Videos with * are done ‘socially distanced’ (usually Zoom)
Playlists by feature: mapping, Harolds, heightening, parody, etc. – playlists on YouTube
improv videos – socially distanced (très modern)
Jimmy and Johnny: * 21 Feb. 2021 with (FB); 17 Jan 2021 (FB);
John Hildreth yes the heck and-ing with Jay Sukow – They are on Zoom. They talk a little about teaching and improving over Zoom vs. in person (Sukow teaches through Second City LA)
improv videos (older) – players in the same place
that Assscat video with Amy Poehler
Characters (scripted)!
UCB Characters Welcome – *A pretty good one seemingly done on Zoom – Mona Lisa – Two trench coats in a kid – Every Gray’s Anatomy surgery
Kids in the Hall has a bunch
The Bamf – I think Maria Bamford deserves a cool nickname, so I’m going to call her The Bamf. For fun female characters, she’s good, plus she kind of is an interesting character whenever she’s talking on stage (Colbert) . When your boss… – Smile for me (mentions doing different voices)
Tracey Ullman – Haven’t seen the links in that page yet, but I don’t want to forget about Tracey Ullman. Some of her more recent characters; some of the older stuff might be interesting for contrasting with what we’re used to now: Fern Rosenthal –
Kate McKinnon – [note to self – how distinct are her characters from each other?]
Both McKinnon and Ullman have done takes on Angela Merkel!
Compare and contrast: This Ullman sketch, “Angela Merkel’s poker face problem” is really good – her scene partner does well also; plays two roles in Angela Merkel vs. her wannabe; Ullman does Merkel with a crush
McKinnon as Merkel one (end of 2016) – On being the peacekeeper – Saucy and crushing on Obama
Sketches with interesting characters
Invisible spy (A Black Lady Sketch Show) – I LOVE this concept – a regular-looking woman being invisible in sketch land
Bad Bitch Support Group – multiple women characters together, fairly recent – noticing the differences between the characters is interesting
Kids in the Hall “Can I Keep Him” (mapping example)
Solo sketches – one person, multiple parts
Delivering facts but still character-y
Ze Frank: The Angler Fish
“Randall”: The Honey Badger (“Honey badger don’t care; honey badger just takes what it wants”)
Oz du Soleil: An Excel Meditation with Tables, XLOOKUP, Dynamic Arrays in a Dynamic Dropdown List Solution
Music Improv
Off Book –
podcasts
Hello from the Magic Tavern
Follows the adventures of Arnie Niekamp, who fell through a magical portal behind a Burger King and into the mystical realm of Foon. Each week, he interviews different characters he meets in the world, beaming up the results to us listeners via a very weak Wi-Fi signal.
Hey Riddle Riddle
Adal Rifai, Erin Keif and John Patrick Coan apparently solve riddles and puzzles and/or improvise. Looking forward to listening.
callout episode: ep. 16: American Hero
Improv Nerd with Jimmy Carrane
Jimmy Carrane interviews improvisers – including famous and semi-famous ones – about improv, and does an improv set with each of them. This is how I learned that one of my SC teachers was seriously into Zen Buddhism and another one interviewed Dell Close for a school project. There are a lot of episodes.
etc.
Because I don’t want to make a separate post –
“support”
I think the word may need a helping word when talking about support in improv. Otherwise — is it just a synonym for ‘good improv’? Or, when used as a verb, a synonym for ‘do something to make a scene better’ (which is legit, but I’d like to have that confirmed)?
‘supporting the scene’
‘supporting the other player(s)’
‘being a supporting character’ (as contrasted with being the main/driving character)