Mother
by Will
As I read about an actual commercial bank failing, and wonder if we have truly entered another economic depression — I also have to wonder — is the world economy just reacting to the end of Mother?
Being sentimental about improv always feel lame. But the community has the memory of a fish and if I don’t say it now no one will even know what I’m talking about in six months. Some bunches of people are going to start their first improv classes next week and they will never see Mother in their regular run, and I sort of can’t believe you’re allowed to study improv in NYC when Mother isn’t doing a show somewhere.
What I think of when I think of Mother:
That you could walk in the back hallway before their show that they’d been doing for 8 years and see them warming up, and having fun at it.
That they are the only team I’ve seen go from merely a good team to an absolutely transcendent team — when they started doing The Sleep Over. They’ve done tons of amazing shows but I declare now that the run of “Wanna Sleep Over” was some of the coolest funniest and most artful comedic acting that any bunch of crazy assholes has ever done for no money. The Soundtrack is also amazing — it’s just ridiculous they’ve made two amazing shows that each ran forever.
If The Swarm were the Beatles of my improv world, then Mother certainly were The Rolling Stones — never QUITE as heralded, but doing it longer for more people with more joy and probably getting laid a lot more in the process.
Girls loved Mother. A show is really funny if girls like the show, because in improv there’s always a bunch of comedy dude nerds that’ll watch. But if you get girls in your audience, you must be for-real good. Always girls at a Mother show.
I remember at 161 after a Sleepover show seeing Daly and Mantzoukas discussing if the show was good, if they were losing their groove. They turned to me and asked what I thought. At that point I had never been asked my opinion of anything by anyone in the theater and I was flattered to pieces, but looking back I can see now that it was just a matter of course for Mother to work hard at what they were doing.
James Eason was one of my favorite coaches, even before he got ELO hair. St. Clair? I took classes with that girl, and we all knew she was amazing and had no chances of a ) dating her or b) being on a team with her. We threw a party whenever she made it to our practice groups. When Mother got her it was like “Of course, those fuckers.” Same thing when they got Doug Moe.
I remember that when they were already an established powerhouse on Harold Night they rehearsed twice a week — once with Secunda, once with Armando — until they became just unquestionably the best team in the house. They were already funny. Jon Daly alone could make a team funny, right? Once you throw Tara Copeland in the mix it’s getting unfair. But that was never enough! They somehow BOUGHT IT — the idea that they’d be better working at it. And they did. They workshopped Sleepover at Freaks Local — what powerhouse team workshops their improv show like that? Mother does.
Seeing them get better. At an early Harold night at 161, Armstrong said to Mantzoukas “There’s been a crime out by the swamp! My friend is hurt.” And Manztoukas initally responded “So what do you want me to do about it?” Then immediately realizing he’d negating opens an invisible desk drawer “But I am the sherriff. So — okay, fine let’s go see your ‘crime.’”
That after he became a Bajillionaire Scot Armstrong still trudged down to 26th street and did Superheroes in the back hallway with his old improv classmates and then did a great show. Christine Walters did a show up until the 40th week of pregnancy or something. I mean, I know people who skip shows because they have to pack for a trip.
That they were the last team Armando Diaz really fostered at the UCBT.
Despite working that hard, they were never above doing a scene about Gallagher’s balls. Above it? They went out of their way to make that happen.
They kicked the crap out of Cagematch so hard it was ridiculous! They went to Chicago which for an improviser in NYC is like someone going to Jesus’ bedroom and they won there.
They seemed irritated with each other just enough to stay interested, but not so much that they ever stopped liking each other. I’ve seen dozens of improv teams go through the lifecycle of “everyone hang out all the time” — to “showing up moments before the show starts and being bored” — how the fuck did Mother stay so good for so long? And that show is STILL selling out!
Sometimes Mother would plain ‘ol suck balls, and when the did they seemed to have just as good a time as when they had the whole place under their spell.
The only big mistake they ever made was letting Eason name the team, because now he gets to tell everyone about it.
That they had someone as crazy as Jesse Falcon on their team. I’ve heard better drug stories from him than I’ve read in Hunter S. Thompson books and in addition he also cried during the first Hulk movie.
UCBT-wise, they’re the last of the Big Three: Swarm, Respecto and Mother. It’s sad to me that they’re stopping. But it had to happen! It’s almost enough to convince me I should maybe be thinking of getting a real job.
Comments
I do enjoy a fine piece of improv geekery (despite being a girl). This was a fine one indeed!
I’m really glad you posted this. I won’t bother reiterating what I’ve already posted on the IRC and what I’m sure I’ll post in the “your favorite Mother memories” thread that I’ll start if nobody else does, but no improv group, past or present, has more sentimental value to me than Mother– and it’s really cool to hear similar sentiments from someone who was around way before me and had a more first-hand view earlier on.
I wish I’d gotten to see “Wanna Sleep Over” more than just two or three times, and while I don’t know 100% what the precise form was, I sussed it out enough to wish someone were still doing it. But I felt like their best shows ever were their Cagematch shows. I felt like they really let loose and went crazy, but still knew how to do that the right way.
The first time I took level one, no improv blew my mind more than Mother’s run in Cagematch. And when I took it again two years later, I took it with St. Clair.
Thanks for sharing the memories.
It seems like Every Friday night we talk about our improv history….now we have more to talk about, and by that I mean the time Will Hines jerked off on his blog about mother, you guys remember that?
My mother tid-bit. My husband has hated Mother because they beat Optimist International once in a Cage-Match (2002?). I just told him tomorrow is their last show and he just said “Good.”
That is hilarious.
Now talk about how awesome I am.
I only saw Mother once…several years ago…they were terrific.
How can they be ending when so much crap is still on stage
and on TV.
In Hitchcock’s The Birds, a drunk at a bar responded to the
invasion of angry birds with, “It’s the end of the world.”
Well, yeah, sure…NOW it is.
Best to all those Mothers.
Wow – well said!
I haven’t felt this let down since The Committee left San Francisco.
Will, I’m a little late on this, but I really appreciate your thoughtful post. You may be accused of jerking off on your blog…oh, that already happened. Anyway, I really appreciate it, as do other Mothers.
I’m gonna write up something on my blog soon about the ending of this whole thing, but like with anything that you put so much time into and that you enjoy so much, you hope other people feel the same way. The IRC/Greenroom have been pretty quiet on the group hugs for me and the other Mothers but the response at our last show and some of the blogs shows me that people really did care about us. I do hope Mother goes onto new and exciting things, but it’s at least a tough pill to swallow to not have a show this Saturday.
You’re a class act. Thanks again!