Fest Spotlight On Uphill Both Ways!

You are sitting there, at your computer, and mustering up the courage to scream "Ok dccomedyfest, sure you have a lot of East Coast and Mid-West Groups! But do you have any cool acts from California? I've heard that California, along with several other states on Pacific Ocean exist, and that they have funny people too. Maybe even folks who live in the hills where land costs nearly $100,000 per square inch, and they have a Golden Gate Bridge that's actually Orange. Do you have any cool acts coming from there?"

Well brace yourselves, WE DO! Meet Uphill Both Ways. This San Francisco based sketch group are seasoned veterans (think comedy Paprika) of the comedy festival circuit (even though it's more a zig-zap maze of festivals, we still call it a circuit,... It's all loosely connected through the love of comedy). Uphill Both Ways doesn't seem to shy away from any topic, and is picking up fans wherever they go.

But who is Uphill Both Ways? Let' find out via their question based answers (one of the top methods of getting answers being used by both journalism and research organizations in our modern age) to our queries into the experience that is Uphill Both Ways:

dccf: Audiences checking out the 2006 dccomedyfest will get their first chance in DC to see Uphill Both Ways. What do they need to know about Uphill Both Ways to prepare for your style of sketch comedy?

COLIN: Just because we're from San Francisco doesn't mean that we're gay and eat Rice-A-Roni... That being said, Dave is gay.

DAVE: And Colin eats Rice-A-Roni.

dccf: Every group has a dynamic that the audience never sees. Can you give us a glimpse into
who the members of Uphill Both Ways are off stage?

DAVE: Well, Colin and I are old friends; we met while members of the Cornell Skits-O-Phrenics, the same sketch group that spawned NYC's 'Elephant Larry' and 'Madame Funnypants' so we have a long-lasting dynamic. It helps that we get along so well as friends and as comedic colleagues' we've worked together for so long we tend to agree on 99%of everything, and I let Colin win the 1% that we argue about.

COLIN: Damn straight.

dccf: How do the members of Uphill Both Ways describe the show to their friends and families?

DAVE: I usually say something like, 'hey, check out our new show 'I'm playing a giant cat, a gynecologist, a tree, and the Pope, and Colin's playing a Styrofoam tray full of leftovers, an imaginary friend' and 'OH, he's gonna wear that dress with the lemon pattern! Check it out!'

COLIN: You're obsessed with that dress.

DAVE: I wish it fit me.

dccf: Great sketches don't just fall out of the sky by themselves. What kind of process does Uphill Both Ways use to bring them to the stage?

COLIN: Most of the time, we come up with ideas on our own, whether from real-life experience or from the delusional exhaustion of being up at 4:30 in the morning for no apparent reason. Then, we'll meet up at one of our apartments and I'll blurt out something like, 'Oh hey, I had this idea the other night for a rock/paper/scissors peace conference', and then Dave will think it's brilliant (or pretend not to hear me), and one or both of us will sit down and write the script. From there, we are always editing, right up through the dress rehearsal, and when we improvise a moment on stage and it's well-received, it becomes part of the script.

DAVE: We have a combined experience of 16 years in sketch comedy -which basically means we've seen sketches of all shapes and sizes... and our combined experience can legally drive. Ultimately, we always strive to write unconventional stuff. If it's going to be something more conventional, though, like a doctor sketch, it better be something new or unexpected, like a patient with an immaculately-contracted STD.

dccf: What has been the most surprising thing Uphill Both Ways has encountered while
bringing its shows to the masses?

DAVE: Turns out you can't always predict which of your new skits will bean audience favorite. I wrote a skit on an airplane once called 'Before Microsoft Word... There Was Helen', and I thought it was so terrible that I didn't even want to bring it to the table and it's become one of our signature pieces - mainly because of Colin's use of paper clips and his lemon dress.

COLIN: It won't fit you. Seriously. I'm starting to think you have a fetish for dresses with citrus patterns.

dccf: What is the most interesting review you have received from an audience member after a performance?

DAVE: I once overheard a friend say to another friend, 'you haven't lived until you've seen Dave lick himself and bite on a rubber chew toy'. He was talking about a skit where I played a tiger. I think.

dccf: Anything that we should make sure our 2006 dccomedyfest audiences know before coming to check out an Uphill Both Ways show?

COLIN: Well, once again, just because we're from San Francisco doesn't
mean we'll do a 45-minute rock-opera tribute to 'Hair' and pass out huge bags of
quality reefer and rolling papers to every audience member

DAVE: That's right. We're only doing a 30-minute rock opera and we've only got smack, blow, dust, rocks, shrooms, ludes, whizz, poppers, doves, dots, giggly, jellies, and smileys. Sorry everyone.

We here at the dccomedyfest think those answers stand for themselves. So now that you've had your free taste, come by a sample the pay-per laugh experience. I think you find our quality top notch, and the value for you dollar unbeatable. Besides, we weren't paying attention when we interview them, but it sounded to us like they said something about bringing Rice-A-Roni. Yummy, tasty Rice-A-Roni.