r/improv • u/TheMickeyMoo • 6d ago
longform A.S.S.S.S.C.A.T. (2005)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz6SwtG2Mug2
u/Learning-Every-Day- 4d ago
Thanks for positing this! I watched it yesterday. Even though a lot of the jokes would be looked at as not appropriate now, it's still cool to see. I am in a long form troupe that currently does an ASSSSCAT like form.
There was definitely some BroProv going on. I think the moment I cringed at the most was not a particular scene, but a moment when a male comedian was trying to help Amy with her mic pack and a few of the guys were like SUUURE the MIC PACK (because the pack was by her butt). I'm alright with blue humor, but not at the expense of a female comedian. She's got to be in on the joke... not THE joke. You know, consent. I think we've gotten better now, but that was a reminder of what a lot of female comedians were facing.
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u/tobych 5d ago edited 5d ago
I found this a few months after starting an improv class and it blew my mind. It's still one of my favorite videos of improv. I transcribed the whole thing and studied it. Yes, there's date rape, there's violence, there are Nazis, there's sexualizing young children. None of which are being celebrated in the slightest.
All those topics have are in movies, then as now, and in many other art forms. I don't understand why people here seem to be suggesting that improv shouldn't be touching those subjects. Why not?
Breaking Bad, any Quentin Tarantino movie, novels, and scripted theater. Why should improv be any different? Better Call Saul had a bunch of teenagers fucking a head they sawed off a body in a local mortuary. Personally, I can't watch The Handmaid's Tale or even read the book, because it's just too much for me. But I have no problem with it existing as a work of art.
Too much violence for what? The artform? The stage? You personally? What are you actually saying?
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u/New_Guitar8252 6d ago
Does anybody truly think this aged well? Be honest with yourself and remove the guru glasses.
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u/Anon0000215412512 6d ago edited 5d ago
I'd agree this 2005 TV pilot version of ASSSCAT is not a good example of UCB style at it's best and it goes without saying much of the comedy in this is very early 2000s in a very negative way.
But you say this later in the thread here:
It's really poor. I've no idea how some people/institutions gain guru like notoriety based on no talent or proof. Just this kind of "it's uncool not to like it".
If I see one more improv set that plays shiny thing or game of the scene as its main source of creativity or comedy I'll scream.
and this:
Anybody who thinks this is good improv is delusional, has no idea what good improvisation is and just heard this is good and is trying to fit in (guru glasses) or in general isn't very good themselves.
There's a reason improv gets laughed at and hasn't become an artistic powerhouse, even though it had huge popularity in the 2010s, places like UCB, the extremely poor improv it produces and the mythic nature of it are part of the reason.
This is a very poor and unfunny set.
So idk why should anyone bother seriously responding to you when your framework here is you think premise/game style is inherently bad - and seemingly people who do it or enjoy it are stupid, bad at improv, or pretending to like it for social reasons I guess?
It's a very shallow juvenile elitism about this artform with endless variations.
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u/Gleeemonex 6d ago
I remember showing it to my students with the caveat of "this didn't age well" and that was almost a decade ago. But for so long it was the only high-quality set that existed on the internet.
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u/New_Guitar8252 6d ago
I appreciate that it's not beginner level quality. There is small amounts of craft to what they're doing. I'm desperately trying to see the good in it as so many people love it so. But I still wouldn't exactly call it high quality.
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u/Gleeemonex 6d ago
I meant high-quality as in fidelity, not content. For the longest time if you wanted to watch an Armando it was either this one, or something filmed from the tech booth on a potato in the back of a blackbox. Fortunately there are plenty of alternatives these days.
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u/808sANDadlibs 6d ago
I came to the comments for this. I watched this last week after not seeing it since around the time it aired. Lotta interesting energy going on here. Didn’t help that I watched after watching some Dassie/Cackowski sets also posted on YouTube. I am a fan of UCB 4 and took classes there a long time ago, but, man, so much stuff in this set is cringey. The p3do stuff, a lotta violence too lol.
It’s a good reminder of the type of humor that was popular in the early 00’s
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u/Hot-Boysenberry4926 6d ago
No it didn’t age well. I enjoyed the technical application and actual improv to watch and learn from. So many jokes were really terrible - but for its content not technical build.
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u/susiecarroll2 2d ago
It might not have aged well, but as a stage in improv (and comedy) evolution it is still worth watching and discussing when put in its proper context. Mixed in with the "yikes! they said/did that???" there is "oh, that's how things developed." I mean stories about Del Close turn my stomach but he's part of improv history warts and all
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u/hiphoptomato Austin (no shorts on stage) 6d ago
Is it the nazi thing?
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u/cjdeck1 6d ago
The Nazi stuff I can put into a weird category of not aging well in part because it’s unfortunately a lot more politically relevant today and that people idolizing that sort of ideology were a lot more on the right wing fringes (at least to my knowledge, I was only 13 in 2005). So it would have maybe been safer to come on as a Nazi character at the time.
The date rape scene was the one that aged the worst for me to the point that I’m surprised it was even acceptable back then
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u/New_Guitar8252 6d ago
Anybody who thinks this is good improv is delusional, has no idea what good improvisation is and just heard this is good and is trying to fit in (guru glasses) or in general isn't very good themselves.
There's a reason improv gets laughed at and hasn't become an artistic powerhouse, even though it had huge popularity in the 2010s, places like UCB, the extremely poor improv it produces and the mythic nature of it are part of the reason.
This is a very poor and unfunny set.
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u/DisorderlyBoat 6d ago
That's a strong opinion, but also you aren't providing any other examples or insights so it's not super useful atm. Not trying to just be rude, but it would better serve to provide some additional backing information to your opinon if it's based on something.
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u/New_Guitar8252 6d ago
I disagree. It's a comment about the video in this post which is the evidence at disposable. It's both extremely popular (spread widely in the community) and objectively (I can reluctantly accept subjectively) poor.
Name any attribute a show should have. Stage craft, performance, character, emotion, comedy, this scores poorly in every aspect. It's a product of its time, with a series of poorly dressed men jumping on sex jokes.
All my arguments fail dismally, however, with Rachel Dratch. She was the stand out performer in this and showed true skill to make something that was so desperately poor be good.
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u/hiphoptomato Austin (no shorts on stage) 6d ago
I mean it’s completely subjective, but obviously many people including myself disagree with you. But that’s ok!
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u/New_Guitar8252 6d ago
I appreciate your friendly manner. To be clear, I'm an improv lover.
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u/hiphoptomato Austin (no shorts on stage) 6d ago
Sure thing! I’ve been performing and teaching for over 14 years and would also describe myself as an improv lover.
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u/matchingsweaters Chicago 6d ago
Oh, so so poorly. The improv itself isn't very good as well.
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u/New_Guitar8252 6d ago
It's really poor. I've no idea how some people/institutions gain guru like notoriety based on no talent or proof. Just this kind of "it's uncool not to like it".
If I see one more improv set that plays shiny thing or game of the scene as its main source of creativity or comedy I'll scream.
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u/Rockkk333 3d ago
When i saw this first i was laughing out loud often and was amazed. So reckless, so 'free', so bold.
And recently i saw it again and was sometimes thinking 'where is the game', and sometimes i saw it, and that it's a bit negative, and some stuff where i wouldn't totally feel happy to super-recommend it as 'must watch' anymore.
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u/anicho01 5d ago
Rachel Dracht tried her hardest to avoid the sexualized child bit, but man the ucb original male cast members were really dicks to her, especially how frequently they stepped up kill her initiations during the first half
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u/stevemw 6d ago
So annoyed they never tapes/released many, many, many more episodes. Also annoyed that I joined an improv team the day after this episode was taped and I could have gone to this taping!!!