Duofest is born… and its twins!

Last week, members of the Philadelphia and NYC improv scenes announced that this fall we’ll be treated to DUOFEST, a festival dedicated to celebrating comedic pairs. Produced in association with the PHILLY IMPROV THEATER, it’s the first festival of its kind, paying tribute to the unique dynamic created when just two people alone share the stage.

For anyone who attends festivals regularly, and even more so for any duos who submit to them, it’s a sad fact that far too many comedic pairs get passed over for larger ensembles. Many times they are already members of larger groups submitting, other times they may not have the notoriety… but regardless of the reason – only a few make it front and center at national festivals. The producers of Duofest look to flip that reality on it’s head… showing us that there’s never an odd man out when you’ve got two people.

PHIT has long shown its love for duos, having played host to such noted visitors as BASSPROV, CODE DUELLO, TYBRUS, TIN SANDWICH and most recently ADSIT & GAUSUS… as well as regularly showcasing local talent like WHIPSUIT, AMIE & KRISTEN SHOW and CUBED.

Now they’ll be taking that love and spreading it out over 4 days, featuring comedic pairs from the far reaches of duo-dom. Duofest will run Sept. 3o – Oct. 3, 2010 at the Shubin Theater here in Philadelphia. If you have a duo you’d like to get involved, submissions are open until July 22nd with a $32 submission fee. If you hurry up and apply before July 2nd, they’ll knock $10 off the fee.

DUOFEST
TWO IMPROVISERS, ONE STAGE
SEPT. 30 – OCT. 3RD, 2010
SHUBIN THEATER | 407 BAINBRIDGE ST
SUBMIT NOW

But What About The Ty In Tybrus?

Sure we got Jon Gabrus’ take on Philly, but what about Justin Tyler? Oh, we’ve got that too:

By my count this is your sixth run of shows in Philly. What’s your favorite thing about the city?

JG: You guys keep inviting us back, and that is more than enough. We love the city, it is a 20 dollar Chinatown bus ride away and always a good time. (Greg) Maughan puts us up and puts up with us, and being able to do that is enough to make that guy a saint in the Tybrus bible.

JT: Our favorite thing about Philly? Besides official Tybrus mascot Brandon Libby? That’s tough. Something about Philly brings out the best in Tybrus, maybe it’s the crowd, maybe it’s how accommodating you guys are to us, or maybe it’s the whiskey that keeps sliding into our hands down here.

You’ve done a lot of different divergent comedy with Tybrus – in addition to your sketch show, You’re Out Too Far, we’ve seen everything from monoscenes to complete freeform improv. What can audiences expect on this run?

JG: Great question, and probably something we can’t answer just yet. We will definitely be doing improv, as to exactly what form we do… That is a decision to be made on stage. We like to just go up there and see where that particular set takes us. Sometimes it is just a matter of ‘wanna do a monoscene tonight?’ ‘Yeah.’

JT: I completely agree. Most sets we just make a decision right before we go onstage, whether it be monoscene or some other specific form. Then we do our Panda Warm-up and then we’re on.

You both have other popular projects you work on – Pig Brooch, Fwand, Sidecar, UCBW, writing and acting… what is it about Tybrus that brings you back?

JG: Justin is my writing partner/neighbor/one of my best friends (and I just say ‘one of’ in case he doesn’t call me his best friend I don’t want to make things awkward). We are always hanging out together, he lives a block away in Brooklyn, and we are constantly working on writing projects together, and a plethora of drinking projects. We have all these other projects going on but they are side projects. We know where our bread is buttered.

JT: Michael Delaney of Stepfathers here in New York once referred to Billy Merritt as his ‘improv wife’, and that is the best way to describe the relationship Gabrus and I have. Which one of us is the wife is a matter for public debate. Gabrus is my best friend (Things are not awkward), we truly do live about a block from each other and see each other on an almost daily basis. The first improv scene Gabrus and I ever did together was a race between Superman and The Flash. That’s a cosmic alliance if I’ve ever heard one.

We see a lot of pretty crazy characters come out on stage. But when watching it’s clear there’s a level of personal investment – you own those characters as a piece of yourselves. Do you see a lot of your character work being autobiographical?

JG: It is safe to say that both of us are pretty crazy people on a very basic level. So all we have to do on stage is let our mask of sanity slip a little bit in a certain direction, and you have a fucking nutso character that is grounded in reality. Justin is a really talented actor and makes it look great/easy up there. But there is definitely a lot of ourselves or each other in our character work.

JT: To make a character real there has to be at least a little piece of them inside of you, even the ones that wear other people’s skin on their faces. Gabrus is two kinds of machines, optimized for your benefit: an idea machine and a commitment machine. Our characters can get crazy because of the unique and grounded environments that they live in.

We’ve also seen a lot of crazy coming out off stage. How much of what you do on stage carries with you when you leave?

JT: It all comes off with you and Gabrus and I have made it our personal quest to live out every improvised moment we create on stage. Especially our characters drink a lot and then take off their clothes.

JG: To be 100 percent honest this question can pretty much answer every other question. Why do Justin and I work together because we both are fucking nuts. It is so rare that you bump into someone in life whose sense of humor lines up almost totally with yours, and then also their outlook on life, and how they act in public is very similar.

JT: We’ve both performed with a lot of different people but we always come back home. Someday we’ll both live in a tiny bungalow in Key West, watching re-runs of Dawson’s Creek all day, writing a joint memoir that involves jail time. And our wives will be there too.

JG: We were meant to perform together or at least fight each other in a bar.

JT: We may be doing both this weekend.

Come witness the love yourself… tonight @ 10pm & tomorrow @ 8pm.  

Justin Tyler is a writer and actor in New York City, and a member of the late UCB Harold team Havana Clambake. He is a founding member of sketch/improv groups Cubicle and Sidecar, which perform regularly all over New York. Justin is a monthly contributor to Jest Magazine and the artistic director of Pig Brooch Inc., a New York based theatre company, which produced his play, Happy Mundanes, in the 2004 New York International Fringe Festival.

Putting The Brus In Tybrus

It’s once again Shubin week for the Philly Improv Theater and this month’s special guest is the NYC improv duo, Tybrus. I recently chatted with Jon Gabrus on their impending trip to our city.

Jon, by my count this is your sixth run of shows in Philly. What’s your favorite thing about the city?

You guys keep inviting us back, and that is more than enough. We love the city, it is a 20 dollar Chinatown bus ride away and always a good time. (Greg) Maughan puts us up and puts up with us, and being able to do that is enough to make that guy a saint in the Tybrus bible.

You’ve done a lot of different divergent comedy with Tybrus – in addition to your sketch show, You’re Out Too Far, we’ve seen everything from monoscenes to complete freeform improv. What can audiences expect on this run?

Great question, and probably something we can’t answer just yet. We will definitely be doing improv, as to exactly what form we do… That is a decision to be made on stage. We like to just go up there and see where that particular set takes us. Sometimes it is just a matter of ‘wanna do a monoscene tonight?’ ‘Yeah.’

You both have other popular projects you work on – Pig Brooch, Fwand, Sidecar, UCBW, writing and acting… what is it about Tybrus that brings you back?

Justin is my writing partner/neighbor/one of my best friends (and I just say ‘one of’ in case he doesn’t call me his best friend I don’t want to make things awkward). We are always hanging out together, he lives a block away in Brooklyn, and we are constantly working on writing projects together, and a plethora of drinking projects. We have all these other projects going on but they are side projects. We know where our bread is buttered.

We see a lot of pretty crazy characters come out on stage. But when watching it’s clear there’s a level of personal investment – you own those characters as a piece of yourselves. Do you see a lot of your character work being autobiographical?

It is safe to say that both of us are pretty crazy people on a very basic level. So all we have to do on stage is let our mask of sanity slip a little bit in a certain direction, and you have a fucking nutso character that is grounded in reality. Justin is a really talented actor and makes it look great/easy up there. But there is definitely a lot of ourselves or each other in our character work.

We’ve also seen a lot of crazy coming out off stage. How much of what you do on stage carries with you when you leave?

To be 100 percent honest this question can pretty much answer every other question. Why do Justin and I work together because we both are fucking nuts. It is so rare that you bump into someone in life whose sense of humor lines up almost totally with yours, and then also their outlook on life, and how they act in public is very similar. We were meant to perform together or at least fight each other in a bar. Also Matt, I think the question could be even worded as how much of what we do in life carries with us on stage? Either way, we are excited for this weekend. I know personally I am going to ensure that Maughan doesn’t sleep at all.

————-

Tybrus performs tonight at 10pm and Saturday at 8pm. They’ll be joined by Holmes/Maughan, Tongue & Groove and the Ninjas. They will also be teaching a workshop on Saturday entitled Finding the Game.

PHIT @ The Shubin
407 Bainbridge Street
Fri @ 8pm: Tongue & Groove with Holmes/Maughan
Fri @ 10pm: Tybrus with the Ninjas
Sat @ 8pm: Tybrus with Holmes/Maughan
Sat @ 10pm: Tongue & Groove with the Ninjas
$10/show

Jonathan Gabrus is a writer and actor living in Brooklyn. He has studied improv under Michael Delaney, Paul Scheer, Billy Merritt, Amy Poehler, Matt Besser and Matt Walsh. He is a current member of UCB harold team fwand. He performs sketch and improv around NYC and beyond with Justin Tyler as part of Tybrus, their sketch show You’re Out too Far ran at the UCB for seven months. His other UCB credits include: Sketch Cram, Hot Sauce 4th Floor Walk-up, UCBW, The Documentary, and Glue Trap Theatre. Gabrus has written for Spike TV, Heavy.com, Collegehumor.com, Toyfare Magazine and ClipsQuips.com. He has appeared on Late Night with Conan O Brien, Best Week Ever, I Love 80s/90s/Toys, Spike Video Game Awards and many Internet shows. He can also be seen in a bunch of commercials and promos, usually as the slacker or shirtless slacker.

The Philly Improv Theater (PHIT) is the only longform improvisation theater in the Metro Philadelphia area. Founded in 2005, PHIT is a nonprofit theater company that embraces the art of improvisation as an end rather than a means – creating and producing improv, sketch, and alternate comedy shows in the tradition of theaters like Chicago’s Second City and New York’s Upright Citizens Brigade. To further this philosophy, PHIT offers it’s own take take on the theories and concepts behind good improvisation in a full curriculum of classes for performers of all skill levels taught by local talent and through master classes with distinguished performers and teachers from all over the world (including Impro author Keith Johnstone, Joe Bill and Mark Sutton of The Second City, and former SNL writer Ali Farahnakian). In addition to performing as part of PHIT’s weeklong residency at The Shubin Theatre each month, local improv troupes produced and presented by PHIT have toured extensively on the East Coast and performed in festivals throughout North America.

New In Town? This One’s For You

Our latest advice question comes from a newb to our city – looking for the lowdown on longform. No worries, Alexis has your back!

Q: I’m not sure if you or “the asshole” still respond to these questions, because anything that I’ve found on the internet or improv resource center about Philly improv seems slightly outdated. No offense to Philadelphia, but much offense to the internet. My question is simple. I am originally from Austin, where I was involved with the short form scene there for a few years, after which I moved to New York and got a heavy addiction and a hearty obsession with long form at the Upright Citizens Brigade theatre. Now, I’m living in Philadelphia for two months and I’m having wack ass improv withdrawals and I can’t seem to find what I need. Can you help me? Can you tell me where to score some good improv? Do you know a local improv dealer, preferably specializing in long form, but short form will definitely give me my fix.

Please help. It’s going to be a long 8 weeks with no improv!!

Your friend in improv land,
- S

A: Dear Junkie, awww shit. Welcome to the 215!

I do answer these questions, but it takes some thought and I am a slow thinker. The monkey in my brain is a silverback gorilla. However, your question is easy, and since you will only be here for several weeks, your question will quickly become outdated. Congratulations, improv junkie! I AM YOUR ENABLER!!!!

The Philly Improv Theater hosts a week of shows at the Shubin every month. If you are reading this April 2nd-6th, why we are having a week of shows this very week! This week we have Tybrus coming down from NYC to perform Friday and Saturday, as well as some quality local groups (Holmes/Maughan and Tongue & Groove). Check out www.phillyimprovtheater.com, for showtimes. PHIT also offers classes; they are posted on the internet, too.

If you are looking to play in, why don’t you try the Incubator (sometimes known as the Fakeout). It is run by a very nice man named Rick Horner; and it meets almost every Sunday at some place. Want more than just vague ideas of where things happen? Check out this post on the IRC.

- Alexis

Brohemian Rhapsody

I saw this video some time back on CollegeHumor, but it occurred to me that some of you fine Philly folks might not have seen it yet. It features NYC improviser and Philly favorite, Jon Gabrus, who many know as half of the comedy duo, Tybrus.

from www.collegehumor.com posted with vodpod

The video has become pretty popular, and is even featured on a Busted Tees shirt

Who Dat At PHIF?

The lineup has been announced for the 2007 Philadelphia Improv Festival.

Among the 30 groups performing are: 30,000 kHz of Sound, BillyHawk, The Boss, Cajones, Cathcart & Olson, Caveat, ChImp, Choosical, Cubicle, Delaware Comedy Theatre, Dwayne’s Guesthouse, Get Up, Gunshow, Gus, iMusical, Industrial, Jackie, Kick the Squirrel, Makeout Clinic, Men About Town, N Crowd, Onesixtyone, Rare Bird Show, Sidecar, The Throng, TTFKATGPDCH!R, Tybrus, Unexpected Company, Viceroy and ZombieShark.

These groups will be coming in from all over the country, including cities as far away as Los Angeles, Portland, Austin and Chicago – as well as from east coast locales like NYC, DC, Dirty South and more.

PHIF 2007 runs Nov. 8-10 at the Mum Puppettheatre in Old City.