Comedy takes many different forms at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles. If you’ve spent an enjoyable evening there over the past couple years it might’ve been to see improv or sketch; an open mic or talk show; stand-up spotlight or one-person show. No matter what you saw, though, it had one thing in common with every other show at the burgeoning theater: It was booked by Neil Campbell. As the UCB-LA’s Artistic Director Neil has his hands full balancing the schedule between established comics and an ever-growing slew of youngsters working their way through the UCB Training Program. On top of the full-time work he puts in as AD, Neil gets his hands dirty on the creative side as a writer, director and performer in at least two shows every week. To say he spends a lot of time at the theater is like saying prisoners spend a lot of time in prison. He was away from the theater for an hour to give this interview and was reported missing. He has “PROPERTY OF UCB” tattooed on his back. Neither of those last two sentences are true.
As the UCB prepares to celebrate five years in LA next month, Poop or Chocolate sat down with Neil to talk all things pertaining to his home away from home.
How did you get started at UCB?
Scott Aukerman from Comedy Deathray had seen Paul Rust and I do some sketches at Garage Comedy and gave us a spot on Comedy Deathray. That was the first time we got to perform in front of people we really admired and loved. When UCB was opening Scott recommended us to Matt Besser and we got a show the first month. And then there was this show, Not Too Shabby, every Friday at midnight, same time it is now, and by the third week Paul and I were the only people that had shown up every week to perform sketches. We were in line and Besser came up to us and was like, “I can’t host a Friday midnight show every week, do you guys want to take this over?” That was August of 2005 and we still host that show every Friday now.
How much time do you spend at the theater?
Artistic Director is a full-time job, but it really varies how much time I spend there during the week. I’ll work from home a lot, partially because I can and partially because I’m one of three people sharing two desks. I do office hours every Thursday from 2-5 where anyone can come in to talk about doing a show. And then I’m there at night a lot to watch the shows. Over the past few weeks I’ve watched every Maude Night and I’m there most Harold Nights. If there’s a new show I try to see it. And then there are the shows I perform in: Last Day of School is my improv group, we perform Thursday nights at 11 with another great group, Convoy. Then Friday nights Paul and I do Not Too Shabby at midnight. And A Kiss from Daddy, my sketch group, performs the first Wednesday of every month with the Birthday Boys. I’m there a ton, I can’t even start to add it up.
Here is Neil in a video from A Kiss from Daddy.
What about the Artistic Director job interested you?
The reason I took the job to begin with was because I’m a pretty analytical guy, whichever brain that is, I forget, so I talk to my friends about comedy and what I like and what I dislike. When I got the job I knew a big part of it was looking at who was doing well and who deserves a run. And I already had all the opinions; I just didn’t have any need or cause to share them without just being the guy who says his opinion without anyone asking. The job just gave me a reason to share them. I’m really confident in my ability to pick funny stuff out and choose which performers and writers to showcase. I think I can just kind of tell when someone has a point of view and when people are just trying to get it right for the industry. You see groups like the Birthday Boys now or Hendershaw before them, groups who have such a strong voice, and those are the type of people I want to see succeed. And I think I’m pretty good at picking them out.
What are your favorite things about the job?
My favorite thing is seeing someone go from student, to getting representation, to getting work. That’s when I’m most proud. I mean, I didn’t do anything, it was all their talent, but I provided them a forum to showcase their talent. I like getting involved as early as possible with these shows. Getting my hands dirty, helping to make them the best they can be. That’s what makes some of the less fun stuff worth it. Any job is going to have a mix of crap and good stuff, and at this job, that’s the good stuff. Not everyone comes in for help, and it’s not a requirement to pitch to me, but I love when t people do. Some people come in and I get really involved, but there can be a negative to that too. Sometimes there can be people who are trying to safeguard. And they just want to make sure that every step is okay. But in the end it’s going to come down to execution. And if I see it and all just seems aimed to please me, as opposed to having something to say or expressing a strong comedic point of view, then they were coming in for the wrong reasons. They were coming in to try and “get it right” as opposed to using me as a sounding board. But I love helping do whatever I can to make shows as good as possible.
What do you look for as a show booker?
There aren’t a preset series of things that I’m looking for, but I usually know when I see it because I’m laughing at it. Something I like in comedy is when people are confident in themselves, so they don’t need to use comedy to prove anything. Stuff that’s about proving how smart or cool the writer is, that’s not why you get into comedy. Or maybe that IS why you get into comedy, but it’s not what comedy’s about. Comedy’s about making people laugh. I’m into a bit of unpredictability. I definitely don’t like it when people are unprepared, but I’m into a bit of controlled chaos. There are certain shows that are so polished, and that’s great, but I also love shows like Badger’s Promise that can just kind of go off the rail. And I love that. But I don’t like to tell people how to be funny. UCB is more about a method of communicating what you personally find funny. That’s what I really responded to and that’s what I try to teach. Show me what you think is funny and I’ll try to help you to find the clearest way to put that out there.
If you want to see yourself on the UCB stage what’s the best way to accomplish it?
Taking the classes is step one. We’re not a stage that’s pay to play. You don’t have to take the classes to get on our stage. But that said, I think sometimes people just want to circumvent the system. They don’t want to take the classes but they want to perform at “UCB.” If you really want to get involved, all the people that you love who are doing the Facebook show or Asssscat, they all went through the program. Harold Night, Maude Night, they went through the program. They took the classes and that’s a great way to get involved. And then there are all those open mikes, shows like Not Too Shabby. Any opportunity you have to go out and make people laugh, take it. What I really like about Not Too Shabby is that sometimes you’ll see people do great, but sometimes we’ll get randoms and weirdos and crazies, or sometimes people will bomb, or they’ll have an agenda beyond making people laugh, but they can always learn something from the experience.
Can UCB be a substitute for the traditional college experience?
I don’t know if I would argue UCB necessarily as a substitute for college, just because I think one of the things that is great about improv and sketch is that you get to take all the stuff you know and use it at your disposal. And it’s good to have a period in your life where you’re just learning and absorbing stuff so that you have fuel. Also, it’s nice to go off and make your dumb mistakes not in the eye of the industry. I went to college at University of Iowa and did this weekly open mike sketch show in Iowa City called “No Shame” with Paul Rust and Michael Cassady and some other guys where I got to do some of my worst, most pretentious stuff and get it out of my system. And through it I learned what I like and what I don’t like through trial and error. I’d be a little intimidated to try that in front of this theatre of people who don’t know you’re story, who don’t know this is your first time. To use a baseball analogy, someone can have a ton of talent, but only occasionally does an 18 year-old get to jump to the majors and make his mistakes on a national scale. It’s good to have the minor leagues in your plans also. That said, there are some really savvy 18 year-olds who are ready to take to the stage.
What qualities make UCB the preeminent training center and comedy theater right now?
A few things. We’re not like a factory for a specific type of performer. You can get so many different voices and there’s so much you can do with those voices, so much of what the program teaches you to do is express what you think is funny. It really is about communicating what you think is funny. So you get to see a lot of individual personalities. In art in general I think that’s what people respond to: Someone who has a strong point of view; that isn’t just doing things to try to please other people. So I think that’s part of it. Another thing is that we have stand up and sketch and all this stuff that other theaters don’t have because their stages are entirely the product of their classes. Which is a fine model, but just not how we do it. Also, we don’t pay anyone, we don’t charge anyone. And you might say, “Why would you charge anyone?” Well, if you want to put up an hour-long show in LA at a theater they’re going to charge you for the space and a tech guy and all of that. And those are things we provide for free. So a lot of the people who use our space maybe aren’t making a lot of money, so renting out a space is maybe a tougher proposition.
Working largely with young comedians, what’s the best general advice you can offer?
I say it all the time, if someone is moving to LA the best thing to do is find a community. In these big towns it’s so easy to get isolated. At UCB, there’s a community for ya. You’re going to meet friends in your classes; you’ll meet people at shows and at the bars after shows. I’ve met a ton of people through the theatre who are some of my closest friends. And maybe UCB won’t take for you, maybe it’s not your scene, but then you try some place else. But I think that’s the most important thing, finding a community of people to riff and joke with. And then another thing is, I talk to managers and try to get people shows and something I hear a lot, especially amongst comedy managers, is there’s not as much interest in someone who just does one thing or another. Of course, if someone is amazing at it, there’s gonna be interest, but I’ll recommend someone who has an awesome one-person show that they wrote and perform in, and then the person will be like, “I really just wrote it so I can perform it. I don’t really see myself as a writer.” Don’t say that! Tell them you love to write. They want people who can not only go out on auditions but also pitch ideas. Don’t ever limit yourself. When I started I thought I’d be one of the sketch guys and there would be improv guys, and I quickly found out, no, you can do it all.
