Le maudit Mo D.

maudit artists #9: get up & mcnichol and may

Last Wednesday night, UCB tourco did a show here in Austin on the high and narrow stage of the new Alamo. It was well-attended by all corners of the Austin improv community--at least three solid rows were packed with people I knew or knew by sight. If I hadn't spent the last five years of my life watching, learning, and performing improv, I would have loved their show. UCB's style is quick and witty and pretty solid. Before buying my ticket I asked Dyna if she felt that they'd be worth the $16 ticket and she told me yes, but not to study it, just to go and enjoy it, so that's what I tried to do. And of course, I studied it. And I came to the conclusion that the reason I didn't enjoy it as much as I could have or should have was that their gamey-style really lacked emotional resonance. They were just being cute and clever. And though I am guilty of performing cute-and-clever over getting to the meat of the relationship, I find myself really wanting to see some relationship in an improv performance.

Austin is an improv town, damnit, and a good one at that. And if you were from Schenectady or somewhere and asked me who the superlatively awesome, dependably awe-inspiring, shit-your-pants-laughing acts in this town were, I would direct you to our elder statespersons, who in my opinion are Get Up and McNichol & May. I reliably leave the theater after their shows wondering if I'll ever be anywhere as tight and brilliant as they are. I'm sure they think they've had bad shows, but even an embittered, seen-it-all hag such as myself is still seized with pangs of envy and awe when these guys take the stage.

Get Up consistently amazes me with their ability to create very realistic setting and space. Most of the shows I've seen of theirs have consisted of some sort of adventure. Shannon and Shana play multiple characters and keep them very distinct. Their shows are fast-paced and often take place at some historical point (Shannon also does a one-man 17th Century Dutch East India trader show called Spices). Even when tossed with difficult zingers (15th Century England??) they manage to pull of historical accuracy and put on one fucking hell of an admirable performance.

Bob and Erika are the masters of character and subtlety. I was pasted to the floor after the last show of theirs I saw, when Bob was a little boy going to a gross old lady's house for piano lessons. Erika brought amazing detail to the gross old lady--you better believe that I saw cat hair flying around her, could feel the stickiness of her piano, and knew that the place smelled like violet perfume and dump. Their scenework was not about the gross old lady teaching piano to a little boy who was grossed out about her--that would be too easy. It was instead about the characters. Gross Old Lady was revealed to be a big Ronnie James Dio fan. Little Boy didn't want to hug her goodbye, which hurt her feelings, but she sort of understood.

If you're going to "study" a show, I pick these contributors to improv's canon. And then you'll feel flummoxed, because damnit, what does it take to be that good????