THEATER; Honoring A Mentor With Laughter

Published: August 19, 2001

THE night before Del Close, the improvisational performer and mentor to the likes of John Belushi, John Candy and Bill Murray, died in a Chicago hospital, he was surrounded by about 100 of his friends. What his obituary called a raucous farewell was taking place. Mr. Close, who had already bequeathed his skull to the Goodman Theater in Chicago, telephoned his final instructions to the group he had been coaching, the Upright Citizens Brigade.

Since Mr. Close's death in 1999 at the age of 64 from emphysema, the brigade, an improv group, has been holding a Del Close Marathon every summer in his honor. This year's three-day event took place late last month at the group's theater in Chelsea ( During the 52 hours of continuous shows, nearly 70 improv groups from around the country performed.

''I never got to meet Del Close, but I heard a lot about him, and he was great in 'Fatal Attraction,' '' said Sean Conroy, 34, during the marathon's opening ceremony. Mr. Conroy teaches improv and performs with the Swarm, an improv group, at the theater.

Andrew Secunda, 31, a member of the Swarm, an improv teacher and a writer with ''Late Night With Conan O'Brien,'' stepped forward on the stage. ''When I saw '101 Dalmatians'---- ''

''That's Glenn Close you're thinking of,'' Amy Poehler corrected them. Ms. Poehler, 29, is a member of the Upright Citizens Brigade.

''This isn't the Glenn Close Marathon,'' said Matt Walsh, 36, another brigade member.

''It's Del Close; she's still alive,'' said Matt Besser. Mr. Besser, 33, and Ian Roberts, 37, are the other two members of the Upright Citizens Brigade.

Mr. Close joined the St. Louis company of the Compass Players in the mid-1950's, an improvisational troupe created by Mike Nichols and Elaine May. He became a member of Chicago's Second City cast in 1961, and three years later moved to San Francisco as one of the creators of the political satire group the Committee. He returned to Second City in the early 70's and joined Chicago's Improv Olympic, a theater school and performance space, in 1983. He was a resident coach of the ''Saturday Night Live'' troupe during its early years. Other well-known students of his include Gilda Radner, Mike Meyers, Betty Thomas, George Wendt, Harold Ramis and Chris Farley. Current ''Saturday Night Live'' cast members Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch and Horatio Sanz also studied with him at the Improv Olympic.

Mr. Close took several improv techniques he had established with Ms. May and used them to create what is called the Harold (and the start of what is known as long-form improvisation). It emphasizes that an improv performer be constructive -- by adding to scenes -- not negative. The performer is encouraged to say ''yes and'' to everything. Mr. Close stressed that by staying committed to a scene and not looking for cheap laughs, connections between characters and themes -- and ultimately the humor -- can be made in ways the performers could never imagine. He urged his students to listen to everyone in an improv group, to trust one another and work to develop a group mind.

Why the name Harold? According to Charna Halpern, who was Mr. Close's business partner in Chicago for 19 years, he was rehearsing with the Committee and wondered what he should call his method of improvisation. The group's piano player, Bill Mathieu, said to call it Harold, and the name stuck.

A Harold begins when a performer solicits a suggestion from the audience. Two or three performers start a scene, either through physical activity or conversation. The first scene may or may not have to do with the audience suggestion, but eventually the performers get to it. As the set unfolds, new scenes are started and discoveries are made, usually about people and relationships. Using what are referred to as callbacks, skilled Harold players bring earlier elements into later scenes, creating a finale that ties together the original audience suggestion and several of the characters, relationships and discoveries made along the way.

Although arguing goes against the tenets of improv, good Harold players can work it into scenes to heighten tension, create humor and even move scenes forward. ''If you're playing the same game -- 'yes and' -- you can still argue,'' Mr. Besser said during an interview while the marathon was under way on the theater's small stage. ''It's just not good to start a scene with an argument because that can end it. If the argument is funny, that's playing the game.''

Speaking of Mr. Close, with whom he studied in Chicago, Mr. Besser said: ''His long form improv makes people funnier than they are by allowing them to use the group mind.''

Ms. Poehler, who studied with Mr. Close at the Improv Olympic in Chicago, said, ''If you play the truth of things it's a lot funnier than just commenting on it.''

Ms. Poehler met Mr. Besser, Mr. Roberts and Mr. Walsh in Chicago at the Improv Olympic in 1993. The three men had been among the founders in 1990 of the Upright Citizens Brigade, which Ms. Poehler then joined. The group came to New York in 1995 and started doing improv shows. Their sketch comedy show on Comedy Central ran for three cable seasons, 1998 to 2000, and during the second year they opened their theater on West 22nd Street. The 74-seat space has shows seven nights a week and offers improv and sketch writing classes. On Sunday nights, brigade members present a long-form improv show. Performers and writers from shows like ''Saturday Night Live'' and ''Late Night With Conan O'Brien'' often sit in.

During the last night of the marathon, the Upright Citizens Brigade took the stage for the first of their three performances of the evening. Joining them were some guests: Sarah Silverman, the stand-up comic; Jon Glaser, a writer for ''Late Night With Conan O'Brien''; Mr. Sanz and Ms. Dratch from ''Saturday Night Live''; and Rachel Hamilton, a performer from Chicago's Second City troupe.

Ms. Poehler asked for a suggestion to get started. Someone in the crowd yelled out ''clown.'' Ms. Silverman stepped forward and began talking about how she was the class clown in school and that her mother sent away an application for her to go to clown college so she could ''learn how to tumble.''

Mr. Besser and Ms. Poehler soon started a scene. Mr. Besser, as a hospital administrator, warned Ms. Poehler that ''hospitals don't need a class clown.''

''I've got two words for you, Patch Adams,'' replied Ms. Poehler.

Mr. Besser immediately snapped, ''I've got two words back to you -- Patch Adams!''

Ms. Poehler appeared miffed at first and then responded resignedly, ''Fine, I'll do my nursing duties.''

Mr. Walsh joined the scene as a patient moaning in agony. Ms. Poehler approached him, dancing, singing, flashing a killer smile. ''I've got something in my pocket, I've got something in my pocket!'' she sang to the patient.

''The liver I've been waiting for?'' Mr. Walsh asked hopefully.

In a later scene, Ms. Poehler and Mr. Besser were working in a university admissions office. ''We should take another look at some of these applications -- this university needs a shake-up,'' Ms. Poehler said.

''Maybe we should start reading some of these essays,'' Mr. Besser responded.

Ms. Dratch arrived as an applicant to the college. She started to read her essay out loud, only to be cut off by a question.

''Have you ever dated a black guy?'' Ms. Poehler asked her.

''I kissed a Puerto Rican once,'' Ms. Dratch replied.

''That's the kind of diversity we're looking for,'' Mr. Besser said. The audience howled. The clown college reference had been turned into a satire about the university admissions process.

Earlier, remembering Mr. Close, Mr. Walsh had said: ''He was all about, 'Show me something disturbing or new.' His whole focus was, 'Let's do something interesting.' He was about exploring and pushing the levels of improv.''

Speaking of the Harold, Ms. Fey said: ''You learn how to regain the sense of play, something we do as children that we all forget how to do.''

As for Mr. Close himself, his skull sits in an acrylic box in the office of Robert Falls, the Goodman Theater's artistic director. It is to be used as Yorick, the king's jester, in a future production of ''Hamlet,'' with the understanding that Mr. Close's name will be listed in the credits.

Lyle Deixler has performed stand-up comedy at several clubs in Manhattan and took a beginner's course in improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater.