UCB Theatre: Rich Sommer Gives Hugs

So Roberta and I went into the city to see Rich Sommer at the Upright Citizens Brigade. First, though, we visited our brother and his lovely wife and their two-and-a-half year old son and their four-and-a-half day old daughter. The lovely Evy, a wee little bundle of softness with a perfect Cupid’s bow mouth, was quite captivating. But eventually, we left.

(Hi! It’s Roberta. Evy is short for Evelyn, and it rhymes with Chevy to the Levee.)

Shortly before the show, Rich came out, saw some good friends of his waiting, and gave them big hugs. Then Roberta, in her mad-cute way, said “Hugs?” gesturing towards herself, and Rich gave her such a sweet hug, and then me, and we were happy ’cause we’re easy like that.

(Me again. I was totally channeling Dr. Evil.)

The UCB Theater is in a crazy basement space, the shows are free, there’s a line for stand-by seats, the beverages are reasonably priced, and it is pretty damn glorious. The structure is, someone (a guest performer) tells a story from their life, and then the improv troupe works off of that story. Rich was the guest monologist.

(2nd show is free. Okay I’ll stop now.)

But wait, I get ahead of myself. First we arrive and the lovely Emily tells us that there are seats reserved with tape that says “Lipp.” This makes us happy. Remember how I said “easy”? Yep. Tape does it. And then we met the almost-as-lovely Austin, and we talked improv and Mad Men and such. (That was mostly Roberta, who has experience in improv.)

We poked around the block a little, and then went in, put our coats on our (taped) seats, and got on line for the ladies room. Now, about this time, Roberta and I were noticing that we were the oldest people there. Like maybe there was one other person in the building over 38. So we were standing there joking about how old we were. To each other, and I think not at all audible to anyone else around us.

Because a minute or two later, the woman standing behind us said:
“How old are you guys? Because I’ve never seen anyone your age here before. Do you like it?”

Roberta and I just gaped at each other. Did she hear us talking? But no, she was dead serious. The whole “do you like it” was what really got me. Like us old people don’t have that “humor” thing, so what are we doing there?

Fucking hilarious.

Then the show started, and it, too, was fucking hilarious.

Rich had kind of a thankless task, telling stories and then standing back while everyone else was riotous. The improv was fast and furious and we laughed a lot. Rich, without actually doing any “comedy,” was charming and wry and kind of charismatic.

By the way, a very handsome guy. Harry Crane is a dorky character, but Rich Sommer is not Harry Crane. He’s got warmth and presence that doesn’t make you think “nerd,” even if you know about the games. He tells sweet, self-effacing stories about Space Camp and his brother Ryan and his love of magic that spun into some wonderful comedy, but were also charming in their own right.

After the show, we said our goodnights, and outside we met the amazing Dyna Moe. Dyna was hanging with friends and we were heading to the car, so it was a quick hi-bye, but it was great to see a real 3-D person. She looks just like her picture.