MSC OPAS will host the Upright Citizens Brigade Thursday, an improv comedy group that has produced notable comedians such as Amy Poehler, Bobby Moynihan and Ed Helms. The Battalion Life & Arts reporter Ethan Boyd spoke with cast member Jenny St. Angelo to discuss the troupe and what it will bring to A&M Thursday.
THE BATTALION: What can people expect from the show?
St. Angelo: We make it up on stage, so we don’t even know what it’s going to be. It’s guaranteed to be funny, though. I can promise you funny. High-energy, off-the-wall stuff. But I don’t know exactly what will happen.
THE BATTALION: How would you say your improv group differs from others that perform?
St. Angelo: I think the group we have really gets along well, and we are all friends off and on stage, which I think helps. We all really like each other and think each others’ stuff is funny. Which helps because you know someone else on your team is going to do something really funny that you would have never thought of and you just get to join in on the fun. I think we all sort of feel that way about each other, which is nice. But I don’t know how that compares to other improv teams because everyone is so different.
THE BATTALION: How did you get into doing stuff like this? Did you always want to do comedy?
St. Angelo: I started out going to school at SMU for theatre in Dallas. After that, I moved to New York City to be an actress and that did not go very well for me. I ended up taking an improv class. And from there it was like, ‘This is what I want to be doing.’ This is so fun and you meet the most genius comedians in the world, they are all there. So I didn’t want to be anywhere else and I don’t want to be doing anything else.
THE BATTALION: Would you encourage others to do the same if they were aspiring comedians?
St. Angelo: For sure. I think everybody can and should take an improv class. You don’t have to be a comedian to be good at improv. You don’t have to know how to write jokes to do improv. I think there is such a good philosophy for your life. There is so much you can take from an improv class and apply to your real life. It’ll make you happier around your friends and it’ll just make you a better person to be around.
THE BATTALION: Is this your first time going on tour or coming to A&M?
St. Angelo: This is my first time coming to A&M. Which I’m excited, I think it’ll be really fun. We do North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, New Orleans, we are all going up to Washington State next week and we’ve done Boston and Ohio and we were supposed to do Kansas but the president was supposed to be at the same time so we got kicked off.
THE BATTALION: Amy Poehler and some pretty famous comedians have come through this same troupe. Have you met or learned anything from them?
St. Angelo: I have never met any of the super, super famous people, but Amy Poehler is one of the founders of the theater. She’s one of the founders. Her and three guys, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh. Yeah, it’s just been such a good school for us, or performance center for people to find their comedic points whether they are writing or directing or acting or stand up or whatever. It’s a really amazing community that gives you the opportunity to develop that point. Many of the members from UCB end up going on. Ellie Kemper and Zach Woods are on The Office, and Donald Glover and Aubrey Plaza — just a ton of people have come from UCB and I think that’s why.