David Cross was one of the first wave of performers to work at the Un-Cabaret, also one of the most honest and darkest. The stories about his father that he refers to below are one reason why we started doing theme shows.

In our first year, we happened to book a show that happened to fall on Father's Day, and happened to feature David, Bob Odenkirk and Dana Gould all of whom had... let's call them 'strained' relationships with their dads.

What followed was so disturbingly scathingly funny that it scarred several audience members for life - one had unwittingly brought his father for a night of fun comedy - and made us realize that we had to harness that energy consciously in theme nights like 'Daddy Dearest', 'It's a Mutha', 'Bleeding Hearts' (Valentine's Day), etc.

David, who with Bob Odenkirk, wrote and starred in Mr. Show, has become emblemmatic of a transgressive no-holds-barred style of alternative comedy. He was recently interviewed by Todd Jackson of the excellent comedy blog Dead Frog and was originally posted here. It went a little something like this...

We're always encouraging students to use 'song & dance' in their comedy onstage. When we say 'song', we mean anything rhythmic or poetic. When we say 'dance', we mean anything physical.

A photo shoot will often let you know if you're being expressive enough with your face and body.

Taylor Negron is a brilliant, inspired original stand up comedian, and one of the original members of the Un-Cabaret. While we think of him as incredibly and verbal, take a look at his body language to show you how much you can communicate without a single word.