Matt Besser is scared.
The writer/performer/director and founding member of the Upright Citizens Brigade, a wacky improvisational comedy troupe, begins a ten-city tour on Wednesday to promote his new film, “Freak Dance,” starring Amy Poehler. The mini-tour, which includes a movie screening and Q&A, kicks off at the historic Plaza Theatre and he’s not so jazzed about traveling.
It’s not Atlanta in particular that has him, er, freaked out. Besser, 44, was born well below the Mason-Dixon Line and maintains fond memories of vacationing in Atlanta with his family.
“I’m not so thrilled about driving from city to city, but I like Atlanta,” Besser said by phone. “There’s a lot I remember about my time there, like going to The World of Sid & Marty Krofft.”
The futuristic theme park, housed in what is now CNN Center, was the world’s first indoor amusement park and closed less than a year after its grand opening in 1976. Besser thinks it was that early interaction with the H.R. Pufnstuf characters there that led him to comedy in the first place.
“These were real characters I’d seen on television walking up to me. I could talk to them, smell them. It was a big deal for a kid my age,” Besser recalled. “I also remember eating a lot of mussels at some famous seafood restaurant.”
“Freak Dance” is a parody of almost every musical comedy ever made, good and bad, according to Besser. It’s the story of Cocolonia, a spoiled rich girl whose one desire is to dance and joins up with a group of local street hoofers. That’s when “West Side Story” meets “Thriller,” or something like that.
“Think of every bad dance movie you’ve ever seen and mix that with the two good ones and that is what you can expect from the movie,” said Besser.
Agoraphobia be damned, Besser is excited that the event is at the Plaza Theatre, an Atlanta landmark that seems to teeter on extinction month after month.
“I think it’s important to support a city’s treasures and that’s what I like about being from Arkansas. There’s a lot of respect for the heritage there,” he added. “I’m glad that Atlanta feels that way about the Plaza.”
See the movie, stay for the question and answer session and ask Besser about what he picked up at Stuckey’s.
Premiere and Q&A
9:30 p.m. – 11:30 p.m. May 9. $12. The Plaza Theatre, 1049 Ponce De Leon Avenue, Atlanta. 404-873-1939, www.plazaatlanta.com.
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