NYU alumni Ilana and Eliot Glazer perform at Chelsea’s Upright Citizen Brigade Theatre every month.
How will you spend your Thanksgiving break?
Comedy duo Ilana and Eliot Glazer, both siblings and NYU grads, celebrated the two-year run of their show at Chelsea's Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre this past November.
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The Glazers write and produce "High School Talent Show," which runs once a month at UCB. The mock talent show consists of seven to nine acts, including sketches, improvisation and musical performances.
"Nothing we do is cringe-worthy," Eliot said. "If it gets uncomfortable, it's in good humor."
Ilana, 22, envisioned the show after she danced "like a gymnast" to the Queen song "Don't Stop Me Now" in front of her brother and their friends. She said everyone asked if she choreographed the dance. She hadn't, but their questions inspired her to create a show about a show. They didn't expect the show to run for two years.
"We started thinking that we'd get a couple of months out of it," Eliot said.
Eliot, 26, said the acts in "High School Talent Show" portray teenage desire for attention.
"We both can key into the grossness of high school," he said.
Ilana added: "All the characters want to be liked so badly and are so lame."
Eliot and Ilana host the show in character. Eliot plays a young teacher who wears a yin-yang necklace, wants to be loved by girls and worshipped by guys. Ilana plays an Italian-Jewish art teacher who wears bangles and prints.
The siblings studied comedy while attending NYU. Eliot, who graduated in 2005, interned at "Saturday Night Live" and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." He also wrote sketch comedy and took production and comedy classes at the Tisch School of the Arts. He said his NYU classes invigorated him.
As a child, Ilana watched stand-up comedy and listened to recordings of Ellen DeGeneres, Bill Cosby and Jerry Seinfeld. She said Eliot introduced her to alternative comedy, such as the comedy group Stella, comprising of Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter and David Wain. Ilana said she applied to NYU intending to meet the three-man group.
The siblings, who grew up in St. James, Long Island, now live 10 blocks away from each other in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Ilana works as a waitress at Steamers Landing in Battery Park City. Eliot writes for the AOL blog Urlesque and recently started a blog called "My Parents Were Awesome," which landed him interviews on Fox News and NPR. The site features photographs of parents and grandparents.
Ilana and Eliot plan to continue performing "High School Talent Show," and Eliot said they are grateful for their experience at UCB.
"Two years later, we're proud of making smart choices," he said.
