From Strangers to Troupe: Talking Pulp City Comedy with Dan Yakush
July 17th and August 7th @ The Strand Theatre, Hudson Falls and The Wood Theater, Glens Falls
Photos provided by Pulp City Comedy
“In the beginning, we were all strangers who wanted to try something fun,” Dan says. “Now we’ve got a steady group, and we all look forward to this every week. Everybody’s bonded.”
Dan Yakush has always loved comedy. He used to hit open mics around Glens Falls, testing out stand-up sets and working the crowd solo. But in 2022, something different began taking shape at the Wood Theater, an improv group led by Dale Mattison.
After living in Chicago for a time, Dale returned to the area and started a family, but found himself missing improv. According to Dan, Dale’s thought process quickly went from “Maybe I can teach?” to “Let’s do shows! Let’s start a troupe!”
That group became Pulp City Comedy. It started with two training sessions a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, about fifteen people in each. “That went really well,” Dan says. “We merged into one class, and after that, we decided to start putting on shows.” Their first-ever performance sold out the Wood Theater. “It was awesome.”
Now, three years in, the troupe is a solid team of performers who meet weekly, rehearse, laugh, and get on stage together. “In the beginning, we were all strangers who wanted to try something fun,” Dan says. “Now we’ve got a steady group, and we all look forward to this every week. Everybody’s bonded. We work really well together and support each other, not just in the troupe, but in other things we’re doing, too.”
You can catch them live this summer at two big shows: Thursday, July 17 at 7 PM for Comedy Night with Pulp City Improv at the Strand Theatre in Hudson Falls, and Wednesday, August 7 at 7 PM at the Wood Theater in Glens Falls. Both shows run 90 minutes, and tickets are only ten bucks.
Their performances are built around short-form games, audience suggestions, and quick-thinking teamwork. “It’s similar to the TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway?,” Dan explains. “We do a lot of games and a lot of audience participation, looking for words or suggestions. We’ve started to bring people from the audience up on stage to be part of the scenes. That’s been a lot of fun.”
For The Strand show, the group is trying something new, debuting games they’ve never done in front of a crowd.. “We’re going to try a version of the dating game where three people are given a trait and the person looking for a date has to ask questions and guess what the traits are,” he reveals. “We’ve never done that on stage before. And we’re also doing a spit take, someone comes on stage, fills their mouth with water, and we try to make them laugh. It’s gonna be a mess,” he laughs.
The group performs mostly at The Wood, and for Dan, that space feels like home. “It’s such a unique place,” he says. “It really caters to the arts in this area. Our first show there was phenomenal. We’ve done shows in the main theater and in the smaller cabaret space downstairs. It has this great energy. Emily Murphy, the Executive Director, has been fantastic to work with, too.”
Dan’s favorite memory with the group happened at The Wood Theater, their first ever show, completely sold out. “300 people came out to see us do our thing. That was our very first show, and everyone could’ve frozen. But instead, everyone came together and put on this phenomenal performance. It was amazing.”
They’ve had rough nights, too. “We had one pretty bad show,” he admits. “But even then, we put it out there, did the best we could, and everyone supported each other through it. So it’s knowing that in good times and bad, everyone’s always got each other’s backs.”
That willingness to mess up, and support each other through it, is a big part of what holds the group together. “One of the things I love most is how different we all are,” Dan says. “There’s such a range of ages, backgrounds, and beliefs. But everyone comes together. That’s really cool to me.”
He says that energy carries into their practices, too. “There’s tons of trust-building. That’s one of the foundations of improv. You’re not there for yourself, you’re there for your scene partners. You want to let them shine. Somebody might jump in and save you or throw you a lifeline, and that’s an awesome feeling.”
Outside of the shows, Pulp City also offers improv classes, corporate workshops, and continuing education sessions through SUNY Adirondack. “Dale taught Improv 101 there, and we had this really diverse class of people looking to begin improv,” Dan says. “We’re hoping to put on a new class session at The Wood in the spring.”
And if you’re new to improv, Dan gets it. “Everybody has a different reason for trying it,” he says. “Some people were deep in their careers and wanted to be stronger professionally. It teaches you a lot about how to respond to people: saying ‘yes and,’ not giving no for an answer, being spontaneous.”
Dan still gets nervous before every performance, but it doesn’t stop him. “That’s just how I am,” he says. “But I’m always super excited. It’s a ten-dollar weeknight show and you really can’t do much better than that, you’ll get your money’s worth for sure.”
One last piece of advice?
“Come out,” he says. “It’s a great time. We have a great troupe, people from all different ages and backgrounds, so it’s always interesting and fun to see all those things melt together on stage. Audience participation is huge. The more involved people are, the better the show is.”
And after that night in the crowd? You might just leave wanting to try it yourself.
Strand Theatre tickets for July 17th are available here
Wood Theater tickets for August 7th are available here