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September 19, 2008
Epic Cagematch Win Streak Comes to an End
By: Keith Huang
Death by Roo Roo's Anthony Atamanuik, playing a 107-year-old great grandfather, slumps to his sudden death as fellow geriatric, John Gemberling, looks on.
Last night at UCB's Cagematch, after the 25-minute clock buzzed and the stage lights went black, Death by Roo Roo had finally come to a rest. For the past 17 weeks at the improv- and comedy-wrestling showcase, Roo Roo had beat all comers handily. And while many of those 17 improv teams on message boards and MySpace postings had compared themselves to David (of "vs. Goliath" fame), it was an actual lone improviser, Ben Rodgers, who would finally topple these improv giants. Rodgers's one-man performance was truly the stone-in-the-slingshot that ended Roo Roo's epic run.
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Not to detract from Rodgers's show, which was a brilliant demonstration of patience, stage confidence and saying "yes, and" to oneself, Thursday night marked the end to quite possibly the greatest run of monoscenes in New York improv-comedy history. The monoscene involves improvisers performing one, uninterrupted scene in one location. Of the 12 Cagematch shows that I saw, it's no exaggeration to say that every Roo Roo monoscene was a standalone work of art, if only because each individual performance in each show was so good.
To wit: Brett Gelman's feeble-minded "Wally" masturbating into a cup of cider, Anthony Atamanuik's nebbish college professor carrying the guilt of an extramarital affair with a student -- on a doomed Sept. 11 flight, John Gemberling's sexual deviant who screws his pet falcon, Jackie Clarke's Beverly D'Angelo who struts about a plastic surgeon's office with her face pinned back with a ballpoint pen, Curtis Gwinn's French-accented, apple-stealing rabbit who suffers loneliness, Neil Casey's elderly gambler whose only line after nearly 20 minutes is: "You know, it's hard to make friends when you're old," Adam Pally's psychotic retirement home "president" who encourages his wards to eat their own feces, and Gavin Speiller's child molester who honestly believes that everyone else in the support group is "completely fucked up."
Obviously, on paper, none of that sounds very funny. But to appreciate any good improv, you just have to be there. And like the many improvised moments and scenes created by Rodgers and the many teams that faced Roo Roo, their consecutive-win record won't likely be seen again. Except for these photos after the jump.
FUN FACT
• The previous all-time winning streak of 14 was held by Optimist International in 2002.
Posted by keithhuang at September 19, 2008 10:34 AM
Comments
You have Adam Pally and Gavin Speiller confused in the descriptions there. Anyway, Death by Roo Roo were incredible throughout their run, which should tell anyone who wasn't there last night just how brilliant Ben Rodgers was last night. That guy is unbelievable, one of my absolute favorites right now.
Posted by: Joe at September 19, 2008 2:10 PM
ah thanks for that. it should be noted that speiller and pally were added to the roo roo roster after gelman and clarke moved to LA.
Posted by: keithhuang at September 19, 2008 2:38 PM
"Roo Roo's consecutive-win record has never been seen before and won't likely be seen again"
Except, of course, at the other UCB theater, where the current champs are only a couple weeks away from topping 17, and the record is 47 weeks...
Posted by: Ben at September 19, 2008 4:02 PM
I have always enjoyed Death by Roo Roo. SAT question: Neil Casey is to striped shirt and sideburns as...
Posted by: Abbi Crutchfield at September 19, 2008 4:43 PM
...Judah Friedlander is to trucker-style hat and large-framed glasses
Posted by: keithhuang at September 19, 2008 4:47 PM
Correct!
Posted by: Abbi Crutchfield at September 19, 2008 5:27 PM