About
MISSION TO ZYXX is created and performed by improvisers who met at the UPRIGHT CITIZENS BRIGADE THEATRE in New York City: JEREMY BENT, ALDEN FORD, ALLIE KOKESH, SETH LIND, WINSTON NOEL, and MOUJAN ZOLFAGHARI. With recording, sound design and mix by SHANE O'CONNELL.
Each episode features a special guest comedian who plays an inhabitant of the Zyxx Quadrant unlucky enough to encounter our crew. Episodes are fully improvised, then lovingly edited and sound designed.
Season 1 premiered on September 6, 2017 and ended January 3, 2018. Season 2 premiered on May 30, 2018 and ended October 10, 2018. Seasons 1 and 2 were distributed by Audioboom. Season 3 premiered on March 20, 2019 on the Maximum Fun podcast network, and ended on August 14th, 2019. Season 4 premiered on February 19, 2020 and ended on October 18, 2020. Season 5 - the final season! - premiered on April 28, 2021. The series finale aired on September 23, 2022. The show was funded primarily by members of Maximum Fun.
Episodes edited by Seth Lind, Alden Ford and Jeremy Bent
Music by Brendan Butler Ryan and performed by FAMES Macedonian Symphonic Orchestra
Ship design for The Bargarean Jade by Eric Geusz
Intro narration by Jeremy Crutchley
Recorded at Braund Studios, Robert Doggy Jr.’s Puppy Palace in Brooklyn, and, after March 2020, remotely from our homes.
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Mission to Zyxx
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Cast & Crew
AMBASSADOR PLECK DECKSETTER - the Federated Alliance's newest recruit - is a young farm boy from the distant agricultural planet of Rangus VI. He's a naive misfit who didn't fit in in at home but doesn't know enough about the rest of the galaxy to actually merit getting this job. He's unflappably gung-ho and always the first to say yes to anything, even if he has no plan.
Played by ALDEN FORD
Alden is a director, writer and performer who directs TV and branded content, as well as sketches for IFC, comedycentral.com and the UCB animation team VEX VIDEO. He co-hosts the weekly comedy variety hour Gentrify at UCB in the East Village, and is the voice director for Nickelodeon’s WallyKazam!
C-53 PROTOCOL AND DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS DROID is assigned to the crew by the Federated Alliance as a data recorder, translator and general know-it-all. C-53 has extensive knowledge of galactic customs, religions, rituals and governmental structures, which is invaluable in dealing with new lifeforms. C-53 has held many jobs over the years, but the memories of his previous lives are inaccessible to C-53, as the Alliance has fitted him with a Restraining Bolt.
Played by JEREMY BENT
Jeremy performs every week on the UCB team Bucky, and monthly with Thank You, Robot - the longest running independent improv team in New York City. He is an in-demand performer for videos by Above Average, CollegeHumor and UCBComedy, and voices commercials and animation.
DAR is the ship's security officer. An enormous alien covered in furry scales, Dar was previously a smuggler before being caught by the Alliance and given an ultimatum. Dar is aggressively strong, though always seems to have an excuse not to actually protect the crew. Whether Dar’s species is non-gender binary or it’s just how they identify is unknown, but that’s really none of your business either way. Dar possesses multifaceted genitalia that allows them to have sex with pretty much anyone or anything.
Played by ALLIE KOKESH
Allie writes for UCB sketch shows Maude Night and Night Late, and has performed with UCB Lloyd Teams Spooky Ghost, City Mouse, First Lady and Big Revival. She’s appeared in numerous commercials and video sketches and is currently writing for Netflix’s The Good Cop.
THE BARGAREAN JADE, a.k.a BARGIE is the AI-equipped spaceship the crew calls home. Back in the day, she was an A-List holofilm actress with a list of credits a mile long. Now she’s a weathered has-been who blew all her Kroons on the now-outdated furniture on her bridge, so she took this dumb job. Bargie has a distinctly negative outlook on life, a LOT of exes, and looooves to gossip.
Played by MOUJAN ZOLFAGHARI
Moujan has appeared on At Home With Amy Sedaris, Last Week Tonight, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Clara's Ghost, The Tonight Show, Onion News Network and more. She is also a TV writer with credits on The Detour, Human Kind Of, an upcoming sketch show on Comedy Central, and a thousand other projects.
JUNIOR MISSIONS OPERATIONS MANAGER NERMUT BUNDALOY is the crew’s overbearing, insecure superior officer. Nermut treats the crew like a proud coach treats their players and approaches pointless administrative tasks like they have huge weight. He thinks Zyxx is a totally exciting place to have a mission, despite its reputation as “the ass end of space.” 19 inches tall. Is terrified of Dar. Maybe in love with Dar. Dar can tell.
Played by SETH LIND
Seth is Director of Operations at the podcasts This American Life, Serial and S-Town. He created and hosted the podcast festival Cast Party, beamed live into 600 movie theaters. Seth performs comedy with Thank You, Robot, hosted the live storytelling show Told, and has written for The New Yorker’s Shouts and Murmurs.
CLONE LIGHT INFANTRY NOMADIC TROOPERS (C.L.I.N.T.s) are clone soldiers that enforce the laws of the Federated Alliance. They are all business at first, but scratch the surface and they are catty and petty. Each CLINT hates every other CLINT and is always shit-talking the rest of them, never quite grasping that they are all exact clones.
Played by WINSTON NOEL
Winston is a veteran improviser performing on the UCB house team Grandma’s Ashes. He has starred in videos for CollegeHumor, UCBComedy and ImprovEverywhere, and has been a contributing writer to CollegeHumor and Onion News Network. Winston plays many other characters on Mission to Zyxx, including Sammo, the Kula and Kulata in Episode 101, The Hand of the Governor of Milsch, Finniford J. Ryan the Loan Shark, 'Stroid Miner
Recording Engineer / Mixer / Sound Designer
SHANE O'CONNELL
Shane moved from Seattle to Brooklyn in 2007 to pursue music and audio engineering at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Since then he’s worked on projects for several artists including Ben Harper, Half Waif, and NAO, and has 4+ years experience directing audiobooks for the publisher Recorded Books. He’s currently the head engineer at Braund Studios and bassist for the power pop band EZTV.