Hub for sketch and improv comedy

It has been one of the most important cogs of the New York comedy scene for more than 20 years – but the Upright Citizens Brigade last night announced that it was closing its last city location for good.

The lockdown proved the final nail of the coffin for the theatre – and its associated training centre –– which has been a longstanding hub for sketch and improv comedy in Manhattan.

In an email sent to students and performers, the founders of the group, including Amy Poehler, said the decision was ‘heart wrenching but necessary’.

It added: ‘This is devastating to us, but for some time now, even in a normal, robust economy, we have barely been able to pay the high rents in New York City.

‘We realize that UCB Hell’s Kitchen was a special place for so many of you. For some it was the first place you performed improv, for others it was your home from home… [But] if there is one thinf we have learned it is theat the space is only as good as the people who fill it’.

They also admitted the closures would not be a ‘cure-all’ for the financial woes of the group.

No mention was made of the two venues it runs in Los Angeles, but UCB producers to continue to operate in New York by using other venues when needed.

The UCB opened its current venue in Hell’s Kitchen in 2017. A second venue in the East Village closed in 2019 after eight years.

The group was founded in Chicago in the early 1990s by  Matt Besser, Matt Walsh, Ian Roberts, and Poehler. They moved to New York in 1996, opening their first venue in 1999. They expanded to LA in 2005.

To the chagrin of many comedians, the UCB never paid its performers – while its many-tiered improv classes also provoked controversy – but the closure will be a blow to the New York scene, as well as costing staff their jobs.

Several comics posted their tributes online, including Chris Gethard  who said: ‘Just got word that the UCB Theater as I knew it is no more. Very sad day for me, and a lot of swirling emotions. Did the place have flaws, especially as they grew and grew? Sure. But I hope people don't spend time dancing on the grave.’’

Stephen Colbert added: ‘ first moved to New York in 1996 to work for the Dana Carvey show and was, in short order, unemployed. But Matt and Matt and Ian and Amy would invite anxious me to do ASSSCAT [one of their regular nights] in the back of some bar (the name of which escapes me) Thanks guys. I’ll always be grateful.’

Published: 22 Apr 2020