Click This: Roe, Schier and Radzinski chat it up on CBS Philly

Here’s a clip from CBSPhilly.com featuring AMIE ROE, KRISTEN SCHIER and MARY RADZINSKI talking about being female in comedy, many of their inspirations coming up, and what their ideal audience might look like.

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Comedian Profile: Andy Moskowitz

Editors Note: In this segment, we step away from the stage and take a look at comedians in the Philadelphia area… Learn a little more about where they come from, what they do while not performing and of course the question we all ask ourselves… Why do we do it?

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ANDY MOSKOWITZ

Might have seen him in: Fletcher, ComedySportz, Pasiónes de Pasiónes

Hangs his hat in: Fairmount

Stomping Grounds: Ardmore, PA

Pays the Bills as: Medical Copywriter

Other Hobbies: Film and film criticism, running, card tricks

Why Improv?

When I was a kid, I hated waiting for stuff. Crowded restaurants, amusement park lines — even the mail — were all torture for my impatient 8-year-old psyche. Hannukah was especially difficult, because the best presents were reserved for the final night. I had to endure seven nights of wax lips & gelt before I got the big one. And every year, my mom would tell me I had to learn to “delay gratification.”

Twenty years later, I’m still a kid and I still hate waiting. Improv is the instant gratification artform. You’re on stage, you get an idea, you spit it out, and the rewards are instantaneous. Improv is the last night of Hannukah. Or a VIP pass to Disney Land. Or the table reserved for the mafia at Buca di Beppo, even on a busy Friday night. See where I’m going with this?

See Andy in these upcoming Fringe Festival shows

Fletcher
9/3, 9/7 & 9/15 @ 8:30PM | 9/10 @ 11:30PM | 9/12 @ 5PM

Pasiónes de Pasiónes
9/5 @ 8:30PM | 9/10 & 9/18 @ 7PM

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If you know someone who you think should be profiled, we’d love to hear about them.

Comedian Profile: Nick Gillette

NICK GILLETTE

Might have seen him in: Everything Must Go (recently retired house team), Velvet Helmet, and Nathan Edmondson’s New As-of-yet-unnamed Team (forthcoming)

Hangs his hat in: South Philly (soon, Souther Philly)

Stomping Grounds: Downingtown, PA, which, as kids, we would refer to as “Down In G Town”

Pays the Bills: Tour Guide at Eastern State Penitentiary

Other Hobbies: Dungeons and Dragons (just started a new campaign as the Dungeon Master), Burlesque (I perform regularly with Revival Burlesque and Cabaret Red Light), Secret Mime (mime is so universally and undeservedly loathed, I feel like I have to practice in secret.)

Why Improv?

I got into improv in college because there is nothing as invigorating as the risk of standing in front of a crowd with your teammates and being rewarded by bringing the house down.  It rewards presence.  I spend an unfortunately large portion of my life dealing with people automatically, and I’m glad to participate in any activity that demands living on the cusp of the moment.

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If you know someone who you think should be profiled, we’d love to hear about them.

Comedian Profile: Mary Carpenter

Editors Note: In celebration of The 2010 ComedySportz World Championship, this week we’ll be profiling comedians from the local ComedySportz roster…

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MARY CARPENTER

Might have seen her in: ComedySportz Philly (going on 18 years), Dangerous Fools, 24 Hour Improv Marathon

Hangs her hat in: Mt Airy, PA

Stomping Grounds: Villanova, PA

Pays the Bills: Theatre Jack of all trades

Projects: Writing, producing & performing original one-woman show “the New & Improved Stages of Grief” for 2010 Philadelphia Fringe Festival

Other Hobbies: Writing, knitting, crosswords, pretending to be a mother

Why Improv?

Never boring, You’re never done, and it still curls my toes

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If you know someone who you think should be profiled, we’d love to hear about them.

Comedian Profile: Jason Stockdale

Editors Note: In celebration of The 2010 ComedySportz World Championship, this week we’ll be profiling comedians from the local ComedySportz roster.

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JASON STOCKDALE

Might have seen him in: ComedySportz, The Ones Your Moms Warned You About

Hangs his hat in: Chestnut Hill

Stomping Grounds: Neptune, NJ

Pays the Bills: Hotel Reservations Manager/Baseball Stadium Hot Dog Launcher and Birthday Greeter/All Around Swell Guy

Projects: Director of Ladies And Gentlemen, fresh off of Rodgers And Hammerstein Are Dead.

Other Hobbies: No time, must keep working and improvising! (Actually, I enjoy comic books, video games and bouncing erratically around between different kinds of music – currently ensconced in nerdcore).

Why Improv?

Would you ask a bee “why honey”? Or a kangaroo “why pouches”? (digress)

Actually my love of improv extends from my love of theatre – the love of watching something happening in front of you, alive, energetic – something that moves and bounces. Something that will never be the same again – even if its a scripted work, the experience changes from night to night, due to the fact that the viewers change from night to night. Improv just moves that to a more dangerous and exciting level – it won’t ever be the same not only from the audience perspective, but from the performers perspective as well. Improv is made of moments, as is life. I also like performing improv because I get to simultaneously hide and be exposed.

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If you know someone who you think should be profiled, we’d love to hear about them.

Comedian Profile: Julia Frey

Editors Note: In celebration of The 2010 ComedySportz World Championship, this week we’ll be profiling comedians from the local ComedySportz roster…

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JULIA FREY

Might have seen her in: ComedySportz Philly, ComedySportz NY, Mastodon Mattingly (NY)

Hangs her hat in: splits time between Center City and Brooklyn

Stomping Grounds: Philadelphia, PA

Pays the Bills: Actor, but I pay the bills by making martinis and lattes

Other Hobbies: Crosswords and yoga

Why Improv?

I love creating art as part of an ensemble.

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If you know someone who you think should be profiled, we’d love to hear about them.

Jeff Hawkins on coaching

If you’ve not yet acquainted yourself with The Improv Student, I highly recommend you do so. It’s a blog penned by writer, comedian and (spoiler) improv student Eric Yang. There’s a great little interview up now with our dear friend JEFF HAWKINS. Fellow Philly improvisers likely know Jeff as half of BillyHawk, but he’s also part of HawkinStroth as well as coach to several iO West teams.

In the interview, Eric chats with Jeff about his coaching style, new teams finding their voice through the right approach and the merits of openings. You can (very likely) see Jeff in Philly this Fall when BillyHawk (hopefully) performs at PHIF. You can see the interview here.

Comedian Profile: Kelly Vrooman

Editors Note: In this segment, we step away from the stage and take a look at comedians in the Philadelphia area… Learn a little more about where they come from, what they do while not performing and of course the question we all ask ourselves… Why do we do it?

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KELLY VROOMAN

Might have seen her in: ComedySportz, Ladies & Gentlemen in Rodgers & Hammerstein Are Dead

Hangs her hat in: South Philly (Point Breeze)

Stomping Grounds: Mansfield, OH

Pays the Bills as: Actor. Yeah, that’s right mom, I’m doin’ it.

Other Hobbies: Painting, gardening, dancing, singing,  stopping my cat from scratching the furniture.

Why Improv?

An old boyfriend told me he didn’t think girls were funny.  I took that as a personal challenge.  Improv introduced me to some of the funniest women I know… and maybe I’m funny too.   Why improv?  Because girls are funny, because boys are funny and when we all work together to create something out of nothing, it’s genius.  My life has taken so many interesting detours because I’ve simply said, “Yes, and…”!

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If you know someone who you think should be profiled, we’d love to hear about them.

A chat with Amie and Kristen

Whether you call them the Amie & Kristen Show or the Kristen & Amie Show… the most important thing is that the two ladies onstage are Amie Roe and Kristen Schier; a pair of funny local ladies who, while well established among an assortment of improv groups, are popping up all the more recently as a two woman show.

I had the chance to chat with these ladies and pick their brains about their playing styles and the dynamics of the duo…

What would you say are some of the major differences in doing a two woman show vs a larger ensemble piece?
KS: Mostly you get to play a lot more. No time for thinking on the back line which makes the ride that much more wild.
AR: When you’re in a two-person show you’re constantly engaged. And I’m also focused on just Kristen the whole time. I become really attuned to her every move. Every nuanced thing you do becomes so important, because, with just two people, no bit of information gets lost.

What do you two do to get prepared for a show? Any special warmups or bonding, etc?
KS: Amie and I are best friends. That’s right, I said it. So we know each other pretty well.
AR: Kristen is my best friend. I took the plunge and also said that. We took a class on duo improv shows at the Magnet Theater with Armando Diaz. We had a cute little ritual of taking the bus together to New York, eating at Bagel Maven, taking class, and then riding back to Philly together. So spending that whole day together and having a 3 hour class in the middle of those days with Armando really helped us grow as friends and as a show.
KS: This is were we paid a lot of attention to what the show was, each others playing style and then we took it from there. Before a show we do some talking, some scene work and that is about it.

You are both directors of other shows, and so you have clear visions about things you want to see in improv performances. Of course we all want the audience to laugh… but what other elements do you want your show to showcase?
AR: I want to produce something that’s playful and honest.
KS: There are not a lot of groups in Philly right now doing organic transitions between scenes. So, yeah, we want to expose audiences to that stuff, if they haven’t had a chance to see it before. Really, its nothing new, its just new to the Philly stage. Also I want to show the audience a good time. Amie and I have a lot of fun up there making stuff up and we want that to be contagious.

Many duos fall into roles of straight vs wacky, etc. Do you find one of you playing a type of character/status more often?
KS: Nope. Its mostly different speeds of play that we contend with. Amie tends to play fast, and I slow both of which are great. During our show we almost switch personalities though – so surprisingly it will be Amie who slows a scene down as I find myself speeding things along.
AR: Also, Kristen tends to play the short characters and I play the slightly taller ones.

If your audience could only give a one word review of the Amie & Kristen Show, what would you hope they say after seeing a show?
AR: FUN!
KS: Congradulamatasticwowercise!

There you have it. And if you’re looking for a little congradulamatasticwowercise yourself, you can catch these ladies next Monday as they help Rookie Card ring in their one year anniversary show.

THE AMIE & KRISTEN / KRISTEN & AMIE SHOW
CELEBRATING THE ROOKIE CARD ANNIVERSARY SHOW
MONDAY, APRIL 26TH @ 9PM
RAVEN LOUNGE | 1718 SANSOM ST

Tonight: Snakes brings hip hop humor to the Shubin

Head on over to the Shubin Theater tonight for a serious dose of comedy courtesy of the PHILLY IMPROV THEATER. Local favorites REAL HOUSEWIVES OF PHILADELPHIA, FLETCHER and M@& are all set to perform, along with NYC import, SNAKES.

Snakes is a comedy rap duo comprised of Billy Scafuri and Adam Lustick, a couple of gentlemen you may know from the sketch group Harvard Sailing Team. Billy and Adam recently won an ENCY Award for Best Musical Comedy Act. They have a knack for pleasing audiences with hard-hitting tight beats matched to outrageous lyrics on some very uncommon rap subjects… everything from economics to underwear, with all the sandwiches and proctologists in between.

Fresh on the heels of last month’s win, we got a chance to talk to them as they prepare to roll into the Shubin tonight:

Did you two meet via Harvard Sailing Team, or does your partnership predate the sketch group?

After writing comedy in college and working at Saturday Night Live, Billy started the Harvard Sailing Team with his childhood friend Chris Smith, an acting student at NYU. Many other of Chris’ friends were then brought onto the team; one of whom was, and still is, Adam. Although, before we had officialy met, we did carry a couple kegs of beer up a flight of stairs together. But basically, we met doing Harvard Sailing Team.

While we’re beginning to see comedic rap in various places, it still seems to be a relatively new platform for comedic expression. What about the format attracted you?

A trend of comedy rap certainly seems to be bubbling to the surface. Between Aziz Ansari putting out his RAAAAAANDY rap album, Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino) burning it up, and the Flight of the Conchords fellas doing their thing, silly music of quality is enjoying a resurgence and we’re thrilled to be a part of it.

For us, the whole thing is predicated on a deep love of hip hop. Both of us grew up worshipping Biggie Smalls, Tupac, Snoop Dogg, Nas, the Wu Tang Clan and so forth, and have always had the utmost reverence for and the desire to be rappers. Billy flexed his skills by winning a few freestyle rap competitions against other comedians in NYC, asked Adam if he’d want to start a hip hop group, we hooked up with legit music producer Rich Royce and the rest is Snakes history. Snistory.

What sort of challenges have you faced in exploring your comedy musically?

Trying to strike the balance between a funny song and a catchy song and realizing the two aren’t mutually exclusive.

Rap is a genre that has seen more that its fair share of controversy over subject matter and explicit lyrics. Anything too taboo for Snakes?

You have our word that we will never, and we mean NEVER, rap about the political constructs and intrinsic class divisions in 18th century Austria under the rule of the Hapsburg Empire. Some wounds are just too fresh.

Speaking of avoiding wounds… in listening to your songs, you seem to be able to manage a respect for the genre while still poking fun at some of its more egregious and hackneyed truisms. Do you find it difficult striking that sort of balance?

It can be tricky. Thanks to our producer, Rich Royce, the beats are deadly serious and with hip hop, if you have a beat you can nod your head to, you’re halfway home. And it’s due to the sincerity and the legitimacy of the music, that we’re able to rhyme about underpants, sandwiches, Tamagachis and the Dalai Lama and get away with it.

Congratulations on your recent ECNY award win.

Thanks for the congrats…

Are you surprised at the notoriety and buzz that Snakes is garnering?

We’re not not surprised. Just jazzed people are enjoying the music.

What do you see as a next step for the group?

We’ve been working on our second album, which will be out this summer. We have music videos, a TV pilot and film scripts in development. We’re looking to tour colleges, prisons and nursing homes. And we’re in the market for an Italian restaurant that leaves you full but not too full.

You can get in on what everyone’s talking about by checking out Snakes at 8pm tonight.

FRIDAY, APRIL 9TH
SNAKES + REAL HOUSEWIVES OF PHILADELPHIA – 8PM
FLETCHER + M@& – 9:30PM
PHIT @ THE SHUBIN | 407 BAINBRIDGE
$10 EA / BYOB | TICKETS