Today marks the launch of NBC Universal’s 24-7 comedy-streaming service, Seeso. For $3.99 a month comedy nerds (and everyone else for that matter) can access the archives of sketch shows like Saturday Night Live and Kids in the Hall, countless classic stand-up specials, and new, original content. Matt Besser, cofounder of the Upright Citizens Brigade, is the creator of two new projects available on the site starting today: variety show The UCB Show and his stand-up special, Besser Breaks the Record.
So the variety show is just sketch and stand-up right now. Do you have any plans for an improv-centric show? To broadcast Asssscat, our improv show, is always a goal. We always bristle when people say, “Improv: you’ve gotta be there, it can’t be recorded.” We’ve never felt that. Bad improv is that way, but a good improvised scene is as good as a written sketch, so why can’t it be recorded?
So your time in Chicago has really stuck with you. When you look back, what do you remember most about that time? I never would have known about improv until later unless I had gone to Chicago, because at that point it really wasn’t happening anywhere like it was in Chicago. I feel I owe everything to Del Close. I feel lucky to have met him and worked with him.
How is the Chicago comedy scene different than New York and LA now that you’ve experienced all three? I don’t know enough about the scene now, but back then I would say there was more experimentation in Chicago than other big cities. If you’re going up in LA or New York, those are showcase towns. There’s always a fear in the back of any performer’s mind that there’s someone in the audience who could make or break them. That’s not a good environment for experimentation. In Chicago, it was a constant Waiting for Guffman, and Guffman never came. As a result of that there was never any fear of bombing, so that made for a lot of experimentation and weirdness.
