BCAF Spotlight: North Coast

This year's Boston Comedy Arts Festival is fast approaching, and we can't contain our excitement anymore. From September 10-14, the BCAF brings some of the brightest stars in the improv, sketch and standup galaxies to stages all over Cambridge, MA, and we're going to feature some of our favorites every day leading up to the festival.

When it comes to high energy, improvised brilliance, there's no better first stop than North Coast. They're New York's premier hip hop improv troupe and have been performing, teaching, and blending music and comedy all over the country since 2009. From one audience suggestion, the company weaves an entire hip h'opera before your very eyes, making every North Coast show a unique, hilarious musical experience.

We got to catch up with troupe member Evan Kaufman recently and talk all things comedy, hip-hop and The Killers lyrics.

How did you originally get into comedy?
Everyone on North Coast started off as a child with something to hide. Comedy started as defense mechanism against the world. Now, it's what defines us. Also, probably like... SNL.

What is your favorite or strangest moment on stage?
Our best moment onstage in recent memory would be at The Magnet theater in New York City. We were in an improv competition INSPIRADO in which we had to pull someone off the street to perform with us. What we got was MARTY, a mid-70s man who was drinking a Diet Dr. Pepper. Marty did 30 minutes of hip hop improv with us in which he played Karl Marx and dispensed a lot of wisdom about women. Marty is the funniest person we've ever had in the group.

If you could collaborate with anyone living or dead, who would it be?
Living people: Three best rappers alive: Del the Funky Homosapian, Kendrick Lamar, Wayne Brady.
Dead People: Three best dead rappers: Biggie, Tupac, Homer* (*The poet. Epic rhymes.)

Who are your top three picks of acts to see at the festival?
All of our members are in other shows as well, so we'll be biased: Gypsy Danger, Pop Roulette and the stand up stylings of Boris Khaykin.

Are we human? Are we dancer?
We are dancer. We are all dancer.

You can catch North Coast at BCAF on Friday, September 12 at 10PM in the Brattle Theater! Read more about them and buy tickets here.
Wanna make your own hip h'opera? Take the North Coast workshop on Saturday, September 13 from 2-4PM. Register here.

Stay tuned for more exclusive interviews with performers in this year's Boston Comedy Arts Festival!