![]() We're looking for when things are about to wrap up. So it helps that we have quite a bit of writing experience. We're almost making a play with a beginning, middle, end. Schwartz: The form of our show is to complete a story. I don't want to say, "Oh God, it’s like we're great at music!" Because that would be a weird thing for me to say. Middleditch: In the same way that any song will have ebbs and flows, the self-director in you is looking for changes in energy so it's easy for the audience to follow. Middleditch: Like a raver doing an invisible liquid ball. I want the readers to know I'm making a wave motion with my hands. It's all a matter of you and your partner playing together in the same flow. Schwartz: Some people said that we've had a “Meteoric rise to the top and it's very jazz-like.” There's a beautiful rhythm to it, we edit our own scenes. Ross: Improv is often compared to jazz music. It would have been us paying for these tickets. Schwartz: Because we don't want nerds like us to be priced out. Schwartz: No! We keep them literally as low as we can. Schwartz: We're able to make ticket prices as much as we want. I really enjoy that kick in the pants and the jitters backstage. Instead of a hundred people at $5, it's thousands paying real theater prices. One of the nice things about playing big theaters is that it puts the monkey on your back. Middleditch: When you end up performing thousands of times, it can become routine. Schwartz: We do a lot of woman's rights stuff. Middleditch: We do a lot of woman's rights stuff. We play crazy big characters but also rounded small characters, people in relationships, or a woman trying to win her rights at work. Schwartz: We did it for free for 20 years before we started touring. We don't have to prepare anything except being in the moment and being very silly. Middleditch: It all feels esoteric and weird, but it's just two silly people going up there and making stuff up. Middleditch & Schwartz: "The Meteoric Rise of the New Laurel and Hardy." Middleditch: We're not billing ourselves as the new Laurel and Hardy. Ross: Speaking of comedy duos, have you seen new Laurel and Hardy movie, Stan And Ollie? But at the beginning of every single show, we explain what improv is because we assume the entire audience has not seen it. There are the Apatow movies and UCB Theatre. The fact that we're on TV makes it easier. Podcasts like Comedy Bang! Bang!and Improv4Humans have spread the word. Schwartz: Improv is a little bit more out there now. Middleditch: But it turned out to be a “Meteoric Rise.” Schwartz: And even then they were afraid nobody would care. Middleditch: All they had to do was years of hoofing it in the television and film industry, getting mildly famous and then putting together a tour. “Oh my God, I can't believe they're pulling this off.” Schwartz: “Straight to the top,” someone said. Middleditch: People are using the words "Meteoric Rise." I remember trying to see you a year ago at Town Hall and it was completely sold out. Ross: Improv seems to be more popular than ever. The second it's over, it will disappear and we'll never do a show like it ever again. We're creating a show for this audience only. Schwartz: We also say before the show that nothing is being filmed or photographed. We want to have an air of an elevated experience. But we've been pleasantly surprised that there's an appetite for people to go out to a theater and make a night of it. Middleditch: We're living in a world of short-form internet content and small digestible things. ![]() Schwartz: If we did our job right, people will come backstage and say, "Yeah, but how much of that was written?" None of it, we just made it up. It's an hour of improv with no breaks or intermission or stopping to take a new premise. I love the idea of a subscribing member of the theater coming to this show. So the fact that we get to do a two-person improv show at a fancy-pants theater like Carnegie Hall is a cool thing. But with improv, it has for many years remained at this low entry point of $5 tickets in basements. Middleditch: In standup comedy, there's a precedent that if you stick with it long enough you'll get to a higher tier and perform in bigger venues. Schwartz: As a kid, you know what Carnegie Hall is. Middleditch: The ones from Dumb and Dumber.
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