A&E

Improv to podcasts, Matt Donnelly and Paul Mattingly turn their differences to comedy gold

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Matt and Mattingly’s Ice Cream Social brings improv to podcasting.
Photo: Steve Marcus
Jacob Coakley

Since time immemorial, jocks and nerds haven’t gotten along—until the sweet siren of comedy paired improv artists Matt Donnelly and Paul Mattingly.

“Paul would never drink beer and watch the game, and that’s my favorite thing to do,” says Donnelly, sipping on a drink at the Beat Coffeehouse and shaking his head at Mattingly’s T-shirt depicting the heroes of DC’s Justice League of America. “And I would never want to spend a night sitting at home playing video games or reading comic books—and that’s Paul’s idea of a Saturday night.”

After six years of working together on various comedy and improv gigs around town with a rotating cast of players, they decided it would be a lot easier to schedule (and much more entertaining) if they made an improv show that demanded a full cast—but only used the two of them. The Bucket Show was born, and while it’s on a short hiatus as Donnelly welcomes child No. 2, the show has led to other projects for the duo, including cruise-ship bookings, popular bi-weekly podcast Matt and Mattingly’s Ice Cream Social, and a writing gig for Donnelly on Penn & Teller’s show Fool Us. None of it would be possible without the friction and sparks generated by their differences.

“We come from two different schools of improv. I studied with Second City and he studied with Upright Citizen’s Brigade,” Mattingly says. Second City places a premium on bold characters, while the UCB focuses on tormenting characters. “He’ll do things that I will never do, and I’ll do things that he’ll never do. And it works.”

It’s a dynamic that also works for their podcast. While The Bucket Show can focus on games and the absurdity of invented characters, the podcast lets them mine their personal details for laughs—like when they both discovered their wives tried (and hated) the Blue Apron food delivery service.

“We all know shredded cheese exists—why are you making my wife shred her own cheese?” asks Donnelly, and Mattingly jumps in.

“Some people find prepping food adventurous. It’s frightening that it’s an adventure now.”

“What’s the next step? Making your own cheese? So like, oh, I’ve got this week’s meals, I have to open my monger kit and begin this cheese aging.”

“Just a couple more weeks now, guys, couple more weeks.”

“In the meantime I’ll eat my own hand,” adds Donnelly, finishing the bit. Then before I can finish laughing he and Mattingly head for the door, off to keep the momentum—and laughs—going

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