Upright Citizens Brigade

The Upright Citizens Brigade is an improvisational comedy and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The most recent (and most known) incarnation consists of Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, and Matt Walsh. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Besser, Ali Farahnakian, Drew Franklin, Adam McKay, Roberts, the late Rick Roman, and Horatio Sanz. Other early members included Neil Flynn, Armando Diaz,... more

The Upright Citizens Brigade is an improvisational comedy and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The most recent (and most known) incarnation consists of Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, and Matt Walsh. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Besser, Ali Farahnakian, Drew Franklin, Adam McKay, Roberts, the late Rick Roman, and Horatio Sanz. Other early members included Neil Flynn, Armando Diaz, and Rich Fulcher. The Upright Citizens Brigade began performing improv and sketch comedy at Kill the Poet in Chicago. Their first show was called Virtual Reality. The group followed with shows entitled UCBTV, Conference on the Future of Happiness, Thunderball, Bucket of Truth, Big Dirty Hands, The Real Real World, and Punch Your Friend in the Face. In 1997, the Upright Citizens Brigade relocated to New York and began performing shows and offering improv training at Solo Arts Group. These shows and classes were so popular that the UCB were... less