makeyourselfcomfy:

In this week’s episode, Christian Capozzoli (Bucky), Chelsea Clarke (The Curfew), & Don Fanelli (The Stepfathers) join Abra to create a world where getting on a boss’ dick isn’t sexual, Yo-Yo Ma performs at Yankees games, & Notre Dame Judi Dench is incorrect.

I want someone to please tally how many times Don says “what the fuck” in this episode. It makes me laugh so much. I love Don. I love Christian. I love Chelsea.

This was a blast to do.  Check it out!

A super fun interview with Abbi Jacobson (Broad City, Color This Book).

Check it out: http://theneedtofail.libsyn.com/webpage

Subscribe and rate on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-need-to-fail-podcast/id604486915?mt=2

Thanks for doing this Abbi!  And thanks to James Leggero for producing!

This video is titled, Why Failure Matters.  It’s worth your 3 minutes.

Thanks to Zack Phillips for sending this to me!

Tomorrow night I will perform my last Harold on Harold Night at the UCB Theatre before I start with The Stepfathers this Friday.  I’ve been on Harold Night for 3 years and performed with 6 teams.  To honor the theme of my Tumblr here, I thought I’d share some thoughts on what I’ve learned  these past three years.

• I would not be where I am without my teammates and coaches.  Period. Because it’s not about me.  I quickly learned that I didn’t “need to do great” every Harold because there is a team there.  Your job is for your team to do well.  You serve your team, you serve your Harold.  Make your teammates look great, by saying yes to their moves and making it seem like every move that they made was the correct one.  I truly feel satisfied in the days following a show, when I get a compliment, not on my personal play, but on my team’s play.  Group success gets me off much more than my personal accomplishments because it makes me recommit to the idea that human collaboration, void of egos, can lead to truly unimaginable greatness.
• Be a good teammate.  Be easy to work with.  Say yes to ideas even if you don’t think they will work. Be on time. Work hard.  Take notes and continue to learn.  Pay your dues on time. Be flexible  Volunteer to help out with whatever is needed. Send an email to someone that might be struggling and reassure them that no matter what happens, you have their back. If you want to say no to an idea check in with yourself and see if you have a genuine reason or if you are just scared of looking stupid or the idea failing.  The best teams I have been on followed the fear continuously, together, as a team.  So don’t be a dick.  And follow the fear.
• You are not going to be great right away and that’s OK.  Harold Night is a different monster, there is a learning curve, and it takes a couple of months to get the hang of.  Use your shitty shows as a learning experience and don’t dwell on them.  When in doubt, go back to the basics. Listen and react.  The people/teams that start off on fire, usually get complacent and stop working hard, and settle into their style.  They stop challenging themselves.  Keep challenging yourself.  Be clear on personal and team goals.  I am never satisfied, because I have a fear of someone else working harder than me.
• Don’t make Harold Night too precious.  It will do more harm than good.  It drastically increases the fear of it being taken away from you and it is very hard to be focused on your team during a show if this fear is injected into your play.  Harold Night is a great goal.  It is great validation. But it is a starting point, not an end point.  It should have no correlation to your self worth.  You get to experience how to work with a group of people you might not have personally picked to work with.  Just like work in the real world!  It can be very frustrating balancing styles, egos, and schedules but it’s part of the deal. Don’t like that? Don’t do it. Keep working hard and harvest the relationships you develop with other creative folks you meet.  The UCB will commit to you as a performer, but you have to put in effort to meet it half way.  Take advantage of every opportunity.
• It started becoming a running joke of how many teams I have been on. Six teams in three years.  Teams get shaken up more nowadays, but it was still hard a lot of the time to get something new going.  I always wanted every team I was on to be great.  To push limits and have fun.  It doesn’t pan out like that most of the time.  But I view it as a blessing.  It hands down made me a better improviser.  I like to believe my commitment to being a good teammate and continuing to work hard kept me on Harold Night long enough to improve.  And I improved because I had to continuously adjust my style to fit other people’s styles.  35 other people. I wanted to be a good teammate so therefore I wanted to learn what made my teammates great. So, I would subtly adjust, never abandon, my style to link in with theirs.  I highly recommend this.  You can develop your own voice and style and still make your teammates your focus.

I want to say thank you again to all of my teammates.  Thanks for making my bullshit look good and having my back.  I have been a part of roughly 150 Harold rehearsals, and I think I have cried laughing at some point in all of them.  Thank you:  Laura Willcox, Michael Kayne, Opus Moreschi, Moujan Zolfaghari, Ellena Chmielewski, Johnny McNulty, The Nate Russell, Shannon Coffey, David Bluvband, Jesse Lee, Nicole Drespel, Matt Cutler, Sarah Claspell, Ari Voukydis, Betsy Stover, Pam Murphy, Shaun Diston, Nicole Byer, Corey Brown, Terry Withers, D’Arcy Carden, Patrick Clair, Christian Capozzoli, Kate Riley, John Timothy, Aaron Jackson, Brandon Gulya, Anna Rubanova, Alan Starzinski, Langan Kingsley, Jordan Klepper, Laura Grey, Dan Hodapp, Jamison Guest, and Ryan Williams. I got to be on a team with all of those superstars.  I am seriously fucking lucky. Special thanks to Anthony King, Nate Dern, and all my coaches.

Thank you Harold Night.

This episode features a great interview by Josh Patten (SNL Weekend Update, UCB’s Grandma’s Ashes)!

Check it out: http://theneedtofail.libsyn.com/webpage

Please rate and review it on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-need-to-fail-podcast/id604486915?mt=2

Thanks to Josh Patten and sound guru James Leggero!  Spread the word!

ratliff2016gold:

RATLIFF 2016 GOLD meets Lifeway® Kefir at SXSW

Olympic History is made when Future GOLD Medal Winner Connor Ratliff goes to SXSW and meets the people from Lifeway® Kefir, his potential Olympic sponsors.

Pursue your dreams.

Check it out here: http://theneedtofail.libsyn.com/webpage

Subscribe on iTunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-need-to-fail-podcast/id604486915?mt=2

Please rate and comment!

Episode 2 with Benjamin Apple (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, www.benjaminapple.com) is up! 

Check it out here: http://theneedtofail.libsyn.com/webpage

Subscribe on iTunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-need-to-fail-podcast/id604486915?mt=2

Send questions/comments/stories/quotes: theneedtofail@gmail.com

Special thanks to Benjamin for taking the time to chat and to James Leggero for producing! 

…for letting me fail over and over again on your stage.  Thank you to my teammates and friends for watching me fail over and over again on stage and making me feel like I could try again.  I do not need to get paid for doing 30 minutes - 2 hours of improv and sketch a week to play and learn from people I love and respect.  

Furthermore, and this might seem like hyperbole, but for those that know me know I am being honest here:

If you offered me $45,000 dollars a year, an average American salary, but told me I could never have been a part of UCB Maude Team Gramps for 2 years, I would tell you to take that money and eat it with your dick.

If you doubled that, and told me $90,000 to not be a part of Sandino for 9 months, I would say, burn that money on your cock.

If you doubled that, and told me $180,000 to never have Anthony King put you on Harold Night where I got to make some great friends, meet my girlfriend, and play on some fun teams, I would say, take each dollar and give your dick a paper cut.

If you doubled that, and told me $360,000 to never play one set with Dreadnought, an indie team comprised of Dom Manzolillo, Cathryn Mudon, Noah Forman, Jesse Lee, Michael Kayne and myself, I would say make a doll with all that dough and fuck it.

If you doubled that, and told me $720,000 to have said no to Gethard when he asked me to do a bit on the original Chris Gethard Show, and not become further friends with Will Hines, Shannon O’Neill, Bethany Hall, and the band, I would say put that money at the bottom of of an office building and jump into it from the roof.

If you doubled that, and told me I will give you $1,440,000 to not take Chris Gethard’s 504 or to never meet or work with Chris Gethard.  I would tell you that mentorship and friendship are invaluable. Then I would kick you in your dick and balls.

If you doubled that, and told me $2,880,000 to not spend the $350 to sign up for a UCB class, I would probably except that. But I would be rich and miserable.

It isn’t about the money. So stop coming into my house to list the things that are wrong with it.  I choose to be here.  I can leave whenever I want.  It’s the love makes me stay. 

-Don Fanelli

The first episode of the The Need to Fail Podcast is up! Big thanks to my first guest Lauren Lapkus!  

Check it out here: http://theneedtofail.libsyn.com/webpage

Send questions/comments/stories to theneedtofail@gmail.com!