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It’s not parasocial, but the result of an incredibly skilled live performer. Schwartz manages to break the wall between audience and entertainer. The show doesn’t feel like an exhibition it wraps the audience in. Plotlines are woven together, characters are forged and forgotten, and a call back to a joke from 30 minutes ago is more satisfying than any carefully worded punch line.īut the most impressive thing Schwartz pulls off in Ben Schwartz and Friends is breaking open the potential of improv.

#Ben schwartz shows series

It doesn’t just feel like watching a series of scenes. It’s an entire comedy story told in the same length as a standard stand-up special.

#Ben schwartz shows full

Ben Schwartz and Friends is the best example of “you had to be there” that you will ever be a part of.Īnd unlike most other improv shows, Ben Schwartz and Friends is a full experience.

The scenarios in the show get so wild that trying to describe a bit to someone makes you sound absolutely insane. There is nothing put to paper, no way to prove any of the jokes that had you and your friends crying laughing except for your shoddy memories. Sometimes a new element is thrown in, such as at Schwartz’s November 5th show where improv newbie Joe Keery was thrown into the fire (a revival of a previous Schwartz improv experiment).Īt the start of the show Schwartz describes the performance as a “show that disappears.” In a way all live shows disappear once you leave the venue, but Ben Schwartz and Friends is different. Many titular Friends reappear such as Gil Ozeri ( Big Mouth), Colton Dunn ( Superstore), and Drew Tarver ( The Other Two).

A question is posed, a brief conversation is had, and then they’re left to their improv devices.

The format is the same as Middleditch and Schwartz, except with a larger cast of performers. The production also tours around the country throughout the year. Schwartz has been a fixture at the Largo since 2016, performing Ben Schwartz and Friends frequently there save for the occasional pandemic. I saw a recent run of Schwartz’s show at the Largo at the Coronet in Los Angeles. Once the conversation is over, an entire performance is made up out of thin air. The idea for the show comes from a brief discussion with an audience member or two at the start after asking the crowd for a prompt.

Alongside Silicon Valley actor Thomas Middleditch, he performed three hour-long shows that were entirely improvised. The best introduction to Schwartz’s long-form improv can be seen in the Middleditch and Schwartz Netflix specials. But Schwartz’s best ability as a performer isn’t seen on a screen it’s on display in his exquisitely executed live improv shows. He started at the UCB Theater and went on to win an Emmy and appeared in dozens of different films, TV, and various other online projects. The performer best known for his role as Jean-Ralphio on Parks and Recreation and as the current voice of Sonic the Hedgehog has been an improv fixture for years.

#Ben schwartz shows how to

After watching one show with a friend she described it as “surprisingly funny for improv.” To pull off an improv performance you can’t just be funny you have to have that perfect mixture of natural charisma and the ability to know how to make a good show around a dismissed medium.Įnter Ben Schwartz. Even at its best with a group like UCB, every show has the possibility of being the cringiest hour of your life. It evokes amateur college troops, awkward silences, forced questions asked to the crowd. Improv comedy is a punching bag’s punching bag.