Improv Nation
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361 “All of a sudden,” Smithberg said: Armstrong, “Meet the Woman Who Invented ‘The Daily Show.’”
362 only meaningful political satire available: Jules Feiffer to author.
362 Paul Sills loved The Daily Show: Aretha Sills to author.
362 “In every spirit tradition that I know”: Alan Arkin to Gerald Bartell, Kirkus Q&A, March 1, 2011, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/kirkus-q-alan-arkin-an-improvised-life/.
362 piece of rope, a suitcase, a squirrel: http://theslenderthread.org/broadening-the-arc-of-devotion/.
362 “You failed!” Arkin would laugh: Ibid.
362 idiots of God: Alan Arkin to author.
363 “How do we bring this back to the real world?”: Alan Arkin, An Improvised Life, 181.
363 “Before those lights come up”: Pam Victor, “Geeking Out with TJ Jagodowski (Part Two),” My Nephew Is A Poodle (blog), October 2012. http://pamvictor.blogspot.com/2012/10/geeking-out-withtj-jagodowski-part-two.html.
363 “discovery of what is already there”: Pam Victor, “Geeking Out with Dave Pasquesi (Part Two),” My Nephew Is a Poodle (blog), June 14, 2012, http://pamvictor.blogspot.com/search/label/Geeking%20Out%20with . . .Dave%20Pasquesi%20%28Part%20Two%29.
363 “heat” and “weight”: Victor, “Geeking Out with TJ Jagodowski (Part Two),” My Nephew Is A Poodle (blog), October 2012.
363 “Improvisation is itself an exercise in faith”: Victor, “Geeking Out with Dave Pasquesi (Part Two),” My Nephew Is a Poodle (blog), June 14, 2012.
364 turned to his wife, Jane: Jane Sahlins to author.
364 In Los Angeles, Elaine ran into Victor Kemper: Victor Kemper to author.
364 “With Stephen,” said executive: Adam Sternbergh, “Stephen Colbert Has America by the Ballots,” New York Magazine, October 8, 2006, http://nymag.com/news/politics/22322/.
365 “The trouble with the jokes”: Charles McGrath, “How Many Stephen Colberts Are There?,” New York Times Magazine, January 4, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/magazine/stephen-colbert.html?ref=magazine.
365 “This show has two characters”: Colbert, ADD Comedy with Dave Razowsky.
365 “If a particular moment goes well”: Stephen Colbert to David Plotz, “Working with David Plotz” (podcast), Slate, October 16, 2014, audio recording, http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/working/2014/10/stephen_colbert_on_his_improv_background_and_how_he_gets_in_character_for.html.
365 “I’m prepared for the idea”: YouTube Video, Stephen Colbert New Late Show Host, Interview Process, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS85-jH59KQ.
365 “I do the show in character”: Stephen Colbert to David Plotz, “Working with David Plotz” (podcast), Slate, October 16, 2014.
366 “Stephen,” she said, “you look so tired”: Judd Apatow, Sick in the Head: Conversations About Life and Comedy, 458.
366 “Every time I watch Colbert”: Mike Nichols to author.
367 “Were you scared?”: David Kamp, “The Cat’s Meow,” Vanity Fair, December 13, 2012, http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2013/01/martin-short-hollywoods-most-beloved.
367 “as a pebble that I can throw”: Colbert, YouTube Video, Stephen Colbert: “America Again: Re-Becoming the Greatness We Never Weren’t,” Talks at Google, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HpBHWUPa8Q.
367 “If General Petraeus invites you to do your show”: Neil Strauss, “The Subversive Joy of Stephen Colbert,” Rolling Stone, September 17, 2009, http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/the-subversive-joy-of-stephen-colbert-20090917.
367 “The people in Iraq were so grateful”: Ibid.
367 “These initiations and these responses”: Stephen Colbert, “Panel Discussion: The Colbert Report, Second City 50th Anniversary Celebration,” December 11, 2009.
368 “led to a continuing game”: Ibid.
368 “All those things”: Neil Strauss, “The Subversive Joy of Stephen Colbert.”
368 “You know this is going to be a terrible idea?”: Colbert, YouTube Video, “America Again: Re-Becoming the Greatness We Never Weren’t.”
370 “That was our alliance, kind of, our big bond”: Steve Heisler, “Harold Ramis,” A.V. Club, June 19, 2009, http://www.avclub.com/article/harold-ramis-29410.
370 “We are all the spawn”: Harold Ramis to Robert Loerzel, “11 Questions for Harold Ramis: An Unpublished Interview,” Chicago, February 24, 2014.
370 he could actually hear the film: Tad Friend, “First Banana.”
370 “know the rules of improv”: Adam McKay to author.
370 “You have any ideas for a movie?”: Steve Carell to Eric Spitznagel, “Steve Carell: The Playboy Interview,” June 2008.
371 “I could walk into a studio right now”: Ibid.
371 “It’s almost a think-tank approach”: Tad Friend, “First Banana.”
371 “Judd is like a feedback machine”: Joel Stein, “Judd Apatow, Seriously,” Time, August 10, 2009.
371 “What became clear very early”: John Horn, “Keeping ‘Virgin’ funny, but with its pants on,” Los Angeles Times, August 14, 2005, http://articles.latimes.com/2005/aug/14/entertainment/ca-virgin14.
371 “They didn’t tell me anything I disagreed with”: Ibid.
371 “I look at the people I meet”: Sharon Waxman, “Giving the Last Laugh to Life’s Losers,” New York Times, May 6, 2007.
371 “It’s very hard to capture the energy of men”: Jay A. Fernandez, “‘Knocked Up’ cast was quick on the uptake,” Los Angeles Times, June 1, 2007, http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jun/01/entertainment/et-knockedset1.
372 “As a Jewish actor with a very deep voice”: Seth Rogen, Harold Ramis Memorial, Montalban Theater, Los Angeles, CA, June 17, 2014.
372 “If I was 20 years old”: Gwynedd Stewart, “Judd Apatow answers questions about asking questions,” Chicago Reader, June 12, 2015, http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/judd-apatow-sick-in-the-head-amy-schumer-trainwreck/Content?oid=17980311.
372 “We’re in the same business”: Harold Ramis to Steve Heisler, interview, A.V. Club (website), June 19, 2009.
372 “I never finish a script”: Stephen Galloway, “The Angsty Existence of Judd Apatow,” The Hollywood Reporter, December 12, 2012, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/judd-apatow-this-is-40-400607.
372 “a thrill that I constantly remind my real father”: Seth Rogen, Harold Ramis Memorial, Montalban Theater, Los Angeles, CA, June 17, 2014.
373 “Isn’t this great? Don’t you think?”: David Shepherd to author.
373 “Fuck loss of privacy”: Lewis Grossberger, “Bill Murray: Making It Up as He Goes,” Rolling Stone, August 20, 1981.
373 (“I ended up staying seven weeks”): Richard Price, “Bill Murray’s Wild Ride,” New York Daily News, May 24, 1991.
373 Strait of Malacca: Ibid.
373 “Would you sign this for my sister?”: Blount, “Have You Heard the One About Bill Murray.”
373 panhandler’s bag of coins: Judith Harney, “Bill Murray, in All Seriousness,” New York Times Magazine, February 21, 1999.
374 “Sorry, I don’t do autographs”: David Friedman, “Juiced but Loose,” New York Newsday, March 4, 1993.
374 bored at a fancy benefit dinner: Benjamin Svetkey with Ray Bennett, “Quick Change Artist,” Entertainment Weekly, July 20, 1990.
374 the Friars Club: Harold Conrad, “At Large with Bill Murray,” Smart, July–August 1989.
374 “Why,” he asked, “should I devote”: Chase, “Bill Murray: More Than Just a Funnyman.”
374 “We just figured he was someone’s dad”: Brett Martin, “This Guy Could Be President,” GQ, January 2013.
374 Bill Murray sightings: “A classic ‘Bill Murray Story,’” according to the explanation on the website billmurraystory.com, “is a tale, told in the first person,” featuring “Bill Murray doing something ridiculous. Typically these stories end with Murray saying ‘No one will ever believe you,’ or something to that effect.”
374 “You’ve changed more th
an anybody”: Kashner, “Who’s Afraid of Nichols & May?”
GOODNIGHT, EVERYONE
378“the rules of improvisation”: Eugenie Ross-Leming to author.
Index
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
A
Abbott, George, 40, 90
ABC (American Broadcasting Company), 215, 231, 267, 357
absurdity, 97–98
Adderley, Cannonball, 84
Adelaide Street theater, 188–90, 194, 204
Adsit, Scott, 300, 331, 333, 334, 339
Albert, Eddie, 160
Albert, Trevor, 256, 258, 321–24
Aldredge, Tom, 76, 78
Alexander, Andrew
SCTV, 230–31, 234, 235, 250–51
Second City Chicago and, 191–92, 287–88
Second City Toronto and, 188, 194–95, 220–21
Alk, Howard, 60, 62, 95
Allen, Woody, 59–60, 79
Allman, Scott, 313, 345
Altman, Robert, 147–48
Alyce Films, 223–24, 229
“Amateur Hour,” 140
American culture
of the 1950s, 31–32, 54, 59
of the 1960s, 88–89, 97
of 1970s–1980s, 270–71
founding principles of, 84
during wartime, 124–26, 129–33
Anchorman, 370–71
Ander, Calvin, 88
Angels in America, 364
Animal House, 218, 231, 238, 243–44, 248
Annoyance Theatre, 339–41
Ansari, Aziz, 352
Apatow, Judd, 279, 370–72
Argo Off-Beat Room, 42
Ark Improvisational Theater, 295
Arkin, Alan
Broadway acting and directing of, 107, 117, 141–42
film acting by, 107–8
“Museum Piece,” 71–73
on Sand, 7
work at Second City, 70–71, 79
workshops by, 362–63
Arkin, David, 273
The Armando Diaz Experience, 332, 351
Arquette, Lewis, 119, 347
Arrick, Larry and Rose, 58
ASSSSCAT 3000, 350–52
Atlantic, 59
Austin, Gary, 119–20, 166–68, 214–16, 356–57
Austin, Ronnie, 6, 7
Aykroyd, Dan
Belushi and, 205–6, 267
Blues Brothers, 247–49, 255, 276
Bromfield and, 179, 183–85, 187, 188, 189
description of, 183–84, 203–4
505 Club of, 197, 204–5, 219
Ghostbusters, 276–79
on Murray, 236, 276
Saturday Night Live, 219, 225
work at Second City Toronto, 183
Azaria, Hank, 335, 336
B
Bancroft, Anne, 121
Barefoot in the Park, 90–91
Barnes, Clive, 142
Baron’s Barracudas, 286, 330
Barry, J. J., 119, 130, 137
Beatty, Warren, 116, 228, 296–97, 298
Belafonte, Harry, 54–55
Belushi, John
Animal House, 243–44
Aykroyd and, 205–6, 267
Blues Brothers, 247–49, 255, 276
in Chicago DNC riots, 131–32, 133
Close and, 165, 303
contract and management of, 227
drugs and death of, 164, 207, 267–69, 354
early life and humor of, 152–53
Ghostbusters and, 276
as influence, 41, 296, 310, 312, 353
The National Lampoon Radio Hour, 206, 207–9
The National Lampoon Show, 213–14
Ramis on, 152, 155, 249
Saturday Night Live, 226, 227, 228
at Second City, 152, 153–54
Belushi, Judy, 131–32, 133, 153, 164, 269
Berle, Milton, 55, 263
Berlin, Ida, 23–24, 37
Berlin, Jack, 23–24
Berlin, Jeannie, 100, 142, 158, 160, 167
Berman, Shelley, 43–44, 46, 62, 66, 75
Bernstein, Leonard, 86, 87
Beshekas, Steve, 153, 255
Bessada, Milad, 234
Besser, Matt, 312, 318, 326–27
Bill, Joe, 326
Biloxi Blues, 308
The Birdcage, 335–37
Bishop, Larry, 273
Blanchard, John, 262
Blasucci, Dick, 217, 252, 254
Blue Angel, 55–57
BlueCo, 338
Blues Bars, 255
Blues Brothers, 207, 247–49
The Blues Brothers (movie), 248, 255, 276
blues music, 206, 207
Blue Velveeta, 317
Body Politic, 149
Bonerz, Peter, 119, 125
Bowen, Roger, 25–26, 30, 60, 62
“Box Office Poison,” 267
Boyd, Neva, 3–4
Brecht, Bertolt, 20, 32, 98–99
Brent, John, 74, 92, 119
“Brest-Litovsk,” 190
Bretherton, David, 258
A Briefcase Full of Blues (Blues Brothers), 248
Brillstein, Bernie, 227, 267
British censorship, 82–84
Broadway comedy, 39–40, 68–69, 74
See also specific shows
Bromfield, Valri
Aykroyd and, 179, 183–85, 187, 188, 189
Saturday Night Live, 214, 226, 227
Brooks, Mel, 110, 273
Brothers Grimm, 127–28
Bruce, Lenny, 79, 80, 107, 271
Buber, Martin, 102, 103
Burch, Kerry T., 84
Burnett, Carol, 215
Burns, Jack, 55, 74
Burton, Richard, 108
Byrum, John, 259
C
Caddyshack, 217, 238–39, 256–60, 271–72
Calley, John, 147, 335
Cambridge, Godfrey, 88, 89
Canadian culture, 179–81
See also Toronto
Candy, John
on Belushi’s death, 267–68
Big City Comedy, 251
description of, 185–86, 187, 191
SCTV, 231, 232–33, 234, 239, 251
Second City audition of, 186, 187
Cannibal Girls, 212
Canzonetti, Andrew, 228–29
Capp, Al, 59
Carell, Steve, 300, 313–14, 331, 359–60, 370–72
Carlin, George, 224, 226
Carnal Knowledge, 148
carnival entertainment, 11–12
Carrane, Jimmy, 305, 314, 316
Carroll, Victoria, 357
Carter, John, 198, 199
Cassavetes, John, 150, 171–76
Catch-22 (movie), 147–48
The Caucasian Chalk Circle, 20
Coughlan, Robert, 30
CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), 240, 253
Cerebral Strip Mine, 319
See also Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB)
Chase, Chevy, 206, 210, 225, 243, 257
Chicago, 13–14, 129–33, 206–7
See also Second City Chicago
Chicago Daily News, 16, 17
Chicago Seven, 145–46
Chicago Tribune, 65, 146
Children’s Theater, 99, 140, 294
Christiansen, Richard, 65
Citizen Gates, 343
Clark Theater, 71
Close, Del
addictions of, 58–59, 66, 101, 170, 242, 250, 268
auditions of, 41–42, 110
Belushi and, 165, 303
on Bill Murray, 171
description of, 102, 111, 163, 325
drug addiction of, 85–86, 87
early life of, 4–5, 8, 11–12
The Explainers, 141
on Farley, 304–5
father’s suicide and, 58–59
fired from Second City, 95, 242
Halpern and, 283–86, 353–56
on
human discovery, 8, 74–75
ImprovOlympic, xiii, 283, 290, 303, 330–31
on improv’s impermanence, xii, 85, 379
improv workshops by, 80, 111–12, 120, 283–86
as influence, 303
Invocation, 269, 283–85
on Jazz Freddy, 316–17
on Kennedy’s assassination, 93
last party and death of, 353–56
May and, 24, 52–53, 166
in New York Compass, 58–59
Patinkin and, 75, 85, 101–2
on Radner and improv’s prominence, 309–10
recovery of, 255, 268–69
Saturday Night Live and, 266
on seeing Playwrights Theater Club, 22
staged robbery by, 16
in St. Louis Compass, 47–48, 49, 52
in Story Theater, 149
Truth in Comedy book, 330–31, 354
unreleased improvised film and, 291–94
work at Second City, 74, 163–65, 241–42
See also Harolds (longform)
“Clowns,” 313
The Clown Who Ran Away, 7
Club Paradise, 321
cocaine, 207, 239, 255, 258, 266, 268
Cochrane, Sally, 195
Coed Prison Sluts, 339–41
Cohen, Nathan, 177
Colbert, Stephen
The Colbert Report, 364–65