How to keep your characters real The best comedies all have one thing in common: the characters who populate the story take everything that happens absolutely seriously. Whether they are busting Zuul, attempting to land a pilot-less airplane, or questing for the Holy Grail, they do so with a mindset of absolute sober sincerity. Whether […]
Whose Line Is It, Anyway? has dominated the TV improv scene for decades… …but yes, Virginia, there are other improv TV shows available, some better, some worse. Here’s a list of some of the major ones: It’s interesting that while almost everyone’s heard about Whose Line, these other improv shows are relatively unknown. Check them
Improv is by its very nature a communal art form. For this reason it can be challenging for alone actor to get valuable practice and experience. Challenging, but not impossible for the motivated improviser. You can learn improv by yourself. We will first direct you to our answer to this question: How Do I Get Better At Improv? , as it
As with any art form, getting better at improv takes time, effort, and keen observation skills. For all intents and purposes, improv is a communal art. You can only become a competent improviser if you find at least one other person willing to play with you. This does not, however, preclude you from doing some of
When it comes to scene starters, you are never constrained by time, space, or any other mundane concerns. As we mention in our book, The 5 Elements of Improv, “The point to be made here is that with improv you are limited only by yourself. You can quite literally do anything in a scene. You can be anything. You can go anywhere.” Keep this in
While sketch comedy and improv are both theater-based art forms, there are basic differences between the two First: sketch comedy is scripted, improv is not. While there are TV shows that employ some improvisation (Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Office), they are still working within the framework of a script; they know what the story is, even if the dialogue is
Are they making it all up? The short answer is, “Yes.” The longer answer is, “Yes, but…” While every moment of Whose Line is improvised, it is also highly adapted for television. What this means is, for every 22 minutes you see, hours of video has been recorded. If a scene is going south, they
