little later in the episode she is selling her cookies door to door and happens upon the Uni-Bomber. There are also continuing bits of the comedians in their UCB guises looking at a bank of monitors watching the events they have set in motion. This does serve to tie everything in an episode together and makes the show less disjointed than most series of this genre. Other bits in this season includes such strange juxtapositions as a pro-union puppet show for elementary children, an using a time machine to play cards with historical figures such as President Harry Truman and Jesus. There is also a blind date gone very wrong when a man goes out with the Arthurian ‘Lady of the Lake’ who goes on and on about how she put the sword in the stone and chose the king of England.

The second season set follows the same formula but the humor is far more outrageous than previously shown. A woman gives birth to a baby that weighs seven pounds but has the leg strength of an adult. It runs around the delivery room with incredible speed. The woman is told by the doctor that if a baby like this was born in Mexico it would be bad; they race such infants as hers down there. In another bizarre twist a professional boxer has a bout with a horse. In this season there is also a mock documentary on the drug ‘super cool’. This is a fictitious narcotic/speed that is part of the UCB’s strange universe. This is something more dangerous than any other drug and it is growing in popularity. In one episode a man believes that Jesus has appeared to him in a bowl of spaghetti. One of the strangest concepts is a man who is paid by wealthy women to slap them in the face. MTV is taken on when a ferial girl in a bikini is captured and brought to civilization. She is placed on ‘The Real World’ with other ‘freaks’ such as Gilly the color blind girl. There is even a guest appearance by the group, Wu-Tang Clan when they inadvertently tunnel their way into the secret UCB headquarters.

As with most skit comedy series this one is very uneven. Sometimes everything clicks and the whole episode will keep you laughing out loud. Other times the premise falls flat taking everything down with it. The important point here is to remember that this is mostly improvisation and is somewhat experimental in nature. The way comedians improve is to take chances. This inherently means that not everything will work out. When it does it is amazing. For the material that falls short just wait a little while and a new bit will be right along.

The whole troupe is talented but Amy Poehler has achieved the most success. She went on from here to a player on ‘Saturday Night Live’ eventually co-anchoring the fake news with Tina Fey; the first time two women held this position together. She has also appeared in several mainstream films. As a whole the group works well together which holds even the lesser skits together. They are inherently funny and willing to takes risks in their comedy.

The first season has been on DVD since for a little while now under the Rhino label. The same set is getting a re-release along with the second season with Paramount under the ‘Comedy Central’ brand. Both seasons are full screen with Dolby stereo audio. Each is a two disc box set with ten episodes per season. Both sets also include some very good extras. For the first season they include a previously unaired pilot episode, the original live version of the Little Donny skit, an alternate commentary by Donny and the Andre the Giant song. The second season set includes deleted scenes and audio commentary for selected episodes. There is also some rare footage of some the group’s earliest live performances. If are into skit comedy this is a must have for your collection.

Posted 09/15/07