Learning to love [comedy] again

I need a new comedy. Or at least a different kind of comedy. Or maybe a new perspective on what I am seeing. In short, I am disappointed.

The Upright Citizens Brigade is kind of the place for comedy in LA, namely the improv-based variety. I am currently in level 201 of the program and seeing shows every chance I can get. Here is my problem: I keep seeing the same thing. Every show can be summarized as two white guys talking at each other, generally whilst talking about shitting their pants. Sometimes it's one of their characters who's done it, sometimes it's another person who's done it, sometimes it's the monologist who is talking about a time it really happened to them, but when it comes down to it, at every show I saw this week, they talked about someone shitting their pants.

All I know is that I am frustrated when every show turns into heads talking at each other about feces. I feel insulted, like my intelligence is not being respected, though I know I am guilty of the same act, more or less. My sin is referencing the fact that we are in an improvised scene by calling out inconsistencies in the scene while I'm still in it. Nobody is guilt free.

UCB has some of the most heady comedy in town, so maybe that's why they feel it's okay to continually talk about that stuff because they are approaching it intellectually. They've spun so far around the intelligence wheel they're back on the lowbrow side. Maybe I'm being an ass and missing the forest because of all the crappy trees. I do see them adhering to the format and surprising me with unexpected bits of humor and perspective.

On the plus side they have the most realistic characters, especially compared with the Groundlings where if you don't have a combination of a silly voice, a silly walk and a silly wig, you don't have a character. That's right, I'm crapping on the whole town.

When it comes down to it, it seems the honeymoon just ended and right now I need to discover where my love for improv comes from. Now THAT is a life lesson in a journey.

What did I love most about UCB when we first met? Their quick wit, and how they could say no while still saying yes. Here I am learning to do just that.