DCM 11 Highlights

[Bridgemix]

-Respecto Montalban! - Man, every line added so much to what was going on. Really inspiring, esp. that they have such a sense of fun & play, especially up top when they were talking from the audience.
-Satellites - the line about "there's actually another guy that's called the bubble man but he thinks he's the bubble man" plus the tossing back of the frisbee were so hilarious
-Identity Theft - The dance to Jai Ho at the top of their set was awesome. Such a fun way to start out an early morning set!
-Stepfathers - It was awesome to see Billy Merritt back in NYC with the Stepfathers, esp. doing things he teaches, like finding out why things are going on.
-Bonoscene! esp taking people out of the audience to dance & then Mike Still's "But back to our Bonoscene"
-Dr. Fantastic - Yes, you were. So smart & so fun!
-HeliumProv! Shannon O'Neil's tinny, "I got raped on the bus."
-Super CageMatch - This was like my dream set, Death By Roo Roo. Combining STTNG with improv made me so incredibly happy. Also, Ben Schwartz & Eric Appel killed it with how quickly they would get on the same page.

[CurtisR]

• Improvised Shakespeare. Smart, amazing show. It is intimidating how great this show was, and how effortless it seemed. "It is from before the invention of the boot, when Italy looked like nothing."
  
• Code Duello. "What?"
  
• I Eat Pandas are always great. "Fuck your 'I'm sorry.'"
  
• Opening Night committed hard. They had several of those great moments in improv when everyone on stage magically makes the same decision at once and goes for it.
  
• Krompf's low-sodium bacon was delicious, and kept me from feeling bloated. Oh, and I guess they improvised as well. Also great, in a very bacon-sort of way. "You here to see my jam basement?"
  

[JamesDwyer]

• Improvised Shakespeare at FIT: The spit swaps were absolutely terrible and hilarious.
• Stepfathers: Sounding the alarms because Andy Rooney got loose in the school.
• Finish Your Milk: Some of the images from this show are permanently burned in my memory.
• Scheer/McBrayer: Slap chop dad.
• Mailer Daemon: Porky Pig's intervention with his live-action roommates.
  
• Also, seconded on Respecto. Loved how they started off the show and it was fun throughout.

[David Siegel]

Bruckheimer - An amazing monoscene. For those who missed out, the stage picture for all but the last 5 minutes of the show was Owen Burke laying on his living room couch, talking to his fiance and mother who were both off stage (in adjoining rooms). Truly great watching them build an absurdly insane world brick by realistic brick.

The Swarm: Billy as Mark the roommate you don't want to wake up, the 45-second film making competition, and the epic 5 car/chair crash.

Penthouse Riot - Spellman as the abusive Santa Claus and Amber (Mrs. Claus) begging the cops to please not arrest him, because he just gets carried away sometimes. Also, Paul Downs on chest hair, "Ugh. It's so thick it's like taco meat."

3 on 1: Becky Drysdale was an absolute force of nature in this show, and I now have a raging new improv crush. That was as close to "perfect" work as I've ever seen...constantly adding, processing, supporting, reacting. Her teammates were great but Becky fucking killed it, and proceeding to lay waste to the audience later in Lets Have a Ball and BWC, too.

EDIT: And Mail Daemon did a pretty damn rocking Harold. It was great how covering up Matt Moses' mouth emerged so spontaneously in the opening, and came back so naturally and surprisingly 2 more times throughout the show.

[clodia83]

-Improvised Shakespeare at UCB. Very nice, especially for first virgins to I.S.. Fantastic physical commitment.
-Bonoscene. Best of the late night fuck fests.
-StoveTop boys. My husband and I were giggling like maniacs, but the mother in me was terrified.
-Opening Night had fantastic energy.
-LazyMan is always a treat. I could listen to Ian Roberts talk for hours. Especially if he's saying "pussy" in front of his mom.

[Hal Phillips]

--Five Dudes. Easily my favorite show that I saw. "CHARLIE, YOU BLEW UP THE FUCKING PASTA!!!"
--Outlook Of The Poet
--The Straight Men
--The Bonoscene
--Fat Penguin

Also, thanks so much to all the staff/volunteers! Everything seemed to run so smoothly, and it was appreciated.

[mikescol]

Code Duello - I'm blown away every time I see them. They're so patient with each other and really meticulous when they're speaking.

I Eat Pandas - "Fuck Your I'm Sorry"

While I prefer seeing Police Chief Rumble start the marathon instead of close it, there was an excellent block of Redux, Rogue Elephant and PCR. Awesome way to close out Hudson. Katie Dippold getting run over in Redux. Those teams are the real deal.

Also, Robber Baron! I can't remember the suggestion but their opening was fucking awesome.

I missed Sentimental Lady but I heard they killed it. I've seen them before and really enjoyed them but this show, in particular, sounded excellent.

Did anyone see Omelet? I'm really sad I missed these girls. They're always the most affable of the marathon.

Thanks a ton to everyone who put this together. You all did a great job. Awesome weekend.

[mike short]

Sentimental Lady was awesome. Other favs included Scram & Drum Machine (at the Hudson Guild).

[Zhubin]

- My favorite show was The Straight Men, which I thought was going to be just another random montage, but turned out to be a hilarious battle royale of forcing the unusual behavior onto someone else.

- Improvised Shakespeare!

- Besser's workshop/lecture on Sunday was great. I would open my checkbook just to listen to him and Will Hines discuss improv for another three hours.

- Huge, huge gratitude to all the people running the marathon, especially with the emphasis on volume control at UCB, where the stage was mercifully quieter this year than last.

[Dave B]

--Krompf: Jam Basement was hilarious. Also, Neil freaking out about losing his Beanie Baby and responding with "Because you guys dont like me" and Amey as a Jam troll.

--Respecto: Awesome awesome show! So much fun! I always love their opening from the audience.

--Robber Baron: Rock & Roll was their suggestion, and they totally nailed that opening! The whole show was so much fun. I loved Eddie and Terry's rock stars who were plagued with diabetes. Oh, and the labyrinth/house with all the home appliance people lost in it was great.

--Panema: UCB LA team had a super fun show. That Insane Clown Posse scene made me laugh so hard.

--The Bishop: Loved the whole show. The purgatory scene with all the annoying people from the office was hilarious, and they made the demon do trustfalls. Perfect!

[simian_sam]

Scram!

[FrankandBeans]

Hi everyone. I guess this is kind of my highlight for the festival ()

I need your help.

Someone accidentally took my bag from the seat it was on at the Del Close Marathon after party last night somewhere between 2-4 am (Probably near the tail end of the night) at the UCB theater.

It is a stiff purple plastic shopping bag with a tall thin sketchbook in it, a notebook and an old white ipod. The sketchbook contains all of the illustrations of improv shows I've done in New York, over a dozen pieces, including a number of DCM shows.

I left it on a seat in the front row to the left of the dancefloor opposite another plastic bag.

Other people were leaving bags and things on seats and it didn't seem like a dangerous thing to do. I had already left my things safely a number of times and returned to them with no problem. The room was full of mostly improvisers.

Near the end of the night, I stepped away for what couldn't have been more than five minutes. When I came back there were no bags on the seats.

I asked the house manager and he said that no one was cleaning the seating area at the time and that nothing had been turned into lost and found last night. I did a thorough search of the theater at the end of the night.

The most probable thing is that someone accidentally picked up my bag thinking it was theirs, perhaps the owner of the white plastic bag next to it. It was late, people were drinking, things were winding down. I wasn't drinking, I was just careless for a couple of minutes.

Please, please, please, please, if you or anyone you know was at the party late last night, or has come across my artwork or bag please help me get it back.

It is of no value to anyone but me and the teams I've drawn for.

My number is 786-299-4918 you can text or phone me or email me at fawsid@gmail.com.

Obviously, if I don't find the artwork, I will return the money to whoever's paid me already for pieces. Sorry.

Losing artwork like this is one of the most painful experiences an artist can have... You just go into shock. Which is where I'm at right now. I am still available to draw shows.
---------------

Apart from that I loved the show where they introduced the Mets for the whole set. It was hilarious and the host guy was MAGNIFICENT.

And Scheer McBrayer.

And a team from LA called Flap Jackson.

Oh and Prospector's Make-em-up Jamboree.

[ruby sneakers]

Redux, PCR, Rogue, Respecto, Roo Roo, em-effing KROMPF, Stepfathers, Let's Have a Ball, Three on One, Delta Force 2, Scheer-McBrayer, CODE DUELLO, Improvised Shakespeare, etc etc.

[Shaggy Dog]

Respecto: When Owen started screaming during the "Were-professor" scene, I almost wet my pants.

Code Duello: "Aaron, plasma gun!" and all the object work that followed.

The Swarm: Sean gives the audience a look and Secunda looks out into the audience as if to say, "What is he looking at?"

Gillet and Sutton: Adina, "Where's your ring?" Mark, "I took it off to wash my hands...but that's not important because my wife is gone."

Redux: The fantastic group work of Adam Pally running over Katie Dippold with his mother's car.

[thestorie]

Sentimental Lady- best show I saw. They scene-painted a hospital waiting room in the opening, and the rest of the show was a monoscene there. Spectacularly funny, smart, committed, well paced, the entire time. The whole team was extremely great but my new LA improv crush, in particular, is Alex Fernie.

The Straight Men- a lot of those late night shows are really fun, silly gimmicks, and I love it that way, but the Straight Men was the only show that took their gimmick and used it as a vehicle for genuinely brilliant, surprising, hilarious improv. An awesome battle of one upmanship. I hope they bring it back every year.

The Swarm- so great to see Dave Blumenfeld playing again! Favorite moment: the day Billy became a bus driver.

The late night small-team block at Urban absolutely delivered. C, C & C, Outlook of the Poet, Hot Sauce, and especially Five Dudes, all hilarious.

lastly, shows that I did not see but wish I did and would have raved about if I had: Improvised Shakespeare, Mailer Daemon, Police Chief Rumble, the Upright Citizens Brigade.

[tom levin]

the straight men was my favorite show i saw at the festival. so smart, so fun. other highlights were five dudes, convoy, and outlook of the poet.

[Ilya]

The Mantzoukas-Huebel water fight at Delta Force was the hardest I've laughed in ages.

Also loved Krompf's jam basement with the brazen jam troll that may have been a raccoon, the slap-chop salesman in Scheer-McBrayer, Zach Woods' morally ambiguous supervillain in Let's Have a Ball, and everything that happened in Straight Men, Mailer Daemon, and Improvised Shakespeare.

[El Jefe]

FACEBOOK

Seth: I fucked my daughter.
Chad: Can I tell you something? The judgment store is closed. The world might condemn you for this. Me, I'm just gonna ask, "How was it?"

***

Two guys sit on the stage and start a meeting, and someone else comes in and says "Sorry to interrupt... here's that extra long table you ordered." After a line or two, Chad enters.

Chad: Do you guys mind? I'm looking for a place to eat soup. (proceeds to sit down and start eating)

Guys at table: Actually, we're trying to have a meeting...

Chad: AAAHHHH! HOT SOUP! HOT SOUP! It's the potatoes! That's what holds the heat!

BASSPROV

Mark: I wonder what Renee Zelwegger looks like when things aren't going her way.

After some discussion, Joe guesses that when she's sad it looks "like a tear coming out of a laminated menu."

***

When discussing hideous women they would still like to have sex with...

Mark: Nancy Grace.

Joe: Really? Nancy Grace?

Mark: Well, actually I'd like to just seduce her, get her back to a hotel room and slap her around.

Joe: Ah. They call that the "Billy Dee Williams."

CODE DUELLO

I wish I had a recording of the scene where Hammy tells Aaron what has happened to his barn, for use as a teaching tool. It was an amazing illustration of the transition from "yes, and" to "if that, then what" that the UCB were talking about in their press conference.

Skip this if you were there... Basically, they had established in the earlier scene that a) George Washington was a miraculous inventor, b) just as Washington's estate has a name (they couldn't remember what it was), so did Hammy's house, which was named, and now I don't remember, something like Jake or Brad. Aaron mentioned that he had used a different name for his barn...

AARON: I call it Aaron Burr.
HAMMY: Ah. (pause) Can I --
AARON: No, it's too late. You can't change the name.

You could tell this bothered Hammy. So when the next scene started, after Aaron came back from Washington's estate marveling that he had harnessed the powers of the sun like a God, Aaron made some mention of the barn and Hammy said, "Ah. About that."

PAUSE. And everyone in the audience was on the same page. I love that! Everyone knew in an instant that Hammy had done something to Aaron's barn. Then Hammy proceeded to tell the most hilariously convoluted lie, how he "tore open the shutters, and threw up the sash" to see a fat man in red, steal Aaron's barn, and replace it with ashes.

AARON: Oh my God! Who would do such a thing.
HAMMY: His name was Ron.
AARON: How would you know his name!
HAMMY: What?

Amazing use of pauses, amazing agreement, funny as hell. And it set up their whole conflict, because Aaron then proceeded to make war with Britain, assuming that Ron was a redcoat... not because he actually believed it, but because he wanted to shame Hammy. So he killed millions in London with Washington's plasma cannon.

That was probably my favorite show of this marathon.

THE STEPFATHERS

Gethard as Andy Rooney, invading a high school.

iMUSICAL

Jason Saenz killed it as the Vietnam vet seeking to exorcise his demons by becoming addicted to Facebook and Twitter.

MAILER DAEMON

Very funny Harold, and so much fun to watch them having that much fun. The callbacks to covering up Matt Moses' mouth were perfect, and Ben Rodgers especially killed me as the crazy foreign maid.

I also love the image of Porky Pig's roommates telling him to put some pants down and him trying to pull his shirt down to hide his junk.

SCHEER/MCBRAYER

Jack: Did you open my attachment?
Paul: No, I...
Jack: Open it!
Paul: I don't... I don't get...
Jack: That's my taint!
Paul: Oh! God!
Jack: Just kidding. That's stock footage of a taint.

And then we find out they're NASA employees.

[Dave B]

Ooh! I for got to mention West Village Brunch! They were hilarious.

[lefty]

I didn't catch a lot of shows but Mailer Daemon and 3 on 1 were really awesome. Delta Force 2's water fight, and Jason's "Let's F*** with the audience" always kills.

Mailer Daemon the more I think about their set the more outstanding it becomes. The whole way they hired police for "rapeytown", someone finally telling Porky Pig to put on some pants, and the movie rentals off the top of my head.

I wish I could list some of 3 on 1's moves but as said above Becky Drysdale was on fire. Her monolgo was great, the whole dating sequence of trying to hard to knocking over chairs to split the difference. The getting in the elevator and catching a cab sequence was great to watch too. Their set was pretty much perfect smart improv.