MATT BESSER
Raised a proud Razorback in Little Rock, Arkansas, Matt Besser attended Amherst College where he learned how to collect CDs. After graduating, Matt toured the Midwest doing stand-up, while taking improvisation direction from Del Close at Chicago's Improv Olympic Theater.

In Chicago in 1991, he became a founding member of the sketch group Upright Citizens Brigade, and with them he has performed and written stage productions including "Virtual Reality", "UCBTV", "Conference on the Future of Happiness", "Thunderball", "Bucket of Truth", "Big Dirty Hands", "Punch Your Friend in the Face", "The Real Real World", "That's F'd Up!", "Saigon Suicide Squad" (winner of Best Sketch at 1996 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen), and currently in "The Funny Show".

In 1996 the UCB moved to NYC and produced their sketch show "Upright Citizens Brigade" for three seasons ('98 ­ 2000) on Comedy Central.

Soon after the success of the tv show the UCB opened their own comedy theater and improv school which operates in NYC, and most recently the UCB have expanded to open another theater in LA.

After the UCB tv show , Matt teamed up with Method Man & Redman to create and perform in a hidden camera show on MTV called "Stung". He was a co-creator and star of "Crossballs" which ran 23 episodes on Comedy Central.

He has directed stage productions including "Feature Feature", "Immortal Combat", "Sidecarrin'" (1998 U.S.C.A.F), and Todd Barry in "Icky" (2001 U.S.C.A.F).

Besser's one-man shows include: "How Much I Lied", "May I Help You Dumbass?", "Don't Be A Dick", and "RUhi?". As a stand-up, he participated in the first USCAF. His most recent one-man show is called "Woo Pig Sooie!" and concerns his battles with God.

As an improviser he was a member of Chicago's "The Family" and is forever a member of "Asssscat" the longest running and greatest improv show in the history of the world.

In fall of 2005 the UCB premiered their improv show "Asssscat: Improv" on Bravo. More new Asssscats on DVD will soon be released on the UCB label.

Besser has guest starred on "Help Me Help You", "Pilot Season", "Reno 911", "Stacked", "Bernie Mac Show", "Frasier", "America Dad", "Watching Ellie", "Spin City", "Late Night with Conan O'Brien", "Jimmy Kimmel Show", "Late Friday", "Weekends at the DL", and featured in the movies "The TV Set", and Sundance Film Festival favorite "Junebug".

Matt Besser has most recently worked on...

UCB
The final four members of UCB who made the tv show on Comedy Central are Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, and Matt Walsh. Other people who were early members of the UCB include: Armando Diaz, Neil Flynn, Rich Fulcher, Adam McKay, and Horatio Sans. All things UCB can be found at www.uprightcitizens.org or UCB Theater info at www.ucbtheater.com.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WHEN WILL YOU RELEASE SEASON 2 & 3 OF THE UCB DVD?
Comedy Central has informed us that UCB season 2 will be released in 2007. We're currently brainstorming on ideas for extras. One idea was to have all of our friends in bands come up with songs based on scenes from season 2. Please send me any other ideas...

Buy UCB Season 1 DVD at the UCB Theatre Store.

WHEN WILL THE FIRST UCB MOVIE BE RELEASED?
“Wild Girls Gone” has taken a long time to edit because we had so much footage but we are finally done. By Spring 2007 we will premiere it and sell it from our website.

BOOKING? WHERE CAN I SEE YOU PERFORM?
I live in LA and I perform there at the UCB Theater every weekend. Check out the schedule at ucbtheater.com

If you want to book my one man show in your town...
Eli Newell, Dir. UCB TourCo
PHONE: 212.366.9176
MOBILE: 917.568.3821
EMAIL: eli@ucbt.net
WEB: www.ucbtheater.com/tourco/

IS ASSSSCAT GOING TO BE ON TV AGAIN?
We were happy with our improv special for Bravo, but we weren’t very happy. We didn’t like the commercial breaks and we didn’t like censoring ourselves. We also would like to shoot Asssscat in our own theater (LA) instead of a studio so that we can capture the real spirit of the show. We are currently in negotiations with a distributor to release Asssscats on DVD. Stay tuned…

CROSSBALLS: ARE THE “REAL” GUESTS IN ON THE JOKE?
Only one guest understood the premise of the show while they were still on the show and by then the show was seconds from being over. A few guests knew that our characters were throwing out jokes but they thought that they were real people joking around not characters. The guests were not told that the name of the show was Crossballs until they got to the studio. It was explained that the name was derived from Crossfire and Hardball and that explanation always seemed to suffice. We never had a reveal moment in the show like they do on hidden camera shows because we are not a hidden camera show. These people were entering a debate and a debate is what they get, just not on the terms that they had imagined. Most of our guests have been great sports about it when they discovered all the levels. And a couple have gotten so upset that they have actually threatened me. So no the guests are not in on the joke. And maybe there is no joke.

HOW DO I CONTACT YOU? adair@uprightcitizens.org

I try to answer all questions on my blog on this site.

WHEN YOU PLAY YOUR CHARACTER LITTLE DONNY WHAT IS THE BIG PENIS MADE FROM?
The big penis is not a prop.

WHAT IS YOUR HIP HOP NAME?
Matty B aka DJ Flip Fingers aka Holy Magoly aka Professor Besser

(aka Wu Tang name = Monstra Chronic)

WHO ARE YOUR BIGGEST INFLUENCES?
Jason Kidd , El Duce, and ODB

PRESS

City Magazine