"Say I'm your Mama! Call me your Mama!" Amy Poehler screams, as she waves a stick at Matt Besser's face. But there's poo on the end of the stick. Dog poo. And this is their job. Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh are the four members of the Upright Citizens Brigade, an underground organization with unlimited resources and no government ties. They monitor and manipulate the world by way of a global network of surveillance cameras.

The now defunct Comedy Central series has just released a DVD of the complete first season, plus bonus footage. On it, you can find gut-wrenching sketches including "The Bucket of Truth", "Poo Stick" and "The Little Donny Foundation," which revolves around a child who has a humongous penis but is unaware of it. Think Saturday Night Live on acid.

We met up with two of the four members of the UCB, Amy Poehler and Matt Walsh. Matt Besser was cool enough to join us by way of speaker phone from L.A. Brad and Jen even made a surprise visit.

I understand that the UCB has been around since the early '90s and has included a roster of members including Adam McKay and Horatio Sans. How did the group get to be just you four?

Amy: We had time trials, wrestling contests. We did very extensive personality searches.

Matt W: Yeah, UCB is a reality show, and it's pre-date Survivor. We were cast by the same people who cast Survivor, Mark Burnett.

Matt B: I can't really hear you, but yeah, it was Mark Burnett.

Matt W: Mark Burnett cast the UCB as a trial to see who would quit the island or who would quit the group. So far, nobody's quit. So it's that interesting.

Sounds like it. So tell me a bit about your relationship with each other.

Amy: We've just known each other for a million years.

Matt W: That's bullshit! Exactly.

Amy: We've just been working together for a long time.

Matt B: Mark Burnett.

Matt W: That's right, Besser. Mark Burnett. But it's not really a relationship, it's a competition.

So how did you guys come up with your wacky ideas?

Amy: Back when we did the show, some people would write stuff, but we would also take stuff from improv. The first season on the DVD is mostly from stuff we used to do on stage. Material we'd tried out live, and as the seasons went on, it was stuff we would write for the show. A lot of it was tried and true scenes we'd been doing for a few years.

Matt B: We took a lot of ideas from Law and Order. And they take a lot of their ideas from reality, so you can say a lot of our scenes are based on reality.

Matt W: We're one step away from reality. Also Special Victims Unit. SVU.

What are your favorite sketches on the DVD?

Amy: "Ass Penny," which is on the DVD.

Matt W: "Lady of the Lake" is funny.

Matt B: I like "Drunken Dragon."

Matt W: That's a good one, it's hidden. We have two hidden sketches. One was "Drunken Dragon," and the other is "Drunken Master Dragon."

Amy: If you watch the DVD, there'd be a point where you'd find a hidden scene.

You guys play a wide variety of characters. Who's the toughest character you've had to play?

Amy: I'm going to answer for Besser. I think the toughest character Besser had to play was himself. Deal with that. We all played a bunch of different characters, and the cool thing about the DVD is, when you see it, everybody's playing men and women. That's a great part of the show.

Did Comedy Central censor any of your ideas?

Matt W: Yeah, one of them is on the DVD, "Highland Epoxy." They didn't want us to air that.

Amy: It was a fake anti-drug commercial. They also had a problem with how well our show came out. They're really jealous.

Matt W: We originally wrote South Park. They didn't want us to air it.

Matt B: It wasn't a cartoon, but it was all the same characters.

Amy: It was a drama.

Matt W: Same characters, same names. We played it more dramatically, more realistically.

Matt B: It was called North Park, and they stole the whole idea and changed it to South.

Matt W: They didn't want us to air it, so that sketch is in a vault somewhere in Viacom Networks.

So you guys really have to think on your feet. Have you ever choked on stage? While doing ASSSCAT or other improv?

Matt B: To answer for myself, I have never choked it.

Matt W: We actually did improv at the Kennedy Center and there was one where someone gave us a suggestion of Jonathan Winters, and we stood silently for 18 minutes. We didn't know what to do because he's so funny.

I don't think I could do something like that.

Amy: Don't worry, we won't make you.

Thanks. So what have you guys been doing lately? Any new projects?

Matt W: I had a huge part in Elf. Huge part.

Matt B: Capturing the Friedmans.

Matt W: You were at birthday party number two, with the clown?

Matt B: Yeah.

Matt W: There's a clown scene, the clown is a suspected pedophile. Besser does a scene with him, as a young boy.

Matt B: It's a documentary.

Amy: I'm still doing Saturday Night Live. And I just got married.

How has being a part of the UCB help you get to where you are today?

Amy: I would say the show helped us with our theatre. It helped us get our theatre started.

Matt W: I'm better at highlighting scripts. Yeah, I would say that I'm much tidier with my highlighter.

Amy: We've all been slowly embezzling money from each other for years. So technically, in an indirect way, Walsh has let me buy my apartment.

Matt W: Yes, that's a sweet place, thanks to UCB.

I guess we'd better wrap up. Do you have anything you want to add?

Amy: Besser, do you have any last comments?

Matt B: Is this Tina Fey?

Matt W: Oh my God Besser, no. You thought this was Tina Fey?

Matt B: Oh.

Matt B: I thought it was one of those kind of interviews.

Matt W: Like from Interview Magazine?

Matt B: Exactly.

This is Uproar Magazine. Not quite there yet. But you can check it out at uproarmagazine.com in January.

Matt B: And they can get our DVD at uprightcitizens.org.

Amy: We like places that have "up" in it.

Matt W: Uproar, upright.

Amy: We like names that start with "up." It's very positive.

Matt B: Hey, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston are over, so I'm going to go hop back in the pool.

Amy: Okay.

Matt W: Tell Brad and Jen I said hey. I wrote him a script, ask him if he got my script.

Matt B: Brad! I'll wait until he gets out of the pool.

Amy: Put him on the phone for a second.

Matt B: Just a sec.

Brad: Hello?*

Amy: Hey Brad!

Brad: Hey guys.

Amy: Walsh wrote you a script, did you get it?

Brad: Yeah, I got it. I wanna do it.

Matt W: Awesome. It's Spy Vs. Spy, just like in the magazine. Mad Magazine.

Brad: Yeah.

Matt W: Who do you want the other spy to be?

Brad: I guess a black guy.

Matt W: Awesome. Do you want a professional athlete?

Brad: Let me get Jennifer on the phone.

Jennifer: Hello?

Amy: Hey Jennifer!

Matt W: Hey Jenny!

Jennifer: Howard Stern?

Amy: No, this isn't Howard Stern. I'm looking forward to working with you in a couple of weeks. You're going to host the show.

Jennifer: Oh really?

Amy: Yeah, you don't know that?

Jennifer: Yeah, I know, I know. Amy, I love you!

Amy: Thanks.

Matt W: Are you high, Jennifer?

Jennifer: Maybe a little, hee hee!

Amy: Well, go hang out with Besser in the pool.

Jennifer: Okay, see you guys!

Matt W: We love you, Jennifer!

Amy: So that's the kind of shit we deal with everyday.

Matt W: I feel bad interrupting him, he had such famous guests.

Amy: I know. Besser, are you there? ... I guess he hung up.

*Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston were not actually at Matt Besser's L.A. home. The conversation consisted of Besser pretending to be the Hollywood couple.

www.uprightcitizens.org

- Tina Smithers