Matthew Taylor grew up on the south coast of England in the tiny sailing village of Itchenor. In 1985, he came to America to spend a summer as a sailing instructor. Matthew fell in love with Colorado during his travels and lived in Crested Butte before moving to Denver to focus more fully on performing arts. He is a founding partner of A.C.E. Entertainment, a commercial actor, and author. Matthew has been an active member of the Denver Improv comedy scene for many years.What were some of your first experiences with Improv comedy when you first came to Denver?I first took classes from Todd Lambert in Boulder during the fall of 1990. We formed a troupe out of the classes which was called The Mission and performed several shows in Boulder and around the state. Todd planned a crazy tour in which we were to perform in 49 states in 30 days. Things fell apart a few days before we were to head out and The Mission imploded.
Missing performing, Colleen Collins a former Mission performer and I decided to go to Denver to sign up to do stand up at Comedy Works. On the way down in the car Colleen told me that instead of going to Comedy Works she had signed us up to audition at Comedy Sports (now Impulse Theatre.) We both were hired and I played with them for a couple of years.
Eager to explore new forms a few of us formed the group Reaction Slacks and played regularly in the basement of the West End Tavern in Boulder. Lots of talent with a few egos thrown in made for some fabulous sold-out shows and an incredible short life span.
Out of the wreckage of that group formed Laughing Matters which quickly (this is a whole new story!) merged with Headgames. Headgames performed Fridays and Saturdays for the next eight years in the basement of the West End Tavern which is now sadly a kitchen. Cast members during that period included Linda Klein, Barbara Gehring, Eric Farone, Mike Collins, Dave Dalton, Matt Need, Timothy Brennen, Terri Thompson, Susan Hennessy, Bill Lippincott, Phil Keppel, Roger Dowd, Mark Tuchman to mention just a few.
Did you always have a passion for comedy?I have always loved to laugh so I have always searched out ways to keep laughing.
Sometimes I laugh by watching or listening to comedic groups like Beyond the Fringe or Monty Python, other times it’s just looking at what everyday life throws at me and adding a twist. For me nothing beats the sound and feeling of laughter.
How did you, Barbara Gehring, and Linda Klein form A.C.E?The three of us performed in a group called Headgames. Barbara had just joined when HBO announced auditions at Comedy Works for the Aspen Comedy Festival. Linda contacted the entire cast of Headgames saying we should do something. Linda, Barbara and I were the only ones to show up at the Market coffee shop the morning of the auditions. We decided to call ourselves A.C.E. because of our different nationalities. We did a Cirque du Solie parody which Judy Brown from HBO loved and immediately she asked for our promo packet. We told her it was in the car and rushed to Kinkos and created one. Then she wanted a video tape of our show so we had no choice but to put up our first show at the old Avenue Theatre. This was the fall of 1998.
After a long courting process with Judy we didn’t get invited to HBO’s festival, so we went anyway and formed The Aspen Comedy Fringe Festival of which A.C.E. was the only group to ever be invited. We were proud to win First Place for two years and then earn a surprise upset third place the following year!
Since then A.C.E has performed over fifty unique theatrical productions, filmed a television pilot, appeared at numerous festivals, and company events.
What are some of your experiences with A.C.E that stand out the most for you?
Our friendship and the ease with which we still laugh together stands out for me.
There are so many memories over the years, most of which involves the combination of travelling and cocktails. The first time we were flown somewhere to perform was a thrill even if it was to Holland, Michigan. But Rome, Lisbon and Hawaii were even better. Then there are the magical times we performed something I personally was so proud of like the first A.C.E. In the Raw Show, Oh!, synchronized swimming in the old Tabor Center Fountains, our show Blur, when the three of us existed in one scene but were in three different realms on stage, The Biddies, Trout World and Wild Tree Safari USA where the audience could experience the gentle giants in their natural habitat and even have the opportunity to feed them in the sapling petting zoo.
The list goes on and on. I am so lucky because if we came up with an idea there was never anybody there to say, “No you can’t do that”.
How has improvisation in Denver changed since you first arrived on the scene?
Early on the only place that was consistent was Comedy Sports. Jon and Sue ran an amazing business, which offered performers great training and the opportunity to perform regularly in front of a large audience, not to mention getting paid. Their great strength has always been their strict focus on short-form and their ability to play the games so well.
Chicken Lips with Bob Wells were doing some improv, but they also ran more traditional comedic theatre shows. Both offered limited classes focused mainly on short-form and an introduction to improv.
For me the biggest change in the Denver Improv scene came when Eric Farone started Bovine Metropolis Theatre. Here for the first time there was a true focus on classes and the embracing of long form. Now hundreds of people have devoted a year studying Improv and the standard of play in Denver has naturally elevated. This has in turn caused new groups to form, greater opportunity for performance and more classes creating a strong and exciting Improv community.
You appeared at The Bovine Metropolis Theater in August for a live audio taping of your upcoming book, Tales of an Englishman. What inspired you to write this book?I have lived a colorful life and have always had fun reliving funny events that have happened to me and listening to other people’s tales. It was Linda Klein who first started to encourage me to write mine down.
In 2005 when my mother died I found it very cathartic to write about my time with her and this was probably the first time I put pen to paper. When
Girls Only became such a huge hit it made sense for A.C.E. as a company to focus on the show which naturally meant (with me not performing in the show) that I had a lot more time on my hands. It was common sense to create a second A.C.E. project and to use this time to commit my stories to paper.
Where can someone read some of your stories now?I have a blog and website,
www.MatthewTaylor.com, where several stories are posted and some podcasts as well. I am also teaching a Thursday four week Story Telling workshop at the Bovine during the month of Sept, where I will work with people to help them find the story within them, dust it off and bring it out into the world for all to hear.
Steve has been doing improv comedy since birth (although only his later works have been recognized as such, early works such as 'I did not steal that Care Bears tooth brush from the grocery store' were not as well received). In February of 2007 he joined Rodents of Unusual Size. In September of 2008 he started The Wigs. He has also done guest performances with Monkey's Uncle, Mile Hi-Larity, as well as some improv showcases including GroupMind's Improv Combo Platter and The Avenue's Game Season. Steve also collaborates with Heather Clisby to put on an annual fundraiser Smile Train. 2011 will be their 4th year, and to date (with the generous help of many Denver improv-ers) they have raised enough money for over 20 surgeries.
