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Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, action, story, and characters are created collaboratively by the players as the improvisation unfolds in present time, without use of an already prepared, written script.
Jessica Holmes is a Canadian comedian and actress. She is best known for her work with the show Royal Canadian Air Farce, which she joined in 2003, after starring in her own show, The Holmes Show in 2002. She is also an advocate for mental health issues and is married to actor Scott Yaphe.
Matthew Gregory Besser is an American actor, comedian, director, producer, writer, and one of the four founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy troupe, who had their own show on Comedy Central from 1998 to 2000. He hosts the improvisation-based podcast Improv4humans, previously on the Earwolf network, but now solely operated by himself and Brett Morris.
Edie McClurg is an American retired actress and comedian. She has played supporting roles in the films Carrie (1976), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), and Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988), and bit parts in Cheech and Chong's Next Movie (1980), Mr. Mom (1983) Back to School (1986), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), A River Runs Through It (1992), Natural Born Killers (1994), Flubber (1997), and Air Bud: Spikes Back (2003).
Ian Michael Roberts is an American actor, comedian, writer, and a founding member of the famed Upright Citizens Brigade improv and sketch comedy troupe.
Robert Anderson Huebel is an American comedian and actor. He is best known for his sketch comedy work on the MTV series Human Giant and for his role of Dr. Owen Maestro on the Adult Swim series Childrens Hospital. He also appeared as Russell on the FX/FXX series The League and as Len Novak on the Amazon Prime Video series Transparent. In December 2022, Entertainment Weekly called Huebel "the premier d-bag character actor of his generation".
Elinor Anne Harvie is a Canadian actress who portrayed Morticia on The New Addams Family. Later, she starred as Dr. Lindsey Novak in Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis.
Andrew Daly is an American actor and comedian. He starred as Forrest MacNeil on the Comedy Central series Review, and had a supporting role in the HBO comedy series Eastbound & Down as Terrence Cutler. He has also made recurring appearances on television programs such as Silicon Valley, Veep, Modern Family, Black-ish, Trial & Error, the Netflix series The Who Was? Show, Reno 911!, and Comedy Bang! Bang!, as well as animated shows such as Rick and Morty, Solar Opposites, Bob's Burgers, Adventure Time, and Harley Quinn.
Respecto Montalban was an improvisational and sketch comedy troupe associated with the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City from 1999 until September 2005.
Dannah Phirman (née Feinglass) is an American actress and comedienne who is best known for voicing Becky Botsford/the titular superheroine, on the PBS Kids animated TV series WordGirl and Penny on the Nickelodeon animated TV series The Mighty B!, and for co-starring as Narge Hemingway in the Adult Swim series Newsreaders. She is also the co-creator and co-star of the Hulu reality TV parody series The Hotwives. She was a member of the long-running sketch comedy troupe Respecto Montalban, one of the original improv groups at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.
Caroline Lesley is an American-Canadian actor and singer.
Alan Marriott is a Canadian voice actor, voice teacher and dialect coach.
Paul Tylak is an Irish writer, actor and comedian.
The Fracas! Improv Festival is a three-day annual improvisational theatre festival held at The University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. The festival is hosted by Second Nature Improv, one of USC's improv troupes. In addition to performances, the festival hosts discussion panels with professional improvisers currently working in television, film, and/or theatre, as well as improv workshops. While the performances and panels are open to the public, workshops are available only to registered festival participants.
Peter Gwinn is an American comedy writer and improviser from Evanston, Illinois. He attended Carleton College in Northfield, MN. He was a member of The Second City Touring Company from 1997 to 2000. He has taught at both the I.O. and Upright Citizens Brigade theaters and is the founder of the musical improv group Baby Wants Candy. He is the author of the 2003 book, Group Improvisation: The Manual of Ensemble Improv Games. Gwinn was a staff writer for the TV political satire The Colbert Report until 2012-06-14. He has made several on-screen appearances, as Jimmy the director, as a singer in a "Formula 401" sperm commercial and as a barbecue attendee. He has also written and appeared on the 2013 TV series Alpha House, produced by Amazon Studios.
Sarah Haskins is an American comedian known for her satire about gender stereotypes in the media.
Elizabeth Claire Kemper is an American actress, best known for her roles of Erin Hannon in the sitcom The Office (2009–2013) and Kimmy Schmidt in the sitcom Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015–2019). She has also appeared in films, notably Bridesmaids (2011), 21 Jump Street (2012), Sex Tape (2014), and Home Sweet Home Alone (2021). In 2018, she released her debut book, My Squirrel Days.
Jason Mantzoukas is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter and podcaster. He is best known for his recurring role as Rafi in the FX comedy series The League, his role as Nadal in The Dictator, and as one of the three co-hosts of the podcast How Did This Get Made? alongside Paul Scheer and June Diane Raphael.
Dorthea Lauren Allegra Lapkus is an American actress and comedian, known for portraying Susan Fischer in the Netflix comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black and Jess in the HBO comedy-drama series Crashing (2017–2019). She has also appeared in the television series Are You There, Chelsea? (2012), Hot in Cleveland (2012), Clipped (2015), The Big Bang Theory (2018–2019), and Good Girls (2020–2021) and in the films Jurassic World (2015), The Unicorn (2018), and The Wrong Missy (2020). She played the voice role of Lotta in the animated comedy series Harvey Girls Forever! (2018–2020).
Jessica McKenna is an American actress, comedian and singer. McKenna trained with The Groundlings and at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, where she regularly performs. McKenna was one of the stars of Fox's Party Over Here, alongside Nicole Byer and Alison Rich, and hosted the podcast Off Book: The Improvised Musical until 2023.
References
- ↑ "Jessica Makinson on Instagram: "My first Mother's Day! Feeling forever changed by ♥️. Before my Mom passed, she told me that when you have a baby every cell in your body changes. 8 weeks ago I found out what she really meant. My heart is so full with Ellis. Thank you @grant_mcfadden for making me a Momma. Sending love today to all those who have lost their Mom. ♥️ #mothersday #newmom #forthtrimester #babyboy #redefinemotherhood"".
- ↑ "Jessica Makinson Profile". Metacritic. March 4, 2014. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
- ↑ "Jessica Makinson". Reportingpoint.net. June 17, 2014. Archived from the original on May 31, 2015. Retrieved January 30, 2015.