Improv Comedy

Brief History

Although improvisation is rooted in the commedia dell’arte, the most prevalent form of improv performed today originated in the 1950s with the advent of the Compass Players. Founded by David Shepherd to be a theater of, for, and by the people, the Compass Players performed scenario plays, much like commedia, wherein the plot was established but it was up to the performers to invent the dialogue. The more structured scenario plays were followed by free-form improvisations using audience suggestions. These “second acts” became wildly popular, and they became an area for performers to script and perform successful improvisations, a process that gave birth to the American comedy duo Nichols & May (Mike Nichols and Elaine May). The shift in artistic direction and ideological strife within the group led to its demise.

In 1959, from the ashes of the Compass Players, Paul Sills formed the Second City. Perhaps the most influential comic theater of the 20th century, the Second City capitalized on the promise of the Compass Players, by polishing free-form improvised scenes into written sketches. Still in existence today, the Second City changed the way we create and view political and social satire, making comedy socially significant in American culture.

With a growing sense that improv could be more than part of the process for writing sketches came an improv revolution led by Del Close. He joined forces with Charna Halpern in 1983 at what was then called ImprovOlympic (now known as iO) and developed the structure known as the Harold. The structure features three unrelated scenes that, throughout the course of the performance, begin to combine and connect. The Harold gave improv a structure that made it a viable stage product and challenged the Second City's belief that improv was too unreliable to be staged on its own and was only useful as a tool to create written work. Meanwhile, Dick Chudnow in 1984 created Comedy Sportz, a family-friendly chain of improv theaters performing what is known as short-form improv.

Improv in the 1990s and into the 21st century has featured an explosion of artistic experimentation and expansion, exemplified by Mick Napier's Annoyance Theatre. Eschewing traditional improv rules, the Annoyance regularly stages offbeat sketch and improv shows, most notably their flagship musical production, Co-Ed Prison Sluts. Whereas improv began as a form dominated by White men, improv in the 1990s and beyond saw a dramatic increase in diversity. Likewise, improv, which has historically been linked with Chicago, has spread to scores of cities across the country.

“Yes, and …”

The basic scenic building block of improvisation is “Yes, and… .” The basic concept means saying yes to your partner's offer and then adding new information to move the scene forward. Accepting and building on the idea ensures the scene will continue progressing. Saying “no” or failing to add any new information stalls a scene. Players accept what is said on stage and build on it. Suspending judgment and silencing your inner critic are essential to improv. Players cannot judge their own contributions or those of another and stay present in the scene. The second players start judging, they remove themselves from the action of the scene, and doom it to fail because they are no longer actively engaged and listening; instead, they are thinking about the past or the future. They also are violating the trust that is essential to an endeavor as risky and vulnerable as improvisation. Saying yes helps build trust, rewards risk taking, and keeps the action moving forward.

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