Dang, what an amazing informative and colorful article, Will. Thanks for the overview, I’ve been so curious how things are going. It sounds like improv has entered a postmodern, post apocalyptic phase... in a good way!
I think this silliness is also in part just improv getting *alt*. Once any art form has been around enough, the people who consume and create it are going to get *bored* and lean in to its most extreme, most outsider-alienating features. Thus, avant-garde fashion, and experimental film, and alt-comedy in general (the comic's comic). Just making a joke, or a dress, or a film is no longer enough. To appease the artist's artist, the art has to wink at the fact that it's art, that it is contained by the expectations and limitations of a form. The joke has to also be a joke about the fact that it's a joke. The new improv is the improviser's improv. But with podcasts and streaming, as you said, more consumers have the base context of "normal improv" so as to follow and appreciate what's going on with the sillier stuff, that less resembles the "drama" from which it sprung forth. Also I'm dumb and it's stressful to be alive in the 2020s and maybe we're just no longer afraid to admit that we don't have to be "intellectuals," that we're not above liking anything because it's stupid, and that jokes about poop and cum are, simply, funny.
It's also happening in sketch comedy, too. Look at Tim Robinson's work on I Think You Should Leave, for example: multiple absurd turns that shift the game two or three times in a single sketch. Live sketch at Maude shows UCB and the house nights with The Pack at the Broadwater are pushing the envelope more and more in some creative ways.
Pattern game has got to go. RIP cleverness, long live silliness! But yes I agree that it's so much better now than it was before. There was so much stuffiness in pre-pandemic classes and very few genuine comedy nerds. Now everyone in my class is a comedy nerd. Moreover, I feel like there's a genuine need for connection/community in my classes whereas before people would openly talk shit about other classmates and even mock them to their face in class. I felt deeply alienated by the community the more I dug into it before but now I find everyone is truly supportive than I've ever felt before.
This is the best thing I’ve read on Substack in a while. It’s also like the 4th things I’ve ever read on Substack - but it’s good!
Super interesting Will!
I kinda feel about improv now the way Arnie felt about bodybuilding: I love it to death and find it impossible to take seriously.
Dang, what an amazing informative and colorful article, Will. Thanks for the overview, I’ve been so curious how things are going. It sounds like improv has entered a postmodern, post apocalyptic phase... in a good way!
I loved this article, and am not regretting coming to LA when I did. I want to play with brilliant dum-dums until the ocean takes us.
I think this silliness is also in part just improv getting *alt*. Once any art form has been around enough, the people who consume and create it are going to get *bored* and lean in to its most extreme, most outsider-alienating features. Thus, avant-garde fashion, and experimental film, and alt-comedy in general (the comic's comic). Just making a joke, or a dress, or a film is no longer enough. To appease the artist's artist, the art has to wink at the fact that it's art, that it is contained by the expectations and limitations of a form. The joke has to also be a joke about the fact that it's a joke. The new improv is the improviser's improv. But with podcasts and streaming, as you said, more consumers have the base context of "normal improv" so as to follow and appreciate what's going on with the sillier stuff, that less resembles the "drama" from which it sprung forth. Also I'm dumb and it's stressful to be alive in the 2020s and maybe we're just no longer afraid to admit that we don't have to be "intellectuals," that we're not above liking anything because it's stupid, and that jokes about poop and cum are, simply, funny.
It's also happening in sketch comedy, too. Look at Tim Robinson's work on I Think You Should Leave, for example: multiple absurd turns that shift the game two or three times in a single sketch. Live sketch at Maude shows UCB and the house nights with The Pack at the Broadwater are pushing the envelope more and more in some creative ways.
We're getting bored over here!!! I'm over a game after two game moves... Let alone three!! Or six!!
I was going to prepare an intellectual reply to your comment but I was too busy cumming on my poop.
This all feels spot on, and it's interesting how much of it applies to Toronto with just a few names and venues swapped out
Pattern game has got to go. RIP cleverness, long live silliness! But yes I agree that it's so much better now than it was before. There was so much stuffiness in pre-pandemic classes and very few genuine comedy nerds. Now everyone in my class is a comedy nerd. Moreover, I feel like there's a genuine need for connection/community in my classes whereas before people would openly talk shit about other classmates and even mock them to their face in class. I felt deeply alienated by the community the more I dug into it before but now I find everyone is truly supportive than I've ever felt before.
my vote is for Ringo’s response to your centrist rant