Monique Moses and Shawtane Bowen are the host and guest of this week’s episode of the UCB Long-Form Conversations Podcast. (Check out their fun, thoughtful conversation here.) Monique and Shawtane are teammates on UCBTNY’s Astronomy Club, who perform on the second Monday of every month in their show Let’s Talk About Race, Baby! at the UCB East Village Theatre.

Astronomy Club started as a Lloyd team in the spring of 2014, becoming only the second group to ever audition, get called back, and be placed on Lloyd Night as a self-formed team. From there, they’ve gone on to do improv and sketch in both New York and Los Angeles with shows like their hit A Journey Through Black History.

We sat down in the green room with some of the members of Astronomy Club before their most recent performance. Shawtane Bowen, Jonathan Braylock, Ray Cordova, Caroline Martin, Monique Moses, and James III chatted about the team’s origins, their unique role as the first all-black improv team at UCB and the pressures and responsibilities that came along with that title, an exciting new project they have coming up, and much more. Here’s an edited transcript of our conversation.



Let’s start with some background - where did all of this get started? What are the origins of Astronomy Club?

James III: I wanted to do an audition with people that were all black. So I talked to Keisha Zollar, who’s not here, and Shawtane [Bowen] and Ray [Cordova] very early on and then we all met.

Ray Cordova: At the first ever Astronomy Club meeting, there were like eleven people, something like that? Nine?

Monique Moses: And we brought on people. It was kinda like, “Oh I know this person that’s really dope, we should ask them too.”

James: And we loved each other from then on.

How has the improv component of your team affected how you approach sketch and vice versa?

James: I don’t know that it has directly affected it. We haven’t done anything where we’ve improvised something and then that has inspired any sketches.

Monique: A lot of the team comes from a theatre background, like trained actors, and then a lot of the team have been on Maude and sketch-related things in the past so I think it’s just a natural progression.

Ray: I know, definitely, the chemistry we developed in improv transitioned over to screen and stage when we started to do sketches. We already had a kind of rhythm going that improv kind of builds up.



Shawtane Bowen: For example, we wanted to do something for Black History Month. That was the impetus. It was like, let’s do a show. We ended up doing an hour sketch show and then people at the theatre saw it and said they’d love to have it in a 30-minute format. And we spent countless hours—



Monique: —yelling at each other.

Ray: Fighting. Hardcore.

Shawtane: Fighting, throwing shit. Until we came up with Journey Through Black History. Which is a #1 show.

Monique: Which is the #1 show on FOX.

Monique had mentioned on the podcast that you guys have “stuff in the works with Comedy Central.” Can you speak to that to any extent?

Jonathan Braylock: We’re going to do three sketches on their digital platform. We’ll be filming those in June and hopefully they’ll come out relatively soon, probably end of the summer. Some of them are sketches that we’ve done live that we’re transposing into screen and then there’s one that’s brand new that we’re really excited to do.

Shawtane: And we’re working with a great director.

Ray: Steven Spielberg, you may have heard of him?

Shawtane: Stephen…Sondheim.

Jonathan: But yeah. We’re currently in the pre-production phase of it.

You were the first all-black improv team ever at UCB. How has the significance of that label influenced your group identity and your group voice?

Caroline Martin: That’s a great question. I feel like our thoughts on that have also evolved over time. Because I remember towards the beginning we very much so owned that, and then to some degree shied away from it. Especially if we got a suggestion on Lloyd night that felt racially charged, it was like, we just want to come here and do good improv. But at the same time, I feel like we all can do things on this team that we can’t always do on other teams, as far as comedy about our identity. If we want to work on stereotypes and find parody in that way, there might be a scene where the unusual character or the straight person needs to be racist or to say something vulgar or bigoted and you don’t want to label that or force that upon maybe a white teammate because they’re like, “I understand that this is part of the comedy, but I just I don’t know…” But on this team I feel like there’s great comfort in being able to attempt that. And it’s also quite cathartic. I think that that’s where this show, Let’s Talk About Race, Baby!, comes from. Because talking about race is something that’s a part of our every day, all the time, cannot be hid, and so it’s just fun to do that improv with improvisers who have the same understanding.

Jonathan: I’d also add that, for me, and maybe other people felt this way, early on I definitely felt the pressure of wanting to perform well. And it wasn’t anything that was directly said to us, but there was that kind of air of like, well, we’re the first all-black team, so if we’re not good then we’ve let down a community of people who aren’t necessarily as well-represented—in the world in general—but specifically here in the improv world and scene. There’s also the affirmative action kind of thought, like, “Oh, they only got on because it’s like a novelty.” Instead of actually deserving to be on the stage. So I know there was that added pressure. And then the added pressure of not wanting to be too racial. There’s a responsibility to call things out, to do the things that other teams can’t do, but we also didn’t want to use race as the only way we’d mine comedy.

What advice do you have for someone who feels like they’re underrepresented at UCB or in an improv community in general?

Caroline: I would say don’t take shit. I feel like when I was coming up in classes, teachers weren’t as self-aware or class-aware of microaggressions and those uncomfortable moments, and, for instance, I would get labeled a stereotypical black name before I’d even said anything. And when that happens, I think an improviser has the choice to kind of pull back and get mad, or say, “Okay, so you called me Shaniqua, but in my mind, Shaniqua can still be a bear who wants to fly to the moon.” I still have control of that scene, and then after I can talk to the teacher or I can talk to that improviser if it happens onstage in a different realm. I just feel like it took a long time for me to really, truly be comfortable with knowing that I had some kind of control.

Ray: I also think, just get out there and meet people.

Caroline: Find your tribe!

Ray: Yeah, find your tribe, whatever that means to you. Go out there and make friends. Know that you’re not by yourself. There’s so many groups now, too—when I first started, there wasn’t a diversity program. We have so many options now where we can meet people who are different and stuff like that.

Shawtane: And work really hard to be the best that you can be. I’m very much about being excellent.



Jonathan: Being undeniable.

Shawtane: Yeah, being undeniable. Giving respect to those groups that came before us, like Doppelganger, Nobody’s Token, performers like Natasha Rothwell.

Monique: Shaun Diston.

Shawtane: Shaun Diston. Corey Brown. I would see these black and POC performers that would oftentimes be on teams as the sole person of color. You know, it’d be them and seven white people. And they would just rock out. And it wasn’t flashy or anything, they just got good.

Monique: Phil Jackson.

Shawtane: Phil Jackson. They just…they weren’t deterred, they worked really hard, they put in the time, they did the reps. They just put in that work. They weren’t going to be denied. And there’s something to be said for that too.

Ray: Just to go back on another note, don’t wait for people to approach you or come to you. I waited way too long to get into a practice group. If you want to start practicing with people, just go out there, put yourself out there, be proactive. Don’t wait for someone to invite you to things. Go out there and you set it up.

Shawtane: And reach out to people. We’re around. You see us. We’re cool, fun people. You can talk to us. You’re not alone.

What do you like about improvising with Astronomy Club?

James: It’s the most comfortable I ever feel improvising with any group of people. It just really feels like home and like family. I feel the freest.

Monique: References. I can put out a reference and most people will get it.

Caroline: I usually don’t. I usually don’t get it.

Monique: But she’s so good that you’d never know.

Jonathan: I definitely like that we’re able to go places that we definitely couldn’t go without each other. That’s something I personally never experienced until this group. It’s opened up this whole door of things that I never got to improvise about but I wanted to.

Ray: When I first started at UCB, I told myself, I’m not going to play stereotypes, I’m not going to use the n-word, and then when Astronomy Club came along, it was like, oh, I feel comfortable to do and say whatever I feel like at any given moment. That freedom is what I love most about playing with Astronomy Club.

Caroline: I really like that we can do racial content because that’s something that I’m so interested in. Even though I’m always happy to improvise and love comedy, I just feel like when we’re talking about race I’m really listening. I’m foaming from the mouth, like, “We’re doing something truthful and interesting!” and it just feels more important to me and a higher amount of responsibility, which is exciting. But then also the pendulum will go to the other end and it’s just real dumb fun.

If Astronomy Club were a movie, what would be the tagline?



Jonathan: “Get ready, ‘cause it’s about to get black.”

Ray: Oh boy.

James: It’s about to get black?

Ray: ‘Cause it wasn’t before then.

Shawtane: “Astronomy Club: Because space is black and we’re all stars.”

Monique: I love that!

Jonathan: Oh that’s pretty good.

Caroline: I like that.

Monique: Also, “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

James: And, “Welcome to Jurassic Park.”

Ray: And also, “This time it’s personal.”

Jonathan: “A long time ago in a galaxy far far away.”

James: So, all of those.

Astronomy Club is Shawtane Bowen, Jonathan Braylock, Ray Cordova, Caroline Martin, Jerah Milligan, Monique Moses, James III & Keisha Zollar. You can follow them on Facebook and catch them monthly at the UCB East Village Theatre. Be sure to check out the UCB Long-Form Conversations Podcast on Twitter, Facebook, and iTunes.