Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre

Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre has affordable, comedy shows seven nights a week in NYC and LA. Watch the best improv, sketch and standup in the country. Our original comedy video productions have garnered the national spotlight. We also run the first nationally accredited improv and sketch comedy school in the country. For information on our courses, visit the Training Center.

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LA Weekly names UCBTLA performers among Top 10 Comedy Podcasts

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LA Weekly July 26, 2011 
 Marc Maron on KCRW: LA Weekly's Ultimate Guide to the Top 10 Comedy
Podcasts 

By Anthony D'Alessandro

 As the Buggles once forecasted in their 1980s pop single: "Video Killed
the Radio Star." Today, it's more accurate to say that the podcast
resurrected the radio star, or more specifically, the comedian.

Over the last three years, podcasts have become a platform for comedic
artists to extend their brand and service fans in the boonies. But now
they're looking like a calling card for bigger projects.

On Sunday at 11 a.m., KCRW began airing 10 weekly episodes of WTF With
Marc Maron, a podcast numbering 200 episodes that has been a therapy
chair for funny people. We take a look at the top 10 comedy podcasts, many
of which are fresh, some of which are old shoes.


<http://www.earwolf.com/show/who-charted-howard-kremer-and-kulap-vilaysack/?
page=2> 10. Who Charted? 
"Are you a fan of charts?" host <a href="
http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/performers/12585">Howard Kremer</a> asks
his guest, actor Joe Lo Truglio. "I like graphs and charts," responds Lo
Truglio, "When I pick up USA Today, I go straight to the lower left
corner." "You like to countdown?," asks Kremer, getting more excited. "Who
doesn't like lists, that's why this show is such a great idea," says Lo
Truglio. Like audience suggestions at an improv show, Who Charted's review
of random top Billboard and box office charts are a fountainhead of
conversation starters and tangents for its comedian guests, i.e. Zach
Galifianakis and Thomas Lennon. A discussion of hip-hop tracks flashes Lo
Truglio back to a New Orleans Mardi Gras when Richard Simmons madly chased
his Reno 911 float. The weekly podcast, one of many produced by <a
href="http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/performers/5190">Scott Aukerman</a>
and Jeff Ullrich's Earwolf productions, is also co-hosted by Childrens
Hospital nurse <a
href="http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/performers/5148">Kulap Vilaysack</a>,
who serves as Kremer's voice of reason. The biggest treat: Listening to
Kremer continually wax his priceless
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv8yS8vaqXs> "Summa" bit.

 <http://www.earwolf.com/show/how-did-this-get-made/> 9. How Did This
Get Made? 
Since December, hosts <a
href="http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/performers/577">Paul Scheer</a>, <a
href="http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/performers/889">Jason Mantzoukas</a>
and <a href="http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/performers/3603">June Diane
Raphael</a> have been a headache for studio publicists as they fry popcorn
films into corn nuts. They're the nightmarish opposite to KPCC's button-down
FilmWeek. Deconstructing Suckerpunch: "Every man is raping
someone in the movie," complains Scheer. "And how do (the girls) fight back?
Sexy dancing," adds Mantzoukas. "Watching (this film) would be the same way
my parents would feel if they molested me thorugh my teen years," pipes
guest <a href="http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/performers/11682">Chelsea
Peretti</a>.

 <http://newyork.cbslocal.com/audio-on-demand/charles-grodin/> 8.
Charles Grodin

 <http://www.earwolf.com/show/mike-detective/> 7. Mike
Detective 
Those nostalgic for Zucker Brothers comedy will delight in this bastard
grandchild; a satirical '40s radio serial hatched from the dirty minds of <a
href="http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/performers/5190">Scott Aukerman</a>
and <a href="http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/performers/5281">Neil
Campbell</a>. <a href="http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/performers/900">Rob
Huebel</a> voices the sexual-harassing title character who is hired by the
curvy Stephanie Client (Grey DeLisle) to locate her sister. She's been
abducted by Kelsey Grammer -- or has she? Like the weather in every episode,
the show's guest-star lineup of <a
href="http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/performers/908">Andy Daly</a>, Weird
Al Yankovic and Galifianakis is like the celebrity-strewn film It's a Mad
Mad Mad Mad World: Perfectly overcast.

 <http://pardcast.com/blog/> 6. Never Not Funny:The Jimmy Pardo
Podcast 
To <a href="http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/performers/6054">Jimmy
Pardo</a>'s credit, there's a certain type of guest that is suitable for his
show and that's a person -- typically a comedian -- who likes to truly
converse and briefly segue to other topics as they pop up, whether it's the
Falkland Islands War, Jim Croce's canon, actress E.G. Daily's nude scenes in
Valley Girl or Pardo pains like the discomfort of Hanes underwear. A
conversation with Jon Hamm turns into a discussion on his hometown St. Louis
and how they're famous for fried raviolis. It's been said that Pardo doesn't
write any jokes, and from listening to his rapid Don Rickles-like responses,
that's no hoax.

 <http://paulftompkins.com/view_blog.php?id=20> 5. The Pod F.
Tompkast 
Like <a href="http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/performers/6347">Paul F.
Tompkins</a>' well-tailored vintage suits, his hour-plus long podcasts are
reminiscent of old comedy vinyls, ones that spun their share of offbeat
skits and narratives. Most episodes feature Tompkins' soothing-toned
absurdisms, elegantly backed by classical piano. This then changes up to a
number of segments: A John Lithgow impersonation, a real-life story from
comedienne <a href="http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/performers/6327">Jen
Kirkman</a> or vaudevillian hijinks from his Largo stage show.

 <http://www.earwolf.com/show/affirmation-nation-with-bob-ducca/> 4.
Affirmation Nation With Bob Ducca 
The sad-sack, physically handicapped alter-ego of <a
href="http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/performers/841">Seth Morris</a> has
good intentions: He wants to heal ailing listeners with his daily two-minute
axioms. Sometimes it's an ode to what Ducca adores, like coconut water ("It
has the potassium of 8,000 bananas"). Other times, he warns others by
listing a number of activities he's no longer permitted to do in society:
Taking community college showers, accessing wiki erotica at the public
library and giving himself hand-sanitizer baths at CVS. Morris' delivery as
Ducca is priceless: In each episode he carries the severity and tone of an
NPR talk show host.

 <http://ronnaandbeverly.com/podcast/> 3. Ronna & Beverly 
Thanks to the power of iPod technology in car stereos, the Jewish mothers
you left at the theater, can now run their mouths non-stop from the backseat
of your car. Like their critically-acclaimed stage show, <a
href="http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/shows/942">Ronna & Beverly</a>,
respectively played by <a
href="http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/performers/5156">Jessica Chaffin</a>
and <a href="http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/performers/5203">Jamie
Denbo</a>, smother their guests with intrusive questions and filter-less
opinions. ("Who's the black girl in the movie?," asks Beverly to
Bridesmaids director Paul Feig. "I'm surprised she didn't break into
song...Then there's the heavy set girl and I don't want to see anyone that
size on the screen.") They bicker, they gossip, they knit-pick, they sing
patriotic songs -- what's funny is you could swear you ran into them at the
deli.

2. The Apple Sisters

 <http://www.wtfpod.com/> 1. WTF With Marc Maron 
What makes <a href="http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/performers/24747">Marc
Maron</a> the best interviewer? A host that continually attracts comedy's
top-working talent like <a
href="http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/performers/2186">Amy Poehler</a>, <a
href="http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/performers/465">Ed Helms</a>, Louis
C.K., etc.? He lets his guests talk. Maron doesn't overshadow them with his
opinions, nor does he take a long time to ask a question a la Charlie Rose.
Rather he leaves the airtime to them. Such selfless tactics has produced
candid insights from Poehler expouding on her work with Lorne Michaels to <a
href="http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/performers/901">Rob Riggle</a>'s
balancing military and comedy life. While most late night talk show hosts
are former stand-ups who sold-out, the takeaway with Maron is that he
approaches his guests with a riveting, working man's pov. His guests for the
first three weeks on KCRW include Judd Apatow (July 24), Conan O'Brien (July
31) and Bob Odenkirk and <a
href="http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/performers/12311">Maria Bamford</a>
(August 7).

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href="http://blogs.laweekly.com/stylecouncil/2011/07/upright_citizens_brigad
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