Sid Caesar demonstrates the art of doubletalk.
posted by not_on_display on Aug 6, 2009 - 32 comments

ImprovEverywhere has a gallery opening in the New York Subway. "In the course of making the art labels, the mundane stuff of the platform really did become weirdly compelling and beautiful. I wasn’t sure if everyone else would have that experience, or if we would be busy consciously pretending that these random objects were art. In the course of the event, some other friends who came made brilliant observations about the pieces that helped bring my mindset firmly back into of-course-this-is-art, rather than viewing the subway as a collection of quick fixes over time. It’s wonderful how we can decide to create a collective reality, and how it can sometimes catch us up within itself. I’m glad other folks also got caught up in "Wow.. This might really be art!", and that some non-agents got such a kick out of it!"
posted by Kattullus on Mar 18, 2009 - 50 comments

"For [Improv Everywhere's] latest mission, Agent Lathan gave out 2,000 high fives by standing next to a subway escalator during the morning rush. Five additional agents spread out along the adjacent stairs, holding signs that prepared commuters for the upcoming high five fun. Enjoy the video first and then check out the mission report and photos."
posted by sarabeth on Feb 9, 2009 - 67 comments

Paul Sills, son of Viola Spolin and one of the fathers of Chicago style improv comedy through his work with The Compass Players (who sort of morphed into Second City) and through his Story Theatre work has passed away at age 80. Chicago has lost two of its legends in one day.
posted by Joey Michaels on Jun 2, 2008 - 4 comments

Improv Everywhere turned a little league baseball game into a major league event. Jumbotron & all. [more inside]
posted by prefpara on Apr 7, 2008 - 92 comments

"I am a master impressionest and I will not dignify that with a response..." Continuing in the vein of posting links to UCB Performers videos. YouTube War is produced and stars Chris Gethard along with Zach Woods. Also created a whole bunch of other shorts, "The Worlds Most Akward Boy": Rides an Elevator, Goes to the Deli, Enjoys a Hot Tub, and many more.
posted by Del Far on Mar 4, 2008 - 11 comments

Frozen Grand Central. A little bit of Saturday fun. The folks at Improv Everywhere are at it again. This time they freeze over two hundred people in Grand Central station. (via GoodSh** NSFW) [more inside]
posted by caddis on Feb 16, 2008 - 22 comments

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. He plays the banjo, but he isn't just some hick. He enjoys Chicks, jamming with friends, wide open spaces and fights.
posted by stavrogin on Jan 18, 2008 - 74 comments

When is the 7th Annual No Pants! Subway Ride? This Saturday, January 12th, New York City. They seem to have done it in 2006 as well. Village Voice article on 2006's shenanigans.
posted by shothotbot on Jan 9, 2008 - 42 comments

Jazz dispute is billed as a heated exchange between Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Jazz not your thing? Classical music can provoke a range of emotions too. (YouTube alert)
posted by madamjujujive on May 12, 2007 - 43 comments

Eddie destroys the ship. Ron Moore's Battlestar Galactica podcasts have been discussed before, but the most recent one contains a gem. At the end of the episode Maelstrom, Edward James Olmos ("Eddie" to his friends on the set) lashes out in an unscripted, improvised, emotional moment, destroying a sailing ship model that had been a frequent prop on the set. Turns out the ship ... ahem ... wasn't a prop, but an extremely valuable museum piece.
posted by frogan on Mar 6, 2007 - 79 comments

The Night Andy Kaufman Sabotaged After Michael Richards flipped out at the Laugh Factory, some speculated that Kramer had an "Andy Kaufman moment" gone horribly wrong, but did you know that Richards was once a target of Kaufman's humor himself? On February 20, 1981, Andy Kaufman hosted ABC's late night comedy show, Fridays , but refused to stay on script during the live Broadcast. After deliberately blowing lines in several sketches, Kaufman instigated a fight during one sketch, by pouring water on Fridays cast member, Michael Richards. The next year, ratings for Fridays were so low that they asked Kaufman to host a second time to boost ratings. (More inside.)
posted by jonp72 on Nov 23, 2006 - 59 comments

Slo-Mo Home Depot. Improv Everywhere got 250 people to wander around a Home Depot in slow motion. [via]
posted by chunking express on Aug 24, 2006 - 77 comments

Starry Night a minimalist improvisation by:
mazen kerbaj / trumpet
the israeli air force / bombs
posted by hototogisu on Jul 20, 2006 - 12 comments

80 improv artists invade Best Buy disguised as employees. Predictably the real Best Buy employees freak out. (via /.)
posted by grouse on May 6, 2006 - 120 comments

Making any jokes or statements during the screening process may be grounds for both criminal and civil penalties.
posted by quonsar on Apr 24, 2006 - 73 comments

Derek Bailey has died. Here's an interview with him from 2001, and another about playing in Japan. Bailey was considered by many to be the father of free improvisation, beginning with his band Joseph Holbrooke, with Tony Oxley and Gavin Bryars, and, in addition to his voluminous discography, is the author of a book on the nature of improvisation.
posted by kenko on Dec 26, 2005 - 26 comments

The Game? University of Central Florida instructor Jeff Wirth - an Interactive Theatre pioneer, author, and one time editor of the long defunct ITN resource - brings something like David Fincher's The Game to life. Interactive Theatre describes forms of theatre that directly involve audience members in the action, from plays like Tony and Tina's Wedding to kitschy dinner theatre like the Murder Mystery Players to the one actor/one audience member pieces of Cruel Theatre.
posted by Joey Michaels on Aug 4, 2005 - 16 comments

We've talked about these folks before. However I don't think any of us realized exactly how much influence we had on the story by helping it spread so fast. This American Life covers the group, and our part in help spreading the news about the Best.Gig.Ever. Real Audio link to the TAL show.
posted by pwb503 on Apr 13, 2005 - 32 comments

Look up more - Improv Everywhere has been mentioned before but this latest mission is the largest yet. After reading about it here, I wonder how many people signed up for the NYC list? Were there any other MeFites there? I was window 39...
posted by xmod2 on Mar 23, 2005 - 11 comments

McDonald's Bathroom Attendant. From the folks who brought you The MP3 Experiment, but this is funnier.
posted by DrJohnEvans on Feb 18, 2005 - 24 comments

Best.Gig.Ever.
posted by srboisvert on Nov 5, 2004 - 17 comments

Talking trash to Dig Dug (4.5 MB .mov file), and other oddities. Short films promoting Out of Our Heads, a Columbus area improv group.
posted by CrunchyFrog on Jan 7, 2004 - 9 comments

< earshot >
Live improvisation with digital audio. Play, loop and compose with multiple sound file formats, including: wav, aif, aiff, aifc, mov, au, mid, mp3, swa, mpg, mpeg, snd... Found while Googlifying for links to the currently tanked Johnny Spencer's 'vanity site' directed towards fans of Black popular music c1940's to 1970's. I have not a clue as to the what or why of it but thought the teeming geeky horde might. Provided for your consumer testing.
posted by y2karl on Jun 27, 2003 - 6 comments

A real man would stay. But of course you're merely an inadequate simulation. Yes, its robot improv! Who needs a human brain to be funny? Certainly not these rascally robots! Titter to the sample scripts! Chortle at the architecture overview! Nod your head sagely and pretend you understand the paper, "Robot Improv: Using Drama to Create Believable Agents" (MSWord doc)!
posted by Joey Michaels on Jun 20, 2003 - 2 comments

The Improv Page, not to be confused with The New Improv Page. You may also find important improv comedy information at The Improv Encyclopedia, The Learn Improv Page, Chicago's Improv Resource Center or perhaps even The Spolin Center. There is much more happening in the world of improv comedy than the increasingly unsatisfying Whose Line is it Anyway?
posted by Joey Michaels on Mar 29, 2003 - 9 comments