NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Improvisational comedy

Improvisational comedy (also called improv) is comedy that is performed with a little to no predetermination of subject matter and structure. The performers discover their lines and actions spontaneously, typically following a general theme and format, often in response to audience suggestions. Improvisational comedy is a form of improvisational theater. Comedy has a classical meaning (comical theatre) and a popular one (the use of humour with an intent to provoke laughter in general). ... An audience is a group of people who participate in and experience or encounter a work of art, literature, theatre, music or academics in any medium. ... Improvisational Theatre (also known as improv or impro) is a form of theatre in which the actors perform spontaneously, without a script. ...

Origins

Improvised performance is as old as performance itself. From the 16th to the 18th century, Commedia dell'arte performers improvised in the streets of Italy. Many silent filmmakers such as Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton used this approach in the making of their films, developing their gags while filming and altering the plot to fit. The Marx Brothers were notorious for deviating from the script they were given, their ad libs often becoming part of the standard routine and making their way into their films. Karel Dujardins set his closely-observed scene of a travelling troupes makeshift stage against idealized ruins in the Roman Campagna: dated 1657 (Louvre Museum) Commedia dellarte (Italian: play of professional artists also interpreted as comedy of humors), also known as Extemporal Comedy, was a popular form of improvisational... A silent film is a film which has no accompanying soundtrack. ... For the Jamaican musician named Charlie Chaplin, see Charlie Chaplin (singer). ... Joseph Frank Keaton Jr. ... Look up Plot in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Groucho, Gummo, Minnie (mother), Zeppo, Frenchy (father), Chico and Harpo. ... See AdLib for the computer sound card manufacturer. ...

Modern theatrical improvisation began in Chicago in the 1950s. The theatre games of Viola Spolin evolved quickly to an independent artform worthy of presentation before a paying audience. The Compass Players (David Sheppard and Paul Sills) and Second City were among the first organized troupes, both originated in Chicago, Illinois and from their success, the modern Chicago improvisational comedy movement was spawned. Simultaneously, Keith Johnstone's group The Theatre Machine, originated in London was touring Europe. This work gave birth to Theatresports, at first secretly in Keith's workshops, and eventually in public when Keith moved to Canada. Notable also was San Francisco's The Committee theater active during the 1960's. Image:Spolin2. ... The Second City Logo The Second City is a long-running improvisational comedy troupe based in the Old Town neighborhood of Chicago, with offshoot troupes in other cities, most notably Toronto. ... Flag Seal Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location Location in Chicagoland and northern Illinois Coordinates , Government Country State Counties United States Illinois Cook, DuPage Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Geographical characteristics Area City 606. ... Keith Johnstone is a drama instructor who has taught in England and Canada and more recently around the world. ... London (pronounced ) is the capital city of the United Kingdom and the largest city of England (strangely, England has no constitutional existence within the United Kingdom, and therefore cannot be said to have a capital). ... Theatresports, or Theatre Sports, is a form of competitive improvisational theatre and is a trademark of the International Theatresports Institute (ITI). ... The Committee Theater was a San Francisco based improvisational comedy group formed in 1963. ...

Improv comedy techniques have also been used in film, television and stand-up comedy, notably the mockumentary films of director Christopher Guest, the recent HBO television show Curb Your Enthusiasm created by Larry David, The NBC comedy series The Office, and the routines of Ross Noble, Robin Williams, Jonathan Winters, and Eddie Izzard, who often improvise onstage. Richard Pryor hits the money line A stand-up comedian or stand-up comic is someone that performs in comedy clubs, usually reciting a fast paced succession of amusing stories, short jokes and one-liners, typically called a monologue. ... Mockumentary, a portmanteau of mock documentary (also fictional documentary or false documentary), is a film and TV genre, or a single work of the genre. ... Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest (born February 5, 1948), is an American actor, writer, director, composer, and musician known as Christopher Guest. ... HBO (Home Box Office) is an American premium cable television network with headquarters in New York City. ... Curb Your Enthusiasm is an American sitcom starring Seinfeld writer, co-creator, and executive producer Larry David. ... Larry David (born July 2, 1947) is an Emmy-winning American actor, writer, comedian, producer and film director born and raised in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn, New York. ... It has been suggested that NBC Radio City Studios, NBC Studios be merged into this article or section. ... The Office is the name of two television comedy shows created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. ... Ross Noble, born 6 June 1976 an English stand-up comedian, raised in Cramlington, Northumberland. ... Robin McLaurin Williams (born July 21, 1951[1]) is an Academy Award-winning American actor and comedian. ... Jonathan Winters (born November 11, 1925 in Dayton, Ohio) is an American comedic actor. ... Edward John Izzard, better known as Eddie Izzard (born February 7, 1962) is a British cross-dressing stand-up comedian and actor who describes himself as an executive transvestite. As a comedian, he has a style of rambling, surreal monologue. ...

Theatrical improvisation

Improvisational comedy as a stand-alone, theatrical artform generally falls into two categories: short form and long form.

Short form

Short form improvisation consists of short, unrelated scenes usually driven by an audience suggestion with a predetermined game, structure, or idea. In short form games, which take from two to ten minutes, the performers attempt to create a comprehensible scene from audience suggestions while conforming to the specified (and sometimes purposefully restrictive) rules of the game. Wit and speed are favored. Short form is often used as warmups, for beginners to learn basic principles of improv, or even portions of a long form.

Many short form games first created by Viola Spolin and Keith Johnstone are still performed to this day. Television audiences would be most familiar with short form through the UK and US versions of the television show Whose Line Is It Anyway?. Short form improvisation is performed around the world and is closely identified with the competitive improv formats of ComedySportz and Theatresports. Image:Spolin2. ... Keith Johnstone is a drama instructor who has taught in England and Canada and more recently around the world. ... Whose Line Is It Anyway? (sometimes abbreviated to Whose Line?), is a short form improvisational comedy show. ... ComedySportzÂ® is an improvisational comedy organization started in 1984 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by Dick Chudnow. ... Theatresports, or Theatre Sports, is a form of competitive improvisational theatre and is a trademark of the International Theatresports Institute (ITI). ...

Long form

In long form, often termed Longform, performers create shows in which improvised scenes are connected and progressive, interrelated by story, characters, or themes. Audiences are often asked for one or more suggestions or inputs which drive the narrative of the performance, as opposed to the more structured short form. This may take the form of a specific existing type of theater, for example a full-length improvised play or Broadway-style musical. Or, the scenes may be largely unrelated with the exception of a single point of inspiration. The length can be anywhere from 20 minutes to 2-hours at the extreme. Long form improvisation can at times be episodic, spanning several shows with the same characters, each show taking the aforementioned time. Some long forms are narrative while others focus on character development, exploration of relationships, or the extrapolation of themes and ideas. Long form improvisation is performed around the world, and is especially widespread in Chicago, one of the most active communities of modern improvisational theatre. Perhaps the best known long form structure is The Harold, developed by ImprovOlympic cofounder Del Close. San Francisco style long forms (or play-length long forms) are 2-hour single-story long forms rooted in the idea that if someone can perform something scripted (like a play, movie, or musical) then it can also be improvised just as well. In Canada, Toronto has been home to a rich improv tradition. The Second City francise has produced such comedy stars as Mike Myers and the comedy clubs of the city produced the Kids in the Hall and more recently, the soon to be aired Modern Convenience. Broadway theatre[1] is often considered the highest professional form of theatre in the United States. ... Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theatre combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. ... Nickname: The Windy City, The Second City, Chi Town, The City of Big Shoulders The 312 Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in Chicagoland and Illinois Coordinates: Country United States State Illinois County Cook Incorporated March 4, 1837 Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Area... Improvisational Theatre (also known as improv or impro) is a form of theatre in which the actors perform spontaneously, without a script. ... The Harold is an improvisational long-form. ... The ImprovOlympic (now known as IO or IO Chicago) is a theater in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois dedicated to improvisational comedy. ... Del Close Del Close (born March 9, 1934, in Manhattan, Kansas; died March 4, 1999), along with Keith Johnstone and Viola Spolin, is considered one of the premier influences on improvisational theater. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... The performing arts include theater, motion pictures, drama, comedy, music, dance, opera, magic and the marching arts, such as brass bands, etc. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... For other uses see film (disambiguation) Film refers to the celluliod media on which movies are printed Film — also called movies, the cinema, the silver screen, moving pictures, photoplays, picture shows, flicks, or motion pictures, — is a field that encompasses motion pictures as an art form or as... The Fantasticks was the longest-running musical in history. ... The Second City Logo The Second City is a long-running improvisational comedy troupe based in the Old Town neighborhood of Chicago, with offshoot troupes in other cities, most notably Toronto. ... The Kids in the Hall was a Canadian sketch comedy group, consisting of comedians Dave Foley, Kevin MacDonald, Bruce McCulloch, Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson. ...

The improv community

Many theatre troupes are devoted to staging improvisational performances and growing the improv community through their training centres. One of the most widespread is the international organization Theatresports, which was founded by Keith Johnstone, an English director who wrote what many consider to be the seminal work on improvisational acting, Impro. There are also many independent companies around the world; a non-exhaustive but lengthy list is available here. Theatresports, or Theatre Sports, is a form of competitive improvisational theatre and is a trademark of the International Theatresports Institute (ITI). ... Keith Johnstone is a drama instructor who has taught in England and Canada and more recently around the world. ...

In addition to for-profit theatre troupes, there are several college-based improv groups in the United States that are becoming popularized as a result of programs such as Whose Line is it Anyway?. A few notable examples are William and Mary's IT, or Improv Theatre, and James Madison University's New and Improv'd. Whose Line Is It Anyway? (sometimes abbreviated to Whose Line?), is a short form improvisational comedy show. ... The College of William and Mary (also known as William and Mary or W&M) is a small coeducational public university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. ... Wilson Hall, centerpiece of the JMU quad. ... New and Improv. ...

Improv luminaries

Some key figures in the development of improvisational theatre are Viola Spolin and her son Paul Sills, founder of Chicago's famed Second City troupe and inventor of Story Theater; Dudley Riggs, founder of Minneapolis' Brave New Workshop; Del Close, founder of ImprovOlympic and creator of the long form improv known as "The Harold" along with his partner Charna Halpern; Keith Johnstone, the British teacher and writer–author of Impro, who founded the Theatre Machine and whose teachings form the foundation of the popular short form Theatresports format and Dick Chudnow, founder of ComedySportz which evolved its family-friendly show format from Johnstone's Theatersports. Image:Spolin2. ... Flag Seal Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location Location in Chicagoland and northern Illinois Coordinates , Government Country State Counties United States Illinois Cook, DuPage Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Geographical characteristics Area City 606. ... The Second City Logo The Second City is a long-running improvisational comedy troupe based in the Old Town neighborhood of Chicago, with offshoot troupes in other cities, most notably Toronto. ... Dudley Riggs (born 1932) is a noted improvisational comedian who created the Instant Theater Company, which later moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota to become the Brave New Workshop (BNW) comedy troupe. ... Nickname: City of Lakes Motto: En Avant Location in Hennepin County and the state of Minnesota. ... The Brave New Workshop (BNW), begun as the Instant Theater Company in New York City, is a satirical theater company that was created in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1958 by Dudley Riggs, with improvised help from Dick Guindon, Irv Letofsky, and Dan Sullivan. ... Del Close Del Close (born March 9, 1934, in Manhattan, Kansas; died March 4, 1999), along with Keith Johnstone and Viola Spolin, is considered one of the premier influences on improvisational theater. ... The ImprovOlympic (now known as IO or IO Chicago) is a theater in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois dedicated to improvisational comedy. ... The Harold is an improvisational long-form. ... A Chicago-area theater owner best known for being a co-founder of ImprovOlympic. ... Keith Johnstone is a drama instructor who has taught in England and Canada and more recently around the world. ... Theatresports, or Theatre Sports, is a form of competitive improvisational theatre and is a trademark of the International Theatresports Institute (ITI). ... Dick Chudnow is a U.S. comedian and entrepreneur. ... ComedySportzÂ® is an improvisational comedy organization started in 1984 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by Dick Chudnow. ...

Contents

Origins

Theatrical improvisation

Short form

Long form

The improv community

Improv luminaries

See also

External links

Resources and further reading

Contents

Origins var ACE_AR = {Site: '756743', Size: '300250'};

Theatrical improvisation

Short form

Long form

The improv community

Improv luminaries

See also

External links

Resources and further reading

Origins