UCB Performer Spotlight: Vincent Moore
Vincent Moore is a performer, writer, and improviser who can be seen in the UCB shows Higgins: The Instagram Show, Take It Personal: The Hip Hop Improv Show, and as the host of Best Answer: A Character Panel Show. Today, we ask him some questions about starting out at UCB and the lessons he’s learned along the way.
1. How long have you wanted to pursue comedy?
It’s hard for me to think of a time when comedy wasn’t a central part of my life and yet, for a long time, I didn’t really know that it was possible for me to get into it professionally. Growing up, the stand-up clubs in San Francisco were 21-and-over, I didn’t know much about improv outside of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, and I don’t think I’d seen much staged sketch until college. So the idea of the genuine pursuit of comedy as an actual, possible thing I could do didn’t sink in for me until I moved to New York after school.
2. When was your first UCB class? What made you want to take classes at UCB?
My first class was an Improv 101 with Ben Rodgers in the summer of 2011. Taking classes (and moving to New York in general) is largely due to the encouragement that I received from two of my very good friends from college, Ryan Haney and Allie Kokesh, who moved to the city a year or so before me. If they hadn’t pushed me to do it, I’m not sure when I would have found UCB.
3. What do you wish you had known before you started taking classes?
When I started taking classes, I was pretty much improv through and through. I wish I had simultaneously done more sketch earlier on.
4. When did you become a performer at UCB? How was the audition process for you?
I started performing at the theatre in 2012 as a member of Huxtable on Lloyd Night. The audition process was pretty chaotic as you’re in this intense headspace where you’re both overly aware of yourself and what you’re doing while also trying to listen to and be present for what’s happening around you. I was happy with the result of it but it was definitely stressful.
5. You host Best Answer, a character show at UCB East. What made you want to host that show?
I really like the idea of a bunch of characters interacting with each other in a spontaneous way so I decided to create and host a space where that can happen. Hosting the show, I’m always pleasantly surprised by the amount of playfulness that comes from a panel full of different characters that previously very much existed in their own universes. It’s a bunch of worlds colliding in a very positive way.
6. What have you learned from hosting your own show?
A lot! Outside of it being a trivia show and learning weird tidbits about this and that, hosting Best Answer has taught me how to juggle a lot of things at once. As the host, I have to know obscure facts and present them with confidence, manage four characters and make sure they’re happy, make sure the audience is happy, and keep everything running on time. It’s a workout but it’s also a very fulfilling role.
7. What was the best decision you made for your comedy career?
I’ve recently been trying to actively figure out what I truly think is funny and investigate that for myself. This is something that I still have to remind myself to do on occasion, as it can be very easy to just do what other people think is funny, and it’s been very helpful for developing my voice and just figuring myself out in general.
8. What was the worst decision you made?
It’s not so much a decision so much as a mindset that I had early on of needing to wait for someone to put me in their sketch or show or film, etc. instead of creating something on my own. For awhile, I put off learning how to edit digital film and properly use a camera because it seemed so boring and ‘not my thing,’ when it’s actually not entirely impossible to get a basic understanding of all of that via Youtube and learning as you go.
9. What advice would you give to people just starting out doing comedy?
Take some time to think about what truly makes you laugh and explore it as honestly and deeply as possible. And keep your eyes on your own test!
10.What project do you have coming up that you’re the most excited about?
Higgins, my former Harold team, is beginning our Sunday night run at the Beast this weekend, where we interview an audience member and use their Instagram profile to inspire our set. I’m also working on some sketch shows, one of which I’m writing and performing with Matt Dennie based on “The Hero’s Journey.” And, of course, there’s always America’s favorite website, “Bananas of New York.”
