#improvisational comedy

[canmking]

R i c h a r d P r y o r

[dynamoe]

I’m doing improv at the “New” iO. Anything you miss about your UCB days?

Youth? Sense of infinite possibility on a distant horizon? Status and power over naïve comedy students I could get drunk and convince to return to my bed?

Vaguest answer: being a part of a community with a shared purpose (making comedy) and being able to experiment with ideas because the stakes were so low. No one was watching.

For the uninitiated, "UCB" is the Upright Citizens Brigade (Theatre), a comedy theater specializing in improv and sketch in New York and "iO" is Improv Olympic, a comedy theater in Chicago that trained the 3 of the 4 founders of the UCB. (Walshie was an Annoyance guy.)

Thank you for your question, my first from a non-anonymous in ages.

I was in the first generation of performers (more or less) with the UCB in New York City. The UCB-4 moved to NY from Chicago in 1996; I started going to shows/taking classes in 1998.

I miss having all your collaborators living a subway ride away and you'd see them every week... or multiple times a week. If you had an idea for a show, you could throw it on stage in under a month. You didn't make any money, but you didn't lay out any money either. You probably had no audience, too.

That's probably the influence of improv— your ideas were disposable so you didn't hold onto anything and get precious about it. The downside is there's no record of our output. The few photographs look terrible and there's no video. Nothing was written down.

I learned to design at UCB on the job, too. Someone always needed a flyer and I was the only person who knew/had Photoshop. There were no standards and no oversight so I could do whatever I wanted on a flyer. The quality of promotions before I started was so bad that anything I came up with was a step up. So, the only physical memento of the early UCB is 200ish flyers I designed.

I've been waffling on doing an interview-based history podcast covering those first years, before we had a physical theater of our own when the "community" was maybe two dozen people. I bought the equipment a year ago, but still haven't come up with a decent enough title to COMMIT to it.

(I also have so many regrets from that time, I'm trying hard not to add caveats to all of these points.)

[twittercomfrnklin2001-blog]

Abigail's Party

Writer-director Mike Leigh has disowned the television version of his ABIGAIL’S PARTY (1977, Criterion Channel, YouTube) because it’s simply a filmed stage play. I can understand his disappointment with its visuals when compared to such accomplished works as SECRETS & LIES (1996), TOPSY-TURVY (1999) and MR. TURNER (2014). The piece is shot on videotape and confined to a single set. At times, it looks like a TV sitcom. Yet, it’s far from just a filmed play or a canned comedy. The editing has a precision and comic rhythm that makes it feel cinematic, and there’s one shot, as a marginalized character returns to the main room from behind a bookcase/room divider — so she’s glimpsed through openings among the shelves — that’s a thing of beauty in its expressiveness

Married and childless Beverley (Allison Steadman) is throwing a drinks party for her new neighbors, nurse Angela (Janine Duvitsky) and footballer-turned-computer-operator Tony (John Salthouse). The only other guest is an older neighbor, Sue (Harriet Reynolds), whose unseen daughter, Abigail, is giving a loud party next door. It sounds like more fun for the guests than the party we’re watching, and it’s certainly better attended. Beverley belittles her husband (Tom Stern) throughout the evening. badgers her guests relentlessly to accept drinks and cigarettes, even when they don’t want them, flirts openly with Tony and reshapes every part of her reality to make herself the star and the only correct person in her world.

With its domineering wife jostling for power with her husband, the script seems like WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?, but its focus is more on class than emotional chaos. Beverley is an arriviste, a former cosmetics salesperson who’s married well, even if she and her husband rarely see eye-to-eye. But he’s just as flawed as she, flaunting his leather-bound Shakespeare collection that he’s never read and complaining that the neighborhood has gone downhill because it’s become more “mixed.” The two married couples are both trying to rise into the middle class, while the only truly middle-class character, Sue, is a pale shadow, haunted by her divorce and apparently henpecked by her daughter. The piece has its satirical elements but never comes off as truly nasty. Leigh developed the characters in improvisation sessions with his actors and then threw them into the situation to see what would happen. And it’s honest improvisation; the characters don’t baldly state their objectives the way they do in some improvisational pieces. As a result, each of the five (even Reynolds, who only joined the cast for the TV version and didn’t participate in the original improvs) gives a lived-in performance. Even one-word lines seem endowed with history and psychology. Their humanity makes even the monstrous Beverley sympathetic. But the characters are also resoundingly funny. You believe in them so much you’ll likely find even simple reaction shots hilarious. These are people you know. You’d probably run the other way if you saw some of them on the street. But you still know them by the time the evening is over.

[ingoodtastedenver]

The Second City Comedian Rhapsody

One goes to a Second City show with high expectations. Afterall, this is where comedy greats including John Belushi, Steve Carrell, Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey and many others earned their chops over the last 60 years before making it big. The cast of The Second City Comedian Rhapsody, running July 17-Aug. 11, 2024 at Garner Galleria Theatre didn’t disappoint in our expectations of this newest…

[hiphop-jay69]

Some little sketch comics for a little British improv comedy group

[sfth-fanpage]

Made a bingo card for the 2024 improvised plays!!

Exciting times indeed

[vees-wax]

The Name’s Lewis. Henry Lewis.

Otherwise known as the time Henry Lewis (played by Harry Kershaw) and Harry Kershaw (played by Henry Lewis) were spies with a mission to kill Henry Lewis’ (played by Harry Kershaw) ex-wife - the daughter of Henry Shields (played by Nancy Zamit).

Except Harry Kershaw (played by Henry Lewis) double crossed Henry Lewis (played by Harry Kershaw) and used body swap technology to know look like Henry Lewis.

So there’s Harry Kershaw (previously played by Henry Lewis, now post body swap played by Harry Kershaw because he’s been changed to look like Henry Lewis - which means he looks like real life Harry Kershaw) and Henry Lewis (previously played by Harry Kershaw, now played by Henry Lewis because his ex wife used the technology to make him look like Harry Kershaw - real life Henry Lewis) and we’re nearly getting somewhere.

And then Harry Kershaw (played by Harry Kershaw but looking like Henry Lewis) is actually a triple agent and shoots and re-kidnaps Henry Lewis (played by Henry Lewis because he still looks like Harry Kershaw).

They bodyswap back into their original bodies so we have Henry Lewis (played by Harry Kershaw once again) and Harry Kershaw (played by Henry Lewis) - and you think that’s the end of it, there are thirty seconds left in the show.

Harry Kershaw (played by Henry Lewis, then Harry Kershaw, then Henry Lewis again) rips off his own skin to reveal that after all this time, he was actually - Jonathan Sayer.

[moonpleaser]

walk with me

[genderfluidblob]

that was fucking awesome

[gazebo-components]

Improv Is Cool Now: reflections on the past, present, and future of improv on the internet

DISCLAIMER: this is LONG -- not because it’s comprehensive or correct, but because I have a lot of thoughts. i am not an authority on improv, i just like it. these are some things i have noticed & been thinking about over the last couple years.

TLDR: the world of digital comedy is getting increasingly improv-ified. because of this, improv is forced to adapt to digital forms, which is sometimes awkward but (i think) generally very exciting! it's taking on a new life and reaching more people than ever before and it's maybe... even... cool now ? i investigate dropout’s and smosh’s recent improv ventures to find an answer and then i talk a little bit about saturday night live. also, there's color-coding.

IMPROV OVERVIEW

- Basically there are 3 big improv schools/theaters that are seen as launching-off points for comedy stardom: Second City, Groundlings, and Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB). SNL hires from them, a bunch of famous comedians have come from them, etc. Of course there are other schools and other ways to “make it” in sketch/improv, and many people have critiqued the school system for being gatekeepy/culty, but the big 3 schools are pretty much the center of the improv/sketch world. 

- The big 3 each have their own class tracks for sketch and improv that can eventually lead to auditions for house teams, which are SUPER competitive. At UCB you audition for Harold teams (improv) and Maude teams (sketch). At Groundlings you audition for Sunday Company and are then possibly invited to join the main company. I know the least about Second City but I think you audition for a touring company & are then possibly invited to join the main company? IDK.

- I cannot stress how competitive these auditions are, at all 3 schools. Over 1000 people audition for UCB Harold teams every year and less than 1% get a spot. Getting on a house team is a BIG FUCKIN DEAL. 

- There are (basically speaking) 2 kinds of improv: short-form (more structured: games, wacky characters) and long-form (less structured: scenes, plotlines). Short-form is often seen as "easier" and more palatable for a non-improv audience than long-form, which can be really esoteric and confusing and hard to watch. Groundlings and Second City focus on short-form & sketch, UCB Harold is long-form, UCB Maude is sketch.

RECORDED/TELEVISED IMPROV

- Improv on TV, especially long-form, has historically not been good or successful — UCB experiments with recording/televising longform shows in the 2000s, but nothing really goes mainstream. One exception is Whose Line Is It Anyway (a short-form show by Second City alums), which runs from 1998-2007 and is pretty popular. Whose Line comes back in 2013 but is on shaky shaky ground, might be over now? IDK.

- 2020: Recorded longform improv has its first big moment in Ben Schwartz and shitty guy Thomas Middleditch (both former UCB Harold performers), whose special Middleditch and Schwartz prompts Vulture to ask, “What if improv were good?" IMO, this is the point where Improv Starts Being Cool.

DROPOUT

- Early CollegeHumor team is full of improv comedians, mostly UCB. Many (Brennan, Siobhan, Trapp, Ally, Zac, Grant, etc…) have been on Harold/Maude teams.

- 2020-ish: Big dramatic CollegeHumor -> Dropout shift; one major takeaway is that unscripted content does much better than scripted content. Dropout pivots to focus on unscripted, eventually premiering Make Some Noise, a short-form show often compared to Whose Line. (Sam Reich says MSN has brought more people to Dropout than any other show.)

- 2022-2023: Dropout introduces multiple longform improv shows, including Play It By Ear and Very Important People (both hosted by UCB Harold performers). VIP performs exceptionally well and is even submitted for Emmy consideration.

- 2023: Wayne Brady from Whose Line appearing on MSN is a MAJOR passing-the-torch moment for improvisers. Wayne tells Sam that only two productions have ever gotten filmed improv right: Whose Line and Dropout.

- 2024: Dropout Presents, a set of original comedy specials, includes 2 longform improv shows: Bigger! With Brennan And Izzy and From Ally To Zacky -- a performance by Yeti, a graduated UCB Harold team made up mostly of Dropout regulars.

- TAKEAWAY: DROPOUT IS DOING MORE LONGFORM. I mean, they're doing more of a lot of stuff, including short-form. But VIP and the longform Dropout Presents specials indicate a willingness to try recorded longform à la Middleditch and Schwartz, which makes perfect sense given that so many of them were/are UCB Harold performers. Will it pay off?? We'll see!!

SMOSH

- 2016: Smosh’s first Try Not To Laugh, a version of the improv game Bus Stop/Park Bench. To my knowledge, the cast at this time has no one from the big 3 improv schools -- of course, this does not mean they aren’t good improvisers (because clearly they are!), just that Smosh isn’t connected to the traditional improv world at this point.

- 2020: Smosh hires its first professionally trained improvisers as cast members: Ify (UCB), who eventually leaves to do a bunch of Dropout stuff, Jacklyn (Second City), who eventually leaves to join Second City NY, and Amanda (Groundlings), who was on Sunday Company and gets on a UCB Maude team in 2022. In other words, they’re all excellent school-trained improvisers.

- 2022: Smosh hires two UCB sketch/improv performers, Angela and Chanse, who were on a Maude team together with Smosh writer Patrick McDonald and editor Josh Fleury.

- 2023: Anthony comes back and they start doing old-school sketches that incorporate the rest of the cast. They do ok, but unscripted content like TNTL continues to be more popular (echoing Dropout’s experience)

- 2024: Angela and Chanse are announced to host the variety/sketch/improv show Bit City. The first episode contains 2 sketches, a 10-minute character improv piece from Amanda, and a 10-minute reunion (semi-improvised). The cast are clearly very excited about being involved in "traditional" sketch/improv (as opposed to just being in pit/games stuff).

- TAKEAWAY: SMOSH IS GETTING MORE INTO TRADITIONAL IMPROV. Try Not To Laugh continues to be one of their most popular series, Bit City is being extremely hyped up, and the cast has gone to multiple Groundlings workshops together. My guess is that Smosh will stick to short-form, because their audience is less comedy-nerd-y than Dropout's and none of the Smosh cast are UCB Harold alums (remember, Angela and Chanse were on a Maude [sketch] team, and Amanda did Groundlings, which is short-form and sketch). Again, this doesn't mean they can't do long-form (they definitely can), but I do think their skills/interests lie mainly in sketch and character/short-form improv.

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE

- SNL is decidedly not an improv show, because improv is much scarier to do on live broadcast television than sketch is, but it is still a live show and historically many of its performers have been improvisers. Again, SNL hires improvisers almost exclusively from the big 3 theaters.

- SNL undergoes an identity crisis around 2020-2022 as many well-loved cast members (many of whom are improvisers) leave, hiring mainly standup comedians, not improvisers, to replace them

- Current SNL cast improvisers: Bowen Yang (UCB), Chloe Fineman (Groundlings), Ego Nwodim (UCB), Mikey Day (Groundlings), Heidi Gardner (Groundlings), Chloe Troast (indie, to my knowledge!). The rest are stand-ups, or are named Colin or Kenan.

- TAKEAWAY: SNL IS SAME OLD SAME OLD, BUT... Lorne Michaels is speculated to leave after this season (50), discussions of a “new era” and major shifts for the show. Possible replacements include Tina Fey and Seth Meyers (both are career improvisers, unlike Lorne) — could SNL incorporate improv in the future? Again, historically difficult because of broadcast television rules, but idk, it's an interesting thought

CONCLUSION

- improv is cool now! more and more digital comedy productions are turning towards improv, maybe a reflection of greater desire for authenticity/humanness on the internet? idk.

- the big 3 theaters continue to be a driving force of the improv world, despite some people's desires to move away from that kind of institutional importance. UCB in particular is being showcased a lot because of dropout, though idk if that translates to anything in the real world.

- dropout is doing more longform (yay!!) and is making their real-life improv connections/teams/relationships more explicit with filmed live improv shows and bringing in established groups of improvisers like Improvised Shakespeare.

- the current smosh cast contains three classically trained improvisers, and the channel seems to be making moves towards traditional improv in the style of the big 3 schools, but will probably stick to shortform. (also, no, the smosh-dropout merger is not happening anytime soon.)

- young people think SNL is cringe now (imo it's just as cringe as it ever was... live sketch is HARD). the show will have to make some major changes if it wants to stay relevant, and they'll be looking to the success of digital comedy as inspiration and competition. my prediction: after season 50 they'll do a big overhaul, get a new young host, might even poach a couple Dropout stars.

- there’s A LOT OF stuff I didn't get into: the evolution of standup/crowdwork/recorded standup specials, SNL hiring trends over the years, the pandemic + comedy (particularly TikTok sketch), the Smosh Sitcom Live, what the hell a Harold even is and why it matters. this is already very long and i am, frankly, very tired.

FURTHER READING:

UCB Harold/Maude rosters -- command-f your favorite dropout people to see who they were on a team with

Improv Nation -- the ultimate improv history book; i read it my sophomore year of high school and i was obsessed

this guy’s blog post about wayne brady on MSN

this breakdown of SNL cast member origins up to 2013, which ends with a series of wildly incorrect predictions (fewer standups, no internet performers)

thanks for reading!

[merthurians-prat-and-idiot]

This is probably a bit niche but- Shoot From The Hip are so good!! They're an improv comedy group- who share clips from their shows on youtube. They uploaded a full length show earlier & it's brilliant! Check them out if you've not heard of them, they do games, scenes & fully improvised plays (my favourites!) And they're super funny, I've been a fan for a while now since I found them.

[someguybrian]

Just saw Bigger.

[psychidelias]

Working on transcribing The Boosh radio show (a sort of "I'll do it myself" bit) and by far the funniest way I've heard Vince and Howard be referred to is "The Stag Man and Bulbous Ball Boy, the Bubonic Bitch"

[newwavesylviaplath]

pov: i invited u over and u think ur about to get laid but instead i just wanna show you my signed edition of comedy bang! bang! the podcast: the book

[hiphop-jay69]

New comic drop! These are so fun to do 😊

[sfth-fanpage]

Insanely young sfth compilation pt 2