‘Yes, and.
No props.
Maybe fun?’
The three rules of Improv are written on the whiteboard at the front of Room 326 every Friday at Bronx Science. And while the Improv Club is not explicitly comedy-oriented, I think anyone who has been in Room 326 for more than five minutes knows that comedy plays a huge role in Improvisation—everyone has more fun when things get silly.
Improv, short for Improvisation, is a method of performance where a person makes up their words and actions as they go along, often utilizing suggestions from the audience in order to create a cohesive and often comedic scene. Improv performances can include games, short-form scenes, and long-form performances.
Games like “Change” or “New Choice” where two players start a scene and have to change whatever they had just done or said at the whim of a designated non-player are a good way to warm up an audience. Games can also include high levels of audience participation; some troupes play “Pillars” where audience members join a scene to supply words for the players to say at intervals. Short-form scenes, on the other hand, are less structured than games. They usually begin with an audience suggestion of a word or opening line that the Improvisers build on to create a cohesive, if absurd, scene.
Finally, long-form Improv comes in many shapes and sizes. Some formats like “the Harold” involve sets of shorter scenes that begin to interweave as they progress. Others are heavily structured like “Goon River,” where Improvisers follow a specific progression of types of scenes to enact the daily lives and untimely demise of people living together in a small town. Still others let go of structure and perform a long, free-form scene.
No matter how it’s done, improvised comedy is an engaging art form that has surged in popularity recently, pushing its way into the mainstream.
Origins
The concept of Improvisation, in theater and performance, has existed for centuries. A notable example of early improvised comedy is the Commedia Dell’arte of 14th century Italy, in which the performers built on well-known characters and tropes to create new stories. However, Improv as we know it today was created at the University of Chicago during the 1950s.
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Chicago was a hotspot for immigrants—a place where they could find work and a fresh start. Many of these immigrants, from different regions of Europe, did not speak English fluently and were unaccustomed to American culture. This influx of new Americans gave rise to the development of settlement houses, places where they could go to learn and acclimate to American life. Settlement houses also provided day programming so that immigrants had access to reliable childcare while they worked.
Hull House, a famous settlement house on Chicago’s Near-West side, also had this kind of day programming for children. Neva Boyd, a social worker at the Hull House, developed games for the children to play as a way to learn and develop. Viola Spolin, who studied with her, adapted Boyd’s methods for teaching theater as a part of FDR’s Works Progress Administration and later for training young actors. She published an influential book called Improvisation for the Theater in 1963 that she repeatedly updated as she continued her studies and developed her technique.
Spolin’s theater games formed the basis of Improv. Her son, Paul Sills, drew inspiration from her games and exercises as he was beginning his theater career. According to an article from the University of Chicago, Paul Sills and Davis Shepherd came together in 1955 to found a storefront theater close to the college’s campus. They dubbed it ‘The Compass’ and Improv was born.
After years with their troupe, the Compass Players, Sills and Shepherd went on to co-found their own Improv organizations, known as Second City and ImprovOlympic, respectively.
A Growing Sensation
Second City has a long line of prestigious alumni, including Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler. These comedic actors developed their Improv skills as a way to jumpstart their comedy careers before moving on to more scripted institutions such as Saturday Night Live.
Before joining SNL, Amy Poehler founded a group known as the Upright Citizens Brigade in 1996, which has since served as a jumping-off-point for other prolific and modern comedians, including the recently successful Brennan Lee Mulligan.
As comedians coalesced at live venues, training, teaching, and honing their skills with live shows, Improv began to make its way into the media.
While there were many shows with improvised dialogue or scenes, a game show from the late 1990s known as Whose Line Is It Anyway? (1998-2024) began to popularize improvised comedy. It started as a radio show in England, an elite entity. The jokes were high-brow and unrelatable, often referring to obscure literature. However, the show soon transitioned to television, taken up by an eager Channel 4. As the series progressed, problems with the talent and the unpredictable nature of Improv facilitated a shift from British to American television. The show was eventually canceled in England, but became an American sensation.
At this stage of the show, contestants, some of whom were regulars like Colin Mocherie and Wayne Brady, and some of whom were guests, competed for points by improvising scenes. They worked from pre-written prompts, or with props to tell a story. Other games featured on the show included improvising songs about a given topic or improvising snippets of dialogue based on ideas pulled from a hat.
Improv Today (and why we should care)
Improvised comedy has recently made another leap into the mainstream. As time passed, the internet became the media that reached the most people, and Improvisers caught on quickly.
The streaming service Dropout, formerly CollegeHumor, is a media powerhouse when it comes to improvised comedy. The company posts clips from their shows on the internet and social media, and as a result, they have begun to gain traction. Many of Dropout’s shows include Improv in some way, whether it’s creating scenes in response to props, improvising entire musicals, or sitting down for an interview in a randomized yet intricate costume. Dropout’s own Brennan Lee Mulligan hosted a show known as Dimension 20, which has now sold out Madison Square Garden and branched out to include a new yet similar show, Dungeons and Drag Queens.
Another prolific group in the Improv world is Shoot From The Hip. Tom Mayo is one of the group’s founders and has been a professional Improviser for over a decade. He had majored in English but fell in love with Improv in college when he was invited to join his school’s troupe, the Holloway Players. He and some of his cohorts who wanted to continue with improv after graduating formed their own group and called it Shoot From The Hip.
The group had whittled down from 10 members to 4 and was most likely going to disband when COVID-19 hit. Mayo spoke about how they began live-streaming events and that the group blew up when they began to post their comedy online. “We put something on the internet and it did really well, and suddenly it all got re-energized again,” he said. After the lockdown, they were able to resume live shows.
A typical Shoot From The Hip live show consists of about 6 short-form games, a break, and then a long-form improvised play. Their short scenes and exercises utilize audience suggestions, and as for the second half, Mayo stated, “There’s no other structure here, there’s no planning…a thing that I’m very proud of with it is that it’s completely free-form, which is surprisingly rare.”
Shoot From The Hip occasionally has access to props, depending on their venue. Mayo explained that using props can actually allow for more creativity. “Variety, really, is really nice.” They even create games based on their available props. One game is based on a dating app: players are thrown hats, prompting them to embody a character on the spot. Each character must try to charm the audience when they appear, as though the audience were swiping through a dating app.
As Mayo said, having props “means that that show, whatever you do on stage…you could only have done it here, under these circumstances” and that makes it clearer that it’s improvised. This also creates a stronger bond with the audience, allowing them to feel as though they are a part of something special, just for them.
Part of why Improv is so enjoyable for performers and audiences alike is that “the audience gets to see their ideas brought to life on stage” while the performers work together to create cohesive scenes. Improv is so much more immediate than scripted and written comedy. Mayo describes it as much more “energized,” emphasizing that it reaches people faster. And improvised comedy is ultimately about people. As Tom Mayo puts it, “you are building something together.”
Because audiences respond so well to these aspects of Improv, Improvised comedy is gaining traction. Shoot From The Hip has shows coming up in Spain, Bucharest, Vienna, and even (possibly) New York. Dropout shows have been gaining popularity enough to interest The New York Times, and the Upright Citizens Brigade and Second City both have venues in New York as well. Improv has come from real life to television to the internet, and by doing so it is reaching more and more audiences. It has reached the attention of the New York Times and the Guardian, sold out Madison Square Garden, and even hooked high schoolers.
An important side note: a lot of the Improvised comedy that this article refers to includes jokes that are designed for an adult audience.. However, this is not true for all Improvised comedy. It just happens to be a style choice for the comedians in question. After all, the Bronx Science Improv club makes jokes that are more school appropriate than Whose Line Is It Anyway? or Shoot From The Hip, but it has a strict ‘no props policy’ that neither of the other organizations have.
Improv is about building a story with and about people. It will fit within whatever limits you set, whatever the reason.
So go watch Improv! Pitch in with ideas! It might be awkward, and maybe it will be difficult. As Tom Mayo said, it often feels like there’s a lot of pressure to be funny right off the bat. But whatever you help to build will be yours, and it will be beautiful.
Improv, short for Improvisation, is a method of performance where a person makes up their words and actions as they go along, often utilizing suggestions from the audience in order to create a cohesive and often comedic scene. Improv performances can include games, short-form scenes, and long-form performances.