What Are The Hit Improv Shows?
what gets people to come watch?
My improv school WGIS (not really “my” - I co-own it with two others) has a space.
It means we can program our own shows. An exciting, daunting challenge.
When thinking of the kinds of shows we wanted, we came up with three categories:
Shows for the community — shows that are primarily for the students and performers to play for each other and get to know each other. Harold Night, Cagematch, character open mics. Shows where people discover each other, root for each other, and maybe get competitive with each other (in a healthy way, hopefully). Ideally, friendships and artistic partnerships form here.
A show that is a COMMUNITY.Shows for the art — A team or class is trying an ambitious form, like, say, Close Quarters or the Movie. Or trying a standard form in a new way: A Harold with organic edits, maybe. Ideally you’d want students coming to be inspired.
A show that is ART.Shows for the popularity — Shows to earn a big happy audience. The hit shows. Ideally, you win over civilians here who don’t care if it’s “high quality” improv — they just want to enjoy the show.
A show that is a HIT.
We’ve had success doing “community” shows. And within those shows, we’ve had teams do sets that are going for “art.”
But I don’t think I’ve ever built a show that’s a hit. I’ve PERFORMED in hit shows. But I have not made them.
It’s a fascinating challenge.
When I started out at UCB NY in the early 2000s, the hit shows were ASSSSCAT, Feature Feature (improvised movie) and The Real Real World (improvised MTV’s Real World). A little later, a few of the house teams — Swam, Respecto and Mother — broke out into hit shows of their own.
It’s one of the many things I respect about UCB — they made hit shows at their theater. People would line up to watch improv at UCB.
So I ask you, dear readers — what are the hit shows at YOUR local improv theaters. What has WORKED in terms of winning an audience?
What shows are the hits?
Happy Thanksgiving
Hey, yesterday was Thanksgiving! Here’s what I’m grateful to improv for:
For making me a better listener. For giving me a place where I could be listened to. For friends and purpose. And for giving me a laboratory where I could become the person I wanted to be.
That’s it! :)
Plugs, Ongoing
High Functioning - Ian Roberts and I do an hour of improv EVERY SATURDAY 7pm at the UCB Annex. See this video for Ian and I showing you where the UCB Annex is.
The World’s Greatest Improv School: The improv school I run with Jim Woods and Sarah Claspell. We’ve got classes online, in LA and even a few in NYC!
How to Be The Greatest Improviser On Earth - My improv book, available at Amazon. Kindle or print. It’s a hodge-podge of advice I wrote in 2016 about doing improv. If you’re broke and want a free PDF version just email me and I’ll send it over.
Screw It, We’re Just Gonna Talk About Comics - Comic book podcast, hosted by my brother Kevin and I. We are covering a little-known 1985 comic Watchmen (yes, THAT Watchmen). Subscribe for bonus episodes!
Screw It, We’re Just Gonna Talk About The Beatles - monthly deep dive on a little known indie band from Liverpool called The Beatles. Subscribe for access to back episodes!
We’ve had hits with thematic shows with a hook. We are experimenting with “runs” where directos propose shows, cast it from our auditions, then rehearse the concept for a run of 4-6 shows spread out over a month or two. It’s all long form, but there’s a hook like “it’s an advice show, so submit your questions,” or “we interview you about a past or current workplace then improvise about it, and before the end of the show there’s a round of layoffs.” Anything genre sells easier, we threw together “improvised love is blind” within a couple weeks and it sold out with little marketing effort. I find that professional presentation (good graphics and headshots, punchy copy) has a big influence in that folks can trust there’s some level of professionalism. But we are still figuring out the best way to make space for development and community while making enough money to stay alive. Would love to chat about it more while you’re in Portland!
Short-form sells.
*ducks*
Seriously, though, I found that introducing the audience to higher-end concepts by luring them in with some short-form first can be helpful. The other comments are great, as anything thematic and topical is going to get more eyes on it than "Harold Night," which no one outside the improv community (and some inside the community) knows what it is. I think that's part of the reason why Improvised Harry Potter, Improvised Star Trek, Improvised D&D Shamilton, etc. do so well. Not only are they filled with awesome performers, but they can draw both people who like improv and people who like the thematic subject.
Also, consistency in both quality and performance schedule.