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Kim "Howard" Johnson | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 6, 1955 Ottawa, Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupation | Author |
| Nationality | American |
Kim "Howard" Johnson (born August 6, 1955, in Ottawa, Illinois) is an American author and actor.
Johnson started his writing career as co-editor of a student magazine titled The Blue Goldfish at Ottawa Township High School. He is now the author of several books related to Monty Python as well as other nonfiction volumes. Johnson was the publisher of a Monty Python fanzine when he first met the members of the troupe in 1978. [1] During the 1980s, Johnson studied improv under Del Close during the founding days of Improv Olympic (now iO) and would go on to publish two books on Close - Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation (1994) and The Funniest One in the Room: The Lives and Legends of Del Close (2008). [2]
In addition to his writing, Johnson has taught comedy at the iO theater in Chicago and has pursued acting for both stage and screen. He has appeared in several theater productions with Walt Willey in and around their mutual hometown of Ottawa, Illinois. Johnson has also appeared in two films by director Marc Wilkinson: the 2012 short drama The October Crisis and a 2016 horror-comedy satirizing the teen drama programs of the 1990s titled Autumn Bluffs. Currently, he teaches comedy online at The Comedy Lab.
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.
Monty Python were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show Monty Python's Flying Circus, which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series. The Python phenomenon developed from the television series into something larger in scope and influence, including touring stage shows, films, albums, books and musicals. The Pythons' influence on comedy has been compared to the Beatles' influence on music. Regarded as an enduring icon of 1970s pop culture, their sketch show has been referred to as being "an important moment in the evolution of television comedy".
Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of improvisation can apply to many different faculties, across all artistic, scientific, physical, cognitive, academic, and non-academic disciplines; see Applied improvisation.
The Compass Players was an improvisational theatre revue active from 1955 to 1958 in Chicago and St. Louis. Founded by David Shepherd and Paul Sills, it is considered to be the first improvisational theater in the United States.
The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959, and has since become one of the most influential and prolific comedy theatres in the English-speaking world. In February 2021, ZMC, a private equity investment firm based in Manhattan, purchased the Second City.
Del Close was an American actor, writer, and teacher who coached many of the best-known comedians and comic actors of the late twentieth century. In addition to an acting career in television and film, he was one of the influences on modern improvisational theater. Close is co-founder of the iO, or iO Chicago,.
The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre is an American improvisational theatre company and training center founded by the Upright Citizens Brigade troupe members Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh.
Mr Eric Praline is a fictional character from the television show Monty Python's Flying Circus, played by comedian John Cleese.
Harold is a structure used in longform improvisational theatre that is performed by improv troupes and teams across the world. In the Harold structure, characters and themes are introduced and then recur in a series of connected scenes. It was first performed in California by The Committee in 1967.
Charna Halpern is an American comedian who is co-founder of the ImprovOlympic, now known as iO. Upon iO's founding, in 1983, with partner Del Close, she began teaching Harold to many students in the Chicago theater community. Many prominent comedians performed at iO, from Neil Flynn to Jack McBrayer. Also appearing were up and coming comedic minds such as Craig Cackowski.
The Magnet Theater is an improvisational comedy theatre and improv school in New York City.
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.
Whirled News Tonight is a weekly improvised satire that has performed since 2003 at the iO Theater in Chicago, Illinois.
Fawad Siddiqui is an American actor, improvisational comedian, journalist and cartoonist.
The Committee was a San Francisco-based improvisational comedy group founded by Alan Myerson and Jessica Myerson. The Myersons were both alums of The Second City in Chicago. The Committee opened April 10, 1963 at 622 Broadway in a 300-seat Cabaret theater that used to be an indoor bocce ball court in San Francisco's North Beach.
The Purple Crayon of Yale, or the Purple Crayon, is an improvisational theater group at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. The group specializes in longform improv, such as the Harold. The Purple Crayon is Yale's second-oldest improv group, after the Ex!t Players, and the oldest collegiate longform group in the country.
John Brent was an American comedian, actor and beat poet.
Monty Python Live! is a book detailing the various live performances of the Monty Python team between 1971 and 1980.
Game of the scene is a concept in the longform format of improvisational theater.
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