September 8th, 2004
I’d like to thank everyone who writes me. I don’t have time to answer everyone’s mail so I will try to answer your questions on this page.
Send any further questions to adair@uprightcitizens.org and I’ll try to answer them in the future on this page.
Also check out the new Crossballs message board on ucbtheatre.com
On Thursday, Sept. 23 at 9:30, I will do my show “FGod” at the UCB Theater in NYC.
It will include bits from previous shows plus some new ones. I promise to F God.
I will do the Asssscats on Sept. 26.
Tour Info
I’m thinking about touring my one man show in Jan. and May and maybe this Dec. So I’m trying to get info on towns which go for alternative comedy types like myself. In the future we might send other acts from the UCB Theater. Please send your info to adair@uprightcitizens.org
Or post on the UCB Theater forum. Any info about your town would be great.
Best venue for comedy?
Capacity:
All ages?
Best venue for indie label music?
Capacity:
All ages?
Local college?
Best record stores?
Best cafes?
Best radio station? Radio show?
Best local paper? Entertainment writer?
Best local improv/sketch group?
Your favorite website for getting info about comedy, tv, or DVDs?
What would you like to see in a touring show?
What are the three coolest (whatever that means to you) cities in the USA?
What was the best act(Comedian, band, etc...) that has recently played in your town? Where did they play?
Crossballs
Thanks for all the compliments about Crossballs. If you want Crossballs to rerun at a later time slot or you want a DVD then please tell Comedy Central at mail@comedycentral.com
Check out the new message boards in the forum section of ucbtheatre.com
Fatty Arbuckle
If you are the guy who called me about actors for the Fatty film I have them now. Please contact me again.
August 28th, 2004
I’d like to thank everyone who writes me. I don’t have time to answer everyone’s mail so I will try to answer your questions on this page.
Send any further questions to adair@uprightcitizens.org and I’ll try to answer them in the future on this page.
Also check out the new Crossballs message board on ucbtheatre.com
HOW BIG IS YOUR COCK RING?
I get this question a lot. Actually my size cock ring is hard to find. I usually have to shop at the Big & Tall Men porno boutiques. I also know a guy who makes cock rings for horse cocks so that usually works out for me.
WILL CROSSBALLS BE ON DVD? WHEN WILL UCB SEASON 2 COME OUT ON DVD? CAN YOU RERUN CROSSBALLS LATER AT NIGHT?
I wish this were up to me but it is not. The rumor about UCB season 2 coming out this winter is untrue. The only way to get these DVDs released is for you to let Comedy Central know how much you want it. Mail@comedycentral.com
WHAT INSPIRED CROSSBALLS? HOW DID YOU MAKE CROSSBALLS? HAVE YOU EVER DONE CROSSBALLS AT THE UCB THEATER?
When I was in college from ‘85-’89, I had a college radio show, “Matt’s Magical Sack of Dump”. I played punk music and called up local stores, frats, and students and fucked with them playing different characters and sometimes just being myself. At that time I read an underground annual journal of sorts called “Research” and this issue was “Pranks”. This is when I first got turned on to Joey Skaggs and Alan Abel, and Coyle & Sharpe. (Mal Sharpe and Joey Skaggs have lectured at our theater in NYC). I also watched the Andy Kaufman in the Catch a Rising Star Reunion video and I knew that I wanted to pursue a similar path. After college I moved to Chicago in 1990 where me and my group the Upright Citizens Brigade (Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh, Amy Poehler, Adam McKay, Horatio Sans, Neil Flynn, Rich Fulcher) started doing sketch shows where all of our performances hinged on fucking with the audience’s minds. We always took the audience out into the streets at some point in the show so that they would fall for weird shit when it happened. We did shows where our actors got hit by cars, jumped off a roof to commit suicide, and once we started a small traffic jam/riot in the middle of Wicker Park where Horatio really got arrested and taken away to jail. In other shows we were really threatened by Latin Kings and I was once choked by a wino who said we were performing on his corner. We once convinced an audience that we were breaking into someone’s house to steal a bass guitar. Many shows ended with throwing raw biscuit dough at the audience and then driving off as we left them blocks away from the theater.
While I was doing UCB shows, I was also doing one man shows. My first one, “How Much I Lied” and all of my shows since (“May I Help You Dumbass”, “Don’t Be A Dick”), have been based around real letters to the editor, prank calls, and hidden camera pieces. Check out uprightcitizens.org and mattbesser.com
I collect letters to the editor mostly focusing on people who get upset over small things like children not knowing how to spell, or dog owners not picking up poop on the sidewalk. I would take the issues in these letters to the streets with a camera, a petition, and much loud protest. I would interview people saying that I was from a cable access show or a documentary or I’d use a hidden camera.
By my biggest obsession was starting fabricated absurd controversies in the letters to the editor sections of the Chicago Tribune, the Reader, and the New City. In the letters I wrote, I portrayed different characters that had big problems with little issues like crossword puzzle pencils, fan conduct at Cubs games, Godot vs. baseball, the true meaning of “alternative rock”, the violence of Thunderball, a drug worse than crack called Supercool, and the class differences between salad dressings. Real letter writers took my letters seriously and this often stirred debate. It has since been a goal of mine to bring this format to television. Through the last 15 years I have pitched some version of my letter performances which included hidden camera pieces, prank phone calls, and man-in-the-street interviews. All the bits hinged on stirring up fake controversy with real people.
In the stage show, I would play these videos, read the letters, and I would get the phone numbers of several of the letter writers and call them live in the show and I would fuck with them arguing over or sometimes over-supporting their particular issue. It was complicated to do live and there was always feedback and I had to explain away the audience’s muffled laughter but it always went over well because people enjoy hearing people get upset of absurdly small issues.
In the mid 90’s, along with Eric Zicklin and I made a pilot with MTV called the “The Mailroom Guy” where I read real letters from MTV fans and I did bits around them. I must admit that it wasn’t that good but it was my first experience at making tv and I guess I learned a lot. Suffice it to say that the pilot did not “go”, but I have continued to push for a letter show ever since.
In 1996 the UCB moved from Chicago to NYC. Our sketch show, “Upright Citizens Brigade” (Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh) was on Comedy Central for three seasons from 1998-2000. One of the elements of our show was to take characters or premises from our scenes and then take them out into the real world and fuck with people.
After we were cancelled, at the UCB Theater I ran early versions of Crossballs which more resembled Crossfire because I hosted with a co-host Sean Conroy (Drug & Fat episodes). At first the show was an extension of my one man show “Don’t Be A Dick” and then it became its own show called “The Hard & Fast Report”.
For a long time I’ve wanted to do a parody of debate shows where I got idiots on the show who would believe my most absurd characters and their absurd opinions. My first idea was to get the actual letter writers on the show to debate me. I’ve pitched some version of that idea since my days in Chicago. After the UCB show, I performed and was the head writer for a prank show briefly on MTV called “Stung with Methodman and Redman”. It wasn’t the greatest show but it was well received and a precursor to Punk’d. Methodman and Redman wanted to move on and MTV didn’t believe that I could star in it by myself because I’m not a “celebrity”. For a while I really thought that show was going to be my way in to having my letter debate prank show, but I was (and still am) a “no name”.
When I have pitched this idea around in the past no one would give me a chance because once again I wasn’t enough of a “known”. I pitched the show to HBO before Ali G was on the air. I pitched it to around 8 other places and at least half of them said right after I pitched them. “Yes that sounds like Phil Hendrie for TV”. Other development execs brought up Ali G and Brass Eye and lamely enough even Mancow. Some of my friends also brought up these references when I would tell them my idea. Honestly I got sick of people bringing up those names because what they were really saying is that the idea is already being done. The existence of similar shows didn’t bother me because I knew that me and my cast and writers and producers and editors would do the fucking with people idea different than everyone else. Since the debate shows on CNN and FNN and other cable news networks are gaining popularity, my debate show parody finally seemed ripe in the last few years.
Once I got together with my co executive producer Charlie Siskel (“Awful Truth”) Comedy Central gave us the green light. Charlie really helped mold the show concept into its final format and mark production process. The process of finalizing the show format involved deciding what news channel debate show form to parody the most. There are really big differences between Meet the Press, Hardball, and Crossfire. We tried to create the right mix of elements.
HOW DO YOU GET THE REAL GUESTS?
The way to produce the marks was the biggest issue. At first I wanted the marks to all be letter writers but that proved too narrow of a pool to pursue so we changed it to experts. Most of the marks on our show are leaders of organizations, or authors, or C list celebrities. Some were directly contacted based on info we learned about them from research. Others answered notices we left on special interest message boards or Craigslist. The guests were told that they were going to on a new debate show on the MTV networks. They were not told that it was called Crossballs until they got to the studio. I always thought that some guest would balk at the Crossballs signage when they walked out onto stage but they never did. Every guest bought the show on some level or another. A few figured it out as the fourth act came to a close. For example, the guys on the Science show got it as the clones spoke simultaneously. Sometimes at the end of an act a guest would ask “Is this a joke”, and then one of our great segment producers would promptly find ways to refocus their thoughts on their own agenda.
HOW CAN YOU PRODUCE A SECOND SEASON SINCE THE CAT IS OUT OF THE BAG?
Everyone thinks that we can’t produce a second season now that it is talked about all over the web because it will now be impossible to produce real guests. Ultimately I’m okay with that because I’m proud of the 23/24 that we did and I’m ready to move on to my next idea if that’s the way it’s going to be. The ratings have been phenomenal, but the number will probably stay 23.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GUNS EPISODE “Pistol Whipped” OF CROSSBALLS?
I always thought that it would be cool to have a lost episode.
Below I have excerpted some of my favorite lines from the Pro Gun message board, thehighroad.org
Summary of the Crossballs “Gun Episode”
One of the panelists was an a**wipe commedian and proceeded to show how i proved guns were just an extension of guys penis's. He had a penis pump that he brought out and asked one of the panelists if he'd agree to give up his guns in exchange for the penis pump. He reduced our gun rights to a penis pump.
Basically i was the set up for HIS joke
F**kers all. hollywood can suck my barrel!.... they consider themselves so liberal, so passionate, yet they are a bunch of money hungry, dishonest sh**s!
Pass along that the "Debate Show" is a bunch of liberal sh**ts setting up honest gun owners for their own comedic purposes. They tried to humiliate a member of our community. F'her the little lying biatch
Rue The Day
Oh MAN have they screwed with the wrong dude here.
Grrrrrr.
Stick it to 'em, Jim!!
I think ''crucifiction'' is a word that comes to mind .... give em hell.
They deserve it ... and more.
Give 'em hell Jim!
I knew things had gone WAY south once I realized this bizarre gadget he'd just handed me was something I'd vaguely heard of but never seen. A penis pump. Swear to God.
Send lawyers, guns, and money . . .
Those bastages have to pay and pay dearly. Don't let them get away with this, show them why they need to learn to fear us.
Jim ... crucify the bastages.
What they did to me was vile.
The results were absolutely pornographic, vile, hateful and racist.
Damn.
Anyways. They REALLY took me for a ride.
What I can't believe is that WE have guns and they treat us this way, and they are unarmed..
Jim, what you showed was that armed men have more restraint than unarmed ones.
If there's anything that you want doing, I'll be in it.
Now I think I'd better hit the range, and fire off a whole bunch of ammo at poor defenseless targets. I'll still be bloody angry about this whole deceitful thing, but maybe I'll be calmer.
Folks, I'm going to tell y'all something and I am 100% serious when I say it.
I'd rather have this show killed than have a couple million dollars cash.
Jim! Do you realize what you could do with a couple of million bucks? Why, you could buy every one of us the firearm of our choice.
The "release" (contract) was obtained under false pretenses, it wasn't worth a bucket of warm spit and they could "bite me" if they thought I'd honor any part of it.
Well I could act all saintly and say I'm out to protect others, and ya, there's an element of that...but there's also this dire need to screw these jack!$#s back to the maximum degree possible .
They will "Rue the day"
Oh, I agree - screw 'em!
Never forewarn your opponent, nor give them ammunition to use against you.
Puke slurping anti gun roadkill larvae inbreds
Let me know if you need a few bucks to shaft these mutant nutsacks. this ALMOST makes me angry. I might tell em how I really feel.
I think that in most cases, they were mostly civilized but when they got to "the gun guy" the rules went totally out the window and they went flat-out crazy.
To allow these clowns to get away with this would be a horrible thing to do to our society.
I suspect others here would prefer that this "trend" in "entertainment programming" will die a much needed death.
Gird your loins and fight the basturds!
While I know where we get these guys it still leaves the one burning question "Where do we get these guys?!?!?"
Unleash hell, Jim.
In the Crossballs shows I've watched, the audience laughs and boos and groans. Could you hear them react from where you sat?
Oh and YES, I could see the audience. I still can, late at night when I wake up in a cold sweat...
[The Gun show is pulled.]
WHAT!? They blinked!? I've been staggering all over the capitol today sweating that this piece o' crap was gonna show, and they *backed down*?
Gawd. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
Ohhhhh ya. HELL ya. Excuse me while I go do the giant gun nut happy dance . They. BLINKED. And then there's just one more teensy issue. Actually, 200 issues. Yup. The $200 in travel expenses I'm still out . I want it. I'll go to small claims court if I have to.
The Rock Incident
Ok, so by the end of this bizarre crap as the closing credits are rolling, he pulls out a fairly big rock and holds it in a throwing position, growling and snarling at me, and making pathetic throwing motions.
I came *this* close to pulling a knife on his dumbass. Had my hand all the way in my pocket. Paused there, thought better of it.
And that was NOT the weirdest crap that went on.
I am SOOOO pissed right about now...
The rock in question looked real.
He was also "white knuckling it" while making throwing/hammering motions (plus literally "growling/snarling"). I'm 100% sure it was real. Remember, he'd brought other "props" to this mess, including the penis pump .
I wasn't worried about him throwing the rock, I was worried about him straight-up smashing me over the noggin with it. He was only 5ft or so away.
The sumbitch literally had me in fear for my life once that dang rock came out.
The more I read about this, the more I wish you had pulled your knife on 'Camo Boy'; not to hurt him, just to see the look on his face (and the faces of all responsible for this mess) once they realize they've bitten off waaayyy more than they can chew.
I’m picturing shocked expression, pants being wetted... BWAA Haaa haaa ha haaaa!
They (CC) probably HOPED Jim would end up pulling a knife. Indeed they probably hoped he was packing heat. Their two-bit leftist comedian could easily be sacrificed for some high ratings. It's easy to replace such people.
Kerry Conspiracy on thehighroad.org
I was told after the show in phone calls with the producers that the guy who ripped me up "really believes his position". Uh ya, no joke there! New York liberal whose website includes a "Comics For Kerry" blurb?
Oh, and just LOOK what we find at the home page for the "UprightCitizensBrigade": I fully expect 'em to take that Kerry bit down but it won't matter.
Analogies on thehighroad.org
If you were invited to speak at a religious conference and then, upon arrival for same, found when they turned up the audience lights that the "religion" you had just spoken to was "Christian Identity" -- and there were nothing but clan members and neo Nazis looking back at you -- what would you do? Your reputation is shot. You are now going to be known as the guy who addressed a "Christian Identity" convention. You will be labeled a racist, homophobic, Jew-hating, holocaust denier. Would you be a bit miffed?
You then find out that the contract for your appearance had been falsified to reflect that the group is called "Christians for Christ" when in reality they are "Christian Identity". Would you be a bit miffed?
Someone you love gets assaulted and raped. Later she becomes a well-known and respected victim advocate. One day she’s contracted to appear on a serious debate show; however once there she’s ridiculed, phallic objects are used as props suggesting she actually must have enjoyed the experience, and she walks away feeling like she just got raped again.
Same situation - different players. Would you still be laughing? Would it seem like a small thing then? “Oh honey, it’s ok – they were only joking. The viewing audience will understand.”
Racism
They then switch to yet another “live video feed”…this time to an anti-gun rap group. Not anti-VIOLENCE mind you, anti gun. They have no problems whatsoever “cruisin’ the hood” in a convertible while wearing neon feathers and warpaint and doing drive-by bow and arrow murders…with their “rap video” concluding with a black guy doing a cheesy fake death scene with fake blood and an arrow through the throat.
Their African-American “spokesman” (Jerry Minor) still in silly feathers and bad warpaint goes into an incoherent rant about guns being “from the white man” (my numbed brain was thinking “no, you idiot, the first guns were CHINESE!”). It was about as tasteless, vile and racist as it comes and concluded with a screaming match between the moderator and this “rap star”. Oh, until a fat Chinese guy (Horatio Sans) in medical scrubs snuck up behind the idiot in warpaint, injected him in the neck with a hypodermic, idiot in warpaint goes “unconscious” ‘cept we can see him giggling while the guy in scrubs screams something about “I’m gonna bust a CAP in you CAPilary, booyeeee!” in a bad Asian accent.
Best Sig Lines on thehighroad.org
“Most people come from the creator equipped with 2 hands. One to reach out to the fallen, the other to hold the club should he come up with a knife.”
feedthehogs
“Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction
Sorcerers of death's construction
In the fields the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds, oh lord yeah!”
“A brick of .22lr is about the cheapest price you can pay for a days worth of grinning.”
“NRA Certified Instructor - and proud of it!”
“A Democracy: Three wolves and a sheep deciding on dinner. A Confederated Republic: Three wolves and a well armed sheep deciding on dinner.”
“To avoid the legal nets that entangled Bernie Goetz, just yell "Help! Help! Police!" like Kitty Genovese.”
“Left-Handed Gun lovin' Unix using Asian Christian Libertarian Steyr M40 owner Cryptographer who wants to live in a Geodestic Dome. I redefine what "Minority" means.”
“Gun Control: The premise that a woman found in an alley, raped and strangled with her own pantyhose, is morally superior to allowing that same woman to defend her life with a firearm.
"Science is built up with facts, as a house is with stones. But a collection of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house." - Jules Henri Poincare
"Three thousand people died on Sept. 11 because eight pilots were killed"
-- former Northwest Airlines pilot Stephen Luckey
“Join the NRA. Or there is no point to any of this.”......
For more info or your comments go to thehighroad.org and search for Crossballs
July 29th, 2004
I'm in New York City for the Del Close Marathon. Stop by the theater and check it out.
-Matt