LOL WITH IT: Chatting up Chikara referee Bryce Remsburg

In the world of Chikara, anything can happen: Time can freeze. Dudes can use magic to hypnotize their foe. It's like Harry Potter with hurricanranas.

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LOL WITH IT: Chatting up Chikara referee Bryce Remsburg

POSTED: Friday, June 1, 2012, 3:00 PM

Filed Under: Comedy LOL With It

Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.

It's no surprise many Philly comedy fans are also fans of independent pro-wrestling. One such local promotion is known for blurring the line between sports-entertainment and comedy with post-vaudevillian characters and a flair for over-the-top theatrical silliness that earned it an international fan base. In the world of Chikara, anything can happen: Time can freeze. Dudes can use magic to hypnotize their foe. It's like Harry Potter with hurricanranas. The spirited family-friendly outfit picked up a bit where Extreme Championship Wrestling left off, but traded in the violence and vulgarity for whimsical costumes, rosters full of both humans and insectoids, and high-flying action that tributes both Mexican "lucha libre" and Japanese wrestling traditions.

Depending on your point-of-view, you can say that Chikara's charm is that it doesn't take itself too seriously — or you could say it takes itself SO SERIOUSLY that their commitment to any schtick or crazy storyline makes a spectator feel like an eleven-year-old kid again. Either way, Chikara is the pro-wrestling equivalent of a live-action comic book unfolding before your eyes — there's even a Chikara web comic that builds the mythology and back-stories of various Chikara characters.

As we told you in this week’s Agenda, you can check out their Internet pay-per-view Chikarasaurus Rex: How To Hatch a Dinosaur tomorrow at the Troc. In the meantime, enjoy my chat with Chikara's senior official Bryce Remsburg, who LOL readers may recognize as a founding, balding member of Philly sketch-comedy group Secret Pants.

City Paper: How did you get involved with Chikara?

Bryce Remsburg: I was a chubby high-school kid that really loved wrestling, and I used to watch independent wrestling like some kids listened to punk rock. Two guys I used to watch wrestle at these little armories and VFWs in central Pennsylvania were named Restless Youth and Mike Quackenbush. They opened a school in Allentown called the Chikara wrestle factory. I went to this open house and it was awesome. I thought, "These guys are great! They know all these nerdy references like me and they can quote Billy Madison like me." So I lost 30 pounds, started training and I've been refereeing for ten years now.

CP: What are you most looking forward to about Chikarasaurus Rex?

BR: We treat iPPV's like Wrestlemania and Summer Slam. Every match on Saturday means something. That's what a lot of my wrestling youth was built upon. Hulk Hogan wrestled Ultimate Warrior because they both wanted to be the champion. Macho Man wrestled Ultimate Warrior because they hated each other. There's a certain amount of pressure … for a sophomore jinx on Saturday. But everybody will have their game-face on. On a DVD, if someone slips up and falls on their face, it can be edited out. But this is live. For myself, as a referee and commentator, my biggest thrill from [the last event] was knowing that people were hearing my voice all over the world, instantly. I was getting tweets and texts during the show from people watching at home. It's crazy.

CP: Tell me about the main event.

BR: The championship match is the Young Bucks, brothers from California who are widely regarded as one of the finest tag teams in the world. They wrestled in TNA as Generation Me. They are taking on the current champions Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano. All four of them are really in the prime of their careers — and a couple of them are quite handsome! You gotta put them on last, to keep everybody hooked!

CP: I find the funniest character to be Archibald Peck. What can you tell me about him?

BR: Archibald Peck has been one of my favorite Chikara characters since he debuted as a bandleader. He's a ridiculously intelligent fellow, very well spoken. He doesn't look or act like a prototypical pro-wrestler. So in an effort to appear more macho and win the heart of [his love interest] Veronica, he's undergone a personality transformation, and is now known as Mixed Martial Archie. This is a very unsubtle mockery of the world of MMA and UFC. He has some fun sponsors and T-shirts, he loves to call everyone bro. There's a promo coming out today where he and his tag-team partner Colt Cabana get each other hyped for their match. There's an odd dichotomy to their partnership. They've taken to calling themselves "Team Tap-OutBack Steakhouse." The fans have more appropriately named them "Team Jew-Jitsu,” because Colt Cabana spins the dreidel from time to time.

CP: There seems to be a cult following for Ultramantis Black?

BR: The fans have taken to calling Ultramantis the “Tommy Dreamer” of Chikara. He's popular, people love him but he never seems to win the big one. He's our cult-classic; there's a pocket of crazy fanatics everywhere we go. We were in Detroit one time and this girl was just shaking to be in his presence. It's crazy the effect he has on some of our fans. He's in a battle for "Who's the most devious man in Chikara" with Ophidian, who turned rudo [bad-guy] at “High Noon.” They're in a bit of a war. Even though Ultramantis might be on the fans' side of the fence, he's not out there overtly giving high fives and kissing babies. He does his own thing and has his own agenda. He's sort of an enigma.

CP: Where's the farthest you guys have traveled?

BR: The farthest is probably Chicago. We've had two successful shows there, and we're going back this year. We're going to Milwaukee later in the year. We're also going to Alabama. I'm not sure why. But it's really fun to go to these places and find fans that know all the storylines and can yell all the catch phrases. It really speaks to the power of the Internet, you know? Tape trading was big back in the day in punk music, and then in the ’80s and ’90s there was a big underground VHS trading in wrestling. Now it's all DVDs, mp4s, live streaming, our YouTube channel.

CP: Tell me about crowd participation in Chikara?

BR: There's a popular chant in the wrestling world when something crazy happens. Chikara is very TV-PG, so our fans chant "Holy Poop!” instead of [the other one]. Once in a while a move happens and someone needs a hand, and he'll reach out past the ring apron to someone in the front row and grab his hand [in order to add additional leverage to a submission hold]. At intermission we sometimes have good guys come out and take pictures with kids in the audience, and we'll put the photos on our website. Before the main events, we let the fans come drum-roll on the side of the ring. We're really trying to attack all senses. From the moment you get out of your car to the moment you get back in your car, something is engaging you.

For tickets or to order the streaming iPPV, visit chikarapro.com. You can also see Bryce and the guys at tomorrow’s Wizard World Comic Con event at the Convention Center.

Have a comedy event you'd like featured in an upcoming LOL WITH IT? Email the author at ryan.carey@citypaper.net or tweet him @slackerDIYtoday.

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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