The Immediate Gratification Players (IGP) are a collegiate improvisational comedy troupe based out of Harvard College. [1] They specialize in long form, free-form improvisation and are recognized as one of the top college troupes in the nation. [2]
The Immediate Gratification Players (IGP) are a collegiate improvisational comedy troupe based out of Harvard College. [1] They specialize in long form, free-form improvisation and are recognized as one of the top college troupes in the nation. [2]
The Immediate Gratification Players were founded by Harvard freshmen in the fall of 1986. The Immediate Gratification Players do not charge for admission to their on-campus shows. Their red-and-yellow striped ties are one of the troupe's hallmarks.
Each year, the Immediate Gratification Players host the Laugh Riot improvisational comedy festival at the American Repertory Theater. The invitational festival, begun in the spring of 1999 and now entering its 20th year, includes troupes from other colleges, including Cornell, Wesleyan University, and Columbia University. [3] [4] [5] On the weekend of the annual Harvard-Yale football game, the Immediate Gratification Players either host or travel to a show which also stars an improvisational comedy troupe from Yale. [6] [7] Along with on-campus shows, they also play at Boston's Improv Asylum and at comedy clubs in New York City. [8] Beyond the northeast, the Immediate Gratification Players have played in Florida, Los Angeles, Texas, Chicago, San Francisco, and London. [9] [10] [11]
Apart from a traditional long form, free-form, the Immediate Gratification Players annually perform shows in specialty forms such as the “dinner party” and “radio show” formats. In 2007, they were selected out of the numerous Boston-based improv troupes to star in several comedy sketches produced by the Boston Globe in its Peter Post etiquette section. [12] [13] In 2010, they were selected to roast Wyclef Jean when he was named Artist of the Year by the Harvard Foundation. [14] Shakira was honored in 2011 as the Harvard Foundation Artist of the Year, and again the Immediate Gratification Players were asked to roast her. [15] The Immediate Gratification Players continued working with the Harvard Foundation, roasting John Legend in 2012 when he was named Artist of the Year [16] The following year in 2013, they roasted Nicole Scherzinger, also a recipient of the Artist of the Year award. [17] In 2014, the Harvard Foundation honored LL Cool J as Artist of the Year, and once again, IGP got a chance to participate in the celebrity roast. [18] In 2015, IGP participated in the roast of Eva Longoria, recipient of the Harvard Foundation Artist of the Year award. [19]
In 2010, the Immediate Gratification Players began honoring great comedians with a background in improvisational comedy as their Immediate Gratification Player of the Year. The award is not strictly annual, with the troupe's leader remarking that the group is "hoping to give this award as much as possible, devaluing it to the point where it basically means nothing." [20] The award recipient performs the monologue portion of an Armando form show, where several scenes are based on the themes brought up in the monologue, which itself is formed from a crowd suggestion. Upon completion of the show, the honoree receives their own red-and-yellow striped tie. [21]
The inaugural award recipient was comedian Jeff Garlin of Curb Your Enthusiasm and WALL-E fame. [22] [23] Garlin later wore his necktie on an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. [24]
In 2011, Wayne Brady of ABC's Whose Line Is It Anyway was named the second Immediate Gratification Player of the Year. [25] [26]
The Player of the Year ceremony was paused from 2020 through 2022 due to the COVID-19 global pandemic and resumed in 2023.
| Name | Year |
|---|---|
| Jeff Garlin | 2010 |
| Wayne Brady | 2011 |
| Jason Alexander | 2013 |
| Keegan-Michael Key | 2014 (ceremony in 2015) |
| Nick Offerman | 2016 (ceremony in 2015) |
| Colin Mochrie | 2017 |
| Rachel Bloom | 2019 |
| Angela Kinsey | 2023 |
In December 2010, the troupe released its first published book, an improv how-to guide aimed at students, entitled “So You Think You’re Funny: A Students’ Guide to Improv Comedy.” [27] The book was published by Meriwether Publishing, which is known for other comedy publications such as "Truth in Comedy" by Del Close.
| Name | Class year | Notability | Reference(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Karen Chee | 2017 | Late Night with Seth Meyers writer | |
| Farai Chideya | 1990 | Journalist, former host of NPR's News and Notes | [28] |
| Nate Dern | 2007 | Author of Not Quite a Genius, Senior Writer at Funny or Die, Artistic Director at Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre New York, Comedian, Reality Show contestant, season 3 of Beauty and the Geek | [29] [30] |
| Misha Glouberman | 1990 | Founder of the Immediate Gratification Players, host of Canadian barroom lecture series Trampoline Hall, and noted charades enthusiast | [31] [32] |
| Sarah Haskins | 2001 | Trophy Wife co-creator, Current TV's Target Women | [33] |
| Todd Kim | 1994 | First Solicitor General of Washington, D.C., First contestant on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? | |
| Justin Krebs | 2000 | Creator of Drinking Liberally | [34] [35] |
| David Modigliani | 2002 | Director and Producer; Crawford (film) and Trust Us, This Is All Made Up | [36] |
| Nicholas Stoller | 1998 | Director and Producer; Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek, Fun with Dick and Jane, and The Storks | [37] [38] [39] |
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.
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.
Inman Square is a neighborhood and historic district in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It lies north of Central Square, at the junction of Cambridge, Hampshire, and Inman Streets near the Cambridge–Somerville border.
Matthew Paul Walsh is an American comedian and actor, best known for his role as Mike McLintock in Veep for which he received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He is a founding member of the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy troupe, with which he co-starred in the original television series and the 2015 reboot. He also previously starred in short-lived comedy programs such as Dog Bites Man and Players, and was a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He has also appeared in films such as Road Trip (2000), Bad Santa (2003), School for Scoundrels (2006), Role Models (2008), The Hangover (2009) and The Do-Over (2016).
IGP can refer to:
ImprovBoston is a nonprofit improvisational theater, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers shows and classes its theater in Central Square. Classes are offered in improvisation, stand-up comedy, musical improv, and sketch writing.
The Wellington Improvisation Troupe (WIT) is a not-for-profit, community-based improvisational theatre group in Wellington, New Zealand. It is run by a committee elected by and from its forty to sixty active members. WIT performs both long and short-form improvisation.
Theatre Strike Force is the University of Florida's premier improv and sketch comedy troupe. The group also goes by TSF. The style of improv performed by Theatre Strike Force is a combination long form and short form. They both teach and perform improvisational comedy. They have six house teams which include both forms of improv as well as a sketch team. There are four long form house teams which are cast every semester and usually have six to eight members. The TSF Short Form Team is cast every semester as well and usually has fifteen to nineteen members. TSF Sketch is the final house team and usually has twelve to sixteen members, cast each semester.
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.
Nicholas Stoller is a British-American filmmaker. He is known mainly for directing the 2008 comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall, its 2010 spin-off/sequel, Get Him to the Greek, The Five-Year Engagement, Neighbors (2014), its 2016 sequel Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, co-writing and executive producing The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted, and writing and directing Storks (2016).
Oui Be Negroes is an African-American improvisational sketch comedy ensemble, founded by Artistic Director Shaun Landry and Director Hans Summers. They worked together for years in Chicago with the Underground Theatre Conspiracy, and had thrown around the idea of an African-American-driven sketch and improvisational comedy troupe, which would be geared specifically toward social and political humor.
On Thin Ice, (OTI) is Harvard College's oldest Improvisational comedy group. OTI specializes in short-form improvisational theater taking the form of various comedy games in the style of Whose Line Is It Anyway?.
Sarah Haskins is an American comedian known for her satire about gender stereotypes in the media.
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.
The Tenderloins are an American comedy troupe composed of James "Murr" Murray, Brian "Q" Quinn, and Sal Vulcano. The group stars in the television series Impractical Jokers, which premiered on December 15, 2011. The program airs on truTV and TBS in the U.S. and on Comedy Central in the UK, Ireland, and India.
Bovine Metropolis Theater was the first dedicated improvisational performance and improvisational comedy theater in the Denver Metro Area. It is located at 1527 Champa Street, Denver, Colorado.
Seoul City Improv (SCI) is a theater company and improvisational comedy troupe located in Seoul, South Korea. Founded in 2007, in Seoul's Itaewon neighborhood by an international group of actors and creatives it known to be Korea's oldest English-language improv group and has since grown to perform all around the world, including Taiwan, Tokyo, Hong Kong, USA, Canada and more.
