[Welcome to Whoop Dee Doo! (with Matt Roche & Jaimie Warren Too)]
[JAIMIE WARREN] Hey everybody, welcome to Whoop Dee Doo!
We're super excited to have you guys here today,
are you excited to be here?
[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]
--Hi, my name is Jaimie,
[Jaimie Warren, Artist]
and I am a co-director of Whoop Dee Doo.
[MATT ROCHE] My name is Matt... [LAUGHS]
[WARREN, LAUGHING] Sorry!
[ROCHE] Sorry.
My name is Matt,
[Matt Roche, Werewolf]
I'm a co-director of Whoop Dee Doo, as well.
--[WARREN] Whoop Dee Doo started back in 2006 in Kansas City, Missouri.
--[ROCHE] It's a fake TV show that we're doing.
--You know, it's this kids' variety show that travels.
[ROCHE] We're excited tonight to present to you some of your favorite local performers.
--[ROCHE] We actually film it, but we don't use the footage for a TV show.
--It's just kind of documented,
--and the cameras are, kind of, props.
--[WARREN] I think it came out of a need, living in a smaller city.
--You sort of make your own entertainment there.
--I was also, in the 80s, exposed to a lot of amazing public access television
--and regular television, like Pee Wee's Playhouse.
--Double Dare, like getting really gross.
--[ROCHE] I was fascinated by weird local stuff.
--Like there was a horror host named Svengoolie.
--I was also really into SCTV and the Marx Brothers.
--[WARREN] Carol Burnett Show. Like, weird variety shows.
--Just over-the-top sets and props and costumes.
[WARREN] So I'm Jaimie, and this is my buddy Matt.
[ROCHE] Hello.
[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]
--[WARREN] The characters, sort of, are extensions of our personalities.
--Like, Matt's this tired, apathetic werewolf.
[BOTH LAUGH]
--It's like an exaggerated version...
--[ROCHE] Just like a...
--Yeah, more depressed version of me or something, on stage.
[WARREN] We are so excited to be Portland, Oregon today!
[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]
--[ROCHE] And Jaimie is usually junk food, and...
--[WARREN] You can say 'annoying,' it's fine.
--[ROCHE] That's you putting words in my mouth that I wasn't even going to say.
[WARREN LAUGHS]
--[ROCHE] That's your own weird thing.
--Upbeat. Keeps things moving. Fun.
--[ROCHE] In the beginning, we had shows that were just marathons,
--like four hours, five hours long and stuff,
--and they would just keep going and going and going.
--I think this last one was probably the most successful
in actually having an arc to it.
[Abrons Art Center, Lower East Side]
[STUDENT] Look at this place!
[Urban Youth Theater Ensemble]
--[WARREN] I want to guarantee you that we're going to make this space unrecognizable.
--We're going to be here night and day, totally changing this space,
and it's going to be amazing.
[STUDENT] We can use that window for something!
[WARREN] I know!
--[WARREN] So, right now, we're working with about sixteen high school students
--from the Urban Youth Theater Ensemble.
--We've been brought in to show them different sides of production,
--like the creation of a set, and lighting,
--and putting the whole order of a show together,
--and coming up with the concepts with them.
[STUDENT] Oh god, mayonnaise!?
--[WARREN] The theme is Spring.
--It's "An Abominable Thawt"
--and "thought" is T-H-A-W-T.
[WARREN] I'm glad you decided to go with the teeth, it looks good. [LAUGHS]
Basically, the show will start off...
It will be Winter, so they'll be, sort of,
frozen, wintery-vibed performances.
And then, about halfway through, in an intermission,
there will be, like, a giant thaw.
So, like, the whole space will change,
and it's really kind of Springy, fun...
Like, really kind of high energy.
Really colorful.
--[MALE STUDENT] Santa on vacation wearing a tank top,
some shorts,
and some flip flops, and he'll just walk out...
[FEMALE STUDENT] With the Christmas hat, too...
[MALE STUDENT] ...with, like, a big bag of presents...
[FEMALE STUDENT] ...because he can't take that off because of his weave...
[MALE STUDENT] Yes! Spring Santa!
--[ROCHE] I thought that sort of the approach that they take in comedy improv
--was really applicable to us.
--All that came out of improv games for kids during the New Deal era,
--it was methods for getting, like, new immigrant kids to come out of their shells.
--[FEMALE STUDENT] You make it look like a tree...
[WARREN] Yes.
[FEMALE STUDENT] ...and like a little hole
so people can go inside and sit in the tree.
[WARREN] That's awesome! Did you hear that?
--[ROCHE] That philosophy where there's always, kind of,
--the agreeing with what someone has done,
--and going forward with it.
--[WARREN] We will have ten days total to totally transform this space.
--We're showing them ways to make stuff that looks cool
--out of materials that you can find for really cheap or for free.
--Our base materials are, like, cardboard, newspaper, and painter's plastic.
--[ROCHE] I loved that stuff, where it looked like it was made in someone's basement.
--[LINDSEY GRIFFITH] What kind of junk food do you want to be?
[Lindsey Griffith, Artist]
[WARREN] Me? [GRIFFITH] Yeah.
[WARREN] I don't know.
I feel like I could be anything, like, just that would be funny.
Like a doughnut,
like, with sprinkles.
[GRIFFITH] ...a soda can,
or one of those fountain cups with a straw coming out.
Yeah, like that.
[WARREN] That's exciting!
--[WARREN] Over the past nine years,
--there have probably been, like,
--a couple of hundred artists who have helped over all of these different shows.
[WARREN] So there's about seven of the students that are going to be backstage...
--[ROCHE] Each individual show, just whoever is involved at that time,
all the details are fleshed out with that group.
--[WARREN] Everybody puts so much into it,
--like, serious blood, sweat, and tears.
--[ROBERT MCLAUGHLIN] Position your tongue up against the roof of you mouth like this, so...
[Robert McLaughlin, Tuvan throat singer]
[BEGINS THROAT SINGING]
[STUDENTS BEGIN THROAT SINGING]
[WARREN] We're thinking of building two trees on either side of the room.
You would be opposite of Joseph,
so you would come up with a sound piece together
[Joseph Keckler, performance artist]
that would be, kind of, the moment that this giant thaw happens,
where Winter turns to Spring.
[SOUND OF MOUTH HARP BEING PLAYED]
--[ROCHE] It used to be more just the performers would come on and perform.
--[WARREN] But, over the years, it's evolved to much more of a collaborative process.
--It can lead to these really, sort of, magical experiences.
[BELL RINGS]
[MAN SINGING]
[MAN TUVAN THROAT SINGING]
[BELL RINGS]
[WARREN, LAUGHING]
It's so good when you're smiling!
[TRADITIONAL JAPANESE FOLK MUSIC BEGINS PLAYING]
[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]
[Japanese Folk Dance Institute of New York]
--[WARREN] Tradition is kind of important with Whoop Dee Doo, too.
--We work with folkloric groups a lot
--because, like, they're keeping these traditional practices--
--in costume, and music, and performances--alive.
[ROCHE] If you guys can turn your attention to the back of the room,
we're going to check in with our friends, the Abominable Snowmen.
[WARREN] Yeah!
[SNOWMAN] Hi guys!
[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]
So I'm going to need a volunteer. Any volunteers?
You're going to put your hand in this filthy, dirty water,
and when you find the key, you win a prize.
--[WARREN] To me, a big goal is just to create really successful and meaningful community art.
--We're just all coming in and having this surreal experience together.
--What Whoop Dee Doo accomplishes
--is everything that I would want to get out of an art experience, for sure.
[WARREN] You're sucking out all their brainpower.
Yeah!
--[WARREN] I've had exhibitions of my own,
--and the feeling of accomplishment pales in comparison.
--[ROCHE] It's the main source in my life for personal growth.
--I get more out of this project than I do out of any job I've ever had,
--or any other project I've worked on.
--So I can't even picture not doing it at this point.
I feel like I would just shut down. [LAUGHS]
--It could possibly be viewed as more practical,
--or something for us to do workshops
--in a way that don't involve us doing this giant, crazy show.
--But, I think, we're not art educators
--We're not teachers.
--For us, this is the most complete experience we could give to those kids.
--We come into their lives and have this really impractical, weird experience,
--and then we leave.
--[WARREN] They can really see in, like, a two-week period
--how they had this idea on day one,
--they worked with us every day,
--and they see this giant, insane idea come to fruition in front of their eyes.
[AUDIENCE APPLAUSE]
[WARREN] Amazing show!
Alright, you guys ready to end the show like we always do?
Alright, let's dance everybody!
--[ROCHE] The fact that we're only doing it the one day makes it that much more important.
--[WARREN] You just kind of crumple it up into a ball the next day,
--and it's like it never happened,
And you're in this room,
and you can't believe that this was where this took place,
--because it was, like, so stressful and beautiful.
--They're all going to have this bizarre memory.
--It'll be, like, twenty years from now where they'll be, like,
--"What was that?"
--And it'll, like, mess with them.
--I don't know. I have some of those, too,
--and I feel like those are important memories to have.
--[ROCHE] Yeah, for sure.
--It's strange to have such an intense experience
--and then, just, it's over.