This Improv Impresario Has A New Show That Is Getting Some Serious Buzz

“These people are VERY funny.” 

At a recent RaaaatScraps show actor Austin Pendleton hit the nail on the head about the group of dazzling performers who created a fully improvised show inspired by his stories. 

Pendleton knows funny. An accomplished performer, director and playwright, he has acted in more than 250 movies, TV shows and plays from A Beautiful Mind to Finding Nemo to directing Elizabeth Taylor and Maureen Stapleton in The Little Foxes. 

It is said that the best improv seems almost scripted. You think, how could this moment, these hysterical lines, these characters on stage, be made up on the spot? But they most certainly are at RaaaatScraps at the Caveat theater in New York City

Launched this past August. every Sunday a guest monologist shares true stories before the audience and performers. (The show is also livestreamed.) Then, some of the nation’s greatest improvisers use them as inspiration to create scenes that were never seen before and will never be seen again. Worlds are created without the use of any props or costumes. 

RaaaaScraps is the brainchild of Shannon O’Neill. Her credits include Broad City, High Maintenance, Difficult People, The Chris Gethard Show and the Nexflix true-crime docu-series How to Fix a Drug Scandal. 

For a long time O’Neill performed and hosted Asssscat, the flagship show at the Upright Citizens Brigade, (UCB), in New York City. It featured a rotating cast and guest monologuists including Aubrey Plaza, Gloria Steinem, Mark Hamill, Bowen Yang and Amy Schumer. When Covid-19 caused UCB’s East Coast theater to close, she and producer Patrick Cotnoir came up with a new version of the show. 

“When UCB closed down UCB New York, I started thinking about what I would want to do and could do once things started opening up. I talked with Patrick who was booking monologuists for Asssscat while I was running it in its final years in New York City,” says O’Neill. “I wanted to keep the Sunday Asssscat tradition going, but give it a reboot and rebrand.” 

As O’Neill explains the name “RaaaatScraps” pays homage to Asssscat, the show that inspired it. “The four “A’s” are a tribute to Asssscat. It is a thank you for what it did for me and others while performing at UCB—and for me, personally, as a student, a performer and host,” she shares. “Also, I love rats. They are smart and are survivors. They do what they can to keep living. And we are doing what we can to keep performing each week.” 

Jeryl Brunner: The rotating cast of RaaaatScraps improvisers are the crème de la crème. How do you select them?

Shannon O’Neill: We are in our third month. So far the majority of the improvisers were performers that consistently played in Asssscat before things got shut down. But we are starting to also invite new blood. I look for people who have fun and unique voices and will bring something new to the show—performers who I want eyes on. I want the industry to see them. To come to RaaaatScraps for tapped and untapped talent.

Brunner: The performers have credits from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Jim Gaffigan Show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Late Night with Seth Meyers and on and on. 

O’Neill: The list of credits that our rotating cast has is jaw-dropping. But if you come to a show, you cannot point to one person and say, ‘Oh, it’s clear that is someone who books work a lot.’ Everyone on our stage is capable of booking and thriving. And what I want most for everyone is to book and thrive. I love when a cast member has to cancel a show because they booked work. That is the best news and I love to hear it! 

I’d like to add that people are sleeping on Alex Dickson. Someone needs to sign her ASAP. She is one of the most talented performers and I can’t believe I get to improvise with her and that she will return my texts sometimes. 

Brunner: Can you put into words how improv nurtures you? 

O’Neill: Performing improv nurtures me in many ways. A big one is that I get to see my friends every week and be goofy with them. We can chat backstage and check in with each other. We laugh and also just listen to the real shit happening in each others lives. Then we take our individual and unique wells of experience and act like goofs on stage together. It is play. I am playing with my friends. And play is so important for my soul. 

Brunner: What inspired you to first study improv? 

O’Neill: In college I took a trip to Chicago and saw a Second City show called Paradigm Lost, that happened to star Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey, Kevin Dorff and others. It was my first exposure to sketch and improv. When I moved to New York City in 2000 I asked a work friend who did stand-up where I could take an improv class, he suggested UCB for me. The rest is history.

Brunner: What is one of the best pieces of improv advice you have been given?

O’Neill: Feed Your Well. For improv, it means to keep learning, not about comedy, but to keep experiencing life, read things outside of your normal library list. See theater, people watch, try new things. The more you experience in life, the more you can bring to your scenes. But then it also bleeds over into just having a much richer life.

Brunner: Why do you like performing at Caveat?

O’Neill: Caveat is an amazing space. It has a fun positive vibe when you walk in. The staff gets shit done and runs a tight ship while just being cool and easy-going people. The setup is intimate, while still fitting over 100 people. I feel safe there in regards to Covid-19. 

 I’m also super stoked about the streaming option they have. To be able to stream the show at such a high quality means people from all over the world can see a RaaaatScraps show. There are people out there who love improv but don’t have a theater in their town. And now we can be an option. Plus my mom can and has watched every show so far.