The Smokes are Blue

Ladies and Gentlemen filled into the seats as two amazing improv teams got ready to hit the big leagues on the UCB stage. Returning champions "The Smokes" have had the title for one week, but their Challengers "Blue" were going to put up a fierce battle against the new champions. Their fate would be determined in a 20 min improv battle to the death. The death panels aka the audience has been assembled, it was show time.

After losing the coin toss Blue would be up first. Blue is made of a tripod of people, three to be exact. Blue was ready for a fight and fight they did. They even used their timeout, which has not been used in many months, during their timeout, Jake Regal decide to take his pants off in order to cool down the hot stage. The time quickly came to an end.

During the halt time switch, the very popular half time game "Where's Waldo" made a triumphant return as Harrison scanned the audience look for exiled Waldo.

The Smokes hit the stage and pulled out their form for the night called "Sleepover" from a bucket. Starting in a sleep over they improvised til their hearts stoo. With a combined total of 7 members they made improv look easy. Would The Smokes be looking at win number 2 or would they be packing their bags, it would be up to luggage department aka the audience.

With buzzer buzzed on both teams, it meant it was time for the audience to go to the polls and vote aka tear a piece of paper and put it in a bucket. After all votes were counted, The Smokes were declared UCB Cagematch champs for the second week in a room.

Next week The Smokes will face Bay Bay, be sure to make your reservation for next Wednesday at the UCB Cagematch.

Also The Smokes will be doing a show at UCB this Saturday at 10pm, make your reservations here.

Pouffff a new Champion!

The streams were raging, the fires were burning, and eagles were soaring, the perfect conditions for a cagematch. Benderdangle on a hot streak, but would it be enough to stop the ole mighty challengers, The Smokes? Only time would tell and that time would 20 minutes a piece in the squared circle.

The Smokes went first, which is nothing new to them, they are usually the first on the stage on Monday nights at UCB. They know how to get a crowd going. They allowed the audience to pick the form they would be doing. the audience filled out ballots ahead of time and The Smokes picked it on stage. "Three Davids" is what they picked and "three david" is what the audience got! The buzzer ended their twenty min "three david" set.

Then it was time for Benderdangle to hit the stage and do what they do best... improv! Playing like they normally do Benderdangle was hitting hard that night. Tonight they were facing some of their toughest competition yet and would they be able to beat their challengers only the audience would be able to determine that.

... and determine that they did. So after two teams the audience voted and that night they voted for a new winner, The Smokes.

The Smokes will be back this Wednesday versus Blue, which will be just as tough of match as this one was. It's anyone's game now!

Make your reservations here for Cagematch this week. If the show is sold-out, no worries get your name on the waitlist and there is a very good chance you will be able to get in. So be there!

Benderdangle Times Three!

On Wednesday it's Cagematch and this week we had a battle out of this world! Returning Champions Benderdangle would be up against some tough competition from this week's challenger, Dope Times Three. The most interesting thing about the Dope Times Three is their original name was Dope and then they times it by three only to become more powerful. Well after the teams met each other it was times for both teams to put their dukes up cause it was fightin time.

Dope Times Three would have to prove themselves first, after winning the coin toss and choosing to go first. DTT hit that stage like a horse right out of the gates. They even had a little jockey on top them that's how much they were like a horse right out of the gate. They had the crowd laughing a long and not only did DTT make them laugh, they cared for the audience. Colton Dunn stopped the show to ask a few ladies what was up and he discovered they were on girl's night out! After their 20mins it was more like Dope Times Three night out.

The current champs Benderdangle (4-0) were playing for their 5th win, that's half of ten and one twentieth of a hundred. Although they didn't solve any audience member's problem, they did bring and delivery a very memorable Cagematch. They got the audience on board the laugh train early on. Benderdangle continued to slam it until the last second of their show.

Then the polls opened, there was no free coffee, no "I voted" stickers, no ID required, just the ballot the audience received as they walked into the theatre. Once they voted, the ballot were counted and a winner was determined. Next week Benderdangle (5-0) will be returning again to face a challenger.

Next week "The Smokes" will be the challengers and they are ready for a duel with Benderdangle. Make your reservation today for Wednesday! See you on Wednesday!

Benderdangle Rode the Last Ferry!

With the cagematch Champions back in town ready to take on a new challenger is was time for another Cagematch! Betsy fever had caught on with host Harrison Brown. And with a fever comes a fight... a cagematch fight. This week Benderdangle would have to face the Intercontinental Cagematch Champions "Last Ferry to Hobart." Coming off a hot win the week before Benderdangle would be in challenge. With LFTH winning the coin toss they would choose to go second.

Benderdangle hit the stage first. With a week off would they still have the same momentum they had when they left? Well once they got started it seemed like they had never left. With bam here, kabam, over there, they were right at home at the UCB cagematch. When the buzzer buzzed, it would be up to Last Ferry to Hobart to see if they would be able to capitalize by coming by going second and by capitalizing I mean capitalist style.

Last Ferry to Hobart hit the stage running as if they were running to catch the last ferry of the night to Hobart and we all know that when that happens you are left on the main land and forced to do improv in hopes of earning enough money to get a room at the inn that night, otherwise the gutter soon becomes your bed for the night. Well LFTH played like champions in a very fierce and tough competition for the night. Would their 20 min triumph over the current champions?

It was time for the audience to go to the polls just like the citizens of Afghanistan did the same day. The only different was there were no car bombs, no suicides, and it would take weeks to find out the results to a fraudulent elections. Luckily at cagematch there is no fraud and the audience receives the results right away. This week the winner and still champion, Benderdangle.

Benderdangle had a surprise visit from Colton Dunn at the end of the show with a tough threat to watch out next week when they have to face off against "Dope Times Three" with Colton Dunn, Matt Braunger, and Eric Price.

Be sure to make your reservation for the big show!

Intercontinental Cagematch!

With current champs Benderdangle, in NYC for the Del Close Marathon, it was time for an Intercontinental Cagematch, to determine who would face the current champions next Wednesday. Two awesome teams were going to be needed for this Intercontinental Cagematch. Our first team was "Sworn to Sedition," not to be confused with the popular national radio show Morning Edition, although if they did have an improv team I'm sure it would consist of early risers and they would be well informed about current events. STS would have to face a ship that can carry cars and was used a plot devise in the popular 2008 film, the Dark Knight, their opponents would be "Last Ferry to Hobart". With STS winning the coin toss and choosing to go second, Last Ferry to Hobart would be going first.

Now as the last ferry, it needs to load as many passengers and cars as possible cause it won't be back until early tomorrow morning, which means it was time to load up the funnies. LSTH came out with a fast-pace show with tons a laughs. This three man team played right up until the buzzer went off. They played a great 20 mins and now they would have to wait another 20 mins before the audience would be voting.

With the half-time intermission over it was time for Sworn to Sedition to play their cards. STS started by doing bring the heat. With slow burning scenes this team would have the audience laughing hard at the end of every scene. As the clock approached 20 mins STS was on a roll and out of time, would it be enough to become the Intercontinental Cagematch champion?

Then the voting polls opened (Tim Greer walking around with a bucket) in which the audience voted for their favorite team of the night to claim the Intercontinental Cagematch Championship and go on to face current Cagematch Champion Benderdangle next Wedneday. Well the winner would be "Last Ferry to Hobart!" See them next week face the champions and make your reservations today.

Don't forget to check out a very special Exhibition Cagematch tonight, Thursday at 11pm at UCB, when cagematch goes Back To School and it's Cool Kids vs. Nerds. Make your reservations here.

Ladies, Ladies, Ladies!!!

... cause it's ladies night and the feelings right, at least it was last Wednesday at the UCB Cagematch when "Harold Girls" stepped up to play the two champs "Benderdangle." With Harrison back in action from Minnesota it was time for another intense Cagematch and this one would be. "Harold Girls" is an all-star team made up of all the girls on Harold teams, but would this all star team but enough to take down the team in town "Benderdangle?"

With "Harold Girls" going first they would have to set the bar for the night. With a total of 10 ladies on stage they started their 20 mins with a bang. These ladies came to play and were ready to benderdangle all over the returning champions. These ladies were ready to rock and not only did they rock, they rolled.

Benderdangle, with two wins were going for their Turkey win that night. They would have to overcome and out play an amazing show by "Harold Girls" in order to stay the champs. Benderdangle did what they do best, they dangled and bender for 20 mins. With Betsy flinging her body all over the place, they had the crowd the laughing.

Anything can happen when the audience votes. America was built on the idea of democracy and cagematch was built on the exact same idea, so the audience voted for the team they want to see back on Aug 19th, and the team that won was Benderdangle.

Next Wednesday (8/12), due to the Del Close Marathon, the UCB Cagematch will be having an intercontinental cagematch. Two teams will be fighting it out to come back and face the champions on Aug 19th. Make your reservation now.

Cagematch via Satellite

Asterios Kokkinos here with your exciting cagematch wrapup! For those of you who couldnt get tickets to this sold out slamfest, here's a report, straight from my cell phone at my girlfriends friends steampunk themed wedding!

Seriously. I am a wedding based on the steampunk aesthetic taking place in Pasadena. More on this later.

The evening started out with your host dancing so hard and so fast that he had to sit down. Then, Harrison appeared on the big screen, and the show REALLY began!

Harrison, via skype from his sister's house in Minneapolis, was in full effect. The two men exchanged pleasantries, but then it was time to get down to business - the business of hilariousness!

BENDERDANGLE and THREE KINGS emerged, and Harrison tossed the coin from another state, with Three Kings winning and electing to go first.

Then, a crisis: Asterios had no idea how to set the clock. You would think he would have taken the time to learn what is perhaps the most important part of hosting cagematch, but nope! He did, however, nail the no luchador masks rule, so give him some credit.

Clock issues aside, Three Kings came out and gave a dynamite performance. They played fast and furiously, editing faster than a McG film on acid. Is that a good reference? Should i have used Baz Lurhman?

Anyway, then BENDERDANGLE came out and started strong and never let up. The newly minted champs fought hard and hilariously, hoping to avoid the ignoble title that is "the one week wonder."

Both teams established themselves so well and played so fast that, before anyone knew it, it was time to count the votes. Harrison broadcasting exactly 1929 miles away joined the improv jam, proving that time zones mean nothing to experienced improvisors, and made the audience laugh as loud as anyone on the actual stage.

In all contests, even ones this evenly matched, there must be a winner. After what must have been an agonizing decision for the audience, BENDERDANGLE hung onto the title. Then, in a mutual show of respect for both great teams, the audience handed out a racous round

of applause.

A final note: the amazing video uplink and awesome light and sound effects of this show would not have been possible without the brilliant Mr. Scott Davis. Thanks Scott! Well, until next time I'm Asterios Kokkinos, happy cagematching!

See BENDERDANGLE take on HAROLD'S GIRLS this coming Wednesday (8/4) at 11pm at the UCB Cagematch, make your reservation today.