Saturday Night Live’s three new faces.
Yes, Don Pardo has 3 new names to say!
With Kristen Wiig, Andy Samberg and Abby Elliot leaving Studio 8H, it was once again time to bring in fresh comedy blood. You’d probably already heard the rumblings about two new members, and today SNL has confirmed the two and added another, all with their backgrounds in Chicago comedy, home to names like Dratch, Sanz and Belushi to name a few. Let’s meet the new recruits!
Aidy Bryant hails from Phoenix, Arizona. She graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a BA in theater. She’s performed at Second City where she was in the ensemble for the E.T.C. theater’s ‘Sky’s the Limit (Weather Permitting)’ which won a Jeff Award. She’s written and performed productions at The Annoyance, performed with Baby Wants Candy wherein the team improvises entire musicals and iO with Virgin Daiquiri.
Tim Robinson came to Chicago from Detroit, Michigan where he had been a member of the Second City Detroit Mainstage for two years. He was also a member for Detroit’s Second City Touring Company. In Chicago, in addition to being a member of Second City’s mainstage, he’s a member of the iO teams ‘Cook County Social Club’ and ‘My Mans’, the former being praised for their commitment to “improv’s ‘affirm everything’ mantra”. He’s a father of two.
Cecily Strong got her theater degree at CalArts with a focus on comedy. She studied and understudied at Second City in Chicago (it’s mainstage and the E.T.C. stage) playing witness to the magical yearly visits from Lorne Michaels. She’s performed with the Theatricals, the national Second City touring company and has already performed with alongside Aidy Bryant with the iO team Virgin Daiquiri.
Today the first pitch meeting of the SNL season takes place. Today these new soldiers begin proving themselves not only as capable performers but team members, and come this Saturday night, they find themselves in the front lines. They are certainly qualified. It’s always exciting to see new people. The show thrives on change and when a new performer says their first line or gets their first laugh, who knows, you could be looking at the next comedy legend.
The 38th Season Premiere of Saturday Night Live airs this Saturday the 15th with Host Seth MacFarlene and Musical Guest Frank Ocean.
Chicago comedy represent!
Seriously, world, you’re in for one hell of a treat. I might actually keep up with SNL this season.
John Cleese on creativity.
“I was embarrassed that I lost our work, so I rewrote it from memory, straight off in a hurry. Then I discovered the original and the one I’d done very quickly was better than the original. I didn’t spend any time thinking about it, so how could it be better than the original?”
“The only thing I could think was that my unconscious had been working on the sketch and improving it ever since I wrote it. I began to see a lot of my best work seemed to come as a result of my unconscious working on things when I wasn’t really attending to them.”
“I’m not talking about the Freudian unconscious but the intelligent unconscious. We can’t control our unconscious but we can look to how we can create the circumstance in which it becomes easier for us to work with our unconscious.”
Hey.
You guys.
Jeff, Who Lives At Home was really good. Go see it.
John Hodgman . More Information Than You Require
Is Chicago the American version of Germany’s Bielefeld Conspiracy?
I saw him right after this show when he came to Second City.
And I am seeing him in November.
Life is good.
Good IdeaTweet of the Day
3 Things I Learned As the Artistic Director of the UCB Theatre By Anthony King
1. Stop trying to get an agent.
If show business is war, agents have the guns. It’s your job to make ammunition. So while it’s great that you wrote that sketch show or have five tight minutes of stand-up or that you finally finished your Modern Family spec script — you have to make more. The guys with the guns may gawk at your one shiny bullet, but they’re not going to start firing unless they know there’s more where that came from. Because, well, war is hell and no one knows what they’re shooting at. So stop worrying about getting a gun you’re not ready to use and focus on making more bullets. Trust me — the guys with the guns need good ammunition. When you’re ready — they’ll find you.
2. Don’t be bitter. Be better.
Too many people seem to think that really wanting something is actually a reason they should get it. It’s not. As Steve Martin once said, the key for any aspiring comedian is, “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” So sure, you could make a hundred excuses for why you’re not as successful as you want to be. And some of them may even be true. But the comedians who make it are the ones who keep pushing themselves and take advantage of every opportunity. The gatekeeper who rejects you may indeed be an idiot, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be better.
3. Be nice.
That intern taking out the garbage may be on SNL one day. And that guy in your improv class who you don’t think is funny may end up working in development at a studio. But more importantly this business is filled with rejection and it’s a lot less lonely if you’ve got a community of like-minded, supportive people around you who understand what you’re going through. Another person’s success is not your failure.
Of course there are plenty of other great lessons I could share, like “Making your show a musical is not a license for it to SUCK” or “Your tap-dancing black-face Hitler character is probably not funny and you should think about never doing it again.” But I can’t give it all away for free! What if I get a book deal!?!?
So I’ll just leave you with this: No one really knows what they’re talking about. No one really knows what they want. Make what you think is funny, do everything you can to find an audience that also thinks it’s funny, and never stop. The rest will take care of itself.
Second City Employee Confesses Rape To UCB Comedy Audience in NY, A Reaction
Very rarely do I post something this serious minded but it’s extremely important that it be read by as many people as possible. Also that it came from the presumably forward thinking alternative comedy community is especially of note.
Below are excerpts from the original post by Poupak Sepehri, audience member at the closing Asssscat of the recent UCB Del Close Marathon in NY.
I wanted to talk about ASSSSCAT, the show that closed the Del Close Marathon, a huge improv festival. During the show, comedians on stage invited audience members to tell a true story from their lives, and then improvised a set around it.
….
He started his story by saying that he is a cook/host at Second City in Chicago (justification#1 – he is supposedly part of the community). One evening, a very drunk (justification #2) and older (justification #3) woman was hitting on one of the waiters at Second City. This woman, who was from out of town (justification#4), gave her number to the waiter and asked him to call her (justification#5). The waiter, not interested, shared the story with the rest of the staff and practically forced this cook/host to take the number, even giving him money for the cab (justification#6) to show up at her hotel.
The woman opens the door to her hotel room thinking it was the waiter, but SURPRISE it’s the cook/host. She immediately asks him to leave, but he finds some BS excuse to go get her cell phone so that he can call a friend to come pick him up since he doesn’t have money for the taxi back (another murky part of the story). She goes to get her cell phone, and makes a HUGE mistake: she leaves the hotel room door open.
Halle Kiefer at Splitsider was also in attendance and shares her thoughts, which come from a more comedy insider perspective. Stephanie Streisand has also provided a first hand account and there is video of the monologue.
Thanks all, now back to your regularly scheduled Hollywood nonsense.
[via comedynerdsunited]
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After Reggie Watts’ show in Seattle last night, Greggie Watts urged all comedy nerds to join us in the good fight.
