Austin Improv

shannon, thanks for the props.

for me, inventing a new form is a lot like writing a new play. in the scripted world, some klans would rather produce only new work or only work than they've written themselves. other groups do an excellent job of doing plays written by a third party, or putting a spin on an old classic.
i prefer to be "writing" and producing my own work in the improv world. it helps me feel more involved and accomplished to conceive, rehearse, and produce an improv show that comes off well.

as for a new term for troupe, how about slurry? it implies a mixture that still has distinguishable parts.

I'll throw my two cents in: Taking many of the issues brought up here such as dislike for sports comparisons, a desire to further develop an Austin identity without alienating other cities, yet still loving our country and maintaining a proud tradition of racism, I have come up with something sure to make everyone happy. The AIC now stands for the Austin Improv Confederation. Teams will be called platoons; directors will be called Generals. Andy will need to shave his beard and legally change is name to Jefferson Davis. The Hideout will heretofore be dubbed Fort Sumter, as it is the initial staging ground for our battle to conquer the improv title of this land.

With great reverence to the Chicago style of improv, we will need to burn the entire city to the ground and shave all the mustaches. But please refrain from looting and raping. Come on guys... it's just improv. Keep it in the pants. At this point, I anticipate we will be strong enough to launch a full attack simultaneously on New York and Los Angeles. The Del Close Marathon will be the staging ground for efforts in the East, while the Western campaign will have to be more drawn out over time as the improv scene there is more spread out and the 405 traffic is a bitch.

Oh, and we all get to own slaves.

Thoughts?

The AIC now stands for the Austin Improv Confederation.
I pushed for Confederation when we were naming then damned thing! It's more accurate of the "politcal" structure of the group than collective, co-op, or company.
But, I'm a libertarian so no one listened to me.

With great reverence to the Chicago style of improv, we will need to burn the entire city to the ground
Why not? It's been done before. All we need is a bovine patsy and we're good to go.

As for the attacks on the other cities, you have my steel sworn and I'd be honored to lead the van against N.Y.
(I'm on a watch list now for that last sentence, aren't I?)

We've already assembled a force ready to move out to the West later this summer. The bear-flag republic will cower and tremble beneath out highly polished boots!

This entire weekend, while away from my fair city, I constantly referred to YOU ALL, as my "improv family". Therefore, I think "Godfather", ("Provfather"?), or "Wiseguy" might work as a term for coach/director, and "gang", "pack", or "ring" could work for "troupes/teams".

However, I definately feel like I've become addicted to improv, so I also like Wes' suggestion of a team/troupe being called a "Smack" and the coach/director being called a "(Prov) Pimp" or "(Prov) Pusher" -- though that doesn't do much for the image of improv... (or does it???!!!).

~
High on Improv,
Sara

Wesley wrote: With great reverence to the Chicago style of improv, we will need to burn the entire city to the ground
Why not? It's been done before. All we need is a bovine patsy and we're good to go.

The Chicago fire was nothing compared to what happened to Peshtigo on the exact same night. Chicago had much better PR - their fire killed 200-300 and burned over 2,000 acres compared to Peshtigo's losses of 1200-2500 people (there were as many unidentified dead in Peshtigo as all of Chicago's losses) and 1.5 million acres burned.

Regardless, there are aspects of Chicago that I love, the memory of the late, lamented Lounge Ax being one, the night I spent only $10 and had a great time downtown with my roomate the standup comedian (I was still an engineering intern at the time.) Pizzeria Due, Giordano's - while I like the East Coast grease-wheels, my heart belongs to deep-dish pie.

Still, the only football game I care about each year is the one where the Packers beat the holy living bejeezus out of the Bears, just on principle. Goddamn FIBs...

As for the attacks on the other cities, you have my steel sworn and I'd be honored to lead the van against N.Y.
(I'm on a watch list now for that last sentence, aren't I?)

Nah. Per DHS there's nothing still worth hitting, er, saving in NYC or DC.

Oh, back on topic: I kinda like the cooperative and non-theatre notion of the word 'team' that makes it accessible to non-traditional theatre people. Conversely, 'team' rarely makes sense outside of a competitive and exclusive context. I'm with Shannon - I like 'troupe' or 'ensemble' better because the focus is more on the players and the art, not on the context in which they perform. Realistically, why should I care to destroy NYC and Chicago when they are imploding all by themselves without my help? I don't have to blow anyone for stage time here...

I also think the long-form/short-form argument is stupid because it often translates to The Harold vs ComedySportz which completely ignores plot- (vs theme-)based long-form and non-competitive/non-directed and non-emceed short form (Enter Strawman!) I still think Micetro is mostly ass but not because it's short-form, but that's another beaten-to-death topic for another day.

So there.

How about we follow Parallelogramophonograph's convention of calling each other kittens? Then we can be a "litter" of kittens

We can have Lions and Tigers. And catfights. Brings new meaning to cagematches!

I'm leaning towards "cells" -- in the revolutionary vein.

Then I'm forming a cell and naming it Sleeper.

I like tribe. It's like team and troupe in that it starts with a t and is one syllable long. And "The Pgraph Tribe" sounds awesome to me.

I'm leaning towards "cells" -- in the revolutionary vein.

I am surprised that Andy did not lean towards "comedy clump".

ZING!

-Dav

I like the word Horde. or a Murder. like a murder of crows, only it would like "oh, this is my new improv murder" or "come check out my sketch murder in our new show." it'd be worth it for the strange looks alone!

as a comic book fan, i'm also perfectly okay with the following: League, Legion, Society, Brotherhood, Patrol, Force and Factor. Old troupe names may be recycled by adding the word "New" in front of it (in the grand tradition of New Avengers, New X-Men, New Excalibur)...and should members of a troupe move to a separate coast, they may maintain the name so long as they modify it with the directional name of the coast they are living on (eg: West Coast Avengers, Titans East).

spandex, leather and/or unstable molecules are all optional.

For how much improv is going on....I like acre.

There's a whole acre of improv happening at The Hideout.

For group uniforms...I like plummage.

For quality of improv...I like the use of diseases or condiments...not sure which.

Team

mcnichol wrote:Team

This is the first post of any type on the AIC forums in months.

Now that's a callback.