FrISC Hosts and Judges Announced!

FrISC Improv - Friday, June 25
Host: Friar Harrison Greenbaum (co-host, Times Square New Year's Eve, 2010; Andy Kaufman Award Finalist, 2009)

Judges:
Ali Farahnakian (owner, The Peoples Improv Theater; former writer, SNL)
Sue Galloway (actress, 30 Rock)
Oliver Irving (director, How To Be)
John Lutz (actor 30 Rock; writer SNL)
Friar Streeter Seidell (Executive Editor, CollegeHumor)


FrISC Sketch - Saturday, June 26, 2010
Host: Friar Jon Friedman (writer/blogger, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon; host, The Rejection Show)

Judges:
Friar Pat Cooper (The Aristocrats, The Jackie Gleason Show, Analyze This)
Oliver Irving (film director, How To Be)
Mark Malkoff (comedian, filmmaker)
James Murray (Director of Development, NorthSouth Productions)
Jeff Rubin (Executive Editor, CollegeHumor)

FrISC Finalist Spotlight Series: Free Love Forum

Jeremy Beiler, Paul Dorfman, Jared Gramstrup, Gabe Gronli, Anne Johnson, and Dieter Klipstein, save FrISC a seat as they open up about their lives and career.

The Free Love Forum is a space bursting with unforgettable characters that are quite often disturbingly familiar. They embrace topics ranging from history and politics to pop culture, and pondering the daily minutia of life. With the speed and agility of an infomercial host, the team aims to create pieces with a considerable amount of detail, unfolding like layers of an onion - all restrained in a trademark style they refer to as, “10,000 tons of ass-blasting subtlety”!

The sketch team originally met in middle school, “[staying] in touch throughout college, making videos and occasionally doing shows over school breaks. And, for us, there was only ever the question of where and how we’d work with each other after college”. After narrowing down their options, the friends settled on New York, and their efforts have resulted in critical acclaim - as well as their TV pilots being made official selections of the New York Television Festival in 2006 and 2008. Additionally, their videos have been featured by YouTube, Funny or Die, and The New York Times.

FrISC: As the story goes, the origins of Free Love Forum date back to your time in middle school, when you were banned from doing announcements due to “questionable editorial commentary.” Do tell!

Free Love Forum: Some of us were AV club nerds in middle school. We produced a weekly morning show for the school’s closed circuit TV network, reading homeroom announcements with a few comedy bits thrown in. Without prior notice, the school replaced us with a very reasonable educational series on conflict resolution. The club felt ownership over the morning slot, and as soon as we had it back, we aired a video where we interviewed classmates and teachers and blatantly edited it so that everyone seemed inexplicably upset about the series that preempted ours. It was too hot for (closed-circuit Wisconsin middle school) TV and we were banned from the airwaves, turning us into the group of sexy rebels you see today.

FrISC: Next, you took your show to WYOU, a public access station in Madison, Wisconsin, where you were mentored by a local comic. Tell us about this benevolent comedian.

Free Love Forum: That was a rotund standup with a blond crew cut and leather jacket named Dave Gray. We first got to know Dave when he called in to our show, told some really funny jokes, and said too many nice things about what we were doing. He had built a name for himself in our town over the years, so his compliments carried weight, and our friendship grew from there. He graduated from the same high school 15 years earlier and had just come back to Madison after working in radio in a larger market for a few years. I think he felt a kinship. We were from the same area and had similar aspirations. He certainly gave us a leg up, getting us into Madison’s 21 & over comedy club as minors, introducing us to improv, and inviting us to do bits for his TV show on our local CBS affiliate. He fed our egos, and helped us to think we were doing something worthwhile.

Dave’s definitely one of the reasons we still work together, but he isn‘t around anymore due to his being deceased. Talking about a friend’s death is a little tricky for a comedy interview so please go ahead and consider this to be the poignant moment in the narrative where we overcome adversity. While we had always planned to keep in touch and work together after college, [Dave’s death] reminded us of the faith he had in us and inspired us to keep developing whatever it is that we have as group.

FrISC: What’s the craziest thing that’s happened during a taping or live performance of one of your shows?

Free Love Forum: While we were in high school we did a large-venue show called ‘Madison Comedy All Stars.’ The event had been publicized very strangely and, as a result, the majority of the audience ended up being a local motorcycle gang who got free tickets over the radio. They delayed the show from starting for about an hour, loudly revved their bikes outside, pulled a couch into the theater from the lobby, heckled the host relentlessly and brought their own kegs in. As a group of 17 year-olds this was more than slightly intimidating, but they ended up being quite pleasant and seemed to like our stuff.

FrISC: Do you have any advice for beginning sketch performers?

Free Love Forum: Sketch comedy can be a hit-or-miss format, so just have fun, keep your sketches short and when it comes to the ending, try to stick the landing like a confident gymnast.

FrISC: In your wildest dreams, if money were no object, where would you want to take Free Love Forum?

Free Love Forum: In our wildest dreams our jokes would cure racism and we would go around the world showing people the light. Although, I guess that means we would pretty much always be performing for racists - which actually sounds miserable. Scratch that.

I think we’d love to create the kind of absurd, semi-narrative sketchy TV series that seem to get made more often in England. We’ve also talked about how great a sketch/feature film hybrid can be if it’s done right. Mainly I think we’d love to just have the time and money to properly work on the weird little ideas that make us laugh.

FrISC Finalist Spotlight Series: Elephant Larry

Chris Principe, Geoff Haggerty, Jeff “Jerf” Solomon, Stefan Lawrence, and Alex Zalben take FrISC for a walk on the wild side, showing that while they won't work for peanuts, they will work for laughs.

New York sketch comedy group, Elephant Larry, met as members of Cornell University’s “Skits-O-Phrenics.” Stefan comments:

“Alex and I auditioned together in the fall of '95, and I believe everybody else came in during the '97-'98 school year. The Skits was one of those big, sprawling college comedy troupes, but we actually had pretty good material and some damn good writers. Since nobody really knew what they were doing, it was a great cauldron of experimentation, with shows often running an hour and a half or more. After Alex and I graduated and left for NYC, Geoff, Jeff and Chris asked us if we all wanted to form a group.”

And the rest is history. In 2003 they won Carolines on Broadway’s “New York City's Best Comedy Writers" at the first-ever Sketch Fights Competition and in 2004 the team received Audience and Jury awards at The Bass Red Triangle Comedy Competition. Not to mention the acclaim they have received from The Onion, Time Out New York and The New York Times, among others.

FrISC: Growing up, how were you drawn into the world of comedy?

Stefan: I think we all came at it in different ways, though we definitely have some common influences, including Monty Python (obviously), The State, Kids in the Hall, Mr. Show and The Muppet Show. Comedy is one of those things that sets in your bones early. Personally, I found Monty Python at a particularly awkward period of middle school, which was helpful and made me feel like there were others out there like me. Also, my father was a huge fan of George Carlin, which played into my love of wordplay and language.

FrISC: Tell us about your day jobs.

Elephant Larry: Day job time!

Stefan: I do freelance graphic design for anybody with money, Chris works at Comedy Central doing something-or-other, Jeff used to make ringtones for Sony, but now does whatever they tell him to, Alex writes blog posts about TV and interviews celebrities, and Geoff writes for The Onion.

FrISC: What’s the most important thing you’ve learned while pursuing your career?

Elephant Larry: Patience and confidence. Very few things happen overnight, so you gotta have the patience to stick with it, and the confidence to know that what you have to offer is good and important. Even if it's not what people are looking for at the moment, there will come a time when the sheer quantity and quality of your work is recognized. Also we've learned that milk smells terrible if you don't wash it out of your props before stuffing them away in a duffel bag.

FrISC: If you could pick a character that you’ve created and trade places with them for a day – who would you choose and why?

Elephant Larry: I would have to choose the proprietors of Baboon Hotel, who are too territorial to let guests stay at their hotel. Though they're eventually going to end up in the poorhouse, they do have a gorgeous hotel in the middle of the jungle, and I happen to love hotels, especially tropical ones. So there we go. I'll be the baboon at the end of the bar sipping a Singapore Sling.

FrISC: What videos do you find yourself watching over and over on the internet?

Stefan: I can't speak for anybody else, but I love Free Love Forum's "Pizza Dabbers" sketch. I think it's brilliant. Also have a fondness for Last Call Cleveland's "Hastily Made Tourism Video."

FrISC: What is your advice for beginning sketch performers?

Elephant Larry: The advice would be twofold:

1) Watch as much sketch comedy as possible (and not just online).

2) Start making videos and writing sketches as soon as you can. Even if you don't have a group, get your friends together and start figuring out how to put it all together. It's all just practice. There's no substitute for doing a thing that you love until you rock it.

FrISC Finalist Spotlight Series: The Jon & Eddie Show

Alex Fox and Rachel Lewis kindly shed their aliases of “Jon” and “Eddie” to give FrISC a special peek inside their comedic world.

“Since we are such great friends, and spend so much time together, we often find ourselves moving about the stage, in unison, when we are not even looking at one another. It is pretty cool.” – Fox & Lewis
The two ladies of The Jon and Eddie Show, an improv and sketch team, have been in sync since before they ever met. Both grew up in tight-knit families, where comedy was a favorite pastime. They met backstage on opening night at Second City Chicago, where their shows shared the same bill, and it was comedy at first sight. The two have been inseparable, working together ever since and moved to Los Angeles in 2008.
Following this move, Fox and Lewis have performed their original sketch show on the Comedy Central Stage, were selected as MSN.com's Top 100 Things to See in LA, as well as BUST Magazine's Funniest Ladies in Los Angeles. Most recently, The Jon and Eddie Show performed at Boston’s Women in Comedy Festival this past March.
FrISC: Growing up, how did each of you get drawn into the world of comedy?
Fox: I took kid’s comedy classes, starting in 3rd grade. My grandfather, Zaz, is quite a character, and was always telling old Catskills jokes, even today. [Fox and her family always watched] Saturday Night Live, old Woody Allen movies, and Mel Brooks’ movies.
Lewis: For as long as I can remember, I just loved to laugh. I would do or see anything that would make me laugh. I believe comedy was just always in me, and my family. I grew up in a house filled with jokes, and old Jewish humor. I too, was forced to watch every Woody Allen film, and grew to LOVE them.
FrISC: Is there any special significance behind your team's name? How did you decide on "Jon" and "Eddie"?
Fox & Lewis: We had just become friends in Chicago, and were on our way to NYC to perform in an improv festival. We were still quite new friends, so this was either going to be the beginning of an awesome friendship or a horrible four days. So, on the plane ride to New York, we were getting to know each other by asking questions about ourselves, one of which happened to be, "What is your Dad's name?" It turned out that Alex's Dad is named Jon, and Rachel's Dad is named Ed. Cut to the next morning. After a night on the town, we were staying in Alex's Aunt's apartment on the Upper East Side. As Rachel awoke she turned to Alex and said, "Morning Jon," and Alex turned back and said, "Morning Eddie." Boom! Magic! Something crazy just happened! And thus Jon and Eddie were born! As a result we rarely call each other by our real names.
FrISC: How would you say that the improv scene in Los Angeles compares to where you started out in Chicago?
One difference is, in Chicago, it is one big community, and everyone knows each other. However in LA, it seems to be divided among the theaters. Also, in LA, it seems that a lot of work is geared more towards the industry and what is happening right now, whereas in Chicago you tend to see a bit more of the "artsy" side of it. The two cities show the best of both worlds.
FrISC: What do you like most about each city?
Chicago is vibrant, gritty, and has a wonderful sense of community. It is a magical city that is affordable, but filled with amazing culture and food! LA is sunny and has mountains and ocean (the perfect combo). It is a city that makes you want to take care of yourself, eat organic food, and you get to see people's dreams come true.
FrISC: What are the best things about working with each other? How do they translate to your performances?
Fox: I completely trust [Lewis], and love the ideas and places her imagination takes us, plus I think she is hilarious; also, she tends to ground our scenes in a way that I would never think to. Offstage, she types much faster than I do and is, I truly feel, the only person I can see working with in this capacity. She is organized, silly, and ridiculous, plus we both love to eat! And her eye make-up always looks really good. Lewis: I never have to worry about where or what I am doing, because she is there doing something even more fun and crazy right next to me. Alex challenges me to be fearless every time we step onstage! Offstage, she is a true friend, and always has my well-being at heart. It is friendship first, business meeting next, and then we eat. Oh, and she is a great chef! FrISC: What's the most important thing you've learned while pursuing your career and do you have any advice for aspiring improv performers?
Fox & Lewis: Be patient, and do what you want to do, not what others [say] you should be doing. LISTEN! Really listen, and honestly react. Keep with it, see shows, and have fun.

FrISC Finalist Spotlight Series: Vanity Project

Jeremy Brothers, Matt Catanzano, Kiley Fitzgerald, Chet Harding, and Norm Laviolette set down their mirrors & cancel their spa treatments so FrISC can investigate their improv beauty.

Who says a life working in comedy can’t be a fairy tale? Boston’s Improv Asylum has played a “fairy godmother” of sorts to numerous performers, taking great care in nurturing and showcasing their performer’s individual style. The company’s well-groomed resident cast, Vanity Project is testament to what can happen when artists are offered the tools they need to grow.

Vanity Project member, Matt Catanzano, reflects on his journey up the improv ladder, “I met and developed relationships by coming up through the ranks at Improv Asylum. I started in the Training Center and then moved on to performing in student shows and eventually made a resident cast. Kind of a Cinderella story… ”

Harding and Laviolette are Improv Asylum founders and original cast members, while Brothers, Catanzano and Fitzgerald serve as main stage regulars, each improvising their way to their own personal happily ever after.
FrISC: What is the significance of or story behind your team's name? Speaking of vanity, which cast member takes the longest time to get ready before a show? We won’t judge.

Vanity Project: As owners of Improv Asylum, Vanity Project started as Chet’s & Norm’s vanity project to stay on stage and keep exploring different forms of improvisation.
It’s definitely not Kiley [who takes the longest time to get ready]. She’s a beast!

Matt: I probably take the longest. Or maybe Norm, he seems to put in a lot of thought into his wardrobe. I own extensive amounts of hair and face products. I just like to be clean…

FrISC: Chet and Norm: You are both co-founders of the Improv Asylum. What compelled you to start your own improv company?

Vanity Project: We were both big fans of Second City and that type of comedy. We knew that Boston was a big comedy town and at the time had nothing quite like what we do. We also both believed that we could succeed both artistically and as a business. So we took the plunge and started Improv Asylum.

FrISC: Improv Asylum is one of the few theatres in the country that pays their improv and sketch performers. Tell us about the shows you put on there and across the country through your touring company.

Vanity Project: Improv Asylum has its own theater in Boston’s North End. We have 2 resident casts who perform all of our shows. Our shows are a blend of improvisation and sketch comedy. When we get booked for a corporate performance (here at our theater or anywhere around the country) it is a customized, improvised show unique to that company or college. We pay our actors because we consider them our main product. As actors themselves, Norm & Chet appreciate the work that goes into it and always wanted to be able to be in a position to compensate people for their work. Oddly enough, Vanity Project does not pay its actors.

FrISC: Since you all perform so frequently, what’s your secret to keeping your work “fresh”? Are there ever moments where you hit a creative road block? If so, how do you move beyond it?

Vanity Project: The fun thing about Vanity Project is we typically break any creative roadblocks we come across by making up weird structures and testing them out in front of the audience. The excitement that comes with trying something new that we’re not sure how to do (or if it will bomb or not) keeps things from getting stale. I show up to that show and never know what we’re going to do.

FrISC: What do you love most about improv?

Vanity Project: I love the ability to use everything I’ve ever learned. All those little things in life that you’ve picked up can come in handy when you’re in a scene and out of nowhere it calls for that knowledge.

FrISC: For each of you: What is your advice for beginning improv performers?

Vanity Project: Be nice to everyone. Show up on time, do the work, and enjoy it. Few things in life are more fun than what we do, so if you’re not having fun something is wrong. Get on stage wherever you can, as much as you can. Be open to direction. Find people whose work you like and you want to play with. Get as many teachers/directors as you can.

FrISC: If, for a day, your group could get away with making outrageous, diva-like demands – what would they be?

Vanity Project: I would want to be taken to the theater through Boston on a large sailboat on wheels while a speaker system plays the score to The Goonies on a constant loop. I would also really like a nice fruit plate in the green room. A hyperbaric chamber where I could take a nice long nap prior to shows. Starbucks when I want it. I would like The Monkees to open for us.

FrISC Finalist Spotlight Series: The Midnight Show

FrISC stays up past our bedtime to talk to James Adomian, Heather Anne Campbell, Joe Chandler, Josh Fadem, Cale Hartmann, Eric Moneypenny, James Pumphrey, Curtis Rainsberry, Hal Rudnick, Jeff Sloniker & Nic Wegener.

To hear James Adomian re-tell the story, you’d probably think it was some supreme cosmic power that helped assemble the members of The Midnight Show.

“Two years ago, Cale and Eric and I started getting drunk together religiously. It was a magical time of music and wrestling and Idiocracy. One night, Joe Wagner came over and prophesied that a great comedy show would come of this. Shortly afterward, Busch pulled the trigger, wrangling a wild pack of outcasts and misfits together for an untitled midnight sketch show. Out of that swirling cloud of stardust emerged The Midnight Show that we have today,” he said.

Speaking of stars, each month’s show has featured a new celebrity host including: Andy Richter, Dax Shepard, Fred Willard, Ken Marino, Matt Walsh, Paul F Tompkins, Jerry O'Connell, and Ethan Suplee, to name a few.

FrISC: Growing up, how were you drawn into the world of comedy?

James Pumphrey: I started 5 new schools between 6th and 10th grade. I was always new and I was also fat. My parents didn't have any money, either. If I wasn't funny, I would have never had friends. Later, I realized that I hadn't become good at anything (guitar, sports) and I hated it when people told me what to do. So...comedy.

James Adomian: I was plied with drinks in a dark tavern and shanghaied off to a cruel life of laughter -- impressed into service on the Black Freighter!

Cale Hartmann: My mom watched SNL every Saturday and it was a personal goal to stay up past Weekend Update. I never could.

Heather Anne Campbell: With permanent marker.

Joe Chandler: Not sure, but I wish I could undo it.

FrISC: What’s the craziest thing that’s happened during a taping or live performance of one of your shows?

Hal: Every show is a wild ride. It's hard to pinpoint one moment because each show is brimming with craziness. From splattering the stage and walls with blood, to having the crowd erupt after being blindsided by unexpected nudity in one of our videos, to a tender moment of perversion, there are too many to recount. But invariably, it's pretty crazy to invite the entire audience back to our group's house, "The Midnight Mansion," after every show.

FrISC: What’s your writing process?

Jeff Sloniker: I usually have an idea for a couple weeks and then 45 minutes before the writers meeting, rush to get it done. Then after the group tears it apart, I re-write it and bring it back in.

Heather: We bring in almost 60 sketches each month, and then vote to determine which pieces make it into the show. The best part about having a big group is that the sketches which do make it into the show, past the voting process, are the ones that are universally funny. Because we have to agree on which sketches work, there's less self-indulgence and more actual comedy.

Cale: We yell at each other every Wednesday and Sunday.

FrISC: What’s the most important thing you’ve learned while pursuing your career?

Joe C: That eventually, no matter what happens, you’re going to end up working with 10 other people who share your sense of humor and drive you to be better creatively. And that those 10 people will inspire you with their writing and their talent. And that this will happen to everyone who works hard enough and pursues their dreams for long enough.

Hal: The most important thing I've learned whilst in pursuit of my career is to, "always be grindin'."

FrISC: What is your advice for beginning sketch performers?

Eric: Shut up and do it. Nobody put a gun to our head and forced us to start doing sketch comedy in high school and college, then move across country and discover like-minded people who laugh at the same things. If you like it, do it. Watch it, study it, perfect it. If you don't want any of that, then get a real job, get married, some kids, and stay out of our way.

Nic: Don’t send out mass emails or Facebook invites for every show you do.
Cale: Think of the most common-place, widely known, everyday situation that every single person, no matter what, understands and has experienced, and do something with it that they've never seen.

FrISC: In your wildest dreams, if money were no object, where would you want to take The Midnight Show?

Eric: On the television set, and saved to the DVR of every single 12-year old out there who wants to do this one day. That's how old we were when we found things like Python and early SNL. And hopefully they would fall in love with comedy like we did, watch it over and over. Study it. Then, decide that most comedy sucks, and want to do something about it. Just like we did.

Nic: Melisse in Santa Monica. I hear it’s the best restaurant in LA and it’d be cool to see fancy waiters wait on us in our street clothes.

James A: The other side of Orion's belt.

Cale: Birds.

FrISC Finalist Spotlight Series: Badman

Badman Gets FrISC'd! FrISC hangs out with Corey Brown, Chelsea Clarke, D'Arcy Erokan, John Frusciante, Marcy Jarreau, Tim Martin, Ben Ramaeka, and Nate Smith.

Badman was formed when Anthony King, Artistic Director of the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre, assembled the team in 2009. Members have been featured on 30 Rock, ESPN, Adult Swim, College Humor, and The Onion News Network, in addition to various national television commercials. The team shared that they “[assumed King’s decision] was after a lengthy, sweaty vision quest”. As Badman kicks off the interview by crediting Erokan’s Uncle Bruce as their biggest influence, FrISC is kept on our toes.

FrISC: What is the story behind, your team’s name?

Badman: Badman is our stage name. We have a real name that is only shared between us. Also, “Badman” is a Jamaican slang term for gangster. That suits us pretty well.

FrISC: Tell us about your first performance together as a UCB House Team.

We had a really good show. We did get a standing ovation when we walked out on stage [it’s probably because three of us (Marcy Jarreau, Nate Smith, John Frusciante) were on Project Improviser].

FrISC: Growing up, how were you drawn into the world of comedy?

D’arcy: My Uncle Bruce was super funny and I just wanted to hang out with him.

Badman: We all had funny families we wanted to impress.

FrISC: What videos do you find yourself watching over and over on the Internet?

Marcy: The cat that hiccups and farts.

Tim: Wait – I didn’t see that one.

Chelsea: You didn’t? It’s hilarious.

Corey: Why don’t we watch it right now?

Ben: I don’t get Wi-Fi back here.

Nate: So what happens in the video?

Marcy: The cat scares himself with a hiccup and then farts.

John: Seriously guys, I think they’re talking about what comedy videos [we] watch.

Ben: What about the ‘Star Wars kid?’

D’Arcy: They probably mean something contemporary.

John: Pool Jumpers is a great video.

Chelsea: It is.

Tim: Oh wait; I have seen that cat farting video. That’s awesome.

FrISC: Who would you like to play with that you've never played with before?

The UCB Four. We would have said Robin Williams but Chelsea already played with him. We also like TJ and Dave a whole lot.

FrISC: What is your advice for beginning improv performers?

Do improv because you love it. That’s the whole point – make sure you are having fun doing it at all times. And besides – you’re not going to get rich off of it.