so i finally went to see upright citizens brigade last night, after somehow managing to miss every sunday night since I first came home. i'm a huge ucb fan, but i must honestly note that every time i have gone has been slightly worse than the previous time. this time started out promising though. first of all, i was with a crew of miscellaneous swatties (that means swarthmore students, to you losers who didn't know) i hardly know, but all of whom i've always thought seemed like really cool people. so i was generally in an upbeat mood, and ready to laugh. and then, when they were announcing who was there to perform that night, out comes Rachel Dratch onto the stage. I was really excited, as she's always seemed like one of the funnier SNLers to me, evidenced at least by the fact that the usually exceedingly aesthetically minded producers allowed her on the show despite a certain lack of softness on the eyes. and debbie downer is one of my favorite sketches.
it wasn't a bad show. it never is, when you've got performers of that caliber on the stage. horatio sanz was his lovable self, popping into scenes with the most disgusting lines and actions you could never even imagine, and a woman i hadn't seen perform before opened the show with a delightful poop story that was refreshing to hear coming from someone of the female persuasion. but rachel dratch, man. what a let down. i mean, she's probably pretty depressed right now, as per the recent news that she was kicked off of tina fey's new sitcom because (rumor has it) of that unfortunate mug. but i can honestly say that she never improved a scene, nor did she create any interesting situations. since i had imagined her performance being in line with that of her frequent collaborator Tina Fey, who tore up the show when i saw her in UCB, or Amy Poehler, one of the most consistently best improvers i've ever seen, the whole thing totally bummed me out.
and the icing on the cake, Jeremy Cristol got his wallet stolen. how shitty is that? i was so surprised, given the general yuppy/hipsterness of the crowd there. but i guess after blowing all your money on american apparel clothes, you gotta find some way to pay the rent.