"Upright Citizens Brigade" (1998) TV series 1998-2000

User Rating:

8.7/10   

Creators:

Matt Besser
Amy Poehler
Ian Roberts

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3

Release Date:

19 August 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Seriously f**ked up sketch comedy!

Plot:

Agents Adair, Antoine, Colby and Trotter both monitor and create chaos across the universe. The sketches...

Plot Keywords:

Chaos | Drugs | Insanity | Religion | Bomb Squad

Cast

Matt Besser	...	Adair / ... (30 episodes, 1998-2000)
Amy Poehler	...	Colby / ... (30 episodes, 1998-2000)
Ian Roberts	...	Antoine / ... (30 episodes, 1998-2000)
Matt Walsh	...	Trotter / ... (30 episodes, 1998-2000)
Del Close	...	Narrator (30 episodes, 1998-2000)

Runtime:

30 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

New Jersey, USA

Trivia:

Each Season of UCB thus far has a running joke that culminates in the season's final episode. The skits will make passing reference to the running joke in each episode of that season. For example: the first season's running joke was the Titte Brothers, a fictional pair of performers. They appear in the last episode of the first season when they perform a charity concert for the Little Donny Foundation. The second season's joke was Supercool, a highly addictive sugar candy. The second season finale focused on the Supercool smuggling ring headed by the UCB. The third season's running joke was Pro Thunderball, a hyper-violent sport that combines football and baseball. The third season finale is a mock-documentary of the evolution of Pro Thunderball.

Quotes:

Mike: [to someone in the virtual reality world] Hey! You're not real! I'm getting raped from behind right now!
Worker: Good morning!
Mike: No! That is not a good morning!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The 100 Scariest Movie Moments" (2004)

Too Funny

UCB was sketch comedy at a new level, especially when compared to the banality of the modern bit show. The writers and cast presented skits that other productions would have disregarded as too "sophisticated", or just too unorthodox. In doing so, I feel they explored the limits of sketch comedy and brought us closer to the edge of the surreal, better than any comedy production today.

The "Brigade" is bent on causing chaos everywhere they venture to, and they do not disappoint. From Santa forcing a man to take sample of his "Santa Liquor", to an authoritarian school bus driver, crushing a children's revolution with her backside.

Now, the dialog was very suggestive and risqué at times, but the writing is non the less very creative. I feel that it is necessary to ignore the sometimes superfluous vulgarity's in order to "get" this show, particularly if you have dismissed it for being too odious. The UCB, in their creativeness and witty verbiage, have heavily diluted the crudeness to which a story is presented. I guess this is comparative to another comedy central production, "South Park", where you just have to ignore or look beyond what offends you, to appreciate what really is being presented to us. Most important the UCB was there to entertain, and cause us laughter, and this they did with alacrity.

It ended it's run in 2000, and is still missed 6 years later.