Thank God You're Here! on NBC Monday night

acrouch · Post by **acrouch** » April 9th, 2007, 12:12 am

There's a new prime-time improv show in which four celebrity actor/improvisers (Newman from Seinfeld, the Dad from Malcom in the Middle, Stiffler's Mom from American Pie, and the host of E!'s Soup) are dressed in a costume and thrust into a semi-scripted situation where they must try their best to look like they know exactly what's going on.

And yet they don't use the word improv ONCE in the entire program. They actively avoid using the word improv.

You can watch the entire pilot here: http://www.nbc.com/Video/rewind/full_ep ... w=thankgod

There's some really fun stuff, some clunky stuff, but overall it looks promising.

kbadr · Post by **kbadr** » April 9th, 2007, 12:18 am

The host says "everything but a script", but he doesn't stress it.

Interesting premise. I think I heard about this a while ago.

Also, Dave Foley is the judge and he called it a "Dramatical Cagematch". It's very theatresportsy.

So far, the first one is chock-full of front-loaded offers that the scripted players hand the improvisers. Looks fun, though.

(Roy found some clips of the British show on YouTube. Pretty damn funny...)

beardedlamb · Post by **beardedlamb** » April 9th, 2007, 12:22 am

i think the common conception of the term improv has lost some of its fire and appeal. whose line's popularity has put it into a compartment and i think tv people are afraid to touch that because they don't want people to think that it's just like that. a lot of shows have used improv or been improv and actively avoided using it as a promotional tool.

we have to change this. it's not going to be easy.

kbadr · Post by **kbadr** » April 9th, 2007, 12:29 am

Do you think we need to change it?

I'm torn right now between the idea of "selling improv" and just doing improvised shows that are so damn good that no one needs to know or care that it's improv to get them in the door. Still get a suggestion, and remind them that it was improvised after the shows over, but maybe not push the concept up front (until more people understand what it is)

York99 · Post by **York99** » April 9th, 2007, 3:02 am

beardedlamb wrote:i think the common conception of the term improv has lost some of its fire and appeal. whose line's popularity has put it into a compartment and i think tv people are afraid to touch that because they don't want people to think that it's just like that. a lot of shows have used improv or been improv and actively avoided using it as a promotional tool.

we have to change this. it's not going to be easy.

Or we could change the word improv. Seriously. It's a tried and true marketing technique. Repackage it as "Unscripted Comedy" for example, but figure out a euphamism that is more appealing.

Start the brainstorming, Creatives!

idrake76 · Post by **idrake76** » April 9th, 2007, 9:53 am

as for the Thank God Your Here show, they started it in Australia and if you go to You Tube you can check out a ton of clips from the show. Looks like a lot of fun!

ratliff · Post by **ratliff** » April 9th, 2007, 12:09 pm

Asaf and I were talking about this last night. He was saying he didn't like it when groups announced that something is improvised and it seemed like a disclaimer. I completely agree with him and Kareem that we should at all times be shooting for something so entertaining that it doesn't matter whether you know it's improvised.

However: I am convinced, without being able to offer proof, that knowing it's improvised goes far beyond the rational observation that hey-these-people-are-really-clever. Not to get all Zen about it, but realizing that I'm watching something completely unique, irreplaceable, and of this particular moment is very valuable to me. Yes, it makes some things seem a lot funnier or more amazing, and it makes me cut the performers some slack, but it also makes me pay closer attention.

I had to get up and speak at my dad's 70th birthday, and instead of writing it down I just got the main beats in my head and went with it. (This was before I knew any of you people existed or that you called them beats.) It was much better than it would have been if I'd read it, to the extent that people were asking for copies of it. What really struck me was the reaction when I told them that it was off the cuff and that there were no copies. Some people actually seemed pissed. They were so used to everything being endless replicated for their enjoyment that the idea of an experience being irreproducible was slightly offensive to them. That's when I knew I had done the right thing. (In retrospect, that's probably when I knew I was an improviser, though I didn't really know what that was yet.)

So yes, I like the fact that being present in the moment is a big fuck-you to endlessly reproduced consumer culture. But I think that same thing could be a selling point. If we keep hammering the 'comedy' angle, people will compare it to other comedy, and that's fine. But I feel like we're missing a bet with the 'anything could happen' angle. Or, to be slightly cynical, we could draw even more attention to the fact that the train could go off the rails at any moment. I know that some people don't go see improv because they get nervous on behalf of the performers, but we're never getting those people anyway. I bet a lot of other people would get off on that. As a famous bull rider once said, nobody wants the rider to get hurt, but they want to see it if he does.

Improv = DANGER. Just a thought. Marketing guys, how does this play in Peoria?

kbadr · Post by **kbadr** » April 9th, 2007, 12:21 pm

On a slightly related tangent...

Seeing the setup of this show made me have a daydream of a TV show that goes something like this:

Host comes out and gets a suggestions.
Players come out to a standard improv stage (couple chairs, maybe a door)
Players do a couple scenes to start a longform.
Host says "when we come back from the commercial, we'll see the rest of this show."

Many hours pass, during which stage hands, set designers, and costume people build the environment and costumes that were established in the first few scenes.

Commercial ends, and the players finish the show in the environment that is now very real.

Could be interesting to watch...or it could take the fun out of improv. Though, based on how entertaining it was to see the imps play a naive/expert game repeatedly on Thank God You're Here, it might actually work...

idrake76 · Post by **idrake76** » April 9th, 2007, 12:23 pm

kbadr wrote:On a slightly related tangent...

Seeing the setup of this show made me have a daydream of a TV show that goes something like this:

Host comes out and gets a suggestions.
Players come out to a standard improv stage (couple chairs, maybe a door)
Players do a couple scenes to start a longform.
Host says "when we come back from the commercial, we'll see the rest of this show."

Many hours pass, during which stage hands, set designers, and costume people build the environment and costumes that were established in the first few scenes.

Commercial ends, and the players finish the show in the environment that is now very real.

Could be interesting to watch...or it could take the fun out of improv. Though, based on how entertaining it was to see the imps play a naive/expert game repeatedly on Thank God You're Here, it might actually work...

i like it. would definitely be interesting to be a part of the set crew on that one.

ratliff · Post by **ratliff** » April 9th, 2007, 12:29 pm

Actually, I think you could sell that one by having the set construction be a big part of the show. Then people would be watching the initial scenes for pimping ("That bronze dolphin you brought back from Venice is atrocious"), and the fun would be in seeing the crew struggle to create the reality, probably under severe time constraints.

sara farr · Post by **sara farr** » April 9th, 2007, 12:34 pm

Improvised sets? Improvised props? Improvised soundtracks? Doesn't Loose Moose do something like this?

DollarBill · Post by **DollarBill** » April 9th, 2007, 1:13 pm

sara_anm8r wrote:Loose Moose

sounds like diarrhea

York99 · Post by **York99** » April 10th, 2007, 1:15 am

ratliff wrote:He was saying he didn't like it when groups announced that something is improvised and it seemed like a disclaimer. I completely agree with him and Kareem that we should at all times be shooting for something so entertaining that it doesn't matter whether you know it's improvised.

Maintaining that I believe improv can be packaged better to appeal to the public more, I will say this: There is no shame in improv. It is not a disclaimer to announce it. It's like an announcer at a circus telling the crowd that the tight rope walker is 100 feet in the air; the rope is 1 inch around; and he just sniffed a pile of pepper. It just increases the audience's awareness of the danger of the stunt and elevates the tension and spectacle. It doesn't set up or excuse the guy from falling. Letting an audience know that a show is improvised adds to the tension and lets them know that it's dangerous. Come watch this spectacle. They're making this shit up right there and I that guy just mimed snorting a pile of what I imagine must be pepper.

ratliff · Post by **ratliff** » April 10th, 2007, 1:57 am

York99 wrote:
ratliff wrote:He was saying he didn't like it when groups announced that something is improvised and it seemed like a disclaimer. I completely agree with him and Kareem that we should at all times be shooting for something so entertaining that it doesn't matter whether you know it's improvised.
Maintaining that I believe improv can be packaged better to appeal to the public more, I will say this: There is no shame in improv.

Agreed. I think his point was not that it shouldn't ever be said but that some performers seem to use it as a disclaimer. How you say it matters.

York99 · Post by **York99** » April 10th, 2007, 9:42 am

ratliff wrote:
York99 wrote:
ratliff wrote:He was saying he didn't like it when groups announced that something is improvised and it seemed like a disclaimer. I completely agree with him and Kareem that we should at all times be shooting for something so entertaining that it doesn't matter whether you know it's improvised.
Maintaining that I believe improv can be packaged better to appeal to the public more, I will say this: There is no shame in improv.
Agreed. I think his point was not that it shouldn't ever be said but that some performers seem to use it as a disclaimer. How you say it matters.

I think you're giving Asaf too much credit. Beginners like him are all full of piss and vinegar. Give him some time.